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Erin Burnett Outfront
Trump: Clinton May Be "Most Corrupt" Candidate Ever; Clinton: Trump Speech "Full of Lies"; Trump Accuses Clinton of Taking "Blood Money"; Trump, Clinton Unleash Dueling Attacks Over Economy; Trump: Clinton Gave China Our Best Jobs; Interview with Eric Trump; Interview with Congressman Chris Van Hollen of Marylan. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired June 22, 2016 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:11] ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, all-out war. Donald Trump calling Hillary Clinton a world class liar, the most corrupt candidate for president ever. Hillary Clinton firing back tonight.
Plus, Donald Trump calls himself the king of debt. Is that a good thing?
And breaking news. Democrats staging a sit-in on the House floor, demanding action on gun control. Will it finally work? Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening, I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, the war of words. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton hammering each other, getting personal. Trump today relentlessly attacking Hillary Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: She's a world- class liar. Hillary Clinton may be the most corrupt person ever to seek the presidency of the United States. Hillary Clinton has perfected the politics of personal profit and even theft. She ran the State Department like her own personal hedge fund. Her decisions spread death, destruction and terrorism everywhere she touched. Her campaign slogan is "I'm with her." You know what my response is to that? I'm with you, the American people.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Clinton firing back, attacking Trump's core issue, his plan for the economy, and she mocked his personal bankruptcies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The self- proclaimed king of debt. Has no real ideas for making college more affordable or addressing the student debt crisis. He has no credible plan for rebuilding our infrastructure, apart from his wall. He has no real strategy for creating jobs, just a string of empty promises. And maybe we shouldn't expect better from someone whose most famous words are "You're fired!"
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Despite the tough talk, Trump abandoned his more controversial talking points. He read off the teleprompter, he reached out to what he called peaceful Muslims who only want to raise their kids in peace and safety. Is this the retooled Trump that Republicans and big money donors want to see?
Phil Mattingly begins our coverage OUTFRONT. Phil, you have been talking to GOP officials since the speech. Is this it? Is this what they have been waiting for and is this going to turn the tide?
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as one Congressional official told me today, Erin. It was a lot more good than bad or maybe as Paul Ryan told Wolf Blitzer just a little bit ago, the Speaker of the House saying, this is the kind of speech you want your candidate to be making. And that's just the issue, Erin. For weeks, Republicans from those who are ardent Trump supporters, to those firmly in the Never Trump camp, have just wanted Donald Trump to get out of his own way. Allow the party to attack Hillary Clinton. Well today teleprompters and all, that's exactly what Donald Trump did.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: Hillary Clinton may be the most corrupt person ever to seek the presidency.
MATTINGLY (voice-over): Today, a disciplined Donald Trump staying on script and is launching his most sustained and fears multi-front attack on Hillary Clinton.
TRUMP: The other candidate in this race has spent her entire life making money for special interests and she's been taking plenty of money out for herself.
MATTINGLY: The presumptive GOP nominee unleashing a scathing critique less than a day after Clinton's second major speech, painting Trump as unstable.
CLINTON: Just like he shouldn't have his finger on the button, he shouldn't have his hands on our economy.
MATTINGLY: Trump's speech comes as he has faced weeks of negative headlines, poor poll numbers, anemic fund-raising and internal campaign turmoil. Today Trump trying to turn the page and focus entirely on his general election opponent.
TRUMP: Her campaign slogan is, "I'm with her." You know what my response is to that? I'm with you, the American people.
MATTINGLY: Trump trying to right his campaign, attacking Clinton on her time as a private citizen, her years as first lady and her record as secretary of state.
TRUMP: Hillary Clinton's tryout for the presidency has produced one deadly foreign policy disaster after another.
MATTINGLY: Trump also raising more conspiratorial charges of deliberate Malthusians (ph) by Clinton during the 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi.
TRUMP: Among the victims of our late Ambassador Chris Stevens. I mean, what she did with him was absolutely horrible. He was left helpless to die, as Hillary Clinton soundly slept in her bed. That's right. When the phone rang, as per the commercial, at 3:00 in the morning, Hillary Clinton was sleeping.
MATTINGLY: Claims debunked by Democratic and Republican Congressional investigations. Some of Trump's attacks more on point, including his criticism of Clinton for saying in 2008 that as first lady she landed in Bosnia under sniper fire.
TRUMP: She said she was under attack and the attack turned out to be young girls handing her flowers. Brian Williams' career was destroyed for saying less.
[19:05:30] MATTINGLY: Trump, often criticized for his campaign's lack of specifics outlined eight priorities for the first hundred days in office. Including judicial appointments, changes to immigration laws, a repeal of ObamaCare, and, quote, "massive tax reform."
TRUMP: There is one common theme in all of these reforms. It's going to be America first.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MATTINGLY: Now, Erin, Donald Trump on message today. But also flexing some muscle on the fund-raising side of things. One of his top aides telling me that over the course of the last 24 hours, Trump has raised more than $3 million on just his first online fund-raising e-mail. We have been talking all week about how bad his fundraising numbers were in the last month. That at least showing his ability to raise. The question though with all of this remains the same. How long will it last -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Phil Mattingly, thank you very much.
And now David Gergen who has served as adviser to four presidents including Reagan and Clinton. Kayleigh McEnany, Trump's supporter. Clinton supporter Basil Smikle and Mark Preston, our executive editor of Politics.
Kayleigh, disciplined speech, a scripted speech. A teleprompter speech. Some things in it you heard Phil Mattingly reporting, true. The Bosnia claim, for example. Others, though, not true. Debunked. Things like the Benghazi claim. Why not keep it clean? Why put in things that have been debunked.
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: Well, I think the issue is that it just was false. I think he's metaphorically saying, look, she was sleeping. She should have answer the phone. She should have been there. There were multiple requests for security that were not delivered. Those are all facts. We could say the same about Hillary Clinton, who has categorically called Donald Trump a fraud and made a conclusion and tending litigation by saying that Trump University was a fraud.
We could painstakingly fact check her as well and say, that's not true, he's not a fraud. So, I think fact checkers sometimes are a little off especially some that are out there that are painstakingly check Donald Trump. But the fact is, he is right. He laid out facts about the Clinton Foundation, he laid out facts about Benghazi. He cited victims of Benghazi's families who said that Hillary Clinton lied to them, point blank. These are facts that she has to answer.
BURNETT: Yes. I mean, I've interviewed some of those family members, I mean, some of them have personal issues and grievances with Hillary Clinton, others of them do not share that anger. But that's also, you know, those are those families and how they feel. Basil, Trump did go after her very directly and it was very personal. Right? He called her a world-class liar, just one -- among the things he said. Let me just play a little more of that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Hillary Clinton wants to be president. But she doesn't have the temperament or as Bernie Sanders said very strongly, the judgment to be president. She does not have the judgment.
She believes she's entitled to the office. Her campaign slogan is "I'm with her." You know what my response is to that? I'm with you, the American people.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Strong line?
BASIL SMIKLE, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: I'm with you, to me, refers to a very, very narrow group of people, as he's been talking about throughout his campaign. The words that came to my mind, churlish, unsubstantiated and worthy of a school yard. That's what I've thought his speech exemplified to me. Whereas if you compared that to Hillary, her speech today laid out very substantial policy recommendations for the future and enumerated them very, very well.
You're not going to see that from Donald Trump. I don't care what kind of stage craft comes to his aid. I don't care what kind of teleprompters he can put up and be more scripted and more constrained. You can -- I mean, forget what you say, but I'm not going to forget how you made me feel. And I think the American voters have developed a very strong opinion of Donald Trump, 70 percent unfavorables. I don't see that going away by any kind of scripted event.
BURNETT: Mark, point out, though. Paul Ryan, who has come out and said, go ahead and vote your conscious at the convention. Came out and said this is the kind of speech I want my nominee to get. Not an insignificant statement. Right? Donald Trump, did he do what he needed to do? Did he talk to the big donors and the establishment GOP leadership and get them to stop undercutting him?
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Let me answer this two ways. Yes, he did in the sense that Paul Ryan at the end of Donald Trump's speech, didn't have to answer questions about Donald Trump attacking Paul Ryan or any of the other Republican leaders or anyone else in the Republican Party. The focus was on Hillary Clinton.
BURNETT: For a group of people.
PRESTON: Or a group of people or the lobbyists that were supposed to fund them. Having said that, just as I was critical of Hillary Clinton's speech yesterday because I thought that it lacked the pizazz that it could have had, because I thought it was a bit too boring. I think that Donald Trump today would have been better stylistically not to have a speech that went on for 45 minutes and ran the whole gamut. He would have been smart to break that speech up into several different speeches, given over several different weeks and focus in what he sees her biggest vulnerabilities. On the economy, on foreign policy and what have you. And then put his own prescriptions in. I don't think that would be stylistically, strategically a better way to attack Hillary Clinton.
[19:10:21] BURNETT: David, win or lose?
DAVID GERGEN, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: I think he heartened his supporters, and I think he left the Clinton people seething with anger. You know, it was a better crafted speech than he's been giving. It was more disciplined. It had the, you know, it had that -- I thought particularly effective line, you know, her motto is, I'm with her. My motto is, I'm with you. The American people. Most effective line -- one of the most effective lines of his campaign, frankly. You know?
And I think a lot of his supporters will say it was not one speech that's going to make the difference. The difference we're going to be looking out for a pattern, running up to the convention. But I think he helped himself in that regard. At the same time, I think we have to step back and ask what in the devil is happening to American politics. I mean, because this speech was the most slanderous speech I've heard by a nominee to a major party. I mean, he really --
BURNETT: Right. He called her phony, he called her pathetic --
GERGEN: He's basically --
BURNETT: He called her world-class liar, all of that in that speech.
GERGEN: He is taking the distrust of Hillary Clinton, which is high, and the distaste for Hillary Clinton, which is high, and he's trying to turn it into she's corrupt. She's been enriching herself all her life at the public troth. There is no evidence to support -- he cited to two books. He linked heavily on two books today. One by a secret service guy talking about her. That has been discredit by other people in the secret service. A second book called "Clinton Cash" and the author himself has said, you know, he made a lot of allegations, but he said I have no hard evidence to show --
BURNETT: That is true. That is true.
MCENANY: But the "New York Times" called that book meticulously sourced. Those are the words of the "New York Times" not my own. Not only that, when you look at the book, there are some very real questions in there. And I know we're going to get into this in the next segment so I don't want to get into it too much --
GERGEN: Questions do not make you corrupt.
MCENANY: No, but here's the thing. Why did Bill Clinton give a speech for $475,000 to a company and then that company, which was selling goods to Iran, this telecom company all of a sudden not listed on a sanctions list? And this is not one allegation. There are multiple -- not by just this book, the "New York Times," "The Washington Post" several very reputable sources.
GERGEN: When you make a charge that someone is corrupt and you use as a presidential candidate a letter from a woman who says that Hillary Clinton ought to be in jail, not in White House, you're going to lengths we haven't seen in presidential politics and you ought to be held to a standard of truth. Of truth. Of being able to prove it. Not just a series of allegations.
BURNETT: Right.
(CROSSTALK)
MCENANY: One thing. Shouldn't Hillary Clinton then have to prove that Donald Trump is a fraud? If we're going to hold him with the standard --
GERGEN: I agree with that. I agree with that.
SMIKLE: But I think she has been. And I think she's laying her campaign in those speeches over time that will do that. It will undermine all of the rhetoric.
BURNETT: OK. But she's -- there were a very serious allegations made of corruption. Are some of them true or we're looking into them as well? We're going to have more of that coming up, plus the breaking news a dramatic sit-in happening right now in the House floor, this is dramatic. Literally sitting on the floor, promising not to leave until there is a vote. They could be there for days, people. Days.
And did Donald Trump's kids convince him to fire his campaign manager? My guest tonight, Eric Trump, he is coming OUTFRONT.
And Hillary Clinton firing back at Trump's attacks today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Now think about it. He's going after me personally, because he has no answers on the substance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:16:50] BURNETT: Tonight, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump going to war over the Clinton Foundation. Trump hammering her in a speech over donations the organization took while she was secretary of state. And Clinton is now firing back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: She ran the State Department like her own personal hedge fund doing favors for oppressive regimes and many others and really many, many others in exchange for cash. Pure and simple, folks. Pure and simple.
CLINTON: The Clinton Foundation helps poor people around the world get access to life-saving aides medicine. Donald Trump using poor people around the world to produce his line of suits and ties.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Drew Griffin is OUTFRONT. And Drew, you know, so much has been made of the Clinton Foundation. Taking money from corrupt regimes. So, let's get the facts here. How much money, what corrupt regimes?
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they are specifically talking about these Middle Eastern countries, poor human rights records, poor records when it comes to women's' rights and even some tacitly supporting terrorism. And you're talking about big money too here, Erin. This is the accounting from the Clinton Foundation. $14.5 million from Saudi Arabia. Now, on Saudi Arabia, now on Saudi Arabia, they say none of that money came while she was secretary of state. But you also have 5 to $10 million from Kuwait and on down the line. And again, these are actual governments giving money to the Clinton Foundation.
BURNETT: So Donald Trump is now trying to draw a direct connections, right, between donations to the Clinton Foundation and Hillary Clinton's decisions as secretary of state. Right? That there were some sort of quid pro quo. Is there anything to that from your reporting at this time?
GRIFFIN: Erin, this is one of the most hotly debated questions surrounding all this money that Clinton Foundation takes in and the amount of money Bill Clinton has been personally been given for speeches or consulting or sitting on boards while Mrs. Clinton was secretary of state. It's a huge amount of money, hundreds of millions of dollars. But drawing connections between her specific actions at the State Department and these donations is hard to prove. I'll give you one example.
Monsanto, this U.S. base global food giant trying to increase worldwide business in the biotech food industry. It's a major donor to the Clinton Foundation, somewhere between one and $5 million. It also takes part in a lot of projects through the foundation. And during his former Secretary of State, Monsanto asked for help from the State Department in trying to open up new markets for biotech foods and Hillary Clinton has made some statements supporting the industry. Does that mean there was a pay to play arrangement here? The Clinton campaign, of course, says no. Mrs. Clinton was just supporting American business and Americans in general, but a lot of people raise it as a conspiracy theory.
BURNETT: All right. Drew Griffin, thank you very much.
All right. My panel is back with me. Kayleigh, let me start with you. All right. You can say Monsanto, good example Drew gave. Lobbying, while donating. But there is no direct evidence that anything inappropriate happened, he said. If you can certainly explain that with, she's helping promote American business. It make sense.
MCENANY: Well, two quick points. One, there is a lot of circumstantial evidence. So, you know, for instance the "New York Times" reported that Clinton did not disclose she was required to disclose but did not disclose a $2.35 million donation from a company called uranium one. Uranium one been subsequently as approved by the State Department to acquire 20 percent of the United States uranium. There's circumstantial evidence.
And Jennifer Reuben at the "Washington Post" makes a very smart point. She says with quid pro quo, if you destroy evidence, perhaps destroy 33,000 e-mails or hide donations that then is evidence, it's called spoliation of evidence in the court of law, that is evidence that you are hiding something for an adverse reason. She makes the argument analogizing it to the McDonnell case, where we remember Governor McDonnell's case saying, you know, perhaps there is a case here, perhaps it is totally fine for Donald Trump to make this inference.
BURNETT: What do you say, David? Does any of this add up to you?
GERGEN: Yes. I think it's very important for the Clinton Foundation to issue a white paper or open up its books in some fashion to deal with these issues. I do think transparency --
BURNETT: Every donation every day is listed.
GERGEN: I think it would be very forward-leaning. Because is there is a distrust of Mrs. Clinton and he's got to deal with that not only to win the election but to govern. And therefore, I think she ought to take a very transparent approach to this. Having said that, I also think it's sort of like -- you know, we have got to get serious about how the world works. You know, there are -- philanthropy is driving a lot of economic change and economic development in the world, bringing a lot of people out of poverty.
And a lot of this money goes into working with the poor, working with the questions of climate change. And that is -- look at America. I raised money from our governments for scholarships to send Arab students to American University. You know, other people do that. This is the way the world works. If you're not going to do it through government, you know, and investments, then philanthropy is an incredibly important part of how we advance people in this country and in the world.
[19:21:48] BURNETT: So Basil, would you recommend as Hillary Clinton supporter they put everything out? Because I think you may raise a very fair point. Big part of the problem here is that Kayleigh just listed the uranium company. Right? You see that in the New York Times article. You see in here and it's always a new name. Why not lead and put them all out there? Let everybody sniff around it?
SMIKLE: I think they have been transparent. I think they have been accountable. This is a nonprofit foundation. You have to do that. She acknowledged in the interview that some things fell through the cracks. She actually acknowledged that. I don't think she has a problem with being transparent. But look, for full disclosure, she talked about the work that's been done in Africa with HIV and AIDS.
I've actually been on some of those trips and I've seen the work that's been done. Going to countries where the average life expectancy is 36 years old. So, I mean, there is transparency and accountability with respect to the work that they're doing. So, you know, but when you throw out certain words about, you know, the trying to create this causality, you're not finding it and I don't think you will.
MCENANY: There is also a problem though with the charitable aspect. Because if we look through the 2014 tax returns of the Clinton Foundation, we found that they spend more on office supplies and administrative costs far more than they did on charitable givings. In fact, they spent approximately 10 percent or just that over on charitable givings. And a top charity watchdog organization actually put them on a watch list because of this. So there are real questions about this foundation and it's great the work that you says. That is great. But we need to look into this organization if he's running for president.
GERGEN: But it's a leap to go from questions to charge somebody with being corrupt. And that they're enriching themselves. And there's a real distinction as you know, having gone to law school, that you have got to be careful about what you say in a presidential campaign. If you wish to be president, there's a standard we expect.
MCENANY: Neither of these candidates should be president then. Because Hillary Clinton --
GERGEN: Well, a lot of Americans believe that.
MCENANY: Hillary Clinton calling Donald Trump a fraud with no evidence of that.
PRESTON: The Attorney General has stated --
SMIKLE: Two newer candidates, quite frankly, given their high negatives right now. BURNETT: Well, the high negatives. OK. On this point, though. The
point of trustworthiness, Mark. This is a serious issue when it comes to the foundation in Hillary Clinton. More people think Donald Trump is honest and trustworthy than think Hillary Clinton, among registered voters. He beats her by eight points. It's not insignificant. Forty five percent to 37. They're both underwater. Americans think they're both liars. But he does a lot better than she does. That's pretty significant.
PRESTON: Significant and something that has dogged the Clintons, you know, since they've been in the public eye, certainly in the national public eye, because they seem to be secretive and very much along the lines, do as I say not as I do. Right? A lot of people look at them and say, look, they're telling us how to live our lives but yet live to a different standard. Right?
GERGEN: That's an important point.
PRESTON: Right. And that's a problem, right? That's a big problem for them. With Donald Trump, it appears, right, that he is speaking his mind and he is being truthful. Now maybe he is, maybe he isn't. But the appearance is he is. And that's why you see him --
BURNETT: Appearance is not.
PRESTON: Absolutely, appearance is 99.9 percent of a victory. It absolutely is.
BURNETT: Voting for president is often about. It's about your gut, it's about your emotion. It is not about these facts add up or do not add up. It's just not. For most voters.
All right. All coming back, next Trump bragging that he is the king of debt. Is that good for this country or not?
And breaking news live on Capitol Hill. A sit-in that could last for days and days. They're going to sit there on the floor in their suits and dresses. We're going to talk to one congressman who is in that room and says he is not leaving. We're going to find out why.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:29:02] BURNETT: New tonight, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton going toe-to-toe. Within hours, the two presumptive nominees went before cameras to slam what they claim is their opponent's abysmal track record when it comes to money.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Donald Trump offers no real solutions for the economic challenges we face.
TRUMP: Hillary Clinton gave China millions of jobs, our best jobs.
CLINTON: We can't let Donald Trump bankrupt America the way he bankrupted his casinos. TRUMP: She gets rich making you poor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Jeff Zeleny is OUTFRONT with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hillary Clinton is striking back.
CLINTON: He's going after me personally, because he has no answers on the substance.
ZELENY: Hours after Donald Trump searing attack, Clinton offering a poignant rebuttal. She calls Trump unfit to lead the U.S. economy.
CLINTON: He has no real strategy for creating jobs, just a string of empty promises.
[19:30:05] And maybe we shouldn't expect better from someone whose most famous words are, "You're fired."
ZELENY (voice-over): In back-to-back speeches, a theme is emerging, as she tries defining Trump.
CLINTON: In fact, he doubled down on being the king of debt. He says, "I playing with debt."
ZELENY: Trump defending himself, embracing that label and trying to explain.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I'm the king of debt. I'm great with debt. Nobody knows debt better than me. I made a fortune by using debt. And if things don't work out, I renegotiate the debt. I mean, that's the smart thing, not a stupid thing.
ZELENY: Their dueling appearances, insults aside, opening a debate over the direction of the economy.
CLINTON: Donald Trump offers no real solutions for the economic challenges we face. He just continues to spout reckless ideas that will run up our debt and cause another economic crash.
ZELENY: Trump hitting Clinton hard on NAFTA and other trade agreements, fighting words in the critical Rust Belt battleground states.
TRUMP: I have decided, and visited cities and towns across America, all across America, and seen the devastation caused by the trade policies of Bill and Hillary Clinton. And it's total devastation.
ZELENY: Fewer policy ideas emerging than accusations.
TRUMP: Our trade deficit with China soared 40 percent during Hillary Clinton's time as secretary of state -- a disgraceful performance for which she should not be congratulated but rather scorned.
ZELENY: But Clinton making sure she intends to make Trump own his words and proposals.
CLINTON: Here's the bottom line -- economists left, right and center all agree. Donald Trump will drive America back into recession.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZELENY: Now, if you are looking for a high-minded discussion on the economy from these presidential candidates, you are likely disappointed. Far more insults than new ideas. But Hillary Clinton is intent on branding Donald Trump. Not calling him a liar as he did her, but trying above all to show voters, he is in this for himself, and he has little interest or ability to lift the economy for anyone else -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Jeff Zeleny, thank you.
And now, Gene Sperling, Hillary Clinton economic adviser, Peter Navarro, policy adviser for Donald Trump.
All right, gentlemen. Start your engines.
Peter, let me start with you. Donald Trump keeps embracing "king of debt." OK, the United States has a hell of a lot of it. But it's not what you want to brag about. It's not what you want to emphasize that you're good at, especially when his record on debt is basically saying I'm not going to pay it all back and negotiating with people. That's not what the United States can do.
What would he do?
PETER NAVARRO, DONALD TRUMP POLICY ADVISER: Well, let's set the central fact of the debate. First of all, when Obama took office, the debt was $10 trillion. When he leaves office, it's going to be $20 trillion. So, my apologies to Mr. Trump. Obama is the real king of debt.
What Donald Trump is, Erin, he's the king of managing debt. And managing debt is both a skill and a strategy. It's a strategy that you and I adopt when we go refinance our home mortgages to take advantage of a lower interest rate. It's a strategy that a business executive adopts when they do something like roll over short-term debt into long-term debt to lock in lower interest rates.
So I have no problem at all. In fact, I celebrate Donald Trump for being the king of managing debt. It is smart. And that's what Donald Trump will do. And he is going to be inherited with $20 trillion --
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: So he'll refinance -- he'll do lower interest rates. But he's not going to go in and say, oh, guess what, I'm not going to pay it back. You better take 3 cents on the dollar or something because that's all I'm going to give you, because that is countries like Argentina do. That is not what the United States does.
NAVARRO: Erin, he distinguishes very what the government does, what businesses does. But the thing is, do you want a professional business person in there with a skill and the ability to strategize over managing what is going to be a really big debt versus Hillary Clinton who has never refinanced a mortgage in her life, personally. And she wouldn't have a clue about the interest rate cycle.
BURNETT: Gene?
GENE SPERLING, HILLARY CLINTON ECONOMIC ADVISER: You know, it's just -- it's just stunning that we have a nominee for president from the Republican Party who does not show even the slightest understanding of what it means to honor the U.S. debt or take care of the way you talk about the competence of the United States' dollar, the United States' full faith in credit.
1790, Alexander Hamilton, our founding father, laid out the playbook. He said, when it comes to our national debt, we have to have 100 percent ironclad commitment to keeping our word.
[19:35:01] We shouldn't even do things that raise any degree of question.
Now, you have Donald Trump, and I'm -- going to quote from him. He says, you know, "|You borrow and if your economy crashes, you make a deal." Then he says it's like going no a poker game. And when he's called on the fact that he's essentially carelessly threatening default, he says, "Well, we'll just print the money."
So this is person who is running for president, who is raising the specter of default, the specter of printing money, does he have any clue that talking -- even talking that way could be catastrophic? This is why the economists, when they were doing listing the threats to the global economy, list Donald Trump being president as a higher threat than Brexit -- even a higher threat than the impact terrorism might have on the global economy. That's rather stunning.
BURNETT: Peter, I see you laughing, but when Gene quoted Trump, he quoted him correctly. Let me play how he put it when he was on CNBC.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
TRUMP: I would borrow, knowing if the economy crashed, you could make a deal.
ANCHOR: You're not talking about renegotiating sovereign bonds that the U.S. has already issued.
TRUMP: No, I don't want to renegotiate the bonds. But I think you can do discounting.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BURNETT: Peter, he said it. "I would borrow knowing that if the economy crashed, you could make a deal." When Gene says those are words not used by leaders of the United States, Gene is right there.
NAVARRO: I disagree with that. I think that if we're in a situation where we can renegotiate our debt, particularly with a country like China, which is basically run up our debt with them by using unfair trade practices, it's all fair game.
And to me, you know, Gene used the word "stunning." What's really stunning to me, Hillary Clinton has one of her top economic advisers here, in Gene Sperling, he was the architect of China entering the World Trade Organization in the year 2000, and here we are 16 years later, with massive debt, 50,000 factories shut, millions of jobs exported to China, and this man's giving advice to Hillary Clinton and knocking the businessman who is a successful billionaire who has a skill set to manage and negotiate debt.
This is like --
BURNETT: OK.
NAVARRO: This is why I was laughing, Erin. It's a spin cycle. He's quoting "The Economist". I mean, "The Economist" magazine is a British magazine that just loves every free trade deal that ever came down the pipe, from NAFTA, China, and to the World Trade Organization, South Korean deal --
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: Gene, you have a chance to respond here, obviously, since he's talking about your specific --
(CROSSTALK)
SPERLING: Every single serious person, Democrat or Republican, who has held any position or responsibility knows that for a president of the United States to talk about defaulting on the debt or printing money could be catastrophic. That's not Democrat or Republican. That's every serious person.
Secondly, his private sector experience, we have list after list of the degree he bilks -- takes advantage, pays only pennies of dollars on small business people. You know, cabinet makers, people who install air conditioners, glass. These are not -- this is not the kind of American values people want in a business leader.
And third, you want to talk about manufacturing jobs? In the last two presidents, their total record is losing 6 million manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing jobs were gained almost 400,000 under President Clinton and they have been gaining under Barack Obama since the end of the recession.
The key is enforcement. And under President Bush, they never enforced -- since the recession ended. And under President Bush, they never enforced the trade agreements. What Hillary Clinton is talking about is being tough, is enforcing trade agreements. That's why --
NAVARRO: She hasn't been tough for 15 years. (CROSSTALK)
SPERLING: Why isn't that the auto workers --
NAVARRO: The South Korean -- the auto workers! I'll tell you what, Gene --
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: Very quickly. Because we're almost out of time.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: All right. I'm going to have hit -- only going to have to hit pause there, because we literally are out of time. If I let you both back in, we're way, way over. But I please hope you will both come back. It's going to be one of the most crucial topics of hits election.
Tonight, CNN's town hall with the libertarian presidential ticket. What are their ideas to save the economy? Tonight, 9:00 Eastern.
And next, did Donald Trump's kids stage an intervention with their dad? I'm going to ask Donald Trump's son, Eric. He's my guest.
And live on Capitol Hill, Democrats staging a sit-in with no end in sight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOH LEWIS (D), GEORGIA: So, today we come to the well of the House to dramatize the need for action! Not next month! Not next year! But now! Today!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:43:41] BURNETT: Tonight, the Trump campaign touting a fund- raising success after personally offering to match donations up to $2 million. Trump hit that goal in less than 12 hours. He had said he had 48 to do it.
OUTFRONT now, Donald Trump's son, Eric Trump.
And, Eric, good to see you again.
ERIC TRUMP, SON OF DONALD TRUMP: Good to be here, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. So, obviously, this is a success. But when you look at the overall member numbers, $42 million for the Clinton campaign, just over $1 million for the Trump campaign.
Are you going to close that gap?
TRUMP: Well, it's truly one of the dishonest sound bites. We started raising money on May 28th, right? With $1 million reported from May. So, last night, we had a fund-raiser where we raised $6 million. We are raising so much money online. We are doing so exactly well.
So, hold on, my father self funding all the way through May. And we just started raising money. But believe me, we're going to raise a lot of money. And it's also nice.
We don't need the amount of money that Hillary needs. She has 737 people on staff. You know how many we have? We have 70. I mean, her operation is bloated, it's crazy.
You know, we run a lean operation. Quite frankly, this country should be the same way.
BURNETT: Some of the potential, of the big donors, you know, that I had spoken to, some things your father had said, not just the ban on Muslims coming into the country, but other things, Mexican judge issue, that made them really pause and say they didn't want to do it. Today, he gave a 40-minute speech, prepared on a teleprompter. Paul Ryan who as you know, said delegates should vote their conscience, which was not a ringing endorsement of your father, said this was the kind of speech --
[19:45:03] TRUMP: He said senators -- he should have said, senators should vote their conscience, not delegates. Senators should vote their conscience.
BURNETT: Right, but it wasn't exactly what you would want to hear him say.
But today, he said this speech was the kind of speech he would want to hear a nominee give, right? It was an endorsement of the speech we heard your dad gave today. He had eight priorities in the speech. And what I think is interesting when you talk about fundraising and donors, I didn't see the word in here, "wall", the word "China" wasn't in here, "Mexico" wasn't in here, "deporting people" wasn't in here, "banning Muslims" wasn't in here.
None of those things were in there.
TRUMP: Listen, I think they're actually big themes of the speech. I don't think one has any parallel with the other.
But my father was actually spending a lot of time in the speech talking about how you can't allow 200,000 Syrian refugees into this country. I mean, here we have inner cities all over the country with minorities who have, you know 56 percent unemployment. And we're thinking about bringing 200,000 people in that the FBI and the CIA and all our intelligence agencies say have elements of ISIS and elements of terror in it.
Again, he spent a lot of time talking about that and I think he will be very firm on the border, because he believes this nation actually has to have, you know, borders, have to have laws and we have to obey these laws. BURNETT: Words matter, though. And on these -- gave eight priorities
for his first 100 days. And like I said, there was no wall. There was no deportation. There was no Muslim ban. This was a teleprompter speech.
Was that purposeful? Something to get people like Paul Ryan on board? It talked about immigration, but it didn't say ban people.
TRUMP: Well, listen, also, I mean, I think we're missing another point. You're referring to money. The RNC, the Republican national party has raised significantly more money since the beginning of this fiscal year than the DNC. So, obviously, something about his message is resonating, right? The RNC has raised $155 million. The DNC has raised about $100 million.
So something about the message is resonating. But, no, I mean, his focus was really on Hillary.
BURNETT: Your father is known for being loyal, perhaps to a fault. Corey Lewandowski maybe example number one when it comes to that. One of your father's close friends saying when the whole issue of the reporter happened of the alleged battery, that might have been the time to part ways. Your father didn't want to do it then because he was loyal. He wanted to stay on board with him.
TRUMP: No, he didn't want to do it at that point because nothing happened. I mean, nothing happened. There was clear video evidence that nothing happened.
But he is loyal to a fault. I mean, he loves people. If people are loyal to him, he'll give the shirt off his back. He's a great man. He's been a great father. He is a very, very loyal person.
And he does -- believe me, that's the worst thing you can do, I mean, letting somebody go is the worst thing you ever have to do.
BURNETT: So, obviously, the reporting ld it was you and your siblings who sat down with him and said, dad, it's time. It's time for Corey Lewandowski to go. Is that what happened?
TRUMP: Listen, I have immense respect for Corey. I really do. I have immense respect for Corey and he knows that.
And, listen, campaigns migrate overtime. Corey is an amazing guy who got us from a point of hey -- here's a candidate who has never run for any political office, and he wins the Republican primary with more votes than any person in the history of this country. You know, so he's a Republican nominee now. But at the same time, campaigns have to grow. Campaigns have to evolve. Campaigns have to change to a certain extent.
You know, running in all 50 states at the same time is very different than, you know, winning New Hampshire or winning Nevada or, you know, winning these states. Campaigns really evolve over time, the size of campaigns, the messages of campaigns. You know, where you have to be in a campaign. It evolves over time and accordingly changes are made. I really have tremendous respect for Corey. He's a great guy on a
personal level and he really -- he helped us get where we are today.
BURNETT: Marco Rubio spoke to CNN and has asked -- obviously says he's now running for re-election for the Senate. He had said he wouldn't do that and now he is. And he was asked if he would campaign for your father. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: Not that I'm looking to undermine him, but I think the differences between us and some key issues are so significant that I just don't plan to campaign -- I've got to run my own race.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Your response?
TRUMP: You know, that doesn't say much to me. I've gotten to know Marco. I've gotten to know his wife very well throughout the campaign process. We see these people all of the time. They're good people.
I think when you have 17 people standing up on stage and you put every ounce of your energy into winning such a brutal process and you don't ultimately win, you know, it's hard. It's a hard thing. Believe me.
This is a grueling, nasty, tough process. You put everything you have into it your family puts everything you have. It's tough. And I think sometimes it takes time and that's probably what Marco needs.
And, you know, I think at the same time, we have so many of the same objectives. But the first objective is not allowing Hillary to win because she would be an absolute disaster for this nation and we have another four years of Obama. But, you know, I think he'll ultimately come around. And I think you need some time, a lot of time, to heal battle wounds.
BURNETT: All right. But you believe he'll ultimately come around.
Eric Trump, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Good to see you.
TRUMP: Yes, thanks, Erin.
BURNETT: And OUTFRONT next, the breaking news, live pictures of Democrats on Capitol Hill, they are staging a sit-in. I am going to speak with a congressman that says he's not leaving. He could be there for days.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:53:39] BURNETT: Breaking news: Democrats staging a sit-in on the House floor to demand a vote on two crucial gun control measures. One would bar terror suspects on the no-fly list from buying guns, another would toughen background checks. These are live pictures. They have been over it more than eight hours. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says they won't stop until they have a
bill, which may not be for days. It comes after the worst mass shooting in history. Civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis is leading the protest.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEWIS: The time for silence and patience is long gone. We're calling on the leadership of the House to bring common sense gun control legislation to the House floor. Give us a vote. Let us vote! We came here to do our job. We came here to work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Congressman Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, is staging the sit-in, joins me by phone obviously in that room.
Congressman, you, of course -- I don't know if you know the breaking news, House Republicans are going to try to end this, force you to end this tonight. How long is it going to last?
REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D), MARYLAND (via telephone): Erin, you're right. I'm just getting word as I am here on the floor that the Republicans are going to come and try to break this up. I'm not quite sure how they're going to do it.
But this is just one more indication that they don't want to take any action. You know, after Newtown, we had a moment of silence. After Charleston, same thing, and Orlando.
[19:55:02] What we said is you can turn off the microphone but you can't stop us from having the sit-in on the floor and demanding that we have a vote and real action.
BURNETT: The House Speaker Paul Ryan spoke about what's happening on the floor, what you're doing, Congressman, and he says, it's all about publicity. Here is how he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: They know that we will not bring a bill that takes away a person's constitutionally guaranteed rights without their due process. This is a publicity stunt. They're trying to get you to ask those questions for publicity sake. This isn't trying to get a solution to a problem. This is trying to get attention.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Publicity stunt?
VAN HOLLEN: Well, Erin, I think that's disrespectful to the nation. It's disrespectful to the families who lost loved ones and what's most disrespectful to the American public is the refusal to even hold a vote. They hold the American public in such contempt that they're scared to have a vote in the open light of day on a fundamental question where 90 percent of the American public supports common sense measures like you talk about, no fly, no buy, universal background checks.
Let's just have a vote. This is called the people's house. The people of the United States deserve a vote on this public safety measure.
BURNETT: And just a quick bottom line, he's saying if you're on the no fly list, maybe you don't deserve to be on it, right? That's the point of due process. You can't take away someone's right to buy a gun.
You I presume find that to be utter -- trying to use a polite word -- utterly untrue.
VAN HOLLEN: Look, Erin, if speaker has a genuine issue, the speaker with their own proposal to address the issue. We have now massacres around the country. We have gun violence on the streets every day. They never raised this issue. If he wants to put on the floor a bill that addresses those issues, do it. But we are insisting we have a vote and that we do it now.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much. I appreciate your time, Congressman Van Hollen, as always. And we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Thank you so much for joining us.
"AC360" begins right now.
