CNN's Brianna Keilar hoped to ask Donald Trump's corporate counsel, Michael Cohen, if the new hires at the top of the campaign indicated that there was a shake-up happening. Cohen denied that this was the case, so she decided to frame the question by noting that Trump is trailing.
When asked about being down in the race, Trump adviser replies, "Says who?"https://t.co/HO9wqbdDWR https://t.co/C2UzSDdUo4
— The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) August 17, 2016
The transcript:
KEILAR: Let me ask you about this. You say it is not a shake-up, but you guys are down.COHEN: Says who?KEILAR: Polls. Most of them. All of them?
There is a silent pause of four seconds. I timed it.
COHEN: Says who?KEILAR: Polls. I just told you. I answered your question.COHEN: Okay. Which polls?KEILAR: All of them.COHEN: Okay. And your question is?
Go watch it again. It's terrific. I will wait.
For what it's worth, every poll tracked by RealClearPolitics has shown Hillary Clinton with a lead over Trump this month. State polls in Texas, Mississippi and Indiana released this week show Trump with leads in a two-way contest, but polls from Colorado, Virginia, Iowa, Michigan, New York and New Hampshire all show Clinton in the lead.
Trump's campaign has been insisting that the race is tightening, but only die-hard Trump supporters have claimed that he's actually winning, usually by pointing to nonscientific polls or other weird metrics. Trump himself tweeted a poll on Tuesday for the first time in two weeks despite it showing him down two points. Even a poll conducted by the Trump-friendly Breitbart News, the head of which left to take a position in Trump's campaign — a big part of that shake-up — found Trump down 5 points.
Polls say you're down, Mr. Cohen. That's who. And on a national level: All of them.