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Obama;s Approval Rating Climb; Brazilian Families Delaying Pregnancies; Distracted Driving Solutions. Aired 9:30-10a ET
Aired August 04, 2016 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:30:54] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.
An American woman is dead, five others recovering after a stabbing spree in London. It happened near a popular park last night. Police Tasing the knife-wielding man before taking him into custody. At this point, police say there is no evidence that this was a terror attack.
CNN's Nima Elbagir joins us now live near the scene with more.
Hi, Nima.
(INAUDIBLE)
COSTELLO: That an American woman is dead and we hear the suspect that police say is responsible for those stabbings was somehow mentally unstable. Again, it wasn't terror related. Of course we'll take you back to London once we get our technical issues worked out.
It is President Obama's birthday and he gets to blow out the candles with the highest approval ratings in some time. According to a CNN/ORC poll, 54 percent think the president is doing a good job. That's on par with Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton in their last year in office. That could help Hillary Clinton in her bid for the White House. But there's also -- there's also other interesting numbers in this poll that could also affect the election. Seventy-six percent of Democrats think the country is in good shape, 42 percent of independents say the same, but only 17 percent of Republicans think the country is heading in the right direction. So what does all of this mean?
With me now, Republican strategist and Trump surrogate, Boris Epshteyn, Basil Smikle, he's the executive director at the New York State Democratic Party and a Hillary Clinton supporter, and CNN political commentator Lanhee Chen. He was also the former public policy director for Mitt Romney.
Welcome to all of you.
BORIS EPSHTEYN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Thank you.
BASIL SMIKLE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Thanks. LANHEE CHEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hi.
COSTELLO: Lonnie, I want to start with you. How is it possible that 76 percent of Democrats think the country is doing OK, and only 17 percent of Republicans do?
CHEN: Well, you know, this reflects a split that's been ongoing for some time. People -- if you look at President Obama --
COSTELLO: That's more than a split. That's big.
CHEN: Well, yes. No, no, that's certainly true, but it reflects a very different perspective of the president and what the president has done. And if you look at the presidents -- what he would term his signature accomplishments, Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, the stimulus, these are all matters that greatly divide Republicans and Democrats. So it doesn't surprise me at all to see that. And I also think there's a geographic issue as well if you've got Democrats that are largely more flustered in areas like California and New York where things are going relatively well economically. That might differ from those in the center of the country where the economy is a little weaker. So I think those explain some of the differences.
COSTELLO: So, Boris, how do you explain that? That's a huge split. Even among independents, it's a pretty big split. Forty-two percent think the country's going in the right direction, only 17 percent of Republicans.
EPSHTEYN: Well, if you look at the conventions, you saw in the -- we were just talking about the republican Convention, there was a lot of realism to it. It was reality. At the Democrat Convention, it was a bubble, living in a bubble. Things are great. America --
COSTELLO: So, Democrats are living in a fantasy world and Republicans are not?
EPSHTEYN: If you look at the numbers, 1.2 percent GDP growth in this country last quarter. That's anemic. And 0.8 percent in the quarter before. That's tiny. That's horrible. That's almost regression. And 1.2 percent is likely going to get revised down as well. The real unemployment is above 10 percent. This country is not in a good place right now and the market is high, but it's overbought, and that's my business and I'll tell you that.
COSTELLO: Basil.
SMIKLE: Well -- well, compared to where we were in --
COSTELLO: Are you living in a fantasy world?
SMIKLE: I am certainly not living in a fantasy world. If we compare where we are now to where we were when President Obama took office we -- the Dow is in record territory. So somebody's making money out there.
EPSHTEYN: And the market is overbought (ph). SMIKLE: So it's -- so -- well, look, that's the --
EPSHTEYN: Bu you don't understand when you talk about it.
SMIKLE: It's the issue -- the issue -- the issue here is that Republicans, for the last seven and a half years, have worked to de- legitimate this president. They've said he's not from here. Thy said he was a Muslim in an effort to sort of stoke fear. And they have basically said that everything that he has done, there has been an abuse or overuse of power. So it doesn't surprise me that Republicans think that the country is going in the wrong direction. But the fact is that with Donald Trump they do not also see a way out of it.
I think what Democrats do is see in Hillary Clinton, even if you're dissatisfied with where the country is going, a way to get better and to make it better.
[09:35:09] EPSHTEYN: Oh, no, speaking of abuse of power, we have to talk about the $400 million that just went under cloak and dagger to Iran as well.
COSTELLO: OK, we're -- we're going to get to that. We talked a lot about that morning frankly --
EPSHTEYN: Because Obama has had a lot of history --
COSTELLO: OK.
SMIKLE: That --
EPSHTEYN: Of abuse of power.
SMIKLE: But that said -- but that --
EPSHTEYN: So (INAUDIBLE). And Hillary Clinton has been one of the most abusive, non-truthful, (INAUDIBLE) truthful those numbers (INAUDIBLE).
SMIKLE: But that said -- talk about a bubble. Talk about a bubble.
COSTELLO: OK. So let's get back to this -- these economic numbers, because people care most about the economy, right? Can we all agree on that?
EPSHTEYN: Yes. Sure.
COSTELLO: Lanhee, can we agree on that? Yes. Yes.
OK, so -- so is Lanhee still with me?
CHEN: I'm here.
COSTELLO: Oh, good. Yeah. OK, so, Lanhee, Paul Manafort, Mr. Trump's campaign manager, was on "Good Morning America." He said that this is a change election. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PAUL MANAFORT, TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN MANAGER: This is a change election. The stakes of the election are, do you want more of the same, which is another third term for Obama, which is Secretary Clinton, or do you want real change. The American people consistently show they want change. The American people consistently show that they don't think she can bring the change. And that he's the change agent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: OK, let's talk about that, Lanhee, change agent. Seventy-six percent of Democrats and 42 percent of independents are OK with the direction the country is going. Fifty-four percent approve of President Obama. So does the country, as a whole, really want a change agent?
CHEN: I think there are a couple of factors here. First of all, after eight years of any presidential administration, it is generally the case that the country gets antsy. And so to characterize it as a change election in that sense, I think, is right. The problem is this. If you look at the stewardship of the economy over the last eight years, Democrats love to talk about, quote, how far we've come. But the reality is, that in many parts of the country, the economy still is not as strong as it should be, you still have a lot of people who are under employed, you have a lot of people who are looking for full- time work who are in part-time work. So for all of these different reasons, the economy is the critical issue, as you said, Carol. And so what Donald Trump needs to do if he wants to win this election, if he has any hope of winning this election, is to return the focus to the economy, because that ultimately is what is going to propel him, if he is going to have any shot at this election.
COSTELLO: Yes, because local polls show, Boris, in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, especially Pennsylvania and Michigan, where you think Donald Trump would be doing better, because he's talking to a group of people who are in need of some, you know, economic relief. But the local polls that just came out this morning show Hillary Clinton way ahead in New Hampshire and in Pennsylvania, and in Michigan.
EPSHTEYN: Polls go up and down, and he is ahead in Florida, and is ahead in Ohio. And as far as over all the country, consistently, 70 percent -- when polled overall, 70 percent to 80 percent of folks say the country is going in the wrong direction. So this is one poll we're talking about. But if you look on the Real Clear Politics --
COSTELLO: Well, that's not true.
SMIKLE: Well --
COSTELLO: I just cited a poll that is -- that didn't --
EPSHTEYN: If you look on Real Clear Politic, not between Republicans and Democrats and independents, but if you poll across party lines, across registration --
COSTELLO: That's what the CNN poll did. EPSHTEYN: Everybody just favorable versus unfavorable, not breaking
down by -- by party, over 70 percent of people feel this country is going in the wrong direction.
COSTELLO: Well, specifically -- OK, why -- why is Donald Trump not doing better in places like Michigan and Pennsylvania, because those are states he really wanted to do well in and thought he could. Why is he not?
EPSHTEYN: I few weeks ago he was up in Pennsylvania by five points. The polls go up and down. I will predict he will win Pennsylvania and do very well in Michigan, as well as Ohio, and Florida. And reason is because Hillary Clinton --
SMIKLE: Well, according to --
EPSHTEYN: Hold on. Let me finish. Hillary Clinton, it's a lifelong --
SMIKLE: According to those (INAUDIBLE) --
COSTELLO: Let him finish. Yes.
EPSHTEYN: Hillary Clinton is a lifelong job killer. NAFTA killed 700,000 jobs.
SMIKLE: (INAUDIBLE).
EPSHTEYN: TPP will kill millions of jobs. When Tim Kaine came into office, unemployment was 3 percent in Virginia. Now it's 7 percent, up four points.
SMIKLE: Well, but --
EPSHTEYN: That's a ticket that kills jobs.
SMIKLE: By Boris' logic, the people in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Ohio are living in the same bubble that he talked about earlier. I don't think that's the case. If you look at what Hillary Clinton is talking about, she's talking about growing the economy. I get, and Lanhee is correct, there are -- there are people in this country that do have genuine economic anxiety. And I think what Hillary Clinton is talking about, and she'll talk about this a bit in the next few days and weeks, is how you get businesses to create these apprenticeship programs, things that have been very successful across the country and even in other countries, in trying to move people into the middle class. So if you're unemployed, unemployed, have stepped out of the work force where wages are low, there is a way to move forward. So it's not about living in a bubble. It's about real, hard -- a pathway forward. It's about real policy solutions.
EPSHTEYN: And she's had 40 years. And she has not shown any ability to do her job. Donald Trump has done so in private (INAUDIBLE).
SMIKLE: And I can talk -- and I can talk on and on.
COSTELLO: She was secretary of state. They don't normally create jobs. SMIKLE: I can talk about -- I can talk about on and on about how the Clinton administration --
EPSHTEYN: When she -- when she became senator -- when she became senator, she promised 250,000 jobs to New York state. New York lost 70,000 jobs while she was senator.
COSTELLO: She won two terms in New York state.
SMIKLE: And she won two terms. Not only that, but she talked about -- she talked about --
EPSHTEYN: So that's what she promised and she failed.
SMIKLE: She talked about a bio tech sector in the capital region. She actually created --
EPSHTEYN: Well, what about jobs? Can you answer me on the specific jobs? She said she would create a quarter million jobs once senator. New York lost 70,000 to 80,000 jobs. That's a specific issue she ran on and she failed. Just as she failed as secretary of state on the international failures.
[09:40:03] SMIKLE: And he did not -- no, she did not -- she -- she did not -- she did not fail. If you actually go -- go to --
EPSHTEYN: Did the jobs get created?
SMIKLE: Yes.
EPSHTEYN: No, they did not.
SMIKLE: If you go through the state -- did you go through the state of New York? Have you been in Buffalo? Have you been in Syracuse? Have you been on Long Island? Have you talked to the young people? Have you talked to the --
EPSHTEYN: Are the number -- are the numbers not right? Did she not promise 250? She did. She lost her job.
SMIKLE: Have you talked to the young people who --
COSTELLO: I don't think you two are going to agree on this issue.
EPSHTEYN: No, we're probably not. We're not.
COSTELLO: So, I'm going to leave it there.
EPSHTEYN: But we're still friends.
COSTELLO: Thank you both. Boris Epshteyn, Basil Smikle, Lanhee Chen, thanks to all of you.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Florida steps up its fight against Zika, as the virus forces couples thousands of miles away to face heartbreaking decisions over the future of their families. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Mosquito control officers in Florida are fighting Zika from the air. They began aerial spraying this morning over a Miami neighborhood facing an outbreak of the virus. This comes as people in Brazil, which has become ground zero in the fight against Zika, are forced to make tough decisions about whether to start a family. CNN's chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has more for you.
[09:45:04] (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): All across Salvador, Brazil, rooms sit empty, like this one. No sign of the child Ana Cassia hoped to have.
GUPTA (on camera): Is it tough to see these -- this room empty?
GUPTA (voice-over): They were high school sweethearts, and children were always part of the plan. But it was late last year when Ana and Alberto decided the time was finally right.
ANA CASSIA MIRANDA, FROZE EMBRYOS (through translator): We were planning to get pregnant this year, but because of Zika, we decided to wait more. There isn't much that we can do about it, and it worries us.
GUPTA: You see, when a link between Zika and birth defects became clearer, the Brazilian government gave a stern and heartbreaking warning, don't get pregnant.
GUPTA (on camera): So these are the -- these are the tanks?
DR. GENEVIEVE COELINO, DIRECTOR, IVI BRAZIL (ph): These are the tanks where we keep the embryos, the eggs and the semen.
GUPTA: So Ana's embryos are in one of these tanks?
COELINO: Yes. sure.
GUPTA (voice-over): Doctor Genevieve Coelino has been a fertility doc in Salvador for ten years. She first saw Ana a year ago for help with fertility, but then Zika started to spread.
COELINO: And then I suggest, OK, freeze your embryos, and then later, when there is like a solution, or a light at the end of the tunnel with all this things, all of the Zika virus, you can decide.
GUPTA: At a cost of around $8,000, this is not an option for most of the population here, where the average income is just a few hundred dollars a month. And many don't have access to birth control. For most people like Bruno and Vanessa, delaying is the only option. For the time being, they're also living with an empty room.
GUPTA (on camera): How long will you wait? What's next for you?
BRUNO NASCIMENTO, DELAYING HAVING CHILDREN (through translator): We hope that with all the research and people studying it, it gets better in about two or three years.
GUPTA: Two or three years. You can wait that long?
VANESSA NEVES, DELAYING PREGNANCY (through translator): I will try. It's already been really hard.
GUPTA (voice-over): It is difficult to imagine entire towns, even countries, with hardly any new babies for two years. Hard to imagine the loss economically, socially, culturally. No babies crying, or laughing. In the meantime, rooms will stay empty, even as names are already chosen.
NEVES (through translator): The child isn't even born, but she already has a name. The girl was going to be named Valentina.
GUPTA (on camera): You already have names picked out?
MIRANDA: (INAUDIBLE).
GUPTA: You're confident that you will -- you will have a baby one day?
MIRANDA: I'm so sure. I'm really confident that this home will soon have three people in here instead of two. It's just a matter of time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: Carol, safe to say that what's happening with Zika has led to these remarkable recommendations. I mean in Florida you're hearing of people not -- being advised not to travel to a particular American neighborhood. Entire countries, the recommendation has been, don't get pregnant, which is why there's even more of a focus on the vaccine and some sort of relief. You know, what can be done for these families. They're all waiting to hear about that as well, Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Dr. Sanjay Gupta reporting live from Rio this morning.
Thank you.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, making our roads safer. The new technology aiming to keep drivers off their phones.
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[09:53:00] COSTELLO: When you're behind the wheel, a smart phone can be a deadly distraction. But now one engineer says he's found the answer to cutting down on those digital diversions. CNN digital correspondent Kelly Wallace has more for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLY WALLACE, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Scott Tibbitts of Boulder, Colorado, is on a mission to prevent families from ever getting the call that their loved one's died as a result of distracted driving. SCOTT TIBBITTS, CEO-FOUNDER, KATASI: I'm over here, a scientist and
engineer, and, but, boy, scratch the surfaces. You know, more than anything else, I'm a father.
WALLACE: Back in 2008, after Tibbitts arrived for a business meeting, he learned the person he was to meet with had been killed only hours earlier by a driver who was allegedly texting behind the wheel.
TIBBITTS: There's just this cathartic empathy for the tragedy of it. And having just driven through the intersection, then the entrepreneur kicks in. Wow, maybe there's a solution. Maybe it's technical. Maybe there's an invention that could do this that could save a lot of lives.
WALLACE: Tibbitts' answer is called Groove, a little device that plugs into your car underneath the steering wheel. Groove alerts your mobile phone provider to hold all e-mails, texts and social networking updates and prevents you from sending messages and posting on social media while driving.
TIBBITTS: Just when you start driving, you go into the super airplane mode, where the things that would distract you go away. All of a sudden those capabilities are not on the phone any more.
WALLACE: Jesse Hoggard, chief marketing officer for CellControl, demonstrates his company's answer to distracted driving. It's called Drive I.D.
JESSE HOGGARD, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, CELLCONTROL: It's solar powered. And it will mound to the windshield of the car right underneath and behind the rear view mirror. And with that in place and our app on the phone or devices that you want to protect in the vehicle, we can restrict access to applications on the phone either throughout the entire vehicle for all passengers or for just the driver.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[09:55:04] WALLACE: And the wireless phone providers, think AT&T, Verizon and Sprint, also have their own answers. They have these free apps that you can download. And, Carol, basically they silence any incoming calls and text messages and prevent you from texting as well while you're driving. So good to check them out.
But, interestingly, some experts believe down the road the technology that will really bring an end to the distracted driving is the technology that brings an end to drivers themselves, autonomous vehicles.
COSTELLO: That's right.
WALLACE: Take -- take the matter out of our hands and then we'll be safe again.
COSTELLO: Interesting. So just -- because I'm interested --
WALLACE: Yes.
COSTELLO: So those things that you can put on a car to prevent you from using your phones --
WALLACE: Right.
COSTELLO: Are they selling? Are people buying them?
WALLACE: Well, CellControl is. It costs $129. And it's basically -- that's it. You know, you put that in your car and then you download the app. So companies are using them. Consumers are using them. So they're seeing some real interest. Now, Groove is really in pilot programs in Australia and here in the United States. It needs the support of the wireless phone provider and it's a work in progress right now.
COSTELLO: Interesting. Kelly Wallace, thanks so much.
WALLACE: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Kelly's special, by the way, "Driving While Distracted," airs Saturday afternoon, 2:30 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN.
The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a break.
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