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New Jobs Numbers Released; Trump Says New Jobs Numbers Disappointing; New CNN Documentary Give In-depth Look at Trump; Interview with Trump's Doctor. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired September 02, 2016 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:30:00] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: New jobs numbers released this morning will become potentially a key talking point for both of the presidential campaigns. We'll talk about the political impact in just a moment.
I want to bring in our chief business correspondent, Christine Romans, who is in New York, to break down the numbers for us.
Christine, what were the highlights and low lights?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: This was a number, jobs growth not exactly as strong as economists expected. It was a strong June and July. 150,000 net new jobs created. When you look at the unemployment rate, that's where that some economists are calling near full employment. You could see how it has come down from those terrible days in the years -- last seven years. One thing you talk and the good, the bad, the ugly, the labor force participation rate is still at a low level. They are leaving the labor force, and young workers getting into the labor force a little bit later, but you wow would like to see more people engaged in the market. But numbers looking pretty solid here. This is mature recovery here at this point. You are seeing jobs in food service, lower paid jobs. Business information services, financial jobs, higher paid jobs. We lost jobs in manufacturing again, and that's something you have seen resonating on the campaign trail as you know, Wolf. I would say this is a "B," if I had to give it a letter grade, of what has been an "A" labor market in the past couple of months.
BLITZER: Christine Romans, thank you very much.
And job creation is a major issue for both presidential campaigns. How are they viewing the jobs report? The Trump campaign released a statement saying, "The August jobs report shows the stagnant Clinton- Obama economy fails to deliver the jobs American's desperately need." That's the Trump campaign. While the Clinton campaign fired back with this, "Donald Trump is doubling down on the trickle-down policies that led to the crisis on the first place. Trump has no grasp of reality and no clue how to help working families."
Here with us right now is the U.S. labor secretary, Thomas Perez, who has gone through these numbers.
You are here in your official capacity. I know you are a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton as well. What do you say to the Republicans who say these numbers are disappointing because the jobs created, most of those jobs were low paying jobs?
THOMAS PEREZ, U.S. LABOR SECRETARY & HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: That's incorrect. You look at the job growth over the last two to three years, especially, and the sectors that have seen the greatest growth are middle and upper class jobs, education and health, business and professional services, financial services, construction, 200,000 jobs. At the beginning of this recovery, the jobs that were created were disproportionately lower wage jobs. Now we have seen not only quantity of jobs created but quality of jobs created. It is important to remind folks where we were at the beginning of the president's administration. 2.3 million jobs lost before this president took office, unemployment inching toward 10 percent. Now we're at 4.9 percent. We've had 71 months in a row of job growth. We've got more work to do, but people are better off now than they were a year ago.
BLITZER: Donald Trump says that number is fiction. He says it's much, much higher, especially for African-Americans or Hispanics, because so many people have given up hope and left the job market.
PEREZ: Well, I won't comment on any one particular candidate. But I will say this. You look at the last 30-plus years, you had 20 years of Republicans controlling the White House, and you have had 15 years and change of Democrats controlling the White House. Net new job growth in the private sector, job gain minus job loss, when the 20 years of Republican control of the White House, 15.8 million. Net new private-sector job growth with Democrats with four-plus less years, 31.8 million net new jobs grown in the private sector. You look at that and those numbers speak for themselves. Look at what this president has been able to do and what we see in these numbers, 182,000 jobs, on average this year, we see an economy that's moving in the right direction. We have unfinished business. There is no doubt about it. The economy is out of balance for too many people. We have to work on wage growth. Although in the last year, we have seen 2.4 percent wage growth. This year we've seen annualized 2.8. So we're moving in the right direction that way, but we have more work to do and we know how to do it.
BLITZER: Especially with African-Americans because 8.1 percent is almost double it is for the rest of the country.
PEREZ: Absolutely. And the unemployment rate of the African- Americans was over 16 percent in the depth of the recession. So we have made tremendous progress.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: How do you get that 8.1 percent?
PEREZ: The president has been doubling down on investments and apprenticeship, for instance. Earlier this week, I was in Minnesota. Their construction project, the new stadium that will open for the Vikings in a couple weeks, they had 37 percent minority participation. They had a project labor agreement that was a partnership with labor unions and businesses and they had 9 percent female participation. I met young African-American women who not only helped build that stadium but punching their ticket to the middle class. And these are the investments that the president has been doubling down so we can build an economy that works for every zip code.
[13:35:32] BLITZER: Veterans, we're told now the unemployment rate among vets is slightly higher than it was a year ago. How do you fix that?
PEREZ: The unemployment rate among veterans is still lower than the national rate. Post-9/11 era is still too high. We have an office devoted to veterans employment and training. And one of the things we have to do is meet that veteran where we are. So we have a lot of veterans who have disabilities, including but not limited to PTSD. They have tremendous talent and we have got to make sure we address them where they are and we have worked collaboratively with so many businesses and applaud businesses across the country. Everybody understands that veterans, they not only got those hard skills, but they have those equally important life skills. They know what working on a team is. They know what working under pressure means. And I am proud of the record we have at the Department of Labor hiring veterans because they are among the best and the brightest.
BLITZER: Thomas Perez, labor secretary, thanks very much for joining us.
PEREZ: Good to be with you.
BLITZER: Good conversation.
PEREZ: Thank you.
BLITZER: Up next, the new CNN "Special Report" digs into Donald Trump's life and nothing is off limits. His childhood, his business, his fame, and tabloid scandals all explored.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CINDY ADAMS, COLUMNIST, NEW YORK TIMES & TRUMP FRIEND: You can't equal Donald's fame. And also he never found a blonde he couldn't touch.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:41:59] BLITZER: In less than 67 days, Donald Trump potentially could be elected the next president of the United States. So how did a man once known for filling the pages of tabloids and coining a reality show slogan get just steps away from the most powerful office in the world? A new CNN documentary takes an in-depth look at the candidate's life and unconventional path to the nomination.
Here is a sneak peak.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAY GOLDBERG, TRUMP DIVORCE ATTORNEY: Every place they went, they were covered.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Attorney Jay Goldberg was Donald Trump's divorce lawyer.
GOLDBERG: It was World War 3. It was on front page, back page, inside covers, inside stories.
BORGER: Cindy Adams, a friend of Donald's, covered it all for the "New York Post."
ADAMS: They were on the Manhattan social scene. They were at events and Ivana always had much to say. The problem is you can't equal Donald's fame. And also, he never found a blonde he couldn't touch.
BORGER: Enter Marla Maples. She was a beauty pageant winner fresh from Georgia, an aspiring model and actress in her early 20s.
(on camera): When did the relationship with Marla start?
ADAMS: The relationship started -- when he was still married happily to Ivana, that's when the relationship started.
ALAN LAPIDUS, ARCHITECT, TRUMP PLAZA HOTEL & CASINO: When Donald was still married to Ivana and slipping away as Marla, I was what was known as "The Beard." I would take Marla to dinner and, at some point, she would disappear into the limousine.
BORGER (voice-over): Marla stayed at Trump Plaza while Ivana worked at Trump's castle across town. They would eventually cross paths here on the slopes of Aspen. The tabloids exploded and so did the marriage.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Gloria Borger is behind this report. She is here with us now.
Gloria, explain what this piece is all about, and why you decided to do this.
BORGER: CNN made a commitment to two two-hour biographies, one of Hillary Clinton, one of Donald Trump. And what we tried to do is take a step back and provide a portrait of Donald Trump's life, starting from when he was a brash, young builder, moving from Queens into Manhattan, through Atlantic City, through "The Apprentice," when he became a reality tv star up, until this moment when he is a presidential candidate.
BLITZER: What did you find most surprising?
BORGER: In interviewing an awful lot of people who have known him for 30 years-plus, what I found surprising is they say this is the same Donald Trump that they knew 30 years ago, that he has always been the same person, and that nothing that he has done that surprised many of us surprises them at all. I've had people say to me, look, he used to walk into a room and disrupt a meeting and then walk out, and we were all sitting there going, OK, what do we do next? And I think that's exactly what he's done in many ways with this campaign.
[13:45:17] BLITZER: Terrific two-hour documentary.
BORGER: Thank you, Wolf.
BLITZER: Looking forward to seeing it.
To our viewers, you can watch both of these Monday, labor day, Hillary Clinton at 8:00 p.m. eastern, and Donald Trump two hours later, at 10:00 eastern, only here on CNN.
Up next, CNN goes one-on-one with the man behind Donald Trump's unusual letter of health. His doctor is standing by the assertion that Trump would be the healthiest president ever elected in the United States.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Donald Trump's personal doctor is taking heat for a rather unusual letter of health he wrote for the candidate. Dr. Harold Bornstein has treated Donald Trump for more than 30 years. And today, he's defending his career in a signoff on Trump's health in a one-on- one interview with CNN's Drew Griffin.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[13:50:] DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Dr. Bornstein.
(voice-over): We met Donald Trump's doctor entering his Park Avenue office just as he's done for the last 35 years.
(on camera): How is it going?
DR. HAROLD BORNSTEIN, DONALD TRUMP'S PHYSICIAN: Nice to see you.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Harold Bornstein is a 69-year-old gastroenterologist who took over this practice from his father, and suddenly finds his lifetime of serving patients being turned upside down because of one letter.
(on camera): Hey, can I ask you in just a couple questions, did you really write that letter?
BORNSTEIN: Did I really write that letter? Yeah.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): It is a letter Donald Trump produced last December to prove he is healthy. A note that has been ripped apart by other doctors because of what they say is "strange wording," medically incorrect terms and its unprofessional conclusions. "Trump's test results were astonishingly excellent," he writes, "And if elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency."
Combined with his somewhat unconventional looks, and his unconventional patient, Bornstein has been made out in the aggressive election coverage to be somewhat eccentric.
(on camera): Sir, can we just ask you a few questions?
(voice-over): The soft-spoken doctor finally agreed, if we weren't intrusive or insulting, to take a few questions on the bench outside his office. Warning us, his wife will not be so hospitable.
BORNSTEIN: Right here is fine. My wife will come back and get angry with you.
GRIFFIN (on camera): The press has kind of tried to make you into some kind of a lunatic or something.
BORNSTEIN: Well, lunatic doesn't have my credentials. The only thing I want to do with my life is practice with my father which I managed to do for 35 years until his death in this office.
BLITZER: And we've looked, believe me, sir, we've looked at your record. We've looked for any signs of trouble. You've had a couple of medical malpractice suits that were settled.
BORNSTEIN: That's normal.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): The fact is, that is normal for a long- practicing doctor. A few malpractice suits from decades ago settled. He's never lost his license, has never faced any criminal allegations whatsoever. And experts CNN has talked with believe whatever his looks, or his clients, Dr. Bornstein seems like a fully competent medical professional.
(on camera): Are there any regrets you have getting involved in this crazy election?
BORNSTEIN: No. These people are my patients. I take care of them.
GRIFFIN: And you fully -- whatever you wrote in that letter, you fully believe Mr. Trump is capable of being president physically?
BORNSTEIN: Oh, absolutely. There's no question.
GRIFFIN: Why did you write that letter? Was it a joke? The words you chose, the way you wrote it?
BORNSTEIN: No, I was just rushed for time. I had people to see.
(voice-over): There was no Trump limo waiting outside, he says. He just wrote the letter for a patient that he has been seeing for the last 30 years, a patient his mother found.
(on camera): What do you make of being interjected into this election?
BORNSTEIN: I make the injection -- I grew up in Jamaica, New York.
Here's my wife.
Grew up in Jamaica, New York. They lived across the street. My mother found him. He was as a patient from a member of his golf club and he stayed for 30 years.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): And then, as he warned, his wife arrived.
BORNSTEIN: Stop it.
UNIDENTIFIED WIFE OF BORNSTEIN: You're done. You're done. You're on private property --
(CROSSTALK)
GRIFFIN: Ma'am, we're not --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED WIFE OF BORNSTEIN: I'm going to call the police. I'm going to call the police.
(CROSSTALK)
BORNSTEIN: -- my wife.
GRIFFIN: I appreciate your time, Doctor.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED WIFE OF BORNSTEIN: I'm going to call the police right now.
(CROSSTALK)
GRIFFIN: Thank you, doctor. Thank you very much.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER: Drew is joining us now.
Drew, pretty odd way of that interview ending. What was the fallout? What happened after that?
GRIFFIN: You know, nothing. We just left. I thanked the doctor and we didn't hear anything back. Obviously, this has caused a lot of stress in that couple's life. The wife being very protective there of her husband, Dr. Bornstein.
BLITZER: He still believes, Dr. Bornstein, that Donald Trump is the picture of good health. Right?
GRIFFIN: Absolutely. And that terse little letter aside, he believes that because of the 30 years that he's been seeing Donald Trump. They have a very long history together. He's a fine doctor. And he says Donald Trump is healthy. Whether or not he says that in a conventional or unconventional way can be debated. But he is a doctor.
BLITZER: Did he say whether or not he'd be writing a new letter or filing more documents about Donald Trump's health if more is need? Obviously, Donald Trump is running for president of the United States and the American public wants to know as much as possible about his health, and Hillary Clinton's health as well.
GRIFFIN: You know, he didn't discuss that. I think he believes this matter is closed. He wrote that letter back in December. He still believes it today. Obviously, because they're personal health records, it would be up to Donald Trump himself to release his own records, not up to the doctor. But I get the -- the conclusion I think I draw from that doctor is he believes Trump is healthy enough, and you should take his word for it because he is Donald Trump's doctor.
BLITZER: He's not only Donald Trump's doctor, right? He's got some credentials. He's a gastroenterologist and he is a member of various medical societies. He's got some pretty good credentials, right?
[13:55:12] GRIFFIN: That's right. Graduated from Tufts University. His father, whom he took this practice over from, graduated from Harvard. The two of them worked side by side for some 30 years before his father, Dr. Bornstein's father, passed away. And he has been in that office for decades now treating patients who love him. We talked to several of those patients and they all think he's a terrific guy.
Like I said, he has somewhat of an unconventional look and maybe an unconventional writing style, but he's a totally legitimate doctor with no real signs of any major gaffes or trouble in his career but for that couple of settled medical malpractice claims. And they, by the way, date back some 20 years.
BLITZER: Drew Griffin, excellent reporting, as usual. Thank you very much.
Any moment now, by the way, Donald Trump will meet with a roundtable of African-American business and religious leaders in Philadelphia. We'll bring you that when it happens.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
