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Erin Burnett Outfront
Trump's Campaign Chairman Resigns in Wake of Shake-Up; Trump, Pence Tour Flood Ravaged Louisiana; Lochte Apologizes for Behavior in Rio; Judge Denies Request to Depose Clinton; Injured Boy Becomes Symbol of Syria's Suffering. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired August 19, 2016 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:59:52] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: OUTFRONT next. Breaking news, Donald Trump making an all-out appeal to African-American voters in Michigan. Just moments ago as another major campaign shake-up rocks his staff.
Also, Ryan Lochte with what some are calling a half-hearted apology. Tonight, we're learning the punishment that he will face.
And breaking news, a judge forcing Hillary Clinton to answer more questions about her e-mails. Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow in tonight for Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, breaking news, Donald Trump going on and courting African-American voters at a rally that ended just moments ago in Michigan. This on a day that we saw yet another seismic shift at the top of Trump's staff. Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort out. The new leadership clearly evident tonight in Trump's speech making a major push for black voters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: What do you have to lose? You're living in poverty. Your schools are no good. You have no jobs. Fifty eight percent of your youth is unemployed. What the hell do you have to lose? And at the end of four years, I guarantee you, that I will get over 95 percent of the African-American vote. I promise you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Also today, Trump touring flood-ravaged Louisiana visiting victims and making personal donations along with his running mate, Mike Pence, perhaps forcing Hillary Clinton's hand. The Clinton camp this afternoon issuing a statement saying that she called the Governor John Bell Edwards to express her concern. And also tonight the White House announcing the President will tour the flood zone on Tuesday.
And more breaking news tonight, CNN's electoral map now shows that Hillary Clinton could lose every remaining battleground state to Trump on Election Day and still win with 273 electoral votes. More on that in just a moment. I am joined by our panel of political experts.
But with us first, Jessica Schneider OUTFRONT tonight at the site of that Trump rally in Dimondale, Michigan. And Jessica, this was a push for the African-American voters that was very clear. He said it time and time again, but he did it in front of an almost wholly white audience.
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Poppy. You know, he's spent actually a large portion of this 45-minute speech making that very pointed pitch to African-American voters. He talked about how in his words Democratic policies have failed minority communities, but the majorities of this gym, this big arena here in Dimondale, Michigan, it was for the most part a vast majority of whites. We're in the town of Dimondale which is about 93 miles from Detroit.
This is a town of about 1200 people and it turns out the black population here is only one percent of the total population, but despite that Donald Trump continued to talk about these policies and talk and make that pitch to African-American voters and keep his tone very inclusive. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Our future is going to be a great future for everyone. For everyone. In a Trump administration, all workers of all colors will get priority for jobs in their own country which is about time. I want higher wages for African-Americans, for Hispanic-Americans and for all Americans, we want higher wages.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHNEIDER: And you saw it a little bit in that speech. What we saw tonight was a very dynamic yet very disciplined Donald Trump. He did stick to teleprompter throughout this speech, but there were a few off-the-cuff and ad-libbed moments and one of them actually pertaining to as pitch to African-American voters. He said that something that wasn't in the transcript that we had that he predicted that if he were elected president, that in four years he would get 95 percent of the African-American vote. There were a few other times where he did adlib and for the most part he did stick on script, but yet still show cased that unique Donald Trump's style that his campaign promised he would go back to -- Poppy.
HARLOW: Yes. It's an interesting remark. Ninety five percent when he's polling at one percent among African-Americans right now in the NBC Wall Street Journal poll. We'll debate it all in a moment.
Jessica Schneider, thank you.
The rally just hours after another major shake-up for the Trump campaign. Our Sunlen Serfaty is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A major casualty of the Trump campaign pleaded to reset. Chairman Paul Manafort is out.
ERIC TRUMP, SON OF DONALD TRUMP: I think my father didn't want to be distracted by, you know, whatever things Paul was dealing with.
SERFATY: Sources tell CNN Manafort was facing, increasing scrutiny over his lobbying ties to Ukraine and Russia and told Trump he was becoming a distraction and wanted it to end.
COREY LEWANDOWSKI, FORMER DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: I think it's fair to say, the last three or four weeks of this campaign have not gone well. The poll numbers have indicated that. The campaign has missed opportunities to go after Hillary when they shouldn't have and what I want to see by winning is the campaign back on message.
SERFATY: Faced with slipping poll numbers, the campaign is ushering in an empowering new blood on the campaign this week dispatching Trump and his running mate to the flood zone in Louisiana.
[19:05:15] TRUMP: What's happened here is incredible. Nobody understands how bad it is. It's really incredible. I'm just here to help.
SERFATY: To show a flash of presidential leadership on the ground and set up a clear contrast with President Obama who has not yet visited the devastated site.
TRUMP: The President says, he doesn't want to go, he's trying to get out of a golf game.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard he was trying to stay under par while we're underwater.
TRUMP: He'll never be under par.
SERFATY: The White House announced this afternoon, President Obama will visit Baton Rouge next week. Team Trump is also finally debuting its first TV ad of the general election campaign, getting back to the core of Donald Trump's original campaign message.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Hillary Clinton's America, the system stays rigged against Americans. Syrian refugees flood in, illegal immigrants convicted of committing crimes get to stay.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SERFATY: And the Trump campaign spent over $4 million for that ad which will run in four battleground states, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Florida. Virginia was anticipated to be the fifth battleground state and its ad buy, but is not now part of the plan. The Clinton campaign today quickly seized on this ad especially as it relates to this perceived new strategy of Donald Trump's. The Clinton spokesman, quote, "In case you thought for a split second Trump was genuine about feeling regret." He's back to demonizing immigrants again in this new ad today -- Poppy.
HARLOW: And on we go. Sunlen, thank you so much.
OUTFRONT now, presidential campaign correspondent for "The New York Times," Maggie Haberman, Donald Trump supporter Kayleigh McEnany. Basil Smikle, he is a Hillary Clinton supporter and CNN correspondent Phil Mattingly.
Kayleigh, let me begin with you. Let's talk with the speech that Donald Trump just wrapped up in Dimondale, Michigan. A part of Michigan that is 93 percent white, he could have gone to Detroit and made this in front of a largely minority audience. He didn't. Let's listen to his pitch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: What do you have to lose? You're living in poverty. Your schools are no good. You have no jobs. Fifty eight percent of your youth is unemployed. What the hell do you have to lose?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: I mean, clearly, this is an admission, Kayleigh that he can't win even if he got all of the white working-class voters in this country. But why did he make this pitch there in front of an almost all-white audience?
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: He made this pitch on a national audience and it was broadcast on several major networks and I don't think that the cosmetic makeup of his audience that was physically in that room is really the point. I think the point is --
HARLOW: Why doesn't it matter?
MCENANY: But what matters is what he said which is that Democrats have failed the African-American community is, don't take it from me, take it from Tavis Smiley, a liberal black commentator who said, under the Obama administration, African-Americans are failing on every single economic indicator. The fact that Donald Trump is making that case that Democrats have failed this community, that is what matters --
HARLOW: Definitely, he pointed out that the high, high unemployment rates for African-American youth.
BASIL SMIKLE, EXEC. DIRECTOR, NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Well, what's interesting to me is he doesn't talk about why. He doesn't talk about failed Republican policies that have led to that over the last several years. He doesn't talk about Republican obstructionism in Congress, but let me give you some other numbers. African- Americans have not supported Republicans historically for the last 40, 50 years.
Republicans have not gotten more than 20 percent of the African- American vote since 1964. There is a reason for that and I want to also talk about Donald Trump's hypocrisy. Nobody's talking about his comments during the era of the Central Park Five. When he spent $100,000 on newspaper ads calling for the death penalty for five black teenagers.
HARLOW: Right. Who were exonerated in 2014.
SMIKLE: He did not -- I want to talk about the fact that a black protester was punched out and he said that he would pay the legal fees of the person that punched him out. There is a hypocrisy there that I think among all of the campaign shake-up that we're talking in the --
(CROSSTALK)
There's no -- need to talk about the substance.
HARLOW: Let Kayleigh respond quickly.
MCENANY: You want to talk about hypocrisy in the 1990s, Bill Clinton was golfing at an all-white golf club. And the New York Times had to call out on it. And at that point, he finally stop that practice. You want to talk about the crime bill that has put so many African- American men and women into our prisons. Hillary Clinton called the community super predators and Bill Clinton doubled down on that just two months ago.
HARLOW: I want to get --
SMIKLE: The danger here in my opinion is talking about these issues and not in context because I lived in these communities. And I know that there were grandmothers and pastors and parents that were calling for something to be done to get some of these kids off the corner. It's okay that 20, 30 years later we can go back and see what the negative effects are from those policies, but Hillary Clinton has talked about, that Hillary Clinton has talked about.
MCENANY: Both of them have --
HARLOW: So let me get Maggie Haberman in here. Maggie, he does this in front of a largely white audience and then he says, adlibbing and not part of the written speech. In four years if I'm president, if I run for reelection, I'm going to get 95 percent of the African- American vote and what was lacking in this speech that I was listening for was specific policy prescriptions on what has led to this inequality and opportunity for African-American youth is just not acceptable in this country. Your take on the lack of specifics.
[19:10:22] MAGGIE HABERMAN, PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK TIMES: There's been a theme in Donald Trump's speeches for many weeks that he's talked in broad frames about how he wants to approach things and they have often said and they didn't about this speech, but they've often said, we will get to the details later. So, we saw that it on the terrorism speech this week. He's going to give an immigration speech next week, we'll see what that was look like. He has given a couple of different versions of the immigration plan and he hasn't really talked about how he would implement it.
You know, I think that when he says things like what he said about how he will win, you know, he guarantees you he'll win 95 percent of the black vote. As you've noted, 21 percent now in some polls. It's statements like that that I think undermine what he's trying to do because what he is trying to do is -- I hate the word pivot because we've worn it into the ground now like a nub. But that is what they're attempting to do this week, and if you take away the drama around Paul Manafort and everything that's been going on, all of these stories, you have a version of Donald Trump that has been three teleprompter speeches and did something that seemed, you know, sort of leaderly and traditional today by going to Louisiana and that gets stepped on by other things.
HARLOW: So, this all comes on the heels of these poll numbers because, you know, these swing states are what it's all about.
Phil Mattingly, so let's talk about the context of this, and that is this states that are so critical that Trump puts out these major ad buys in now, way after Hillary Clinton did, by the way. And now CNN's new electoral map is showing us what?
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Basically that Hillary Clinton as it stands today could lose every battle ground states that hasn't lean Democrat or safe Democrat and still get 273 electoral votes. I think that's not ideal. You only need 270 to win. But really what this underscores here is what the last month has really meant. And I think it's important to note, national polling isn't what most people inside campaigns are looking at.
HARLOW: Right.
MATTINGLY: They're looking at the battleground states and they're looking at these states that are going to decide an election and Donald Trump has all Republicans, went into this election with a narrower path than Hillary Clinton did. You need to keep those battleground states in play. The one that is most notable to me I think is Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has been a state that demographically the Trump campaign and Donald Trump has repeatedly pointed to is something that fits the model of the voter that he thinks he can -- to the Republican voter.
HARLOW: The white blue-collar voter.
MATTINGLY: Exactly. The voters that he really tapped into the Republican Party. That moving into lean Democrats, that's one of the places where they're spending money on their ad campaign right now. If Donald Trump doesn't have a chance in Pennsylvania. If Donald Trump can't win Pennsylvania, Donald Trump can't win this election and look, the caveats. It's early and he's just starting to spin on the ground.
HARLOW: Sure.
MATTINGLY: His campaign feels like there's a lot of time. They're putting a lot of money, and time and what the debate is going to look like. But these are big problems 80 days after that.
HARLOW: Yes. I mean, these are numbers you don't like, Kayleigh.
MCENANY: Yes. Phil could not be more correct about the importance of Pennsylvania. Because if he keeps every Romney state and wins Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, he wins this election. So, he is absolutely right about that. It is worth mentioning, the latest polling we have in Pennsylvania was taken 12 days ago.
HARLOW: But he's behind 11 points.
MCENANY: Yes.
HARLOW: He's down 11 points.
MCENANY: Yes, but that was still with this post-convention bump that was a really bad week for him. This is not the rejuvenated campaign polling. And I think we will --
HARLOW: All right. Eighty days to go, guys. Stay with me. A lot more ahead.
OUTFRONT next, the shake-up on team Trump. A woman who once campaigned against him now leading his team. Will she let Trump be Trump?
Plus, Ryan Lochte apologizes, kind of tonight, he's sticking to a major part of his original story.
And also breaking news, and either judge orders Hillary Clinton to answer more questions about her e-mails. This as Clinton said it was a prominent Republican who told her to use a private e-mail account, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:17:00] HARLOW: Breaking news tonight. Donald Trump making a new pitch to African-American voters. This coming just hours after Trump's Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort resigned. He was originally hired to make Trump more presidential. Can his new campaign team do just that?
Chris Frates is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A more disciplined Donald Trump on the campaign trail last night.
TRUMP: Sometimes in the heat of debate and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don't choose the right words or you say the wrong thing. I have done that. And believe it or not I regret it?
FRATES: Why the change? The tone bears all the hallmarks of his new campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, a longtime Washington pollsters helped shape campaigns for GOP heavyweights including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, 1996 vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Indiana Governor and now current vice presidential candidate Mike Pence.
And she's challenged the idea of a Hillary Clinton presidency for more than a decade.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The high watermark for Hillary Clinton was in 1998 at 28 percent. That was the year that her husband used her like a doormat. He cheated on her. He humiliated her which suggests to me --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But he never --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I admire and I actually feel sorry for her.
FRATES: In 2005, even Conway might not have backed a Trump candidacy.
TRUMP: It's time for a change. We need a change.
FRATES: Saying in the interview that, quote, "Although Americans love to pretend they have this great love affair with change, and choice, and options and revolution, they order the same thing at McDonald's every single night. They really don't like change, they like consistency, they adhere to certainty."
Now our mission is to help Trump -- they're winning message.
KELLYANNE CONWAY, DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: We're going to make sure Donald Trump is comfortable about being in his own skin, that he doesn't lose that authenticity that you simply can't buy and a pollster can't give you.
FRATES: For Trump, that also means winning over women voters. A group Conway has spent her career reaching.
CONWAY: We're going to fight for everybody's vote and we recognize that all issues are women's issues and we're going to earn their votes.
FRATES: The first woman to serve as a campaign manager for a Republican presidential candidate, Conway is viewed as the yin to street fighter and campaign CEO Steve Bannon's yang and now has Trump's ear.
CONWAY: But the advice I would give him is to be authentic because that's what Americans appreciate and he's seen with Hillary Clinton what happens when you're inauthentic when you're trying too hard to be something you're not.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRATES: And while Conway is trying to smooth Trump's edges, she tells me she did advise and talked about his regrets in last night's speech. That's not her job she says. But she does say that Americans will see a more buoyant and focused candidate campaigning with humor and grace and after several staff shake-ups, Conway told me, quote, "This is the team that's going to take him to Election Day" -- Poppy.
HARLOW: And we got 80 days to go. Thank you so much, we appreciate it. Have a good weekend.
All right. My panel is back. Kayleigh, first to you. Look, we know Kellyanne Conway has been successful according to female voters. Right? We know that's her history. That's clearly part of the hire here. Look at all the polls. Even a Pugh poll that came out yesterday. Trump is down 19 points with women. And doesn't it take a lot more than the female campaign manager, someone who is good getting the female vote to change things so significantly, to really move the needle here. Something that hasn't happened for Republican presidential candidates to get the women's vote since '88.
MCENANY: It means speaking directly to women. So, Donald Trump has had a generic message. He's going to keep the same message but he's going to put it through a prism that women will hear. So, speaking in terms of families. How you're going to afford sending your kids to college, talking about being able to afford child care, that was the small part of the economics speech and I believe we're going to hear a larger speech coming up. If he can speak directly to women, women who understands, I think what I understand that he's the best person for student loan debt, he is the best person for the economy.
HARLOW: No, Basil, it is interesting because Kellyanne Conway made the case on CNN there this week and talked about ObamaCare for example on the cost of health care and the burden that often falls on females and on women who are leading their households with this. I mean, she has been successful over, you know, years getting the female vote. Who is to say she can't do it this time?
SMIKLE: Well, she's talked about authenticity and Donald Trump and authentic Donald Trump said that women who get abortions should be punished. He also said that women being pertinent (ph) create inconveniences for their employees. That is the authentic Donald Trump.
HARLOW: He's also someone who has elevated women within the Trump organization. I'm not just talking about Ivanka Trump to very high levels.
SMIKLE: Okay. And what does that say going back to Maggie's point about policy. I haven't heard policies coming from Donald Trump that suggest to me at all that he is going to be better than Hillary Clinton on gender issues and the same thing I would say again to African-American issues. Again, going back to the point when African- Americans were dying to the street, where is he on gun control? In terms of moving people into the middle class, where is he on unitization (ph) which is traditionally did than that?
(CROSSTALK)
See, this is policy -- this is policy. This is where the rubber meets the road.
HARLOW: Quickly Kayleigh.
MCENANY: Democrats assume that all I care about is contraception and abortion but most women out there care about the same thing men care about and they want to be spoken generically as a voter, not as a female.
SMIKLE: I can understand the aspect of it. But what I'm going by is what he said and what he said, whether it's respect to women, whether its respect to African-Americans is something that I can't buy and I don't see where he backs any of his sort of right now over policy. [19:22:16] HARLOW: So, let's listen to Kellyanne Conway over the
years, just over the years, when she was in Ted Cruz's camp not that long ago talking about Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONWAY: He says he's for the little guy, but he's actually done a lot of his business on the backs of the little guy.
They're starting to talk about victims of Trump University, victims of Trump in Atlantic City.
He is completely transparent, Donald Trump's tax returns aren't, I would like to this to be transparent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Does it matter, Maggie? I mean, Donald Trump's getting beaten up over the tax returns. Does it matter that she said all that stuff or is it just politics?
HABERMAN: I'm confident we're going to see that on an ad. I mean, Kellyanne Conway is exceptionally good on television. She is a very good communicator so she communicates well. Her clients at that point, Ted Cruz was the person she was supporting. She has a long relationship with Donald Trump, he does thrust her.
HARLOW: Right,
HABERMAN: So, I think that what you see, what happens privately is different from what you're seeing there. The problem again though as you say is that this is going to get, you know, does this matter?
It will be used by the Clinton campaign, it will probably be used by Priorities USA the Super PAC backing Hillary Clinton. What matters most though is what the candidate says, right? So, I mean, at the end of the day what's going to matter is what Trump says going forward, not sort of in terms of slogans or in terms of, you know, broader brush approaches, but on specifics. That is what voters vote on.
Voters vote on what impacts their lives and so one of the reasons that Donald Trump lost a lot of time in the last couple of weeks and there are many reasons but and one is the constant battling with the media which Kellyanne Conway I know does not favor, it might be Trump's fraudulistic and some people within his campaign, I don't think Paul Manafort was one of them but some people in his campaign encouraged it. Voters aren't voting on, who is the media treat the nicest? Voters are going on, who is going to help me and my family? No question we saw a radically different Trump last night and I think again tonight in Michigan.
HARLOW: No question. We saw a radically different Trump last night. And I think again tonight in Michigan.
HABERMAN: Yes, but I would also just like to make the point. And I think that there's a reason why I saw the word pivot has gotten kind of worn down.
HARLOW: I hate that word this week.
HABERMAN: Not just that we hate, not just that it's -- this word at a certain point, but it's also that how many times have we seen Donald Trump announced --
MCENANY: Right.
HABERMAN: And there are 80 days ahead.
No question. Phil Mattingly. Money matters. Donald Trump says, I'm funding my own campaign, I'm funding my own campaign, he has a lot of money going to the Super Pac and that matters a lot. And Kellyanne Conway can be very effective with major donors.
MATTINGLY: No question about it. Look, if you look across the donor networks, the major donor networks, whether you talk establishment Republicans or the Jeb Bush weighing, or you talked Tea Party Republicans. Almost universally there's respect for Kellyanne Conway and her ability to manage her clients, her ability to work with her clients, her ability to put out a message is effective. So, Kellyanne Conway talking to donors is very helpful, also very helpful. Kellyanne Conway helps really secure a relationship that's been building over the last couple of weeks with the Mercer family.
They're some of the biggest donors in Republican politics. They were initially -- supporters there, but now more or less come over to the Trump campaign, the daughter has absolutely come over to the Trump campaign. That's effective not just because big money to a campaign. That's effective because a Super Pacs on the outside. That's effective because a very targeted approach to attacking Hillary Clinton on the Super PAC side.
It's also effective on the data side. Their big investors and Cambridge analytics which is a major Republican data firm. Now, Trump's campaign is really working hand in glove with them. All of these things are very important. You want to talk about a single donor that really matters, even though Donald Trump is for the most part at least is funding his own campaign. Robert Mercer is that guy.
HARLOW: And the Koch Brothers out of this one for the Trump side, at least.
All right. Thank you guys all. Have a great weekend. We appreciate it.
OUTFRONT next, American swimmer Ryan Lochte, why he is still under fire after an apology this, as Michael Phelps weighs in on the controversy tonight for the first time.
Also, it's politics at the grassroots level. People stealing Donald Trump lawn signs. It is all caught on tape.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [19:29:30] HARLOW: Breaking news. Ryan Lochte's future with the U.S. swim team tonight in jeopardy. Sources close to the investigation tells CNN contributor Christine Brennan that Lochte will eventually be suspended, this after police say, he lied about being robbed at gun point in Rio.
And now Lochte is apologizing for his behavior that night. But in his apology he's sure of admitting to what police insists took place early that Sunday morning. Vandalism at a gas station bathroom after a late night of partying.
Our Brynn Gingras is OUTFRONT with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[19:30:00] BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twelve-time Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte apologizing today for his behavior in a bizarre incident that has cast a shadow over Rio's Olympic Games.
"I want to apologize for my behavior last weekend for not being more careful and candid in how I described the events."
But in his statement posted to Instagram, Lochte did not back down from the most dramatic part of his initial story.
RYAN LOCHTE, U.S. OLYMPIC SWIMMER: They pulled out a gun and told the other swimmers to get down on the ground. They got down on the ground. I refused and I was, like, we didn't do anything wrong. He took our money. He took my wallet.
GINGRAS: The 32-year-old sticking to his story that he and his teammates were robbed at gun point writing, "It's traumatic to be out late with your friends in a foreign country with a language barrier and have a stranger point a gun at you and demand money to let you leave."
Lochte's teammate Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz leaving last night. Brazilian police say that the two swimmers placed most of the blame on Lochte, describing him as drunk and unruly, and that it was Lochte who vandalized the gas station, including damaging a sign and the bathroom door, and that Lochte later fabricated the robbery story.
Surveillance video shows the swimmer first trying to get one tax and I trying to find a cab. A witness told Brazilian media that the swimmers tried to escape and then security guards who pointed a gun at the ordered them out of the cab. The witness telling the newspaper that the swimmers pleaded with gas station employees not to call the police.
Jimmy Feigen is the last of the four to return home. At a court appearance, Feigen agreed to pay nearly $11,000 to a local charity for falsely reporting a crime.
And today, Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, breaking his silence on the incident.
REPORTER: Have you spoken to Ryan Lochte at all about what happen in Brazil?
MICHAEL PHELPS, MOST DECORATED OLYMPIAN: No.
REPORTER: Do you think it will work itself out?
PHELPS: We have good people taking care of it.
REPORTER: Yes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GINGRAS: Ryan Lochte likely now home here in Charlotte, possibly waiting for the results of the investigations. Poppy, we're told the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Swimming both independently conducting their own investigation, saying they're not happy with this conduct and it's possible disciplinary will be taken not only against Lochte, but against all four members of the swim team -- Poppy.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: What a week and what a story. Thank you so much. We appreciate it, Brynn.
All right. CNN sports analyst Christine Brennan is with us. She's been following the story in Rio tonight and this new reporting in Rio tonight. And CNN legal analyst Paul Callan is with me.
Let me begin with you, Christine. Ryan Lochte comes out. He issues this sort of -- some call it a half-hearted apology, but you have new reporting especially tonight on what the consequences are going to be. What the punishment will be.
CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Exactly, Poppy. I've been talking to sources for a couple of days now, and it's eventually, USA Swimming and the U.S. Olympic committee will suspend Ryan Lochte and will suspend the other three swimmers.
This is just one from covering the Olympics for all these years. This is exactly how this works.
They -- USA Swimming is no nonsense. They suspended Michael Phelps for three months for the marijuana photo back in 2009, six months for a second DUI in 2014.
The USOC is also very tough on these kinds of things, and I talked to several sources who are going to be involved in the decision-making who said, in fact, one mentioned to me today that Ryan Lochte, if he didn't apologize they thought he would get a lifetime ban. So, he's apologized now. So maybe he saved himself from a lifetime ban, but there is no doubt there will be severe punishment for Ryan Lochte and the other swimmers probably from both organizations, USA Swimming and USOC.
HARLOW: All right. So, Paul Callan, there is always a chance that Lochte and the other swimmers pushed back and say, no, no, no. This happened and we are pushing back and we don't think we should have the suspension. Legally, what are their chances with that? PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, certainly, in the event of a
lifetime ban, there would be a substantial pushback and there would be court proceedings or an arbitration that would relate to it. Now, Lochte and the others would claim that, in fact, they were robbed. Their defense would be that although they may have broken some things at the gas station, when security guards displaying a badge showed a gun and demanded more money than they had offered to repair what they had harmed and that was a robbery.
So, factually, their report of a robbery were accurate. The details may have had some problems.
HARLOW: They did.
CALLAN: Yes.
So, the problem is in the detail, but not in the general idea that they were assaulted illegally in Brazil. That's what I'm saying and lawyers would assert it.
HARLOW: Your defense -- you've defended people who have lied before.
CALLAN: Yes.
HARLOW: How would you defend them?
CALLAN: Well, this is a very, very difficult case, and it's a defense that will take place under the eyes of the world.
[19:35:01] And I think, you know, ironically, the very thing that they were seeking to avoid, a sanction from the U.S. Olympic Committee by making up this story is what they wound up getting in the end by telling this lie. And you can assert a defense. You can claim you were in danger that night and misperceived what was going on.
And there are a lot of ways you can go and put a defense on the table. But frankly, you don't want to go back to Brazil. They're not going to be extradited by the U.S., and frankly, Brazilian prisons are among the worst in the world, and, you know, that's the last that they're going to see of Brazil. The fight is going to take place about suspensions now.
HARLOW: That's what I've been hearing from legal analysts like you is that, look, Lochte is not going to be extradited to Brazil. It's not going to go there. But we'll see what does proceed when the suspension does come down.
Christine Brennan, to you. Look, the authorities in Rio spent a lot of time, a lot of resources and money cleaning up their city, making the most dangerous areas as safe as they possibly could. How has his apology to the people of Rio and to the authorities playing out there tonight?
BRENNAN: Well, Poppy, as I think you know, he apologized to his sponsors --
HARLOW: Right.
BRENNAN: -- before he apologized to the people who ran the games. So, that's a stunner for me. I mean, he waited five days and that was the apology.
Michael Phelps, when he got into trouble twice, his apologies were succinct, he took 100 percent of the blame and he moved on. Ryan Lochte is not doing that, and I think Ryan Lochte frankly is compounding the problem.
But the good news is that after the initial news that a gun was put to Ryan Lochte's head as Ryan himself said, we had games on edge for a few days. I think people were really concerned playing to the stereotypes we talked about for months leading into Rio about what could be going wrong, the street crime, et cetera. And then, now that the story has come out and we may never know the exact thing that happened at that gas station, but the PR nightmare remains for the U.S. Olympic Committee and for Ryan Lochte and the other swimmers.
But I think what happened afterwards as people started to realize, well, may be this story wasn't quite true. I think everyone maybe breathed a little bit of a sigh of relief and over the last couple of days, the games end on Sunday, that we can get back to watching athletes and talking about the athletes who deserve the attention, as opposed to this story.
HARLOW: Yes, amen to that. I'd be happy to just talk about the incredible athletes doing remarkable things. Thank you, both, Christine and Paul. We appreciate it.
Also ahead, breaking news tonight, a federal judge makes a major decision on Hillary Clinton's private e-mails. We have a report on that.
Also, the heart-wrenching image of this little boy captured, that little picture from Aleppo coming up. We have the latest on his condition.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:41:44] HARLOW: Breaking news: a federal judge rules that Hillary Clinton must answer written questions about her e-mails. This stemming from a lawsuit filed by conservative watchdog group. And tonight's ruling comes as we're learning that Clinton told the FBI it was former Secretary of State Colin Powell who suggested she use her personal e-mail while secretary of state.
Suzanne Malveaux OUTFRONT tonight with tonight's "Big Number".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Clinton campaign wasting no time reacting to Trump's latest campaign shake-up. His campaign chairman Paul Manafort now gone.
The Clinton campaign reacting, saying, "You can get rid of Manafort, but that doesn't end the odd bromance Trump has with Putin", releasing a video comparing the two.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Putin's been a very strong leader for Russia.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): He is a brilliant and talented person, without a doubt.
MALVEAUX: Clinton is launching a reset of her own, trying to counter Trump's scathing, crescendoing narrative.
TRUMP: Hillary Clinton has proven to be one of the greatest liars of all time.
MALVEAUX: In the wake of polls showing most voters don't believe Clinton is trustworthy or transparent. She is making big changes.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: If you're president, will your husband divest himself of any association with the foundation?
HILLARY COOPER (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Well, Anderson, you know, bridge if and when we come to it.
MALVEAUX: Thursday, the crossing came. The Clinton Foundation announcing if Hillary Clinton is elected president, it will no longer accept foreign or corporate donations, and Bill Clinton will no longer give paid speeches during her tenure, concessions to critics who accused the Clintons of using the foundations to enrich themselves.
TRUMP: Then, there was all of the money funneled into the Clinton Foundation from foreign governments and corporations. It was pay-for- play.
CLINTON: We have so much that we are proud of and I will put that up against any of the innuendo and accusation coming from Donald Trump.
MALVEAUX: But today, Clinton's e-mails are back in the headlines. "The New York Times" reporting leaks from the FBI's investigation, from those classified notes the agency shared with members of Congress on Tuesday. The documents reveal that in Clinton's three-hour interview with investigator, she said her predecessor Colin Powell advised her to use a personal e-mail account, a spokeswoman for Powell released a statement saying in part, "He did write former Secretary Clinton an e-mail memo describing his use of the personal AOL e-mail account for unclassified messages and how it vastly improved communications within the State Department."
At the time there was no equivalent system within the department.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: We are told, he also used a secure state computer on his desk to manage classified information and unlike Clinton, he did not have a private server at his home or use outside contractors to set it up -- Poppy.
HARLOW: All right. Suzanne Malveaux, thank you so much. OUTFRONT now, Mark Preston, executive editor for CNN Politics.
Mark, look, this e-mail controversy has dogged this campaign, has dogged Clinton for so long and now, tonight, you have this federal judge coming out, saying Judicial Watch is right. In effect, that she will have to at least not be deposed but answer written questions about her server.
How big is this?
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Well, I mean, certainly, it's huge and it's interesting.
[19:45:02] But I don't think much will come out of it. I mean, the fact that you're going to have a presidential candidate and a nominee for a party having to answer questions from a political opponent in this case, Judicial Watch, is really amazing.
But again, she's going to be, as you said, submitting written answers. She does not have to be deposed and she does not have to sit in a room and basically face an examination from the Judicial Watch attorneys.
But, you know, we're pretty close to the Election Day right now, and the fact that this is happening, you know, as you say is certainly dogging her as we head into November.
HARLOW: But it is an important distinction, right? Because if she were to be deposed, she'd be on camera, that could get all over the airwaves, it's different than quotes, right? I mean, you know how that plays --
PRESTON: It's a lot --
HARLOW: It's a lot different.
PRESTON: Right.
HARLOW: I want to get to the importance of Colin Powell here, right? The fact that as Suzanne reported, it was he who apparently told Hillary Clinton suggested just use your e-mail. There is a nuance here. The e-mail was in its infancy when he was secretary of state. He didn't have his own server. There are two key differences there.
Does it if it was Colin Powell, a Republican, who told him to do this?
PRESTON: Well, a couple of things, too. I think we have to take that -- take a step back and say, is this e-mail controversy going to hurt Hillary Clinton come November? As a standalone singular issue, it will not. However, having Colin Powell come out and he did write a memo to Hillary Clinton and talked about how he had used his private e-mail account as he was secretary of state, as far as the report that he supposedly counseled her in person and had a conversation with her, he says he doesn't remember that happening.
HARLOW: Right. PRESTON: But it does provide cover for Hillary Clinton to say, listen, I'm not the only one who has done this. But again, it's kinds of apples and oranges because at that time when he was secretary of state, e-mail was not as relevant, but it does come to the issue of honesty and trustworthiness.
And if Donald Trump and Republicans can continue to try to build a case, something like this could potentially hurt her in November.
HARLOW: And those honest and trustworthy numbers are exactly where she needs the most help.
Mark Preston, thank you so much.
OUTFRONT next, a new image just released of the 5-year-old Syrian boy whose home was bombed this week in Aleppo -- the image and the latest on his condition tonight.
Also, Jeanne Moos on the theft of Trump lawn sign. The video to prove it, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:51:17] HARLOW: It has just been over a day since the world first saw this heartbreaking image of Omran Daqneesh. Just 5 years old, his home was destroyed after a strike in Aleppo, Syria. Omran was rescued from the rubble, he is covered from head to toe in dust and blood. If you can believe it, Omran is one of the luckier children in war-torn Syria because he live, he survived. More than 4,500 children have been killed in the conflict so far.
And we want to show you Omran today. As you can see, his physical wounds are starting to heal, but this 5-year-old is left forever with the scar of trauma that he endured.
Our Nima Elbagir spoke with the man who brought these images to the world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A little boy in an ambulance, a moment like so many others here in Aleppo. Five-year-old Omran Daqneesh unable to even cry, still unsure if his family survived. The activist who took this video of Omran described to us over Skype how it took nearly an hour to pull Omran out from beneath the chaos, all the while watching for the return of the plane that carried out the strike.
MUSTAFA AL SAROUGH, MEDIA ACTIVIST (through translator): When we go to a place that has been bombed, raging planes circle around and bomb it again to kill rescue workers that are helping civilians. They kill these people who are trying to rescue people.
ELBAGIR (on camera): This is, of course, daily reality for you in Aleppo. AL SAROUQ: You live these moments every day in Aleppo. Right now,
regime planes are shelling nearby, as I speak. The whole world is silent to the cries in Aleppo against women and children. There are thousands of children like Omran who are being bombed daily and killed daily. Everyone accepts their families are being bombed and that their homes are being destroyed.
ELBAGIR (voice-over): This, though, is not the first time an image of a suffering child gave the world pause.
The toddler Alan Kurdi's lifeless body carried out of the treacherous Mediterranean Sea.
Forty years ago, Kim Phuc's naked agony became emblematic of the ravaging of Vietnam. The world paused, shed tears, but ultimately moved on.
Another little boy joins Omran in the ambulance as one by one the injured and dead are retrieved. They will not be the last children to be pulled out of the wreckage of their homes tonight or on any of the many nights to come here in Aleppo.
Nima Elbagir, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:57:53] HARLOW: Thieves caught on video stealing Donald Trump signs, but Trump supporters are undeterred. They just go bigger.
Here's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You are looking at perhaps the most endangered species of yard sign.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four signs I had on with Donald Trump were missing.
MOOS: They tend to be drive-byes, someone makes a beeline for the Trump sign, grabs it and then jumps in a getaway car.
And check out this dainty thief. The most recent theft involved a runner in Hillsdale, New Jersey. She jogged past a house, waited for a car to leave and then came back. Picked up a sign and took off.
When the video went public, she turned herself in, but the sign owner declined to press charges. Meanwhile, the neighbor's Trump sign was plucked by a masked woman.
It could be worse.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Respect my opinion to vote for who I want to.
MOOS: This artist created a giant T for a yard in Staten Island. In the middle of the night, someone set it on fire.
Donald himself called to commiserate. What's an artist to do? Rebuild.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to be huge.
MOOS: This house in Indianapolis lost a dozen Trump signs in three weeks. We found very few Hillary signs reportedly stolen. Either her supporters aren't posting them or they're being left alone.
In Haverhill, Massachusetts, one of the early signs was painted never over Trump. He had nine signs ripped out and tossed in the street.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not going to take them down. The signs are staying up.
MOOS: Some bipartisan tips for protecting your yard sign, a Pennsylvania man slathers signs, and hard to get off of clothing and car.
Another person went and brought a giant jar of Vick's Vapor Rub and smeared it over every inch of the sign.
When Hillary for Prison signs disappeared out in the Hamptons, the owner re-installed them on 12-foot polls with surveillance cameras and electric fencing. It may not be easy to steal an election, but an election sign?
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: There's your moment of levity.
I'm Poppy Harlow in for Erin Burnett. Thanks so much for joining us.
"AC360" starts now.
