Top of the hour, 7 00 p. M. Eastern. Im poppy harlow in new york. We begin this hour with donald trump, who has just wrapped up a rally in virginia. He made an aggressive play there for a key voting bloc hes been struggling with in an extraordinary way africanamericans. Listen. Finally today i would like to address an issue of great and very deep personal importance to me. In recent days, across this country, ive asked the Africanamerican Community to
honor me with their vote. I fully recognize the outreach to the Africanamerican Community is in an area where the Republican Party must do better, and it will do better. The gop is the party of abraham lincoln. And i want our party to be the home of the africanamerican voter once again. Lets go straight to our cnn white house producer, kristen holmes. You were at the site of the rally. The people have cleared out. That is certainly what stood out to me in his 40minute plus address tonight, was the moment where he said we as a party have to do better with you, africanamerican voters. Did it rest on ate . Ive got to tell you, poppy, this was the most impassioned plea for africanamerican voters that ive heard since i started covering donald trump. He touched on what you just said, asking for the honor to have africanamericans vote for him. Another interesting thing he talked about was immigration policy and how it affected both africanamericans and hispanics. As you know, several hispanics have felt alienated by trumps policies on immigration. One of his most popular policies, that you hear chanted here at these rallies over and over again, is the building of the wall. One of the things he said tonight in addition to that was, he said that open borders, immigration is really a huge problem for hispanics and africanamericans, the biggest problems for them getting jobs, those immigrants coming across the borders are taking jobs away from hispanics and africanamericans. Again, this is the third time
weve heard him ask for africanamerican voters to come to him. He met today with a council that is supporting him of hispanics. Its all part of that. I think well see more of that moving forward. Again, and correct me if im wrong here, this audience, mainly white that he was making this appeal in front of, correct . It is true, yes. Like the last two times, a mainly white audience, yes. By the way, Trump Supporters say that doesnt matter, its broadcast nationally, and therefore it doesnt matter what the audience is hes making the play in front of. There was this other interesting moment, kristen, when trump appears to have insinuated that clinton and virginias governor were attempting to rig the vote. What did he say . This is interesting, Governor Terry mcauliffe in virginia say longtime clinton confidant. This is not the first time that hes said that mcauliffe is working with the Clinton Campaign. Lets listen. Hillary clinton is banking on her friend Terry Mcauliffe on getting thousands of violent felons to the voting booths narratiin an effort to cancel out the votes of Law Enforcement and crime victims. They are letting people vote in your Virginia Election that should not be allowed to vote. Now, of course this is in response to reporting that governor mcauliffe is going to announce on monday that he will allow 13,000 fell ones to vote that he approved on a casebycase basis here. But, you know, this is just another step in one of the things that we have seen with donald trump calling the system rigged. He started out by saying it was a rigged system that Hillary Clinton supported, and he said that governor mcauliffe was in on it. Trying to rally as many people as he can sercertainly i virginia, where hes down 12 points in polling. Thank you so much. Donald trump is again questioning whether Hillary Clinton is physically fit enough to take on isis. She will never be able to fix the isis problem that her policies created. For one thing, she doesnt have the strength or the stamina, coupled with all of the other problems that this country has, and we have a lot. Yet as our military was depleted on Hillary Clintons watch, things turned out really well for her and only her. Joining me now, andre bauer,
former Lieutenant Governor of south carolina, a donald trump supporter, and hilary rosen, a democratic strategist and Hillary Clinton supporter. Andre, why does he keep going after Hillary Clintons stamina . Right wing Media Outlets have been going after questions about her health, seeming like conspiracy theories. Is that effective . It makes one question what was she doing this weekend, what was she doing last weekend, why doesnt she want to take questions from the media . I think there is a question there that hes pointing out, is she up for the job. But hes talking about her stamina and sort of health capacity. Do you think thats legitimate . I mean, when youre 80 days out from a campaign and youre three days off the trail . I mean, that just seems a little odd. Last weekend, the same thing. Clearly the voters have a right to know whether shes prepared and up for the challenge. Hillary . Oh, god. Well, Hillary Clinton does more even events, you know, in a week than donald trump has ever done this entire campaign. He does one event a day. She does three and four events a day. The last thing voters will ever believe is that Hillary Clinton will be outworked. She wont be outworked. We ought to go to the bigger picture, though, of this message. You know, im amused in watching donald trump now. This is i think day three of his constant teleprompter use. He doesnt really seem any more comfortable on day three than he did at the outset. But this is clearly an attempt to be a little more disciplined and more controlled. But in many ways it loses all of the authenticity that donald trump has. So he gets kind of the worst of both worlds. Hes on this teleprompter saying really ridiculous things. So hes not even getting the benefit of them sounding offthecuff. Hes attacking her stamina but its on the teleprompter. So i dont know what donald trump were getting at any one moment here. But i can tell you that this sort of disjointed speech is not going to be effective. However, hilary rosen, even as a clinton supporter, didnt the moment strike you when he said, he admitted, it was sort of this moment of contrition, he said we as a party have a problem with africanamerican voters, i know we have to do better. He said, will africanamerican voters please honor me with your vote. Yeah, look, i believe that it is a crime that the Republican Party has so abandoned people of color and the diversity and inclusion message. I do think its ironic that the entire democratic convention, which was the most inclusive and diverse convention weve ever seen, donald trump mocked hillary for that very thing, and then he goes into an audience
and says we care about inclusion, we care about reaching out. I just dont think its going to be very credible. You should go on black twitter today and see how people of color are reacting to his speech. Having said that, should republicans be making policy proposals and thinking about how to help people of color . Of course they should be. And, you know, it will remain to be seen whether this is successful. I dont think it will be. Another moment that stood out to me was when donald trump talked about the Second Amendment. Lets play this. Hillary clinton wants to essentially abolish the Second Amendment for law abiding americans. She wants to overturn the Supreme Court ruling that affirmed the Second Amendment as a private right so that any city
or state in this country can ban private gun ownership. Andre, thats just factually inaccurate to say. And i know it plays well with his supporters, weve heard them cheer afterwards. I just wonder, as a former lawmaker yourself and a trump supporter, do you think that saying things like that over and over again, that she wants to abolish the Second Amendment, which is just not true, is a smart long term play . She said she favors a buyback program. She said she favors the australian system. So she has given some indication that she would like to substantially reduce the amount of guns in this country. That is not abolishing the Second Amendment though. So say it that way, right . You look at it from my perspective, if youre trying to encourage people to give their guns back, thats doing a lot to do away with the Second Amendment. Im sorry, go ahead. Come on, andre, you know thats not true. You know, its just rhetoric. Shes not for that. Shes where 90 of the country is in terms of background checks and the like. Then i dont run into the other 10 , the only 10 that want to sell their guns back to the government. As a taxpayer, i dont want to buy the guns back. I think law abiding citizens ought to own a firearm, they ought to own several. That keeps the peace in a lot of neighborhoods. Quite frankly, to continue, you know, not to show up, not to have Law Enforcement officers dressed in Law Enforcement uniforms at the convention, i mean, it seems kind of odd to me, its almost like shes run away from Law Enforcement. And so i dont think she can ask for the fraternal order of police endorsement this year, which is odd in itself. Shes definitely given some indication that she doesnt want to be near law and order. Hillary, 30second response,
then weve got to go. It remains to be seen whether trump is consistently lying, fourpinocchio fact checker, which he says things like hillary wants to take away the Second Amendment. It makes him look bad. In a debate situation, when he cant back up these charges with real facts, he will be back on his heels. Hes got to be in a situation where hes telling the truth to the american people. He seems incapable of that. Andre bauer, hilary rosen, thanks so much. It was the picture president george w. Bush regrets. Hes seen looking over the Hurricane Katrina devastation while flying over it. People are comparing it to president obama. Could this affect the president s legacy . He claimed he was robbed at
gunpoint. Olympic gold medallist ryan lochte is sitting down and speaking out for the first time in an exclusive interview with Nbcs Matt Lauer. Well bring you what he said about this entire fiasco in rio. You are live in the cnn newsroom. This car is traveling over 200 miles per hour. To win, every millisecond matters. Both on the track and thousands of miles away. With the help of at t, Red Bull Racing can share critical information about every inch of the car from virtually anywhere. Brakes are getting warm. Confirmed, daniel you need to cool your brakes. Understood, brake bias back 2 clicks. Giving them the agility to have speed precision. Because no one knows like at t. Was always on my mind. So i asked a dermatologist about aczone dapsone gel 7. 5 . I apply it once a day, any time. Aczone gel 7. 5 is fda approved for the topical treatment of acne for people 12 years and older. Aczone gel is a onceaday acne treatment with clinically proven results. In clinical trials, acne got better for people using aczone gel in just 12 weeks. Aczone gel may cause the serious side effect of methemoglobinemia, which decreases oxygen in your blood. Stop taking aczone gel and get medical help right away if your lips, mouth, or nails turn grey or blue. Talk to your doctor if you have g6pd deficiency. Using benzoyl peroxide with aczone gel may cause skin or facial hair to temporarily turn yellow or orange where applied. Common side effects of aczone gel include dryness and itching of treated skin. Now, i have less acne to think about because i use aczone gel. You could pay as little as 15 for aczone gel. Learn more at aczone. Com aczone. Prescription treatment. Proven results. All right. I want you to take a look at this. To the left of youre screen youll see president obama
golfing while on vacation in Marthas Vineyard. To the right, the catastrophic flooding in louisiana right now. As donald trump visited the area in louisiana, his supporters seized on the opportunity to compare the absence of the president to the presence of a president ial hopeful. Were glad youre not playing golf in Marthas Vineyard. Thanks for showing up here. Somebody is. And now the white house has announced president obama will be going to tour the flood zone on tuesday. Meantime, Hillary Clinton is issued a statement yesterday saying she spoke with the governor of louisiana and called on the public to help support the flood victims. She has not traveled to the flood zone either. How will the optics of this play out for not just president obamas legacy but in this race for the white house . To help answer, our jean ca cassares takes us back. Reporter Hurricane Katrina makes landfall with
127mileperhour winds. 80 of new orleans flooded after the levees failed. More than 1 Million People were displaced by the storm. Thenpresident george w. Bush would stay at his ranch at crawford for two more days. He did a flyover on august 31st, allowing the press a photo op of the president looking out over the ruin. At the time, bush said he didnt want to disrupt efforts on the ground. But in 2010, admitted to Nbcs Matt Lauer that photo was a mistake. It was a mistake. And it made you look so out of touch. Detached and uncaring, no question about it. Reporter total damage for katrina was estimated at 108 billion. Damage to bushs legacy was profound. 13 years earlier, a natural
disaster struck during his fathers presidency. It was hurricane andrew. A category 5 storm with sustained winds of 165 miles per hour, whose path included southern florida and South Central louisiana. More than 25 billion in damages with controversy raging throughout the country that h. W. Bush didnt respond fast enough to the victims of this tragedy. Bush fought back, saying he wasnt going to make politics out of this natural disaster. This isnt the business of second guessing. Its the business of trying to help people. Thats what were about here. Not going around trying to find blame other make some politics out of a national disaster. Reporter unfairly or not, weather disasters can be used to attack politicians at any level. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was commanderinchief of his state when Hurricane Sandy hit the northeast in 2012. A leader for the efforts,
christie drew lasting criticism from republicans after hugging president obama, who was visiting the state to survey damage. I put my people first every day. It was a disappointment for him probably that i didnt hug him. When i got off air force one, i did shake his hand, which is what civilized human beings do with other civilized human beings. Reporter the white house has announced president obama will visit baton rouge on tuesday. History has yet to determine how his legacy will be affected by this years flooding in louisiana. Jean, thank you very much. Lets talk about all this with Princeton University historian julian zelezer, the author of the book the fierce urgency of now. Is it fair, julian, is it accurate, not just fair, to compare president obama not going to louisiana now with what we just saw with former president bush and katrina . I think the key difference is
the federal response lacked so much to katrina. The federal response and supplies, et cetera, to louisiana right now is not whats been criticized, its the optics. Right. Its inevitable that the optics get criticized. It often happens in the summer months, when the president is away, its going to be a criticism. That said, the heart of the katrina issue wasnt that photo. The heart was the inadequate response and the way in which fema had been gutted in previous years because of cuts and poor staffing. Right now thats not the criticism. Obama and the Administration Still have the opportunity to show a forceful responsibility to the crisis and help clean this up. Its important to know that the governor of louisiana actually asked that the president wait to come, because whenever a president comes, especially a sitting president , a lot of resources get diverted from the cleanup. At the same time, the white house announced the president will be going on tuesday, after donald trump and mike pence landed there. Right. Its often the case, and this
was also the case with president bush, that the white house feels their presence there will only create more problems. Its a huge thing for a president to come into any place in the country. But to do that in the middle of a crisis makes things even more difficult. But the timing, again, whether its fair or not, becomes an issue. So it looks like the president is responding to the critics. What about Hillary Clinton . What do you make of the optics and the action in terms of she spoke to the governor, she issues this statement on facebook, calls in everyone to help, give money to the red cross, do what you can. Shes not planning to go, as far as we know, yet. Well see if she changes her mind and goes. Again, i think what most people are looking for, what are the solutions, what are the candidates offering. Some might think donald trump being there and handing things out is good, its more effective, but in the end, a lot of people from louisiana want relief. Thats what theyre looking for. They get some relief from funding and money that comes
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