Transcripts For CNNW Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer 201608

Transcripts For CNNW Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer 20160818

Closest advisors will not admit it. Will he ignore traditional polling in the final days of the race . And Hillary Clinton fires back at donald trump after he accuses her of being against the police and responsible for violence against officers. Both meeting today with Law Enforcement issues, who is the real law and order candidate . Im briana keiler, youre in the situation room. This is cnn breaking news. Were following breaking news, an olympic scandal involving gold medal win ere ryan lochte and his three teammates. Police say they could be facing charges for lying about being robbed. New video shows the athletes, allegedly drunk, vandalizing a gas station and then in a confrontation with Security Guards. And race for the white house, questions about policing and Race Relations front and center. Donald trump is in North Carolina where he is expected to portray himself as the law and order candidate. This is his first appearance since a Major Campaign staff shake up. Earlier, trump met with police, picked up an endorsement from a state Law Enforcement organization. Hillary clinton also focusing on policing. She met in new york with top Law Enforcement officials from across the u. S. The Campaign Says it was planned weeks ago. But it comes saids after trump sa says clinton is against police. Lets begin with the breaking news. Brazilian police this afternoon saying the claim by four u. S. Olympic swimmers that they were robbed at gunpoint is not true. Cnn Senior International correspondent Nick Peyton Walsh is at the gas station where the incident took place, what else are police saying, nick . Well, it is extraordinary, isnt it, rihanhode islandit, b what happened on sunday morning. You might not recognize is here, but let me walk you through where the scene of the alleged noncrime, according to brazilian testimony, because there was no robbery they say, occurred. Here is the alley way, you see them going in and out, and down here, forgive the darkness, this is where it is alleged there was a poster on the wall which was torn down and here, according to the owner, may be where some of the vandalization and urinating occurred because the toilet is just a few meters down that way. You can see the other media here as well. An idea of the circus this has become, trying to work out what happened in that time. Do you remember we have not heard a updated version from mr. Lock tee or the other three swimmers responding to these allegations, they have put forward cc tv that shows the men, after talking to an increasing number here, coming out. They seem to get the wrong taxi. This is early sunday morning, celebratory time they certainly had, and they decide this is our taxi. Theyre right, they get in, and the driver is spoken to by a man who leans down, dressed in black, could be a Security Guard. This may be where, a police chief, a firearm was drawn. The police chief saying well, they felt threatened. They had four angry and intoxicated americans here and that is where the confusion over whether Armed Robbery took Police Station or not. Things calmed down fast, money exchanged hands, we understand, and the Police Arrived they didnt see much of a situation to respond to. But still, it is staggering, isnt it, that we have had days of debate about the Armed Robbery. And high pro file crime against high pro file victims here. And now, we seem to be talking, after this international incident, people dragged off planes, people who cant leave here, are now talking about what may or may not have happened in ten or 15 minutes at this gas station just ten minutes live away from the olympic venue behind me. It is staggering, what is the reason they were at the gas station in the first place . If you look at the beginning of the video, you might think it is because they needed a toilet. If they were in a taxi coming from somewhere else, that may explain why they were here in the first place. 6 00 a. M. If you listen to the account of the police chief, they say they left the club about 5 45. The judge who issued the warrant says it may have been slightly earlier, it could well fit a pattern here, they leave the club, need to go to the toilet, and then move on and the altercation is resolved peacefully. We know mr. Feigen is still in brazil. It was a discrepancy between their accounts, and now they have been talking to police. We understand the Police Station in the higher part of town we dont know what came of that discussion, but we know that the police chief is saying these men are high profile and they should apologize for what has happened. At the same time, an olympic official, slightly more light hearted in how theyre handling this, but this is not really an enormous crime. It did at the start, but if what the brazilian authorities are saying is what really happened, it is just the men out having a good time, great athletes, did well, maybe we should just move on. So many people have been focused on this now for days. We know how it is playing out in the u. S. I wonder there in rio, nick, how is it being received. Are people talking a lot about this . Yeah, the fist story of this Armed Robbery did leave a lot of brazilians confused. Cell phones are often the main target, and petty crime, they work so hard to keep it away from olympic venuevenues, and t judges themselves saw the men returning to the village, and she thought they looked unshaken. That also aroused her suspicions for the warrant. I think brazil is slightly stirred. The original story that mr. Lochte came up with, which he still stands by was, that was he was held at gunpoint as men disguised as police. That is troubling for anyone. Brazilian officials want to tackle that very quickly indeed, and there is that issue as well of how did they manage to get out of an Armed Robbery. Thank you, nick walsh, at the gas station where the incident with american swimmers took place. Well have more on this story as it unfolds. Lets turn now to charlotte, North Carolina where donald trump will soon be holding his first major rally since that staff shake up. Jason carroll is there for us, and you had, jason, donald trump meeting today with police and he is expected to talk about this law and order again tonight. Right, and not just that he is the law and order candidate, but to drive home the point that the Law Enforcement community is behind him. Expect him to repeat what we heard him say so many times in the past, that he is the pro cop candidate, and Hillary Clinton is the anticop candidate. Donald trump visiting a shooting range and getting an endorsement from a North Carolina police union in this critical state. So it looks like it is going very well. I guess they just got good numbers announced in North Carolina. North carolina will be very important. A new National Poll today shows that the glow for Hillary Clinton may be dimming a little bit. Kell Kellyanne Conway says trailing is not necessarily a bad thing. It helps us by being behind a little. It lights a fire under us. A course correction from yesterday when they tried to deny his candidate was trailing at all. You say it is not a shake up, but you guys are down, and it makes sense that says who . Says who . Polls, most of them all of them . Which polls . All of them. The campaigns new leadership seeking to project confidence, that the republican candidate will sharpen his message and still let trump be himself. Voters know when youre comfortable in his own skin. He wants to deliver a speech, if he wants to go to a rally, connect with a crowd, that is wonderful. That is how he got here. Tonight the first big rally since the major staff changes. Trump will focus on the campaign themes, terrorism and law and order. Tomorrow the first tv ad set to air in five battleground states. As for the tv spots, one of the places they will be airing is right here in the state of North Carolina. Some of the other states include virginia, florida, ohio, and pennsylvania. One recent poll shows that clinton is leading trump here by as many asinine points, the trump camp points out it is still early and once again, those attack ads have not started airing, not yet here in the state of North Carolina. Jason carol in charlotte, thank you. Lets bring in our guest. He is supporting donald trump. I have questions about donald trump, but first i want to ask you about ryan lochte. There is of a connection to your district. A graduate of the university of florida there in your district, and he was actually arrested once as it turns out and issued three different citations during his time in college. One was for public urination in 2005. I guess as someone that has a local connection there to where youre from, do you think this latest. Behavior is something in a you want to see from someone who is representing the United States on an International Stage like this. If you say is it something i want to see . No, nobody wants to see that but it is what it is. It goes back to what did you say, 2001 . Things happen, people do crazy things and they move on. Its what theyre doing today that i think is what matters and what counts. Thats what we should focus on. What about all of the other athletes who are having their efforts, really their lifes work, being overshadowed by the kind of ridiculousness. I agree. Youll see a lot of that i think you should focus on what they have accomplished. The university of florida is in the top ten universities in the nation. And these Young Athletes give everything they have to competing. And i think that is what we should look at. 9 thrill of victory. Focus on those things. And lets forgive. For peoples bad decisions that they made at an early age. And we have you here to talk about donald trump, that is what i want to talk about, i wanted to get in a in there because of the local connection. So as a i guess, here is my question. It is about steve bannon, the new campaign ceo. What were hearing is he wants trump to unleash on the clintons. When trump really had an opportunity to do that in a fox news town hall, he kind of punted. He said they should be given the benefit of the doubt on receiving donations to the Clinton Foundation from saudi arabia. Do you want to see him be more aggressive in the vein of what maybe steve bannon wants him to be . I think youll see that. I think do i want to see him be more aggressive . Along as it is factual and not negative. If you bring out the facts, the American People are smart enough they will figure out these things on their own. I think if mr. Trump does that, that is how we ran our campaign. We never went negative, just factual. I think mr. Trump and steve bannon, if they go out and give out the facts and let the people out there in the news media, in the news media do your research, report on the facts, the American People will make that decision. And i think at the end they will see donald trump as best qualified for this. An Important Development because theyre putting out ads. Were going to see two new ads come out tomorrow. The first general election ads that we have seen from trump. What do you want to hear from these ads . I think number one im glad he is coming out with these. I think it speaks highly of donald trump, himself, and his vision. An atypical campaign. He did it through the whole process, the primary process, and i think what i would like to see on these ads, and i think what you will see, is clear, concise goals and visions for our country whether it is National Security, tax reform, we we welfare reform. I think you will see very concise, and we saw a good indication of that the other day. The best funded and well equipped terrorist organization in the world. And i think he did a good job of illustrating that. And now the second part of that is how are we going to get that under control. And then he pointed out that he will partner up with anyone that will fight radical jiha dists. I want to talk to you about the changes in the Trump Campaign and fact that he is prumping for debates and what could be a big moment for him in the general election, if you could, congressman, stick around, well get into break and be right back. You can fly across welcome town in minutes16, or across the globe in under an hour. Whole communities are living on mars and solar satellites provide earth with unlimited clean power. In less than a century, boeing took the world from seaplanes to space planes, across the universe and beyond. And if you thought that was amazing, you just wait. Z. Back now with donald trump supporter and senator. First, breaking news, new details about the 400 million. President obama insisted that the payment was not ransom. Cnn White House Correspondent Michelle Kaczynski is traveling with the president in Marthas Vineyard for us. What have you learned about the timing here, snishl. Basically more and more details have come out. Now we know that money was paid just before the american prisoners were released. The question that remains here was this a ran payment from a deal from a decade ago. But you know, our question is did it essentially function as a ransom payment . Why did the timing have to be that very day. Now we know that the money was, indeed, paid just before the prisoners were released. Now were hearing from the state department. Theyre calling this leverage. Listen to this spokesperson today. Youre saying you would not give them the 400 million in cash until the prisoners were released, correct . Yes, it was their 400 million, that was awarded to them. Make that clear. And because we had concerned about the end game, in terms of getting our people out, we didnt want to take any chances. So we believed that as much levage as could be had, we wanted to have. We wanted to keep as much leverage as possible. We believed that holding up that delivery was prudent. And the white house is saying basically the same thing tonight. They were concerned that iran would reneg on the deal. If they didnt get the money coming to them at the time. Was this then essentially a ransom payment as many are calling it . Republicans have been calling it this. They have been hammering the white house on the language here. And with the white house it goes back to look, this among was going to be coming to iran. They wanted all of the things they were working on at the same time as the Iran Nuclear Deal to work out, so they paid the money to make sure that iran was going to release those prisoners. Okay, Michelle Kaczynski for us, thank you for that report. Im going to bring back now congressman yoho of the white house degree. The white house is saying that is not a ransom, but there are still a lot of outstanding questions here about the timing. What is your reaction to this . The timing is terrible. And i had a professor in vet school that said if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, waddles like a duck, it is probably a duck. But they gave it out at the same tie that iran was demanding the payment. The administration can say they would not give the money until the hostages got released, but then the iranians went around and said it was a ransom payment. I think most of the world believes it is a ransom payment, and the Obama Administration, they lost credibility. They drew a red line and said they didnt. It is recorded. Cnn has tapes of it as every Major Network does, or a regime change, the assad presidency had a go. President obama said that himself along with john kerry and they retracted that and said we never said that. The credit ability has been lost. That is important when you get to a situation like this. If they had the credibility, the American People i think would stand on the president s side. But it looks fishy, like a duck, to me. You are a donald trump supporter. Were covering a lot of news today. Part of this shake up in the campaign is Kellyanne Conway being promoted, does this mean the Trump Campaign will be not just taking polls seriously, but really delving into the details ant different demographic groups and where donald trump needs to improve his standing . Absolutely. I think with any campaign as they mature, youre going to see the fine intraicacientricacies. Sometimes they change daily. And i think, im very pleased that mr. Trump is getting his campaign more organized and doing some of the more traditional things and i agree that he should stay who he is. The American People have put him in this position. Because of his willingness to do things outside of the establishment. And we, as a country, are not used to seeing this. And i think that lead to a lot of the success you see. And i think when it comes down to it, when you have a choice between donald trump and Hillary Clinton, who is best fitted to serve this nation. If you look at the 7 1 2 years previously under the Obama Administration with Hillary

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