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Email Resolution; Letter Slams FBI Director; Huma Abedin Not with Clinton. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired October 31, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:24] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Trump is pouncing. Clinton is set to speak this hour in the battleground state of Ohio. All the while, federal investigators are poring through what is believed to be thousands upon thousands of newly discovered e-mails belonging to her right-hand woman, a woman who she once referred to as her surrogate daughter, Huma Abedin. The e-mails in question were found on a laptop seized from Abedin's estranged husband, disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner. That was all part of a separate investigation involving accusations of Weiner sexting with an underage girl.

But, it is this man right here who is now coming under intense criticism, FBI Director James Comey. Now, the Clinton campaign, former federal prosecutors, high-ranking Justice Department officials and even a former Republican congressman all are saying that Director Comey should have never made this bombshell announcement so close to the election without having all the facts.

Let's begin with Evan Perez, our justice correspondent, with new information.

Evan, I understand you have a little more, what, on the timetable of the review of the e-mails and the resolution. What do you know?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, there's a lot of work that's being done behind the scenes by these FBI investigators. Now that they have a search warrant, they're going through these e- mails, they're cataloging them, again, to try to remove things that they don't necessarily need to take a look at. They want to isolate the e-mails that could be of interest, that may have to do with classified information, and that may have touched the Hillary Clinton private e-mail server.

We know that some of the work was already done in the past few weeks as the FBI agents who were doing that Weiner investigation stumbled on these e-mails. And one of the things that they did see was that there was some metadata that - analysis that was done and it showed that at least some of these e-mails had gone through the Clinton private server. And that's the reason why you see that letter from the - from director of the FBI, Jim Comey, saying that there appeared to be some e-mails that were pertinent.

Now, there's a lot we don't know at this point. We don't know how many of these e-mails are duplicates, in other words, that they've already seen, that they've already investigated. We don't know whether or not there's any classified information on this. We only simply know that there's a belief that from the agents that took a look that there might be.

So there's still a lot - a great deal of work that needs to be done. We expect that the initial look through these e-mails will take just a couple of days. But then additional work will have to be done. That means that it's very unlikely we're going to have this all buttoned up by the time Election Day comes by.

BALDWIN: Thank you, Evan Perez.

The White House is weighing in. We'll get to that in a second.

But, moments ago, Donald Trump, he pounced all over Hillary Clinton, while applauding James Comey at a rally in Michigan. Let's go to our senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta, who's there at the rally in Grand Rapids.

But to the White House, when we just heard from Josh Earnest, the spokesperson at the White House, speaking more or less on the president's perspective on Comey, what did he say?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Very interesting, Brooke. President Obama, according to the White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, is not suspicious of what the FBI director decided to do by announcing this publicly, that the bureau is now reviewing some of these additional e-mails that may be possibly linked to Hillary Clinton. The White House is also saying, we should point out, though, Brooke, that they're not going to defend or criticize Jim Comey in all of this. So they're sort of - they're trying to stay on the sidelines of all of this.

But Donald Trump, not so much. He is - he is grabbing onto this with both hands at a rally here in Grand Rapids. Donald Trump is talking right now. He praised the FBI director. And you'll recall, Brooke, that is a big shift for Donald Trump. Earlier this year, Trump was saying, because of the FBI director's announcement that the - that investigators would not be seeking any charges against Hillary Clinton over that private e-mail server, you know, Trump was saying over the summer, well into the fall, that the FBI was part of this rigged conspiracy to throw the election to Hillary Clinton. Contrast that with what Donald Trump just said about Jim Comey just a few moments ago. Here's what he had to say.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: And I have to give the FBI credit. That was so bad what happened originally and it took guts for Director Comey to make the move that he made in light of the kind of opposition he had where they're trying to protect her from criminal prosecution. You know that. It took a lot of guts. I really disagreed with him. I was not his fan. But I'll tell you what, what he did, he brought back his reputation.

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[14:05:09] ACOSTA: So, there you go, very different words, a very different take from Donald Trump on the FBI director. Trump went on to thank Anthony Weiner during his remarks just a few moments ago. Of course, the disgraced former congressman is now at the heart of these e-mails that have been swept up by the FBI as part of this new look at those e-mails used -- or sent across her private e-mail server.

And, Brooke, it's not just an e-mail message from Donald Trump today, although you might - you might think that's the case. He's also talking about the economy in places like Michigan. A lot of people here were hard hit by that recession. They're hoping against a lot of data out there that they can, perhaps flip this state red. Brooke, that's at the heart of Donald Trump's strategy heading into the final week of this campaign. They have to flip some states that Mitt Romney lost four years ago if they have any chance of winning this thing. Even though the - the news cycle is working to their benefit in these last few day, they still have to win this elections. They have to flip some states for that to - for that to happen, Brooke.

BALDWIN: We'll take a closer assessment to see where both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will be zigzagging in this final stretch.

Jim Acosta, thank you so much, there in Michigan.

But on this whole issue here with the FBI and Hillary Clinton, nearly 100 former Justice Department officials all signed this letter critical of James Comey and they come from Republican Party and Democrat Party. All share respect for the FBI director. They write, in part, quote, "we do not question Director Comey's motives. However, the fact remains that the director's disclosure has invited considerable, uninformed public speculation about the significance of newly discovered material just days before a national election. For this reason," it goes on, "we believe the American people deserve all the facts and fairness dictates releasing information that provides a full and complete picture regarding the material at issue."

So with me now, one of the co-signers of that letter, actually used to be Jim Comey's boss at the Department of Justice, he is Jim Cole, served as deputy attorney general from 2011 to 2015.

So, Jim Cole, thank you so much for joining me today.

JAMES COLE, FORMER DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: A pleasure to be here, Brooke. Thank you.

BALDWIN: So just straight out, why was James Comey wrong here?

COLE: You know, the Department of Justice has some long-standing policies that say you do not disclose information about criminal investigations because you don't know whether or not the facts are going to turn out one way or another and it's just unfair to the people who are involved in this investigation.

What I think we've seen here is an example of how that works in the negative. He let this information out, rampant speculation that has no foundation at all in fact right now is being put out on every news program in America. And it is just unfair. He put out - he shouldn't have said anything in the first place. And then when he said it, he said too little.

BALDWIN: Let me just push back on you. From what I've read, those who would disagree would say, you know, assuming that this would be reopened based upon the laptop and the tablet and the cell phone they got early October, and if Comey had not gone public, had not written this letter to leaders of Congress, isn't it possible, Jim, that one of the, you know, investigatory agents on the case could have leaked it to the press and then we'd be - we'd be singing a much different tune which would be, you know, Comey and the FBI would be painted as covering something up?

COLE: Well, first of all, he doesn't really know what he has. Before he starts saying things officially from the FBI, he should make sure that he knows what it is he has. And if the only reason for him speaking is that he's afraid that somebody within the FBI is going to anonymously leak information, that's not a good enough reason. He's the head of the FBI and he should be able to answer any leaks like that by saying, that's not what the FBI does. When we speak, we speak formally through the director.

BALDWIN: But, Jim, you know, as folks are pouncing on Comey, let's just context the original sins. One, Hillary Clinton, over and over, you know, admitting it was a mistake, her use of a private e-mail server as secretary of state. And, two, that tarmac chat between the A.G., between Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton, all the while his wife was being investigated. Aren't those the ones that should be in the critical spotlight here? I mean isn't that fair?

COLE: I think those have been talked about. They've been analyzed. And they've been put in their proper perspective. The real thing that you should be looking at right now is whether or not information about the activities of the FBI are being put out unfairly and with very, very incomplete record and are really skewing the public record on this. People think this investigation has been reopened. It really hasn't. They don't know whether there's enough information present here to warrant reopening the investigation. This is just going to be a preliminary look at some things they found that they don't even know what those things are. That's the context that I think has to really be remembered here.

[14:10:00] BALDWIN: Let me just ask you, listen, I've certainly never worked at the Department of Justice. You're the expert. You know, if you know that you have helped sift through an investigation, i.e. the private e-mail server investigation, it had been concluded, you know, in the end, we remember Jim Comey on TV early July saying intent, you know, not criminal. And then, unbeknownst to you sometime later, out popping potential other e-mails that could be germane to that very same investigation, therefore you - whatever word you want to use - review, reopen, is that not all important to consider?

COLE: Well, the thing I would find out first is, what is it that we found? Are these just duplicates of the e-mails we've already looked at? Then that's going to be a very significant fact. Are these have - do these e-mails have nothing to do with classified information? Another very significant fact. Before I start going into any form of characterization, I'm going to want to know what it is I actually have. Before I step -

BALDWIN: You would have waited?

COLE: I would -

BALDWIN: You would have waited to figure out the significance of the e-mails before saying anything?

COLE: I would have, yes.

BALDWIN: OK. OK. Jim Cole, thank you so much.

To a different opinion now. Joining me now, Steve Pomerantz, former assistant director at the FBI.

Steve, nice to see you again, on the flipside.

STEVE POMERANTZ, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

You think James Comey was right in what he did Friday. Tell me why.

POMERANTZ: Specifically as to what he did on Friday, I think he was right. I have some issues and concerns going back to the July 5th press conference.

BALDWIN: We'll get to that. We'll get to that.

POMERANTZ: But, yes, I do. And, Brooke, I think you made some very good points. You know, this question of whether it's reopened or not is a semantics question. The FBI is investigating based on new information, i.e. new evidence or potential evidence that they've received. So whether the case is reopened or not, that's a semantic issue.

He told the Congress when he testified that if he - if there was new, additional information of significance, he would provide that. Now he's got it. And I think at this point he had no choice but to do what he did.

BALDWIN: Back to your original point, though, I feel like there was - there was a but. You were going to say, I think back in July, you felt like the train went off the tracks, so to speak. Tell me why.

POMERANTZ: Yes, no, I agree. I don't think that - that - traditionally what the FBI - the FBI does is investigate. At the end of that investigation, they wrap up what they have and they send it to the Department of Justice or to a U.S. attorney, depending. And that entity makes the prosecutive decision. I think having a press conference and saying that the FBI does not feel there's enough here for going forward was a mistake.

Now, put it in the context of -

BALDWIN: Hang on, hang on, hang on. So just so I'm clear, you didn't feel like it was Jim Comey who should have come forward and did what he did. You thought it should have been someone like Loretta Lynch, despite the fact that she had sat on a plane with Bill Clinton a he week prior?

POMERANTZ: Well, before you - before your last comment here, yes, that's exactly where I was going.

BALDWIN: OK.

POMERANTZ: It was the Department of Justice's own action that set this in motion, that set this whole set of circumstances in motion. And, yes, that's apparently his reasoning for doing it. I still think I wouldn't have done it had I been the director. Now, I may be exercising 20/20 hindsight -

BALDWIN: OK.

POMERANTZ: But I think I still wouldn't - would not have done that.

BALDWIN: What about, Steve, just as a former FBI guy, I mean what do you -

POMERANTZ: Yes.

BALDWIN: What do you think happened here? I mean, Huma Abedin and Anthony Weiner, I mean, I don't know if they shared an iCloud account. All of a sudden the FBI has, you know, a laptop, a tablet, a phone, they're looking at this and thinking, oh, my goodness, we're looking at thousands upon thousands of e-mails. What happened?

POMERANTZ: Yes, I think exactly as, again, Brooke, I think you've said it pretty well yourself, that in the course of another unrelated investigation - and that, by the way, is not - it's an unusual thing to occur, but not - not - this is not the first time when one - information obtained in one investigation has bearing on another one. And, obviously, looking at the - at the whole - the allegation, the serious criminal allegation against Anthony Weiner, this - this came up. And the agents looked at it and realized it was relevant not only to what they individually were doing, but to the work of - the larger work of the FBI. And it started working its way through the process. And at some point in time, it culminated in that letter on Friday.

BALDWIN: And here we are today -

POMERANTZ: And here we are today.

BALDWIN: Eight days to go and still don't know a whole heck of a lot.

POMERANTZ: Yes.

BALDWIN: Steve Pomerantz - go ahead. Go ahead.

POMERANTZ: No, I was going to say, and predictably, I understand that there's some bipartisanship here in terms of the criticism.

BALDWIN: Yes.

POMERANTZ: But overwhelmingly it is partisan. The criticism - you know, he was a hero in certain quarters in July and now in those exact same quarters he's a villain and to some extent vise-versa.

[14:15:05] BALDWIN: The tides have turned. Yes, no, you're right. So much of it is -

POMERANTZ: And that's something that the FBI has to rise above and I give them credit for doing that. The FBI has to remain as impartial and objective as possible.

BALDWIN: OK. Steve Pomerantz, thank you, as always.

One of the big questions right now, where is Huma Abedin? As the government, federal government, is combing through her estranged husband's computer, looking through these e-mails, you know what, she is not traveling with Hillary Clinton for the third straight day.

And, welcome back, Daisy. The Clinton campaign goes nuclear with its new version of one of the most famous political ads of all time.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One, two, three, four -

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BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

The flip-flopping among parties since James Comey revealed the FBI's new review of Hillary Clinton's e-mail has been head-spinning. A lot of Democrats who once hailed Director Comey's nonpartisan integrity now say he's playing politics. And then you have many Republicans who once vilified Comey for not charging Clinton, they're complementing him. Note the contrast, for example, in Donald Trump's comments.

[14:20:09] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Hillary Clinton is guilty of all the things that Director Comey stated at his press conference and congressional hearings, and far more. He stated many things, but it's far more and he knows that. And yet after reading all of these items where she's so guilty, he let her off the hook.

I respect the fact that Director Comey was able to come back after what he did. I respect that very much.

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BALDWIN: And again, a lot of Democrats doing the reverse. With me now, CNN presidential historian Tim Naftali, who used to serve

as a director of the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, and CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash.

So, before we get to political fallout, Dana, I'm just curious, because we're reporting on Huma Abedin, who's a very, very close confident, surrogate daughter of Hillary Clinton's. Today's day number three that she is not on the campaign plane. Do we know why?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: We don't know exactly why except I don't think it would be a bridge too far to have informed speculation that she has now become such a huge part of the story because the only reason why we're discussing this is because of a computer that her estranged husband had with -- that allegedly had her e-mails on it. So that is, no question, you know, big part of the reason. Maybe she's also dealing with her lawyers. We're just not sure.

But I think that your - that the point that you make about her being a second daughter and so forth is right. I know that people have talked about her now for a couple of days and trying to kind of get at the connection here, but I don't think you can overstate how close these two are. And second daughter is just sort of maybe one aspect. And I think, you know, she's - her official role is Hillary Clinton's right- hand woman. But it's not just hand, it's arm, it's brain, it's everything. I mean she is the person who thinks what Hillary Clinton is going to think before she thinks it and makes things happen for her. And that's how close they are and have been for years and years and years.

I would just say, the irony is that she has been in - such in the spotlight, not just with this, but because of her estranged husband, Anthony Weiner. And she is - you know, there are a lot of staffers, and I'm sure you know them, too, both of you, who, you know, kind of like being in others, and there are others who do not like it. They do not like their names being out there. They don't like being a part of the news cycle. She's one of those. So for her to be such a part of this news cycle must pain her as much as it is the content that we're talking about, why she's in the news cycle.

BALDWIN: OK. Off of Huma, Tim, the question for Dems. Democrats are making this a referendum on Jim Comey. They're saying, show us what you know. Will that work?

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, one of the ways you can be sure that you're succeeding as a nonpartisan agency chief is that you get attacked from both sides.

BALDWIN: That's when you know you're doing - you're doing your job?

NAFTALI: You know you're doing the right thing. In July, Democrats loved him because he said there's no reason to indict Hillary Clinton. And now, because he had told Congressional investigators that the case was closed, and then they had reopened it, he had to inform the Congress that he was reopening it. He didn't, by the way, inform the Congress publicly. Somebody leaked that letter. But he was under an obligation to do so, and he had been attacked by Congress for being pro-Democratic. So, he's right in the middle.

And Democrats have to keep in mind, I believe, that James Comey is the same person who stood up to George W. Bush and refused to sign for the continuation of the NSA program that was violating our Fourth Amendment rights.

BALDWIN: That surveillance.

NAFTALI: So either this man has - is suddenly a different man, or, in this very difficult, political climate, he is trying to thread the needle, and it's a controversial way, but he's trying to thread the needle to try not to seem partisan. The person the Dems should really be angry at, I think is Anthony Weiner.

BALDWIN: What a bizarre -

NAFTALI: Oh, my gosh.

BALDWIN: What a bizarre -

NAFTALI: What a -

BALDWIN: I know.

Dana, what about Trump, can he capitalize, can he stay on message? How could this really help him?

BASH: Well, your first question and your second question are directly related. Can he capitalize? Yes. Can he stay on message? We'll know if he can capitalize if the answer is yes to whether he can stay on message. Teleprompter Trump, as I call him, the one who does stay on message, has been out there for the past few days. He has not been, you know, attacking fellow Republicans, hasn't been attacking accusers, people who accuse him of sexual assault. He has been staying where his aides want him to stay. Not just on the e-mail issue and Hillary Clinton and talking about Comey and even today saying thank you to Anthony Weiner and so forth, but also on a big issue that helps them substance-wise, which is Obamacare, and the news for the past couple of weeks I think now that Obamacare premiums -

[14:25:30] BALDWIN: The premiums.

BASH: Have gone up. And so if he can do that, then, yes, he can capitalize on it. The question is whether or not it is - it is too late or not.

I have to tell you just really briefly to answer that question, I was out in Iowa over the weekend with some Republican canvassers and one of the things that they do on this app that they have, Brooke, which they use to figure out who is going to vote Republican or Democratic, is the first question is, are you happy with the way this country is going, yes or no? And the second is, are you going to vote for Hillary Clinton, yes or no? And their hope is that if the first answer is, no, I'm not happy, and the second is, yes, I'll go for Hillary Clinton, that they actually can be persuaded no in this kind of climate if, you know, given the fact that the spotlight is back on Hillary Clinton and questioning her integrity, for lack of a better way to say it.

BALDWIN: Well, maybe they're persuadable, especially to use your phrase, if Trump remains teleprompter Trump these final eight days. But then you have the Hillary Clinton - I want to play this latest version of "The Daisy Ad," where you have the Clinton campaign trying to keep the conversation on Trump and his temperament. Take a look.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was me in 1964. The fear of nuclear war that we had as children, I never thought our children would ever have to deal with that again. And to see that coming forward in this election is really scary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Trump asked three times.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three times, why can't we use nuclear weapons.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I want to be unpredictable.

Bomb the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Quickly, Tim, trying to break through, will that work?

NAFTALI: At this point, Hillary Clinton, it's in her interest to remind people of what a Trump presidency means and that the president is actually, as George W. Bush said, and he was right, the decider.

BALDWIN: OK. Tim Naftali, Dana Bash, thank you both so, so much.

Coming up next, the blue state strategy. We'll take a look at the electoral map and the blue states that Trump is gambling on, on his path to 270.

Also ahead, Donald Trump says he and his foundation have given millions and millions of dollars to charity. A claim that is pretty tough to verify without those tax returns. We're going to talk to "The Washington Post" reporter who has spent months looking into Trump's philanthropy. What he discovered, next.

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