'This Week' Transcript: Kellyanne Conway, Robby Mook, Reince Priebus, and Dr. Jill Stein

— -- THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT FOR 'THIS WEEK' ON August 21, 2016 and it will be updated.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Starting right now on THIS WEEK with George Stephanopoulos: Trump shakeup.

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DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And believe it or not, I regret it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): A brand-new team in charge -- again.

TRUMP: You have to be you. If you start pivoting, you're not being honest with people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): But with just 79 days until the election, can Trump really change?

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When someone shows you who they are, believe them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Or is this one more false start?

Plus: with new questions over The Clinton Foundation…

TRUMP: It was pay for play.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): -- and those e-mails, can Hillary Clinton clear the hurdle of trust?

This morning, we'll talk to campaign managers from both sides and RNC chair, Reince Priebus.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): From ABC News, it's THIS WEEK.

Here now, chief anchor George Stephanopoulos.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC HOST: So is this the week, the week we finally see the new and different Donald Trump so many Republicans are hoping for?

Back in the spring, Trump mused about it.

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TRUMP: By the way, I can be more presidential than anybody. I can be more presidential if I want to be. I would say more presidential -- and I've said this a couple of times -- more presidential than anybody other than the great Abe Lincoln. He was very presidential. Right?

STEPHANOPOULOS (voice-over): His campaign chair, Paul Manafort, promised the GOP change was coming.

PAUL MANAFORT, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: You'll start to see more depth to the person, the real person. You'll see him in a different way.

STEPHANOPOULOS (voice-over): But after a summer of bad news and tanking poll numbers, Trump fired Manafort this week, vowed to run his own way.

TRUMP: I am who I am. It's me. I don't want to change. Everyone talks about, oh, when are you going to pivot, you're going to -- I don't want to pivot. I mean, you have to be you. If you start pivoting --

STEPHANOPOULOS (voice-over): Then came Thursday's surprising admission.

TRUMP: Sometimes in the heat of debate, you don't choose the right words or you say the wrong thing. I have done that and I do regret it, particularly where it may have caused personal pain.

STEPHANOPOULOS (voice-over): So was that the handiwork of Trump's new leadership team, campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, conservative firebrand CEO Steve Bannon?

And how does it square with this, Trump's tough first ad?

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): In Hillary Clinton's America, the system stays rigged against Americans. Syrian refugees flood in. Illegal immigrants convicted of committing crimes get to stay, collecting Social Security --

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GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC HOST: And we are joined now by Donald Trump's new campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway.

Welcome to THIS WEEK.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Thank you.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Good to see you.

So you're his third campaign manager.

Is third time the charm?

Are we really going to see change in this campaign?

CONWAY: This is the best week, I think, so far in the Trump campaign, mostly because he's able to be himself, the authentic Donald Trump. But also the pivot that he's made is on substance, George.

He's out there talking about law enforcement. He's talking about defeating radical Islamic terrorism, middle class tax relief. And --

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STEPHANOPOULOS: We've heard all that before --

CONWAY: -- well, not really, because these are specific plans. And people can disagree with them. They're welcome to. But at least they can see them. They can pull up his plan for middle class tax reflect.

They can say, hey, this guy said we've had 33,000 murders by ISIS and its predecessor groups since 2003 or so, 80 percent of them having occurred in the last three years since the birth and growth of ISIS happened. He's at least willing to call them radical terrorists.

Ms. Clinton in her convention speech just last month referred to them as our determined enemies. She'll call Donald Trump a radical. She just won't call the terrorists radicals.

STEPHANOPOULOS: We also saw those comments on Thursday night, expressing regret. But you already have the Hillary Clinton campaign running a video, talking about -- showing Donald Trump talking about all the times he doesn't regret what he said, whether it was the comments about the Khan family, Judge Curiel, John McCain.

So what specifically does Mr. Trump regret saying?

CONWAY: He has said that he wants to regret anytime he's caused somebody personal pain by saying something that he didn't intend to cause personal pain. And I think those who have received it privately should take that expression of regret.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So he's called the Khan family?

He's called John McCain and apologized?

CONWAY: No, he's expressed his regret publicly and said if I have caused you personal pain -- that can include me, that can include you -- that he regrets that. And that's the Donald Trump --

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STEPHANOPOULOS: But that's regretting what they feel, not what he said.

CONWAY: No, no, that's regretting that -- he said if I have chosen the wrong words or said something in a way I didn't intend, then I regret that.

But this is exactly what people love. They love humility. They love accessibility. They love authenticity. And I'm just amazed that the Hillary team has responded in yet another attack on Donald Trump.

When are we going hear how she really feels about Aetna and United Health Care pulling out of the ObamaCare exchanges, reporting billions of dollars in losses?

ObamaCare is still seen very unfavorably by many Americans.

Is she going to own it?

Are we going to single payor?

We want to know -- we want to pivot on the substance --

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CONWAY: -- and we hope they'll do the same.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And I'll be talking to Mr. Mook in just a little bit.

So is Donald Trump sorry for what he said to the -- about the Khan family?

Is he sorry for what he said about John McCain?

Is he sorry for what he said about Judge Curiel?

CONWAY: He's said that he regrets causing personal pain to those who feel it based on things that he has said. And I'm very pleased that Senator McCain has endorsed him and that he's endorsed Senator McCain; he's in a tough primary race next week.

But I do believe that this is what people appreciate. And we couldn't even get Secretary Clinton to say she was sorry about deleting 33,000 e-mails. She's sorry about pay-to-play at the State Department. She's sorry about The Clinton Foundation taking all these foreign donations that I assume, George, she's implicitly admitting are not a good idea since they reported this week that they would, quote, "stop taking" these foreign donations if she's elected.

Doesn’t that implicitly admit that it's not a good idea to do that in the first place?

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STEPHANOPOULOS: Another question we're going to bring to Mr. Mook.

You have had a change of heart during this campaign as well. During the primaries, you were working for a super PAC supporting Ted Cruz and had several comments critical of Mr. Trump. Let's take a look.

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CONWAY: You said he's for the little guy but he's actually built a lot of his businesses on the backs of little guys, completely transparent. Donald Trump's tax returns aren't. I'd like to see those be transparent.

It's vulgar. And do I want somebody who hurls personal insults or who goes and talks about philosophical differences?

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STEPHANOPOULOS: So what changed for you?

And do you stand by those comments?

CONWAY: I do. And the reason is I don't like when people hurl personal insults. That will never change. That's not my style. I'm a mother of four shall children. And it would be a terrible example for me to feel otherwise --

STEPHANOPOULOS: You think Mr. Trump's going to change on that?

CONWAY: Well, but he doesn't hurl personal insults. In other words, he just this week, look what he talked about.

He's bringing the case right to communities of color in Michigan. And he's speaking to all Americans when he does that, George.

And what he's doing is he's challenging the Democratic Party. He's challenging Hillary Clinton and President Obama's legacy and Democratic mayors all across this country.

And he's saying, look, how in the world can we abide a 58 percent unemployment rate among African American youth?

How can we stand over a million more African Americans in poverty since 2009?

The Hillary people want this to all be about tone and temperament. We also want to it be about facts and figures because that's the only way you rebuild the American economy, you unleash energy independence. You frankly get a hold of the disaster that has been ObamaCare.

So we want to take that case directly to the people that facts don’t like and the fact that he's going places where other Republican candidates have been unwilling or unable to do is pretty remarkable.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And I want to (INAUDIBLE) one more. But one more question on this. So you say you stand by your comments. So you still believe that Donald Trump should be transparent, release his tax returns?

CONWAY: I learned -- and by that he's transparent about a number of things. And we're certainly running against the least accountable, least transparent, I think, joyless candidate in presidential political history.

But I've learned since on being the inside that this audit is a serious matter and that he has said that when the audit is complete, he'll release his tax returns. I also know as a pollster that what concerns people most about, quote, "taxes" is their own tax liability.

And so we appreciate people being able to see Hillary Clinton's plan and Donald Trump's plan and figure out who will really get the middle class tax relief.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's talk about those comments that Mr. Trump made about the African American community. Here's part of them this week.

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DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What do you have to lose?

Look, what do you have to lose?

You're living in poverty. Your schools are no good. You have no jobs; 58 percent of your youth is unemployed.

What the hell do you have to lose?

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STEPHANOPOULOS: As you know -- you were just talking about that. But many in the African American community saw that as insulting because they say most African Americans don't live in poverty and that Mr. Trump was making those comments in communities that are more than 90 percent white.

CONWAY: Those comments are for all Americans. And I live in a white community. I'm white. I was very moved by his comment. In other words, he is trying to tell Americans that we can do better. And the thing that he said that I think got a great deal of resonance is that maybe Hillary Clinton looks at you as voters as your -- takes you for granted. I look at you as people.

And you -- again, George, if you think 58 percent of unemployment in the African American youth community is a good idea, then absolutely please go vote for Hillary Clinton, everyone.

But he's saying, you can't do any worse. We're the party, he's the candidate that believes in school choice vouchers and charter schools for African American and Hispanic students and everybody really. But these benefit -- I've done a lot of work in that space here in New York City. And it's just remarkable to see the quality education that these students who are fully capable and very intelligent receive through school choice and charters. Hillary Clinton's against those.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You talked about the changes Mr. Trump is ready to talk about right now.

What about on the ground?

You're still far behind the Hillary Clinton campaign in staffing organization in the states and in the headquarters.

CONWAY: So what we're trying to do this week is get an assessment of where we really are state by state. And I'll be talking to all of our state directors, our field staff, our data operation, find out where we are and what they think we need.

We also are just -- we're going to start deploying people who are very talented in different states and bring them to these seven or eight swing states that then we plan on expanding to 10 or 11.

I'm also happy to announce that we're working very closely with the RNC, whether it's political, data, fundraising. We've got a great relationship with Chairman Priebus, talk to him daily now. And we at the campaign are going to expect Sean Spicer, the director of communications and the chief strategist at the RNC, to be spending more time with --

STEPHANOPOULOS: He'll be joining your campaign?

CONWAY: -- we're going to -- he's going to be spending more time here.

STEPHANOPOULOS: We're going to talk to Mr. Priebus in just a second.

One final question on the debates.

A few weeks ago, Mr. Trump told me he didn't like the dates and he wasn't sure about the moderators.

Is he now prepared to accept the moderators and dates chosen by the Commission on Presidential Debates?

CONWAY: What we're doing right now is we're talking about all the particular logistics about the debates, George. But we're also doing debate prep. And we're doing that in many different ways. But he's very engaged with that. It's actually a very enjoyable pursuit for him. He's a natural communicator, a natural connector with people.

And the debates are a fabulous opportunity to force a conversation onto substance.

I mean, again, what I learned this week -- we had a great week, the best week so far.

But the other thing I learned is I think Donald Trump is back in Hillary Clinton's head. If you look at the way they've responded to this week -- and that's exactly where he needs to be, occupying serious real estate in Hillary Clinton's head...

STEPHANOPOULOS: But not yet ready...

CONWAY: -- because then we make it about him.

STEPHANOPOULOS: -- not yet ready to accept the dates?

CONWAY: We are -- we are discussing that.

STEPHANOPOULOS: OK.

Kellyanne, thanks so very much.

CONWAY: Thank you.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's go now to RNC Chair Reince Priebus.

He joins us now from Washington.

Mr. Chairman, thank you for joining us again today.

REINCE PRIEBUS, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Thank you, George.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So you just heard Kellyanne Conway right there saying she -- they're going to be beefing up their cooperation with you.

Do you believe that Donald Trump is now doing what it takes to change the trajectory of this race?

PRIEBUS: Yes, I think -- I really do, George. I think he's had a great week. I think he's been on message. He's -- he's shown maturity as a candidate.

I think that he is getting into a groove. I think he likes the new style that he has been out on the campaign trail producing and speaking of.

So I think he's done great. And I think what you're going to see is these polls will begin to tighten in the next couple of weeks and by Labor Day or thereafter, I think you're going to be back to an even race if we continue down this path.

STEPHANOPOULOS: It can't happen too quickly, I think, for a lot of Republicans getting nervous about whether he is going to be a drag on House and Senate races, as well, in fact, about 110 of them have written an open letter to you saying, quote, "Every dollar spent by the RNC on Donald Trump's campaign is a dollar of donor money wasted on a losing effort of a candidate who has actively undermined the GOP at every turn."

Your response?

PRIEBUS: Well, I think some of those folks are good people. I'm sure many of them are. But they don't understand what we do. So for everyone out there to understand, if we're in Ohio, we've got an important race for Senate in Rob Portman and we've got an important race, obviously, for president with Donald Trump.

Someone has to identify voters that we want to vote early and that we want to get an absentee ballot in their hands. And then we have to have a program to make sure that that absentee ballot actually gets into the box.

So whether you're pre -- you're doing that work for the Senate or the president or a House race, that's what the Republican National Committee does, in part.

What we have is most of these states that are in play for president are also important states for the Senate. So the work that we do on the ground in building data files, it's work that both a Senate race and a presidential race needs to have happen. That's what the RNC does.

So there is no -- there's no $50 million or $100 million put away for television. We don't buy TV. So it's not like taking $10 million away from one candidate and giving it to another.

This is work to identify swing voters and Republican voters, make sure they're going to vote our direction and then making sure they turn out...

STEPHANOPOULOS: But it's...

PRIEBUS: -- either by...

STEPHANOPOULOS: -- but is it OK with you...

PRIEBUS: -- early vote or on Election Day.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Is it OK with you if those candidates -- and we've already seen Senator Mark Kirk in Illinois repudiate Mr. Trump -- is it OK with you if those candidates follow the path that the RNC Republicans followed back in 1996, when it looked like Bob Dole was losing the race and they went on and said it's time to elect us so that we don't give a blank check to Bill Clinton then, Hillary Clinton now?

PRIEBUS: Well, I think those people need a lesson on federal election law. For -- so, first of all, in regard to Mark Kirk, that's not a presidential battleground state. So that's a different deal.

But back to your question, in 1996, there was soft corporate money coming into the political parties. So nat -- DNC/RNC, back in 1996, could take millions of dollars from corporations and buy television ads.

Well, the -- some of those same people that signed that letter were the same people that took away the right for national parties to be able to have that money for television ads.

So there is no soft money pass-through the national parties that, in October, could mean the difference between $100 million to a Senate race or $100 million to a presidential.

So this history lesson is great, but what you really have to look at is the election laws that allowed national parties to pivot like that in October. And that doesn't exist.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Finally, you know, we -- we saw -- we had Kellyanne Conway just join us, campaign manager, also, the new CEO, Steve Bannon, has taken a -- a major role in the Trump campaign.

He's been quite quitit -- critical of the Republican leadership in Congress.

Take a look.

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STEVE BANNON, BREITBART.COM: They're not really interested in any type of reform. What they're interested in is a -- being the junior partner in increasing statism. And there is a dedicated group of libertarians and grassroots conservatives and Tea Party conservatives and limited government conservatives that are here to destroy that.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: Are you confident that he can be in charge of the kind of campaign that the Republican leadership, like Speaker Paul Ryan, are going to be comfortable with?

PRIEBUS: Well, first of all, I'm never happy with unearned criticisms of either the national parties or great leaders like Paul Ryan. But let me just say this. I think people can pivot into different roles. And ultimately, the person in charge of Donald Trump's campaign is Donald Trump.

And so let me just say, the last few days, I think everyone has seen that we have a continued pathway that Donald Trump has been pursuing, which I think is much better for this campaign. I think he's doing great. I think he's on a great pathway to -- to recalibrating the campaign and getting this thing tight.

And I obviously just saw Kellyanne Conway do, I think, a really fantastic job in -- in pivoting and showing the direction of this campaign that we're going. And Donald Trump has been disciplined and mature. And I think he's going to get this thing back on track. And also, tight and ahead as we move through September.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Mr. Chairman, thanks for joining us this morning.

PRIEBUS: You bet.

Thank you.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And coming up, you've heard from the GOP. Clinton campaign manager Robbie Mook joins us live next.

Plus, our Sunday exclusively with Green Party candidate, Dr. Jill Stein.

That's coming up.

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TREVOR NOAH, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": When it comes to everything, except presidential campaigns, Americans have the most choices. They're offered more things than anyone else in the world. Like I can walk into a supermarket, any supermarket in America, and choose from literally 400 different kinds of yogurt.

And yet when it comes to selecting America's leader for the next four years, you're stuck with two choices -- Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: Trevor Noah on "The Daily Show" this week.

And our latest poll says he's onto something. Fifty-seven percent of voters say they're dissatisfied with the choice between Clinton and Trump, 31 percent very dissatisfied.

But is that a real opening for Libertarian Gary Johnson or Green Party candidate Jill Stein?

Together with our partners at SSRS, we asked our online opinion panel if they're considering voting for a third party candidate. Only 35 percent said yes.

That's because almost 60 percent worry that vote could help elect the candidate they like the least.

And we'll take that fear to Dr. Stein, coming up.

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CLINTON: They can make him read new words from a teleprompter, but he is still the same man who insults gold star families, demeans women, mocks people with disabilities, and thinks he knows more about ISIS than our generals.

There is no new Donald Trump. This is it.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: Hillary Clinton on the stump this week.

We're joined now by her campaign manager, Robby Mook. Thank you for joining us this morning.

And you heard Kellyanne Conway say, no, we are seeing a different Donald Trump. Best week of the campaign in the last week. And he's reinforcing that with new policies while Hillary Clinton promises more of the same.

ROBBY MOOK, CLINTON CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Well, George, we're not seeing a pivot. Donald Trump himself said this was not a pivot. He wants to double down on letting Donald Trump be Donald Trump, that's why he's brought in to run his campaign someone who wrote -- or ran a so-called news organization, Breitbart News, which has peddled some of the worst conspiracy theories around. They've run news, quote unquote "news," that's defended white supremacists, that's been sexist, racist, the worst of our politics.

So, I think we should be very concerned.

I would also point out that Paul Manafort has been pushed out, but that doesn't mean that the Russians have been pushed out of this campaign. The hand of the Kremlin has been at work in this campaign for some time. It's clear that they are supporting Donald Trump.

But we now need Donald Trump to explain to us the extent to which the hand of the Kremlin is at the core of his own campaign. There's a web of financial interests that have not been disclosed. And there are real questions being raised about whether Donald Trump himself is just a puppet for the Kremlin in this race?

STEPHANOPOULOS: You're saying he's a puppet for the Kremlin?

MOOK: Well, real questions are being raised about that. We -- again, there's a web of financial ties to the Russians that he refuses to disclose. We've seen over the last few week, him parroted Vladimir Putin in his own remarks. We saw the Republican Party platform changed. She saw Donald Trump talk about leaving NATO and leaving our Eastern European allies vulnerable to a Russian attack. The gentleman he brought with him to his security briefing just last week is someone who's on the payroll of the Russia Times, which is a basically a propaganda arm of the Kremlin. He was sitting two seats away from Vladimir Putin at heir 10th Anniversary gala.

There are a lot of questions here. And we need Donald Trump to disclose all of his financial ties and whether his advisers are having meetings with the Kremlin.

STEPHANOPOULOS: A lot of questions this week, also, about the Clinton Foundation. You announced this week that the foundation would no longer take contributions from foreign governments or corporations if Secretary Clinton wins the White House.

And that has raised a lot of questions, people wondering why now and not when she was secretary of state.

Donald Trump Jr. in a tweet said, "is it OK to accept foreign and corporation money when secretary of state, but not when POTUS?"

And you just heard Kellyanne Conway, doesn't it suggest that taking those contributions when Secretary Clinton was serving as secretary of state was wrong?

MOOK: Well, first of all, George, the steps that were taken when Secretary Clinton went to the State Department were unprecedented. It's important to keep in mind this is a nonprofit, philanthropic organization. 90 percent of the cost of malaria drugs has come down because of the work of the Clinton Foundation. There are over 10 million people around the globe today receiving life saving HIV and AIDS drug treatments because of the Clinton Foundation.

We look at Donald Trump, his bottom line is interconnected to all kinds of financial interests that he refuses to disclose. They actually affect his net worth.

So, the steps that are being taken if she should become president are unprecedented. We're happy that that planning is taking place. But I think when we talk about transparency, when we talk about disclosure, Donald Trump needs to release his taxes. He needs to explain his financial ties.

Just yesterday, we read in The New York Times, that his businesses owe millions of dollars to the Bank of China. Donald Trump talks all the time about a trade war with China. How can he really do that when millions of dollars of his own bottom line could be affected directly by the Chinese government?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's stay on the foundation, though, for a second. It's not just Secretary Clinton's critics who are suggesting a change should come. You've had a former governor of Pennsylvania Ed Rendell said they should stop taking the contributions now, should disband.

The Boston Globe endorsed Secretary Clinton during the primaries. Here is what they wrote: "The Clinton Foundation is clearly a liability for Hillary Clinton as she seeks the presidency. The foundation should remove a political -- and actual -- distraction and stop accepting funding. If Clinton is elected, the foundation should be shut down."

Will that happen?

MOOK: Well, what the foundation has said is that they will continue to operate. Again, George, I want to keep in mind, millions of people around the world depend on life saving health treatments that the foundation provides, so just pulling the plug on that literally would threaten lives around the globe. So, the foundation is in the process figuring out how to refocus, re-shift.

As I said earlier, the steps that they've pledged to take as a philanthropic organization are unprecedented. You didn't hear questions about the Bush Foundation when the second Bush president came into office. His family continued to serve on the board there, President Clinton has said he'll step down from the Clinton Foundation board.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But hasn't it become a liability?

MOOK: No, look, what the foundation is saying is at the they don't want to become a distraction, that they want to go as far as they possibly can to make sure there's no possible conflict of interests. But again, George, I just want to be fair here, Donald Trump is refusing to disclose deep financial ties that potentially reach into the Kremlin, which could influence his foreign policy decisions, but also where countries like China have leverage over him and could potentially distort his decisionmaking there. None of this is being disclosed. You and I are having this conversation because the foundation has chosen on the take unprecedented steps to disclose their donors from the last few years.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You also heard Kellyanne Conway, though, talk about the debates saying that Donald Trump is not yet ready to say firmly that he's going to do the debates -- the dates set by the Commission on Presidential Debates.

Is your campaign opening to alternate dates for the debates?

MOOK: The dates are the dates, the debates are the debates. These rules and these dates wereset a long time ago. We agreed to them immediately. Secretary Clinton looks forward to this debate. I think the voters are going to see a stark difference between steady leadership from Secretary Clinton, a depth of experience, and ill-temperament and poor judgment from Donald Trump, that's what they've seen this entire campaign.

We welcome these debates. Let's just get on with it. Nobody's ever argued over the rules. This is typical Donald Trump. I don't know if he's afraid to debate. I don't know if he just wants to attention of causing controversy. But either way, they just need to get over it. Let's have these debates, and let's the American people make their judgment.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Finally, Dr. Jill Stein, Green Party candidate, is coming up. Are you worried that she's going to drain votess from Secretary Clinton in a close race?

MOOK: You know, I'm not concerned about that, George. And our role here as a campaign is to make the case for Secretary Clinton every single day. she is the most qualified person to ever seek the presidency. She's going to provide the steady judgment that we want. And she's laid out clear plans to create an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. I don't think people want to divert their vote to Jill Stein or to anybody else. They're going to vote for Secretary Clinton. And we're going to keep focused on making her case.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Robby Mook, thanks very much.

And we will be right back with Dr. Jill Stein and our Powerhouse Roundtable.

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STEPHANOPOULOS (voice-over): And a little break from politics, now there's a big birthday week at the National Zoo. Three of -- there are the giant pandas, who are celebrating this week. Bei Bei turns 1 on Monday, Bao Bao, 3, on Tuesday -- there you see it -- and Tian Tian turns 13 on Wednesday.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: Enjoying a little treat. Roundtable is up next.

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SARAH SILVERMAN, COMEDIAN: Can I just say to the Bernie or Bust people, you're being ridiculous.

(LAUGHTER)

STEPHANOPOULOS (voice-over): There's Sarah Silverman at the Democratic convention, calling out the Democrats who can't get behind Hillary Clinton. And even though Bernie Sanders is on board now, some liberals are still saying never Hillary, which could be an opening for Green Party candidate, Jill Stein.

JILL STEIN (G), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is what democracy looks like.

STEPHANOPOULOS (voice-over): Dr. Stein wants to build on what Sanders sparked.

STEIN: We're saying no to the lesser evil and yes to the greater good.

STEPHANOPOULOS (voice-over): Born in Chicago, she graduated from Harvard College and Medical School before starting her medical career in Massachusetts. And her passion for health and education brought her to politics, running for governor twice.

Back in 2012, Stein got less than one-half of 1 percent of the vote as the Green Party presidential nominee. But our latest poll shows her at 4 percent this time around, which could be enough to change this race.

And Dr. Stein joins us now.

Thank you for coming in for your first Sunday interview. So tell our viewers right now, give them the 30-second case, why Jill Stein.

STEIN: Because people are being thrown under the bus and they're tired of it. They're tired of a rigged economy. And they're tired of a rigged political system. And they don't like the two choices that are basically bought and paid for by the big banks, by the fossil fuel giants, by the war profiteers.

People are looking for a new way forward. I'm a physician, not a politician. I'm not part of the corrupt system. And I'm the only candidate in this race that's not corrupted by lobbyists' money, by super PACs, by corporate money.

So I actually have the liberty to stand up and offer the solutions that the American people are clamoring for.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You heard Robby Mook there, the Clinton campaign manager, say he wasn't worried about your candidacy. Yet Donald Trump has gone even further. Let's look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think a vote for Stein would be good. You know, that's the Green Party. Because I figure anybody voting for Stein is going to be for Hillary. So I think vote for Stein is fine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS: So he addresses what we showed in our poll as well.

What do you to say to those voters who would worry that, by voting for you, that are progressives, that are liberals, that are Democrats, that by voting for you they would actually help elect Donald Trump?

STEIN: Well, for one thing, that politics of fear that people have been told for quite a while, vote against who you're scared of rather than for the candidate who represents your values. What we have seen over the years is that this politics of fear actually delivered everything that we were afraid of. All the reasons people were told to vote for the lesser evil, because you didn't want the offshoring of our jobs, you didn't want the massive bailouts for Wall Street. You didn't want the endless expanding wars, the attack on immigrants. That's actually what we've gotten because we, the people, have allowed ourselves to be silenced.

Democracy needs a moral compass. It needs a vision, an affirmative vision of what we are about and an agenda that we can actually put forward.

(CROSSTALK)

STEPHANOPOULOS: There is --

STEIN: It's been a race to the bottom between those two parties that have thrown us under the bus.

STEPHANOPOULOS: There is a recent example, though, everybody goes back to the 2000 campaign. Progressives voted for Ralph Nader in Florida. They say that elected George W. Bush. There was a real difference there.

STEIN: Well, let's be clear. We're in a very different political moment. And we could argue that that Florida mythology until the cows come home. But I'll save that discussion for another day.

We are in a very different political moment right now, where most voters have rejected the Democrat and Republican Party, the largest bloc of voters is now Independent. Democrats and Republicans are both minority parties running at around 28 percent each. And the majority of voters has rejected Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump and are clamoring for something else.

So who are those on top to be giving marching orders to, you know, voters to be good little boys and girls?

Politicians do not have a new form of entitlement. They are not entitled to our vote. They have to earn our votes. And Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have not earned our vote.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You are saying things that no other candidates are willing to say. And back on July 13th, you talked about disarming the police.

Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEIN: We also need to explore what it means to disarm our police force, because as a society, we have become armed combatants, all of us. And in addition to police targeting, there are so many people who are just caught in the crossfire of guns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS: How would disarming police work in a society where there are millions of guns out there?

STEIN: Exactly, which is why I used the term something to explore for the future. So the context there really was talking about violence and police violence in particular, with over 600 deaths this year alone. And our need to actually hold police accountable so that we can address this scourge of racist violence.

And I think it's important to see that as not just police violence. We are in a violent society. We're all being caught in the crossfire.

So we've actually called for not only a police review board, not only investigators to look into each death at the hands of police, but also to call for a truth and reconciliation commission so that we can address this ongoing climate of fear and racism which, in many ways, has been a continuous line since the institution of slavery, lynchings, Jim Crow and so on into mass incarceration and the epidemic currently of police violence.

STEPHANOPOULOS: We showed that poll at the top of this segment showing you're 4 percent now, far better than you did back in 2012, still far from being able to win the race.

So what is victory for Dr. Stein and the Green Party this year?

STEIN: So remember, the curtain has only begun to come up on our campaign. Actually, with the CNN town hall meeting the other night, we're encouraging other stations to also hold town halls, because the American people deserve not only a right to vote, they deserve to know who they can vote for.

You know, I'm running 4 to 6, even 7 percent without any national coverage. This is basically percolating up from below, largely from a millennial generation that is locked out of a future right now.

And I'm in this running not only as a medical doctor practicing political medicine, because we've got to heal our sick political system, but I'm in this as a mother very concerned about the future that our younger generation doesn't have.

And that's who's mostly paying attention. But I think they're early adopters here, because if they don't have a future, we don't have a future. They are locked in debt. They don't have jobs and they are looking at a climate which is unraveling on their watch, just looking at the news of these last weeks, un -- unheard of flooding now in Louisiana and unprecedented fires in California, heat waves -- this is what the future looks like.

Because I am not captured by the usual suspects, I have the liberty to stand up and call for, importantly, our main platform, which is a -- an emergency jobs program to address the emergency of climate change. We're calling for a green New Deal that will create an emergency transition to 100 percent clean, renewable energy.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Dr. Stein, thanks for joining us this morning.

STEIN: Great to be with you.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And we'll be right back with insight and analysis from our powerhouse roundtable.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

STEPHANOPOULOS: And we're back now with our roundtable.

Joined by our chief political strategist, Matthew Dowd; the chief correspondent for "The Washington Post," Dan Balz; Republican strategist and ABC News contributor Kristen Solis Anderson; and Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons.

So, the third campaign manager, Matthew Dowd, for Donald Trump. We saw that expression of regret this week.

How much real change?

MATTHEW DOWD, ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, we'll see. I mean this is all temporary, right?

He's been at this 400 days and he's sort of made a change in the last four. We'll see if it lasts for the next 79 days in the course of this.

Normally, George, as you know, the campaigns that succeed start with the same team and end with the same team -- Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, they all started and they ended with the same team in the course of this disruption...

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, Ronald Reagan brought in James Baker back in 1980, who was George Bush's campaign manager.

DOWD: I thought, actually, Reince Priebus said something very -- very pointed and very factual, which is Donald Trump is running his own campaign, right?

He -- it doesn't matter if -- if Iron Man puts Pepper Pots in charge of the campaign, Tony Start's (ph) still running it in the course of this.

And I -- I don't think will have much change unless Donald Trump fundamentally changes and stays changed.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And, Dan Balz, we -- we -- we heard Kellyanne and both Reince Priebus both say this is the best week in a long time, I guess, for Donald -- for Donald Trump. I guess it's kind of -- kind of relative.

But you write in your column this week how that the fact that he's been in the news so much is absolutely -- actually masking Hillary Clinton's real problems.

DAN BALZ, "WASHINGTON POST": Yea. I mean one of the things I said was she ought to send him a thank you note for taking attention away from some of the problems that, again, I mean you -- you raised it with -- with Robbie about the foundation. I mean that issue popped up again this week. I think it's a serious question.

But Donald Trump soaks up so much, he draws so much attention to himself, that those issues -- it's not that they're not there or that they're totally obscured, but they don't get the attention that they probably otherwise would if he were running a more disciplined campaign that was more focused away from himself and not on himself.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You could say it, Jamal, if -- if you look at where things stand right now, Hillary Clinton has a fairly healthy lead nationally, 5 to 7 points in the polling averages.

But you can also look and see the kind of summer Donald Trump has had. It should be a lot bigger than that.

JAMAL SIMMONS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: It should be bigger. But, you know, Hillary Clinton, as we all know, has got some pretty tough numbers when it comes to her own trust and popularity ratings. I think that what people are looking for is whether or not she is going to be able to make past 50 percent. I think there's a real question as to whether that happens.

I think there's an electoral majority -- you can see that pretty easily.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, there's four candidates in there.

Do you think she can get close to 50?

SIMMONS: I -- I think it's probably going to be doubtful that she gets close to 50, which could then mean something about governing, it could mean something about mandate. All of that stuff matters.

And what -- and the most -- what's most important here are millennial voters and whether or not she can get those 71 percent of millennials who voted for, uh, Bernie Sanders to show up and vote for her when it comes time for the election.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And you've studied male voters, as well, Kristen. And -- and we -- we saw these -- this expression of regret from Donald Trump, true -- clearly trying to soften the edges of his persona.

Did he go far enough?

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, "THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER": I think it's not necessarily about did he go far enough, but can he sustain it?

I mean if you think of Donald Trump a little bit like a shopping cart with kind of a broken wheel where it keeps wanting to veer off course a little bit, the question is, can he fix the shopping cart or is this just a week where he's been trying not to knock over the displays in the store?

I think it's going to take more than just one good week. I think it's going to have to take a lot of good weeks all the way through November in order to win back the trust and voters who are concerned, who don't like Hillary Clinton.

As Jamal mentioned, I mean her numbers are very soft. There are a lot of voters looking at this election in disgust. They're looking for some ray of hope, some reason to vote for someone.

Donald Trump's running out of time, but by making the switch up at the top of his campaign, it may sort of a last gasp of an attempt to do so.

DOWD: The frustrating -- to me, one of the most frustrating things about this entire campaign is that we keep grading both of these major candidates on a curve, right, on both inspiration and integrity. And they -- they do something and it's like oh, wow, she put out this thing. Oh, she wrote a greater -- better than she was regardless of what she's done on emails or whatever.

Donald Trump is the same way. He does some TelePrompTed speech, oh, wow, that's great, I'm on a curve, as opposed to what we should be doing, which is grading them on the curve that we want both of these people to be president that can bring the country together in an inspirational visionary way.

SIMMONS: But, Matt, you know, this is a -- it's a comparative choice between these two. It's not just, you know, Hillary Clinton versus the perfect or Donald Trump versus the perfect. We've got to judge them versus each other.

DOWD: That's what I think is the -- that's what I think -- that's the narrative that the -- the established two political parties wants to say, which is it's a binary choice and don't look at anybody else.

To me, the significant number in that poll that you put up before Jill Stein was the fact that even now, with both candidates 100 percent name ID, 35 percent of the country would like to consider someone else. And I think they would be allowed to, instead of forced into this position of pick one or the other, because that's what you have to do.

BALZ: But I don't think people are grading on the curve in the -- in the way you're talking about. I think people see...

DOWD: No, we are. The sort of mediocracy does.

BALZ: Right. But I mean the -- but -- but -- but people see the flaws in both of these candidates. And it's been written about consistently since this campaign started.

On the other hand, these are the two candidates that the major parties produced.

So the question for a lot of voters is, do they take a leap out of that system or do they stick with that and say OK, I'll take the choice that makes me least unhappy?

ANDERSON: But -- but that has big implications for after November, as well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right.

ANDERSON: So if we go with what the polls look like right now, they're, at the moment, forecasting a very large Hillary Clinton victory.

But let's say she does get a significant number of votes in the Electoral College, that doesn't mean she has a mandate to govern on the agenda that she's running on, necessarily, because it may just be that voters are picking her because she's the lesser of two evils.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And other thing that could affect that is what these other down ballot candidates do on the Republican side, especially, Dan Balz, you heard Reince Priebus there say, they're not ready to walk away from Donald Trump. In fact, they're embracing him right now.

But we did see it in 1996, the Republican Party walked away the Bob Dole in the final two months.

BALZ: I think you're likely to see that. Right now, some of those candidates are hanging on. They're doing better than Donald Trump, obviously, in their own races. And so maybe they think they can continue to kind of thread the needle.

But I think as we go into October, there's going to have to be some triage probably in some of these candidates if they hope to survive that.

DOWD: Well, I also think that there's a real question I think for a lot of those Republican establishment is what is the health or the existence of the Republican Party in the aftermath of an election like this? It's changed dramatically from what they always thought it was. It's a different group of voters that I think is going to still stay with them going forward, even after Donald Trump in the course of this. The problem is they can't -- for a candidate, for all of his problems, George, as you said, he started before the conventions, he was four points down, all right.

We have two conventions. We have all this horrible two weeks, Donald Trump has these horrible two weeks. He's basically five points down in the course of this.

You have a Republican Party establishment thinks going into the debates the guy is 3 or 4 down. He still has a 1 in 5 chance of winning this. But they're worried about their party.

SIMMONS: But, you know, you can't actually win in most of these states unless your Republican presidential nominee is high enough that he makes you at least competitive. And I think you get to places like Ohio, where Rob Portman is trying to win, Donald Trump is like tied with Hillary Clinton when it comes to men in the state of Ohio -- white men when it comes to the state of Ohio.

Rob Portman may end up turning out Hillary Clinton voters in order to ensure his own election on election day. And that's going to matter to Donald Trump, it's going to be really hurtful.

ANDERSON: Well, and to my point earlier about how this doesn't necessarily mean that there are huge sums of voters that love Hillary Clinton's agenda, you may see some of these Republican candidates in these states where Donald Trump is underperforming them by five, six, seven points come out and say look, vote for me, send me to Washington so I can be a check on Hillary Clinton's agenda. Send me to Washington so that we can have a robust debate about these issues instead of giving her a blank check and a rubber stamp in the Senate.

SIMMONS: And there is a possibility that Donald Trump is for disaffected white voters what Barack Obama was for disaffected black voters. And you could see people pop up who we didn't expect who aren't in anybody's model and they save some members of congress and save some senators.

BALZ: But I think to Matthew's point, this is a different Republican Party that we have seen created through the course of this election, or at least emerged through the course of this election. And for somebody who is in a tough Senate race, they have to make a decision how much are they willing to offend that Donald Trump constituency in order to try to break away and get some other voters who they otherwise might not get.

This is a constituency that they have to manage in a way that they don't quite know how to do yet.

DOWD: But I think in the end, what the voters -- the first debate is going to be a super bowl in level of intensity of an audience. I think voters are still -- they still carry optimism that maybe somebody will show up with an inspirational message that sort of transforms that can sort of bring the country together, a la Barack Obama...

STEPHANOPOULOS: Does that happen in a debate?

DOWD: Well, it has to happen if they're going to do this. The problem with both Hillary Clinton winning this election, which looks like as of today she would, or if Donald Trump wins this election, as Jamal said, was how do they governor? How do they govern in the course of this when 55 percent no matter who is elected is going to be angry.

SIMMONS: But what they will say on debate day is they will see Hillary Clinton who has got plans for economy, she's got plans for foreign policy, she's got experience executing some of these plans; and Donald Trump, who you can't trust what he says from one event to the next, because he changes his mind every day.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But Dan Balz, one of the things we're seeing is that even if Hillary Clinton wins by the kind of margins we're seeing today, that not enough to bring the House to the Democratic side.

BALZ: No, it isn't not. She is likely to have at least a Republican House to deal with, and perhaps a Republican senate. I mean, that's not -- it's not cooked yet that the Democrats are going the take over the senate. But at a minimum, she's likely to have that.

I mean, one of the most important relationships and one of the most important decisions she going to have to make is what is that approach to Speaker Ryan? What is that relationship? How does she do that?

DOWD: It's also is -- keep in mind, worse case scenario, Donald Trump is going to get 55 million votes. Worst case scenario in the course of this election, when he shows up on election day...

STEPHANOPOULOS: That's at about 40 percent.

DOWD: That's at about 40 percent in an election like this, or 39 percent. He gets 55 million votes, he's not going away.

STEPHANOPOULOS: That's the last word today.

Thank you very much.

We're going to come back with an update on the Zika crisis in South Florida. Dr. Anthony Fauci is going to join us after this from our ABC stations.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All it takes is one mosquito bite, and it can affect the rest of our lives, and we're just not willing to take that risk.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, my husband and I considered the possibility of me relocating for the duration of my pregnancy. As an alternative, we just decided that I would kind of put myself on what we're calling house arrest for lack of a better word. And I am not leaving home with the exception of for doctor's appointments or if there were there an emergency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANOPOULOS: So much concern now about the Zika virus. The CDC warning this week that pregnant women should stay away from Miami Beach as the virus continues to spread. And for more no this, we're joined now by Dr. Anthony Fauci from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Fauci, thank you for coming back again this morning.

You said last week, that the situation in Florida could be a perfect storm scenario. Is that what we're seeing right now?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH: Well, what we're seeing is what was predictable, George, is that when you have a situation where you have a considerable number of travel-related cases, that you're right environmental and mosquito conditions, that you are going to see both individual cases, as we have seen in Wynwood and now in Miami Beach, but also you're going to see clusters, which is what we're seeing here now, with the latest report from Miami Beach.

It's not unexpected. The Florida authorities, together with the CDC, are being very aggressive in mosquito control, which right now is the best and only way that you can really put a damper on this and prevent it from spreading even further.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So what other states are at risk right now?

FAUCI: Well, the ones that are most at risk, George, are those along the Gulf Coast -- I would not be surprised if we see cases in Texas and Louisiana, particularly now where you have the situation with flooding in Louisiana. There are going to be a lot of problems getting rid of standing water.

When you have a subtropical or semitropical region with the right mosquitoes and individuals who have travel-related cases that are in the environment, it would not be surprising that we will see additional cases not only in Florida, but perhaps in other of the Gulf Coast States.

STEPHANOPOULOS: I was struck by a piece in The New York Times this morning by a young scientist, Kelly McBride Folkers, who wrote, "the Millennial generation needs to take the lead in thinking about what we're going to do if Zika persists in the next few years. This is not some tropic infection that matters only abroad. We should view it more as an STD that any of us could catch. Everyone who might have a child needs to take this seriously."

FAUCI: Well, we do need to take it seriously, George. I do not think, although we need to be prepared for it, that we're going to see a diffuse, broad outbreak in the United States, because of a number of issues, particularly the conditions in our country as a broad, continental USA would not really make that a very likely happening.

But we will see these kinds of outbreaks. And you know, with our experience with other similar viruses like dengue, this is something that could hang around for a year or two. Hopefully, we get to a point to where we could suppress it so that we won't have any risk of it.

For example, we have seen that with dengue in the past, and now things look pretty good in continental United States for it. The critical issue is going to be mosquito control, but we're compounded by the complication, which is unusual, that this is also sexually transmitted, which is one of the reasons why you have to be extra special careful about following the CDC guidelines if you are in an area or traveling to an area which is now the areas that we're seeing in Miami Beach and in Wynwood.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Dr. Fauci, thanks for joining us.

And that is all for us today. Thanks for sharing part of your Sunday with us. Check out World News Tonight. And I'll see you tomorrow on GMA.

END