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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

A Look Back at Last Night's Heated Debate; Speaker Ryan Announces Conference Call on Trump; Continued Fall-Out on Trumps Crude Audio. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired October 10, 2016 - 04:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[04:30:00] (JOINED IN PROGRESS)

JOHN BERMAN, EARLY START CO-HOST: A moment in history. A debate that I think will never be forgotten. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, what a night it was.

Welcome back to Early Start everyone, I'm John Berman.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, EARLY START CO-HOST: And I'm Christine Romans. It is 30 minutes past the hour. Exactly the breaking news. The fury in Missouri, as John Berman calls it. What happened is that a few hours ago in St. Louis we will talk about the generations, talk about perhaps, as the moment when political discourse reached a level never seen before, and we are not talking about a high level.

Donald Trump, his campaign staggered after the release of the video where he bragged that he could grab women's genitals and get away with it because he is famous. He went into full uncensored attack mode. Hillary Clinton responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look, it's just not true and so please ...

(CROSSTALK)

DONALD TRUMP, US PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Oh, you didn't delete (ph) them?

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Allow her to respond, please.

CLINTON: Personal emails, not official ...

TRUMP: Over 33,000?

CLINTON: Well, it turned over 35,000, so ...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Oh, yeah.

CLINTON: ... guess what?

TRUMP: What about the other 15,000?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please allow her to respond. She didn't talk when you talked.

CLINTON: Yes, that's true. I didn't. And I didn't in the first debate.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Because you have nothing to say.

CLINTON: And I'm going to try not to in this debate. Because I would like to get to the questions that the people have brought here tonight to talk to us about.

TRUMP: And get off this question.

CLINTON: OK, Donald. I know you're into big diversion tonight. Anything to avoid talking about your campaign and the way it is exploding and the way republicans are leaving you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: All right, the news this morning, however, forceful Trump's attacks and whatever improvement in style and substance he may have displayed from that first debate, Hillary Clinton was the fair winner by 23 points in our CNN/ORC poll taken right after the debate.

It was a slightly more democratic audience which could affect that poll. So, indications in the poll that whatever the fireworks, few minds were changed.

And now for the very latest from the debate site Washington University in St. Louis, CNN's Manu Raju joins us, live, this morning. What a night. Bring us up to speed, Manu.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Yeah, that's right. Donald Trump came into this debate with really one major goal, he needed to end that crisis that had been engulfing his campaign since the Friday release of that Access Hollywood tape and what he delivered was a bombastic performance, criticizing Hillary Clinton for having hate in her heart, threatening to throw her in jail, and even bringing to the debate several women who accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct in the 1990s.

Now, when he was asked about the Access Hollywood tape, he didn't really apologize. He actually dismissed it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: This was locker room talk. I'm not proud of it. I apologize to my family. I apologize to the American people. Certainly, I'm not proud of it but this is locker room talk. Yes, I'm very embarrassed by it. I hate it, but it's locker room talk and it is one of those things. That was locker room talk. I'm not proud of it. I am a person who has great respect for people, for my family, for the people of this country, and certainly I'm not proud of it. But that was something that happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now there were other notable moments at the debate including Donald Trump gladly (ph) contradicting his running mate Mike Pence on the issue of Syria, saying that what Mike Pence said about -- what the Trump administration would do on Syria was wrong. In fact, he hadn't even talked about Syria.

And also Hillary Clinton is stumbling over question about leaked transcripts, about speeches she had given to banks.

The question now going forward is whether or not Donald Trump's performance is good enough -- was good enough to stabilize his campaign and ensure that more republicans don't revolt in the coming days? John and Christine?

BERMAN: Manu, along those lines, there is an 11:00 a.m. conference call today, right, with Paul Ryan and the house leadership with the rank and file. You cover the hill that remains weak (ph). What do we expect out of this call?

RAJU: Well, this is -- that is a big question. The republican leadership yesterday was in a real dilemma. There were nervousness. Folks were nervous about supporting Donald Trump and they needed to see a very good performance.

We have not gotten a sense yet whether or not Paul Ryan, in particular, is going to say he is going to revoke his endorsement of Donald Trump. At this point, it seems if you are looking at the reaction from last night, it would be surprising to see Paul Ryan come out this morning to revoke his endorsement.

But still, we don't really know yet. We are waiting to hear exactly what the house leadership will do. They want to hear from their members and one message are sending to the member that if you need to abandon Donald Trump for the good of your own re-election, go ahead and do it. So, we will see what they do this morning, what the do, but one notable thing, Paul Ryan praised down (ph) from that statement after the first debate; after last night's debate, radio silence from the Ryan Camp.

BERMAN: All right, Manu Raju, interesting observation. Appreciate your being there for us at Washington University in St. Louis.

Joining us to break down the debate, Senior Media Correspondent Brian Stelter, host of CNN's Reliable Sources; CNN Politics Reporter Eugene Scott, and CNN's Political Commentators, Top Radio Hosts and Columnists John Phillips, a Donald Trump supporter, and democratic strategist Maria Cardona, a Hillary Clinton supporter.

[04:35:00] ROMANS: Morning everybody.

BERMAN: We heard locker ...

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning.

BERMAN: ... room talk -- locker room talk was the excuse that Donald Trump again used last night. But again more than that, Eugene. He also went on the attack on Bill Clinton. He had women who accused Bill Clinton of impropriety, in the audience there were actually used and he brought it up on that debate stage. He went there. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If you look at Bill Clinton, far worse. Mine are words and his was action. His was what he has done to women, there's never been anybody in the history of politics in this nation that has been so abusive to women.

So, you can say any way you want to say it, but Bill Clinton was abusive to women. Hillary Clinton attacked those same women and attacked them viciously.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Again, Eugene, what one of the big question is would Donald Trump go there, he went there and then some, but Hillary Clinton didn't respond. Not at all. She said she was not here to talk about that and she moved on.

EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: She did not respond, and a lot of people did not expect her to respond to accusations that her husband did something. Her husband is not running for president and so for Donald Trump to hold her accountable for allegations that have not been proven to be true in a court of law didn't fit well with a lot of women voters. A group had demographics that Donald Trump is already not doing that well with.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Literally tamped (ph) down the fire, that's what she did. She said rather than adding fuel to it, or responding, she tamped it down to ensure there wasn't more attention to it this morning. It keeps more pressure on Trump on the tape rather than on Bill Clinton's past.

I know it is easy to be numb to all of this, but this was shocking. It was shocking. The Washington Post reported this morning that the Trump campaign has the plan that these women tried to sit in the family box (ph) with Trump. They wanted to create a moment where Bill Clinton would be confronted by these women. Now, the debate commission did not allow it, but the idea that that was even talked about, it just shows how low we have sunk in this campaign.

ROMANS: Yes. This is a whole -- we've set a new bar for everything.

(CROSSTALK)

STELTER: We keep trying to dig deeper and deeper as a country, I think.

ROMANS: John Phillips, you are a Trump supporter. I want you to listen to what Hillary Clinton said last night about the fitness of your candidate. She has found a new way to sort of talk about how he does not have the temperament or the ability or he should not be president. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: Like everyone else, I spent a lot of time thinking over the last 48 hours about what we heard and saw. You know, with prior republican nominees for president, I disagreed with them on politics, policies, principles. But I never questioned their fitness to serve. Donald Trump is different.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: John, did you hear anything last night that would help Donald Trump with women? With college educated women? The women demographic that he so desperately, desperately needs to work on?

JOHN PHILLIPS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, he showed us Donald Trump, the queen street fighter last night. In the previous debate, he took the all the bait that was laid out by Hillary Clinton and ended up in this rabbit hole talking about a bunch of subjects that didn't do him any favors.

Last night, he had a plan of attack. Last night, you could tell where he wanted to take this debate. He was able to pivot and put things on friendly territory and friendly ground, and I think that that did himself some favors last night.

In terms of female voters, look, he has to get republicans back in the tent. What happened in the previous days where you had a bunch of people pull their endorsements, including some sitting U.S. senators certainly hurts him. It hurts him with republican women who have not come back in the numbers that republican men have done.

What last night did in the performance that he turned in last night may be able to stop that bleeding (ph) and may be able to stop the mass exodus that could have happened this morning of other elected republican officials that could really have been a death blow.

BERMAN: If the bar for success is more members of your own party, more elected officials of your own party ...

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got to ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

BERMAN: ... do you fight (ph) it and run from the campaign? PHILLIPS: You got to acknowledge -- you got to acknowledge that things aren't going good, John, and things have not been going well the last week.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's true.

BERMAN: A piano also did not fall on his head during the debate. So in that end, you know, it was wildly successful. Maria, do you want to respond what John jus said?

[04:40:00] MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COOMENTATOR: Yes, I do, because like you said, when you are talking about trying to stop republicans from fleeing their own nominee 30 days before the election, you know you are in the deepest hole ever.

And I'm sorry, but he actually -- Donald Trump actually went down the deepest, darkest rabbit hole there is, which is time to blame Hillary Clinton for Bill Clinton's infidelities.

We all know, and even republicans cringe at that strategy because they know it backfires. They know it actually pushes women more toward Hillary Clinton.

The other thing that happened last night is, you know, republicans might think that this stopped the bleeding, but there is still the putrid stench of gangrene going on in that campaign, and there is nothing that Donald Trump did last night to keep women from thinking that he is not a lecturist (ph), dirty old man, an irredeemable pervert and a sexual predator that has admitted to doing and wanting to go into sexual assault.

And the way that he dismissed it? I think does himself deeper, deeper disfavors and it's a misguided thought that this is what he needed to do last night.

Again, I go back to he absolutely -- this was crack for his supporters, but he has his supporters. He needs to increase his tent. He needs to increase his appeal. He did nothing to do that last night.

ROMANS: The other big headline from last night, I think, was where are Trump and Pence on the issues? Specifically the issue of Syria. I mean, are they on the same page? Listen to this disagreement, if you will.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He and I haven't spoken and I disagree. I disagree.

MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC NEWS: You disagree with your running mate?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I think we should knock out ISIS.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: And this is on Syria, in particular, on whether we should be bombing Assad.

BERMAN: That's right. Whether or not you should go after the Syrian regime with air strikes in some cases. Pence said, yes. Donald Trump emphatically said no last night.

ROMANS: So what does this -- I mean, Eugene Scott, what does this -- what does this tell us about the state of policy inside this ticket?

SCOTT: Well, one could guess that this weekend wasn't spent talking about a lot of policies specifically regarding international affairs.

The reality is, I remember hearing that along with I-don't-know-much- about-Russia line. I can't remember it verbatim but it sounds worse than what I just gave you, and I remember thinking that his opponents are going to use this in a clip to demonstrate a lack of awareness and a lack of unity between the two leading candidates for the GOP.

STELTER: But, hey, Pence is still on the ticket after this morning. I guess John's point is sort of a win (ph).

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: When your running mate doesn't leave you on a Monday morning after a Sunday night debate ...

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: Wow! That's a low bar right there.

BERMAN: That is -- that is a big victory. Guys, stick around. A lot more to discuss including Abraham Lincoln's sudden introduction into this campaign, both candidates trying to use on the stage (ph), which did it more successfully? That's coming up.

[04:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: All right, last night we saw, I guess, the meanest presidential debate at least since they came on television 56 years ago.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump went freak out (ph) last night with guns blazing as Trump fought to save his endangered campaign. Let's bring everybody back here. Brian Stelter, Eugene Scott, John Phillips, and Maria Cardona.

And the cameo last night by Abraham Lincoln who ...

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: Not on the ballot this year (ph) ...

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: So what the tweet is up? (ph)

SCOTT: Yeah, I saw a tweet where it was signed, I would like to be excluded from this narrative. Signed, Abraham Lincoln.

ROMANS: Let's listen to the moment we're talking about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: As I recall, that was something I said about Abraham Lincoln after having seen the wonderful Steven Spielberg movie called Lincoln.

It was a master class watching President Lincoln get the congress to approve the 13th amendment. It was principled and it was strategic. And I was making the point that it is hard sometimes to get the congress to do what you want to do and you have to keep working at it.

TRUMP: Honestly, I've never lied. That's the good thing. That's the big difference between Abraham Lincoln and you. That's a big, big difference. We're talking about some difference.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Do you think that was one of her weaker moments, that particular moment?

BERMAN: It has to do with the Wiki leaks thing where she was saying -- she told Wall Street bankers that you had to have a public and a private position in negotiating in policies. So, she is saying one thing to Wall Street bankers and one thing in public. And so I think that had to come out the primary, Bernie Sanders would have jumped all over it. So I think that's one reason why it was not as strong point for her. And the other, Eugene, was that I actually thought that Donald Trump was deft in his response to it, you know, making light up on the stage (ph).

SCOTT: I certainly did as well. It reminded me of the you-are-no- Jack-Kennedy line that people responded very well to. And it highlighted the fact that Hillary Clinton does have issues with honesty with voters. The reality, though, is when we look at fact checks, Donald Trump's concerns are in these lies that are significantly higher. Significantly.

STELTER: Thank you for saying that. The fact checking here was very clear. There were more misstatements by Trump than there were by Clinton last night. And Trump's more dramatic. He talked about bombs on the floor of the San Bernardino apartment where that attack happened last year.

There were no bombs on the floor. Nobody saw that. Muslims in the town did not cover it up. Those kind of lies were very explicit, so to hear him say he has never lied, well his nose would be pretty long.

ROMANS: The other headline, I think, from the night is when Trump said that Hillary Clinton has hate in her heart. I mean, the insults here get deeper by the day. Let's listen to that soundbyte.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have a divided nation because people like her, and believe me, she has tremendous hate in her heart. And when she said 'deplorables', she meant it. And when she said irredeemable, they're irredeemable, you didn't mention that, but when she said 'they're irredeemable,' to me that might have been even worse. She got tremendous ...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: ... she got tremendous hatred.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: John Phillips, I mean, I have to just say this whole election, sometimes we report on things so straight and it is almost remarkable how ugly this has gotten.

[04:50:00] PHILLIPS: Yeah. And that, by the way, is connected in a certain way to the honest Abe remarks where she says one thing to a private fundraiser and then she immediately has to walk it back when the position becomes public.

And this also hits her where she is vulnerable with the Obama coalition which is with enthusiasm because they feel her voters, her supporters, feel that she is kind of done that to them on any host of issues.

I remember back on the floor of the U.S. Senate where she was talking about gay marriage and she said that she had moral and religious objections to it. And then was one of the last ones to the party to come back and reverse herself.

A lot of people think, I never really believed that she had moral and religious objections to it, that was just kind of political expediency, the same thing probably that could be said for marijuana legalization. This is her Achilles heel. No doubt about it.

BERMAN: Maria Cardona, you got 45 seconds left.

CARDONA: Except, of course, she always ends up in the right position. And that was the point that she was making last night, is that is actual leadership. In order to get to the right public position, you do have to do some private negotiating.

Donald Trump was clueless last night. He was incoherent when he actually talked about policy. And I think what this Abraham Lincoln moment, to me and to so many others really highlighted is that the arc of the Republican Party is going down into the gutter, so you have from Abraham Lincoln who said four score and seven years ago, to Ronald Reagan who said tear down this wall, to Donald Trump who said I like to grab her in her P. Wow! Congratulations, John, that's your party.

BERMAN: All right. I think we will leave it there. Guys, thanks so much for being with us this morning. Appreciate it. ROMANS: So much to talk about. Thank you guys.

We're going to sneak in business news this morning, too. More trouble for Samsung, we'll tell you why it's halting production of the troubled Galaxy Note 7 Smartphone. We're going to have an early start on your money next.

[04:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Matthew is no longer a hurricane, but the devastating effect is still being felt in the south in U.S.

Flooding is a major concern in North Carolina. Roads and bridges were washed away, stranding nearly a thousand people in their homes. More than half a million people still without power in that state. The storm is blamed for at least 17 deaths in four states.

Breaking overnight. A missile attack launched against the U.S. warship off the coast of Yemen. The Pentagon confirms the USS Mason was not damaged, but two missiles were fired about 16 minutes apart. Both hit the water.

The attack took place in the southern end of the Red Sea. U.S. officials say the ship was more than 12 nautical miles offshore in international waters. Officials will not say why it was there. The missiles were fired from territory in Yemen that is controlled by Houthi rebels.

ROMANS: All right, let's get an early start with your money this Monday morning. Dow Futures pointing higher. Some of the optimism due to Hillary Clinton's debate performance. Wall Street sees her as the more predictable candidate. The gains are slim right now, we will watch this and see how it develops this morning.

Stock markets in Europe and Asia are trading mixed. Oil is down slightly.

Samsung halting production of the Galaxy Note 7 Smartphone overnight. Stopping production with concerns spreading that even replacement versions of the device can burst into flames.

AT&T and T-Mobile stopped selling the new devices late last week after customer complains of fires and overheating.

Also last week, smoke started billowing from a replacement Galaxy Note 7 aboard a Southwest Airline plane before it departed. The flight was cancelled. Customers in China and South Korea have been reporting issues with the replacement phones.

Samsung recalled about 2.5 million of the devices worldwide last month, blaming faulty batteries for overheating phones and causing them to ignite.

BERMAN: All right. The smoke. The dust ...

(CROSSTALK) ROMANS: Speaking of igniting ...

BERMAN: ... still the settling right now over St. Louis after a historic debate. Not all history is good, though. New Day picks up the story right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm not proud of it but this is locker room talk. I hate it but it is locker room talk.

CLINTON: We have seen him insult women, rape women, embarrass women. This is who Donald Trump is.

TRUMP: If you look at Bill Clinton, far worse. Mine are words and his was action.

CLINTON: Everything he just said is absolutely false.

TRUMP: Do you think it was fine to delete 33,000 e-mails? I don't think so.

CLINTON: I would like to get to the questions that ...

TRUMP: And get off this question.

CLINTON: OK, Donald, anything t avoid talking about your campaign and the way it is exploding and the way republicans are leaving you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(VOICE-OVER): This is New Day with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, NEW DAY CO-HOST: Good morning everyone. Welcome to your special early edition of New Day. It's Monday, October 10th, live across in the East.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump trading personal attacks in what will likely be remembered as the ugliest presidential debate in history. Clinton hitting Trump over that bombshell video, saying his over comments about women reveal exactly who he is.

CHRIS CUOMO, NEW DAY CO-HOST: We expected this to be ugly, and yet it was still disappointing. Trump pacing the stage, ignoring questions as anything other than opportunity to attack the Clintons.

He actually had the nerve to say Clinton is the one with tremendous hate in her heart. He also threatened to jail her if he is elected. We are now nine days until the final debate, only 29 days until Election Day. We have all the highlights covered, let's begin with CNN's Manu Raju, live, in St. Louis. Manu?

[05:00:00] MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Good morning, Chris. The tone of this debate really started at the beginning when both candidates (inaudible) and they refused to shake each other's hands which, of course, is normally customary and then afterwards the insults began.

And then when Donald Trump was asked about the 2005 Access Hollywood video that has blown up his campaign, he offered an apology, but he also dismissed it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump entered last night's debate with one major goal, to end the crisis engulfing his campaign.