Hampshire which will be a town hall, same format as sundays debate here on cnn. Dana bash joins us with the details and political strategy behind this. This basically seems like an obvious dry run for sunday night. One source told me it was a scrimmage. They really want donald trump to kind of retain his Muscle Memory from town halls. He hasnt done as many town halls as Chris Christie or john mccain who basically lived in New Hampshire where a town hall is part of the political tdna there. But the fact is they want him to be in an intimate settic just like on sunday night. They have chosen the place where Chris Christie had his first down hall when he announced for president in 2016. And Chris Christie is involved in trying to get donald trump ready stylistically for the idea
said, explicitly to me and others that what made him success flfl that debate. He had the practice. One texted me as it was going on last night, practice practice, it matter. I spoke to a source familiar with trumps Debate Strategy and i said are you going to fly some of pences people into trump tower to help him and the answer was of course not. They could not be more different. What difference would it make . It couldnt matter. And Hillary Clinton is taking a liter schedule and focussing on debates. Gre. Shes doing what she did before the first debate. The debate team now has shifted back. I will say that trumps schedule is clear on friday. Hes not Going Campaign and hes going to be prepping. Stay with us. I want to brick in the rest of the panel. The fact that trump is doing this, essentially runthrough town hall for those who said he didnt prepare enough it will certainly i assume come as good news. I think so. Look, i think inside the Trump Campaign there is a sense that donald trump needs the practice. And that the only way to get him to focus is to actually have this dry run or scrimmage, as dma is calling it. And i think it could really help him. However were all going to be watching it. Dont forget. So hes going to be judged on this town hall before he does the one on sunday night. And It Doesnt Work with donald trump to say be like mike. That is not going to work with for him. So hes going to be donald trump. How concerned are you that a Town Hall Format might not be to his greatest strength . I think the moderator is going to be a concern on sunday night. Hes tough. Bold. Brash. Anderson cooper is going to be there hes going to be tough on donald trump. Hes going to be tough on anybody but think what people dont remember in the process is donald trump did a lot of town halls. In salem, some in london the day before the primary. Won in rochester, New Hampshire. In iowa. Donald trump did one in virginia on monday with the veterans. This has been a consistent message. Who most people are accustomed to are large scale rally wills donald trump talks for 40 minutes. And hopefully what you are going to see is donald trump at his best interacting in a small environment one on one with those people and really answering their questions and really hopefully getting a head start, if you will on what the questions are that will be asked on sunday night. Hopefully the same concerns people have sunday night will be addressed tomorrow night in New Hampshire. And as a trump supporter are you worried hes not taking enough time off in advance of
this debate . No i think friday is good to take that time in the mock town hall tomorrow is good. The veterans town hall. He just had that on monday. He does very well in this format. I think back to the commander ner chief town hall. Where the consensus is donald trump did better. They were upset that Hillary Clinton, how she appeared in a town hall. He did well because of the simple fact he likes people. Hes got at engaging with people. Take Hillary Clinton. She seems to hold in contempt anyone who disagrees with her. So i think he likes people and engages with people in a real way and Hillary Clinton does not. Is there consensus among republican there is a donald trump needs this debate . Needs to do much better . Yes. 100 . 110 if that is possible. Amongst republican whose like donald trump, those who dont. Those who are his nearest and dearest say he needs do better. And that means saying on the message of what he wants to talk about as much as possible and dont get into a tit for tat with Hillary Clinton as much as he tries to go to him which is tlo question hell try to do again. There is till zoing to be tit for tat. But whether it is on policy or. Her terms or his. Or her terms. How concerned are you . The stakes are high for Hillary Clinton. She comes in with wind at her back but the pressure is on to keep that going. That is right. And i think expectations manage at this point. I agree with the first part of what she said. There is a format that works good for donald trump. He does engage people really well. I think Hillary Clinton depending on the person it can be hit or miss. So im concerned there is a question that comes up and she comes across as guard order protected and that is normally when she comes across as not
likable. I will say ive seen several videos where shes been in the town hall and gone very very well. Essential things are on her side and that is all the more reason i think the Clinton Campaign and clinton supporters have a lot more to worry about. I would agree. And the Clinton Campaign and spoupporters across the board should always be concerned. That is how you win the lead nationally in every Battleground State now especially in ohio, i would say to clinton supporters, dont believe them. Get out and vote and mobilize and make sure donald trump never gets to the white house that is basithe only way that will happen. And anything can happen. I actually agree with corey. I think this Town Hall Format will be good for donald trump because it can keep him boxed him. He wont have a teleprompter or notes but hell have the kind of parameters of the moderators,
the people in front of him that i think will keep him much more managed. Or at least i think that is what the campaign hopes. If the king of town halls is john kasich. He did more than a hundred in New Hampshire. He emotes and hugs people. He was great anyway in that format. I actually disagree with you guys. I think that donald trump has had some difficulty at town halls. And you have done them with him. He doesnt address the the person directly. He turbid and talked to you. Didnt seem to embrace the person who asked the question or ask that person more questions about their question which Hillary Clinton does really well. And your town hall, one of the key moments so far for Hillary Clinton is when she said shes not a natural politician and said that at a town hall. Donald trump has not sort of oured part of his personal self. In any of these settings. Even when people were asking for it. And i think that is a difficult part for him. Doesnt want to share that way. Were going continue this conversation with the panel in just a moment throughout the evening. Of course the two human resouou on. On sunday starting at 4 00 eastern time. As corey mentions itll be ducking out for a bit to actually moderate. And our cnn live coverage duets under way at 4 00 eastern time. And just ahead eric trump on whether his dad pays federal income taxes. And the line from last nights debate that became a head line and what latino voters are saying about it when we continue. Federal income tax for ulta 18 years. We did talk with dana bash and here is the answer he gave. Has your father paid federal income taxes. We pay a tremendous amount of income taxes. Federal income taxes. Yes. And beyond taxes we also employ tens and tens of thousand os people. Eric my question now is he has paid federal income taxes over the last 15 years, yes or no. Of course. Absolutely. My father pays a tremendous amount of tax. We vas a company pay a tremendous amount of tax. If we ever see your fathers federal income taxes it will show no question about it. He pays federal income taxes. For some this puts the answers to rest. Few people have dug deeper than. I spoke to him earlier this evening. When eric trump insists his father had paid federal income tax, based on your reporting over the years are you skeptical . Well im not really sure anderson what anything is that eric trump has sceeen. I think both of the trump boys tend to get their father in hot water whenever they speak up on these issues. I think the returns in question go back, you know, two decades. And eric trump is i think his early thirties. So im not really i doubt that his father was showing him all the tax returns when he was a toddler. That being said, i think one of the interesting things thats dwo gone on in this debate off the New York Times story is that there is a lot of focus on the legality of this massi ivive
deduction he took. In fact the writeoff represent an epic business failure. It is i think representative of about 9 hundr 9 Hundred Million of loans he guaranteed personally in the late 1980s and all of it, all of it ended up in a giant train wreck. He bought airlines, hotels. He overleveraged his casino business. And he ended up with a ton of debt he couldnt repay because he overpaid for properties. He didnt think far enough ahead about the prospects for the various businesses he was entering and classic donald trump decision making. Hes actually a very undisciplined, shortterm, non strategic thinker. And that writeoff is a big numeric emblem of that tendency
he has. You know, obviously trump could put all of these questions to rest by releasing his tax returns. He says he wont release them while hes under audit even though there is nothing preventing him from doing that. And by his lawyers own admission his returns from 20022008 are no longer under audit. And by the way anderson the Trump Campaign has not given any proof to anyone they are actually under audit. They could release the Letter Interest the irs showing that to be the case and they havent. Secondly, even if there were an audit and they havent made that clear that would prevent him from releasing anything. That is just not all of the audit stuff a red herg. As somebody who was sued by
trump for writing that he wasnt as rich as he claimed he was a suit that was dismissed by the way how much does Something Like that actually bother him . I think it bothers him immensely. For all his bluster and bullying and bragging, hes immensely insecure about some very fundamental things. And one of them is his sense of himself. And he his net worth and how rich he is, and where he figures on the Pecking Order is much more important to him than it is to anyone else. No one cares about his wealth as much as donald trump himself carries about it. Appreciate it you being on. Thanks. Still plenty of questions out there. Back with the panel. Dana you had that conversation with eric trump. Does that settle anything . Or does it raise more questions . No. I think questions that were out there remain. There was only so much time and
there were a wloft Unanswered Questions even as he was answering the questions. One of which frankly looking back i should have been specific. Personal income taxes or income taxes or maybe the obvious is he said hed seen them. Did you see the check, how do you actually know he paid the income taxes . It was his Knee Jerk Reactions as the son of somebody whos under fire to try to put it to bed by saying yes because that was the only answer seemed like he could give. But we dont know. Donald trump, even him not releasing the actual return, the full returns which are obviously very large has eric trump pointed out in the past. He could just ak a knowledge one way or the other whether he did or did not pate personal income tax as result of this writeoff. He did release a statement saying i paid hundreds of
millions in taxes. Federal taxes was part of that. I think this whole New York Times story is emblematic of the reason he shouldnt release his taxes. They put on a headline that says donald trump could have not paid income taxes for 18 years. Since when do we have speculatery head lines with no basis to make that fact other than the fact there is a loss claim on a tax form. There is no proof me didnt pay taxes. Why would you release hundreds of pages that could be misconstrued by the media. He could release his information. What he paid and made and charitable contributions without releasing all pages. I think it is irrelevant at this point. The issues that are affects American People today job,
immigration, their own personal tax, burden of washington d. C. Regulations. Look if people want to dwell on Donald Trumps taxes, they are welcome to do that. That does nothing to set the agenda moving forward. And what we do know is 11 of people think Hillary Clinton is honest and trust worthy. And 55 points in the wrong direction if you think the country is on the right track or the wrong track. The American People dont carolina they care about jobs and safety. They are so tone deaf when it comes to these issues poll after poll, multiple majorities of mesh people. Trump supporters. Believe wurm number one stacks are the civic duty and people should pay them. And above 70 believe he should release his taxes. And put legality aside. It is unseamly when you have a multi billionaire who touts his
business ak meyou men and how rh he is every 18 seconds and then there was a news article today how about back 1978 and 79 he did a lot of losses so not just he didnt pay taxes but his Business Acumen is. If you want to buy the argument he had a good accountant and he didnt have to pay taxes. A question is where are his investments . What potential conflicts of interest are there with foreign governments . Particularly since hes said im going the hand over my business to my kids. And they will still be running that business. These are the things that would be outlined in a tax return. Not just the bottom line and not the charitable and all
these are serious Foreign Policy issues. I think the public deserves answers. On that point certainly. But there is at point and that is, this is the same person whos called for transparency from potential opponents from this opponent. Hes asked for wall street transcripts. Hes asked President Obama whechbs just thinking about a run for a birth certificate. So why would not not meet the very staple standard. One of the famous lines is hes not even meeting the nixon standard. Donald trump said in the first debate hell release his full tax returns as soon as Hillary Clinton releases 33,000 emails. Very clear. And more over he did call for Hillary Clinton to release her transcripts from those wall street speeches and she refused to do that as well. Where shes made 10s of memos from executives. If you want to see donald
trumpd holdings. Go to elections and commissions and poult the piece of paper with the properties he owns and the there is a lot of totally different. Not in those documents that would be in the tax returns. Yes. No question about it. The federal the Financial Disclosure has some information. But not nearly as much as you would learn by what he pays or doesnt pay in taxes with with regard to hisregard to his company. If Hillary Clinton, if none of her Tax Information was out there, wouldnt the Trump Campaign or any opponent be raising lots of red flags about that. I think congress has put in place laws that suggest what we complaint expect of someone running for the highest office in the land. You fill out Financial Disclosure furm. Donald trump did that. We have a law that required her
to keep the emails that she disobeyed. One candidate has violated transparency laws. And thaz Hillary Clinton. Nub of that has been proven. It has been no no [inaudible]. By a continue to say there is no law that donald trump has got to release his taxes. But the fact of the matter is that again for 40 years this has been the standard. And the American People expect that. For all the reasons that we just talked about. The most important one i do believe is what gloria mentioned. When you have someone who we know has a very strong bromance with Vladimir Putin and you have somebody that we already know has connections with chinese banks who owe, who actually own the debt that he holds. And he is asking us to give him the position of commander in
chief when he would have the ability to pass laws and to be favorable [indiscernible]. [inaudible]. I know you ignore the fbi director when it is not convenient sure. [inaudible] we got take a break. More with our panel ahead. Mike pence has been getting good reviews for his debate performance. Also controversy about his comment about the mexican thing. And the deadly Hurricane Barrelling towards the u. S. Tonight, where its head and how bad the damage could be picking up for kyle. Here you go. You wouldn