Trump is a Birther No More; Clinton Back on the Campaign Trail; Trump Unveils Revised Tax Plan
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. Ahead this hour --</s>ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: A birther no more. Donald Trump's campaign says the Republican nominee now believes President Obama was born in the U.S.A. Hillary Clinton back on the campaign trail taking the stage to the James Brown song "I Feel Good".</s>SESAY: And rapper Jay-Z opens up on the war on drugs declaring it an epic fail.</s>VAUSE: Hello everybody. Great to have you with us. We'd like to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John Vause.</s>SESAY: And I'm Isha Sesay. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.</s>VAUSE: Just hours after Donald Trump refused to answer if he thought that the President was a natural born citizen his campaign released a statement saying that yes, he now believes President Obama was born in the United States. All of this five years after Trump became a leading figure in the so-called birther movement.</s>SESAY: Trump rival, Hillary Clinton jumped on the controversy as she returned to the campaign trail after taking three days off to recover from pneumonia. But while she was out sick, Trump tightened the gap with Clinton in various polls that you see there. This one from Fox News shows him in a one-point race among likely voters. In Washington Thursday Clinton stays Trump was and remains divisive.</s>HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Everywhere I go people tell me how concerned they are by the extreme policies and divisive rhetoric they have heard from my opponent from the racist lie about Mexican immigrants that launched his presidential campaign to his racist attacks on a federal judge. And every time we think he's hit rock bottom, he sinks even lower.</s>DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: You better make sure I win on November 8th because I'm going to have wasted a hell of a lot of time, energy and money. You know, when they tell me, Mr. Trump, it doesn't matter, what you have accomplished. First of all I've accomplished nothing -- you've accomplished. I'm the messenger. But what you've accomplished is so incredible I say unless we win we've accomplished nothing. Just remember. We have to win on November 8th. We have to get there, get everybody.</s>VAUSE: Joining us now, Democratic strategist Dave Jacobson and Republican consultant John Thomas. Ok. Just when you thought Donald Trump was on a roll, everything was looking good, came this blast from the past. It was an interview with "The Washington Post". It was published just a few hours ago. This is where he was refusing to answer if President Obama was born in the United States. This is one of the quotes. "I'll answer that question at the right time. I just don't want to answer it yet. I don't want to talk about it anyway. The reason I don't is because then everyone is going to be talking about it as opposed to jobs, the military, the vets, security." Ok. So that was the non-answer. Then a short time after that we had the statement coming from the campaign which read in part, "Having successfully obtained President Obama's birth certificate when others could not, Mr. Trump believes that President Obama was born in the United States." The one thing, though is, John -- that's not actually coming from Donald Trump. And we're being told over and over again only Mr. Trump speaks for Mr. Trump. So when will Mr. Trump actually say those words?</s>JOHN THOMAS, REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT: You know, perhaps in a sit down interview later on he might. But I mean the campaign does speak for a candidate. It's a statement on behalf of the candidate. This is as close to an admission that Obama is a citizen and it's put to bed as we are ever going to get from him. The fact is he doesn't this to be a big story. And his statement I think was right. You can see the last couple of days, Trump has been disciplined and on message. He's been giving speeches on the economy. He's been giving speeches on women and child care. He really wants to be focused on that. He gets it that this is a distraction.</s>SESAY: So, Dave, let me ask you this so your answer is in this context. Obviously they are trying to put it to bed but how much potency does this issue still have from a Democrat's point of view.</s>DAVE JACOBSON, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think it's fresh evidence of the fact that Donald Trump understands fundamentally that he has hit his ceiling, right. You're seeing these polls come out; he has definitely narrowed the gap. He's hovering around 42, 44 percent. But he has not broken that 44 percent ceiling. And I think he fundamentally understands look, if I'm going to win this thing. If I'm going to get closer to 50 percent I have to appeal to those persuadable voters, those moderate women suburban voters, who he's not really breaking through it. And I think he fundamentally has to come off as not a racist, not a bigot. And one of the ways to do that perhaps is to say look, I believe the President was born in America. The problem is Donald Trump is not saying it, right. That's the issue. His campaign surrogates, his spokespeople are doing it. But he is not really doing it.</s>THOMAS: I think the problem is Donald Trump has backed himself into a corner. Donald Trump does not apologize. That's just who -- he's not that person. And Donald Trump also thinks America needs a strong leader. So he's not going to -- he didn't do it before, he's not going to do it now. He doesn't apologize for anything.</s>VAUSE: I'm sorry -- go ahead.</s>SESAY: I was just going to say I guess that's him also saying that he doesn't care about the African-American vote because this issue is potent in that demographic.</s>THOMAS: I think he cares about it. He has been stumping at the different churches.</s>SESAY: I love your shrug.</s>THOMAS: No, no, no, no, no. He obviously cares about their vote. He has been going to their churches and spending time in Flint, Michigan -- talking to the African-American community. But on this issue he has made a statement and I think that's that.</s>VAUSE: Ok. Well, after three days home sick, Hillary Clinton back on the campaign trail. She jumped on this. Listen to what she said.</s>CLINTON: And again today, he did it again. He was asked one more time where was President Obama born? And he still wouldn't say Hawaii. He still wouldn't say America. This man wants to be our next president? When will he stop this ugliness, this bigotry?</s>VAUSE: So, Dave, you know, for the last week or so, Trump has had the wind at his back, if you like. So even if you had the statement coming from the campaign saying he believes he was born in the United States. This was still a gift, a welcome back gift from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton.</s>JACOBSON: Precisely. I mean here's the problem with Donald Trump. Like when you take the duct tape off diarrhea of the mouth comes out, right. Like when he is scripted and when he's got the teleprompters up there and he's reading and on message and disciplined, we see a narrowing of the race. We see a closing of the polling gap. But the problem is now that he feels like he has the wind at his back he feels like he can shoot from the hip again and say whatever's on his mind. And I think that's his challenge.</s>SESAY: I mean Davie -- John, we have seen some slips in this message discipline in the last 24, 48 hours.</s>THOMAS: Yes. He's not a professional candidate. Look, Hillary Clinton has what -- 40 plus years of experience in the public arena. This is Donald Trump's first go at it. He's going to make mistakes. But let's look at the polls. Dave, he hasn't just closed the gap, he is ahead in many of these important states. So whatever he's doing seems to be working a little bit better than Hillary Clinton.</s>SESAY: All right. Well, President Obama was also at an event with Hillary Clinton this evening at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus event and he talked about the tone of the election. Take a listen.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And look, throughout this political season, you know, the talk around these issues has cut deeper than in year's past. It's a little more personal. It's a little meaner, a little uglier. And folks are betting that if they can drive us far enough apart and if they can put down enough of us because of where we come from or what we look like or what religion we practice then that may pay off at the polls. But I'm telling you that's a bet they're going to lose.</s>SESAY: And it was clearly a reference to Donald Trump there and his struggle with Hispanic and Latino voters.</s>THOMAS: Well, it also could reference Hillary Clinton calling 7.5 million Americans deplorables. That could potentially be it. Look, this has not been a positive tone. When President Obama ran in 2008 it was "yes we can". It was a change election. But here's the truth, 70 percent of Americans think we are on the wrong track because of that guy, right. So we're not going to have an uplifting cycle. We're going to have a dose of reality that we need to get back on track to save this country. We're not going to sit around here with hope and change. That didn't do it. So I think that's where Barack Obama is coming from.</s>JACOBSON: Well look, I think elections are obviously about choices and at a certainly it's incumbent upon a campaign or a candidate to sort of serve as a public service announcement to say hey listen, here are the differences, here are sort of the choices that you have in this election. But I think the President is right. Like at a certain level you want to have some inspiration and some hope and some forward-looking optimistic view of the future. At the same time, you don't want to discount the importance of really defining your opponent and really laying out the stakes of this election. But I do think that the President is right that we need more, sort of uplifting rhetoric in this campaign.</s>VAUSE: Ok. There is growing pressure on Trump to release his tax returns and you can add the Speaker of the House Paul Ryan to that. Listen to what he said.</s>REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEKAER OF THE HOUSE: I'll defer to Donald Trump as to when he thinks the appropriate time to release his returns. I know he's under an audit and he's got an opinion about when to release those. I'll defer to him on that.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think it's a good idea?</s>RYAN: I released mine. I think we should release his.</s>VAUSE: Ok. But according to Donald Jr. it's not about the audit. Here's what he said.</s>DONALD TRUMP JR., DONALD TRUMP'S SON: He has a 12,000 page tax return that would create probably 300 million independent financial auditors out of every person in the country asking questions that are going to distract from his main message.</s>VAUSE: So John -- basically, you know, the problem with releasing the tax returns, according to Donald, Jr. is that everyone gets to see them. And that's kind of the point, isn't it.</s>THOMAS: Well, I'm sure he's right. It would be a distraction. We also have to take Donald Trump at his word that he's under audit. I mean</s>I -- SESAY: Why?</s>THOMAS: Because he says so.</s>SESAY: But I mean we're not in that business, you know.</s>VAUSE: Trust but verify.</s>SESAY: Trust but verify. We're not in that business. He has been asked to provide a letter from the IRS that refers to the audit. That has not been forthcoming.</s>THOMAS: Well, he should do that. If he is under audit he needs to prove that he's under audit, right. He needs to do that. I agree with you.</s>VAUSE: Ok.</s>SESAY: I'm always taken aback when you say, you know, why don't you just take him at his word because we're journalists and that's not what we do.</s>THOMAS: Sure.</s>SESAY: Dave -- that question of releasing your tax returns and, you know, it being a distraction or not. For Hillary Clinton as she has come back with what effectively is a reset should she continue down this road of attacking Trump or should she be providing that hope and change message that, you know, John himself referenced that Obama brought out in 2008? What should the strategy be for her now that she is back?</s>JACOBSON: I think it's a balancing act. I think look, you want to be hopeful and optimistic. And given her likability factor, I think she really has to have some sort of positive message. She's got a lot of policies. She put out a book earlier this week with all the different ideas that she has to how to move the country forward. But I think at the same time, she still has to drive a wedge between some of these persuadable voters and Donald Trump. She can't give up on the negativity. I think frankly, some of the recent speeches that she has delivered whether it was in Reno, Nevada on the alt-right movement or some of the other speeches in the past, I think she really has to make him look like he is unhinged, he's thin-skinned, he's too radical and extreme. I think that's going to be a key part of her strategy. But that doesn't discount the fact that she has to have some sort of positive message to complement that.</s>VAUSE: Ok. And now for something completely different.</s>JIMMY FALLON, TV HOST: Is that yes?</s>TRUMP: Go ahead.</s>FALLON: Yes. Donald Trump, everybody.</s>VAUSE: Well, that's transparency I think. We found out a few things there. It really just shows he's a good sport.</s>THOMAS: And it's real.</s>VAUSE: Sort of.</s>THOMAS: I was wondering if there was a squirrel --</s>JACOBSON: -- like how much glue he put on before the show.</s>SESAY: It was a priceless moment there. I will give him there. Gentlemen -- always a pleasure. Next hour we'll see you again.</s>VAUSE: We'll see you in an hour. Thanks -- guys.</s>SESAY: Thank you.</s>VAUSE: Ok now all of this controversy over President Obama was he born in the U.S., was he not? Did Donald Trump agree to that or not? That has been overshadowing Trump's policy speech on the economy which outlined some major changes to his original plan.</s>SESAY: He has scaled back some of his tax cuts and has promised more benefits for lower income families.</s>TRUMP: Over the next ten years our economic team estimates that under our plan the economy will average 3.5 percent growth and create a total of 25 million new jobs.</s>VAUSE: Let's talk Trumponomics now with Rana Foroohar, CNN's global economic analyst and an assistant managing editor at "Time". Rana, we just heard Donald Trump there promising economic growth averaging 3.5 percent, 25 million new jobs -- that would be pretty impressive given that the U.S. economy has never really produced that many jobs in one decade. It's come close but never reached 25 million.</s>RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Right. And, you know, 4 percent is basically double what the economy is growing right now. You know, to be honest, a lot of this is magical thinking, I got to say. These numbers, 3.5 to 4 percent growth are predicated on the idea that Trump's plan of tax cuts would actually create that kind of growth momentum. And unfortunately for the last 20 years that has not been the case. It's not even a bipartisan thing, you know. You can look at the tax cuts under George Bush in 2001 and 2003 -- these were big sustained cuts. They did not create a big jump in growth. And then before the financial crisis, more Bush cuts in 2008 and then everything Obama did afterwards in terms of trimming taxes, post the financial crisis also did not create growth. So basically you have 20 years of evidence that this sort of trickle down theory is not working. So it makes these numbers just really hard to figure.</s>VAUSE: Ok. But did you say 3.5 percent economic growth. Because from Donald Trump -- wait, there's more. He is promising that the economy can grow even faster. Listen to the Republican nominee.</s>TRUMP: It's time to start thinking big once again. That's why I believe it's time to establish a national goal of reaching 4 percent economic growth. And my great economists don't want me to say this but I think we can do better than that.</s>VAUSE: And again, so the question here is, you can put this out that you can say whatever you want but if you look at the economic policies which the Trump campaign is putting forward is there any explanation how the economy can actually grow better than 4 percent?</s>FOROOHAR: You know, there really isn't, John. And in fact, you've got a lot of economists very worried that some of these policies, protectionism around trade, tax cuts without spending cuts which, by the way, was the Reagan formula, you know, Reagan cut taxes but he actually never cut the budget. That's why at the end of his tenure you had national debt three times what it was before. All of these economists are worried they're going to shave growth. In fact Oxford Economics, the U.K. based consulting firm believes that if all of Trump's plans are put into place including barriers to immigration which also demographics create growth. And that's one of America's great advantages. They believe that if all these plans are put into place it would actually shave $1 trillion off the U.S. economy.</s>VAUSE: That's an interesting point about the immigration policy too because this seems to be where the economic policy slams head on with his very popular immigration policy. We know Donald Trump has said he would like to deport millions of undocumented workers who are currently in the United States. But if he is to achieve that jobs growth which he outlined some experts say you have to double the immigration intake. How does that work?</s>FOROOHAR: Absolutely. Well, if you think about what is economic growth? Economic growth is basically the number of people working and how productive they are. And so as I said before, you know, one of our great advantages in the U.S. compared in particular to Europe, has always been that we have more immigrants, we have a slightly higher birthrate. If you start to cut those things you are cutting economic growth.</s>VAUSE: Ok. Look, Donald Trump did revise his tax plan. Before it was costing I think $10 trillion over 10 years, now it's $4.4 trillion and included in that tax plan is a big corporate bonus. Listen to this.</s>TRUMP: One of our greatest job creation measures is going to be our 15 percent business tax rate down from the current 35 percent rate, a reduction of more than 40 percent. I know that's what you people have been waiting for.</s>VAUSE: Ok. So if you look at that tax cut we have the child care tax rebate he announced the other day. There is a big boost in spending on Defense and infrastructure -- all of this being paid for by stronger economic growth. Is there a provision within the Trump plan if the economic growth doesn't materialize?</s>FOROOHAR: Not that we've heard and, you know, again cutting taxes and not cutting spending is a recipe for more debt. It is not a recipe for growth. And by the way, we are also entering a new period in the global economy. It's a period when monetary policy is probably going to start slowly tightening. You're not going to have the same 40 years of easy money that you had in the past. This is not the time to be adding unproductive debt to the U.S. economy.</s>VAUSE: Also, finally here, it does seem that, you know, the world is in this model or this sort of formula of low economic growth anyway. It seems unlikely that, you know, the heady days of the 90s -- no one is returning to those days.</s>FOROOHAR: Well, that's right. If you think about what was happening in the 1990s that was the beginning of the tech boom. The Internet was coming online. There was a lot of connectivity. People were getting computers. That period is over. That is tapped out. In fact, a lot of economists think that really most of the benefits from that big computing boom are finished now. We're not going the see that again unless there is something major on the horizon, some kind of new invention, some kind of major shift in global demographics. It's really hard to imagine 4 percent growth in the U.S. right now.</s>VAUSE: The 90s, they were the days. Good to have you with us. Thanks so much.</s>FOROOHAR: Thank you.</s>SESAY: That's more than a little depressing.</s>VAUSE: I know.</s>SESAY: What do you think?</s>VAUSE: Well, you know, happy days ahead. Ok. We'll take a short break. When we come back there are new allegations that Russia is behind a high-profile computer hack. We'll tell you how the United States is responding to this cyber threat coming from Moscow.</s>SESAY: Plus, rapper Jay Z spent years selling drugs on New York streets. Now he is railing against the U.S. war on drugs.