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The Situation Room
Interview With Idaho Senator James Risch; Baltimore Police Commissioner Fired; Donald Trump Speaks Out; Cyber-Failures. Aired 18- 19:00p ET
Aired July 08, 2015 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:01]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Cyber-failures. Computer meltdowns paralyze America's biggest stock exchange and a major airline. Is there a connection here and who is to blame?
And grilling Trump. Andersen Cooper goes one-on-one with the Republican presidential candidate and asks him if he is being hypocritical on the issue immigration?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Can you guarantee that you don't have illegal or undocumented workers working for you in hotel projects or various projects?
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I can't guarantee it. I can't guarantee anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: And sextortion -- the FBI warning that young girls are increasingly falling victim to predators demanding naked pictures and making terrifying threats.
We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Wolf Blitzer is off. I'm Brianna Keilar. You are in THE SITUATION ROOM.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
KEILAR: We do have breaking news tonight, a change at the top in Baltimore just months after rioting and the death of Freddie Gray exposed problems within the city's police force.
Tonight, Anthony Batts has been removed as Baltimore police commissioner. He was widely criticized for his response to the riots. The mayor says the people of Baltimore deserve better.
We have correspondents, analysts, newsmakers standing by as we cover all of the breaking news.
First to CNN justice reporter Evan Perez and CNN national correspondent Suzanne Malveaux with more on the ouster of the Baltimore police commissioner -- Evan.
EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, disorder and violence in Baltimore have forced a change atop the police department there. So far, there have been more than 150 murders in the city, making this among the most violent years since the 1990s.
So, now Commissioner Anthony Batts is out. His deputy, Kevin Davis, is now in charge. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake says the change will help city focus on reducing violence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE (D), MAYOR OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND: Recent events placed an intense focus on our police leadership, distracting many from what need to be our main focus, the fight against crime. So we need a change. This was not an easy decision. But it is one that is in the best interest of the people of Baltimore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PEREZ: As the mayor said, Baltimore citizens want a safer city and it is clear that rank-and-file officers haven't been listening to Commissioner Batts. The number of arrests are down since the protest over the death of Freddie Gray, a result of what some believe is a police slowdown.
In May, there were 1,900 people arrested, compared to 3,200 in April and 3,100 in March. The challenge now, Brianna, is how do you take more aggressive steps to take criminals off the streets while ensuring officers aren't using some of the tactics that people believe led to some of the excesses in the past?
KEILAR: And you, Suzanne, were in Baltimore today, where the police union, which is the mouthpiece of all the rank-and-file officers, issued this scathing report about the...
(CROSSTALK)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was a 31-page report, and it was brief, but it was brutal, because essentially they blamed the police commissioner and they blamed the mayor as well. They said they were both acting together on this, but it was pure neglect.
They said these officers when they were dealing with the civil unrest that turned into a riot had been given orders to stand down essentially, not to engage in the looters or the rioters, to let these buildings burn. They had been issued helmets, they said, that they were not allowed to wear. They even had to, according to the report, release some of the suspects that they had in custody.
In general, there was a real frustration among the police officers no longer having any kind of morale or confidence in the commissioner. And I asked the president of the FOP, the Fraternal Order of Police, Gene Ryan, is it time for the commissioner to go? He said, no, this is a time for him to step up, not step down. The mayor interestingly enough actually issued a response to this
report, calling it baseless, saying it was politically motivated, and that there would be this press conference later with Batts. And that's when everything changed this afternoon, just within hours, that decision made to let him go and have her come forward and announcing that he had been fired.
KEILAR: How much pressure was there for Batts to go?
PEREZ: There was a lot of pressure, Brianna, because it was clear that the surge in violence and the fact that there was this perceived slowdown in the number of arrests, that it was clear that there was still a lot of crime happening, it was just people weren't getting arrested.
That's definitely the way police chiefs, commissioners and even mayors are judged. And keep in mind what's happening in Baltimore is part of a larger political drama. Right? We expect that there's going to be a very strong competition for the next election that is coming up in another year or so.
We know that Stephanie Rawlings-Blake knows that her political future was damaged by what happened in the riots in Baltimore. And so that's also playing here. She needs to make sure that she can recover some of the gains they had made before she faces reelection.
[18:05:02]
KEILAR: Evan and Suzanne, thank you so much for both of your reports.
Joining me live now from Baltimore to talk more about this, we have City Councilman Carl Stokes. He's actually been calling for Commissioner Batts' resignation for some time now.
What is your reaction to this?
CARL STOKES, BALTIMORE CITY COUNCILMAN: My reaction is that finally it has taken place, because, for several weeks, even a couple of months, our focus has been on the police commissioner, his leadership, whether or not he should stay, whether he should go, whether he had the confidence of the rank-and-file, whether he had the confidence of the citizens?
We were not focusing on public safety. Our murder rate has spiked by 25 percent. Shootings are up over double what they were for the entire year last year. They're double that right now. He was a distraction. And the whole conversation about whether he should stay or not has taken the focus off public safety.
KEILAR: Do you think more needs to be done, though? Is this enough to just chop off the head in a way of the police department? Do you need to deal with the rank-and-file and have a comprehensive solution here?
STOKES: Well, we do. But I think it starts in leadership. I think leadership in a paramilitary organization, where the
rank-and-file no longer have confidence in taking the command of the leadership, that breaks it all now down. I have to tell you that I think that took many police officers, good men, good women have stood down somewhat over the last several weeks.
We have a situation where criminals are empowered, or at least they feel empowered. And they are, given the melees that have been going out on our streets. But it starts with the leadership. The leadership has let the citizens down, not and the rank-and-file.
KEILAR: All right, Carl Stokes, thank you so much for talking with us.
I just want to lot you know that we will be right back with Nick Mosby. He's the Baltimore City councilman of the district where Freddie Gray was killed. He's also married to the mayor of Baltimore. We will be talking with him right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:11:24]
KEILAR: Now we are back with the breaking news, the Baltimore police commissioner fired.
And we are joined now by Baltimore City Councilman Nick Mosby. He represents the district where Freddie Gray is killed and he is married to the city's top prosecutor.
My apologies, sir. I said you were married to the mayor accidentally. And I bet your wife would probably take some issue with that. So, just to clear, you are married to the state's attorney, Marilyn Mosby.
Thanks for being with us.
NICK MOSBY, BALTIMORE CITY COUNCILMAN: Thanks for having me on.
KEILAR: And I know you represent this district where Freddie Gray was killed. What's the reaction so far in your district to this news?
MOSBY: I think the residents just -- we are at a place right now in Baltimore where leadership need to stand up. And there needs to be a more collaborative effort between the mayor, between the city council, between every entity, including the community and rank-and- file.
And I think that many folks are there. Folks want a plan that is going to be articulated to them and a plan that is going to be executed to really clean up and help our streets.
KEILAR: So they don't feel like they have an idea of where the path forward is? MOSBY: I would say that that is the case.
I think that that's been a problem in the past. You know, to just completely lay it on one person, the police commissioner, is absurd. He is one variable in a very complex equation in the urban area that has issues with violence.
And I think that it's time for all of us to come together and really develop a plan that the citizens will be able to get behind and really help. It's time for us to bridge this gap between the community, law enforcement and our police department.
KEILAR: Some people have said this a start. You have a trickle- down culture maybe coming from the top. And so this needs to happen. But what do you see needs to be done when it comes to the rank-and- file, when it comes to either getting rid of some officers, or changing the culture within the police department?
MOSBY: Well, it is critically important that, one, you have strong, bold leadership that folks trust and that folks can get behind.
And as we turn this page in Baltimore's history, I want to thank, you know, Anthony Batts for his service, for -- being police commissioner of Baltimore City is not an easy job. But we turn this page. It is critically important that we focus on trying to develop a plan again that we can articulate to our residents and that they can get behind.
You know, that only grows the trust in our communities. And we sorely need the trust between our communities and the police department.
KEILAR: Does the -- I want to ask you, actually, your wife is the state's attorney, Marilyn Mosby. Do you see this move impacting the case that she has brought against the six officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray?
MOSBY: I have absolutely no idea.
She is on the judicial side. I'm on the legislative side. You know, as it relates to any of the intricacies associated with the case, I have absolutely no idea how this plays out.
What I do say is, this is a chance for us to collaborate as a community, again, starting with the mayor's office, starting with the city council, starting with community leaders, clergy, business owners, for everybody to come together with the rank-and-file.
At the end of the day, folks continue to berate our police officers, and, unfortunately, the bigger bunch gets a bad name for a very small pool of those individuals. It's time for us to really drive the policies that will forever change that chasm between the community and law enforcement.
And that's how we go after violence. To look at violence on a yearly basis and compare numbers year to year, we could do that. However, that does not drive sustainable change. And that's what we sorely need, in not just Baltimore, Maryland, but in urban America from East to West.
[18:15:03]
KEILAR: Definitely lessons to be learned in other places.
Councilman Mosby, thank you for being with us. Really appreciate it.
And tonight, from Wall Street to airports across the nation, disturbing new proof that America's computer networks are vulnerable to technical problems or outright attacks that can disrupt major companies and affect millions of Americans.
The New York Stock Exchange forced to suspend trading for much of the day because of a technical failure, and this happened soon after United Airlines grounded all of its planes also because of a computer meltdown.
I want to go live now to CNN's Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange.
I actually, Alison, woke up in Iowa, and barely made my United flight today. This was a huge issue for so many people.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi.
Technical glitches can do that kind of thing, can't they? And you know what? When we heard the closing bell today here at the New York Stock Exchange, that gavel make that sound, and everybody clapping, it really wasn't something that everybody here at the New York Stock Exchange thought they would actually hear today, because it took almost four hours to get computers back online here to conduct the business of the New York Stock Exchange.
You know what is interesting is there were some indications even before the opening bell that trading just wasn't going to go too smoothly today. One trader told me that he had connectivity issues as early as 7:30 this morning. He said he was even surprised that the market even opened today.
Now, the New York Stock Exchange also put out an e-mail alert about that connectivity concerning more than 200 stocks and a technical glitch. But then we heard that that was resolved. But then 11:30 struck and as one trader put it, Brianna, the music just stopped. All the computers just stopped making trades, Brianna.
KEILAR: Unbelievable. Alison Kosik, actually, if you can tell me, give me a sense of the outage happening for three hours. What are you hearing about exactly why this may have happened? Are they able to determine the exact technical reason?
KOSIK: We heard from the New York Stock Exchange president, who said that they found what was wrong. and that they fixed it. He says there is no evidence, no reason that this technical glitch was external.
Now, he is not sure if it is related to a software glitch, because the NYSE did roll out some new software last night. But what he did say was that all of the trades, up until 11:30, they weren't going through 100 percent. And the NYSE president said he actually made the decision to stop trading.
But now there, of course, is going to be a full review as to what exactly went down here -- Brianna.
KEILAR: Alison, we will wait for the findings there.
I want to bring in our chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto.
What are your sources telling you about these computer meltdowns, Jim? Because you look at the timing, and it just seems like an awful coincidence?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: They're saying it was really an awful coincidence. The FBI sprang into action immediately to investigate it as it was happening very quickly. After the United and New York Stock Exchange glitches, Department of Homeland Security told me -- quote -- "no signs of malicious activity."
On the Hill today, we heard testimony on another very real threat. And that is when we are speaking about terrorism, and it's terrorists going dark, using encrypted communications to plan attacks, communications that U.S. authorities acknowledge they have no way to intercept, this at a time when the FBI director said today they have recently thwarted several attacks aimed at killing Americans here on the U.S. homeland.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: This is an enormous problem.
SCIUTTO (voice-over): Today, the nation's top law enforcement official gave Congress a frank and sobering warning: Terrorists are going dark in cyberspace.
COMEY: Sometimes, people watch TV and think, well, the FBI must have some way to break that strong encryption. We do not, which is why this is such an important issue.
SCIUTTO: Terrorists' use of encryption means the FBI cannot in many cases detect and prevent attacks on U.S. soil, like the one carried out in Garland, Texas, two months ago.
COMEY: We are stopping these things so far through tremendous hard work, the use of sources, the use of online undercovers, but it is incredibly difficult. I cannot see me stopping these indefinitely.
SCIUTTO: The issue, online conversations between American supporters of ISIS and other terror groups and terrorists overseas, like the ISIS recruiter Junaid Hussain, increasingly hidden by highly encrypted and widely available messaging apps, Surespot and Kik.
COMEY: This is not your grandfather's al Qaeda. Our job is to look at a haystack the size of this country for needles that are increasingly invisible to us because of end-to-end encryption.
SCIUTTO: Here's how it works. A person sends a message such as, "I want to fight for ISIS' over the Web. Encryption software scrambles that message. And only a recipient using the correct key can unscramble it to see its original meaning.
[18:20:00]
The solution, argues the FBI and many lawmakers, is to allow law enforcement access to encrypted messages with a search warrant. Tech companies, however, are resisting, concerned they will lose business from privacy-conscious customers. Silicon Valley estimates it lost tens of billions of dollars to overseas competitors following revelations of mass surveillance by the NSA.
JAMES LEWIS, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: The encryption debate is really about a trade. How much more secure do you want to make Americans and their personal data vs. how much opportunity do you want to create for terrorists and other criminals to communicate safely?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO: There are several groups lined up against the kind of access that the FBI is seeking here. It's the companies certainly worried about lost business. It's privacy advocates, but it's also security advocates who say that surrendering encryption codes to the government will put the very encryption systems and all that depend on it -- we're talking about banks and other companies that depend on personal information -- at risk.
And, Brianna, one of those risks that they bring up is frankly understandable. That is, you give the government the ways to break these encryption services, can you really trust the government with them? Because the government has proven itself very vulnerable to hacking attacks. We saw that most recently with the attack on the Office of Personnel Management, which opened up, you know the records, the security clearances of millions of federal workers. It is a real question.
KEILAR: It sure is. Jim Sciutto, thanks so much.
And I want to bring in Senator James Risch, Republican of Idaho, and he's with us because he's a member of Intelligence and Foreign Relations Committees.
I know, Senator, that you know what's going on here when we heard the FBI director, James Comey, saying today -- quote -- "We have disrupted just in the last few weeks very serious efforts to kill people in the United States."
What can you tell us about these efforts? SEN. JAMES RISCH (R), IDAHO: Well, probably not much more than
he did. And the fact is, he is correct. We have reviewed those.
And they have -- the intelligence community, starting with the FBI here in the United States, is very, very active, because we are at in dangerous period here in American history. We have seen that in recent weeks and we have seen it over the last year-and-a-half or so, where the push from these groups, these terrorist groups have changed from this large iconic type of attack, like we experienced on 9/11 and on aircraft, to more the lone wolf type of attacks that are smaller, but still very devastating.
A good example is what happened in Tunisia. One person killed all those people in Tunisia last week. That's going to happen here. It's happened. It's going to continue to happen.
KEILAR: You think it is going to happen here?
RISCH: I don't think there is any question about that.
Look, these guys work really hard. Our intelligence communities are very, very good. They have got to be right every day 100 percent of the time. The bad guys only have to be right once. And if they do it enough, chances are they're going to break through.
And that's why they try get every tool they can get to tamp this down.
KEILAR: These foiled plots, were they imminent?
RISCH: Some were. Some were quite imminent, actually.
KEILAR: Within days?
RISCH: Within days. There was one. Of course, there was even one that was within hours or minutes. As you know, it was an open source. It was reported on. You reported on it. But this...
KEILAR: But these ones he talked -- the ones he talked about in the last few weeks, that's what you are talking about, the ones that have been reported, one was imminent?
RISCH: One was very imminent. Others were imminent also .
KEILAR: We heard him testify today. He was talking, Comey. He talked about encryption, which you just heard Jim's report on.
Why is ISIS so good at this? Why is this such a difficult thing for the U.S. and for its allies to break?
RISCH: Really a good question.
ISIS has hit us right at a point in history when encryption has taken a very sophisticated turn. Encryption has been around for decades. They used it in World War II. They used it in probably in wars for a long time. But now with the invention of the Internet, again, encryption has been used on the Internet and has become more sophisticated.
And only in recent actual months have we wound up with encryption systems where you can follow a rabbit hole in the Internet and follow it through to points where you can actually lose your identity. That's causing really, really serious problems.
KEILAR: So, this is very new technology.
RISCH: It is new technology.
KEILAR: And obviously safe to assume that there are efforts to deal with this, to confront this?
RISCH: Of course. We confront the bad guys whether they're on the battlefield, whether they're on the street corner, whether they're on the Internet.
KEILAR: Sure. But if you are dealing with trying to break these encryption codes, Jim just raised this issue of whether or not the government can be trusted to have these codes, because the government is susceptible to hacks. What do you say to that?
[18:25:00]
RISCH: Well, not only is the government susceptible to hacks.
But we in America have a very healthy reserved feeling about our government. And they need to be watched. They need to be kept in check. And so that I think permeates all of this.
And having said all that, it is a tool that -- as the director said today, he is an employee of the American people. He puts it on the table and says to the American people, how do you want me to do this job? You asked me to do it. I am going to do it. I am going to use every tool I have available. This is one that we have just lost. And we need to look at some changes, maybe minor changes, to try to get back some of the abilities that we have lost.
KEILAR: Senator Risch, thank you so much.
RISCH: Thank you.
KEILAR: Really appreciate you being with us.
And just ahead, Donald Trump talks to CNN's Anderson Cooper. Amid Trump's immigration uproar, does the billionaire presidential candidate have undocumented immigrants working for him?
Plus, hundreds of teenage girls victimized by an online predator -- new details of the shocking crime that the FBI calls sextortion.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: He ignited a huge controversy that's dominating the Republican race for the White House right now, and Donald Trump is not backing down from the most inflammatory remark in which he called some Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals.
[18:3049] Now there are questions about whether Trump himself is employing undocumented workers. He talked about it just a short time ago with CNN's Anderson Cooper.
Anderson, I want to play a clip of this. This is you pressing him on reports that he hired illegal immigrants.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: "The Washington Post," as you know, say that some of the workers building this beautiful hotel that you're building down in Washington, D.C., are illegal. They've talked to 15 workers. They said a number of those 15 came here legally through asylum -- they're now legal -- but that a number of them did say they're illegal.
Isn't it hypocritical for you, saying that illegal immigration is killing this country, to be employing illegal immigrants?
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I read the story. And we're building a great hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, and it's being done beautifully. And we're very, very -- I'm very cognizant of that. And by the way, that story does not name any names. I'd love it if they could give us the names. But they said they spoke to one or two, but they don't name them. And they don't even know if it's true.
COOPER: What they say is, "Several of the men, who hail mostly from El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, have earned U.S. citizenship or legal status through immigration programs targeting Central Americans fleeing civil wars or natural disasters. Others quietly acknowledge that they remain in the country illegally." They don't give numbers.
TRUMP: They have to give us the names. Because we have...
COOPER: But they're illegal. They're not going to give you names.
TRUMP: They have to give us the names. And I have to say this. We believe so strongly -- I hired a very big contractor, one of the most prestigious, one of the best in the world, to build the building. It's their responsibility to make sure. They have got...
COOPER: Doesn't the buck stop with you, though? You pay their salary.
TRUMP: Yes. It does, absolutely. We have gone out of our way to make sure that everybody in that building is legal. And we do have some that were -- that became legal. And wait a minute. We have some, many, I think that became frankly me, you, everybody, ultimately we were all sort of in the group of immigrants, right? But we have done that to the absolute letter of the law.
COOPER: Can you guarantee that you don't have illegal or undocumented workers working for you in hotel projects or various projects?
TRUMP: I can't guarantee it. How can I? How can anyone? We have 34 million in the country. I used to hear 11. Now I hear 34 million. I can't guarantee anything.
But I can say this: We work very hard to make sure that everybody is legal as opposed to illegal.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: And Anderson, you also pressed him on incidents from the past, reports that the Trump Tower itself was constructed using some work by illegal immigrants. Do you feel like he really had an answer for that?
COOPER: Yes. "The Daily Beast" put that article out today, saying that a group of 200 Polish illegal immigrants were used to clear the land that the Trump Tower is built on. This happened 35 years ago.
Look, he basically reiterated, saying like he had no prior knowledge of that. And that, you know, he runs a tight ship. If he finds out about anybody who's illegal, he wants to fire them, obviously. And he said going back 35 years is pretty pathetic, if you've got to go back that far to try to find something.
This being said, though, look, he is now entering, you know, the world of presidential politics. And his record is going to be gone through like never before. So I don't think it's out-of-bounds for him to be asked these questions, certainly. And there are certainly going to be a lot of people, particularly even in the GOP, who are going to be calling him to task for -- for, you know, being very tough on, on illegal immigration, and at the same time, even if it's just a few employees on a job site in Washington, if there aren't more, they're probably going to try to bring that up certainly during the debates.
So this is just kind of the early rounds for Mr. Trump on answering these questions.
KEILAR: The project in Washington mere blocks from the White House, we should also say.
I want to listen to another clip. This is where you challenge Donald Trump on something that he retweeted about Jeb Bush and his wife.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: You've been very vocal in media, very accessible; you're on Twitter. There was a tweet that caused you problems that was rescinded. It as a retweet about Jeb Bush's wife.
TRUMP: Yes.
COOPER: The original tweet said Jeb Bush has to like the Mexican illegals because of his wife. That was somebody else said that. You retweeted it. Did you authorize that? Do you regret that?
TRUMP: I didn't authorize it. I will say this. Look, I have millions of people on Twitter and Facebook. I think I have over 5 million people on both. That's a lot of people. It's sort of like...
COOPER: Do you regret that going out?
TRUMP: It's like owning a newspaper, a big one, without the losses. It's good.
I don't regret anything. Look, we -- it was a retweet. It wasn't me. And it was actually, if you look at it carefully, it was a retweet of a Breitbart story that was a very good story, a very fair story, very strong story, very good story.
But, do I regret? No, I don't regret it. I mean, look, I would say that he would. If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico. I can understand that.
COOPER: You think that influences his position on illegal immigration?
TRUMP: I think it could. I mean, maybe it should. If he loves his wife, and I know he does. I hear she's a lovely woman, by the way. So if he loves his wife and she's from Mexico, I think it probably has an influence on him, yes. I can understand that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Boy, he dug in, didn't he, Anderson?
COOPER: He certainly did. I mean, that was a tweet which was later deleted. A retweet which was later deleted. But he says, look, he doesn't apologize for it. He has nothing to apologize for.
And he's obviously very tough on Jeb Bush, who is the front- runner in many of these polls. Donald Trump, as you know, coming in second, many of these polls, doing very well in the polls, surprising probably a lot of people, a lot of people who had thought he would not have done so well this early on.
So he's clearly, you know, got Jeb Bush in his sights. He's also got some very critical comments for some of his other fellow Republicans who have been very critical of him. And that will be on later tonight.
KEILAR: You think, actually, the delete button on Twitter might as well be the regret button, though. I will say that.
Anderson Cooper, thanks so much.
And make sure to watch Anderson Cooper's exclusive sit-down interview with Donald Trump. That's on "Anderson 360" tonight at 8 Eastern.
And I want to talk now about all of this with the editorial director of "The National Journal," CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein. We're also joined by Republican strategist and CNN political commentator Kevin Madden; CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger; and CNN senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny.
Any reactions at this point, Gloria, from the Jeb Bush camp?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, look, I think that what Jeb Bush has been trying to do all along is first he tried to pay no attention to him, because he didn't want to give him credibility. He didn't want to give him any more oxygen than he already was taking up. And at a certain point, Jeb Bush decided that they had to pay attention.
On the wife issue, I don't have it yet. I've asked, and we may get it now. But, I -- you know, I think it's kind of -- unseemly even to respond to what Trump is saying. Because it's so ridiculous.
KEILAR: Do you agree with that?
KEVIN MADDEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, I think the Bush campaign is trying to be very measured in their response.
BORGER: Right.
MADDEN: Because they know that the one thing Trump wants more than anything is for more people to start talking about Donald Trump. So I think that's why they have been measured.
But I do think it would be -- if I were in the campaign, I'd be arguing for a confrontation. I would say we need to take this on. And we need to...
KEILAR: Make it an opportunity.
MADDEN: Make it an opportunity.
BORGER: Use him as a foil. Yes.
MADDEN: Send a message. How we're a serious candidate and we're going to represent the party in a serious way, and we have serious ideas about where we want to take the country.
Now, I think the Bush people are very smart. I think -- I expect that they're waiting for a better moment. It's easy to do it, and it's right in the depths of July here when maybe a lot, not a lot of people are watching. But who knows, when you get on the debate stage, whether or not that confrontation is going to provide somebody like Jeb Bush a moment of strength at a time where people are still shopping around on their candidates, and it will give him a chance to break out.
KEILAR: Ron -- Ron, let me ask you. Can -- can he wait on this when your -- you know, just give us a sense of how important the Latino vote is in 2016.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Sure. KEILAR: Should he seize this opportunity now?
BROWNSTEIN: No. Look I think -- Donald Trump at the moment is an enormous irritant, to put it charitably to Jeb Bush. But in the end if Jeb Bush, I think, handles this right, Donald Trump will end up being an asset to him in two distinct respects.
One is the one that Kevin noted, which is that if Jeb Bush is willing to stand up for the positions he's annunciated on both undocumented immigrants and defending legal immigrants, he can use Donald Trump as a foil in a way that could improve his credibility with the Latino community, should he become the Republican presidential nominee.
I think it is a very -- it is one thing to say kind of attractive things about immigrants in front of Latino audiences; another thing to do it on a Republican debate stage.
The other point I think is equally important is that Donald Trump, to the extent he is strong, he splinters the anti- establishment, most alienated segments of the Republican Party, the voters who are least likely to be with Jeb Bush anyway. To the extent they park with Donald Trump, who is unlikely to be the nominee, they are not available for someone else who has the chance to consolidate a bigger portion of the party and make a serious run against him. So by splintering the right and by providing a foil, in the end, Trump may end up more asset than antagonist for Jeb Bush.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I think Ron is right. There are so many people in this field. Jeb Bush, I think, you're right, why do this in July?
[18:40:08] But he is going to be taking supporters away from -- you know, from the second or third rung of candidates, not Jeb Bush necessarily.
But the more he talks, ultimately, I think more it hurts Donald Trump. Republicans want to win. More than anything else they want to win the election; they want to defeat Hillary Clinton. Do not want to spend too much time with the side show. Maybe for the summer. After Labor Day, I think they're done with this.
BORGER: But you know, I was talking to a Republican strategist today, who said, look, the party is in a difficult situation. These candidates are trying to appeal to Republican-base primary voters. Donald Trump speaks to their anger to a degree about a lot of things. Right, Kevin? And so they're trying to walk a fine line here.
My question back was, why walk a -- why walk a fine line? These people are never going to be with Jeb Bush anyway, right?
MADDEN: And Ron Fournier called him a combed-over version of a reflection of angry America. A reflection of angry America. I think that's right.
I think one of the things that's interesting, though, and Anderson actually hit on this during his interview, which is he called on. So right now the main appeal to is this straight-talking breath of fresh air, saying it like he sees it, Donald Trump. And that's the perceived presentation that he has for a lot of voters.
But what you're seeing right now is, because of the scrutiny, a certain level of hypocrisy start to be exposed. The fact that he, you know, has railed against China and railed against trade, where at the same time Donald Trump signature collection ties are made in China. And you have illegal immigrants working on his work sites on the hotels.
It will be interesting to see whether or not that starts to have an impact on what was initially a boomlet during his announcement. And whether or not, when people start to see that, it's like maybe this isn't so much straight talk. Maybe I'm actually being misled. And whether or not that begins to fracture some of the support he initially saw.
KEILAR: What about the Republican brand, Jeff? Because the RNC and we've had a spokesperson on from the RNC. And they've said that obviously, it's less than helpful that what Donald Trump has said. That's not some huge condemnation of it, though. As a brand, what's the risk here?
ZELENY: As a brand, I think there is a risk. And Hillary Clinton, you know, is laughing all the way to the general election possibly, if she wins the primary. What she's managed to do is kind of exploit this moment.
And Jeb Bush has had to clarify his position. He told "The New Hampshire Union-Leader" editorial board just this afternoon that he does not believe in a path to citizenship. He said, "My belief is no." That is a quote that is going to be replayed, should he become the nominee. That is going to be replayed again and again.
So Hillary Clinton is just using this and Democrats using this as a moment to box them in here. That's a problem for a Republican brand that wants to expand its base.
KEILAR: Quick final word to you, Ron.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. I say, look, as Gloria pointed out, that Donald Trump is speaking for a portion of the Republican base. I mean, particularly the blue-collar side, is deeply alienated from almost everything going on in society. They are protectionist, as he is. They are deeply opposed to any path to citizenship.
And in that sense, he is giving a louder voice to the same kind of sentiments that we were hearing from Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee and, to some extent, Scott Walker that can be problematic for the brand into the general election, unless Jeb Bush or someone else uses them as a foil to reposition the party.
KEILAR: All right. Ron, thank you so much. Jeff, Gloria, Kevin, thank you so much. Great panel today, guys. Appreciate it. And just ahead, we are checking the facts from Hillary Clinton's
exclusive interview with CNN, her first of the 2016 presidential campaign. Does it pass the truth test?
Plus an online predator who targeted teenage girls in 26 states with what the FBI calls sextortion. We're learning new details of his efforts to find his victims.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:48:14] KEILAR: It's her first national TV interview of the 2016 campaign. The world saw it first and exclusively here in THE SITUATION ROOM. Now, we're taking a closer look at what some of Hillary Clinton told me when we sat down in Iowa.
We want to know if all of it passes the truth test.
CNN senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny checking the facts for us.
Jeff, what are you finding?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brianna.
I mean, as you know, Hillary Clinton was more eager to talk about her Republican rivals than her Democratic ones.
Some of her strongest comments came on immigration. She used a broad brush to paint the Republican field in what she called a "spectrum of hostility". But some of those Republican rivals actually support immigration reform much more than she let on.
But the answer that stood out the most to us about her emails, it was actually about her e-mails and whether she received a subpoena or not?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZELENY (voice-over): The fight over Hillary Clinton's e-mails just won't go away.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Everything I did was permitted.
ZELENY: On Tuesday, Clinton defended using a private e-mail server as secretary of state. She told CNN's Brianna Keilar she followed the law.
CLINTON: I never had a subpoena. Let's take a deep breath here.
REP. TREY GOWDY (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: We sent her a subpoena.
ZELENY: But tonight, Republican Congressman Trey Gowdy leading the investigation into the Benghazi attacks says that's not true. He showed us a copy of the subpoena he sent Clinton March 4th. GOWDY: But to state that you never received a subpoena, you did
get one in March, couldn't be more plain, the Honorable Hillary R. Clinton.
CLINTON: That's what it should be about.
ZELENY: Clinton is also under scrutiny for targeting her GOP rivals on immigration.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best.
ZELENY: Donald Trump's comments have triggered outrage, which Clinton seized upon.
CLINTON: You know, they don't want to provide a path to citizenship.
[18:50:00] They range across a spectrum of being either grudgingly welcome or hostile toward immigrants.
ZELENY: Immigration is dividing the GOP. But Republicans cried foul at lumping them with Trump.
Senator Lindsey Graham supports a path to citizenship and several other Republicans back immigration reform.
Aides to Jeb Bush said, "Hillary Clinton will say anything to get elected and her numerous flip-flops on immigration prove it."
Bush says he is in favor of legal status but no longer supports a path to citizenship.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I appreciate the opportunity to be with you this morning. Thank you.
ZELENY: Marco Rubio said it was wrong to portray all Republicans as hostile on immigration. As Clinton works to rebuild her image, she said Republicans are to blame for any voters who question her trust and honesty.
CLINTON: Constant barrage of attacks that are largely fomented by and coming from the right.
ZELENY: It was reminiscent of this classic moment.
CLINTON: This vast right wing conspiracy.
ZELENY: It's a sign the past hasn't fully gone away.
CLINTON: This has been a theme used against me and my husband for many, many years.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZELENY: Now, back to that subpoena, her advisors, after several hours, tried to clarify her suggestion that she didn't receive a subpoena. They say it's a question of timing, that she had already turned over most of those e-mails before she received the subpoena, which they, of course, acknowledged actually arrived in March. Their point, she had turned over some of those e-mails voluntarily without a subpoena -- Brianna.
KEILAR: And it's curious to note, did -- was she aware that she had a subpoena? I've asked that. I haven't gotten a response to that question myself.
ZELENY: Still a few answers out there about the -- these -- all these e-mails. And Congressman Gowdy told me today, he still hopes to have her before his committee before the end of the year and he hopes that happens sometimes after Labor Day.
KEILAR: All right. We'll see. All right. Jeff Zeleny, thanks so much.
Just ahead, the FBI calls it "sextortion". Right now, they are asking the public to help find hundreds of teenage victims. We have details, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: It's a crime that many people have never even heard of, the FBI calls it "sextortion" and it's asking the public to help find hundreds of teenage victims.
CNN justice correspondent Pamela Brown is here with more on this -- Pamela.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, the FBI says sextortion is growing at an alarming rate. It's when predators coerce young girls into sending them naked pictures that are traded on the interne internet.
We spoke to one victim who is helping the FBI find 250 still unidentified sextortion victims from one case alone.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ASHLEY REYNOLDS, VICTIM OF SEXTORTION: I was just the good girl. I didn't ever get in trouble or anything like that. I was just freaked out.
BROWN (voice-over): Ashley Reynolds had just finished her freshman year in high school when a stranger started threatening her with text messages. "I have naked pictures of you. They're going to be sent to all of your friends."
And the threats kept coming. "I need you to take pictures in your bra if you don't want them to see you."
REYNOLDS: I knew there was no picture of me, not to my knowledge at least.
BROWN: But Ashley, who was only 14 years old at the time, remembers falling victim to the mind games of a sexual predator.
REYNOLDS: He was almost manipulating my mind to believe that he did have some pictures of me. So, I didn't know. Maybe I have my laptop up and I know maybe I was changing or something like that.
BROWN: The man behind those threats, Lucas Chansler of Florida, now in prison, serving 105 years for an extortion scheme to produce child pornography. Ashley at the time feeling she had no choice, sent Chansler a few naked pictures of herself, thinking that would make him go away.
But she was wrong.
REYNOLDS: What started off as seven pictures, that one night, turned into around 60 pictures per night. I was so scared. I didn't know where it was going to go. I didn't know how far it was going to go.
BROWN: Ashley is one of 350 young girls victimized by Chansler in 26 states across the U.S., along with Canada and the U.K., according to court documents.
Federal agents raided Chansler's Florida home in 2010. On his computer, more than 80,000 images and videos, some showing the young victims crying, pleading with him. FBI officials are now asking for the public's help to identify victims. So far, they have identified 109 girls, including one living in Florida.
LARRY MEYER, FBI SPECIAL AGENT: He just came out, right out and threatened her that he was going to harm her and her family if she didn't produce for him.
BROWN: Now, 20 years old, Ashley is on a crusade. Her story in "Glamour" magazine, hoping to save other young girls from predators like Lucas Chansler.
REYNOLDS: I feel like I have a meaning to help other girls that they don't have to go through this like I did.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Ashley kept her torment secret for several months until her mom discovered the pictures on her laptop. That discovery led to a call to authorities which cracked the case wide open and led to the arrest of Chansler -- Brianna.
KEILAR: So much courage from that young woman. Amazing.
Pamela Brown, thank you so much.
Remember, you can always follow us on Twitter. Tweet me @BriKeilarCNN, tweet the show @CNNSitroom. Be sure to join us tomorrow in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Thanks so much for watching. I'm Brianna Keilar in THE SITUATION ROOM. "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.
