ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: And out front now, Donald Trump's campaign manager Kellyanne Conway. Kellyanne, thank you so much for being with me. I want to give you a chance to react to this news that Jamie just was breaking, former President George H.W. Bush says he will vote for Hillary Clinton.
That, of course, is not just not voting for Donald Trump, it is voting for Hillary Clinton. What is your response to that?
KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Well, I respect the 92-year-old former president very much and his decision. And I think that Americans are very grateful to the Bush family for their public service. That is his right.
It is ironic that he would vote for the wife of the man who knocked him out of the race, Bill Clinton defeated George Herbert Walker Bush, Bush 41, Erin, in 1992, for his reelection.
But look, this was a bruising primary, and Jeb Bush really failed all expectations that he would be the "electable," the predominant person on the stage. I mean, he lasted through South Carolina. Got out of the race before March 1st.
So I know there are a lot of hurt feelings there. That is his right. I think what's most disturbing about this report to me, Erin, is that someone divulged a private conversation. It doesn't seem it was meant for public consumption and that is always very bothersome to me.
BURNETT: Originally saying it to, obviously a member of the Kennedy family at a private gathering. As you point out, he has, of course, since come out and said it and is -- you know, said to Jamie. But, yes, fair point, it was originally meant to be private.
I want to ask you, Kellyanne, about the another story that is breaking tonight. This is The Washington Post report, reporting that Trump may have violated laws against self-dealing through his foundation.
And I don't know if you've had a chance to read it. But they lay out several donations that he made to charities in order to settle lawsuits. One of them involved Mar-a-Lago. It was a $100,000 donation to a veterans charity, and to settle fines that Mar-a-Lago owed Palm Beach over some sort of a dispute about a flagpole.
Of course, it is illegal to use a charity's money to benefit yourself or your businesses. Are you concerned at all that Trump may have broken the law?
CONWAY: No. And I would point out in the second paragraph of that story that you mention, Erin, it says "may have," and later on in the story it says the IRS may want to look into it. But of course they haven't.
And let's just go back. I think this is classic Donald Trump. He wanted to raise the American flag as high as he possibly could over Mar-a-Lago. I think a lot of Americans at this point would applaud that.
And, of course, the county said he couldn't do it. It had to be smaller. So they started assessing a $1,250-a-day fine. So the way that they "settled it" was for Mr. Trump to donate $100,000 to a veterans group. I don't want that to be lost here.
And so the money went to veterans. You know, the Trump Foundation started out with Mr. Trump's money. He was its sole owner for a very long time. And I want to point out to you that the Trump Foundation has no permanent, no paid staff, no overhead, no one from the Trump family takes a penny as a salary or as benefits.
Contrast that to, as we know, the slush fund otherwise known as the Clinton Foundation. As we speak they have their international donor fly in so that they can pick up all kinds of foreign cash to coincide with the U.N. General Assembly.
So I think there is absolutely no comparison between these two foundations, especially when you think about Hillary Clinton being a public servant, secretary of state, while the Clinton Foundation was doing a lot of its cash collecting.
I know when they left the white house they were quote, "dead broke." But, boy, are they worth a quarter of a billion dollars now. And it is no coincidence that it went along with the Clinton Foundation and her time in the State Department.
BURNETT: So let me ask you a couple of questions that you raise thethere, because you mention The Post saying "may have," and you are right, it does say "may have." It goes on though to quote a lawyer, Jeffrey Tenenbaum, who advises 700 non-profits annually on taxes, and his quote was "I've never encountered anything so brazen." Saying "it's as blatant an example of self-dealing as I have seen in a while."
Again, referring to that Mar-a-Lago example. There was another one with a golf course as well to settle a dispute. A donation was given from the foundation to charity.
Can you categorically say there was no self-dealing? Or at this point are you not sure?
CONWAY: Well, I've been talking to the people who are responsible for the Trump Foundation today, trying to get some facts and some figures. And so I know this is all developing. We need to gather information.
But let me tell you something. It is very important for people to understand what happened in these cases. Donations went to veterans groups. Donations went to another person's foundation, in another instance. The idea that the money went for -- when people hear self-dealing, Erin, you know what they think of immediately, that it's going or plane rides and fancy hotels and expensive meals and certainly salaries and overhead.
Again, that sounds to me like the Clinton Foundation where a report this weekend said about 6 percent of their money got to charities. A lot of it was wasted in overhead. That is not the case here.
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