Trump Taunts Clinton Ahead of First Debate; Report: Trump Used Charity Money to Settle Legal Disputes; Sources: George H.W. Bush to Vote for Clinton
BLITZER: We're continuing to follow the breaking news in New York and New Jersey bomb investigation, but there are other developing stories right now, as well. With the first presidential debate just days away, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are locked in a very tight contest across several key battleground states. Our senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta is following the Trump campaign for us. He's in North Carolina right now. Jim, what's the latest?</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, less than one week before the first debate, and Donald Trump just mentioned it a few moments ago. The GOP nominee is mocking Hillary Clinton's stamina and questioning her ability to defeat ISIS, and he is holding out the recent terror attack in New York as proof his policies on immigration and terrorism are the way to go.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): Less than 50 days until election day and a bare- knuckle fight to the finish is on. The latest round on keeping Americans safe.</s>DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Hillary Clinton talks tougher about my supporters than she does about Islamic terrorists.</s>ACOSTA: Donald Trump is once again questioning whether Hillary Clinton can go the distance, poking fun at her recent bout with pneumonia and showing off his busy campaign schedule, saying in a tweet, "Hillary Clinton is taking the day off again. She needs the rest. Sleep well, Hillary. See you at the debate." Clinton isn't exactly napping. She's prepping for their first debate and making it clear she knows what's coming.</s>HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE (via phone): I can take that kind of stuff. I've been at this and, you know, I understand it's a contact sport. But I am not going to take what -- what he says about everybody else, you know.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.</s>CLINTON: You know, his attacks on African-Americans and immigrants and Muslims and women and people with disabilities.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. There you go.</s>CLINTON: It's just...</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go.</s>CLINTON: It's just something we cannot tolerate.</s>ACOSTA: But in the aftermath of the terror in New York, Trump isn't backing off his fiery rhetoric, keeping the door open to the profiling of Arabs and Muslims if he's elected president, even as he's denying it.</s>BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS HOST: You want to profile Arab or Muslim men. How would that work?</s>TRUMP: We have no choice. Look, Israel does it, and Israel does it very successfully.</s>O'REILLY: They do it...</s>TRUMP: But I'm not using the term "Muslim." I'm saying you're going to have to profile them.</s>ACOSTA: Trump and his son, Donald Trump Jr., are continuing to sound the alarm over the flow of Syrian refugees into the U.S. Trump Jr. said in a tweet, "If I had a bowl of Skittles, and I told you just three would kill you, would you take a handful? That's our Syrian refugee problem." The makers of Skittles were not amused, saying in a statement, "Skittles are candy. Refugees are people. We don't feel it's an appropriate analogy." A former aide to President Obama responded by tweeting the image of a bloodied Syrian boy. But Trump says it's Clinton who doesn't get it.</s>TRUMP: Where is her condemnation of these people? Where is her condemnation of these countries?</s>ACOSTA: Trump is also facing serious new questions about his charitable foundation. A "Washington Post" is reporting the Trump Foundation spent more than a quarter million dollars to settle lawsuits, including $120,000 in fines he racked up in a dispute over the placement of a flagpole at his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, potential violation of U.S. tax laws. One dispute he hasn't settled is with the Bush family. After years of Trump's taunts aimed had his family, the former Republican president, George H.W. Bush reportedly will vote for Hillary Clinton. So says former Maryland lieutenant governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who said in a Facebook post, "The president told me he's voting for Hillary."</s>ACOSTA: Now as for that Skittles tweet, the Trump campaign is putting out a statement defending Donald Trump Jr., saying he is a tremendous asset to the campaign and also saying he is speaking the truth, Wolf. Speaking the truth, they say, on Syrian refugees -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: All right. Jim Acosta in North Carolina. Thank you. Let's turn to our political experts for more analysis. Jamie Gangel, first to you. President Bush's spokesman, the first President Bush may not be confirming or denying it, but you're hearing that President George H.W. Bush did, in fact, say he would be voting for Hillary Clinton.</s>JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: That's correct, Wolf. I would say that the spokesman is dodging or deflecting the issue, but our sources have now confirmed for us that, in fact, President -- former President Bush did tell Kathleen Kennedy Townsend that he was planning to vote for Hillary Clinton. That said, however, this was -- she is a member of the advisory board for Points of Life Foundation, which is a bipartisan group. And we're told it was in a receiving line, that there were about 40 people there for the occasion but that he really thought it was a personal conversation, not a public conversation. And we're told also that the board, the other board members, Republicans and Democrats, were very upset that she posted it and went public at an event that everyone really felt was a private event. When I last spoke to them, I was told she had not called to apologize or explain what she had done, but she has taken the post down. But we can confirm that president -- former President Bush 41, in fact, did say it to her. And my sources also tell me that he has said it to other people in the past. This is not the first time that he has told close friends that this was the case -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Thank you, Jamie, stand by. Gloria, there have been a whole bunch of other prominent, high-profile Republicans...</s>GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.</s>BLITZER: ... who said they're going to vote for Hillary Clinton, so how much of a surprise is this?</s>BORGER: Well, I think it's a surprise coming from a former Republican president who's been a stalwart of the Republican Party. But in specific, when you look at George H.W. Bush and you understand the names that Jeb Bush was called by Donald Trump. And let me just read for you a list of former top Bush administration officials who have also said they are supporting Hillary Clinton. Among them, very close friend to the former president, Brent Scowcroft. Paul Wolfowitz, Hank Paulson, Richard Armitage. And so it's not completely shocking that, of course, that Bush 41 would say, "You know what? I'm not." What is surprising, of course, is that it's become public, which is, I am sure, as Jamie points out, he really didn't want to occur.</s>BLITZER: Mark Preston, Donald Trump Jr., he's come under some criticism now for that Skittles comparison to the Syrian refugees. Was this a misstep by Donald Trump's son?</s>MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: No doubt it was. I mean, this is one of those moments during the campaign that I'm sure Donald Trump Jr. wishes he could take back. It won't hurt him with his supporters. His supporters probably believe that in many ways. It does fit into the whole narrative, certainly, the talking points that Donald Trump has been making about the Syrian refugee crisis, specifically having them resettle here to the United States. But what's interesting in this campaign, Wolf, is that an incident like this just becomes another piece in this narrative that is really hard to explain, because in many ways, the electorate doesn't seem to care about the little things, even though this is a very big thing. So will it affect him in the long run? Probably not. But what it does is takes the Trump campaign off message, certainly, for the day, if not a couple of days as they try to deal with this issue.</s>BLITZER: Olivia Nuzzi, following the terror attacks in New York and New Jersey, Donald Trump said that U.S. law enforcement, in his words, should profile people that maybe look suspicious. So what is he doing here? Is he playing to his base? What is he doing?</s>OLIVIA NUZZI, POLITICAL REPORTER, "THE DAILY BEAST": He's absolutely playing to his base. But it's interesting. If you go back to this time in 2015 Donald Trump seemed to be against racial profiling. Macy's, a brand that he's had problems with in the past, had to pay a settlement for racial profiling. He criticized them relentlessly on Twitter for it, saying that racial profiling was bad; and people should protest Macy's for that reason. But now, of course, he's playing into his base. He's trying to let them know that he's going to get the bad guys. He's going to do what Hillary Clinton won't do, which in this case means, I think, profiling people based on their race or religion.</s>BLITZER: And we're getting two very different reactions to the terror attacks in New York and New Jersey, Gloria, from Donald Trump and from Hillary Clinton.</s>BORGER: Look,, Hillary Clinton -- they're both playing to form, to type. Right? Hillary Clinton is saying that she is the strong leader and that he does not have the temperament. He is saying she does not have the judgment. And so each of them are, you know, reverting to form. And it's not surprising. And by the way, the polls show, Wolf, that they are about equal on the question of who can best handle terrorism. She's a little ahead on foreign policy, but I think that, when this all plays out, it's probably going to be a wash for both of them. It's not going to -- it's not going to help either candidate.</s>BLITZER: In our most recent poll he's a little ahead in who can best handle terrorism.</s>BORGER: Right.</s>BLITZER: She's a little ahead in who would be a better commander in chief.</s>BORGER: Foreign policy, exactly.</s>BLITZER: So there's -- there's mixed results. Everyone, stay with us. There's a lot more going on. We'll take a quick break. We'll be right back.