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The Situation Room
Interview With New York Congressman Chris Collins; Western Fires; Trump Flip-Flopping on Immigration?; Source: Trump Delays Speech, "Fine-Tuning" Immigration Plan; Judge: Review 15,000 New Documents in Clinton Email Case; Turkey Backtracks on Age of Wedding Bomber; Fast-Moving Wildfires Force Hundreds of Evacuate. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired August 22, 2016 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:02]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Will voters reject the unsubstantiated rumors, or will they stick?
Attacks on ethic? As the Clintons scramble to defuse criticism of their foundation, Donald Trump claims their organization is the most corrupt in political history. Democrats, the Democrats are hitting back, arguing it's Trump who needs to come clean.
And rapid fire. The disaster out West is spreading, first California, now Washington state, new blazes raging out of control and forcing hundreds of people to flee as flames race toward their home.
We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Wolf Blitzer is off today. I'm Brianna Keilar. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
KEILAR: We have breaking news this hour as we stand by for a Donald Trump event in Ohio. There's new fuel for speculation that he may be softening his hard-line stance on immigration. A campaign source says a major speech by Trump planned for Thursday is being postponed because his immigration policy is still being fine-tuned.
Trump insists he's not going to flip-flop, but his campaign manager told CNN that his controversial plan for a deportation force is to be determined.
Also, there's new heat on Hillary Clinton over her e-mails. A federal judge revealing that nearly 15,000 previously undisclosed documents were found during the FBI's investigation. The judge is ordering the State Department to come up with a plan release the information before Election Day.
And we're also following the wildfire disaster on the West Coast. Multiple blazes are spreading very quickly now in Washington state. Hundreds of people are under orders to evacuate. This hour, Congressman and Trump supporter Chris Collins is here to talk about the presidential race. Our correspondents, analysts, and guests have full coverage of the day's top stories.
First to CNN's Jessica Schneider. She has more on the Trump campaign. She's live for us from Trump Tower -- Jessica.
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, campaign sources now saying that Donald Trump's much anticipated immigration speech will not be happening on Thursday as originally planned and there's no date for a rescheduled speech just yet.
Looks like it will be a few more days if not another week until we get some clarification on Donald Trump's seeming murky immigration stance.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Donald Trump insisting he is not changing course when it comes to immigration policy.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, I'm not flip-flopping. We want to come up with really fair, but firm answer. It has to be very firm. But we want to come up with something fair.
SCHNEIDER: This after his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, seemed to cast question on his previous hard-line deportation stance over the weekend.
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Will that plan include a deportation force, the kind that he just -- you just heard in that sound bite and that he talked about during the Republican primaries?
KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: To be determined.
SCHNEIDER: During the primary, Donald Trump declared over and over that if elected he would immediately deport an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants.
TRUMP: They are going back when they came. If they came from a certain country, they are going to be brought back from that country. That's the way it is supposed to be. Now, they can come back, but they have to come back legally. They will go out. They will come back. Some will come back, the best, through a process. They have to come back legally.
SCHNEIDER: The apparent change after Trump and members of the RNC met with a handpicked group of Hispanic supporters Saturday at Trump Tower. It's part of his outreach to minority communities that some have questioned for its tone.
TRUMP: I say it again. What do you have to lose? Look, what do you have to lose? You are living in poverty. Your schools are no good. You have no jobs; 58 percent of your youth is unemployed. What the hell do you have to lose?
(CROSSTALK)
SCHNEIDER: Meantime, Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani pushing untrue rumors that Hillary Clinton has health problems, pointing to Internet chatter to backed his debunked claims.
RUDY GIULIANI (R), FORMER MAYOR OF NEW YORK: So, go online and put down Hillary Clinton illness, and take a look at the videos for yourself.
NARRATOR: Our border open. It's more of the same, but worse.
SCHNEIDER: Donald Trump launched a new set of TV ads over the weekend, but he is still being outspent by Hillary Clinton. Her campaign announcing $80 million in ad buys in eight states through the general election. Trump's campaign so far spending $4.8 million in a 10-day ad blitz. So, has Trump really reset his approach?
His campaign manager made this promise Sunday.
CONWAY: He doesn't hurl personal insults.
SCHNEIDER: But first thing Monday, Trump went back on the personal Twitter attack against the hosts of MSNBC's "Morning Joe." But running mate Mike Pence defends Trump's style.
GOV. MIKE PENCE (R-IN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump is not an experienced politician who carefully selects his words. He speaks right from his heart, right from his mouth.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[18:05:03]
SCHNEIDER: Now, as for the ground game, the Trump team is leaning heavily on the RNC, rather than building its own infrastructure.
In fact, just in the past few weeks, field offices have begun opening in those battleground states. And the GOP's top strategist, Sean Spicer, will now be working even more closely with the Trump team, spending a lot more time right here at Trump Tower -- Brianna.
KEILAR: Yes, very interesting development there. Jessica Schneider, thank you so much, live for us in New York.
Let's go now to Akron, Ohio, where Donald Trump will hold a rally very soon. We have CNN political reporter Sara Murray there.
You can hear things starting to really rev up behind you, Sara. What more can you tell us about the Trump's campaign plan to push back this immigration speech?
SARA MURRAY, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, we're expecting Donald Trump here in Ohio any minute now, but later this week, we were supposed to be headed out to the Denver, Colorado, area. That's where we were expecting Donald Trump to deliver a speech on immigration on Thursday.
We're now hearing that speech has been postponed indefinitely, at least for now. Others on our team, CNN's Jeremy Diamond and Mark Preston, have been getting a little bit more information on this. They're hearing that Donald Trump's advisers really wanted to make sure they tweak this language, that they get this policy right. That's part of the reason for the delay here.
Of course, Brianna, as you know, when you head out West, you really reach this gold mine of Hispanic voters. That's what makes that message so potent out there. There's some even within the Trump campaign, some of his close allies who believe that Colorado is already out of his reach, which could have been part of the calculation.
Now, of course, we will be looking for any sign that he is going to reschedule this. And, of course, it will be interesting to see just how he talks about this issue, if he broaches it at all, tonight in Ohio -- Brianna.
KEILAR: Yes, it certainly will. And we will know you will be monitoring that for us. Sara Murray, thank you so much in Akron.
Joining me now to talk more about this is New York Congressman and Donald Trump supporter Chris Collins.
Congressman, thank you so much for being with us. We do appreciate it.
REP. CHRIS COLLINS (R), NEW YORK: Brianna, it's good to be with you.
KEILAR: It's fabulous to have you here.
And you just heard Sara reporting that this speech has been postponed indefinitely. So, we don't even know when this is being rescheduled for. What's going on here with this pushback?
COLLINS: Well, I can't speak for the delay in that particular speech.
What I do know is Donald Trump's had a great week-and-a-half. I think his message is really resonating and we're looking forward to that speech. I think, in my area, Brianna, I have a lot of illegal immigrants. They are working the dairy farms jobs that normal -- or not normal -- but that Americans don't want. Those are 24/7 kind of jobs.
They have been here in many cases 20 years, raising a family here. And, yes, they're illegal immigrants, but at the end of the day, our dairy farmers and other industries depend on this. We need to secure the borders, so we don't continue to have the influx. But I think everyone has said -- I know I have said, and I'm not speaking for Donald Trump -- we need a way to make folks legal, work papers.
We're not talking about citizenship, but we're talking about legal work papers to process them out of the shadows. We know who they are. We know they are law-abiding and let them work on our farms. As someone that represents a very agricultural district, I know I have been lobbying for that for a couple of years.
But let's face it. The mess we have is because Harry Reid, President Obama and Nancy Pelosi in 2009 and '10, when they controlled all the levers of Congress, did nothing on the immigration issue of the United States. To some extent, to hear them complaining or talking about the Republican lack of action, they controlled all the levers. They did absolutely nothing. It was not on their list to do.
They did Obamacare and Dodd-Frank. I think we sometimes need to remind the American public the lack of action was really the Democrats who controlled things in 2009 and '10.
KEILAR: OK, but you just made a case, an economic argument for why people who are in the country illegally, specifically in your district, should be able to get work papers and stay and be a part of the agricultural economy in which you live.
And yet you're a surrogate for Donald Trump, who says we have to take people that are here illegally and we have to move them out. How do you square -- I know you said you don't speak for Donald Trump, but how do you square that with Donald Trump wanting a deportation force?
COLLINS: Well, again, I have to speak for myself and be very clear.
But what I have said is, we can process people, which is in fact deportation. They can come out of shadows. They can go into a building, if you will, through a door. There can be folks there that will process them, get their information and whatever references they have to have.
They can process those, give them a Social Security number. Give them their work papers and then they can go out another door. We know who they are. We know where they are. So, they have been in fact deported. They come in illegal, processed. They have gone back out as legal immigrants, at which point we could easily say anyone who has not volunteered and come out of shadows for that type of -- I have called it a rhetorical deportation.
[18:10:10]
KEILAR: OK.
COLLINS: At that point in time, if they're found, they will be sent back. But we do have -- I'm a business guy. That was life, effectively speaking.
KEILAR: But I don't think that Donald Trump is talking about a rhetorical deportation.
COLLINS: Well, I can just tell you, my opinion, 11, 12 million illegal immigrants, to get them on a bus and get them out of this country would be a logistical almost nightmare.
KEILAR: Or impossibility, I know so many people have said.
But I wonder. OK, so then you're looking at -- do you doubt -- what do you want to hear then when he does come out with his immigration plan? A reversal on the deportation force?
COLLINS: Well, I do think we have to have a workable plan that takes 12 million illegal immigrants, many of which are in fact today law- abiding.
We have to remember they came into this country illegally, but many cases been here for 10 and 20 years and raising a family. And our farmers, our hoteliers, our restauranteurs depend on that particular work force.
Let's just face it. That's the reality in the United States. We have to come up with a workable plan. And I'm certainly open to hear what comes out. But I know I have been lobbying for my dairy farmers and crop farmers to make sure they don't lose their work force. Cows have to be milked three times a day, seven days a week in winter, the summer. It doesn't matter.
My dairy farmers especially depend on that work force. Right or wrong, they depend on that work force. We need to find a way to process those law-abiding immigrants, make them legal immigrants with work papers. And then anyone who doesn't come out of shadows for that kind of processing after the fact, then we absolutely need to deport them. But we need some way logistically in a commonsense mode.
Again, I'm speaking for myself.
KEILAR: Sure. No, I know. I know you said you're speaking for yourself.
But how does -- your proposal has an appeal to a certain bloc that Donald Trump's does not appeal to. How do you -- how does Donald Trump appeal to folks who would like what you're talking about, when he's built his campaign on build the wall and deportation force?
COLLINS: Well, what he's built his campaign on is securing our borders, which is building a wall and making sure that we secure that wall so we don't continue to have an influx of illegal immigrants while we deal with the 11 or 12 million here in a practical way.
KEILAR: But he's also talking about this deportation force that's definitely not the rhetorical deportation that you're not talking about.
COLLINS: Well, all I can say, Brianna, is, I guess we have to stay tuned. I can't speak for Mr. Trump on that issue.
KEILAR: You don't see a way where he can sort of temper what he's saying, so that he can have some appeal? Because I think that seems to be what the campaign is struggling with right now.
COLLINS: Well, again, I'm not in that particular inner circle. I would think what I have talked about -- and I know I have used the word rhetorical deportation. It is a deportation. It's just not putting them on a bus and taking them back across the border.
It's processing them, so we know who they are. The law-abiding, hardworking folks, especially on my farms here in Western New York, would then breathe a big sigh of relief and be able to go shopping on Saturday and Sunday and continue to raise their family. So, again, I'm not part of this inner circle. I'm not having these
discussions with Mr. Trump. I'm just saying someone who lives it -- and I have been in Congress for three years -- I have been advocating for this for the past three years.
KEILAR: All right, Congressman Collins, you're going to stay with me. We have much more to discuss. We will be back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:18:12]
KEILAR: We're back with breaking news.
A source says that Donald Trump is delaying a speech on immigration indefinitely because his policy is being fine-tuned. What does that mean?
This comes amid questions about whether Donald Trump is reversing course on his signature issue.
Let's talk more about the campaign with New York Congressman and Donald Trump supporter Chris Collins.
Congressman, so, we're looking now. It's just around the corner, really, the election, 78 days out. A lot of course can happen in that time. But why is this issue of immigration with Donald Trump being revisited now, where he's well into this general election battle?
COLLINS: Well, I think a lot of issues -- Mr. Trump has been giving a lot of speeches in a way, deep-diving his tax policy, deep-diving national security issues, talking about veterans issues.
He said over a month ago he's going to roll out a number of policy speeches at different venues around the country, his energy speech, for instance, out in North Dakota. This is just him living up to his commitment that he had to take things from that 30,000-foot level during the primary campaign and actually put some meat on the bone, which he's doing significantly more so than Hillary Clinton, who doesn't seem to, one, have an answer for anything and, number two, can't even tell America why they should vote for her.
She's trying to turn this into a referendum on Donald Trump, and she has disappeared from any kind of public appearances. Donald Trump's out there every day. He's having rallies. They're standing in lines for two hours in 90-degree weather to try to get in. Hillary Clinton is not having rallies because, frankly, no one would come. It would be pretty embarrassing.
So, this energy you're seeing, Brianna -- and, again, this most current rally -- is why the polls mean nothing. This is a turnout election and the energy is behind Donald Trump. In my district, you're talking about hundreds, if not thousands of Trump signs and even eight-foot cardboard cutouts on porches in my rural district of 105 towns.
[18:20:12]
There isn't a Hillary Clinton sign absolutely anywhere in my district.
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: Sure, but he's down, I think, last I checked, high double digits in your state. So, I will say that.
I hear what you're saying about your district, but he's not doing well in your state. So, something would really have to change.
COLLINS: Brianna, he will win Upstate New York, the four boroughs, because I think he will Staten Island. The uniforms, fire and police, live in Staten Island. They're solidly behind Mr. Trump.
But the other four boroughs, that's half the population of New York. And I would certainly commit it's unlikely, not impossible, but New York is not a major play. But I do believe he is going to win Upstate York.
KEILAR: OK.
I want to ask you about something a little different here, because we have been hearing Trump surrogates, pretty high-profile ones, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, for instance, suggesting recently that Hillary Clinton is not well.
And there's really nothing to back this up. So far, it seems to be conspiracy theories that are happening online and are going through e- mail. What do you think of this? Is this something that you think is really fair or is this just really dirty politics?
COLLINS: Oh, I don't know. As somebody -- politics is politics. It's never fair. And all I can tell you is she's unfit to be president of the United States. Her physical condition aside, she is unfit to be the president of the United States.
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: Do you have questions about her physical condition? Because this is something that you have a lot of people listening to Trump supporters, high-level surrogates, who are following this and believing this?
COLLINS: Oh, I wouldn't go down this road, Brianna, because this is going to play out, as you say, over the next 78 days.
I would just continue to say she's unfit to be the president of the United States. She is all but a pathological liar. She won't apologize to the Benghazi families for lying to them. She won't apologize to the American public for lying to them and have the audacity to say that Director Comey and the FBI exonerated her, when he did nothing, and then what was it, yesterday, came out and suggested that former Secretary Colin Powell actually talked to her about that private e-mail server before she ever put it in.
And he said, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, I didn't. I had a conversation with her one year afterwards.
So, Hillary Clinton cannot be trusted. America knows that. And whether she can do a hundred pushups or not doesn't matter to me. She's unfit to be president of the United States.
KEILAR: And you're talking about something besides physical fitness. For you, it has much to do with her policies and her trustworthiness?
COLLINS: Absolutely. Yes, exactly.
KEILAR: OK. All right.
Congressman Collins, thank you so much for joining us. We do appreciate it.
COLLINS: Brianna, good to be with you.
KEILAR: Great to have you.
And just ahead, is he fine-tuning, is he flip-flopping or is he staying the course? We will talk more about Donald Trump's campaign reboot and how it's influencing his stand on immigration.
And the latest on Hillary Clinton's e-mails, as former Secretary of State Colin Powell accuses her campaign of trying to pin the blame for the controversy on him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:28:00]
KEILAR: A huge rally in Akron, Ohio, for Donald Trump.
You're looking at live pictures that we're showing here on CNN. We are going to keep an eye on this as he gets started, as we also follow some breaking news. And you see there Donald Trump shaking the hand of former Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
We have a source who is telling CNN that a Trump speech on immigration planned for Thursday is being postponed indefinitely, this as the campaign fine-tunes his immigration policy.
I want to bring in CNN political analyst Rebecca Berg. She's also a national political reporter for RealClearPolitics, CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger. We have CNN senior "Washington Post" Jeff Zeleny, and "Washington Post" assistant editor David Swerdlick.
So, I think some of the confusion here is because we have gotten, Gloria, a lot of mixed signals about exactly what his policy is. It's been pretty clear before, deportation force, building the wall. But then you had Kellyanne Conway, when Dana Bash interviewed her yesterday, saying, is the deportation force going to be part of this, and she says to be determined.
How is that playing into the fact that this speech -- it's really this moving target. We don't even know what he's going to say and when he's going to say it.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it sounds like they have to get their policy together and figure out what it is.
And they understand that they have got a problem with Hispanic voters. They also have a problem within the Republican Party, and they're in single digits with Hispanic voters. Mitt Romney got over 20 percent of Hispanic voters. And so they understand that this is key. And you just can't have a stream of consciousness about a major issue in your campaign.
They saw what happened with the Muslim ban, for example. That turned out to be a little problematic for them. And they all remember, of course, Mitt Romney having problems during his campaign with that notion of self-deportation, which he eventually...
(CROSSTALK)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: It stuck with him for the whole campaign.
BORGER: It did. And he tried to change it in the general election.
So, now they're in this general election fight. And they have got to figure out what they're going to tell those independent voters that they need out there.
KEILAR: That's the thing about immigration policy, though. And we have seen this in past elections. It seems like, if a candidate stakes out a very clear position, it's incredibly hard to get away from that.
[18:30:09] REBECCA BERG, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. And with build a wall, something so clear --
KEILAR: It's a chant at the rallies, right? It's his biggest chant.
BERG: There's not a lot of room to maneuver. Exactly, his supporters have literally memorized this refrain. And so, there's no backing away from that. And it's funny, because, Gloria, you mentioned, Romney's self deportation remark and damaging that was for him in the general election and it's something I would argue is much less of a stretch policy, severe policy than what Donald Trump has proposed to date.
Donald Trump after that election said that that was too cruel of a policy. That it was not sensitive enough of Romney to decide that people should self-deport. And so, for him to be taken an even more extreme position than that, it makes it hard for him to walk it back in the future.
KEILAR: But it doesn't seem to stop him from perhaps trying.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's clear that I mean -- there there's a tug of war going on inside Trump Tower, inside his campaign. Perhaps it's with his new advisors or Mr. Trump himself. It's perhaps with Mr. Trump himself, his family members. We've seen it on any number of issues. The latest one is immigration here.
And you don't just sort of put off a policy speech. Candidates are supposed know their policy, know their beliefs. And he had a concrete position, agree with it or disagree with it. I think it makes him look incredibly wishy-washy and it makes his vulnerable to both sides, particularly the right, the people who brought him to this point here. So, I think I don't how he pivots out of this, but --
DAVID SWERDLICK, THE WASHINGTON POST: I mean, if any part of this is giving Clinton space to have her own mistakes get out there on the front pages then maybe that's smart. I know some people wrote that up. But to the extent that this is having to message 78 days away from the general election, I think it's a real problem. Congressman Collins just told you he basically just -- he was very clear to say he was not speaking for the Trump campaign but he's a Trump supporter and made the case for amnesty right here on your segment.
(CROSSTALK)
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Immigration has been the key to Donald Trump's campaign. When he came down that escalator in Trump Tower and gave his first speech, it was about building a wall, right? And remember, he said some Mexicans are rapists or whatever he said.
KEILAR: And criminals.
BORGER: It began the journey, right? And so, you can't just now take a left turn and say, uh-huh, OK, I'm sorry. So, they're trying to figure it out, because it's iconic.
ZELENY: A spoke to a Republican, though, just within the last hour who sent me this, it's like -- maybe this is Donald Trump being, trying to message both sides. He's not coming out, you know, and changing his policy but he's allowing the conversation among some people who think I can't support someone who wants to deport everyone. He's trying to have it both ways here.
You know, maybe be he'll never come out with a different policy. I think that anything he does on this will be watching, obviously, but the Clinton campaign, regardless, is going to freeze his position in time or try and do so with the deportation thing. That will be an advertisement. It's one of the reasons he's struggling in a state like Colorado, Nevada and other places.
BERG: And, you know, flash back to the Republican primary is one of the biggest criticisms is he's unpredictable, his policies are not set in stone. And if he were to be president, you wouldn't know what to expect from him. That's a legitimate concern among some voters, too. They don't know what they are getting.
SWERDLICK: But one of the thing that his supporters said was that they like the fact he was a straight shooter and you knew where he stood. And now, you see that there's, like you're saying, Jeff --
(CROSSTALK) KEILAR: It's confusing some people.
SWERDLICK: -- nuance.
BORGER: In a presidential debate, there isn't going to be that much room for nuance when it comes to this question. OK, we know you want to build a wall, build a wall. The question is a deportation.
SWERDLICK: Build a wall and get Mexico to pay for it.
BORGER: And the deportation question which if there's no answer to it before the first presidential debate in September, he's going to have to answer at the debate.
ZELENY: No doubt.
BORGER: Here's what I wonder. You were mentioning this may have something to do with, you know what, I'm going to sort of tap the breaks right now and let some of these bad headlines fill the air. And yet, today, there was a headline about Hillary Clinton's e-mails. He gets on a Twitter tirade, a personal attack against cable news host.
So, instead, that's the ridiculous think that people are talking about. He does this time after time. It will be Hillary Clinton sitting down for an interview with the FBI and I think that was the weekend it went into the Star of David thing, you know? How does anyone around him actually expect that creating space for Hillary Clinton's bad headlines to really take up the oxygen is at all a strategy?
ZELENY: It's one of the things that frustrated Republicans so much and actually feeds into a bit of a conspiracy among some Republicans who think, is he really trying to help the Clintons here?
[18:35:00] I mean, I don't believe that. I don't think there's much credibility of that. But it does make you wonder when he doesn't seize on these moments like this.
Now, I do think we may hear him tonight in Ohio talk about the e-mails and talk about this new information here. But we can't -- we've lost track of the number of times he's allowed an opportunity to go by the wayside here because he wants talk about himself. He wants to be the center of attention, not Hillary Clinton.
SWERDLICK: He does, and there was a point he could get away or his supporters could get away saying he's inexperienced candidate. He doesn't get how this works.
He's been at this for over a year now, Brianna. I just think at this point, you have to say it's an unforced error and he's costing himself days with 78 days to go.
KEILAR: All right. Panel, you're going to stick around with me as we're monitoring this Donald Trump event in Akron, Ohio. We'll be back with much more in just a few moments. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:40:45] KEILAR: We're back now with our political team.
Turning to Hillary Clinton's campaign and more ammunition for critics of her private emails. Tonight, a judge is ordering the State Department to review thousands of previously undisclosed documents.
Our senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny has all of the new developments here -- Jeff.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, the Clinton campaign has been trying to turn the page from this controversy for more than a year now. But this new ruling from a federal judge tonight ordering the State Department to review and release some 15,000 emails and documents discovered by the FBI ensures this political drip, drip, drip will keep dripping until election day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZELENY (voice-over): Hillary Clinton wants voters to focus on Donald Trump's words.
AD NARRATOR: In times of crisis, America depends on steady leadership.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Knock the crap out of them, would you?
ZELENY: In this new campaign commercial, she is playing some of his greatest or most controversial hit.
AD NARRATOR: And calm judgment.
TRUMP: And can you tell them to go and (EXPLETIVE DELETED) themselves.
ZELENY: But tonight, her message is competing with new developments in old controversies -- her private e-mail server at the State Department and the Clinton family's charitable foundation. A federal judge said today the State Department has one month to come up with the plan to release 15,000 new documents, discovered by the FBI between Clinton and her top aides.
Republican Chairman Reince Priebus seized on the ruling, saying, "The emails in question should be released in full before Election Day."
A Clinton campaign spokesman said if they're related to her State Department work, "we support those documents being released publicly as well."
The judge's ruling comes as former Secretary of State Colin Powell is pushing back on suggestions he gave Clinton the idea to use private e- mail in the first place, telling reporters over the weekend, "Her people are trying to pin it on me." In 2009, he said he talked to Clinton regularly. But he used a private e-mail address. Not a private server.
COLIN POWELL, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I was having dinner with Secretary Clinton two nights ago, three nights ago in Washington, with all of the other, most of the other secretaries. And I stay in regular touch with Secretary Clinton and with Secretary Gates and with the president.
ZELENY: As Clinton steps off the campaign trail to raise money in California tonight, new questions also being raised about the Clinton Foundation. In a letter to donors today, former President Bill Clinton said the foundation will no longer accept foreign contributions. He wrote, "While I will continue to support the work of the foundation, I will step down from the board and no longer raise funds for it."
But that's not enough for Trump who called the foundation corrupt, saying it should be shut down immediately.
Trump's running mate Mike Pence called the Clintons hypocritical.
GOV. MIKE PENCE (R-IN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Apparently, she'll have a conflict of interest with the Clinton Foundation if she becomes president, but I guess she didn't have a conflict of interest taking foreign donations when she was secretary of state.
ZELENY: Today in Nevada, Clinton's running mate Tim Kaine firing back at Trump.
SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Before you go about attacking a charity, why don't you come clean about your own business dealings and tell the American people who you are in debt to.
ZELENY: But those new questions are being fueled by a lawsuit conservative from the conservative watchdog group, Judicial Watch. It produced another batch of e-mails between Clinton's top aide Huma Abedin, and longtime adviser to President Clinton, Doug Band. In one, Band is trying to schedule a meeting between the crown prince of Bahrain, a major donation donor and Secretary Clinton, "Asking to see her," Band writes, "Good friend of ours."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZELENY: So, this new batch of email shows that Abedin didn't always respond favorably. In this case, she wrote back and we haven't reached out through official channels, but it took the unofficial channels to get this meeting set up in first place here.
That is the whole problem with all of this is that yes, this happens in Washington. Yes, this is how business is conducted. But because of her decision to use that private e-mail server, her decision, that's why we know all of this.
KEILAR: Does that make it officially unofficial, or unofficially official? That's my question. OK. Right? OK. We're back now with our panel, Rebecca Berg, Gloria Berg, David Swerdlick, joining Jeff Zeleny here.
All right. Let's talk about these emails, because you have the State Department reviewing, it's 15,000 documents. Some -- it's not just emails, some of it is emails, some of it may be duplicates, but some of it new.
[18:45:05] So, that's important, because the Clinton campaign or -- you know, it was really her lawyers who went through this whole idea and turning over emails, the whole idea was that they said they turned over all the work related e-mails and it now appears that's not true, even though they are saying we want these to be reviewed.
OK. But you didn't -- these weren't all turned over, right?
BORGER: Right. And so, now their position is release everything. The Republican National Committee's position is release everything now before the election.
And now, the Clinton campaign is doing what you would expect it to do, which is what they also did with the FBI interview when it was made clear it was going to be presented to Congress privately. They said rather than have it leak out, let's just release it. So, rather than have the e-mails leak out, let's just release it. That's a good political position for them to take because they can appear to want to be transparent, right?
ZELENY: Of course, they had their chance to release it a year ago.
BORGER: Yes, of course.
KEILAR: And said they did, and said they did.
BORGER: Good point, absolutely. But at least they can make the political point they are all for transparency and they want it out there. What's in there is another question.
KEILAR: Does it even hurt her or has it already reached the point where, OK, she's terribly hurt by this, her honest and trustworthy numbers, it's bad, but it's not really going to get any worse. Or is there more damage to be done.
ZELENY: I don't know if we know. It depends on what is in the ones that we haven't seen, right?
KEILAR: Yes, true.
ZELENY: The new ones have some other information. My guess is we have seen so many e-mails now. Most of them are pretty boring to be honest. But not all of them.
So, I don't know if we know. I do think it could impact her expansion. There are voters who are like, gosh, I'm not sure I can vote for Donald Trump. It's one thing after another. I'm trying to get my mind around voting for Hillary Clinton. I think this could prevent, you know, her from bringing in people who want to their nose and vote for her. Now, they might not be able to.
BORGER: Her supporters do not care about these emails.
KEILAR: They're over it. He sort of inoculated her for that.
So, the other thing that's interesting and I wonder why the Clinton campaign is doing this, you have former Secretary of State Colin Powell who is pushing back on the idea he gave Hillary Clinton the suggestion to use a private e-mail server. Now, I guess what I should say is this stems from the fact not something that the campaign is pushing but that what we've heard from the notes from FBI that went up to Capitol Hill and we found out one of the things Clinton said to the FBI was, hey, I was sort of counseled by Colin Powell to do this and he's saying not so fast, right? I mean, this is a terrible headline again.
SWERDLICK: It's a terrible headline. It's something in the early stages of this Clinton e-mail scandal that the Clinton team tried to kind of float out there. It didn't work then. I don't think it's going to be effective now when you have Colin Powell saying, hey, don't blame it on me.
I think the most devastating thing for them right now, he's like, he said, maybe the e-mails could be boring, but six weeks ago or five, six weeks ago, they were saying, FBI Director James Comey spoke, nothing to see here, we're not charged, move on. And now, here it is again.
KEILAR: And just to fact-check that, Rebecca, when you look at -- if she did say this and it wasn't that long ago that she interviewed with the FBI saying that Colin Powell counseled me to do this, the other thing it brings up is this assertion by Hillary Clinton that this is what my predecessors did. Well, no, it's not, because yes, he had personal e-mail but he sure did not host his own private server in his house, which is really the thing that sets Hillary Clinton's e-mail practices apart from these others.
Why do they keep going with that assertion?
BERG: It's completely different. It's unclear why they keep going with that assertion and why they have changed their stories a number of times. Hillary Clinton said at one point this was for convenience. She only wanted one vice and we found out she had multiple devices and it wasn't that convenient any way.
And so, we have seen the statements have ultimately contradicted what we have found to be the true truth of the matter. It's really unclear why they have taken this approach except that traditionally, Hillary Clinton has been very defensive when it's come to the press. She's been a very private person even if her political life. And there's been this hesitance to be fully transparent, to put everything out there for the press to cover and for the public to decide on.
And that's been I think hamstringing her in this campaign. If she had a year or two ago just come forth with all of this information, it wouldn't be an issue today. But because as Jeff said in his report, it's been a drip, drip, drip of information, revelation after revelation, that's why this continues to be political damaging for her.
ZELENY: Her first instinct is not to be forever apologetic about this. You're right, this FBI interview was recent. It was within the last like month, two, maybe 45 days or so. This wasn't a year ago.
KEILAR: That's right.
ZELENY: I think, like, why come up with this other excuse. We have seen on multiple occasions where she's placed the blame other places. It's pattern of how she answers questions.
You've interviewed her.
[18:50:00] It's --
KEILAR: She's not trying to give --
ZELENY: It's not to fall on her own sword.
KEILAR: Yes, that's right. OK, so, Trump calling the Clinton Foundation on them to shut down immediately, because now what we've learned is they're not shutting down but they're not taking foreign donations. Bill Clinton won't give paid speeches anymore.
Is this enough for Republicans? I think I know the answer, David Swerdlick.
SWERDLICK: No, it's not. I think in a sense, it's typical Trump hyperbole. But at the same time, he has a leg to stand on here. The Clintons, in my view, have to do this but I don't think it's going to get rid of this narrative.
KEILAR: Yes. All right. David, Jeff, Gloria, Rebecca, great conversation. Thank you guys so much.
Just ahead, even as massive evacuations are lifted in California, evacuation orders there, you have fast-moving wildfires in Washington state are destroying homes and forcing hundreds to flee.
Plus, as President Obama prepares to head to flood-stricken Louisiana, thousands are living in shelters and more rain is likely.
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[18:55:025] KEILAR: Tonight, the Turkish government says it does not know if the suicide bomber who attacked a wedding over the weekend was a child or an adult. The bomber was initially believed to be between 12 and 14 years old. No matter his age, Turkish officials suspect ISIS was behind this attack.
Let's bring in our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr. And, Barbara, before we start. We do warn our viewers that some of
the video they're about to see is graphic. Meanwhile, what can you tell us about this?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, the belief by the Turks is definitely that it was ISIS and tonight, the Turkish military is shelling positions across the border, ISIS positions in this region, in Syria. This attack happening Saturday in the town of Gaziantep, quite close to the Turkish border with Syria, a terrible attack on a wedding party. More than 50 killed. Some 22 wounded and a good many of the wounded were, in fact, children under the age of 14.
The Turkish government originally did think it was a child suicide bomber. That is now not confirmed anymore. They are still looking. They did pick up bees of what appeared to be a suicide vest. Not clear if it was detonated by the bomber or remotely detonated, ISIS capable of doing that, of remote detonation.
So, a lot of anguish in this part of Turkey and a lot of concern that ISIS does, in fact, continue to have cells in Turkey, a NATO ally. That means ISIS can get into NATO, can get into Europe potentially -- Brianna.
KEILAR: And, Barbara, this comes as the new commander of the U.S. anti-ISIS coalition is out with what's really bold new warning about U.S. special ops in the region. What is he telling you?
STARR: Again, this northern Syria late last week, the Syrian regime suddenly flew some aircraft in the vicinity and launched attacks in the vicinity of U.S. special operations. They were really aiming for some local Syrian -- some local fighters, Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, but say it came so close to the Americans, the Americans had to be moved quickly.
Now, the head of the coalition, Lieutenant General Steven Townsend, I talked to him over the weekend in Baghdad, he was very blunt. He said the U.S. will defend itself if the Syrians come back -- Brianna.
KEILAR: Barbara Starr, reporting live from the Pentagon, thank you.
Here in the U.S., the wildfires out west is just spreading. Fast moving blazes in Washington state are forcing hundreds of mandatory evacuations.
Let's go to CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray.
This is a really dangerous situation near Spokane, Washington, right?
JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it's incredible. It's incredibly dangerous. You know, you think of Washington as being a very rainy state. Well, in fact, they are very, very dry right now. Both of these fires combined, that's a Spokane complex fire, the deep north fire just popped up last night, 600 acres burned.
And what we are seeing, tens of thousands of acres burned in this one area. Now, they did have a cold front move through. It didn't bring any rainfall, which would have been helpful. But what it did do was lower the humidity down, lower the temperatures down.
The other interesting thing is it also changed the wind direction. And that can easily prompt more fires and spread them even faster. Of course, Southern California, we've been dealing with this as well. Blue Cut fire now almost 90 percent contained, which is great news. However, some of the other ones not so much. The Cedar Fire 5 percent contained, burned almost 20,000 acres -- Brianna.
KEILAR: And so, Jennifer, tell us as well about -- you have been in Louisiana, covering what's happened there. And the president is visiting flooded areas tomorrow. What's the latest on that disaster?
GRAY: Well, if you look at the big picture. It's actually better news. It looks like we are going to see drier conditions.
However, we are going to see some spotty showers as we move forward in time. Those typical afternoon storms, it looks like a lot of these will be well to the south. However, some areas could pick up an additional inch or two of rain. We know there's backwater flooding in a lot of areas across south Louisiana.
So, each afternoon, we see these heavy downpours, it's still a huge concern because a lot of people are still experiencing rising waters, Brianna.
KEILAR: Yes, and we've even seen them -- they're even in the video next to you. There's so much damage. And people are going into the process of stripping their homes down to the studs to deal with this. It is such a heavy lift ahead of them, especially with so many of them not having insurance.
Jennifer Gray, thank you so much for updates on Louisiana as well as out west.
I'm Brianna Keilar. Thank you so much for watching.
"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" with Pamela Brown starts right now.
