Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Swing states: Clinton in FL, Trump in Michigan; Trump Goes on Early Morning Twitter Tirade; NTSB Officials Recover Train's Event Recorder. Aired 10-10:30a ET
Aired September 30, 2016 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening on the NEWSROOM, sex, money and presidential politics.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Clintons are the sordid past -
COSTELLO: No topic off-limits.
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He can say whatever he wants to say as we well know.
COSTELLO: But what about his past?
TRUMP: I have a very good history.
COSTELLO: Although it's ugly fight with beauty queens.
JODIE SEAL, FORMER MISS AUSTRALIA: The most beautiful women in the world and will made to feel like fat. This is kind of worthless. --
COSTELLO: And she's not alone. Trump targets a former Miss Universe in an early morning Twitter tirade. Plus, rush hour horror.
JAMIE WEATHERHEAD-SAUL, PASSENGER: It just didn't slow down. It didn't brake
COSTELLO: Two questions this morning. What went wrong and could it have been avoided? Let's talk live in the CNN "Newsroom."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Blitzing the battlegrounds, next hour, Hillary Clinton hits Florida and Donald Trump visits Michigan later this afternoon. But overnight, Trump fires off vicious new tweets against a former Miss Universe who is supporting Hillary Clinton. Here's Trump's latest swipe.
"Did Crooked Hillary help disgusting (check out sex tape and past)" you know, did Hillary help "Alicia M become a U.S. Citizen so she could use her in the debate?"
"Using Alicia M in the debate as a paragon of virtue just shows that Crooked Hillary suffers from BAD JUDGEMENT! Hillary was set up by a con."
As you know, the next debate is just nine days away and the election itself now just 39 days away. From all indications, the restraint that Trump boasted about just a few days ago is long gone. CNN's MJ Lee is in Fort Piece for a Clinton speech next hour and Chris Frates is following the latest attacks from Donald Trump. Chris, let's start with you. Good morning.
CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Hey good morning Carol. Well Trump has been on a Twitter tirade this morning against Hillary Clinton and former Miss Universe, Alicia Machado, saying that Clinton was duped by Machado and accusing Clinton of floating her as an angel without checking her past. Now, Trump also called Machado disgusting and falsely alleged that she was in a sex tape and that Clinton may have helped her become a citizen. And all of this, Twitter storm is coming as Trump's hinting at bringing up bill Clinton's infidelities the next time Trump faces off with Hillary Clinton on the debate stage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: He can run his campaign however he chooses. I'm not going to comment on how he runs his campaign. You will be able to see we have two more debates, what he says and what I say.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, NH1 NEWS POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Do you think maybe your past marital history is also fair game?
TRUMP: I guess. I mean, they can do but it's a lot different than his, that I can tell you. We have a situation where we have a president who was a disaster and he was ultimately impeached over it in a sense for lying. And so we'll see whether or not we discuss it.
STEINHAUSER: You're not worried about your past history at all?
TRUMP: No, not at all. I have a very good history.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRATES: Now, also this morning, new polls, done after the debate show Clinton leading Trump in three battleground states, in Michigan and New Hampshire. Clinton's leading Trump by seven points, 42 percent to 35 percent. In that all-important swing state of Florida, Clinton is edging Trump by four points, 46 percent to 42 percent in the sunshine state. So Clinton seeing some good news on the heels of her debate performance on Monday night. Carol?
COSTELLO: All right. Chris Frates reporting live for us from Washington. Next hour, Hillary Clinton holds an event in Florida. One of the most prized of the battleground states and she will deploy a weapon against Trump that could resonate deeply with hundreds of thousands of voters there. CNN's MJ Lee is in Fort Piece where Clinton will address supporters shortly. Good morning.
MJ LEE, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning Carol. We can really tell that this campaign is nearing the home stretch just based on how packed Clinton's schedule is. Yesterday Carol, Clinton and her traveling press corps left New York in the morning, flew to Iowa, stopped in Chicago, then landed here in Florida shortly after midnight. And today she has a very packed schedule as well. She has two campaign events followed by a fund-raiser before she flies back to New York. Now, it is not a surprise that Clinton is spending so much time in this critical state of Florida. It is a big state with a big chunk of electoral votes that are up for grabs. Winning this state means -- that the candidate gets a lot closer to reaching that 270 magic number. And the campaign also announced this morning that President Obama will be campaigning for Hillary Clinton in Miami next week. Now, as a part of this flurry of campaigning, Carol, the Clinton campaign is really bringing out the big guns, leaning on big name Democrats to campaign on behalf of Clinton and really help to humanize the Democratic nominee. One of those people of course is Vice President Joe Biden. Take a listen to what he said and how he described Hillary Clinton as the candidate last night on Jimmy Fallon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Nobody's perfect. Everybody, you know, wants the ideal candidate. By the way, I learned how to become the ideal candidate. Announce you're not running for president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEE: Now, here in Fort Pierce, Clinton will be talking about the theme of national service but we will be really listening to see whether she responds
[10:05:16] to the Twitter rant that Trump released earlier this morning about former Miss Universe Alicia Machado. Not clear whether Clinton will directly address this issue in her speech but we will keep you posted on that. Of course, this is an issue that Clinton believes is a winning issue for her and helps to paint Trump as someone who doesn't speak well for women and cannot win the support of the majority of women across this country. Carol?
COSTELLO: All right. MJ Lee, reporting live for us this morning, thank you.
The newspaper, "USA Today," did something it has never done in its 34- year history. It has taken sides in a presidential election that's not quite accurate. The paper actually says vote for anyone but Trump, calling Trump unfit for the presidency and the reasons why are brutal. "USA Today" says Trump is erratic. He traffics in prejudice. He is a serial liar. He speaks recklessly. His business career is checkered. You get the drift.
So let's talk about that. I want to bring in Rebecca Berg, national political reporter for "RealClearPolitics" and a CNN political analyst. And David Lauter is the Washington bureau chief for "The Los Angeles Times." Welcome to both of you. So Rebecca, "USA Today," first time in its 34-year history and it says some awful things about Donald Trump.
REBECCA BERG, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER "REALCLEARPOLITICS" AND CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It did. But the question really is, do any of these newspaper endorsements or un-endorsements matter, right? This is an election cycle where institutions are less respected and less valued by voters than at any point in maybe modern political history. And to this point, I don't think one major newspaper has actually endorsed Donald Trump in the general election. And yet he's doing just as well in the polls it would seem as he would be if you know these newspapers had come out and supported him. So it doesn't really seem to be making a difference at least among his supporters. And you know, at the same time there's also this issue of newspapers like "USA Today" and other institutions not coming out in full-throated support of Hillary Clinton necessarily as the alternative to Donald Trump. - And so when you have these undecided voters weighing you know what to do and unhappy with both candidates this isn't necessarily pushing them toward her.
COSTELLO: So David, you are a newspaper guy, right? There's an interesting article in the "New York Times" that these newspapers that said vote anyone but Trump, who have endorsed Hillary Clinton have paid a price especially the more conservative ones like the newspaper in Arizona and the "Dallas Morning News," they have actually lost subscribers because of it.
DAVID LAUTER, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF "THE LOS ANGELES TIMES": People feel very passionately about their candidates, Carol, as you know. And it is right some of these newspapers have paid a price. I think Rebecca is right. Newspaper endorsements don't usually have a huge impact on vote. It does seem what moving voters is, however, is the kind of thing we have seen this week, the attacks that Trump has been making on Alicia Machado, for example, in that New Hampshire poll that Chris talked about earlier, Clinton's winning women in New Hampshire by 24 points. And a full one-third of the Republican women in New Hampshire say that Trump is not fit to be president. So those arguments seem to be cutting through even though newspaper endorsements maybe are not.
COSTELLO: Interesting. So let's talk about the female vote because I'm just trying to figure out why Donald Trump twitted these things about Alicia Machado this morning. He brought up this supposed sex tape and what he's talking about is Alicia Machado appeared on a Spanish reality TV show and she's underneath the covers with a man and they are having sex, but frankly, like who cares. I mean, in the climate we live in, you know, as a woman you can do anything you want with your body. She didn't do anything illegal you know. And wrong is in the eyes of the beholder. So why even go there?
BERG: It's completely perplexing, Carol, with less than 40 days to go until Election Day. We have the Republican nominee basically giving new life to the story that we have been talking about all week which appears to be damaging his reputation among women, in particular, and this is a group that Donald Trump is struggling with to begin with. His campaign seemed to be hoping that they could change the subject you had all of his campaign surrogates out there this week talking about the Clintons' history with women, trying to move this conversation in a different direction, and now Donald Trump is just bringing it right back to where it was during the debate and for the rest of this week. There is no good reason for him to be talking about this for 40 days to go. This is not the message he wants to be driving. --
COSTELLO: Here's the thing. I interviewed the former Miss Wisconsin, she's terminally ill. I interviewed her this morning David. And she had lovely things to say about Donald Trump. She said Donald Trump supports her in her hour of need, he writes to her. She said he's a great guy. So why instead of attacking Alicia Machado, wouldn't you bring up Melissa Young?
LAUTER: Well Carol, I think what we are seeing
[10:10:16] is something that really we have seen throughout the campaign. Trump is going to be Trump. He doesn't back down. If he feels he's being attacked, he attacks back. It's the way he is. It's gotten him this far and I think he's convinced that if he keeps doing what he's doing, it's going to work for him. And maybe it will, maybe it won't. But I think it's pretty clear that this is the only way he knows how to campaign and he's not going to change for the next 40 days.
COSTELLO: OK. So let's talk about his stance on the Iraq war. Because as you well know, Rebecca, Donald Trump insists that he was always against the Iraq war even though we have this sound from him on the "Howard Stern Show" from 2002 saying he was like, for the war. Well, yesterday Howard Stern, himself came out and talked about that on his radio show. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD STERN, HOST "THE HOWARD STERN SHOW": Trump was on our show years ago and said yes, you know, he was kind of for the Iraq war, us going into Iraq.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
STERN: He was saying he really wasn't for it. So they were forced to mention my name. Yes. It's cool. Good promotion.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So Rebecca, how can Donald Trump possibly continue to say that he was never, ever, ever for the Iraq war?
BERG: As we have seen with Donald Trump on other issues as well as with this issue, he just doesn't seem to care if what he is saying now doesn't necessarily gel with what he's said in the past. And he seems to think that if he can say something enough times and loud enough, that it will become its own sort of truth because it's the most recent thing we've heard and he keeps saying it over and over again. He doesn't tend to care about addressing these inconsistencies or apologizing for past misstatements or admitting that he changed his mind. He just kind of blazes ahead and doesn't really care to correct the record or care if he's inconsistent with what he's said in the past. It's up to us in the press I think to point out these inconsistencies as they arise. And I think we have been doing that but it becomes difficult because there are so many.
COSTELLO: Yes. And then a lot of people frankly distrust the press so it's -- difficult for even us. I have to leave it there. Rebecca Berg, David Lauter, thanks to both of you.
Still to come in the "Newsroom" rebuilding Obama's winning coalition. Hillary Clinton needs it to win. Can surrogates like Michelle Obama give her the boost she needs to win?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:15:16]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Checking some top stories for you at 16 minutes past, a first grader fighting for his life in a hospital after being shot on a South Carolina playground this week. The shooter allegedly killed his father before wounding a teacher and two students at the elementary school. The teacher and the other student were treated and released. The family of Jacob Hall, who was shot in the leg, says he's facing a tough fight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNNY BRIDGES, UNCLE OF JACOB HALL: He is fighting every day, every moment, to survive. And he will survive. He's a strong-willed son.
COSTELLO: Hall was put on life support yesterday after blood loss caused a brain injury.
Tulsa police officer Betty Shelby is in court this morning. She is expected to enter a plea in the shooting death of Terence Crutcher two weeks ago. Shelby was charged with manslaughter after shooting the unarmed black man in the middle of the street after his car stalled.
Protesters at a Charlotte City Council meeting calling for the mayor and police chief to step down, it was the first time they met since protests erupted over the death of Keith Scott. He was shot by police after they say he threatened them with a gun. At times the meeting was highly charged and emotional especially when a young girl stepped forward to deliver a message to city leaders.
ZIANNA OLIPHANT, LIVES IN CHARLOTTE: We are black people and we shouldn't have to feel like this. We shouldn't have to protest because of you all treating us wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Later she talked with CNN and said it's hard not to be hurt by recent headlines.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OLIPHANT: If I hear and see like videos of people like getting shot by police, it's like sometimes I want to cry but I'm like no, I don't want to cry, just don't cry, but sometimes I want to because it's hurtful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The mayor of Charlotte called for more community dialogue but did not step down.
Officials, recovering a major clue, hours ago, into figuring out why a packed commuter train crashed in New Jersey, killing a woman and injuring more than 100 people. The NTSB has now recovered the train's event recorder from the wreckage. That's a device similar to the airplane's black box. CNN's Brynn Gingras live at the scene with more for you. Good morning.
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Carol. And here's some good news. The NTSB says they are going to take a look at that black box, download its data here on scene not bring it back to Washington, D.C. So certainly try to expedite this investigation process. That's just one piece of evidence that they have so far collected from the scene. They hope later today, this afternoon, at the earliest, to get into the front of the train that crashed yesterday morning during that early morning - or during the morning commute. And on that part of the train, that's where the conductor, the engineer, rather, sits and they hope to get some video evidence, four cameras, two on the outside of the train and two actually at the control panel. They haven't been able to get to that just yet because of all that debris remember that fell on top of the train as it rammed through that station. Some more evidence that they are hoping to get today, Carol. They hope to talk to the train's engineer. If you remember, he was pulled out unconscious from the train but has been released from the hospital. Was too heavily medicated yesterday, that's why they haven't been able to talk to him but they hope to get that interview done today as well as talk to two other crew members that were on the train at the time of this crash. But certainly, it's a scary experience for the people that were still on board or that were on board. We are still hearing stories from them even today. Two people talked to "New Day" this morning. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OMAR MAAMOUN, PASSENGER: The people were being thrown everywhere. People were hitting their heads on either the doors or people's shoulders, elbows or shoulders and on the
[10:20:16] opening to the door frame.
WEATHERHEAD-SAUL: Folks were just piling up in front of us. A woman right in front of me had her legs caught in between the two, the door and her body was on my side so fortunately we were able to get her up. Another woman had a bad knee injury. Couple folks immediately in front of me had their, you know, some gashes. A gentleman was trying to help people, he was like am I bleeding, am I bleeding. We were just like yes but he was really helpful in keeping folks calm.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
GINGRAS: Incredible rescue and survival stories coming from this crash scene. 114 people injured, going to area hospitals yesterday. I actually just got an update from a nearby hospital that handles the trauma incidents and only 13 people remain in the hospital. Most of them should be discharged even today. So that's some good news. Of course, thou, we have that one death, the woman, -- 34-year-old who was standing on the platform at the time of this crash. It's very sad to hear about her death and we are hearing also she was a mother. Carol?
COSTELLO: Brynn Gingras reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.
Coming up in the "Newsroom" Donald Trump goes on an early morning Twitter tirade taking aim at the media and the former Miss Universe. I will talk to one of Trump's senior advisors next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:25:16]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks for joining me. Donald Trump up early this morning, unleashing on Twitter and it's not just the former Miss Universe taking hits but of course, the media, too. Trump tweeting last hour "Remember, don't believe "sources said" by the VERY dishonest media. If they don't name the sources, the sources do not exist." CNN's Brian Stelter has more on this. Good morning.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN HOST "RELIABLE SOURCES": Good morning. And that's just not true, Carol. You and I both know it. It's worth telling the viewers at home about how anonymous sourcing really works. Because often times we do have to gather information using anonymous sources. Sometimes in the Clinton campaign and sometimes in the Trump campaign. Normally it's a relationship you strike with a source, you say can I use your name and they say no, can I use you as an anonymous source, a source familiar with the matter, they say yes, and then we report the information on the air. In a case like this, Trump is really trying to delegitimize the press by saying don't believe anything you read if it's not attributed to a person by name. Here's another one of his tweets from this morning. I think this is about 3:20 a.m. this morning. Clearly he was upset by recent news stories saying that there's - tension inside the campaign. So he wrote this, he said any time you see a story about me or my campaign saying sources said, do not believe it. There are no sources. They are just made up lies. That was one of his comments this morning. You shared the other one as well. It's another example of Trump trying to sow distrust in the press but you know, I have got text messages right here from Trump aides who were seeking anonymity in order to share information and lots of other reporters have the same thing. --
COSTELLO: And some of those -- unnamed sources from within the Trump campaign wanted to share with you good information, too, right?
STELTER: That's right. That's part of the anonymous source in relationship. If they can't speak on the record using their name, they insist on anonymity but it can sometimes be simple things like is the meeting currently happening or has the meeting wrapped up yet. The reality is, anonymous sources are the backbone, a backbone of journalism whether we like it or not. And Trump is wrong to say they are made up. We don't make up our sources.
COSTELLO: I would venture to say that when a good news story is written about Mr. Trump, he cites that news story as absolutely true.
STELTER: He sure does. And that's why we should all be skeptical when we see some of his comments about this.
COSTELLO: All right. Brian Stelter, thank you so much. So with me now to talk about this and more is senior Trump advisor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Hi, Sarah.
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS, DONALD TRUMP SENIOR ADVISOR: Good morning.
COSTELLO: Good morning. There's so much to talk about this morning. So Mr. Trump went on this Twitter tirade this morning. He was up at, what, 3:00 a.m. and he was tweeting consistently until now, actually. He just tweeted out something moments ago. So your thoughts, because some of these tweets in some people's minds are out there and of course, we all thought that Mr. Trump was being advised to be more disciplined.
SANDERS: Look, I think anytime Donald Trump is attacked, he's going to counter attack and that's exactly what has happened here. Hillary Clinton and a lot of people in the media are coming after him and he's going to respond.
COSTELLO: But what about these tweets about Alicia Machado, saying hey, go on the internet and there's this sex tape out there I want you to watch on Alicia Machado. And she's just a con artist and Hillary Clinton is using -- why do that? Why go there?
SANDERS: Look, again, Donald Trump has been viciously attacked time and time again. He's had more money spent against him than any politician or any person running for office probably in the history of campaigning and --
COSTELLO: So Alicia Machado in your mind deserves this? Alicia Machado deserves this?
SANDERS: I think the American people deserve better than Hillary Clinton. I think if anybody -
COSTELLO: I'm talking about Alicia Machado. Does Alicia Machado deserve this? Because the sex tape that Donald Trump was talking about came from a Spanish reality TV show and she's underneath the covers. It's not a sex tape.
SANDERS: Again, I think what America deserves is a president who will stand up and talk about the economy, talk about national security. Let's not forget - who brought this issue up, it was Hillary Clinton. --
COSTELLO: Your candidate, your candidate is keeping this story alive. Your candidate is keeping this story alive by tweeting about this. Why not just let it go?
SANDERS: He's just responding to an attack. Look, Hillary Clinton brought this issue up because her record is so dismal, is full of failure. She spent 30 years in government. She has nothing to show for it. - She wants to use these things as distraction.
COSTELLO: OK. So why doesn't he talk about that?
