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Hugh Hewitt Weighs in on 2016 Race; Stephen Colbert's "Late" Night Debut. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired September 08, 2015 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[08:30:00] GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: Can't do it alone. And our state has demonstrated that.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Governor, quickly tell us -

A. CUOMO: I can't pass -

CAMEROTA: Oh, sorry.

A. CUOMO: I can't pass a tougher law than we did or a smarter law than we did.

CAMEROTA: Understood. Tell us quickly what you're doing in Puerto Rico this morning.

A. CUOMO: I'm in Puerto Rico with Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla, who is a great governor, going through real challenges, as we are in other parts of the United States. And Puerto Rico right now, as you know, is facing an economic crisis, a health care crisis and we're here with a team from New York to work through together some solutions to the problems that Puerto Rico is facing. New York has more Puerto Ricans than any place other than on the island of Puerto Rico. So we have a natural and institutional connection with Puerto Rico and the governor is a good friend and we - we help each other whenever we can.

CAMEROTA: OK, Governor, please let Carey Gabay's family know that we're keeping him in our thoughts and, please, keep us updated on his condition. Thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.

A. CUOMO: Thank you. Thank you for having me, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Let's get over to Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: A fresh round of heat for Hillary Clinton. A new review finds that top secret e-mails did arrive in her personal inbox, but were they marked classified? And should it matter to voters? We'll explore that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:35:21] PEREIRA: Here we go with the five things to know for your NEW DAY.

At number one, "The New York Times" reports on a new special review that classified information was sent to Hillary Clinton's personal e- mail. It is unclear if they were marked classified at the time. Clinton's campaign insists she has done nothing wrong.

This morning, hundreds of refugees breaking past security camps - are lines at a camp on the Serbian/Hungary border. Families are seen running across an open field into Hungary desperately seeking sanctuary.

Pope Francis announcing significant new procedures for annulling marriages within the Catholic faith. He wants them to be quicker and easier for Catholics.

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee will lead a rally today in support of jailed Kentucky clerk Kim Davis. She's behind bars for refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.

Serena Williams chasing tennis history at the U.S. Open. She's going to have to get through her big sister Venus to continue her quest, though, for a calendar slam. The two play tonight in the quarter finals.

For more on the five things to know, be sure to visit newdaycnn.com.

Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: What a match that's going to be when the sisters go after it.

PEREIRA: Yes.

C. CUOMO: So much history on the line.

All right, so the state of play with the Hillary e-mail scandal. If it was top secret, but was it marked that way, is Hillary Clinton to blame? Her campaign, obviously, says no. He detractors, obviously, say yes. Should Clinton have been using a personal e-mail device in the first place? Should she have? Was she allowed to. Different questions, different answers, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:40:52] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Boohoo, Mrs. Clinton. I mean Mrs. Clinton is the same person who compared Republicans to terrorists. For heaven sakes, I actually wish Mr. Trump would throw a little more heat Hillary Clinton's way. I feel sometimes as though I'm the only candidate who's consistently been critical of her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

C. CUOMO: You don't hear many people saying that Donald Trump needs to be more negative. It is early, but the 2016 race has gone ugly early, hasn't it? You've got Carly Fiorina there with the boohoo to Hillary because of Hillary's calls that the e-mail scandal coverage is unfair. Clinton, indeed, likening Republicans to terrorists in her own way. And Trump attacking everyone who gets in his way, including our guest Hugh Hewitt, host of "The Hugh Hewitt Show." I will not introduce you the way that Mr. Trump suggests that you be

introduced on this show, but what do you think of the state of play and do you believe it is fair criticism that you added to somewhat of the hostility in the mix?

HUGH HEWITT, HOST, "THE HUGH HEWITT SHOW": You know, I'm happy to be called by any of the candidates whatever they think. And I think Donald Trump is entitled to his criticism of my interviews. I've done 30 of those interviews, Chris, in the last month since the first debate with various candidates. Some have liked it. Some haven't. John Kasich is my home state governor. It gets a little prickly with me occasionally. If Donald Trump doesn't like it, that's fine. Our job - and I think, you know, this is the business we've chosen - is to ask tough questions that on my part I want Republican primary voters who are interested in the field to hear asked and answered by all of the candidates. So I asked them all the same thing.

I think it is an unusually early start. And I read Peggy Noonan (ph) on Friday with great interest saying, none of these candidates are going away. You know, Jeb Bush isn't going to fade. I said on "Meet the Press" on Sunday, Scott Walker isn't going to fade, even though he had a bumpy week. No one's going to fade out of this thing. And in six months, on March 15th, when we have the first winner take all set of primaries, then the field will start to clear. Until then, I expect the hammers to keep throwing and a week from tomorrow night, in Simi Valley, Jake and Dana and I will be asking questions and I expect the sparks will fly between the candidates, not between the candidates and the panelists.

C. CUOMO: Well, that's what it's supposed to be, as you know, but they do -

HEWITT: Yes.

C. CUOMO: But it is fair basis of criticism about how we are covering it. You know, the criticism with you about the gotcha stuff, that doesn't resonate with me so much. Maybe that's a statement against interests because maybe I'm in the same game that you are. So it - the criticism doesn't strike me the same way. But you could say that what you did with Donald Trump made a suggestion that you don't like Trump. That if you liked him -

HEWITT: Oh, but I do.

C. CUOMO: But if you wanted to help him, you wouldn't have asked him those -

HEWITT: Oh, but I do love Donald Trump.

C. CUOMO: But then why ask him questions that you had to know he probably wouldn't be able to answer quickly?

HEWITT: Well, I love Donald Trump. He's the best interview in America. And he's been on six times with me, Chris.

I began - the unfortunate part was the - you know, when you do phone interviews, sometimes people hear things differently. I think he generally did hear Quds as Kurds and so that was fine. And at the end, he made a statement which is fine with many people, that he will get up to speed on various issues as we get closer.

I have a piece going up on cnn.com today about the Iranian deal. And I was mostly concerned with the impact of giving $100 million to the - $100 billion to the Quds forces, which is led by General Soleimani, who is their number one terrorist mastermind in the world. I asked all of the candidates about the impact of the Iran deal. And so I don't worry about if there's a momentary misunderstanding. I'm sure Donald Trump will be back. He has been - he's been on so often. He's a great interview. But all of them need to look at - and I'm glad that Trump and Cruz are doing a big anti-Iran deal tomorrow.

Republicans are unanimous in their opposition to this deal. They know it's a terrible deal for the world. They are unanimous in the fact that Hillary Clinton abused her server under 18 USC 1924. They are better - some are better at some issues than others. Donald Trump's very good on the wall. Carly Fiorina is very good on intelligence matters. She was part of the advisory council at the Central Intelligence Agency. They all have strengths and weaknesses. Our job, or at least my job at the debate, is to ask questions that allow Republican primary voters to decide who's best positioned to win in 2016 and to be a very successful Reagan-like commander in chief in 2017. That's how I view my job.

[08:45:06] C. CUOMO: Now you get billed as a conservative host. Let me just ask you one thing that you just said there. They are all unanimous that Hillary Clinton abused using her server under that U.S. code. Do you believes that that is a fair assessment of that situation when there is no direct charge of that by any federal agency right now?

HEWITT: Absolutely. And I base it on this, Chris. My first job in the federal government after I clerked on the D.C. Circuit was as the special assistant to Attorney General Bill Smith and then (INAUDIBLE) as their Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court special assistant and I know what sensitive compartmented information is. I know what a skiff facility is. And I know that 18 U.S.C 1924 has a knowingly requirement in it. Meaning if you've got information that you know is classified, you're in violation of the law. It's not about whether it's marked. It's about whether the recipient or the sender knows it ought to be classified.

For example, I was at CNN yesterday morning. We were passing around e- mails about what the debate will be about. I know that those should not go outside of the circle of people working on the debate - I know that. It's not marked "do not distribute." It's just something you know. I think Mrs. Clinton knowingly had on her private server very sensitive, (INAUDIBLE) information, keyword information, talent keyhole is what it's called. And I believe that this will come out eventually.

I think her candidacy is doomed. I think Joe Biden, as Rupert Murdoch tweeted out last night, is going to get in because Mrs. Clinton has no excuse. I believe it's a violation of law and I believe it will come out. And I don't know that O.J. murdered people, but I'm absolutely certain that, you know - I'd believe he did but there was no verdict that he did. You don't need a verdict to come to a conclusion about someone's guilt.

C. CUOMO: Well, there was a civil case going. We're going to have to wait for some proper proof that makes the point that you're making now about Hillary Clinton.

Hugh Hewitt, thank you very much for being on the show. Always a pleasure.

Mick?

HEWITT: Thank you, Chris.

PEREIRA: All right, "The Late Show" with Stephen Colbert debuts tonight. How are viewers going to react to the real Colbert not in character? We're going to take a closer look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:50:36] STEPHEN COLBERT, LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW HOST: I worked really hard to be that other guy for ten years. I hope they'll find out pretty quickly that the guy they saw for ten years was my sense of humor the whole time. It is, I guess, flattering that people thought I was an actual pundit or a newsman eventually over the years. But it's really nice to not have to pretend it anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Oh, isn't that interesting insight? That was Stephen Colbert talking about his debut tonight as the host of "The Late Show." He'll be himself instead of that conservative character that he played for so many years on Comedy Central.

Here with us this morning, Bill Carter, CNN contributor and author of "The War for Late Night." Dean Obeidallah is here, he's also a columnist for "The Daily Beast," host of "The Dean Obeidallah Show" on SiriusXM.

Really interesting to hear him say, Dean, that there's going to be freedom in just getting to be himself.

DEAN OBEIDALLAH, HOST, "THE DEAN OBEIDALLAH SHOW" ON SIRIUSXM: It's going to be interesting. But the question is, will it resonate with the audience? Because the audience knows him. He became famous from a character. Now he's giving up this character. So he's in a unique position. Everyone will compare him to Letterman, fair or not. But they'll also compare him to Colbert the character. There's no doubt you'll see headlines, "Colbert not as funny as Colbert." I'm writing it for you.

PEREIRA: Well, I even saw that he, in one of his interviews, he says, look, he's having to compete against two shows, "Letterman" and "The Colbert Show."

BILL CARTER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Exactly and I think he's aware of that. Really smart guy, this guy. And I think - This is a liberation for him. He was fighting it for the last - I don't know how many years. Being in that character, only in that character, imagine doing that, every time you come on, you have to be somebody else. Well, this isn't what I'd say, this is what the other guy would say. There would be a filter. People told me they would write jokes and he would rewrite them for the character. He actually, in his head, would rewrite each joke. It's hard to do.

PEREIRA: What are we expecting? What kind of buzz are you hearing about what we can expect tonight? We know he's got a fairly big name joining him today.

OBEIDALLAH: I think that people are looking forward to a different type of show on some stretch in that it's not going to be the character. It's a him being funny, like traditional monologue perhaps. (INAUDIBLE) a lot of politics and I think - And that's what he's carving himself out from the other people. In the first two weeks you've got Jeb Bush, you got Joe Biden, the U.N. Secretary General. Who has the U.N. Secretary General on their second week show? That's remarkable.

CARTER: Exactly. He's trying to send a message that he is going to have different kinds of guests. But I'm fascinated to see what he does to open the show because I don't think he's a traditional standup at all. He hasn't really done that. What is he going to do? How is he going to open his show? Is he going to be behind it? He was always behind the desk before. Is he going to stand up? There's a lot of little technical things. The whole stage is going to look different. His desk is on the opposite site from "Letterman." There's a whole lot of different things.

PEREIRA: They want to break from that.

CARTER: Of course. Yeah.

PEREIRA: Because he obviously doesn't want to disrespect Letterman's legacy. But it's interesting because I know so many of these things have been looked at and examined. He's had a fair amount of lead time to get ready for this. But you talk about the politics and how much they're going to play in. If you look, you wouldn't necessarily know it by looking at some of the guests for week one. George Clooney, Jeb Bush -- yes, obviously -- Scarlett Johansson, Elon Musk, Joe Biden in there, Travis Kalanick, Amy Schumer, Stephen King. I mean, he's -- there's wide appeal here.

CARTER: Yes.

OBEIDALLAH: He has no choice, right? It's network. It's not niche on cable anymore and that's a big part of it.

CARTER: You have to remember -- that's another thing. He's moving up from a show where he didn't have a big audience. He had a very loyal audience. So he's got to bring in many more people. He's got to expand his base. I've said this many times, I think he's sending a message with the Jeb Bush thing, that he's welcoming Republicans in because he was basically mocking conservatives in his old show.

PEREIRA: Well, and this might be a question best suited for you because look at what he's coming into, right? The late night wars, there new era, there's a slew of new hosts. But you're -- he's trying to hit that juggernaut of Fallon and those numbers that he's got. But he's got some stiff competition.

CARTER: He does. He has real competition. The other two guys are well established. Not that many people are going to quit those shows to watch his show. He has to sort of recruit Letterman's people and his old people and put it all together. And you're going to see - I think you're already seeing some challenging booking going on. You know, "The Tonight Show" has been leading the way and they're both in New York so they'll both be competing for the same guests.

PEREIRA: Dean, Bill, I know you'll both be in your jammies watching tonight.

OBEIDALLAH: Yes. Very much. Very excited.

CARTER: All right. I'll do that.

PEREIRA: And I will watch your Twitter feeds, both of you.

CARTER: All right. I'll be ready.

PEREIRA: Thanks so much, gentleman.

[08:54:37] All right, we have a little "Good Stuff" coming your way next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

C. CUOMO: All right, we have "The Good Stuff" for you and as often happens, it comes in response to bad stuff. Deputy Sheriff Mike Walsh pulls over a car for failing to obey a traffic sign. Then he becomes a victim. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He just got out of the car and started beating the officer. So I beat him. And then I got on top of him beating him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

C. CUOMO: This is a bystander saying what this man did, the driver. He got out of the car, ripped off the headset off the officer, broke his Taser, started beating him on the ground. But that man that you just heard, a bystander, he and two others saw what was happening. You know what they did? They did something.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I see people fighting a police officer, whatever, I'm gonna stop and help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

C. CUOMO: Three good Samaritans. As a result, the man who was driving that car is now in jail and deputy Walsh can walk away with injuries, but with life ahead of him.

PEREIRA: And probably renewing his faith, too, in the community, right? Especially given the sentiment that's out there right now.

CAMEROTA: But also so scary for a bystander to have to go intervene when there's a -- you know that at least one person has a gun, the officer. And to step in and save that officer's life, it's so great.

PEREIRA: Right. Thanks for bringing that to -

C. CUOMO: Three guys stopped and helped. One was named Copper, one was Velazquez and one there was another guy. I'm going to tweet the link to the story and the good guys there because I want them to get the recognition for being "The Good Stuff."

PEREIRA: Absolutely. They're the heroes.

CAMEROTA: Fantastic. All right, time now for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello.