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Trump to Lay Out Economic Plans; Aleppo Children Celebrate Cease- Fire; Clinton Returns to Campaign Trail
Aired September 15, 2016 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Violence, and the hunger, the 10-year-old Dohat (ph) and Mohammed (ph) loved going to school.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BECKY ANDERSON, HOST: The scars of war. A cease-fire is in effect, but it hasn't come soon enough for many of the children of Syria.
CNN is in Aleppo for you this hour. The flashpoint of what is this five- year conflict.
Also ahead this hour, could Donald Trump's economic plan cost the U.S. $1 trillion. Well, that is the assessment of one forecasting firm. We'll
hear from the man himself as he lays out his policies in a major speech this hour.
7:00 here in the UAE. It is -- what is it, 1:00 -- no,it's 11:00 in the morning on the eastern seaboard, the east coast of the U.S. And it is a
busy hour for you this hour.
Donald Trump expected to give a speech about his plan to reform the tax code. That is in about 30 minutes at the Economic Club of New York.
Trump is giving some hints about his plan, but so far the Republican presidential candidate has refused to release his own tax returns.
We're going to get you that speech when it happens.
Meanwhile, we are also waiting for Hillary Clinton's return to the campaign trail following her three-day hiatus to recover from pneumonia. She is
heading to a rally in Greensboro, North Carolina and may speak to the media before she leaves. Stand by for all of that.
Up first, though, to Syria where we are following what has been an extraordinary week of events from the brutal fighting to kids enjoying the
peace of its cease-fire, which that does still seem to be holding up. But it is looking shaky with Moscow accusing Washington
of not exactly keeping up its end of the deal.
These are live pictures from a Russian drone over rebel-held Aleppo that is watching over the city.
Well, the pause in fighting has given us images like this of life getting back to normal.
Behind these scenes of bustling markets, many are still in need of desperate need of help.
At Turkey's border with Syria, the gates remain shut to UN aid trucks. Much more on that in a few moments.
First, though, CNN's Fred Pleitgen on the ground on the western side of Aleppo, which is under government control. Joining us now by phone --
Fred.
FREDERIK PLEITEGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORREDSPONDENT: Hi, Becky. And the situation here on the western side of town is also one where many of the
neighborhoods, you could really see the massive destruction. I was just actually in the front line are where you have that opposition area and then
the government-controlled areas. And those areas have been very, very badly damaged.
And you know, we've been talking about the respite that the cease-fire has been giving to some of the people to at least be able to venture out. And
posting what we when we're in that front line area, with three children gathering firewood for their families. And it's the first time that
they've been able to venture out in a very long time to allow their parents there was shelling in that area. There's a lot of buildings that have been
all but destroyed that still have families living in them. Where we simply don't have anywhere else to go.
We were in one house where the apartment next door was hit by a shell and the folks there say
still playing there even though the separation wall between (inaudible) and the (inaudible) has been blown away by that shell.
So, certainly, the people here are saying that they're very happy about this ceasefire, but at the same time, Becky, we know the we do have
(inaudible) trying to get aid to the people of eastern Aleppo.
And one of the other places that I literally just came back from, Becky, was the Castello Road, which is of course to be that thoroughfare that aid
trucks are supposed to use.
We didn't see any signs of Syrian forces moving back from that area. The people there are telling us that that will be the route that those convoys
are going to use once they get all the clearances and of course also all of the assurances that the UN is going to have safe passage into eastern
Aleppo, Becky.
ANDERSON: Can you describe the journey up from Damascus for our viewers, if you will?
PLEITGEN: Yeah, sure. Yeah, it's very difficult to actually get to Aleppo. Of course, there's a lot of areas that you have to get through
where, you know, some are held by the opposition and others are held by government forces. Normally, the journey is about 400 kilometers, maybe a
little less, but because of the rebel-held areas that you would have to pass through, you
have to take a massive detour through the eastern part of the country at other points straddling rebel controlled areas, at other points straddling
ISIS-controlled areas. I think the closest that we got to the border with an ISIS area, there's about 800 yards away from the areas controlled by
ISIS.
And then you reach the outskirts of Aleppo, what you really see is the destruction that was brought on by a lot of the heavy fighting that took
place there as the two sides were jostling for position.
A lot of the villages out there are abandoned, a lot of them only have military control points in them. There are very few people that are
actually left there on the ground.
And then to get into Aleppo, you go around the southern side of the city and then make your way to the western part of Aleppo. And those areas
also, some of them have been heavily contested just over the past couple weeks.
We, for instance, went through the district of (inaudible) which is where the rebel forces broke through the siege only about three weeks ago, and
just seeing the destruction on the ground there is really a very humbling experience when you see some of the massive destruction out there.
ANDERSON: So, Fred, very briefly, this temporary truce went into effect at sundown on Monday. Are those that you are speaking to optimistic about
their future now or not?
PLEITGEN: Well, you know, I would say first of all, the people -- I think many of them have lived through more than five years of civil war -- and
you know, Aleppo was really and is one of the most devastated towns. A lot of them I think are not quite that optimistic yet. They want to see more.
They've had local cease-fires here in Aleppo in the past that have fallen apart after three or four days. So, they want to see more.
But, of course they're also all very, very happy about any sort of break to the fighting. And we saw the pictures a few days ago of this kid that
immediately went out to try and play. And a lot of these children have had to stay inside for the better part of almost every day. And for them to
simply be able to get out is already a big achievement -- and you know it seems like such a little thing
But at the same time, I think the people here, they are waiting to see. They, of course, want this to last, they to some sort of political
solution. They want this to be more permanent, but it will take more than just a few days to
make them actually believe that it is really happening, Becky.
ANDERSON: Fred Pleitgen on the ground for you in the government-controlled area of Aleppo.
All right. Let's back up to that aid held up at the border. We have been talking -- you heard Fred referring to Costello Road. And we alked a lot
about aht this week. It is a key route into the rebel-held eastern part of that city.
Well, the UN special enjoy to Syria, Stefan de Mistura, says it has, quote, "special status under this truce." But that is still caught up in red
tape, meaning that aid convoys still cannot use it. Take a listen to De Mistura speaking a little earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STAFFAN DE MISTURA, UN SPECIAL ENVOY FOR SYRIA: Bottom line, that the convoys which are ready, 40 trucks, 20, 20 are ready and waiting for this,
will be sealed. And once they move, they will not be harassed. They will not be investigated. And they will be moving through that road all the way
to eastern Aleppo.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, our Clarissa Ward has more now on the situation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right now 20 U.N. aid trucks are waiting on the Turkish border for the go ahead to move
desperately needed aid into Aleppo. That's enough to feed 40,000 people for an entire month. So, what's the hold up? And why it is so complicated to
get this stuff in?
Well, if you take a look at a map, you get a much better idea of the complexity of the situation. This is where that aid is needed the most, in
eastern Aleppo. This part of the city is controlled by the rebels. It's home to roughly 300,000 civilians and it's where the most intensive
bombardment has been happening.
For months now it has been besieged by the regime of Bashar al-Assad. And you can see regime territory is marked by red. It's entirely surrounding
eastern Aleppo. And that means there's no food or medical aid getting in.
When we visited Syria earlier this year, there was still one road into eastern Aleppo that was urn control of the rebels, Costello Road. It was
very dangerous to travel because it's flanked by the Syrian army in red and by Kurdish fighters which you can see just there in blue.
Now Costello Road is under the control of the regime. This is the road that the aid trucks are hoping to take in. Several weeks ago, rebel forces were
able to clear a small, shaky corridor down in that area called Ramousa, but after heavy fighting that area is now back under regime control, too.
So, in order for aid trucks to get from the Turkish border into the hardest hit areas they will need to go through regime, and rebel and Kurdish held
area.
And negotiating that kind of access takes time but with the ceasefire only set to last seven days, time is of the essence.
Clarissa Ward, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Well, five years of war in Syria have transformed -- sorry, let me start that again -- countless lives. Among them a 10-year-old girl
whose home was hit by a barrel bomb and the man who saved her.
CNN's Arwa Damon has this report for you with footage provided by the opposition activist group Aleppo Media Center. And a warning for you, you
may find some of this report disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Before the bombs, the siege, and the war, Mohammed Alaa Al- Jaleel was an electrician.
MOHAMMAD ALAA AL-JALEE, ELECTRICIAN: The plane dropped the barrel bombs.
DAMON: Before the death, the violence, and the hunger, 10-year-old Doha Al- Mohammed loved going to school.
DOHA AL-MOHAMMED: This stone that I am standing on used to be the roof of my bedroom.
DAMON: This is their story. Forever bonded together. For the last four years, Mohammed has been part of a volunteer emergency response unit in
Aleppo.
AL-JALEEL: We know the area that was targeted was a residential area, where civilians lived.
AL-MOHAMMED: I remember that there was a plane striking when I was peeling oranges for my siblings. After that, all of a sudden the house was blown
up.
AL-JALEEL: We were running, looking around, when we found the children who were thrown off the balcony onto the street. I looked back and saw Doha on
the ground.
DAMON: She had gone unnoticed in the chaos until Mohammed happened to glance back.
AL-MOHAMMED: I was really afraid, my body was really hurting me from all the debris that fell on me.
AL-JALEEL: I carried her, running to the ambulance as fast as I could trying to save her life, as I felt she was still alive.
DAMON: Barely alive, drifting in and out of consciousness. Doctors were able to stabilize her, but her younger sister, Yasmin, ended up in Turkey
for treatment. The siblings communicate by Facebook messenger.
DOHA: What are you doing?
YASMIN: I don't want to come back.
ABDULLAH, BROTHER: Why don't you want to come back?
YASMIN: Because there are air strikes. You come here, join me.
DAMON: But that is not an option for Doha and the rest of her family. Turkey only opens the border for medical emergencies. Doha says she feels
lost, her life in pieces. And that is where Mohammed, her savior, comes in again. He has built a playground for children and created a sanctuary for
stray cats.
AL-JALEEL: I felt like she was my own daughter, my own child. That I would all my life care about her. That's why every now and then, I check on her
and I bring her here to my garden.
DAMON: It's where we hear her laugh, where in Syria's battlefield, a child's gleeful cries are stolen moments.
Arwa Damon, CNN, Gaziantep, Turkey
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Parts of southeastern China are cleaning up after Typhoon Meranti hit early on Thursday. It made landfall on Fujian Province on
Mainland China after slamming southern Taiwan. The extreme winds are slowing after the remnants of the storm inland, but the threat not gone.
Matt Rivers reports from the recovering city of Xiamen (ph).
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The day after can be a sobering one -- damage, debris, a bit of depression, and yet Ma Win Hua (ph), 72-year-old
laughed, when she described the storm.
She giggles at her unprompted impersonation of the wind, but quickly added that she's never
seen anything like this storm before.
Typhoon Meranti blew in with a swift brutality, driving rain propelled by 175-mile-an-hour gusts. It blanketed the city and forced everyone inside
for cover, including us in our hotel.
So that is what a typhoon coming ashore is the equivalent of a category 4 hurricane sounds
like. This door leads out to the roof, and it is just straining against these winds.
That door is shaking not because of the wind, it's shaking because the entire building is shaking.
Leaks sprang from everywhere, from windows to the elevator. The power went out too, part of outages that affected most in the city.
The peak winds lasted a few hours in the early morning. It felt longer. And when the sun rose in the morning, damage was done.
This building, one of the more dramatic scenes, nearly every window blown out, its splintered glass littering the parking lot below. Falling debris
destroyed this man's car.
"I deliberately picked this spot to park," says Soo Jing Chuan (ph).
I never thought this would happen. Falling glass aside, damage to wealthier areas was manageable. Flooding sporadic and limited.
Most of the city of Xiamen (ph) actually has pretty good infrastructure, able to withstand big storms, but that's not true in poorer neighborhoods
like this one with bad drainage and even worse construction.
Many homes have roofs made only as sheets of aluminum, often the first things that fly away when the rain comes and the winds (inaudible).
Chu Mao Chung (ph) works as a chef in this business. The roof fell and took profit with it.
With all that's been damaged, we've probably lost $2,000 worth of equipment, he says. That's money he'll have trouble making up.
For Ma Win Hua (ph), it's more personal.
"My clothes are all soaked," she says. "There's no power, no water. We just want this fixed for us and our neighbors."
But in the meantime, she remains resiliently cheerful. So when she finished with us, she went back to preparing the fish she was making for
dinner, trying to get back to normal after a night that was anything but.
Matt Rivers, CNN, Xiamen (ph), China.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: All right. Some of the other stories on our radar today. And a passenger train slammed into a stopped freight train in Fujia (ph) province
in Pakistan: six people killed and 150 injured. Now, the freight train had stopped after someone committed suicide on the tracks.
ANDERSON: Lbya's oil chief says exports will restart immediately from two eastern ports. They were handed over to the National Oil Corporation by
forces opposing the internationally backed government. That army headed by powerful general Khalifa Haftar seized four energy facilities over the
weekend.
The crown prince of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates has met Pope Francis at The Vatican. Emirati state media reported that the pontiff and
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan discuss ways to improve dialogue between religions and cultures. And coinciding with that visit, the Emirati
foreign minister has written an exclusive comment piece for CNN stressing that, quote, it is critical to take
every opportunity to show a united front against all forms of intolerance. And you can read that full op-ed in full on our website where Sheikh
Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan lays out wht athe Gulf state is doing to counter extremism at home, abroad and online, only at CNN.com.
Well, Hillary Clinton is back in action today after taking a few days off the trail to recover from pneumonia. U.S. Democratic presidential
candidate will rally supporters in North Carolina this afternoon, but with no time to waste, she recorded a radio interview that reached voters across
the country first thing in the morning.
CNN's Don Lemon asked her about new polls that show her trailing Donald Trump in some key swing states.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I hope everybody who's listening take this really seriously and gets out there and works and votes
because we have to decide what kind of country we're going to be. Are we going to make our economy work for everybody or just those at the top? Are
we going to bring people together or demonize those who don't look like us or don't practice the
same religion and rip our country apart?
And are we going to work with our allies to keep us safe or are we going to put a loose canon in charge who would risk everything?
So the choice is clear, the stakes couldn't be higher.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Yeah, no time to lose.
Let's get the very latest from senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns.
Three days out and it's looking pretty tough back on the road for Hillary Clinton. She sounds all right, though, doesn't she?
JOE JOHNS, CNN CORERSPONDENT: I think so. She sounds strong. The campaign says the break from the trail gave Hillary Clinton time to sharpen
the argument she's going to make to voters in the final weeks of the campaign.
And today, she's headed to Greensboro, North Carolina, expected to give the second in a series of speeches laying out her aspirational vision for the
country. I think also important to say and you sort of eluded to it, Becky, that interview which was on the Tom Joiner show here in the states
was taped last night.
ANDERSON: She grudgingly followed her doctor's orders to slow down and rest to recuperate from this pneumonia. She has watched Donald Trump
effectively seize the spotlight since then.
So with these polls -- and I think the very latest poll showing an effective tie, or Donald Trump easing ahead just slightly, what does she
have to do next?
JOHNS: Well, you're right. Certainly very tight, within the margin of error I think these polls are. They show perhaps that Hillary Clinton lost
a little ground while she was down, while she was recovering from pneumonia. And what they think they need to do is lay out, if you will,
the aspirational case for Hillary Clinton. She spent so much time on the trail going after Donald Trump,
responding to his attacks, launching some of her own, they're concerned that her negatives have increased as she's attacked Donald Trump.
So now they want to lay out the positive case for why she says she ought to be president of the United States, the things she says she will do in hopes
of bringing some of those numbers back up, Becky.
ANDERSON: All right.
Joe, we are expecting a speech from her at some point in the next hour. Of course still to come, we are waiting for a big economic speech from Donald
Trump himself, a preview of the Republican's plans to reform the tax code is up
next.
Taking a very short break back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Right. You're watching CNN. This is Connect the World with me, Becky Anderson. Welcome back. We are waiting on a major speech from
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
He is expected to flesh out how he plans to boost the economy and reform the tax code. Economic forecasters say the details revealed so far would
make for a very expensive Trump presidency.
The British firm Oxford Economics says a fully implemented Trump's policies would cost the U.S. economy $1 trillion over the next five years.
Well, CNN Money correspondent Maggie Lake joining me now live from New York. And of course we all can't wait to sharpen our pencils and dig into
the details of this speech. Wait, will there be any detail? He's been long on vision and short on substance in these speeches.
MAGGIE LAKE, CNN MONEY: Don't you love the campaign season, Becky? It's true probable of all politicians. But Donald Trump, economists and even
some Republicans complain that there isn't a lot of detail.
We'll see if he starts to deliver a little bit more, you know, in recent days with some momentum behind him, we did hear him start to talk about
child care policy. Now, some take issue and say it's still directed at the sort of upper middle class to higher earners, not really helping poorer
families, but he did at least come up with a proposal.
So maybe we are going to hear more details. The areas people would like to hear about are particularly trade. There's been a lot of consternation
about some of his strong language about tariffs, slapping tariffs on different countries, renegotiating trade deals. That concerns an economist
when we hear that.
And will we hear more about immigration as well as there's another area where he saying he'd send back 11 million undocumented immigrants, although
he at times, sometimes, has softened the language on that. Again, that's an area of concern to
economists.
And I'm sort of talking nonpartisan here. What would that do to the U.S. economy. And that's some of the areas where you get that $1 trillion
number from Oxford Economics, the cost.
I will say to that number that we had the intro, Becky, both candidates are talking about spending a lot of money. How would they offset that spending
without blowing out the deficit? You can take them both to task on that, although some do say Hillary's tax cuts (sic) geared at the wealthy maybe
cover some of those expenses, probably not all of them.
Will Donald Trump continue to stick to tax cuts for all? That's another one of those math equations that could cause some issue with economists who
say how are you going to pay for it.
So those are the areas we want to hear some concrete details on.
ANDERSON: Economists of course those bean counters whose advice is ofttimes roundly rejected depending on which prism you are looking for and
from and through of course.
Has anybody priced up Hillary Clinton's economic policies as set out online?
I know that we are expecting to hear more from her this hour. But it's something like 112,000 words of policy on Hillary Clinton's website;
there's something like, what, 9,000 words of policy maximum on his.
LAKE: That's right. I don't know if anyone's priced out in the same way you have this headline coming from Oxford Economics on Trump's plan today.
But there is a lot more detail and people like that, or some economists and some in the community like that, because at least you have an idea, you can
quantify some of the things she's talking about.
And some of them aren't popular with everyone in the business community, but they have an idea, a handle on some of the policies considering.
Listen, I want to remind everyone, these are campaign promises. The reality is that any policy they're talking about
would have to get through congress as well. So the outcome of congress which is Republican controlled right now is going to mean everything. And
this is a congress in Washington that has basically been at a stalemate, bitterly divided
about whether to bring the deficit down or to try to have the government step in with some fiscal spending, which by the way central bankers say is
very much needed. They would like to see spending on infrastructure, things of that sort.
they haven't been able to get anything done because of the divisions.
So, whoever is the next president, these are all just campaign promises. these are not policies that are going to be enacted, but we know some of the things she cares about where she wants to spend, including on
infrastructure, on education, a lot of this is going to center around tax cuts, though, Becky, and that's very appealing to people who feel like
they've been shut out.
And this issue about trade, by the way, that fed up with globalization is another thing that to Donald Trump has really used effectively to connect
to people who, although their incomes may be going up, feel like they are also left out from some of these big gives you a guideline of what their
priorities will be. So, these are things expecting to stay on will the math makes sense to economists that remains to be seen.
ANDERSON: Right, that dirty word tax that came up a little earlier today with regards to Donald Trump himself who had still not released his tax
returns. His son said today -- what did you think of this -- his son basically said dad can't release his tax returns, because then everybody
will see them.
LAKE: Well, which is the point. I mean, that's sort of incredible. Yeah, I'm not sure what we get -- I don't think we have to say anything about
that.
He has said repeatedly that he can't release them because he's under audit. Most non-partisan tax experts will say, no, you can. And the IRS has said,
no, it's fine for you to release them. He hasn't.
But it hasn't hurt him, B ecky. And this is the problem. He's gaining momentum. He's not losing because he hasn't disclosed this.
I think there's a distrust of politicians we know some of the things -- maybe they're massaging it to make it look the best as they possibly can.
And Clinton, unfortunately, has also not been transparent as much as she could. We know a lot more about her than we do about Donald Trump, but she
has had issues with lapses of transparency.
So, I think there's a complete distrust and disgust of the part of voters. This is not the issue that seems to matter with them, although it matters
very much in Washington. So, I don't expect he will release them unless there is some enormous pressure. He starts to fall in the polls.
ANDERSON: Donald Trump Jr., and I quote, "because he, dad, has got a 12,000 page tax return that would create financial auditors out of every
person in the country asking questions that would detract from his father's main message," he said earlier.
LAKE: Yeah. I mean, listen, it is extraordinary that this is happening, but this has been an election period like none other.
You know, I want to bring something up, Becky -- and this will be interesting to see if he starts to tap into this. You know, this is --
going into this election, we said income inequality was going to matter a lot. There's a disgust with the establishment, but it's also a railing
against a system that people feel is rigged against them, that favors the very wealthy, the 1 percent, the insiders. We saw it with Wells Fargo
playing out once again, feeding in to that sort of break of trust of relationship not only with the political establishment, with the business
establishment, and business class as well.
You know, Donald Trump comes from that world. how is he going to appeal to the general audience and the average voter?
We haven't really seen that yet. Maybe we'll start to get a peak at whether he's got some things that will appeal to him on that front.
ANDERSON: And we will hear from him shortly. It was promised around now. You can see the room. Not there yet. We are on it. And viewers you will
get it as it happens.
Always a pleasure. Thank you.
Taking a short break. Back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(HEADLINES)
ANDERSON: And we are waiting for two events this hour. Busy hour, this one. Donald Trump scheduled to give a major speech on his plans to
reform the economy. Live pictures from New York on the left where the Republican
presidential candidate is scheduled to speak shortly. And Hillary Clinton about to
return to the campaign trail heading to a rally in Greensboro, North Carolina and
may speak to the media before she leaves.
A shot of the action there in New York. That's her plane for you on the right.
Well, former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell things Donald Trump is a disgrace and a pariah. And he considers Hillary Clinton greedy and full of
hubris.
Well, Powell never wanted us to know that, of course. But leaked emails are giving the public a look at the sum of his private opinions. Elise
Labott has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COLIN POWELL, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I also want to see the debates, at least one debate.
ELISE LABOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's been pretty quiet during the presidential campaign but privately, former secretary of state Colin Powell
is not holding back about the candidates. In e-mails hacked from his account and posted to the site DC Leaks, he describes Donald Trump as a,
"National disgrace and international pariah". An aide to Powell confirmed to CNN that the e-mails are real.
The retired four star general and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff slams what he calls a racist crusade by Trump over President Obama's birth
certificate, lampooning this prediction.
TRUMP: At the end of four years, I guarantee you that I will get over 95 percent of the African-American vote. I promise you.
LABOTT: A schizoid fantasy saying Trump takes us for idiots. But Powell is also lukewarm about Hillary Clinton writing a friend in 2015, "Everything
Hillary Rodham Clinton touches, she kind of screws up with hubris. I would rather not have to vote for her. Although she's a friend I respect", Powell
said, criticizing Clinton's unbridled ambition and calling her greedy and not transformational. He added an color insult about her marriage to Bill
Clinton.
Powell also resented being dragged into the e-mail scandal after the FBI revealed citing that his advice as justification for her private server.
Powell according to one e-mail to a friend, told Clinton staff three times not to try that gambit. And then through what he called a mini tantrum at a
Hampton's party to get their attention.
In an interview with CNN last month, Clinton was on damage control.
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He was incredibly gracious and helpful after I was nominated and before I took the job.
LABOTT: But Powell dismissed the Republican fire storm against Clinton over the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, as a stupid a witch hunt. Though he didn't
absolve her or Ambassador Chris Steven who was killed in the attack.
In an e-mail to his successor, Condolezza Rica, he writes, "Basic fault falls on a courageous ambassador, adding blame also rests on his leaders in
Washington and yes, HRC. Rice responded, "Completely agree."
Now, these leaks came from DC Leaks on the same day hacker about the Gucifer2.0 released more information from the Democratic National
Committee. Experts appointed to Russian state elements as actors behind those DNC Leaks. No word yet on any ties to the hacking of Powell's
account.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Live from Abu Dhabi, you're watching Connect the World. We've been doing the U.S. presidential campaign for you. And we're going to get
an insiders perspective on Donald Trump's economic policies from one of his
leading advisers. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: You're watching CNN. This is Connect the World with me, Becky Anderson. Just straightening my jacket for you. Welcome back.
For some insight on Donald Trump's plans to reform the American economy as we await his big speech as promised to lay out his plans. Cristina Alesci
spoke to one of Trump's leading advisers, Tom Barrack, who says it's time for the U.S. to get more aggressive in trade negotiations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM BARRACK, ECONOMIC ADVISER: I think it's safe to say from my experience in dealing with world leaders and business leaders that the U.S. has lost
its prestige as a negotiator.
You have to give Americans an equal playing field. If you're dealing with China right now, Trump is right. I mean, I do a lot with the Chinese. I
admire them. They're amazing. And there's a lot to be learned from what they do, but they run over us. They happen to be the biggest over of our
debt, but they run all over us.
CRISTINA ALESCI, They don't have a legislative process in which they have to go back and say is my currency going to float or not? Am I going to
enforce these pirating and intellectual property rules? Am I going to let Google in?
They just do it.
People don't understand how complicated the trade negotiation process is.
So part of the solution is taking a chapter out of what happened in the financial crisis. Hank Paulson did an amazing job in a very difficult
environment because he went to congress and got super plenary powers that allowed him to act without having to go back to congress time and time and
time again.
ALESCI: OK, but you're arguing that a trade representative, it could essentially stop China from cheating.
ALESCI: No. I'm saying that all of this happens in baby steps.
BARRACK: You need a stick. And a stick is they need to sell goods to us. everybody En the world needs to sell goods to us.
I mean, North America is blessed by being surrounded by oceans. And amongst the three countries, we could survive by ourselves. So, all of us
is just a first step forward saying, you want to have a discussion, we can have a discussion with a six gun in our holster.
ALESCI: But don't they have a gun in their holster too?
BARRACK: Zero. Zero.
ALESCI: What?
BARRACK: Who?
ALESCI: What about cheap goods? America is addicted to cheap goods.
BARRACK: So what? Well, who are they going to sell them to? Hank Paulson said it the best is if you want to have true efficacy, then you can sit
with squirt guns and squirt each other and nothing will happen or you can build
a bazooka.
ALESCI: Well, what's the bazooka with China? And how do you know that they don't have a bazooka?
BARRACK: We have the bazooka because we're the market in which they have to
sell. So the real issue is what if they dump their debt? What happens to the dollar if they dump their debt? They're not going to -- where are they
going to dumpt their debt? What are they going to alternate into? We're the currency of choice. We're the postal stamp of capital preservation.
It's not going to happen.
I think it's safe to say from my experience in dealing with world leaders and business leaders around the world that the U.S. has lost its prestige
as a negotiator.
ALESCI: You just came out with a paper -- trade is anything but free. Is this the basis for Trump's position on trade going forward?
BARRACK: It's basically a lot of his ideas that have just been condensed into a more scripted tone with a lot of definitions.
ALESCI: Is he listening to his advisers? You're making the case very rationally, and there will be some people who find what you're saying, that
it makes sense.
But he's not making that case. He's off talking about building a wall and the fact that China is raping us, that rhetoric is not helpful to our
relationship with the rest of the world, is it?
BARRACK: Actually, I think it is. And it is -- look at Mexico. Why would the president of Mexico meet with a candidate? He risked his presidency in
saying there's something meaningful that I can construct with a man like this that I haven't been able to construct with the current president of
the United States. That's the simple test. That's the way that I look at it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Tom Barrack speaking to one of my colleagues, right.
You'll see on the screen, the warm-up act, as it were, for Donald Trump who is expected to in the next couple minutes get to the podium and get us an
economic speech.
And CNN Money's correspondent Maggie Lake joining me now from New York. We were speaking a little earlier this hour about whether we might get some
flesh on the bones, as it were, of what has been until now pretty much economic vision rather than substantive fact.
Ahead of this speech, of course, one economic analysis house in the UK has suggested what we know about his economic policies to date could cost the
U.S. $1 trillion, to which Tom Barrack, who we just saw being interviewed there
said one thing we know about economists is that they never get it right -- Maggie.
LAKE: Yeah, that may be true. Maybe off the mark on certain forecasts, but everything you heard him just lay out is exactly what frightens
investors so much, no matter what party they are from, Becky.
The idea that there is nothing to risk and China has no big stick and that they're not going to dump currencies is jaw-dropping to so many in the
financial markets. And I frankly don't know what basis they are using that.
China holds an enormous amount of U.S. treasuries. To say that trade deals haven't been the best and could be renegotiated is one thing, to suggest
that there is no price to be paid for that is another.
Here comes Donald Trump I think. So, I don't know if we're going to break away from this conversation or not, but that is dangerous rhetoric when you
talk to people on Wall Street.
ANDERSON: All right, well Mike Pence is handing over. Thank you, Maggie.
Let's give the floor, as it were, to Donald Trump.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. It's a great honor to be with you, and we had some really
incredible things happen today. The polls are coming out. We're leading in so many polls, I can't tell you, I don't know where to begin. But that's a good feeling.
And we are -- I guess CNN just came out, we're leading nationwide with CNN. We're leading in Ohio, and we're leading, I think it just came out, we're leading in North Carolina, Florida, we're leading, and we're having a lot of fun. We're having a lot of fun on the campaign and on the trail.
I just wanted to say that -- and it's always a lot of fun when you come up and the people don't have the teleprompter working, but that's OK. Lucky I brought some notes.
But today, I do want to outline a plan for American economic revival, and it's a bold and ambitious and forward-looking plan to massively increase jobs, wages, income, and opportunities for the people of our country. Great people of our country, I will tell you.
My plan will embrace the truth that people flourish under a minimum government burden and will tap into the incredible, unrealized potential of our workers and their dreams.
Right now, 92 million Americans are on the sideline outside of the workforce, and they're not a part of our economy. It's a silent nation of jobless Americans. And look no further -- and I mean no further -- all you have to do is look at Flint, where I spent a lot of time, the city of Flint, and what a disaster has taken place.
The jobs have been stripped from the community, and its infrastructure has totally collapsed. In 1970, there were more than 80,000 people in Flint working for General Motors. Today, it's less than $8,000 (sic). We have 8,000 people. And that's going down, and they're making very, very little, and people are trying to go down to that $8,000 mark.
What we're doing is Ford, Ford has announced just yesterday that they're moving their small car production facilities to Mexico. And I've been talking about this a long while and I think that's maybe one of the reasons that we're doing so well in Ohio and Michigan and lots of other places where cars and parts are involved. But to think that Ford is moving its small car division is a disgrace. It's disgraceful. It's disgraceful that our politicians allow them to get away with it. It really is.
It used to be, cars were made in Flint and you couldn't drink the water in Mexico. Now, cars are made in Mexico and you can't drink the water in Flint.
But we're going to turn this around. My economic plan rejects the cynicism that says our labor force will keep declining. That our jobs will keep leaving, and that our economy can never grow as it did once before. And boy, oh boy, did it used to grow.
We reject the pessimism that says our standard of living can no longer rise, and that all there is really left to divide, because frankly, we're looking at an economy now of no growth and redistribution of wealth, and that's not going to work.
Everything that is broken today can be fixed, and every failure can be turned into a truly great success. Just look at the way I just melded into the teleprompter that just went on. Who else could have pulled that off, OK? Who else.
Jobs can stop leaving our country, and they will just absolutely start pouring in. It can happen. Failing schools can become flourishing schools. Crumbling roads and bridges can become gleaming, new infrastructure. Inner cities can experience a flood of new jobs and investment. And rising crime can give way to safe and prosperous communities. All of these things, and so much more, are possible. But to accomplish them, we must replace the present policy of globalism, which has just taken so many jobs out of our communities, and so much wealth out of our country, and replace it with a new policy of Americanism. America first. Remember that. Under this American system, every policy decision we make must pass a simple test. Does it create more jobs and better wages for Americans? It's a test. If we lower our taxes, remove destructive regulations, and we have to do that, unleash the vast treasure of American energy, and negotiate trade deals that put America first, then there is no limit to the number of jobs that we can create and the amount of prosperity we can unleash. America will truly be the greatest place in the world, to invest, hire, grow, and to create new jobs, new technologies, and entire new industries.
(APPLAUSE)
Instead -- thank you.
Instead of driving jobs and wealth away, America will become the world's great magnet for innovation and job creation. My opponent's plan rejects this optimism. She offers only more taxing, and her tax increases are unbelievable. More regulating, more spending, and more wealth redistribution. A future of slow growth, declining incomes, and dwindling prosperity. The only people who get rich under Hillary Clinton are the donors and the special interests, but bad for our country.
In Hillary Clinton's America, we have surrendered our status as the world's great economy, and we have surrendered our middle class to the whims of foreign countries. We take care of them better than we take care of ourselves.
Not one single idea she's got will create one net American job, or create one new dollar of American wealth for our workers. The only thing she can offer is a welfare check. That's about it.
Our plan will produce paychecks, and they're going to be great paychecks for millions of people now unemployed or underemployed.
In the course of this campaign, I've travelled all across the country and I've met the most amazing people. Every day, I've seen the goodness and character of our country, and brave citizens proudly fighting through hard times and difficult circumstances. I have been all over this country, folks, and we have unbelievable people, but they need leadership. The country needs leadership.
In many parts of our country, the hard times never seem to end. I visited cities and towns in upstate New York where half of the jobs had left and moved to Mexico and other countries. The businesses are gone, they've been taken away, like taking candy from a baby.
Politicians have abandoned these places all over the country, and the people who live there are just there. No hope.
Worse still, politicians have heaped scorn and disdain on these wonderful Americans. My opponent described tens of millions of American citizens as deplorable and irredeemable just last week. So how can Hillary Clinton seek to lead this country when she considers its citizens, tremendous, tremendous numbers of them, beyond redemption? The hard working people she calls deplorable are the most admirable people I know.
(APPLAUSE)
They're cops and soldiers, teachers and firefighters, young and old, moms and dads, blacks and whites, Latinos. Above all everything else, they're Americans. Some are rich Americans, some are poor Americans, they're Americans. They love their families, they love their country, and they want a better future. These are the forgotten men and women of our country, and they have been forgotten. People who work hard but don't have a voice. I'm running to be their voice.
(APPLAUSE)
And to fight and bring prosperity to every part of this country.
Too many of our leaders have forgotten that it's their duty to protect the jobs, wages, and well being of American workers before any consideration. Before anything, we have to do that. I'm not running to be the president of the world. I'm running to be the president of the United States of America.
(APPLAUSE)
And as your president, I will fight for every last American job and every American company, which really, a lot of companies in this room, I can tell you, we're going to be fighting for you. Because you're bringing the jobs.
We're a nation that tamed the West, dug out the Panama Canal, and won two world wars, and put a man on the moon.
END
