Interview With North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory; Trump Refuses to Release Tax Returns; Clinton Hits Trump on Tax Return Refusal
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: What does Donald Trump not want us to see? THE LEAD starts right now. Every presidential nominee has done it since Richard Nixon, so why is Donald Trump now going back on his own word to let the voters see what's in his tax returns, the tax returns of the super rich candidate? He is the man who signed what is perhaps the most controversial law in this country right now, North Carolina's so-called bathroom bill, a measure that critics say is discrimination against transgender individuals, plain and simple. Today, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory is here to tell why he thinks it's necessary. Plus, more mystery surrounding Prince's death. What was doctor doing at his estate the day Prince died?</s>QUESTION: Would you release tax returns?</s>DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would release tax returns. The answer is, yes, I would do it. I would certainly show tax returns if it was necessary. I have no objection to certainly showing tax returns.</s>TAPPER: Hmm, interesting. That was 2015. Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. Our politics lead. Mitt Romney predicted there would be a bombshell in Donald Trump's taxes, something so damaging, it might destroy Trump's taxes at winning the White House. You have just heard Trump say four times way back in February 2015 that if he faced these kinds of requests and challenges on his taxes, he would release his tax returns. Well, now we likely will not get the chance to ow if there are any bombshells before Americans vote in November. Trump told the Associated Press in an interview that -- quote -- "There's nothing to learn" from his stack of 1040s and W-2s and he will not follow the example of every single Democratic and Republican presidential nominee since 1976. Sara Murray is in New York. Sara, what's the Trump campaign's thinking on this issue? Why not just release his returns?</s>SARA MURRAY, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, their latest explanation is that Donald Trump is in the process of being audited and they don't want to release the returns at that point. But what's not clear is why he hasn't released perhaps returns from earlier years. What is clear is that Donald Trump is once again trying to rewrite the political playbook.</s>MURRAY (voice-over): Donald Trump's bucking tradition once again, refusing to release his tax returns before Election Day. Trump tells the Associated Press: "There's nothing to learn from them." But Trump would be the first nominee since 1976 to keep all his tax info under wraps. The returns shed light on a candidate's effective tax rate, charitable giving and investment income, all issues that have tripped up politicians in the past. Earlier this year, Trump suggested it was only a matter of months before he'd release his returns.</s>TRUMP: But I have one of the world's most complicated tax returns. It's a massive return. And -- but I will get it done as soon as I can.</s>MURRAY: Now the billionaire businessman isn't budging. His latest reason, claiming he can't release them because they're under audit.</s>TRUMP: I will absolutely give my return, but I'm being audited now for two or three years, so I can't do it until the audit is finished, obviously. While I'm under audit, I'm not going to release my tax returns. No lawyer would let you do that.</s>MURRAY: It's an excuse some tax experts balked at, saying releasing the returns wasn't likely to cause additional problems. But other experts said it may make sense as a legal strategy to keep his taxes under wraps. As for the IRS, it says individuals are free to release their own tax information. In fact, Richard Nixon did just that, releasing his returns while he was under audit in the 1970s. Today, Hillary Clinton seizing on Trump's reluctance to release his returns.</s>HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When you run for president, especially when you become the nominee, that is kind of expected. My husband and I have released 33 years of tax returns. We have got eight years on our Web site right now. So you have got to ask yourself, why doesn't he want to release them? Yes, well, we're going to find out.</s>MURRAY: Trump's resistance is a sharp about-face after he criticized 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney for failing to release his tax returns sooner.</s>TRUMP: I think that Mitt was hurt really very badly by this whole thing with the income tax returns. I believe that he should have either said I'm giving them April 1 or I'm giving them soon.</s>MURRAY: This year, the tables have turned, and it's Romney questioning what Trump is hiding.</s>MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I predict that there are more bombshells in his tax returns.</s>MURRAY: While Trump may never win over Romney, he's still looking to patch things up with Paul Ryan tomorrow on Capitol Hill. Even though the House speaker said he's not quite ready to endorse Trump, he insists he's still pushing for party unity.</s>REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: What we're trying to do is be as constructive as possible, but have a real unification. We just finished probably one of the most grueling primaries in modern history. It's going to take some work, and that's the kind of work we're dedicated to doing.</s>MURRAY: Now, Donald Trump has taken an unorthodox approach to pretty much everything in this campaign. And here is another example. He also told the Associated Press that he thought President Obama's data operation during his campaign was overrated. And Trump believes his recipe for success in November will rely more on his own personality and less on analytics -- Jake.</s>TAPPER: All right, Sara Murray, thank you so much. Donald Trump's refusal to reject the support of white supremacist organizations in an interview he did with me earlier this year made many Republican officials at the time nervous. But to those who belong to white supremacist or white nationalist groups, it was music to their ears. Take, for example, William Johnson. He's a Los Angeles-based corporate attorney selected by the Trump campaign to be one of its delegates in California. He's also chairman of the white nationalist American Freedom Party. The Southern Poverty Law Center calls the group -- quote -- "a political party initially established by racist Southern California skinheads that aims to deport immigrants and return the United States to white rule" -- unquote -- although Johnson is seemingly trying to make the group seem more mainstream. It is Johnson's voice you heard on those pro-Trump robo-calls that offended many Americans which we reported on back in February when Trump was running against senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.</s>WILLIAM JOHNSON, CHAIRMAN, AMERICAN FREEDOM PARTY: The white race is dying out in America and Europe because we are afraid to be called racists. Donald Trump is not a racist, but Donald Trump is not afraid. Don't vote for a Cuban. Vote for Donald Trump.</s>TAPPER: A spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, Hope Hicks, told "The Washington Post" that a database error led to Johnson's inclusion as a potential delegate after he had already been rejected by the campaign. Joining me now is William Johnson. Mr. Johnson, thanks so much for being here. Appreciate it.</s>JOHNSON: Oh, you're welcome. I'm happy to be here.</s>TAPPER: I'm not here to debate your ideology, with which, for the record, I could not disagree more strongly. I am interested, however, in what happened in the last day. My understanding is once some reporters noticed that you were a delegate and asked the Trump campaign about you, the Trump campaign tried to get you removed as a delegate, but it was too late. Is that correct?</s>JOHNSON: Well, I think that I was approved as a delegate. I submitted my application and I was approved. And then immediately when the list came out, they saw that they had a clerical error and so then they sent me an e-mail saying that you are removed from the list, so I wrote back an e-mail telling them, I understand. I resign. And then later in the day, I got contacted by a media person who says, well, you're still on the list. And so then I sent them a second e- mail saying that, I resign, I will not attend the convention, I will not be a delegate.</s>TAPPER: So the Trump campaign found it objectionable that you were on the list before reporters did; is that correct?</s>JOHNSON: No, I think what happens is that I slipped through the cracks, and they approved me. And then once the list came out, the media had intense interest in my listing, and so that caused them to review the situation, and that's how it transpired.</s>TAPPER: So you believe the campaign when they say that a database error led to you being chosen as a delegate?</s>JOHNSON: Yes, I believe that I submitted the application, and they did not intentionally have me on as a delegate. And so then when they found out about it, they corrected it and I concurred.</s>TAPPER: Do you think that Ms. Lagomarsino, Trump's California delegate coordinator, knew your views and your history when she first reached out to you and congratulated you on being a delegate?</s>JOHNSON: I believe that she did not know my views at all.</s>TAPPER: You told "Mother Jones," which broke the story, the following -- quote -- "For many, many years, when I would say these things, other white people would call me names. Oh, you're a hate-monger, you're a Nazi, you're like Hitler. Now they say -- now they come in and say, oh, you're like Donald Trump." What do you mean by that?</s>JOHNSON: Well, right now in today's society, they're passing around the word racist more and more and everybody is being called a racist nowadays. And so that term and all of these invectives are having less meaning. What I mean by that is that we're now able to more openly discuss issues regarding race because everybody is being called such invectives nowadays that it doesn't mean much anymore.</s>TAPPER: Do you believe that the white race or the European white race is the superior race? Is that your view?</s>JOHNSON: I believe that Western civilization is declining and dying out in every country around the world that has traditionally been white. Europe is being replaced by immigrants from Africa. America is -- the same thing is happening here. And so I believe that we need to be aware of this precipitous decline in the white race. And I think it's good for people to be proud of your heritage, whatever heritage that might be, but particularly for white people, because the whites now are so afraid to be proud of their heritage, because they're called bad names if they are.</s>TAPPER: What is it about Mr. Trump that you like?</s>JOHNSON: Mr. Trump is the real deal. He does not govern, he will not govern by public opinion poll. He says what's on his mind. This is kind of like what Ron Paul did. This is what Bernie Sanders is doing. And that's a refreshing change from the politicians that we have had for many decades. That is probably the best thing about him and what endears him to most people in general.</s>TAPPER: Do you think that he shares your views in terms of the decline of the United States because of other races coming to the United States?</s>JOHNSON: Well, no, I have not said that America has declined for that reason.</s>TAPPER: You suggested it.</s>JOHNSON: I'm saying that we are being dispossessed, but I have not attributed it to the other races. And you're saying things that I have not said. But I do believe that when you replace one people with another, that is not a good thing, whether it takes place in Mongolia or in Sweden. I think that Donald Trump has to be a president for all peoples. That's what all the presidents must do. It is up to me as an advocate for the white group to push our agenda more than any other agenda. That's my responsibility. His responsibility is to lead the entire country.</s>TAPPER: Mr. Johnson, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it.</s>JOHNSON: You're welcome.</s>TAPPER: So, how do other Trump supporters and the Republican Party respond to a Trump supporter who is a white nationalist? We will discuss next.