>> i'm monica malpass. on "inside story," trump tries to win minorities in pennsylvania. clinton is dodging new e-mails. let's get the inside story. ♪ good morning, and welcome to "inside story." i'm monica malpass. let's meet our insiders this week. and they are george burrell, who is a nonprofit executive. good morning, george. >> good morning, monica. >> val digiorgio, gop state official. good morning again, val. >> good morning. >> jim eisenhower, attorney. >> good morning, monica. >> and christine flowers, journalist and attorney. >> hey, monica. >> good morning. welcome to all of you. turns out pennsylvania could be the linchpin in the presidential election, obviously. and now, we had the battle last week of the vice-presidential nominees, tim kaine and mike pence both visiting the keystone state. now they're trying to get, of course, the main characters into our state, as well. and donald trump says it's all about urban votes. he's trying to go for the minority vote and says to them -- his quote last week was, "what do you have to lose?" that he's going to make jobs and

educational opportunities better. do you think it's too little, too late for him to try that tactic, george? >> well, look, i think the tactic is okay, but i think that it's not going to bear much fruit. i mean, i don't think donald trump has any real potential to penetrate the african-american community. if you look at the trump organization, there are no african-americans. you don't see any african-americans visible in his campaign. you don't see any of them in all of these great speeches that he's made. he has -- the decorations behind him have not shown private sector or insiders to donald trump. when you look at hillary clinton, cheryl mills has always been there. you look at al gore, donna brazile was always there. you look at bill clinton, vernon jordan was always there. there's a history in the democratic party for that support. donald trump ha-- >> so, the focus groups that he's now putting together and meeting with different heads of leadership, that's not going to do it? >> i mean, you know, nobody in their right mind, not even val, thinks that donald trump's getting 95% of the african-american vote in america, and he'll be lucky to break single digits with african-american voters. i mean, right now he's polling

at 1%, 2% at best in some places. so, i mean, i don't know. and it's a difficult message for him to sustain over time because it's not a republican message. >> and so the polls do show hillary clinton, in pennsylvania anyway, 10 points up. can she sustain that? do you think she's got her own challenges with these new e-mails coming out? >> we'll see. a gallup poll came out this week that shows that she's got -- her trustworthiness -- untrustworthiness number's gone up again. she's in the high 60s. she's in the, you know, high 20s with democrat voters. she's got her problems, but getting back to the african-american outreach, it is -- as newt gingrich pointed out this week, it is a valid message. you know, you look at cities like philadelphia and detroit and milwaukee, and you go on and on, where democratic rule has been for generations now, and say, "what has the democratic party done for you?" i grew up in south philly, and it's not just a black issue, it's a white issue, too, where every year crime got worse, the schools got worse, the work ethic got worse, and we kept electing the same folks over and over into office.

a lot of them went to jail. we're seeing that again -- democratic corruption happening all throughout philadelphia. so, it's a legitimate issue to bring up by the republican party. give us a chance. we've got charter schools. we've got an opportunity message. we've got things like, you know, opportunity zones and lowering taxes. >> but, val, don't you think that the message from trump is flawed? because when he announced this this week, he basically said, "all african-americans are poor, destitute criminals in -- >> that is not what he said. >> that's not true. >> that is not what he said. >> i have the quote. it says, "you're living in poverty. your schools are no good. you have no jobs. 58% of your youth are unemployed." >> it's offensive. >> "what do you have to lose?" that's the quote. >> and that's my point. >> the "you" is offensive to us. >> yes, the "you" because it's too inclusive. >> the "you" is offensive to the african-american community. >> right. >> the language he uses is offensive to the african-american community, and whether he intended or not, the way he articulated it, it seemed to most african-americans i've talked to, he's talking about everybody. >> can i also say something, monica? >> and he also says that he'll be elected and, in four years, would get 95% of the vote even then, because he would've delivered so much to a particular group.

so, he's already projecting a re-election of presidency. >> i hate to pile on my conservative brother, because, you know, but this year is a sui generis year, and what jim was saying is absolutely right. first of all, the message is skewed, but that message also of caring for the african-american community, coming from that mouth, after that history that donald trump has had, it rings hollow. and i will say something else. i was watching his speech in i think it was wisconsin. it was an audience. it was almost like he wasn't speaking to the african-american community. he was speaking to those independents who might be a little bit on the fence, the suburbanites here in philadelphia who were saying, "well, i don't like what he's been saying before." it wasn't a message that was directed toward the african-american community, at least for me. and the thing that upset me as an immigration lawyer, as well, was that it seemed as if he was pitting brown people against black people. he was making it seem as if the african-american community was

suffering because of "illegal immigration," when the correlation between the economic downturn and the unemployment rate in the african-american community is not direct and has very little to do with the issue of illegal immigration. >> well, let's talk about immigration and how his message anyway is being softened, perhaps, or being redirected. he does have new people at the top who are advising him. is he trying to make a left turn here and soften up the immigrants? he's not going to build the wall, perhaps. >> i don't know, monica. you know, when we went to air, what i saw was that he was -- after he'd said he was going to soften it, the very next day, he was saying, "no, we're deporting 11 million people." i think he's confused. i don't think there is a policy. i think it's whatever comes to his mind. one thing i learned way back when i was a candidate -- i know george was also a candidate -- you know, you don't necessarily speak to the crowd right in front of you, because you're speaking, if you're on tv, to a much larger audience. and if you're always reacting to that crowd right there, you're gonna be inconsistent, because

they're going to applaud for something and boo for something. and that's not -- you know, you've got to be consistent with what you actually believe, and i don't know what this guy believes. >> but immigration evidence is what donald trump's problem is in this election. he said, "i'm not a traditional politician." and now he's behaving like a traditional politician, and his position on immigration seems to follow whoever's in leadership in his organization, and that leadership has changed three times in the last three months. you know, no executive leadership can be consistent and stable with the kind of changes that he's had. and his policy has seemed to reflect whoever's in charge at the moment, and it will change again next week, because, right now, what donald trump is trying to do is win an election. and it's not about principle. it's not about values. it's not about honesty. it's about winning an election. and he's being driven by... that goal. >> and the question is, with these polls showing him behind at this moment in pennsylvania, it appears, anyway, that there may be a trickle down to other races like the senate race -- pat toomey and katie mcginty.

four out of five polls show pat toomey behind. what do you think he's going to have to do? they're both courting the gun lobby, and both of them are trying to get gun advocates and gun-related proposals passed. and they've had endorsements from different groups who have different ideas, but what's going to happen on the toomey front? >> well, i was with pat this week and his folks. we had a fundraiser for him in chester county, went very well. he -- look, $11 million in negative ads against pat toomey by left-wing groups since june 30th. that's why his numbers are down. i can also tell you i've been privy to polling for state reps, congressmen, and state senators throughout the region, and we're seeing, at this point, no trickle-down effect to the lower level, the down ticket. tom killion, for instance, who's very well liked and running for re-election for state senate in delaware county, he's doing very well, even though trump is not doing well at all in that district. so, same thing with a guy named jack london, who's running against andy dinniman. he's up. so, we're not seeing that yet. that could possible happen later in the campaign. we also think donald trump's at a floor at this point and will come up a little bit, and that will help the down ticket.

>> back to toomey, i think that if you have -- there are a lot of republicans who are disappointed in toomey's moderation on the gun issue, and it's almost like all or nothing -- "if he doesn't -- if he's not with us, we're against him." recently, when mike pence came to the philadelphia area and gave a shout-out to toomey, there was someone in the audience who said, "he's a traitor, he's a traitor." that's typical of a certain mind-set that, "if you don't -- if you're not completely, 100% down the line, a-plus with the nra, we're against you." and that is so self-defeating. pat toomey has been a fabulous representative for the commonwealth of pennsylvania, and he is a bipartisan representative. and if you have gabby gifford's and mike bloomberg's pack supporting him -- >> look, i think that gabby gifford's "group" endorsement of toomey was significant. >> right. >> i do think that. >> she's a democrat. he's a republican, of course. >> having said that, just about all the other groups in favor of gun control have endorsed katie mcginty. and while i applaud what toomey did for whatever it was -- four or five years ago, he

proposed some legislation. >> after the sandy hook incident. >> he did absolutely, really, virtually nothing to get it passed. it did not pass. it is not the law, and he's done nothing since. so, i think voters won't -- you know, don't fall for those kinds of things. i don't know about endorsements and how much weight they really carry. i think ads that i've seen from the mcginty campaign running in the southeast, right here in philadelphia in the suburbs, catching pat toomey, who didn't think he was being recorded, saying, "i got 100% with the nra. i'm 100% with them." i think that's a very damaging... >> but she's also going after women. >> ...commercial in this district -- in this region. >> the thing that gets me as a woman, and you're right on that point, but her ads are -- it's almost as if, "if you're a woman, you have to vote for me, because he's gonna ban all abortions." and it's just -- it's so dismissive of women who happen to be conservative, who may be pro-life. it's almost this idea that they're taking us for granted and that we're gonna fall in line like lemmings behind a woman who has, really, a very

thin résumé when it comes to this. and one last thing -- yes, i mean, he wasn't consistently banging the drum for gun control or bipartisanship, but it took a lot of courage for him to come out after sandy hook and do what he did and work with manchin. it doesn't take a lot of courage for katie mcginty in this area, in the commonwealth of pennsylvania, in these two metropolitan areas, to talk about gun control. that doesn't take courage. >> but the interesting thing, i thought, tactically, take a page out of the arlen specter book. tape your opponent -- you all remember incidents of this -- when they don't think they're being taped and run it as a commercial. it's very, very damaging. >> go ahead, george. >> but, you know, we are -- it doesn't take courage. what takes courage is to go after the issue. it's not to go after something on the fringe. what he supported was on the fringe. it doesn't get at guns. it doesn't get them off the street. >> background checks? that's not a fringe. >> it doesn't really get them off the street. and toomey doesn't have a commitment to the issue of guns to the extent that what it's doing in inner-city communities. i haven't seen him in inner-city communities.

i haven't seen him in philadelphia. i don't know what he's done in pitts-- but i haven't seen in north philadelphia or in germantown or in the places where guns are wreaking havoc in inner-city communities. >> but he does have the daughter of the principal who died in sandy hook protecting her students in a commercial on our air, saying he, you know, is trying to get guns off the streets and, "it cost my mom her life." >> he is a candidate for the united states senate, and he is going to get every endorsement that he possibly can get. i'm interested in outcomes. i'm not interest-- i'm beyond the point of interested in symbolic behaviors. to me, pat toomey's position on this issue, with respect to gun control, is symbolic. it's not producing outcomes that are going to change lives. >> and let's move on and talk about a new twist in the investigation into local 98 and john dougherty, the head of that union. apparently, from the affidavit file and some of the other court documents, there is question about alleged embezzlement of union funds and possibly using fear of retribution against contractors, and that, perhaps, is the impetus behind the case. we don't know the full story

yet, but that's at least what the indications would say. the fbi's own agent joseph ralston was also caught, perhaps, in the crosshairs, a 10-year veteran agent who has ties to bobby henon, one of the council people who was also investigated. all of these were childhood friends and neighbors, and all of them have regular places -- >> i think you mean the attorney general agent. >> yes. >> i don't believe it was an fbi agent. >> okay. excuse me. so, anyway, all three of them childhood neighbors and now in positions of prominence. what is going to happen in this case, jim? >> well, you know, first of all, i think it's pretty clear that the focus is on john dougherty and the union and how it's been run over the last number of years. i happen to know both the attorneys in the case. i worked with them for years. let me just say this -- they are pros. [ laughs ] they are thorough. they will run down every single lead, and they're going to be relentless in this investigation. i think it's probably the biggest case in this district right now. >> and do you think that just the scent of it, definitely not any accusations against our current mayor, but because he's

another childhood friend and another person who many people believe john dougherty and local 98 was able to help get elected, a kingmaker, if you will, is he going to be hurt in any way just by knowing them and being in association with them? >> that remains to be seen. i think folks on our side of the aisle are going to make that argument. it's part of a broader problem in philadelphia and in democratic politics throughout the state, from the attorney general now, who's going to jail, a treasurer in mccord, and then four state reps accused and convicted of bribery or taking pleas on bribery charges, and now this. and again, it goes to the narrative that people in inner cities have to at some point acknowledge. you keep voting for the same people, you get the same results -- high crime, high poverty, high illegitimacy, high illiteracy, and a lot of these folks are going to jail. >> but let's just be clear, john dougherty's not being convicted of anything. >> no, john's not. >> nor is bob henon. >> he's innocent until proven guilty, and i agree with that. he's already beat this type of thing once. >> in all those counties -- >> i'm not bringing it to john, but still, there's the narrative here -- it's a corruption that's

been going on in philadelphia democratic politics now for two generations. and when are people going to wake up and say, "we want different type of leadership"? >> all right, george. >> i think we can go back and look and see that there's been as many republicans convicted of corruption over this period of time that have been -- >> i don't think you can, george. >> well, i think you can, but we don't want to start -- i don't want to start naming the names of people who've already served their time and done their thing. and secondly, poverty is growing in the suburbs faster than it's growing in the city of philadelphia, communities represented by republicans, not represented by democrats. these issues -- >> not chester county. >> poverty is growing faster in the suburbs than it's growing in the city of philadelphia, and part of that's in chester county. and so, unfortunately, you know, having been in government, i've been in the crosshairs of these investigations, and the unfortunate part about it is that the smart thing for all of them to do, and these people who do more litigation than i do, is to get yourself a good lawyer and be quiet. i mean, there is nothing -- you can't -- >> and they've all, of course, said they're not guilty. >> right. >> dougherty says it's because they've had three supreme court justices elected and a mayor,

and he feels like, you know, the focus is now on this success rate. >> monica, above and beyond, you know, you're both -- you both have good points, but above and beyond the politics of it, why should -- you know, george, you might have an answer to this. why should city council members be able to have side jobs? why shouldn't it be enough that they're city council members? why should bobby henon be able to have a connection with the electricians? why is this happening? and, to me -- and no one's been convicted of anything. due process, innocent until proven guilty, but, again, the optics are really, really bad here, and it's not just democrats. >> all right. >> it's republicans, as well. >> last comment before we take a break. >> if you want to take that on, you have to take it on as a state issue. state representatives can have side jobs. state senators can have -- >> right. but why? >> that's a bigger issue than right here, but it's not just philadelphia city council members. >> all right. we'll have to leave it at that. we're gonna take a break. "inside story" continues right after this. >> "inside story" is presented by temple university. remarkable change isn't easy,

but for those who take charge, it comes naturally. explore temple's impact. visit temple.edu/impact. for senate, katie mcginty or pat toomey? mcginty supports clean energy jobs. pat toomey voted to protect tax breaks for oil companies. mcginty is pro-choice. toomey wants to overturn roe v. wade and criminalize abortion. mcginty will consistently stand up to the gun lobby. toomey's against an assault weapons ban

and gets an a rating from the nra. this year, pennsylvanians have a clear choice. senate majority pac is responsible for the content of this advertising. fios is not cable. we're wired differently, which means we can fix things differently. thanks for calling fios. this is ryan. you can't tell me this cord isn't in. i know it's in. it's in, but it's not working. i'm sending you a link to the my fios app that going to let me see what you're seeing. really? yes, mr. mcenroe... see that cord? just plug it into the connector on the right. so you can clearly see what's in and what's out?

oh absolutely. i like that. tech support that lets your technician see the problem over your smartphone. only from fios. ♪ >> welcome back to "inside story." let's talk about the expanding probe into the finances of philadelphia district attorney seth williams. first, they found $160,000 in undeclared gifts, which he did apologize for. now, apparently, they're looking into his nonprofit,

called the second chance foundation. jim, what do you think is going to be the outcome here? is there illegality, or is it just the appearance of illegality possibly? nothing has been stated yet. >> he's not, again, been convicted of anything, but just looking at what he's declared -- he's voluntarily declared -- to me as an attorney, former prosecutor, is outrageous. i mean, to take that large amount -- i've had clients that accepted a vacation or something, but $160,000 worth of gifts -- a house, a roof on your house, excuse me -- and from lawyers and possibly a judge that the d.a.'s office appears in front or against a defense attorney. i just think, just on the face of it, whether it's illegal or not, it's just outrageous. >> and there could be more that we don't know about. these are the ones that have been declared in the past. >> i'm hopeful that what he has to report in the future will reflect a changed attitude and a changed behavior, and i think he also -- i think one of the things that caught my attention was the fact that there does seem to be a significant amount of money still in the foundation that hasn't been distributed.

if i were him, i would start distributing the money from the foundation. >> all right, let's talk over the river. governor chris christie in new jersey vetoed two gun measures. one of them would have had smart gun technology to prevent children from being able to make a gun fire. what's the logic here? what do you make of what he's doing with gun technology? is it setting him up, in other words, for the election in 2020, to court the nra on these things? >> it very well might be because he is definitely -- he has moved to the right since he was originally elected to the governorship. and i think -- i mean, you can tell that he's moved to the right because the nra is very happy with these measures and they're talking about this being a blow for freedom and for gun ownership. but, essentially, what the law, what the proposal would've done was to make it more difficult for someone to be able to get a concealed carry license. it didn't prevent them from getting the license. it simply showed -- they needed to show that there was a need --

a peculiar need -- for them to carry that, and a threat. >> and that's hard to show in many cases. >> almost impossible to show. >> yeah, but, i mean, they made it seem as if they were trying to make it impossible for someone to have a gun, and it really wasn't an impossibility. see, this is the problem that we have when we're dealing with the second amendment, because you look at people who say, "well, we're okay with reasonable restrictions on gun ownership," but then when you come out with what is, essentially, a reasonable restriction on gun ownership, people say, "oh, that's violating my second amendment rights." it's very, very difficult even for conservatives. >> let me read the standard to be able to carry a gun. so, if you own a store and you carry a large amount of cash or a jewelry store and you need a gun for protection, you can't get one unless you show "there's an urgent necessity for self-protection as evidenced by specific threats or previous attacks which demonstrate a special danger to the applicant's life that cannot be avoided by means other than by issuance of a permit to carry a gun." >> so, you have to have already been threatened bodily harm,

almost, in order to qualify. >> and then you have to show that there's no other way to protect yourself. could you have taken another route home? could you hire a bodyguard? >> pfas are like that, too, in domestic-abuse situations, val. i mean, you have to show -- >> but that doesn't make it right, just because it's so difficult on both fronts. >> it doesn't, but why should it be different in the gun -- >> because you have a second amendment right to carry a gun and protect yourself. >> and you have a constitutional right to be protected from -- >> the number of stories that we get in america nationally by people who protected themselves by having a gun are miniscule. they don't prevent crime because the guy who has the gun committing the crime has his gun out. and you're putting your life at risk to reach under a counter, do anything else. it's such a preposterous discussion. we're gonna go back to the wild west where everybody had a gun, and that makes sense. >> to me, the interesting thing with this on christie is, what's the political rationale behind this. he has no political future in new jersey. i don't live there, but it doesn't seem like he does. is he thinking, "if maybe trump gets elected and if i take these hard-line positions, i can be in the cabinet"? or is he more likely thinking --

and, val, you would know better -- what a lot of republicans are thinking, "this is gonna be a debacle. he's gonna lose big and the party's gonna collapse, and it's gonna be rebuilt, and it's gonna be wide open in four years, and i need to appease the right wing of the party and make them happy so i can have that as an option"? >> val gets the last word. >> that's very possibly a political calculation on his part. i don't know what's in his mind on this -- what he's really thinking. it's clearly not a political issue in new jersey, so i would agree with jim. it looks to be a national calculation. >> and we'll do one quick comment because schools are about to start. we just had a new report that in the philadelphia school district, charter schools had spent double what regular schools were able to spend. anybody outraged by that? do you think that's the right direction, or would you say because some of them are having success, that whatever it takes, that's what they should do? what do you think, val? >> well, accountability's always a good thing, to the extent that the governor's trying to have accountability in public schools. that's a good thing. i worry that this is just another level of bureaucracy aimed to actually harass charter schools, which the governor is not a fan of charter schools. if we want to have accountability for administrative costs, let's have

it across the board for school districts and charter schools. there's a lot of administrative waste in the philadelphia school district. we all know that. how come now one's looking at that? so, let's have a level playing field. >> all right. we'll have inside stories for you coming up right after our break. stay with us. ♪ i'm hillary clinton and i approve this message. there's a race going on right now. the world's clean energy super power's either going to be germany, china, or us. and i'm going to make sure it's us. from 500 million solar panels installed by the end of my first term, to precision manufacturing. we'll beat the competition and create new high wage jobs. we can do this, millions of jobs right here in america.

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>> "inside story" is presented by temple university. remarkable change isn't easy, but for those who take charge, it comes naturally. explore temple's impact. visit temple.edu/impact. >> time for inside stories, and let's start with val. >> thank you. well, you know, i'm always happy to brag about my home county. in chester county this week, we were recognized for our women in leadership in political positions. we have half our row officers, including our county commissioner, republican side, and democrat county commissioner, as well, kathi cozzone and michelle kichline. in the row offices, half our row officers are women, and five of our judges out of the 14 are women. and we're looking at -- and, of course, our state representative, becky corbin. we're looking to double down on that in the years to come and

get more women and more diversity in chester county elected officials. >> all right. george. >> donald trump asked, what have democrats done for african-americans. we've elected united states senators, governors, legislators, mayors, leadership in local cities, passed civil-rights legislation, passed voting-rights legislation, reversed the discrimination laws in housing, and created opportunities for people like me who would've never had them if it had not been for the issues that democrats have fought for in america. are there issues that continue to be -- that need to be continued to be confronted? yes, but they are issues that require additional resources to respond to. >> all right. christine. >> monica, my grandparents were from italy, and many grandparents in this region were from italy. um, that's why it's particularly poignant for us in the philadelphia area to see the earthquake and its impact on central italy. in amatrice, that town was completely destroyed. and so if you want to help contribute, you can go to cri.it or amado -- a-m-a-d-o -- .com to donate, and you can also have a

plate of pasta amatriciana. >> okay. jim. >> monica, my inside story is really about john timoney. he passed away recently. i knew him very well personally, worked closely with him, and i want to echo the comments at st. pat's cathedral this week for his funeral mass by his daughter. he really was one of the greatest men i ever knew. >> former police chief of philadelphia. >> yes. >> thank you all for your insight, and our condolences to his family. and thank you so much for watching. have a great week ahead. we'll see you right back here next sunday morning. ♪ >> i'm gray hall, coming up next on "action news," philadelphia police are investigating an indecent assault. loved one play tribute to a little girl caught in the crossfire of camden. we're learning more about a motor cyclist who was shot near a steak shop in northeast

philadelphia. hello! it's our new intern, bart's first week here at td bank, he's a robot from one of those other banks. we're training him to bank human. i am banking assistance & registration technology. wait, wait, wait. but you can call me, banking assistance & registration technology. hi amy.

thank you. thank you. that is not protocol manager jenna. that's ok bart, it is here. at td bank we do things differently, like having the longest hours of any bank. don't just bank. bank human. is sunday, august 28. i'm gray hall nydia han is off. here's some of the stories we're following on "action news," has a serial groper struck again? >> hillary clinton and trump