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tv   Eyewitness News Upclose  ABC  July 31, 2016 11:00am-11:31am EDT

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? new york. it's all here. it's only here. plan your summer vacation at iloveny.com >> this is "eyewitness news upclose." >> i accept your nomination for president of the united states! >> hillary clinton making history, becoming the first woman to win a major party presidential nomination. but is that as far as her history-making journey will take standing in her way, the man who a year ago was often dismissed as a flash in the political pan. but now republican presidential nominee donald trump saying he's not gonna hold back. >> boy, am i getting hit. boom. boom. boom. i am getting hit, and they don't mean it, and there's a lot of lies being told, but i guess they have to do their thing. >> and good morning, everyone. i'm bill ritter. welcome to "upclose." after the nastiest presidential primary season, perhaps ever,
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nation's highest office. >> we have got to elect hillary clinton and tim kaine. [ crowd booing ] >> a rocky start to the democratic convention, where bernie sanders supporters booed hillary clinton. democrats, though, appear to unify, eventually, behind mrs. clinton. the hope of democrats that enthusiastic sanders supporters will, in the end, vote for the former secretary of state. [ cheering ] and she appeared onstage later after his impassioned speech, making the case for clinton to be his successor. and then on the final night, the former first lady making her own case for why she should now be the first woman to be elected president of the united states. >> and in the end, it comes down to what donald trump doesn't get -- america is great
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nuclear weapons. >> meanwhile, donald trump no stranger to staying in the news. indeed, stayed in the news during the democratic convention, making campaign stops, talking about russians hacking public officials, and blasting ms. clinton. >> russia, if you're listening, i hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing. i think you will probably be let's see if that happens. >> mr. trump later saying he was just being sarcastic. a preview, perhaps, in a nutshell, of what promises to be a tough and likely nasty presidential campaign leading up to november 8th. our first interview this morning with the second-longest-serving member of congress, charles rangel of new york, now in the last months of a 46-year stint -- 23 terms. i talked to him during last week's democratic convention and asked him if he'd ever seen as nasty and vitriolic a primary
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>> i guess i have. i guess 1968 was rough. but, you know, i have an inner clock, bill, that doesn't allow me to compare just how bad things are for today. but i am glad now that the republican party has pulled the sheets off of the frustrated racism that exists. he's not eloquent. he's not intelligent. he's not persuasive. i'm glad that we have an opportunity to have a woman, and especially a woman like hillary clinton, to become president. and once again, our constitution is being tested. you know, we go a long back from when these rascals down here in independence hall was drafting a constitution saying, "all men
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well, yes, i imagine there have been to a lot of conventions worse than this. but i am confident that not only will we overcome, but we'll be a stronger country, and for all of the countries are looking to see how we're to get over this, we'll be proud americans once again, because today, we can talk about this, but not in front of foreigners. >> or sometimes children, as well. >> without parsing your political views of donald trump, he has tapped into an anger among the populous that has resonated. i mean, he defeated 16 other republicans and got this nomination. he is in neck-and-neck poll, according to the polls within a margin of error, with hillary clinton. they're very close. he has tapped into something
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question about that. i mean, i remember when george wallace was running, you know, out of mississippi. all of the frustrations were polite people, would not talk about racism, would not talk about they think the blacks were moving too fast. there has been a lot of that in the united states of america. there's been resentment to a black president of the united states, even though people don't like talking about it. there has be you know it, to immigrants if they didn't come from europe. and it's just been boiling and boiling. you find somebody that's willing to pull the scabs off of all of it and allows someone to say, "well, he speaks for me," well, it's not america, but it is the poison that we all have a little bit in us and it's just boiling over. it is not donald trump.
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it's the frustrations of america in not believing in themselves, not believing that the country's giving them a fair share, and going for anybody, anybody, bigoted or not, that's willing to express the anger that they feel. that's not america, but it is the democratic process. >> you've been in new york for so many decades, representing since 1971. you, i assume, have dealt with mr. trump before and have met him. has he ever contributed to your campaigns? >> yes, he has. you know, so many people ask the question as to what is donald trump really like. it's a funny thing, because he's a rich million or billionaire, they say, "he's a nice guy, a little eccentric." but if he was poor, he'd be just a dumb, crazy, conceited [bleep] but, you know, when you got a
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but the more i listen to him on television, the babbling about the russians interfering and crashing in to find out how we're doing in the democratic party, the building up walls, the outlawing of muslims, the talking about crippled people -- you just look at that, and not too long ago i thought it would peter sellers. but that's life. we got to live with it, and we're going to overcome. you bet your life we've been through worse than this, bill, and you know it. >> but throughout the years when you've known him and you dealt with him, his politics were not what they appear to be today. he has changed over the years. >> hold it. hold it. what politics?
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know whether he was a democrat or republican or didn't care. no one ever asked for donald trump's opinion about anything in being serious, and he made it abundantly clear he follows the dollar. he makes the deal. he wants to make money. and so if you talk about his politics, believe me, i'll have to pause and say, "what politics?" >> we're gonna move on, congressman, to your party and your candidate. you' sort of high off this week's convention. likely the polls will show something of a bump for hillary clinton like they showed for donald trump the week before. have you, you know, assuaged all the sanders supporters who, some of them have still said -- susan sarandon one of them this past week -- said she's not sure she's gonna vote for hillary clinton. is there that sanders support system, a certain percentage, that you're worried about that will not come over to hillary clinton? >> i'm not worried about any of
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to believe there was some people that would be for anybody -- trump, sanders -- because they're angry as hell and they're not going to break down their principles and vote for anyone else. the truth of the matter is, is that all i'm hoping is that america takes a deep breath, thinks about what's in their best interests -- their families, their community, and for the country -- and evaluate it without the anger and the frustrations and the predi and do the right thing. >> what do you think hillary clinton's biggest challenge is, an uphill battle against donald trump? >> her inability and unwillingness to demagogue the issues. when i was in the army and i was a kid, they said the worst guy to get in a fight with is the
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stand up and put up your fists, you've lost it, 'cause he's gonna shoot you, he's gonna cut you, he's gonna bite you, he's gonna scream, and he's gonna be biting him on the ankles. and the worst thing is that if you're somebody who doesn't care what he says, he will curse you out. he will talk about your wife. he will talk about your father assassinating presidents. he will talk about women's health conditions. he will talk about the disabled. he'll talk with disgrace among minorities and mormons and muslims. if you're up against someone like this, that's the biggest fear. he defies all sense of common sense and reason, and this is a guy that a whole lot of republicans just didn't want to touch. they thought this nightmare was going to go away. well, he's getting worse and worse.
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the democratic party, and it looks like it's a gift that keeps on giving. >> well, we'll see how that turns out. i would be remiss, congressman rangel, if i didn't talk about this -- your last few months in office. the first time since 1970 you haven't been on a ballot. charlie -- if i can call you charlie, because so many of your constituents do and all of new york does -- how do you feel? your last political convention as elected official. i -- when i started talking about making a transition, the wife and i just put on the list things that we want to do together, things for the grandchildren, things we're going to go for children and college, raising funds, things, places that we were going to travel. the list got so big and is so long, i don't know whether i'm gonna have time to do all of these things, but i'm looking
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transition. i was in the army for four years, the united states attorney's office, the state legislature for four years, the congress for 46 years. my wife said, "you never thought about getting a real job, did you?" >> [ laughs ] congressman charlie rangel. when we come back, the republican view of the presidential race, ed cox, the chairman of the republican party
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? ?
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when we became teachers, the state made a commitment to us. i knew that i wasn't going to make a fortune. but i would have a secure pension plan when i retired. each and every one of us made that contribution from every paycheck we ever earned. they've been negligent in their responsibility over the years of not funding this pension the way it should have been funded. they have made a promise, they've made a commitment, and they need to stick to it. >> the two former republican presidents that are living, two of the three living republican presidential nominees, all them skipping the republican convention. ted cruz refusing to endorse donald trump. however, the republican party of the bushes and romney and mccain
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"this is not your father's republican party. this is now the party of trump." the polls taken right after the gop convention showed that trump indeed got a bounce. joining us this morning, ed cox, chairman of the new york republican party, who was at the convention as kind of the bird's-eye seat. you were right there in the delegation. >> we right there up in front. we're the home state of donald trump, plus we're the state that our decisive primary, for the first time new york had a decisive primary, we made him the presumptive nominee. he got 61 of our 62 counties. works. >> where he lives and works. but we're also the elite of the country. what he said what -- the party is different. this is the party of the working men and women of america, and he understands them, he's talking to them, and that's why it's a different party. it's no longer the party of the elite of the people here in manhattan. >> and is that a different approach to politics than, let's say, when your father-in-law, richard nixon, was president. the republican party was the
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>> not richard nixon's party. richard nixon's party was one of the working and -- his speech in '68 went right to them. that was -- you know, when he left office -- when he left office, he did not take a penny for any of the speeches he gave 'cause he wanted people to listen to him. >> not true of the republican presidents that followed him. >> mrs. clinton, in the last four years, she's made $26 million. now, what kind of job did she have to earn $26 million? she's profiting off being first lady. sort of -- >> and a potential candidate for president. >> hasn't this been a sort of flip-flop of what the party's used to be? >> the republican party has some flip-flop. we are now the majority party in the country. we have more legislative state houses than we ever had before. we have more houses, state houses than we've ever had before. we have more governorships. we have a huge majority in the house of representatives. two years ago, we just got a majority in the u.s. senate. we're gonna win the presidency. >> there are a lot of republicans, moderate
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the past," mr. trump would say, who worry that donald trump at the head of the ticket will affect everything flowing down -- the congressional seats, senate seats, and even house seats in states. >> those are the elites that are worried about that. the most significant speech wasn't mrs. clinton's acceptance speech. it was president obama's, and he said, "i don't know that america that was described by donald trump," i think. no, he doesn't. his america is the america of the harvard law school faculty lounge. lounge. they don't understand the working men and people of this country. donald trump does. he's speaking to them. that's why he won the republican primary. that's why he won new york state overwhelmingly in the primary. and we have a very diverse republican party here. >> odd at all to you that a billionaire is, you know, selling himself as a populous and man of the working people? >> no, look -- he's the guy from queens, a self-made politician. as a businessman, yes, he had a head start because of his father in the real-estate business.
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works. but he is a self-made politician from scratch. he realized the talent he had there, and he is with the working men and women of this country. >> with 13 1/2 months experience. you were one of the ones who were skeptical of donald trump. you didn't endorse him at first. it took you a while to come on board, but you are on board. >> i couldn't endorse him because we, a year ago -- more than a year ago -- the state committee agreed no endorsements of donald trump. you didn't see in our buffalo state convention the tr lot there -- who wanted him, but they didn't put in a resolution, because we all agreed no endorse-- we won a decisive primary. no one can accuse us of having rigged our primary by a pre-endorsement like happened with debbie wasserman schultz and mrs. clinton. no, this was fair and square. all three remaining candidates could compete here, and donald trump won overwhelmingly. >> did it surprise you at all? you know, you're a moderate guy who's calm most of the time. did it surprise you at some of the vitriol, you know, the "lock
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saying mrs. clinton should be in a firing squad? >> you got let the convention have some fun. and that's what -- that's what that is. and, frankly, if you take a look at it under -- if she had been regular citizen, she would have been indicted like that. >> well, that's not what james comey said. >> no, he said -- he -- he -- "she could not be convicted." but there's certainly probable cause to go to a grand jury to indict her as they did with petraeus and with deutch, the head of the cia. but under the circumstances, he was gonna put it, rather than easily done with the proof that he had, i mean, she was clearly grossly negligent. she clearly stood on no statute. but he -- 'cause she's the nominee of the party, et cetera, et cetra, the presumptive nominee. instead, he laid out all of her lies, one by one by one, and put it in the political arena and said, "i'm gonna let the political arena decide this one." >> do you worry, ed, that we have gotten -- >> which is the wrong way to do it. that's disrespect for the law, and the director of fbi should not have done that. >> and you're not the first
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discussion of the issues? >> when you are the opposition, what do you do? you attack the record of those in power. we're the opposition party. with respect to the presidency, you have to attack. you to point out their problems. you have to point out that mrs. clinton has no substantive accomplishments to her name. i can name a few, hillarycare, which is such a big mistake, done so wrong when she was sitting in the west wing as co-president -- you know, two for the price of one, remember that? and that lost her pa houses of congress in 1994, right up to the restart, that silly red button with russia. terrible mistake. she doesn't have what it takes to be president of the united states. >> there's not a part of you that yearns for the kind of politics, some of them, that you had when you were growing up, more discussion than -- than, you know, vitriol and argument? >> look, when you are the opposition party, you have to point out the problems of the party in power, and they are huge. >> okay. >> i mean, look at the problems abroad. the mideast is a mess, because
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out of iraq, created a vacuum which isis, a sunni group, just thrive. thrive. the red line in syria, what did they do? they didn't follow the red line. no no-fly zone. huge immigration to europe, disrupted europe, brexit. all you can put that at the doorstep of president obama and mrs. clinton. >> clinton says she wanted a no-fly zone over syria. she pushed for it. >> sure. sure. >> she didn't get it. >> but she didn't get it. you know what you do? you do what cy vance did. you know what he did under carter something against his advice? he resigned. she could have resigned at that point and said, "i disagree." that's what she should have done if she really cared about it, but she didn't, because she is more interested in power, her power, being the next president of the united states. so she didn't push the point the way she should have with obama, if it is true. but bill safire, who you will remember... >> mm-hmm. the late william safire. >> ...called her a congenital liar. >> should be an interesting campaign till november 8th. ed cox, thank you very much. we'll see you soon, i'm sure. >> my pleasure.
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discussion continues with our political analyst, hank sheinkopf. stay with us. after the financial crisis in 2008, several people i know had to leave the neighborhood because they could no longer afford, you know, to live in the neighborhood. se, make that payment every month is a blessing. home sharing, a blessing. home sharing is good for our community. home sharing is good for our neighbors and ourselves and we definitely want to continue that.
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middle class is up against it; this is one way for us to equalize to get a little bit back.
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>> welcome back to "upclose." only twice before in u.s. history have new yorkers run against each for the presidency, republican versus democrat. first time 1904 -- teddy roosevelt against the chief judge of new york, alton parker. what, you've never heard of the guy? and then in 1944, franklin roosevelt against governor thomas dewey. now it is donald trump versus hillary clinton. a little more than three months till the november election -- can be an eternity in politics, sometimes. what could happen between now and then?
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political analyst hank sheinkopf joins us. it can be an eternity, right, the three months? >> look, three days is an eternity. 20-seconds in politics is really an eternity. how long does it take to put a newscast on the television or one night to a politician? seconds. your life can change. >> and the 24-hour news cycle now is, you know, three minutes, really. >> 24-hour news cycle makes it even more difficult and more harsh. >> one day, trump is saying, urging the russians to spy on hillary clinton, the next day he says, "i was being sarcastic." it can all change in a second. but, you know, donald trump -- he dominated the news during the entire democratic convention, despite the president, despite bill clinton, despite hillary. he was in the news every day. >> not unintentional. >> well, not on -- he stepped -- you know, it's called stepping on someone, which he did. he stepped on the democrats very well, and he keeps dominating the news, which is most extraordinary. >> so, let's parse each of the conventions. how do you think the democrats did? >> the democrats did what they were supposed to, which was they made it easy for hillary clinton to talk about how she had a future viewpoint. she was not perspective, she
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handle the job. the pres-- [ clears throat ] president obama said, "look, she was there with me when we decided to kill -- "to bring justice," he used it, to osama bin laden. pretty significant. that gives her the national security experience. the economic argument was a very serious one -- he drew her into that. she was able to follow up. the two ways she was confronting americans, we've said on this program many, many times -- personal insecurity and economic insecurity. those were good moves at the democrat convention to make those real issues for democrats. >> the party heavyweights came out and did a fairly good job, i would say, making the case whether she could carry it forward. that remains to be seen. >> well, that will be decided in november. >> exactly, and anything can happen between now and then. the bernie sanders situation seems to be over. what percentage of the sanders supporters, still though, are not on board? >> i'm sure that the proportion is probably significant, but they are not likely to come out and vote. i mean, let's be real -- these people are not voting for donald trump. i mean, if they're left wing and
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odious to them, they're not -- and they may not just not come out again. again, we talked about it here. a social movement that reached no conclusion continues without the leader. >> michael bloomberg's speech may be the most important of the convention for the hillary clinton campaign. >> michael bloomberg was brilliant, and he was well-paced. he understood the issues. he made it cogent and clear. he's someone that people respect generally. he had an extraordinary life. and he's a former mayor of the city of new york, and he's an independent. so for someone with that kind of he's self-made. someone with that kind of stature to say those things in that way is very, very important. >> let's parse the republican convention the week before. how did -- did they do what -- did trump do what he wanted to do? >> well, the truth is, every lunatic they had came out early, so we never have to see those people again. that was a good strategic move. every crazy person on anything crazy to say, you saw them, you're never gonna see them again, and it closed up with the good-looking trump family. a brilliant speech by donald trump. whether you like it or not, it was well-done, well-rehearsed, well-pointed, and talked to
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stay with him. and probably got some more, as well. >> that's the key, really. 'cause these conventions really don't change the true believers for each party, right? it's the ones that are undecided, and that's not a huge number this year. >> well, what he did was he made sure that he gathered those who are with him with him, and probably, like i said, picked up some more on the very same similar arguments that which richard nixon used, frankly, in 1968. >> were you surprised by the vitriol at that convention? >> um, the vitriol in american politics generally is unsurprising because both parties have gone this direction. frankly, is to do a center-right tap dance. he's got, you know, the gay issues, making the gays part of the discussion. very important -- isolates the religious right, moves the party more to the center. if you look at american voting history, people tend to vote in the center. and even candidates who come from very conservative positions who are successful have centrist arguments. >> and yet, governor pence, you know, his state became the leader of, you know, saying it's okay for businesses not to serve
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arguably an anti-gay platform. >> when they attack donald trump, and not to say, "well, i don't happen to agree," he can get away with it. he set this up so that everything fits into jigsaw puzzle pieces that he can manipulate around. >> interesting. as always, hank, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> two weeks and two conventions -- both were filled with emotion, as we've seen and heard. you probably felt it, too, although probably more for one than the other. and by that, i mean, people are, these days, predisposed to these political choices. more so these days, actually, than any other time. we are negativity as a society, sometimes even vitriol and hate. we saw some of that, too. and those who are going to vote for the first time, know that it wasn't always like this. hopefully, it will pivot back. and that'll do it for this edition of "upclose." "tiempo" with joe torres is next. if you happened to miss any of today's program, don't worry. you can catch it again on our website abc7ny.com. thank you all for watching. i'm bill ritter, and for all of us at channel 7, enjoy the rest
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?? >> buenos d?as y bienvenidos. good morning. welcome once again to "tiempo." i'm joe torres. new york's new secretary of state is a latina. and before her new job, she newspaper in new york city. she'll be here to tell us about her new role, and about her new program designed to help thousands of low-income new yorkers become u.s. citizens. that's coming up a little later on in the show. right now, though, a very important topic here on "tiempo." we talk about it often. education. we are a month away from the start of the new school year. where did the summer go, right? it's been three years since governor christie passed a bill that made undocumented students eligible for in-state tuition at

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