Donald Trump to Hold Rally in Tampa, Florida; Mitt Romney Criticizes Donald Trump's Rhetoric
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN ANCHOR: That's it. Follow me on Twitter @Smerconish. I'll see you next week.</s>SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, (D) MASSACHUSETTS: Donald Trump is a loud, nasty, thin-skinned fraud. You shame yourself and you shame this great country.</s>DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And Pocahontas is not happy. She's not happy. Elizabeth Warren, she's one of the worst senators.</s>HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are not going to let Donald Trump or anyone else turn back the clock.</s>MITT ROMNEY, (R) FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Trickledown racism, trickledown bigotry, and trickledown misogyny, all these things are extraordinarily dangerous to the heart a character of America.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The searing words of a sexual assault victim managing to stir a nation and spot light an issue so often kept in the dark.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were selling merchandise and signing autographs. The suspect walked up and shot Christina.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is horrible. Honestly it's probably one of the worst things that could literally happen right now.</s>CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Just a glimpse of all the things we're talking about. Good morning to you. We're grateful for your company as always. I'm Christi Paul.</s>VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you this morning in the CNN Newsroom. So new this morning, Mitt Romney's revolt is not going unanswered, let's say. Donald Trump now says the last Republican presidential nominee, "choked like a dog." Those are his words.</s>BLACKWELL: And that's not all. Donald Trump firing off on Twitter this morning responding to CNN's exclusive interview with Mitt Romney. Romney vowing that he will not vote for Trump, calling the presumptive nominee's message, "racist, vulgar, and dangerous." Watch.</s>ROMNEY: Presidents have an impact on the nature of our nation, and trickledown racism, trickledown bigotry, and trickledown misogyny, all these things are extraordinarily dangerous to the heart and character of America.</s>PAUL: Now, here's what Donald Trump had to say a short time ago. Quote, "Mitt Romney had his chance to be a failed president but he choked like a dog. Now he calls me racist. But I am the least racist person there is." Obviously that coming to us from Twitter. CNN politics reporter Jeremy Diamond is live from Tampa, Florida, where that Trump rally is set to start about an hour from now. Jeremy, Trump's event last night drew a surprisingly, as I understand it, small crowd. What can you tell us about the attendance there this morning?</s>JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, well, certainly, you know, by Donald Trump standards today's crowd is also a little bit smaller than he's used to. You got a couple thousand people here, but no line to speak of outside. I just went outside to check it out and there is no line of people waiting to get into this event. That's often something that Donald Trump says is there's thousands of people waiting outside in line to get in. Today that is not the case. This place is less than half full, which is certainly interesting given that Donald Trump is kicking off his general election campaign, so to speak, with Hillary Clinton now the presumptive Democratic nominee. And this is a key state that he's going to have to try to win if he wants to win in the general election. Florida of course a battleground state consistently in multiple presidential elections. But this comes as Donald Trump is trying to unite the Republican Party as well, not just looking towards the general election but try to actually unite his own party around him specifically after he had all of this controversy around the judge overseeing his Trump University case. Donald Trump is pushing back on accusations that he is a racist, saying that he is the least racist person last night in his rally and today this morning in a tweet.</s>PAUL: All right, Jeremy Diamond, we appreciate it, thank you.</s>BLACKWELL: A lot to talk about here. So here with me we have Amy Kremer, co-founder of the group Women Vote Trump, also Tharon Johnson, former south regional director for Obama's 2012 campaign. Good to have both of you back.</s>AMY KREMER, CO-FOUNDER, WOMEN VOTE TRUMP: Good to be here.</s>BLACKWELL: Let's start with you, Amy, and Trump's defense last night against these claims, these accusations that he is a racist. Watch.</s>TRUMP: I am the least, just so you know, I am the least racist person, the least racist person that you've ever seen, the least. I mean, give me a break.</s>BLACKWELL: All right, so, those claims that he's fighting off they come after a year of this. Let's watch --</s>TRUMP: When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on. I've been treated very unfairly. Now, this judge is of Mexican heritage. I'm building a wall.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you are saying he can't do his job because of his race, is that not the definition of racism?</s>TRUMP: I don't think so at all.</s>TRUMP: So, Amy, what do you say to those people who say that the history, the record here, is clear, the rhetoric, the words are racist?</s>KREMER: Look, I mean I think -</s>BLACKWELL: Amy, let me cut you off because we're having an audio issue. We're going to come right back to you. We just need to fix the technical element. Tharon, let me come to you. You heard there. Hopefully your audio is good. Your response to Donald Trump saying he's not a racist after what some say is clear rhetoric?</s>THARON JOHNSON, FORMER SOUTH REGIONAL DIRECTOR, OBAMA 2012: Victor, if you listen to the clips that you just played, there's no way that anyone who has been paying attention to this race cannot say that Donald Trump has been making some very racist comments. When you have the speaker of the House, the highest-ranking Republican says, and I quote, that Donald Trump's comment about the judge being of Mexican heritage is the textbook definition of a racist comment, I mean, this is just crazy to me. And the thing about Donald Trump is that he says, well, I'm not racist, just listen to me, let me tell you that I'm not. But he has done nothing -- and I mean doing -- to show us through his actions and through his campaign message that he is not a racist. So, I think this is a very, very bad week for Donald Trump. He is constantly redefining rock bottom and basically, you know, dividing this country. And I think that he's got to regroup. But it was a very, very bad week for him and a very good week for Hillary Clinton.</s>BLACKWELL: All right, I think we fixed the audio issue. Amy, pick up on your point here.</s>KREMER: No, because you want to build a wall so we can stop the illegal immigration problem, that doesn't mean you're racist. You have Stacey Dash and Silk and Diamond, two Internet stars, who were at our press conference this week when we announced. There are all three African-Americans. They love Donald Trump. There are plenty of African-Americans out there that love Donald Trump, and I think if he were racist they wouldn't be supporting him like that. That word has become a taboo. That word is thrown at you if somebody wants to stop you. And not only is it coming from the left but it's coming from the right now. And what I say to it is if Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan and all these people in the Republican Party had worked so hard to defeat Barack Obama in 2012 we might have Mitt Romney as president right now. But the problem is they cannot stand that they're losing control. And, Victor, quite honestly, there's a bigger picture here. They -- if they keep doing this, they're going to lose all the support they have. The American people are fed up with it. And I will say this. Bernie, you know, it's not like the Democrats are united either because Bernie, his supporters are not getting on board with Hillary Clinton. There are a lot that are not getting on board with Hillary Clinton, and I think it's a message to Washington overall.</s>BLACKWELL: Let me come to you, Tharon. CNN learned that a major Clinton Foundation donor, donated between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation, was appointed to a sensitive intelligence board when Clinton was secretary of state. The focus was arms control, disarmament, nonproliferation, but the donor, Rajiv Fernando, was a securities trader, a financial guy with no national security experience, donating seven figures. The response from the Clinton campaign, let's put that up, because there are questions about if this was an exchange, this appointment was an exchange for that donation. "This was an unpaid, volunteer advisory board and one of several foreign policy-focused organizations that he was involved with. As the State Department itself has said, the ISAB, the International Security Advisory's Board charter calls for a diverse set of experiences for its members. That's all there is to it." But when the State Department was asked about why this man, Rajiv Fernando, was qualified, how he was qualified, there was no response given. There were e-mails that showed that they were told to stall, and then the next day he resigned from the board. Your concerns about how damaging this can be for Secretary Clinton?</s>JOHNSON: You know, I'm not that aware of the situation, Victor, and I can't speak on behalf of the foundation or the campaign in regards to this. But my short answer would be this -- I think that Hillary Clinton and her campaign and other staff members have got to continue to do what they've been doing, and that is being transparent and make sure they answer all questions. There's no secret that there's been this very politically motivated investigation against Hillary Clinton while she was the secretary of state and even while she was first lady and even while she was a senator. And so I think what you've got to do is continue to just be transparent and answer the questions. But I want to respond really quickly --</s>KREMER: A criminal FBI investigation is not political. It is more serious.</s>BLACKWELL: Let -- I need you to wrap this up, Tharon. Last thought.</s>JOHNSON: Amy, you are my friend and we come on this show a lot and we debate civilly. And so I think we need to continue to do that. I think the problem with the Republicans right now they've created this guy in Donald Trump, and as a woman, Amy, you should be very concerned that this guy you support has consistently disrespected women and he continues to do so. And so there's no division --</s>KREMER: That's not the case at all, Tharon. I'll be happy to debate it with you at any time, but that's not the case.</s>BLACKWELL: And unfortunately we've run out of time to have that debate at this moment. But Tharon Johnson, Amy Kremer, thank you both. Unfortunately audio problem took up a little more time than we had hoped.</s>KREMR: Thanks for having me.</s>JOHNSON: Thank you. Thank you.</s>PAUL: A concert for an up-and-coming pop star turns deadly. Christina Grimmie, a finalist on the hit show "The Voice," shot and killed as she signs autographs with fans. A former cast mate is sharing his memories of her.