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ANDERSON COOPER 360 DEGREES
Trump Jr.: No Softening on Immigration; Sen. Marco Rubio Defeats Challenger in Florida Primary; Trump Jr.: My Dad Will Do Great In Debates With Clinton;. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired August 30, 2016 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:05] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. Thanks for joining us.
And believe it or not, some possible signs of a very intelligent, very advanced civilization elsewhere in the universe is part of the program tonight.
We begin, however, with politics here at home.
Donald Trump getting ready to make a big speech, laying out his immigration policy with so many people asking, OK, then, what was that thing you've been camp calling on now for more than a year?
Donald Trump Jr. says there's no change, no softening, all undocumented immigrants still have to go. It was breaking news, and so are his revelations about how his dad is preparing for the presidential debates. Donald Trump Jr. joins us shortly.
Jorge Ramos is also here.
We also have a breaking news tonight in the Clinton e-mail story. The FBI about to make public the details of what led them to recommend against criminal charges in the case. It's a big primary race tonight for some very big names. Arizona Senator John McCain and Florida Senator Marco Rubio who also made news today by declining to say whether he'd finish his term if elected.
The poll has just closed in Florida. CNN's Manu Raju is there.
What's at stake tonight? Obviously, we don't have results just yet.
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right. I mean, Florida has become ground zero for the battle for control of the Senate, which is why Republican leaders urged, lobbied Marco Rubio to run for the Senate seat and, of course, he ultimately did.
What Rubio wants to see tonight say large margin of victory. That's going to be critical for him tonight. He wants to see the state erase that memory, that 20-point loss that he suffered from Donald Trump in March, in that the presidential primary and say that he has got the Republicans behind him and now he can take the case to moderate voters, the independent voters here in the state. Two other races to keep watch for tonight, Anderson. One, Debbie
Wasserman Schultz, the former DNC chairwoman who has come under criticism for her handling that race, suggesting from Bernie Sanders and his supporters that she was tilting the scales to help Hillary Clinton. She's facing a spirited challenge from a man named Tim Canova who is backed by Bernie Sanders for her southern Florida House seat.
Also something to watch, a member of Congress and Democrats are trying to find the candidate to go after Carlos Curbelo in the Miami area House seat. He's one of the most vulnerable House Republicans in the country, the question will be, whether or not Democrats get their candidate to face them in November. So, a lot on the line here in Florida.
COOPER: And, Manu, in the last couple of weeks, we've seen Marco Rubio and John McCain carefully embrace Donald Trump. Do we expect them to continue aligning themselves with Trump if they win their primaries tonight?
RAJU: That's going to be the key question going forward, particularly for John McCain. Remember, he needs Hispanic voters, assuming he wins his primary tonight. He needs those Hispanic voters who have been put off by Donald Trump's rhetoric. At the same time, he needs a lot of those Donald Trump's supporters in his state. Arizona is another state that Donald Trump won rather handily. So, both Marco Rubio and John McCain navigating the crosscurrents between folks who don't like Donald Trump and the Donald Trump supporters who maybe skeptical of a lot of Republican senators running for reelection, Anderson.
COOPER: We'll obviously bring you the latest results from Arizona and Florida as we get them tonight.
Now, Donald Trump gearing up for tomorrow night's immigration speech, preparing in his own way we hear for the first debate and dealing with the backlash from another campaign surrogate said as well as language from his campaign CEO. We'll talk about all of that tonight.
CNN's Jim Acosta has the latest on his speech and joins us now with that.
So, what can we expect to hear?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, it sounds like you're going to hear a hardening of Donald Trump's softening position on immigration that he talked about last week when you talk to top aides and I have on this. The emphasis on this speech will be on the wall that Donald Trump has promised on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The senior adviser stressed Trump is serious about building an actual wall and not a virtual wall as some surrogates were suggesting earlier this week. Earlier today, campaign manager Kellyanne Conway was asked on a conservative radio program, what's more important, the wall or what to do with the 11 million or so undocumented? And she said the wall. Aides stressed there will be deportations, but Trump wants to focus on
the undocumented who run afoul of the law. Also, Anderson, there is a component in this point that we haven't talked about very much for ending sanctuary cities that provide protection of unauthorized immigrants and we'll hear a lot of contrast for Hillary Clinton's immigration plan. Clinton is being challenged by Kellyanne Conway and others to defend her immigration proposals at a news conference and that is something that Hillary Clinton has not done for nine months now, Anderson.
COOPER: And do we know how large a role Donald Trump has had in writing this speech?
ACOSTA: Yes. He is absolutely involved. Trump's policy team, I am told, is working on this speech, but there's been a lot of influence from Trump himself. Conway said as much today. After all, Anderson, this is Donald Trump's signature issue, but he has to be careful about this.
He has to try to attract suburban middle-class voters and perhaps even some Latinos that Manu was talking about that have been turned off by this rhetoric that Donald Trump has been using over the last year or so, while not losing his base. These are high stakes for Donald Trump tomorrow night, Anderson.
COOPER: Yes. Jim, thanks very much.
And Jorge Ramos is going to join us shortly. He has some things, very strong opinions on whether or not Donald Trump can court larger numbers of Latinos in the United States.
[20:05:04] Again, listening to Trump surrogate, spokespeople, even the candidate himself, it has been hard to get a clear picture of just what Donald Trump would do as president when it comes to the signature issue of his campaign. The founding issue, really, we know about the wall, but what about those 11 million undocumented workers?
The candidate had a hint at softening. We've heard him deny it. We've heard campaign officials deny there's any kind of policy reassessment going on at all.
Tomorrow, presumably, we'll learn exactly what the bottom line really is. Tonight, we got some hints of it from Donald Trump, Jr.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Tomorrow, your dad is giving a big speech on immigration. A, I mean, have you seen the speech? Do you know what it is? Have you talked to him about it? And if so, is there going to be more clarity on exactly what his policy is?
DONALD TRUMP JR., PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE'S SON: It is going to be more clear. I've seen parts of it. You know, they're still finalizing aspects of it now and they're going to continue to lay out things in the coming weeks and months as that expands. You're going to see a lot more detail, but you're going to see the fundamental principles tht we have to do, that we have to secure our border. We have to start implementing an E-Verify system.
We have to let ICE do their jobs. Enforce the existing laws in the books. I mean, some of this isn't rocket science. I mean, these are laws that are there today. They have been in the books for years and these guys are basically told they can't do that. So, you know, we have to have baby steps first. We have to let ICE do their jobs and we have to do this for the benefit of the American people.
COOPER: Your dad was very clear during the primaries about his policy. Obviously, build a wall, have Mexico pay for it, go after the criminals and the 11 million undocumented immigrants who are here. They've got to go. Good ones can come back and it will be done humanely and there will be a deportation force.
He has -- he seems to de-emphasizing or at least focusing -- trying to focus more on build a wall, the E-Verify, go after the criminals, and now, we're hearing from someone from the campaign just the other day, on the 11 million, we'll figure that out down the road.
Is there going to be more clarity on that tomorrow?
TRUMP: The 11 million is one thing, but when you take out, again, the criminals, when you take out the people who have committed felonies, you send them back home. I mean, that's actually millions of people, that's a big portion of that group. And without doing that, everything else is irrelevant. You have to take those steps first.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: This is pretty much Jeb Bush's policy, this was pretty much a lot of other Republican policies, even your father has acknowledged that under Obama they've been deporting an awful lot of people. So, I guess what people -- and you know this better than anyone, what has concerned particularly Republicans particularly in the last week or so is some of your dad's statements about softening --
TRUMP: Anderson, I was there because you're referring to the Hannity thing. I was there with him and I did the segment for the next day five minutes after that.
He wasn't softening on anything. He didn't change his stance on anything, and what he did and what he's done all along is he's speaking with the people and he's not lecturing like most of the politicians. He basically surveyed the room and asked, what are your thoughts and I want to take into account what the people think, unlike our opponent who contribute millions and millions of dollars to her campaign. He's actually having a conversation with the people of this country, the hardworking men and women who made this country great, he's giving them a voice.
He asked an opinion. He didn't say, well, my policy has now changed. He didn't say that.
Now, the media will run with it however they want but that's not what happened and I was in the room.
COOPER: It did seem to some viewers who we talked to that it seemed like he's polling the room. He's not quite sure what has policy is.
TRUMP: He was asked for an opinion. His policy has been the same for the last six, seven, eight months --
COOPER: So, he still says deport. They've all got to go.
TRUMP: That's been the same, correct. But again, you have to start with baby steps. You have to let ICE do their job. You have to eliminate sanctuary cities. You have to get rid of the criminals, certainly, first and foremost, you have to secure the border.
These are common sense things, Anderson. These are things that every other country around the world has done and those who haven't and who gotten lackadaisical about it, look at what's going on. And perhaps, you know, Europe is the best example of that right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Baby steps. Plenty to talk about with the panel. That is next.
Later, new insight into how Donald Trump is getting ready for the debates and why the process isn't like anything we've come to expect and we'll talk to two men who matched when President Obama and Mitt Romney went toe-to-toe. Strategist David Axelrod and Stuart Stevens on their advice for both Clinton and Trump.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:12:45] COOPER: Quick update for you in tonight's breaking news in Florida. We can now call two of the races. Let's go back to CNN's Manu Raju.
What's the latest, Manu?
RAJU: Hey, Anderson.
CNN has projected that Marco Rubio will win his primary challenge against businessman Carlos Beruff, the one candidate who did not drop out of this race when Marco Rubio decided to run for his seat again back in July. Beruff, a businessman, wealthy businessman, spent millions of dollars of his own money and did not stand a chance, Rubio winning what looks to be a pretty healthy margin.
On the Democratic side, CNN is projecting is that Congressman Patrick Murphy will win his primary against progressive fire grand Alan Grayson in one of the nastiest primaries in the country.
So, this race between Rubio and Murphy is going to be one of the premier races in the country to watch, going forward. Now, there are both sides making arguments against each other. Marco Rubio told me yesterday that -- try to paint Patrick Murphy as a card-carrying liberal, someone who do whatever is on Hillary Clinton's agenda, assuming that she is elected. And he actually said to me, Patrick Murphy did, that he completely trust Hillary Clinton. So, watch that to be a line of argument going forward. On the other side, Patrick Murphy saying that Rubio will say or do
anything to be elected. And to give ammunition to that, Marco Rubio told me yesterday that he would not commit to fulfilling his full six years as senator if he gets reelected.
So, this is going to be one of the nastiest Senate races in the country and one of the most significant and also will be impacted by what happens on the presidential level here.
COOPER: Yes. Manu, we continue to watch Debbie Wasserman Schultz, to see if she wins her primary fight in Florida and also, of course, Senator John McCain.
Also, the more news on Donald Trump. Before the break, you heard Donald Trump Jr. make news by saying in some many words, his dad would not be budging on his signature campaign issue, immigration policy, not even his promise to deport each person who's in this country illegally. He said the policy has not changed for months. However, he did frame the "deport everyone" aspect more as a long-term goal rather than an immediate plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You have to let ICE do their job. You have to eliminate sanctuary cities. You get rid of the criminals, certainly. First and foremost, you have to secure the border. These are common-sense thing, Anderson.
[20:15:00] These are things that every other country in the world has done and those that have gotten lackadaisical about it, look at what's going on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: In his words.
Jorge Ramos joins us shortly with his take on that.
Let's bring in the panel first. Clinton supporter and MoveOn.org national spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, Democrat and former Congressional Black Caucus executive director, Angela Rye, CNN political analyst and "New York Times" national political correspondent, Patrick Healy, also, Trump supporters, Kayleigh McEnany and Scott Nell Hughes.
Patrick, I mean, are you clear on where Donald Trump is on this? Because Donald Trump Jr. is saying the policy hasn't changed, but baby steps. The focus is on the wall, is on E-Verify is on getting criminals out, and it sounds like the priority is not the 11 million undocumented immigrants.
PATRICK HEALY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. I mean, Donald Trump wants to go to the safest possible political ground for his base, which is no amnesty and build the wall.
But, Anderson, can you imagine during all of those primary campaign rallies if Donald Trump went up there and said, you know what? On immigration, it's going to be baby steps, baby steps. No way.
You know, he got up there in part and won the primary in part because he said, you know, we're going to deport these group of people that a lot of you feel like are making this country insecure, changing it from what it once was. And now, you're hearing the sort of language that it's not corresponding to the facts, in terms of deporting violent criminals. And these people are 180,000 or so of the 11 million immigrants. It's about 2 percent of that group.
So, when Donald Trump Jr. says, oh, it's millions of people and we're making a real dent, it's just not the case.
COOPER: Kayleigh, if Donald Trump had stood up there and said -- baby steps, that's my policy, baby steps on 11 million, as opposed to they've got to go. They've got to go. Good ones can come back.
Would he have won?
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think he would have, and I think he's still being consistent. I think he's indicating to the American public that one, he's listening to voters, as we heard Donald Trump Jr. say, which is a good thing. But two, he's signaling priorities. You're not going to get everything done in any given area.
So, what he's saying is, I want the violent criminals out. Contrast that to President Obama who just last year, according to ICE, let 20,000 criminal immigrants back on the streets and Barack Obama --
COOPER: But, in fairness, the Obama policy is focusing, is trying to focus resources on those who have been convicted of a crime.
MCENANY: I would argue that point.
I spent last winter, working at a legal non-profit, providing my legal services, and I've heard the stories of families who have had their homes raided, children deported from the country. Meanwhile, I look to the statistics and I find 20,000 criminal immigrants are back out on the streets.
So, I would argue that Barack Obama's priority has, in fact, been that. I heard a much different story when I worked at the non-profit. But I think the real question is really Hillary Clinton. "The New York Times" editorial board wrote, quote, "Over the years, Mrs. Clinton has shown an unfortunate tendency to opulate (ph) between harshness and compassion on immigration question."
From "The New York Times" editorial board, I think the real questions on the realm of immigration are on Hillary Clinton.
COOPER: Angela?
ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So, really quick, a couple of things. I think it is really important words that we choose to describe who was let out, right? So to speak. So, first and foremost, immigration is a civil matter. In and of itself, it's not criminal.
So, when we talk about the criminals being let out on the streets, I think it's important to know that these are people who had criminal convictions who served their time and now in one way or another either they're out on bail or they're out on parole, they serve their time criminally, and again, immigration is a civil matter.
So I think it's important since we're being humane whether we're talking about Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton or somewhere in between, it's really important that the words we use are clear.
MCENANY: If you murder someone in this country and you're a non- citizen. You leave this country. It's pretty simple. Kate Steinle's parents, I'm sure, would not be satisfied --
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: One at a time. I swear, no one listens when you talk over each other.
RYE: And you are on message there, Anderson. You tell us that all of the time and I hear you.
I think the point that I'm raising is and I again, like so many others of us that have said this. I feel horribly for what happened to her family. That is a terrible situation.
But for us to make it seem like there are 30,000 plus immigrants here, undocumented people here who murdered people is a gross misrepresentation of the truth. There are about 196 people who have committed homicides who have been let out after they serve.
MCENANY: One is too many.
RYE: I agree with you, Kayleigh, but we also can't misrepresent the number.
MCENANY: Ask Kate Steinle's parents.
(CROSSTALK)
HEALY: Quickly, we're talking about 10 million, 10.5 million people who Donald Trump is basically now saying ten weeks before the election, we'll deal with them at some point, trust me. We'll deal with them.
COOPER: Right, it does seem as Trump supporters are all trying to focus the wall and on things which Donald Trump is clear about. Do you not admit that the whole issue of 11 million undocumented immigrants who are here, most of whom have not committed crimes and again the exact number not known, according to Donald Trump, but that -- their status seems somewhat in flux to Donald Trump?
[20:20:00] SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's the issue. We don't know. We don't know how many are here and we don't know -- COOPER: But that's not the issue. No matter how many is here what is
Donald Trump's position on that? Do you know 100 percent?
HUGHES: Absolutely. You will have it more clarified tomorrow. It's real simple. Abide by the laws and they are here illegally.
COOPER: What does that mean? They've got to go?
HUGHES: Criminals first. Baby steps.
(CROSSTALK)
HUGHES: And they can come back legally.
What I find to be interesting, Kayleigh brought it up. Why are we sitting here focusing on Donald Trump's claim -- we've got more specifics on Donald Trump's claim, yet we have nothing on Hillary Clinton. The woman who has flip-flopped, who is the queen of pandering to the Hispanic community. She was the one saying she was all about taking children and sending them back home.
COOPER: I remember her answer ago on.
(CROSSTALK)
HUGHES: In fact, back in 2016. It was on her website.
COOPER: I do remember her answering questions during the debate with Jorge Ramos just in particular about that and, in fact, Donald Trump argued -- Donald to the left of Barack Obama. Is she to the left of Barack Obama?
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: Yes, I believe so. But look, the reason we're talking about this is because Donald Trump turned this into a story. This was supposed to happen last week. He canceled it and now, it's happening tomorrow, right?
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: The story right now is because -- the only reason it's a story right now is because Donald Trump -- guys, guys, the only reason this has been a story right now is because Donald Trump who has been very clear on his position up until a week and a half ago, suddenly started talking about a softening, started polling audience -- a TV audience at Hannity about what his position should be. That's why it's a story right now.
(CROSSTALK)
HUGHES: Unlike the other side just sits there and goes back and forth and panders to what crowd she's speaking to.
COOPER: You want the future president of the United States to be polling the audience?
HUGHES: No. I want him to be working with Congress to actually what will pass and what will work. He can sit there and present like Hillary has done, all of these grandiose ideas. But unless you can get them passed through Congress, that's --
(CROSSTALK)
JEAN-PIERRE: Can I just say, I want to get in here.
So, look, from just looking at your interview with Donald Trump Jr., I think what this proves is that there is no difference from the Donald Trump that launched his campaign calling Mexicans rapist, you know, making immigrant bashing the hallmark of his campaign to the Trump of today. That's absolutely right.
Look, so saying that you're taking baby steps, how can you say that when you spent the last 14 months saying hey, I'm going to build a wall. Not only am I going to build a wall, Mexico's going to pay for it, and we're going to deport 11 million undocumented workers. And so, softening or no softening, this is riddled with hypocrisy and it's just insulting.
(CROSSTALK)
JEAN-PIERRE: That's a problem.
HEALY: This is risky political space. Donald Trump had a good week after Kellyanne Conway came on. There was consistency, sort of staying on message and now there have been different signals that have been coming out on immigration.
And the problem there is think back to four years ago where Mitt Romney just two months or so before that election was still trying to explain and get around self-deportation and what exactly he wanted to do on the economy. Eight years ago, John McCain was trying to sort of be clear about what he was going to do on the recession and what he would do to get the American economy back in line.
You don't want to be having these kind of, like, fuzzy to clear, trying to get to clear conversations.
COOPER: We have to take a quick break and we'll have more to talk about shortly. Believe it or not, it was a year ago that Univision anchor Jorge Ramos was thrown out of a press event when he tried to ask Donald Trump about his immigration plans. The question is, what's changed in his eyes since then?
Jorge Ramos joins us next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:27:40] COOPER: We've been talking tonight about Donald Trump's immigration message in his speech on the issue tomorrow night. Whatever happens, one thing is clear, the issue has been a source of controversy for more than a year.
It was right around this time last year, the Univision anchor Jorge Ramos was kicked out of a Trump press conference after trying to ask about his immigration proposals. We're going to hear from Jorge Ramos in just a moment.
First, let's take look at what happened at that Iowa press event a year ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: OK, who's next? Please?
JORGE RAMOS, UNIVISION: Mr. Trump, I have a question.
TRUMP: Excuse me. Sit down. You weren't called. Sit down. Sit down.
Go ahead.
RAMOS: No, no, Mr. Trump. I'm an immigrant, a citizen. Sir, I have the right to ask a question.
TRUMP: No, you don't. You haven't been called.
RAMOS: I have, I have the right to ask a question.
TRUMP: Go back to Univision.
Go ahead. Go ahead.
RAMOS: This is the question: You cannot deport 11 million, Mr. Trump. You cannot deport 11 million people. You cannot build a 1,900 mile wall. You cannot deny citizenship to children in this country.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Sit down, please. You weren't called.
RAMOS: Those ideas. I'm a reporter and I have -- don't touch me, sir. Don't touch me, sir.
TRUMP: Go
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That's Univision news anchor Jorge Ramos. He joins us. He's also the anchor of "Fusions America" with Jorge Ramos.
Jorge, after Trump eventually let you back into the news conference, you told him the immigration policy was full of empty promises. That was the phrase you use. Here we are a little more than a year later, do you still think that's the case, that the immigration policy that he seems to be wrestling with or whatever the policy may be is still full of empty promises?
RAMOS: Absolutely because back then I told him, point-blank, that he couldn't deport 11 million undocumented immigrants, and now, we see him shifting, backtracking on his flip-flop and he really can't deport 11 million immigrants. Can you imagine, Anderson? That would be the largest massive
deportation in U.S. history. That means that he would have to deport 400,000 every single month. That means deporting 15,000 people every single day. That's filling up 37 747s every single day.
He simply cannot do that, and that's why you see his campaign now shifting and just trying to consider other options. The fact is that he promised that. He simply cannot do that. It's an empty promise.
COOPER: As you know, I talked to Donald Trump Jr. today to clear up and get a sense of what his father's immigration policy is actually when it comes to the 11 million undocumented immigrants here in the U.S. He said there's absolutely no softening of his father's position.
[20:30:03] Do you sense any actual shift in the position? Because it certainly seems like at the very least the campaign is trying to emphasize the wall and de-emphasize the whole idea of a deportation force?
RAMOS: I'm noticing a change definitely because we have to remember what Donald Trump said. He said that he was going to deport 11 million in two years. That's exactly what he said, and now they're saying, well, they need baby steps. They don't know exactly what's going to happen.
The fact is that they simply cannot do that. We have to wait what Donald Trump is going to be saying tomorrow, but I think Donald Trump right now is seeing in panic mode when it comes to Latinos. And it doesn't matter what it says tomorrow.
He already lost the Latino vote. He lost that on June 16, 2015, when he said that Mexican immigrants were criminals and drug traffickers and rapists. When he said that, he lost the Latino vote. I checked the latest Univision poll on that, he only had 19 percent of support among Latinos, and Romney lost with 27 percent, John McCain lost with 31 percent, with 19 percent he's going to lose Florida, he's going to lose Arizona and he's going to lose Nevada. He can't win the White House without Latinos.
COOPER: It is interesting because he's now saying he's going to start with deporting undocumented immigrants in the U.S who are criminals, but when you ask anyone from the campaign how they are going to do this and they can't specifically say how they're going to carry out a program to deports millions of people. In fact he's been praising President Obama lately, saying President Obama deports a lot of people.
Is there any chance, any mechanism by which this could actually work?
RAMOS: Well, what is so interesting is that Donald Trump right now seems to be following exactly the same proposals as Jeb Bush and ...
COOPER: Right.
RAMOS: ... Marco Rubio. Or even President Barack Obama. We have to remember President Barack Obama, that's why some people called him the deporter in chief. He has deported more than 2.5 million immigrants since he got into the White House. So it seems that now Donald Trump seems to be following exactly the same idea.
COOPER: You know, let's -- the other obvious aspect of the immigration policy that he has is he still is talking about building a wall, ending birthright citizenship defunding so-called sanctuary cities, are these positions non-starters you think for many Hispanic voters in 2016?
RAMOS: Absolutely. Remember, Mitt Romney lost the Latino vote because he was proposing self-deportation.
COOPER: Right.
RAMOS: And now here you have a candidate who has insulted Latino immigrants and Mexican immigrants who is comparing women to animals, who wants to build a wall and who does not understand, that it doesn't matter how high the wall could be. Almost 40 percent of all undocumented immigrants either come by plane or with a visa. So ...
COOPER: Right.
RAMOS: ... people are staying in visa, a 1,900-mile wall when they're going to be coming by plane.
COOPER: I want to ask you about an op-ed you wrote for "Time Magazine" recently, I will read part of it to our viewers, you said in part, "Regardless of whether Donald Trump wins or loses, we will be asked on November 9th: What did you do? Did you support him? Or did you just sit idly, silently, allowing others to decide the future of the United States? Because you will be asked."
You've been going to say judgment day is coming, that's what you see election day to be -- I mean is that what you can see election day to be judgment day?
RAMOS: I think for journalists, we're social responsibility. I think it is to question those who are in power and when we're confronted with racism, discrimination, corruption, public lies, dictatorships and violations of human rights, I think we have to take a stand.
As are more who did it, once a concrete did it and Jake Tapper, David -- when he confronted Donald Trump on David Duke and Judge Gonzalo Curiel. So, I think it is, our responsibility to do that. And yes, I think is going to be judgment day. It happened to us already after the Iraq War. We realized too late that there were no weapons of mass destruction and the opposition and journalists were not strong enough in front of President George W. Bush.
I think it's exactly the same thing that's going to happen now with Donald Trump on November the 9th.
COOPER: Do you make the same argument that Hillary Clinton not giving press conferences that's according to -- to be confrontational about that, as well? RAMOS: I agree with you completely. I think I've been tough, very tough also on Hillary Clinton. I asked her about that e-mails in Benghazi during the Democratic debate. Last Sunday I asked Tim Kaine, her running mate, on the possible conflict of interest with the -- with the Clinton Foundation, and I've been very tough on President Barack Obama because of his deportation policies.
So the fact that I'm suggesting that we should be really, really tough on Donald Trump because of his racist remark and his sexist remark does not prevent me from being tough with Donald -- Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine and President Barack Obama. I think we have to be as tough with both of them.
COOPER: Jorge Ramos, always good to talk to you, thanks.
RAMOS: Thanks Anderson.
COOPER: Coming up, more with Donald Trump Jr., tells me how his father is getting ready to debate Hillary Clinton, what kind of preparations he's making.
Also we got new information tonight about how Clinton is preparing, there's also breaking news. We'll soon know more about the FBI's decision not to charge her on the investigation of her e-mails.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:35:03] HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: ... because we are not ...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: The first presidential debate is set for the end of September. In a moment we'll hear what Donald Trump Jr. told me today about how his dad is getting ready to go head to head with Hillary Clinton on the debate stage.
Spoiler alert, Clinton is doing much more in the way of what you call a traditional preparation. We have more breaking news on the Clinton camp tonight as well. Jeff Zeleny joins me with all of that.
So first of all I understand that we're expecting the FBI to release a report detailing their investigation releasing Clinton's e-mails, do we know what the report contains or even when it's going to be released?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, this report could be released as early as tomorrow and it essentially is the work product of the FBI agents who interviewed Hillary Clinton earlier this summer that voluntary interview that she had to talk about that private e-mail server. It's pretty rare for this internal FBI work product to be released, but there are freedom of information act filed by CNN and others and the FBI is in fact preparing to release it. Now, all of this is coming as the Clinton campaign is trying to move beyond the distractions to prepare for the marquee event of the fall campaign, the first debate with Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:40:01] ZELENY: Hillary Clinton is spending the final days of summer watching the Donald Trump highlight reel.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Let me talk.
More energy tonight, I like that.
She's got a beautiful face and I think she's a beautiful woman.
ZELENY: She's preparing for her first debate with Trump now less than a month away.
CLINTON: When I go toe to toe with Donald Trump which I'm looking forward to doing.
ZELENY: Perhaps no presidential candidate in modern history has logged as much time as Clinton on the debate stage. At least 40 in all, producing a textbook worth of teachable moments from her Senate debate with Rick Lazio.
CLINTON: You're getting here.
RICK LAZIO, FORMER NEW YORK CONGRESSMAN: Sign it right now.
ZELENY: To her run-ins with Barack Obama.
BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: You're likable enough, Hillary.
CLINTON: Thank you.
ZELENY: But Trump is a rival all his own and planning is urgently under way. CNN is learning Clinton is taking these steps, seeking tips from writers who have watched Trump for years including Tony Schwartz, co-author of "Art of the Deal," consulting on the Trump's 3P's, his policy, personality and politics. And studying moments from GOP debates that agitated Trumps particularly exchanges like this with Cruz.
SEN. TED CRUZ, (R) TEXAS: Donald, you can get back on your ...
TRUMP: You're having a lot of fun up here tonight, I have to tell you. Thank you for the book.
CRUZ: Donald, relax.
ZELENY: Joel Benenson, the campaign's chief strategist told CNN's Chris Cuomo, Clinton is preparing for a raucous debate.
JOEL BENENSON, CHIEF STRATEGIST HILLARY FOR AMERICA: I think we'll see a lot of the same kind of a hyper, over the top rhetoric from him that we've seen. That's who he is. I don't think he can control himself.
ZELENY: All this as Trump tries to keep alive another sideshow. Hillary Clinton's close aide Huma Abedin separating from her husband former Congressman Anthony Weiner after another sexting episode.
TRUMP: In the case of Anthony Weiner, she is married to a guy that is uncontrolled and uncontrollable. He's a sick person.
ZELENY: And tonight, Trump seizing on a "New York Times" editorial that urged Clinton to cut ties now with her family's charitable foundation, not after she's elected. The paper calling it an "ethical imperative".
In a statement, Trump said it was a, "devastating rebuke of Hillary Clinton's poor judgment and broken, ethical compass."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Hillary Clinton is clearly working and preparing herself against attacks like this on the debate stage. Do we have any idea what she's expecting when she faces Trump?
ZELENY: Well, Anderson we're seeing this plot in real time everyday like the "New York Times" editorial, for example, it is something that Donald Trump immediately sent out a statement on, so they're literally collecting a binders of information attack, you know, that maybe used against each other, but what she's also not sure of which Donald Trump is going to show up to the debate.
She's actually mentioned that some of the fund raisers, she holding this week out at the Hamptons wondering aloud if he will suddenly be more presidential, wondering which Donald Trump will show up. She's preparing for all of them and the campaign Anderson still looking for that perfect person to play Donald Trump once they start holding mock debates in the weeks ahead.
COOPER: Jeff, Jeff Zeleny, thanks very much.
As you heard from Jeff's report, Hillary Clinton is taking meticulous approach. I guess it say to getting ready for the first presidential debate. Donald Trump, he seems to be going another way. I asked his son, Donald Trump Jr., about what -- about that when we spoke earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: I want to talk about the debates. How much is your dad prepping for debates? I mean, I know there have been reports that think on Sunday he was meeting at one of his country clubs going over stuff. Do you know how he's prepping? How do you want him to prep?
DONALD TRUMP JR., DONALD TRUMP'S SON: First of all, his major prepping is just -- must speaking to the people. He's not going to do the typical, you know, someone is going to play Hillary Clinton and they will ...
COOPER: Do not quite do that.
TRUMP JR.: It's not his thing. There's not always he's going to do. You know, Hillary Clinton will sit there and she will have someone who is much wittier than her, write every possible line, to every possible conceivable scenario and she'll memorize it and she's regurgitate that. We've seen that happened in the past.
He's not going to do that ...
COOPER: So he's not going to do any mock her.
TRUMP JR.: ... he's going to going to be himself. He's going to, you know, prep, obviously, he's going to spend the time and his prep has been speaking to the people of this country for the last 18 months, it's been reaching out to those people, hearing what they want to have happen.
COOPER: So what does prep actually mean for your dad in terms of -- I mean are there binders of information? Are there -- they're not mock debates.
TRUMP JR.: He'll have some of that, but he's not going to do, you know, the typical Republican or, you know, or Democratic, you know, debate prep where they seat there and memorize a bunch of one-liners.
COOPER: Does that worry you at all?
TRUMP JR.: No. You know, what I seen him, you know, I like him when he's, you know, himself. When he's not pre-rehearsed and when he's able to go up there and just be himself ...
COOPER: It certainly ...
TRUMP JR.: ... and speak to the people.
COOPER: It worked for him during the primaries, but there were a lot of folks on that stage.
TRUMP JR.: And I think it will work for him here especially when you're going up against a candidate who is as robotic as Hillary Clinton.
COOPER: I want to read you some just "New York Times" today about the Clinton debate prep and I just want to tell you what they had to say and have you respond.
First of all, the campaign apparently has contacted Tony Schwartz who, you know, co-wrote "The Art of the Deal" with your dad for advice, he said Trump has severe tension problems, simply cannot take in complex information, and he'll be unable to practice for the debates, he'll bring nothing but his blustered the debates, he used excrete language, he repeat himself several times, he won't complete sentences and he won't say anything of substance. What's your response? [20:45:05] TRUMP JR.: I'm not worried about that at all. I mean I haven't seen Tony Schwartz in 30-something years. I think he's trying to become relevant again based on, you know, the fact that he helped write a book a long time ago with my father.
Listen, my father is going to do great on this, he did great in the other debates against people who've done nothing to like debate for their entire careers. He never did gone wrong in the stage, and ...
COOPER: It is different ...
TRUMP JR.: ... he did incredibly.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP JR.: Fewer people. You know, I understand that.
COOPER: Right.
TRUMP JR.: And again, I think without question he's going to be ready. That's what he is. I mean he's always prepared, he always understands these things and, you know, I think anyone who underestimates my father is going to be sadly, you know, disappointed.
COOPER: To that point, and you were talking about the Clinton campaign according to the "Times" they're doing a, "forensic-style analysis of your father's performance and GOP primary debates, cataloging strengths and weaknesses as well as trigger points that caused him to lash out in presidential ways."
TRUMP JR.: I think -- I'm sure that's what they're doing because, you know, again they -- she will have to memorize every possible scenario to do that because there's no spontaneity. She's not good on her feet that way. You seen that every time she does do a one-on-one and every time she does get with the press there's a technical glitch or something, it's why she hides from the press as much as she hasn't given a press conference, in what? 285 days?
You know, she's not good that way on her feet. So, you know, I welcome a one-on-one because again, I don't think there's any amount of preparation that she can do unless she memorized every conceivable scenario that again her writers are coming up for her right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: All right, Donald Trump Jr., clearly believes his dad has a winning strategy for these debates.
Just ahead, I'll ask two pros what they think, David Axelrod and Stuart Stevens who prepped President Obama and Mitt Romney for their debates years ago.
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[20:50:34] COOPER: You just heard Donald Trump Jr. say his father is not doing typical debate prep. It's not his thing, according to Trump Jr. His dad has famously boasted, he doesn't need to prepare for debates. We'll soon find out if that strategy will work for him like he did in the primaries or maybe backfire when he's one-on-one with Hillary Clinton.
Joining me, two chief architects of the last presidential debate, Stuart Stevens was Mitt Romney's presidential campaign strategist. David Axelrod was a senior Obama advisor, he's also a CNN political commentator.
Stuart, you heard Donald Trump Jr. say his dad probably isn't going to be doing mock debates, probably won't be poring over binders, memorizing one liners, which means essentially he'll prepare for the debate with Clinton the same way he prepared for the primary debates. Do you think that's wise? That -- kind of it ain't broke, don't fix it model?
STUART STEVEN, FMR MITT ROMNEY'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN STRATEGIST: I think primary debates with a lot of candidates and one-on-one debates are very different creatures. That said, it's been my experience that good candidates, you know, how to prepare their own way. When I did debate prep for then Governor Bush and Cheney they both in 2000, they both had very different styles. Cheney liked lots of mock debates, Governor Bush didn't. They both did well in debates. But its -- these are very, very different creatures.
COOPER: And David, for Secretary Clinton, I don't know that she's ever lined up psychology experts to figure out how to get under an opponent's skin before but she has certainly never debated somebody like Donald Trump before. What else would you advise her to do to prepare?
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think the most important thing is to find yourself a debate partner in your prep sessions who can simulate the kind of style that Donald Trump will bring to these debates, because the goal of prep is to make sure that your candidate is prepared for anything that might come on that stage.
In 2008, when Sarah Palin was chosen as the vice presidential nominee by John McCain, and I was working for the Obama/Biden ticket, we asked Jennifer Granholm, who's then governor of
Michigan, to play Sarah Palin in the debates. And she spent hours poring through tapes and she completely inhabited the character in ways that we thought were ludicrous at the time but it was very predictive of what Biden was going to see and made him a much better candidate when he stepped on that stage.
COOPER: Stuart, I've heard you said that the most you can hope for in any debate is achieving three goals. What are the goals?
STEVENS: Well, I think first of all, the most important thing is to have those goals and to really have a strategy session where you define those goals, debate those goals and write them down.
COOPER: To know what you want going into a debate.
STEVENS: And how to execute them. To know what you want and how you can execute that. If you do that, if you just think about it, there's a limit to how much, you know, any debate won't be a success, if you have got serious goals that resonate with the campaign you get them done.
You know, I think if you just look at Donald Trump, I think his tendency will be to try to go after Hillary Clinton. I think his major opportunity here is to come across as more likeable, to pass a threshold that people can envision him as president of the United States.
You know, in 2000, Governor Bush didn't really pass that threshold with a lot of voters until the first debate. And third, is I think he has to show that he has real policy knowledge. You can get through primary campaign debates with a lot of candidates kind of based on your attitude. You really can't do that in these long one-on-one debates.
COOPER: Because there's just more time to answer and it just pings back and forth between two candidates as opposed to 16 candidates.
AXELROD: You have to have much more depth in a general election debate. And I would argue that Donald Trump faces the toughest test that I have seen a candidate face in a very long time, maybe back to Ronald Reagan. And I'm not sure it was as tough for him back in 1980.
The thing that's holding Trump back right now are two things, temperament and command of facts. People don't see him as fit right now to be president of the United States. These debates are his last chance to allay their concerns, to prove to people that he has both a command and the temperament to be president. Reagan did that in that 1980 debate and he ended the race right there. To get back into this race, Donald Trump has to show something in these debates that he hasn't shown to this date.
COOPER: Stuart, how important is it to have people around you who essentially can challenge you, who can say look, you have got to do this, you have to read these books, you have to do a mock debate or whatever it is?
[20:55:06] STEVENS: Well, and to get in your face. I think it's very important. One of the characteristic problems that presidents have, incumbent presidents in the first debate is they're not used to people getting in their face. That happened certainly with incumbent President Bush and with his first debate with John Kerry and it probably happened, David could speak better to it, with President Obama.
AXELROD: Absolutely.
STEVENS: You know, when you're president, you walk into a room, people usually applaud. And it's -- same with Donald Trump, you know, he has a culture that is all about Trump and you really need someone to get in there and get in his face and get him used to it. It's why they have full pad scrimmages in college football and the pros, and you need that one way or the other. You don't have to have a full-on mock but somebody has to be in there throwing the kind of punches that Hillary Clinton will.
COOPER: David Axelrod, Stuart Stevens, thank you so much.
AXELROD: Thanks Anderson.
STEVENS: Thank you again.
COOPER: Much more ahead when "360" continues next hour, including more of my interview with Donald Trump Jr. we talked about his father's new efforts to reach out to African-Americans, the campaign's recent shakeup, the latest poll, and move of electorate, all that coming up.
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[21:00:06] COOPER: Good evening. This time tomorrow night we're told Donald Trump will be laying out his immigration policy which is either softening or not softening will or won't provide a part to legalization is or isn't different from what he's been saying since the beginning of his campaign.
