Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Trump, Clinton Face Off in 1st Debate; How is Clinton Preparing for Tough Debate with Trump; Trump, Putin Bromance Expected to be Discussed at Debate. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired September 26, 2016 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00] JOHN PHILLIPS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: -- it's probably a good idea for him to reduce those impulses and look like the guy that was in Mexico, look like the guy that's been campaigning the last few weeks, on teleprompter, on message. He needs to tailor his message today for Republican women that voted for Romney that haven't yet shown for him. If he can show those voters that he's temperamentally fit to be president, he'll have a very good night.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: And temperament may matter a lot.
You know, Matt, you've been here before. And you were in the case of George W. Bush and Al Gore. Al Gore was perceived to have the substantive edge, the policy edge and yet he lost the debate.
MATT SCHLAPP, FORMER GEORG W. BUSH POLITICAL DIRECTOR: We were scared going into that debate, I'll be honest. These are frightening moments for campaigns. When you have a candidate who's never run for president before, remember, we usually elect people who have run before. Barack Obama was kind of an anomaly. Hillary Clinton has been on these stages before and Donald Trump hasn't. He's an outsider. There's good things about that but moments like this where experience, you know, helps you a bit in these debates. I think we're all -- we're all waiting with anticipation to see how it goes. I agree totally with the comments.
He has to seal the deal with this large number of undecideds that he's ready to be their president. They've already decided that Hillary Clinton, even with her terrible negatives and the fact they think she's not honest or trustworthy, they have to make sure he's the guy for them.
BURNETT: Ana, when we look at the poll from Monmouth, 10 percent say this is debate is likely to have an impact. 97 percent say they see no possibility that --
(LAUGHTER)
BURNETT: I only say that to point out --
SCHLAPP: I hope we're not doing this for nothing. Come on.
BURNETT: At 10 percent -- when you look at polls that are 2 percent or 3 percent, that's three times more than you need to completely turn the whole election. ANA MARIE COX, SENOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, MTV NEWS: Historically,
pollsters will tell you the needle may not move that much, but not moving the needle that much, but in this election not moving the needle much will matter. I am focused more on the last few minutes of the debate because Donald Trump has not shown himself to be able to sustain the amount of energy he usually puts out on a debate to the end. I think it's going to be interesting. The first part, I imagine he will be disciplined. I imagine we will see Mexico City Trump for 10 minutes or 20 minutes. I don't know if he can do that for 90 minutes.
BURNETT: That's an issue here. We know at one point --
SCHLAPP: I feel it's the opposite. Her events are so short. When has she had a 90-minute event in the last few months? Have you been to his rally? They go on and on. Have you been to one of his press conferences?
(CROSSTALK)
SCHLAPP: He has amazing energy. I've never heard anybody criticizing him for getting tired.
COX: It's not that he gets tired, he gets loose. I'm not sure -- I'm not worried about him losing stamina. I'm worried about him saying stuff he may regret later. If I were -- I'm not worried personally about it. I think that might be fine, but if I were you guys, I might be worried.
(LAUGHTER)
BURNETT: That's an interesting point.
Are you concerned about that? We know there was a point last week that he stood in front of a podium for five hours, to ensure he could do that without taking a bathroom break. That's not the same thing as having someone at another podium and practicing back and forth, which we understand he did not do.
PHILLIPS: I'd be lying if I said there days I want to slip some sedatives in his KFC.
(LAUGHTER)
But he's a winner. He likes to win. He sees victory. That's two points away, according to the ABC poll. He knows if he's going to win this election, he has to be disciplined.
BURNETT: So, let's talk about these one-liners. He is known for his one-liners. When you come, Matt, through a debate with 17 people and you get six minutes, all you need is one or two zingers.
SCHLAPP: He's known for --
(CROSSTALK)
SCHLAPP: He's known for his adjectives. If you think about it, one- word descriptors.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: It's more like a zing.
BURNETT: Right.
The question, will he use her moniker tonight, which no one has said would be a good idea, but what do you each think the best zinger or one-liner would be?
COX: I do think focusing on zingers is not necessarily a service to the republic.
I want to point out Donald Trump's zingers tend to be based on people's looks and attitudes and not so much on substance. That said, if I were Hillary, I'd go low. I'm not proud. I know you don't believe in global warning, but where did you get that tan?
BURNETT: Wow. There you go. That would be one.
(LAUGHTER)
SCHLAPP: That was good.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: Go ahead.
SCHLAPP: I think this whole campaign comes down to the economy. The Clintons have done very well while has been serving in government recently, Hillary Clinton. I would go right to the question of the economy and say, you know what, there was a time when the Clintons were dead broke and they got it backwards. We need the Clintons to go back and be dead broke and the American people to gain wealth and be successful.
BURNETT: You're trying to do a substantive zinger of sorts.
OK, John?
PHILLIPS: When she starts bragging about getting the endorsements of every 904-year-old Republican that's ever worked in national security, I would say, you only need co-signers when your credit is bad.
(LAUGHTER)
SCHLAPP: Oh, that's good. Wow.
BURNETT: Wow.
David?
DAVID BROCK, FOUNDER, CORRECT THE RECORD SUPER PACK & CLINTON SUPPORTER: For Hillary, I would say a vote for you is a vote for the ISIS terrorists and Vladimir Putin and then open up both of those issues. Open up his foreign investments from Russia. I think that would be effective.
For Trump, I'm going to give an objective answer. I think he should say, Hillary, you're bought and paid for. You even came to my wedding because I gave you money.
(LAUGHTER)
BURNETT: Wow. That's a combo.
PHILLIPS: Very good.
COX: That's sort of a combo platter.
(CROSSTALK)
[14:35:17] PHILLIPS: It's on tape.
(LAUGHTER)
BURNETT: Someone could be watching.
COX: I have one to add for her. Do you want to vote for the first foreign president or potentially the last president?
BURNETT: There you go.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: Thanks to all of you.
Next, you've rarely seen Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the same room, except for the aforementioned wedding that David just brought up. And I think there was a fundraiser. I'll talk with a top Hillary adviser and talk to her about how her candidate is preparing tonight.
The billionaire Clinton invited to sit in the front row, Mark Cuban, who one time when I asked him about him and Trump being billionaires, told me, "At least one of us is."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:40:55] BURNETT: Both candidates right now are in the zone preparing for tonight's historic debate. Only one is a veteran on the debate stage. Tonight's battle will be Clinton's 35th, her 10th presidential debate. Trump has never been in a general election debate. Despite Clinton's advantage, this will likely be her toughest one ever as well. How is she preparing?
Joining me is Kristina Schake, the Clinton campaign's deputy communications director.
She's done lots and lots of debates, sparring with Philippe Reines, and that she's even doing one today.
KRISTINA SCHAKE, DEPUTY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, HILLARY CLINTON PRESIDENT CAMPAIGN: We don't know she's actually doing a full mock today but she's definitely preparing. She's at a hotel nearby and taking this very seriously. She knows tonight is a huge opportunity for her. She has the opportunity to talk to 100 million voters and what she can do as president. She's taking it seriously and coming tonight to talk about why she's the candidate ready to be commander in chief.
BURNETT: I know you want to study and study and prepare, but is it like a test where sometimes you study too much, you know too much, so you write in the answer and you miss the core part, and you don't do as well as the person who didn't study as hard. Do you have that fear?
SCHAKE: She's done many debates. She was a Senator of New York. She ran for president before.
BURNETT: She knows the game.
SCHAKE: She knows how to do this. She's a strong, steady leader. That's what voters will see up on the debate stage tonight.
BURNETT: When she looks out on the audience, the audience that's there, not the 100 million people, she'll see people she knows. Who has she invited, putting aside Mark Cuban for a moment, who else has she seat there?
SCHAKE: It was important to Hillary who she's known a long time, who represent what she's fought for her whole life. We have a young woman, Maxine, who got children's health insurance when she was a young girl because of Hillary's leadership, leading the fight to make sure kids got that. Today, eight million kids have insurance because of that program. She was a recipient as a young girl. That's representative of the fights Hillary has taken on in her life and her driving passion. We have a woman who started her career as children's advocate running for president. She also has Lauren, who's a woman she's known. She was a survivor of the 9/11 attacks at the World Trade Center. She's been very close to Hillary for a number of years. As you know, Hillary fought really hard to help New York recover from that and also get health insurance for the first responders there. So she's an important part of Hillary's history.
BURNETT: What about Mark Cuban? Mark Cuban and Trump go back a long way. They were friendly. They competed for reality show slots. They've been friendly. Obviously, now, they're on completely different sides here. Mark Cuban has called Donald Trump crazy. Do you think having Mark Cuban there is the right thing to do?
SCHAKE: Mark is a strong supporter of Hillary's. He's a successful self-made businessman in America and he's come out to say she's the right choice to be president of the United States because she has plans to create jobs. She's the best economic plan for America moving forward. So he's been a great surrogate for her and she's proud to have him in the audience tonight. BURNETT: So, when Donald Trump said, fine, I'll bring Gennifer
Flowers, but he was making a joke, what was your response?
SCHAKE: Our response is Hillary is coming here to talk to people about what she would do as president. Trump has taken a different path and that's his choice. She's looking forward to the opportunity to get out on that debate stage tonight and talk about how she's the candidate that's ready to be our president, our commander-in-chief and her plans to make a real difference in people's lives.
BURNETT: Kristina, thank you very much. I appreciate it.
SCHAKE: Thank you.
[14:44:48] BURNETT: Coming up, will Trump use the same debate style that helped him win the Republican primary? And at least when you looked at the online polls, winning so many of those primary debates, or will he do something different tonight? Why some believe that polite Trump could be what we see on stage.
This is CNN special live coverage.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: You can see the end of that performance as everyone gets ready for the big debate. We're just hours away from the debate at Hofstra University. It will be show time soon. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton facing off in the first presidential debate. Expectations are so high. The stakes are so high for both candidates.
Right now, Gloria Borger joins us, our chief political analyst.
Gloria, you just had a chance to talk to sources within the Clinton campaign. What are they saying?
[14:50:52] GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: A senior adviser says they are downplaying in the prep the bad Trump, as this person called it, saying instead they believe that Trump will behave generously toward Hillary Clinton. So, they are preparing more for that.
The fact they said that to me leaves me to believe they've got a lot of zingers in their pocket they're ready to use for Trump is going to try and get under his skin to a great degree, which this source says is not really difficult for her, so it seems.
BURNETT: So, they think she really is going to try to. You know how Trump is. If someone comes at him and upset him, he puts it back.
BORGER: Right. Exactly. And they believe that Trump at least in the beginning will not start out doing that. Dana Bash and Dan Merica reported the same thing that they believe he'll compliment her on breaking through the glass ceiling and all the rest. They're ready for the nice Donald Trump as well. BURNETT: The nice to show up. Obviously, you get 15-minute segments
here, 90 minutes, lots of things to talk about. The way Lester Holt, the moderator, put the description, the future of America. He could do whatever he wanted, which is what any moderator should try to do. He successfully set the stage that way.
Foreign policy is going to come up. Earlier today, I actually sat down with CIA director, John Brennan, and we talked about a whole lot of things about Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. But one of them was Vladimir Putin. This is what he said, and I want your reaction to how it will play in the debate tonight.
Here's the CIA director.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Donald Trump has said positive things about Vladimir Putin again and again. Here are some.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think I get along very well with Vladimir Putin.
Putin is a nicer person than I am.
I like him because he called me a genius.
He says great things about me, I'm going to say great things about him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: What is your reaction when you hear that?
JOHN BRENNAN, CIA DIRECTOR: As director of CIA, I don't involve myself in campaign politics. I will say, though, when I look at Russia right now, we know that Mr. Putin has been very aggressive on the foreign policy front, but also very aggressive in the cyber realm. We know that the Russians are very active in that area. They have done some things over the past years to try to affect certain elections in different countries. So I think what we have to be very wary of what the Russians may be doing. I think we have to be careful about believing some things they say publicly or disavowing any types of activities they may be engaged in. Russia is an adversary in a number of areas. And as the CIA director --
BURNETT: That's the word you use, adversary?
BRENNAN: Yes. When I look at what's going on in Syria right now, I'm very, very annoyed and frustrated the Russians have not been following through on their commitments to apply pressure on the Syrian regime to stop its horrific bombing of innocent men, women and children in places like Aleppo. Russia has said things publicly that I don't think they've followed through on privately. So there are a lot of things about Russia that I think this administration, the next administration, need to focus on because they're not trying to pursue these objectives as a way to enhance U.S. national security interests.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: He called Russia an adversary, a word he used. Certainly not a word Donald Trump used.
Also in our conversation he said he did expect, that he wouldn't be surprised at all if something happened in October, that would be relevant, and perhaps impactful this election in terms of leaks by parties who want to influence the outcome.
BORGER: We've already seen that. The administration has already said they believe the Russians are behind the tapping into the DNC e-mails, et cetera. So, that doesn't surprise me. The fact that he says it is important because he is the CIA director. This evening, that will be raised. Hillary Clinton is going to raise Donald Trump's bromance with Vladimir Putin, no doubt about it. Vladimir Putin has an 85 percent or 90 percent unpopularity rating in this country, so I think that's terra firma for her to go after Trump on Vladimir Putin. I think it's an obvious thing she will do. It will be important to watch how Donald Trump, if Donald Trump defends Vladimir Putin because, as he says, well, Putin thinks I'm brilliant, so I think he's smart, too.
BURNETT: Right. It's not just going against the political mainstream. You're going against national security, the director of the CIA is saying, no, that's not how it is.
BORGER: Right. It's not so easy to make deals Vladimir Putin, as he was point out in Syria.
BURNETT: Right. He talked about his anger and frustration there.
Thank you, Gloria.
BORGER: Thank you.
[14:54:45] BURNETT: Next, will be there real-time fact-checking? And who is in actual charge of the clock to keep them in line? Were there prior deals made between the Clinton and Trump campaigns? Our latest reporting coming up as our special coverage continues.
(MUSIC)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:54:37] BURNETT: Top of the hour. I'm Erin Burnett. And this is CNN special coverage of the first presidential debate live from Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York.
(CHEERING)
BURNETT: You can see some of the students out here are they enthusiastic, excited, ready to cast their vote.
We're less than six hours away as what's being billed as a battle royale. One of the most important political events so far in this election. That's not debatable. Could turn out to be the most- watched political event ever. As any as 100 million people may watch tonight, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump together, just as poll after poll is now showing them in a dead heat. We now have Clinton on top in one and Trump on top in the other, pretty much all within the margin of error.
