'This Week' Transcript: Donald Trump
— -- THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT FOR "THIS WEEK" ON AUGUST 16, 2015.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER (voice-over): Starting right now on ABC's THIS WEEK, all eyes on Iowa. Donald Trump bringing his front-runner campaign to the state fair, the center of the political universe.
MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Let's say Hillary doesn’t draw this kind of crowd.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Not even close.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): We are right there with him in the chopper, with the crowds.
What he's doing now to hold the lead while Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson surge in the polls. They're here live.
And Hillary's new headache: her email firestorm growing. The latest on the FBI investigation.
Plus the big buzz that Al Gore and Joe Biden could be eyeing a 2016 run.
From ABC News, a special edition of THIS WEEK with Martha Raddatz reporting live from the Iowa State Fair begins now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RADDATZ: Good morning. Organizers say 1 million people will visit the Iowa State Fair. But it's just one person who managed to steal the show this weekend. We were with billionaire and GOP front-runner Donald Trump every step of the way, Trump front and center from the start.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: You're going to love me in terms of immigration and illegal immigration. We're building a wall. It's going to be a wall that is not -- nobody's going through my wall. Trump builds walls. I build walls. I don't think I've made mistakes. I mean, every time somebody says I made a mistake, they do the polls and my numbers go up.
So I guess I haven't made any mistakes.
And you want to know what things am I going to do different for this -- almost everything because that's what has to happen. Everything we do is wrong. The military, we're not taking care of the military, not taking care of our vets. We're not taking care of our country. We're not taking care of our finances. We're not taking care of our trade deals.
When was the last time you saw this country have a victory?
We don't have victories.
RADDATZ: This morning, so many new questions about 2016, can Donald Trump keep up this momentum?
How will his opponents step out of his shadow?
We'll ask two top contenders shortly.
What does all of this mean for a race unlike anything we have seen before?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RADDATZ (voice-over): Even before his helicopter the landed Donald Trump was the star attraction at the Iowa State Fair this weekend. Forget the livestock and the fried-on-the-stick delicacies. It was Trump, Trump, Trump.
When the billionaire candidate finally descended from the sky, we joined a few lucky kids for a ride better than any roller coaster.
RADDATZ: This is pretty exciting?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
RADDATZ: You don't think this is a little much?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
RADDATZ: It's very Trump, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
TRUMP: It's me. I am who I am. It's good for the kids. The kids love it.
RADDATZ: But you know where we were four years ago here, the people at the bottom of the polls didn't eventually do so well.
TRUMP: Who was here? Who was?
RADDATZ: Well, you had Michele Bachmann and --
(CROSSTALK)
RADDATZ: -- and Rick Santorum --
TRUMP: They're not me. They're not me.
I have had a lot of fun. You know, I have never run for office before. I love what's happening.
RADDATZ (voice-over): His brashness, outspokenness, clearly the draw here.
RADDATZ: Would a President Trump be the same as Candidate Trump with foreign leaders?
Can you imagine yourself --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: I think even better. I think even better because foreign leaders, I believe I'll get a -- I've had great relationships over the years and you can see that. I have had great relationships with people over the years. I think even better.
I'm doing well, I'm leading in every poll, the little ones, the big ones. I'm leading -- so importantly to me, I'm leading in Iowa.
Make America great again. Make America great again.
RADDATZ (voice-over): While in the coming months he promises details about how he'll solve America's problems, he had few specifics this weekend.
RADDATZ: Let me ask you a serious foreign policy question, what would you do about ISIS using chemical weapons?
TRUMP: I think it's disgraceful that they're allowed. And you can't allow it to happen. And you have to go in and just wipe the hell out of them.
RADDATZ: But what do you do?
Do you send in ground troops?
TRUMP: Say that -- say that again. Go ahead.
RADDATZ (voice-over): What Trump wanted to talk about was Hillary.
RADDATZ: They're saying Hillary didn't draw this kind of crowd.
TRUMP: Not even close.
RADDATZ (voice-over): After a few pork chops I caught up with Trump again to ask about another female opponent --
RADDATZ: What do you think about Carly Fiorina?
You had some pretty tough words for her.
TRUMP: She's a very nice woman. She got fired. She did a terrible job at Hewlett-Packard. She lost in a landslide.
Other than that, she's a very nice woman.
RADDATZ (voice-over): Overshadowed by Trump's juggernaut, it was hard for other Republicans to be heard. Senator Rick Santorum, who won Iowa four years ago, decided a direct comparison was the best strategy.
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, someone with a parade, with all this Secret Service, you got someone flying around in a helicopter and you got a guy flipping burgers.
Who do you want to be -- who do you want to be your president?
Who's going to understand what you're going through in your life more? What you saw or the guy at the -- at the -- at the grill?
RADDATZ (voice-over): The Democratic candidates drew large crowds as well. Hillary Clinton found plenty of fans but didn't speak at the event's famous soapbox.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a government teacher. So this will give me great street credible.
RADDATZ (voice-over): Her challenger, Senator Bernie Sanders, did.
RADDATZ: Senator Sanders, no helicopters for you today?
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I left it at home in the garage.
RADDATZ: Do you think it's "I want Bernie Sanders" or "I don't want Hillary Clinton"?
SANDERS: No. I think people are responding to our message, there is a deep frustration, which sometimes, inside the Beltway, pundits don't see. There's a deep frustration with establishment politics and economics. They want the government to represent ordinary people, not doing (INAUDIBLE) campaign contributors.
RADDATZ (voice-over): For decades the state fair has been a must-do for presidential wannabes and it has a history of tripping them up.
Radio Iowa's O. Kay Henderson has seen it all.
O. KAY HENDERSON, RADIO IOWA: You want to be careful about the food you eat; you want to be careful about the fashion. And you want to avoid any faux pas.
RADDATZ (voice-over): In 2011, Mitt Romney's famous --
MITT ROMNEY, FORMER GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS: Corporations are people, my friends.
RADDATZ (voice-over): -- would come back to haunt him.
Today, candidates know too well the power of the fair.
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will try not to do anything that will end my presidential aspirations here today at the soapbox.
TRUMP: I love children. I love Iowa. Great place.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RADDATZ: Trump is the clear front-runner here in Iowa, but another political outsider surged into second place after the first debate. Dr. Ben Carson joins us now.
Great to see you, Dr. Carson.
DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you.
RADDATZ: You're running second to Trump in the latest poll here in Iowa. Neither of you have held elected office.
What do you bring to Iowa voters that he does not?
CARSON: Well, you know, we all have had different life experiences. My life experiences have included a lot of very, very complex situations that people have been trying to solve for a long time that we were able to solve.
And it wasn't necessarily because I was the smartest person that ever existed; it was because of being able to use the talent pool that existed around me. I think that's a very important factor.
And everybody's different. And, you know, the nice thing about this process that we have is people will have an opportunity to see what really works for them.
RADDATZ: I think you would probably say he solved some complex problems as well, but certainly not in surgery.
Let me ask you about a tweet from Donald Trump last November.
He wrote, "Sadly, because President Obama has done such a poor job as president, you won't see another black president for generations."
Your reaction to that?
CARSON: I have heard a lot of people say things like that and that would tend to indicate that, for them, the color of one's skin was more important than the content of one's character.
And I just don't believe that that's true. And, you know, as I travel around the country, north, south, east, west, red states, blue states, humongous crowds, very enthusiastic. I don't get any indication that color means that much to them. I think it's way overblown.
RADDATZ: OK, you made some controversial comments this week about Planned Parenthood, saying, "…one of the reasons you find most of their clinics in black neighborhoods is so that you can find a way to control that population."
Do you really believe that Planned Parenthood is targeting African American communities to control the population?
CARSON: Well, again, you have to go back to the beginnings of Planned Parenthood and Margaret Sanger, who was a great believer in eugenics and believed that certain people were like weeds that needed to be controlled.
RADDATZ: But we're talking today, and Planned Parenthood estimates that fewer than 5 percent of its health centers are located in areas where more than one-third of the population is African American.
CARSON: I believe we could find some data quite contrary to that. I have seen some of their maps.
RADDATZ: But you just don't believe that data? You believe this is happening today?
CARSON: Well, here's what's important. Margaret Sanger believed that certain people, including blacks, were inferior and that the way you strengthen the society is you get rid of them.
RADDATZ: I'm confused about your stance on abortion.
Do you believe there should be an exception for incest and rape?
CARSON: I believe that, once conception has been achieved, that it is a human life. And I have spent my entire career --
RADDATZ: You believe life begins at conception?
CARSON: I believe -- yes, I do believe that.
RADDATZ: And I think you said the other day that it was when the heartbeat started.
CARSON: No. What I believe is life starts at conception. I've said there are a lot of people who think that it's at the heartbeat. And I think most people can come to the conclusion that once you have a heartbeat that you clearly have a living organism.
RADDATZ: So no exceptions to rape and incest?
CARSON: What I have said is that, you know, I have spent my life trying to save life, not trying to destroy it.
RADDATZ: OK, you -- I want to move quickly to foreign policy.
CARSON: All right.
RADDATZ: You also made some comments about the fight against ISIS this week, saying you would use every resource we have available to us to take the land from them, take the oil from them.
How do you do that?
Do you send in 200,000 ground troops?
CARSON: Coalitions and enthusiasm generally tends to follow success. If you don't provide leadership, you're never going to get the people over there to join you, which is what we've been thinking, that somehow they're going to form the coalition, they're going to provide all the ground troops.
We may have to initially do some things ourselves. But I believe that we will have...
RADDATZ: What kind of things?
Ground troops or no ground troops?
CARSON: Ground...
RADDATZ: U.S. ground troops...
CARSON: -- ground troops may well be necessary.
RADDATZ: One hundred thousand?
Ten thousand?
CARSON: Well, you know, I don't pretend to be able to know the number without a lot of information. And that's one of the reasons that we have generals and people who really are able to figure out what needs to be done.
RADDATZ: OK, thanks very much, Dr. Carson, for joining us.
Have fun here today.
CARSON: Thank you.
Turning now to the only woman in the Republican field who is catching fire here in Iowa after her strong performance in the undercard debate last week. Earlier, you heard Donald Trump calling her a nice lady.
But he had some harsher words for her on Friday.
Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Carly was a little nasty to me. Be careful, Carly. Be careful. But I can't say anything to her, because she's a woman and I don't want to be accused of being tough on women. I can't do that, right?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RADDATZ: And Carly Fiorina is here with me.
What's your reaction to that?
CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Oh, honestly, you know, I find it sort of amusing. I don't spend a lot of time thinking about or focusing on what Donald Trump is saying. When his insults are below the belt to someone, then I will make a comment,
Did when President Obama called anyone who disagreed with his Iranian deal equivalent to the hardliners chanting "Death to America!."
I just think insults are not helpful to the political process. We've got a lot of serious issues here.
But most of the time, I spend my time answering voters' questions and questions from the media.
RADDATZ: Do you think Donald Trump will alienate female voters?
FIORINA: Well, you know, it's not clear to me that Donald Trump is a Republican, first of all, based upon his willingness to run a third party bid and the -- some of the positions that he's taken.
But I think it's really important, as I go out there and talk, what I hear, what I see, are both men and women who are sick of the professional political class. They're sick of the festering problems in Washington, DC. They agree that it's ridiculous that in the smartest and richest country in the world, that we can't get basic things done, like serve our veterans, secure our borders and hold government accountable for being competent.
RADDATZ: I want to turn to Hillary Clinton. You said she couldn't play the gender card in this race.
But do you believe you bring anything to this race as a woman that your male counterparts do not?
FIORINA: You know, I'm not running because I'm a woman. I'm running because I believe our nation is at a pivotal time and I think I have a unique experience that, in understanding the economy, understanding the players on the world stage, honestly, better than anyone else running, probably, understanding big bureaucracies and how to hold them accountable and understanding technology.
But the facts are, I am a woman. And the facts are that half this nation are women. Fifty-four percent of voters are women. And ultimately, I think our commander-in-chief, the president of the United States, has to represent all Americans, men and women.
I'm a conservative, not a progressive, like Hillary Clinton, because I know that our policies work better to lift women and men up, regardless of their circumstances.
RADDATZ: And I want your reaction to Hillary Clinton turning over her server, her email server and the reports of classified emails on that server.
FIORINA: Well, you know, in the debate last week, I made the statement that Hillary Clinton has lied. She's lied about Benghazi. She's lied about her server and she's lied about her emails. And there were some in the media that found that language harsh, although the majority of Americans agree with me.
And the more this story goes on, the more it becomes clear that she has lied. It's clear that this server was parked in some IT firm in New Jersey getting cleaned. Boy, that raises all kinds of issues.
And it's almost hard to believe, it strains credulity to accept that a secretary of State, who handled all of her communications on a home brewed server, never passed classified information on her device and over that server. Of course she did. And now we're finding out she did. As usual, the cover-up is worse than the crime.
RADDATZ: You also made comments last month on Fox that Hillary has blood on her hands when it comes to Benghazi.
Are you saying she was responsible -- somehow responsible for the death of those Americans?
FIORINA: What I'm saying is that the night the Benghazi attack happened, secretary of State Clinton, President Obama and others knew that this was a purposeful, pre-planned terrorist attack. Nevertheless, the next morning, she addressed the American people from the State Department and talked about a video and how it didn't represent the values of the American people.
And several days later, she stood over the bodies of the fallen and said the same.
What she should have said that morning was the truth. -- this is a purposeful terrorist attack and we will seek retribution.
Instead, she basically apologized.
And so what signal did that send?
What signal did that send to all the bad guys all over the world?
The signal it sent was, huh, open season. We can attack an embassy, murder four Americans and nothing is going to happen.
RADDATZ: What would you have done differently in Libya?
Would you have carried out air strikes?
FIORINA: Well, you know what's interesting, I find the foreign policy of Secretary of State Clinton and President Obama entirely inconsistent. At the time when bombing raids were conducted over Libya, the rationale was to prevent bloodshed and horror. You know, we had to step in to save people's lives.
That's a good rationale as far as it goes, but we've never used it again.
So we've done nothing in Syria. We really are sitting by when we could be leading a coalition of Arab allies to defeat ISIS. I disagree that we're at that point where we need to put tens of thousands of boots on the ground. What I do we do need to, for example, is provide King Abdullah of Jordan, a man I've known a long time, with the bombs and the material that he's been requesting for a year and a half instead of forcing him to go to China.
What I think we ought to be doing...
RADDATZ: But you think -- you think he could do that...
FIORINA: -- is arming the Kurds.
RADDATZ: -- without U.S. Ground troops?
FIORINA: I think the Jordanians, the Saudis, the Kuwaitis, the Kurds and the Egyptians are all fighting ISIS, as we speak, on the ground. They know this is their fight. Yes, they need leadership, resolve support and material from us. We haven't provided any of it. And if we did, it will make a big difference.
RADDATZ: Do you think you'll be on the debate stage next month?
FIORINA: Well, I certainly hope so. I think we have gathered a lot of good momentum. You know, and I prefer to call it the happy hour debate, by the way, but, you know, when I went into that debate, less than 40 percent of Republican voters had ever heard my name, because I'm not a professional politician. I'm not a celebrity.
And so as more and more people get to know who I am, our support continues to grow. I'm looking forward to being at the fair tomorrow and being on the soapbox and I'm looking forward to continuing to reach out to as many voters as possible so that they can get to know me and get to know what I will do in the Oval Office.
RADDATZ: OK, thanks so much, Ms. Fiorina.
Next, Matthew Dowd and Donna Brazile are standing by for full analysis of where this race stands. "The Donald" is dominant -- how long will that last?
They'll break it all down.
And brand new details in that Hillary Clinton email firestorm -- what she's saying now.
Plus, will Joe Biden really jump into the 2016 race?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RADDATZ: Next, the secret to Trump's success. Why some voters can't get enough of him here in Iowa.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RADDATZ: There is no escaping Donald Trump's huge draw at this fair. He is the main attraction, flying in on his helicopter, giving free rides to Iowans and his competitors fight to catch up.
But with Trump short on policy proposals and polarizing voters across the spectrum, why is he still thrilling so many here? And can he keep the momentum going all of the way to the voting booth?
Our political analyst Matt Dowd sat down with a group of fairgoers to find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOY: Whoa.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
BILLY WILSON, IOWA RESIDENT: Hello, my name is Billy Wilson. I'm from Washatown (ph), Iowa.
JAN APPLETON, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Hi, my name is Jan. I'm a lifelong Iowan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name is Mark Fleshing (ph). I'm a republican.
CIERRA MOORE, TRUMP SUPPORTER: My name is Cierra. And I'll be a senior in high school.
MATTHEW DOWD, ABC NEWS CORRESPONENT: Who are you going to vote for?
MOORE: Trump.
UNIDENTIIFIED MALE: Donald Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump.
DOWD: What is driving your vote for Donald Trump?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Number one he's not a politician.
MOORE: I think his willingness to speak out and speak his mind. I think that's very important.
APPLETON: He won't back down and that's what I think I want to see in someone that's running for president.
WILSON: I think he'll be an excellent president. And I think he'll bring jobs back.
DOWD: What would worry you in the next six, eight months?
MOORE: His words, maybe.
DOWD: So, when you say his words, you mean like so he pops off and says something?
MOORE: Yeah, I mean, he's not a politician, he's not used having to practice what to say, he speaks his mind like a lot of people do, not like a politicianwould.
DOWD: Does any of the things that have been said about him in the last few weeks cause you concern that, the name-calling, the sort of the bullying that people have said about him?
WILSON: We're so used to hearing that, it's a broken record. So, it doesn't bother me one iota.
I just don't think he's getting a fair rap on a lot of these issues that I have been seeing on television.
BLESSING: I agree with what they say. I think Megyn Kelly, I think she really treated him bad...
DOWD: Is your reaction in support of Donald Trump more of a gut reaction to the person that he is and how he comes across and less something that has to do with a specific list of issues.
MOORE: Definitely, yeah.
WILSON: It is for me as well. I don't see that political thing that we have been seeing these past many years. I just a gut feeling that I have for him.
DOWD: This is a long race. Do you think he has the capacity to go the distance?
MOORE: I believe he can. If he can fight all these people and believe in himself like he is, he can.
APPLETON: I think he can.
WILSON: He's ready.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RADDATZ: And Matt joins us now. And Matt, I saw the same thing over the weekend, what is it about Trump, why does he have such staying power?
DOWD: Well, it's fascinating. It has nothing to do with policy with the exception of immigration, which is consistent across the voters I talk to in his stand on that. It's all persona. And all of the things that we thought were a liability -- you know, his bombasty, his bravado, even the name-calling, they think it is an asset. They like somebody like that. They want somebody strong, decisive and ready to take on anybody internationally or even nationally.
And so I don't think this is going anywhere. This is long lasting. And it's a deep, emotional attachment they have. It's all gut. No head, all gut.
RADDATZ: It sure seems to be. Thanks, Matt. We'll have much more on that later.
But next, Hillary Clinton stands her ground. The latest on that FBI investigation into her home email server.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RADDATZ: Next, Benghazi committee chair Trey Gowdy and Clinton Supporter Senator Claire McCaskill are here live to take on that email controversy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
RADDATZ: Hillary Clinton enjoyed some of the famous fried food here at the Iowa State Fair yesterday. But she couldn't escape a grilling from reporters about her private e-mail server and that FBI investigation.
The Democratic front-runner is pushing back hard, arguing the controversy is just partisan politics. ABC's Jon Karl has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JONATHAN KARL, ABC NEWS CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Out in Iowa this weekend, Hillary Clinton joked about the thousands of e-mails she deleted from her time as secretary of state.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I recently launched a Snapchat account.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: I love it. I love it. Those messages disappear all by themselves.
(LAUGHTER)
KARL (voice-over): But her infamous private server is now in the hands of the FBI, which is intensifying its investigation into the handling of classified information in her e-mails. According to sources familiar with the investigation, it's already been determined that at least two of the e-mails included information that's top secret, some of it from so-called signals intelligence, among the most sensitive intelligence there is. Investigators are also trying to determine if the Chinese or Russians were able to get access to Clinton's private e-mails.
COL. STEVE GANYARD, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: Anybody that works around this level of classification knows the sensitivity. It's not something you can talk around and it's always obvious.
KARL (voice-over): But in the most intriguing new development, Platte River Networks, the Colorado company that set up Clinton's server, told ABC News it's highly likely that a full backup of the server was made, meaning those thousands of e-mails she deleted may still exist.
The company says it's cooperating with the FBI. Clinton continues to brush off questions about her e-mails as a partisan distraction.
CLINTON: I think that, you know, this is the usual partisanization -- which I may have just made up a word -- of anything that goes on. And I have been at this for a really long time.
KARL (voice-over): Republicans say it's much more than that.
JEB BUSH, FORMER GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA: She should come clean and deal with this. This is an issue. It's not a distraction, for sure.
KARL (voice-over): Hillary Clinton's troubles may be creating an opening for a Democratic challenger. Bernie Sanders is already surging and Joe Biden spent last week weighing his options as he considers running.
KARL: Hillary Clinton is now here on Martha's Vineyard, where she saw President Obama at a birthday party for a mutual friend. White House officials are watching warily as Vice President Biden makes his decision.
As one top official told me, it would be, quote, "awkward" if Biden decides to run and the president has to remain neutral in a race that pits his former secretary of state against his vice president -- Martha.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RADDATZ: Thanks, Jon.
Republican Congressman Trey Gowdy is the chairman of the Select Committee investigating the attack on the consulate in Benghazi. He joins us now.
Chairman Gowdy, give us your reaction to Hillary Clinton turning over her email server.
REP. TREY GOWDY (R-SC), CHAIRMAN, BENGHAZI COMMITTEE: It's about time. We asked her to do that in March to an independent neutral detached third party, either a retired federal judge or the inspector general. And she assured us that would never happen. But it should have happened in March for two reasons.
One is the classified information perspective or issue. And the second reason to do it is to ensure that the public record is complete.
RADDATZ: From what you have heard, do you believe Hillary Clinton broke the law?
GOWDY: Well, I would have no idea. That was my former job and I wasn’t very good at it then and I'm not going to engage in it now. I know this. It was a very unusual email arrangement she had with herself. Most of the explanation she's given for why she did it have been proven to be demonstrably false.
And her decision to handle her email in this way has delayed our ability to do our job with respect to Benghazi and it remains to be seen whether or not she's placed national security information at risk.
RADDATZ: Mr. Chairman, Secretary Clinton signed a statement over the weekend, declaring under penalty of perjury that she has turned over to the government all of the mails that were federal records.
GOWDY: Well, I read that statement. And if you read that statement, you'll know why people hate lawyers as much as they do. I don't read the statement that way and I can't read the statement that way because I know that to be false.
Remember those 15 emails that Sidney Blumenthal gave our committee that she did not turn over to the State Department, all 15 of those related to her public record.
So we know for a fact that she did not turn over all records and all documents to the State Department. So how she can represent that to a federal judge under oath is something I suspect at some point that judge will ask her.
RADDATZ: And you obviously think she's lying?
GOWDY: Well, I don't use the word "lie." I'd just tell you it's false. Whether or not she knew it was false at the time she said it, you're going to have to ask her. I can just tell you that we found 15 documents that should have been produced in the State Department that she did not produce to the State Department. But that's just one of the five explanations she's given with respect to her email arrangement that has also proven to be false.
So whether she's just terribly mistaken a lot, whether there's an intent to deceive, I'm not smart enough to be able to answer that question. I can just tell you this: she's wrong.
RADDATZ: Thanks, Chairman Gowdy.
We turn now to Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, a Clinton supporter.
Senator McCaskill, I would like your reaction to what Chairman Gowdy said.
SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D), MISSOURI: Well, Secretary of State Clinton was not the first secretary of state to use personal e-mail. But she's the only one that has turned over tens upon thousands of her e-mails and asked them to become public.
Now she's turned over her server. What this has turned into is just a good old-fashioned political witch hunt.
RADDATZ: But, Senator McCaskill, it is illegal to have classified information, especially top secret, outside a secure facility, correct?
MCCASKILL: She did not do that. When she -- that information at the time it was sent or received was not classified. So, it may have been classified later. But Secretary Clinton utilized hard copies for reviewing top-secret information.
RADDATZ: Secretary Clinton's people are very careful to say it was not marked "classified," but Jon Karl reported that at least two e-mails were top secret.
Our experts are saying, when you deal with top-secret material, you know it's top secret.
MCCASKILL: Well, I -- I would differ with that, because I know in one instance, it was discussion of a drone that all of the information had been published in a public newspaper.
So I think that there is...
RADDATZ: But...
MCCASKILL: -- really...
RADDATZ: -- but shouldn't the secretary of State know what classified material is when she reads it, whether it's marked or not?
MCCASKILL: The point is, Martha, that she has been so forthcoming. I mean the -- they have the entire server. No one, I -- that I know of has figured out what motive Hillary Clinton would have to, in any way, make our country vulnerable. So I -- I really think, if you look at this committee, if you look at all the accusations, this has become just a partisan -- this is called The Get Hillary Clinton Committee. That's what this committee is about.
RADDATZ: I want to talk about General Petraeus here briefly, though. He pleaded guilty to mishandling information, classified information. And those were largely handwritten notes, not marked classified.
And yet those emails were on a server where others could hack into that, different from David Petraeus, more serious, if you -- if you think about it.
MCCASKILL: Well, obviously, the server has been turned over. All of this information will be gone through. I think at the end of the day, we're going to determine what we know right now.
But this is just a lot of political partisan smoke, that Secretary Clinton behaved the way she should as secretary of State and did a terrific job while she was there.
RADDATZ: How much do you think this hurts her going forward?
This could take a long time?
MCCASKILL: Well, I think the American people get what this is. I think they know that she has a record of being a fighter. She's going to fight through this primary. She's going to win this nomination. This is a woman with decades of a record of -- as a champion for the middle class in this country.
And when people make up their mind next November, it's going to be about which policies and which candidate really shows strength and stability. I think she's going to be in great shape.
RADDATZ: And Senator, I want to turn to your new book, quickly, called "Plenty Ladylike." You detail several incidents of sexual harassment, sexism, during your time as a representative at the Missouri House.
Do you think it still goes today to the point there's not that many women running for president?
MCCASKILL: I -- I think we are beginning, I hope, to reach an era where we see more and more women candidates for the top office in our country. Certainly, I've seen progress in the years I've been doing it.
But as the book tells, to have -- it's been an amazing roller coaster and incredible sexist behavior when I was very young in these jobs.
It's a little better today. It's certainly better for me as a United States senator. But we just had an incident in the Missouri legislature where interns came forward after being harassed and it cost two politicians their jobs.
So obviously, we still have a lot more work to do.
RADDATZ: We certainly do.
And we thank you, Senator McCaskill.
Much more from the Iowa State Fair coming up.
Will Donald Trump's surge last?
The roundtable covers every angle, after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RADDATZ: Back now at the Iowa State Fair.
Each year, more than a million people flock here for the food, farm animals and good old-fashioned fun. And every four years, there's an added attraction, a chance to meet the field of candidates running for president.
I'm joined now by Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, who knows these fairgrounds and Iowa's political landscape better than most.
And what do you make of what's happening this year?
Quite a weekend with Donald Trump and his helicopter.
GOV. TERRY BRANSTAD (R), IOWA: Yes, I saw it circling the fair here yesterday. And, of course, virtually every candidate for president -- I think there's 22 candidates in both parties, 21 of the 22 are going to be here at the State Fair.
It's a great place to meet Iowans, because we have people from all 99 counties. It's a great chance to see the talented young people. We just had the State Fair Queen was crowned last night. We had the governor (INAUDIBLE) Show.
RADDATZ: Lots of golf carts going by all the time.
You know, Governor, you said in June that -- that Donald Trump won't be the nominee.
Are you still convinced?
BRANSTAD: Yes, I think, in the end of the day, I mean I think a lot of people are intrigued by his frankness and his willingness to say about anything.
But in the end of the day, I think that Iowans are -- are going to choose somebody that they feel is the strongest candidate.
Now, at this point, he looks pretty strong, but he also has a fair amount of negatives.
So I think voters are going to have an opportunity to evaluate all the candidates and, you know, if you think of four years ago, the lead changed hands many times before the Iowa Caucuses. And I expect that will help again this time. And Iowans tend to reward people that go to all 99 counties and work very hard, put a strong organization together. And it remains to be seen who's going to be most effective at getting that done.
RADDATZ: But Donald Trump is going around in that helicopter. They didn't seem to mind that here, these -- these plain folks, as you say.
Just quickly, Governor.
BRANSTAD: Well, first of all, he was giving free rides to Iowa kids. So, you know...
RADDATZ: You can't beat that, right?
BRANSTAD: -- who could dislike that?
Right. Right. It was a novelty. We see a lot of different things here. But obviously seeing a helicopter with Trump's name on it, and obviously, he was mobbed here at the fair.
RADDATZ: Yes.
BRANSTAD: But it's so...
RADDATZ: He was.
BRANSTAD: -- you know, I was here with Bush and...
RADDATZ: We'll wait and see.
BRANSTAD: -- on Friday and -- and Marco Rubio here on Monday.
RADDATZ: Everybody comes to Iowa.
Thank you very much, Governor Branstad.
BRANSTAD: Oh, you're welcome.
Thank you.
RADDATZ: OK. And we spoke with Governor Branstad just a few moments ago.
And I'm here now with the roundtable, Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, Hugh Hewitt, host of "The Hugh Hewitt Show," and Matt Dowd is back with us -- and Matt, I want to go back to Donald Trump.
I'm thinking what Radio Iowa reporter Kay Henderson told me about the three Fs -- fashion, food, and faux pas.
Donald Trump seemed to break all of those. He could have eaten caviar here if he wanted to.
(CROSSTALK)
RADDATZ: He was wearing white patent leather shoes to the state fair.
DOWD: You could add another F, which is fun, which is people seem to be having fun with this whole thing.
To me, Donald Trump right now is like the rock star that comes to town. He's getting a lot of play. People want to be around him. He's actually -- you look at all the polls, he's doing very well nationally, very well in Iowa.
I think the question really comes down to, which is what -- one of the questions you asked, is how long can this last?
Can it last the next 170 days, all the way to Iowa?
Right now, his level of support is fairly stable. And in a multi-candidate field, he can win Iowa and win a serious amount of states.
RADDATZ: Donna, Trump is leading, obviously, here in Iowa, by -- by about 22 percent in the latest polls. Then it falls off pretty sharply after that.
Look at Bush down there at 5 percent. But 66 percent -- this is an amazing figure -- of likely Caucus goers say they are still trying to decide.
DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, absolutely. This is the part of the season where voters are basically shopping for someone that speaks for them, somebody who they believe will fight for them. And this is a state where people actually want you to talk to them, come into their living rooms, go their union hall meetings.
And if Donald Trump can expand the universe like President Barack Obama did in 2008, you know, ensure that there are more new people coming to the Caucus on -- on that cold wintry night, he could be the next nominee for the Republican Party.
RADDATZ: And -- and Hugh Hewitt, do you agree with that?
Do you think he can go all the way?
You talked to him this week.
Do you sense a change in him?
HUGH HEWITT, HOST, "THE HUGH HEWITT SHOW": He is having fun. What Matt said really does resonate. He is having more fun than any candidate I've ever seen, who usually hates this time of year.
But I view the whole race as one race. And I think there's this whirlpool of weariness that is sucking in Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush is trying to stay out of it. It got Rick Perry. It gets the people who've been around for a while.
Trump is new, as is Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker. These are new people. Carly Fiorina is a new face. And they've got energy.
So when Donald Trump talked to me on the radio show, he talked about having energy. And I think the other candidates are well advised to pay attention.
I'd open my radio show with him every day and the audience would listen every day because he's got so much energy.
RADDATZ: So have the establishment Republicans lost control?
What do they do?
Do they change their strategy here?
DOWD: Well, I think it's been a series that, over time, over the last 10 or 12 years, the Republican establishment has been -- had less and less control of the nomination process. I think they have no control over this process today.
So I think if there's going to be somebody else that emerges to take on Donald Trump, it's going to be somebody on their own having emerged.
I agree with Hugh, part of the thing that's driving this, which is driving Jeb Bush's numbers down and Donald Trump's numbers up, is the sense of energy and sense of strength and sense of decisiveness.
And you may disagree with him, but you believe like, wow, I can get on board that. It's a tremendous amount of energy.
Jeb has got a real problem right now. He was the establishment candidate. And the party voters do not want the establishment candidate.
RADDATZ: And, Donna, what do you think Donald Trump does to -- does to this race? Do you have to change the way you campaign?
Jeb Bush clearly is having some second thoughts, I assume.
BRAZILE: I wouldn't change.
If I was one of the establishment candidates, if I was one of the also-rans from the previous cycle, I would continue to go out there, go to all 99 counties, sign people up. Remember, it's about touching people where they live, where they work, where they play and they pray.
If you can get them to go to caucus on a wintry night, you can change history in just a matter of minutes.
RADDATZ: And let's talk about the Democrats for a minute here. How much do you think this email server hurts Hillary Clinton and these classified e-mails?
BRAZILE: She has 1,362 precinct captains, she has one-third of the county chairs with her, she's organized in this state as if that matters next year.
This email stuff, yes, it's a huge distraction. Most of it is a lot of...
RADDATZ: It could be a distraction for a long time, right?
BRAZILE: She has 17 Republican candidates. She has four Democratic challengers. Yes, it's a perception problem. But is it factually true?
The committee that Trey Gowdy is overseeing, they spent more than $4 million trying to tear down Hillary Clinton's character. I think she will come out of this okay, but it's going to be long battle.
HEWITT: It's more than a problem, it's an indictment. 18 USEs 1924 is what led to the indictment of General Petraeus, it led to the indictment of Sandy Berger before that. It led to the indictment of John Deutch former CIA director. Mishandling classified information and Matt's had the clearances, I've had the clearances, you've had the clearances, is a very serious matter.
She doesn't have any explanation of her erasing 31,000 emails. And that's an 18-minute gap, that's an 18,000-minute gap. So this is a criminal matter and Donald Trump called it that on my show this week.
RADDATZ: Do the Democrats need a plan b? Look you have got Joe Biden, right now, deciding whether he'll get into the race.
BRAZILE: First of all, this is not a criminal indictment and she did nothing wrong. The fact that they are now saying that some of the e-mails that have been released should have been classified. We can get into the legality of...
RADDATZ: Let's get into Joe Biden.
DOWD: The Hillary folks know this is a problem. You can tell by the tenurewith which they're responding to this. They know this is a problem.
And we wouldn't be having a Biden conversation is Hillary was doing all great and everything was fine.
Bernie Sanders, right now, is rising faster than anybody else. She's dropping. There's now a conversation about Joe Biden. They have a problem.
But they may be so baked in the cake with Hillary Clinton they can't get out of it and they into the general election with a wounded warrior, which is a big problem.
RADDATZ: And she says don't panic. Don't panic. Her supporters say don't panic.
BRAZILE: I would advise as a former campaign manager, I would advise them not to panic as well.
Look, just because this is animating people on the right and there's some serious questions...
DOWD: And on the left.
BRAZILE: Well, there always be people who panic in politics.
But let's -- Joe Biden is going to make a decision some time at the end ofthe summer. He promised us that. This is a very difficult decision, because it's coming at a very tough time.
I don't believe there's anything true about the rumors about Al Gore.
RADDATZ: We have about 30 seconds left. Just Hugh, a very quick comment from you about Biden getting in.
HEWITT: I hope he does. He would be wonderful. He's a terrific politician to talk to. He's always worth a story and a headline.
RADDATZ: And Donna, I want to come back to you quickly. We lost civil rights activist, truly an icon, Julian Bond last night at age 75. Just some final thoughts.
BRAZILE: Tragic.
The former chair of the NAACP, probably did more than any other civil rights leader of this era, to help usher in this new movement. He was the leader inside the NAACP that fought for marriage equality, a leader of so many in field for civil rights and justice.
DOWD: Really great man.
RADDATZ: He will truly be missed by all of us.
Thanks, everyone.
Next, the story behind the legendary TV debate that transformed political news after this from our ABC stations.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RADDATZ: In our Sunday Spotlight, as things he up here in Iowa, a new documentary that reminds us just how contentious a presidential race can be, even for the analysts covering it. Here's ABC's David Wright on the "Best of Enemies."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID WRIGHT, ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: 1968, Chicago, the Democratic National Conventions, 1968, the Vietnam War at its height. Analyzing the day's events for ABC News, then running a distant third in the ratings, two of the most celebrated intellectuals of the era, on the right, William F. Buckley Jr. on the left, Gore Vidal.
"Best of Enemies," a new documentary, looks back at this ivy league slugfest.
GORE VIDAL, WRITER: Here he sits. Take a good look at the leading warmonger in the United States.
WRIGHT: The other networks were running gavel to gavel coverage inside the tumultuous convention hall.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry to be out of breath, but somebody belted me in the stomach.
WRIGHT: But ABC couldn't afford to in 1968.
MORGAN NEVILLE, CO-DIRECTOR BEST OF ENEMIES: They needed to make money by running their shows like "Bewitched" and "Batman" and the "Flying Nun," instead.
WRIGHT: We spoke with the filmmakers, Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon.
ROBERT GORDEON, CO-DIRECTOR, BEST OF ENEMIES: It's strange to watch these two guys, both of them speaking like Thurston Howell III.
UNIDENITFIED MALE: Hello, my dear. Let's show them what the wealthier natives are wearing.
NEVILLE: It's another era. I mean, having two elect intellectuals like this who were so good on television and were given so much time.
GORDON: If you did it today, you would have, you know, you could almost do it on mute. You could watch them and hear the talking points.
WRIGHT: The real fireworks came the night the night Chicago police cracked down on the anti-war protesters. As the debate heats up, Vidal insults Buckley, calling him a fascist.
VIDAL: The only pro-crypto Nazi I can think of is yourself.
WRIGHT; Buckley erupts, outing Vidal on national television.
WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY, AUTHOR: Now listen you (inaudible), stop calling me a crypto Nazi.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's stop calling names.
BUCKLEY: Or I'll sock you in (EXPLETIVE DELETED) face.
WRIGHT: They hated each other, didn't they?
GORDON: It was not a frenemy relationship, that hate didn't end when that red light turned off.
NEVILLE: They feared the other. I mean, they thought the other person embodied everything they thought was wrong with the potential direction of America.
I think they were not fighting about 1968, they were fighting for the soul of the Republic.
GORDON: And in a way both of them were right in a sense that the conservative revolution that Buckley was in the vanguard was came to pass.
NEVILLE: It did.
GORDON: And the social revolution of which Gore Vidal was in the vanguard came to pass.
I mean, this past year, we have had Caitlyn Jenner and the Supreme Court validating gay marriage.
NEVILLE: He was so prescient and so visionary in some of his ideas that it has taken half a century for them to come to pass.
WRIGHT: Which makes it all more fun to watch these two lions have at it. The "Best of Enemies," in theaters now, seen first right here on ABC.
For This Week, David Wright, ABC News, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RADDATZ: Our thanks to David.
That's all for us today. Thanks for sharing part of your Sunday with us. Check out "World News Tonight" And we'll see you back here next week.
So long from Des Moines, Iowa.
END