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Obama Hits Campaign Trail; Negativity Helps Voters Make Choices; Syrian Ceasefire in Effect; Championships Pulled from North Carolina. Aired 9:30-10a ET
Aired September 13, 2016 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:33:30] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me this morning.
Today, President Obama steps in for Hillary Clinton, marking his first solo appearance on the campaign trail this year. First up, Philadelphia, in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania. Then the president moves on to New York City for a Democratic fundraiser. All of this is good news for Clinton as she recovers from pneumonia, especially considering Obama's high approval ratings.
Let's get more now from CNN's Athena Jones. She's live at the White House.
Good morning.
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
As you mentioned, his first solo appearance of the campaign season for Hillary Clinton. He is eager, the White House says, to defend and to protect his legacy and also to try to help turn out the Obama coalition. The young voters, minority voters, college educated women voters that Hillary Clinton is going to need to win in November.
And this comes as he's riding a wave of popularity. The latest poll from ABC News and "The Washington Post" puts his popularity -- his approval rating, I should say, at 58 percent. That is the highest number in that poll since six months after he took office back in 2008. And he's particularly popular among exactly the constituency he hopes to bring out for Hillary, minorities. And so the president is going to go out and stump for her. He's going to make an affirmative case for why she is the best person to replace him. We do not expect him to talk about her health or about this "basket of deplorables" comment.
Carol.
COSTELLO: Interesting. Athena Jones reporting live from the White House.
[09:34:59] President Obama and Bill Clinton have hit the trail for Hillary Clinton. As for Mr. Trump, well, today, his daughter, Ivanka, is expected to end her campaign hiatus and join her father in Pennsylvania. As you know, Hillary Clinton is recovering from pneumonia and Donald Trump is hoping to capitalize on her down time. The billionaire keeping his focus not on Clinton's health scare, but what he calls a hate filled campaign. Hillary Clinton's camp is hitting back with a new ad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ON SCREEN TEXT: What's Donald's opinion of our citizens?
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: How stupid are the people of the country?
MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS: You call women you don't like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals.
TRUMP: She' a disgusting pig, right?
I'd like to punch him in the face.
They're losers.
Losers.
Losers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: All right, with me now is professor of political science at Vanderbilt University, John Geer. He's currently researching how negativity may actually help voters make better choices.
Welcome.
Really, is that true?
JOHN GEER, POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: Well -- well, yes. Yes, indeed. It sounds a little odd, but we have two unpopular candidates and so there's reasons to raise doubts about both of them.
COSTELLO: But -- but doesn't the negativity come from a place that's not quite true?
GEER: Well, you know, one of the things people have to understand about campaigns is that they're about exaggerations. And both sides can exaggerate.
In this particular election, actually, unfortunately, there doesn't need to be any exaggeration. I mean Donald Trump has said some things that you just take the quotes and you just use them. You don't even have to try to expand upon them. And so it's relevant information. He said these things. Same thing with Hillary Clinton in regards to the "deplorables," so to speak, and you just use that material and see if voters are going to move one way or the other.
COSTELLO: So what do you think -- what is more effective? Because Donald Trump is using this deplorable line, right, to say that Hillary Clinton's running this campaign of hate, and she's running this ad using his own words to prove the same thing. So will they cancel each other out or is one side winning the negativity war?
GEER: Well, I don't -- I mean, I think this campaign's much more driven by the fundamentals. The fact that the economy is doing well, that President Obama's popularity is increasing. Those things all work to Hillary Clinton's advantage and they're kind of built in and structural. At the same time, the country wants change and that's the big advantage that Donald Trump has, but it's not clear that Donald Trump's change is what every American wants. And so it's a -- it's a battle with right now a slight edge to Hillary Clinton.
COSTELLO: So Donald Trump is making the most of Hillary Clinton's illness. And I don't mean that in a negative way. He's just hitting the campaign trail so he fills a void. Hillary Clinton's not out there. She's not campaigning at all. So how beneficial, and I hate to put it this way, but how beneficial is Hillary Clinton's absence from the trail for Donald Trump?
GEER: Well, it may be a little bit, but the bottom line is that the health thing, she has to deal with. Obviously she has to get better, release all kinds of records to make sure that people are comfortable with that. I think these small comments like the deplorable -- not the small but just the minuscule, the small stuff, I wouldn't really worry about it. This campaign's not being driven by gaffes anymore. It used to be presidential campaigns were all gaffe driven. Somebody would make a mistake and you'd pounce and play it out. Donald Trump has made mistake after mistake. Hillary Clinton's made mistakes. And it seems this is a campaign where people have kind of made up their minds and it's being driven by these fundamentals. And something has to change the foundation of this election. Maybe the first debate does that.
COSTELLO: Well, yes, I was just going to ask you about that because along the lines of what you're saying, a Quinnipiac poll shows nine in ten voters say their minds are already made up.
GEER: Right.
COSTELLO: So you say the debates, though, may make a difference?
GEER: Well, yes, they could. I mean, first of all, this election is reasonably close. You know, we're talking about a four or five point lead for Clinton. If Donald Trump can come across in that first debate as presidential, as informed, as somebody who people could be comfortable with as president, the country's desire for change might get him some more support. It might move some of those people, even those 90 percent who claim they've made up their minds, and you might get a few to move.
I think it's going to be hard to change the fundamentals of this race, but at least that first debate offers Donald Trump the opportunity to do so. And it also provides Hillary Clinton the chance to -- to deal with issues of trustworthiness and other -- other items like that. Both candidates have a lot of flaws and they've got to keep pushing and trying to make a case for why they're ready to be president.
COSTELLO: All right, John Geer, thanks for your insight. I do appreciate it. Coming up in the NEWSROOM --
GEER: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: You're welcome.
Coming up in the NEWSROOM, a cease-fire in Syria takes hold, but a new sign peace may not last.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:43:40] COSTELLO: Syria claims it shot down an Israeli war plane and drone overnight near the border, but Israel says those claims are, quote, "total lies and completely false." This as Syria appears to embrace a ceasefire agreement which went into effect less than 24 hours ago. CNN's Oren Liebermann is following all of this from Tel Aviv.
Good morning.
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well, the Syrian claim came out this morning from the Syrian arm, saying they had downed an Israeli fighter jet and an Israeli drone in southern Syria in the Syrian Golan, right next to the Israeli occupied Golan. The Israeli Army responded almost immediately, as you pointed out, calling these allegations complete lies and totally false. So they say that there were Israeli fighters operating in the area and that they came under fire from two Syrian surface-to-air missiles, but that those missiles never posed a threat to the Israeli aircraft.
So, what were Israeli aircraft doing operating inside Syrian air space and how does that affect the ceasefire? Well, there's been increased fighting between the Syrian Army and Syrian rebels in the Syrian Golan right next to the Israeli occupied Golan. In the last week, and especially overnight, there's been artillery fire and fire that has come from the Syrian side into the Israeli side. Israel holds the Syrian government and the military responsible for any of those projectiles that cross over and Israel retaliates.
Overnight, the military says, the Israeli military that is, says there was a projectile that came over from the Syrian side, into the Israeli side, and the Israelis carrying out or were carrying out an airstrike in response to that projectile that came over. During that response, that's when the Israelis say those two surface-to-air missiles were fired, but they didn't hit anything according to the Israeli military and the aircraft were never in danger. That is an indication, because there was fighting in the Syrian side overnight between the army and rebels, that the ceasefire didn't take hold when it should have. We'll see if that fighting continues and how it goes from here.
[09:45:30] Carol?
COSTELLO: All right, Oren Liebermann reporting live for us this morning. Thank you. Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the NCAA brings the hammer down on the
state of North Carolina, pulling seven championship events out of the state.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:50:09] COSTELLO: We are now seeing more repercussions from North Carolina's so-called bathroom bill. The NCAA pulling seven championships from the state. And, of course, that entered into the political arena. It got Hillary Clinton tweeting, saying, quote, "the NCAA is right to pull tournament games from North Carolina because of anti-LGBT HB2 law. Discrimination has no place in America."
So joining us to talk about what the NCAA decided to do is Coy Wire.
Good morning.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
The NCAA stays North Carolina's controversial HB2 law invalidates any local law preventing discrimination from LGBT individuals. And the NCAA president says the anti-LGBT legislation makes the state an unacceptable venue. So the NCAA has pulled seven championships from the state, as you mentioned, including the first and second rounds of the 2017 men's baseball championship. That can mean the loss of some big bucks for local economies there in Carolina. It was estimated that the first round of last year's tourney would generate $3.5 million for one host city, while, Carol, a second round would generate about $18 million for a city. So you're talking about a big impact here for the local economies in that state.
COSTELLO: Absolutely. And a loss of prestige too. Of course the North Carolina GOP has responded to this decision saying in a statement, quote, "this is so absurd it's almost comical. I genuinely look forward to the NCAA merging all men's and women's teams together as singular unified unisex teams. Under the NCAA's logic, colleges should make cheerleaders and football players share bathrooms, showers and hotel rooms." And then this spokesperson went on to day -- he called the decision a, quote, "assault to female athletes everywhere," saying, quote, "I wish the NCAA was this concerned about the women who were raped at Baylor. Perhaps the NCAA should stop with their political peacocking and instead focus their energies on making sure our nation's collegiate athletes are safe, both on and off the field."
I put that out there for you, Coy, because I'm sure that Baylor would disagree.
WIRE: Yes. Yes, Carol, you know, I think, without question, the NCAA has to be vigilant in its pursuit of keeping student athletes safe, but also in protecting them from injustice and discrimination. There's a long history of the NCAA and schools reacting to political issues. Last year the NCAA banned South Carolina from hosting championships much the same in their state until they removed confederate flags from the state capital. They did remove those flags. My alma matter, Stanford Cardinal, used to be the Stanford Indians. They changed it to Cardinal, the color, so as not to be offensive to Native Americans. And just over a year ago, the University of Mississippi football coach Hugh Freeze spoke out in support of changing the state flag of Mississippi, the confederate flag. I mean how could he possibly convince the parents of young African-American high school athletes that his school would be a welcoming, accepting home away from home for children with a flag that is so offensive to so many? You know, that flag might be flying around campus on game day. So it's absolutely the responsibility of universities and the governing body of athletics, the NCAA, to have cognizance of what's happening socially, politically, and doing the right thing to make sure that student athletes are safe, not discriminated against and protected.
COSTELLO: All right, Coy Wire reporting for us this morning, thank you.
WIRE: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, is this really Hillary Clinton? Yes, the body double theory is cracking up the Internet. We'll talk about that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:57:43] COSTELLO: Hillary Clinton's latest health scare has skeptics seeing double. Jeanne Moos explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From being literally loaded into a van, to a peppy rebound a couple of hours later.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you feeling better?
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Yes, thank you very much.
MOOS: The speed of Hillary Clinton's recovery was too much for some.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was not Hillary. Uh-uh. Sorry.
MOOS: And thus was born #hillarysbodydouble. Believers say she resurfaced looking slimmer and younger. "Personal trainers hate her. She lost 30 pounds in two hours with this one simple trick." Though the photo on the right is an old one. Some found it odd she reappeared without her entourage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nobody is around her. Well, why not?
MOOS: The Secret Service was there, just hanging back. The body double believers pointed out physical differences, saying the real Hillary's index finger is longer than her body doubles. Along with side by side photos, one person tweeted, "now I understand the stronger together slogan."
CLINTON: We are stronger together.
MOOS: If Hill can't do it, her body double can. A Hillary supporter joked, she has two body doubles to explain differences in photos. "One is named angles and one is named lighting."
Other Hillary fans were stunned. "Think I may have seriously underestimated human stupidity."
MOOS (on camera): Next thing you know, Hillary supporters double down with #trumpsbodydouble.
MOOS (voice-over): The Donald was compared to everything from a cat to Cheetos, "fried, orange and full of air."
There were plenty of references to "Weekend at Bernie's," showing Hillary's team propping her up like the dead movie character. Read one tweet, "if she doesn't want to raise concerns, she shouldn't dress like Bernie." It's enough to make a candidate want to call in sick.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Madam secretary, how are you feeling?
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened?
MOOS: New York.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.
Happening now in the NEWSROOM, Hillary Clinton takes on the political frenzy over her health.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE (voice-over): I just didn't think it was going to be that big a deal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[10:00:02] COSTELLO: Cue the heavy hitters. President's Barack Obama and Bill Clinton on the trail.
And, Donald Trump on the attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Hillary Clinton has been running a hate-filled and negative campaign.
