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Seven Days To Go; Obama, Bill Clinton, Sanders Campaign for Clinton; Trump, Pence Talk Obamacare in Pennsylvania; New Report Raises Questions About Trump and Taxes; Clinton Camp: Comey's E-mail Decision "Total Breach of Protocol"; Six Dead After Two Buses Collide in Baltimore;. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired November 01, 2016 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: One week until Election Day, and Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are in the sprint to the finish line. The candidates and their surrogates blanketing battleground states today in an effort to rally supporters and convert the undecided.

Team Clinton, including President Obama, Vice President Biden and Bernie Sanders, heading to seven states including Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.

Donald Trump will also visit Wisconsin. But all eyes are on Pennsylvania, where he and running mate Mike Pence will give a joint address on Obamacare later this morning.

CNN is tracking all of the fast-moving developments on and of the campaign trail. Phil Mattingly is in New York with the Clinton campaign, Athena Jones is at the White House, and Christine Romans is here with me in New York. Let's begin with you, Phil. Good morning.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. There's no question, over the course of the last four days, it seems like everything was thrown up, tossed up a little bit. The question now becomes, how does this race end up?

If you talk to the Clinton campaign, they don't believe there's going to be a major impact because of that letter from FBI Director Jim Comey to Capitol Hill. But that doesn't mean they're not doing anything about it. Take a listen to how Hillary Clinton had to address it in Ohio yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want you to know -- look, I've said repeatedly, you know, I made a made. I'm not making any excuses, but I will tell you this. If they want to look at some more e-mails of one of my staffers, by all means, go ahead. Look at them. And I know they will reach the same conclusion they reached when they looked at my e-mails last year, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: So, Carol, somewhat defiant there, but actually less aggressive than what we've seen from her top advisers. They have gone full bore after Director Comey, after the FBI, and his rationale for sending that letter, attacking him of having a double standard for not looking into perceived ties tween Donald Trump's campaign and Russia or Vladimir Putin. Those are attacks that aren't going to stop anytime soon. And here's why.

When you talk to Clinton advisers, they believe this helps rally supporters. There's no question at all, there were concerns about what this would mean for the broader election, so close to the election when it occurred. But they believe when it comes to volunteers, when it comes to canvassers, when it comes to door knockers, if they feel like Hillary Clinton is being unfairly attacked, unfairly maligned, unfairly prosecuted even, this will help rally that support, that coalition, that is crucial to come out for a Clinton win in those battleground states, just as you noted, Carol, like Pennsylvania.

Now, where does this leave Donald Trump? Clearly, his campaign is attacking on this issue. And you noted, they have another issue they want to attack on as well, Obamacare, that big speech that they have, both Donald Trump and Mike Pence in Pennsylvania today.

But the crucial aspect as you've seen this race start to tighten over the last couple of weeks, Carol, has been Republicans coming home to Donald Trump. One of those Republicans, well, he never said he was pulling his endorsement, wasn't necessarily thrilled to be endorsing him, Paul Ryan. Take a listen to what he said this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: I stand where I've stood all fall and all summer. In fact, I already voted here in Jamesville for our nominee last week in early voting. We need to support our entire Republican ticket. Here's the other thing I'd say.

For those of us who lived through the 1990s, Steve, it's sort of a feeling of deja vu. And the point I keep trying to make to younger voters who did not live through the 1990s, this is what life with the Clintons looks like. It's always a scandal, one after another. Then there's an investigation. And what happens, Steve, is you never know what's coming next. They live beyond the rules. And they live to work the system to help themselves, to help Clinton Incorporated. And so they can win and she could come in with a Democrat Congress, the worst of all possible things, if Republicans do not turn out and do not vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: And, Carol, I think that's going to be the key message that you look across the country right now from Republicans clearly starting to come home to Donald Trump, hoping that that can somehow boost him over the top when it comes to Hillary Clinton but looking down-ballot. That has been Paul Ryan's focus for the last couple of weeks, keep that majority in the house. You're also seeing Republican donors and fund-raisers that I've spoken

to try and maintain that Republican majority in the Senate. You talk about all those battleground states that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are fighting over, Carol, it looks like most of them have pretty big senate races, too. So a lot of fights to happen, only seven days left. Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Phil Mattingly reporting live from Chappaqua, New York this morning. It's an all-out blitz for the campaigns and the surrogates. CNN's Athena Jones following all of this from the White House. Good morning.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. That's right. This is it. It's the big final push with just seven days to go, so you have the candidates and their surrogates covering almost every battleground state trying to cover all their bases.

Let's start with President Obama. He heads to Columbus, Ohio today. This is the first stop in what the White House is calling an aggressive travel schedule this week to try to make the case for Clinton. He's also going to make three stops in North Carolina and two stops in Florida this week.

And it's not just the President who's going to be out campaigning for Clinton. You have Vice President Biden who's going to be in Charlotte, North Carolina. Former President Bill Clinton is campaigning in Florida today, as is Hillary Clinton herself.

[09:05:09] Senator Tim Kaine is in Wisconsin. And Senator Bernie Sanders is making several stops in New Hampshire. That, of course, is a state where he is very, very popular with Democrats. You'll remember he crushed Clinton in the New Hampshire primary up there. So that's on the Democratic side.

On the Republican side, as we have mentioned, we're going to see Trump in Wisconsin and in Pennsylvania. Mike Pence also in Pennsylvania. Those are two states that many say may be out of reach for Republicans but that they're hoping to win over to their column. Each side trying to block the other's path to 270.

When it comes to President Obama, we're talking about a President who, in our latest CNN/ORC poll, has his highest approval ratings since 2009 at 55 percent. This is also a time when that poll showed 54 percent of Americans think the country is heading in the right direction. The President and the Clinton campaign are hoping his popularity and his approval ratings can help get her over the finish line. Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Athena Jones reporting live from the White House, thank you.

We know Donald Trump likes to brag about not paying taxes. Now, we're learning how he did it. "The New York Times" is now reporting Mr. Trump potentially escaped paying tens of millions of dollars in the early'90s by using tactics that are now illegal.

With me now to explain is "CNN MONEY'S" Chief Business Correspondent, Christine Romans. Good morning.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. And this is a reminder that we have not seen his tax returns. The first presidential candidate of either party in 40 years not show us, so we're relying on what "The New York Times" has seen here.

"The New York Times" painting a picture of Donald Trump using the tax code to benefit from losing other people's money. Now, this is the 1990s, a time when Trump was scrambling to save his casino businesses. They were in free fall, bleeding cash, and eventually went bankrupt.

He financed the casinos with debt. He borrowed money to finance the casinos. And that's where "The New York Times" says he used these tactics, dubious tactics they call them, to avoid paying taxes when he lost the money.

"The New York Times" says it has documents suggesting that Trump used losses from his Atlantic City casinos to offset taxes on other business income for years to come. The key here, the crux of this, is when his casinos failed, his creditors forgave much of the debt on the bankrupt properties.

Here's an example "The Times" gives as to how this works. Suppose Trump has a $100 million loan. His casino folds and he can only pay back, say, $60 million. His creditors are then forced to forgive $40 million, which normally would be treated and taxed as income. But the moves "The Times" claims Trump made was converting that $40 million debt into equity into his own real estate partnerships.

The stock wasn't worth much, but that wasn't the point. It made the taxes disappear. It's a move "The Times" describes as stretching the tax law beyond any recognition. The tactic was outlawed in 2004. It's unclear if Trump used it properly or was ever investigated by the IRS for it.

Now, "The Times" quotes John Buckley, he's the former Chief of Staff for Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation, the tax body there. He says, quote, "He deducted somebody else's losses. He is double dipping big time." Buckley tells "The Times" that since the bond holders were likely also declaring losses for tax purposes, Trump shouldn't be able to as well. You can't count the same dollar twice.

To be clear, it's impossible to know, to confirm, if Trump used this tactic. He refuses to release his tax returns. Trump's spokesperson saying that "The Times" is speculation. Speculation. That they're misunderstanding or misreading tax laws.

Basically, though, Carol, what this is is another example of how we would like to see his taxes and see what is actually in there. The move they're describing was outlawed in 2004. But at the time, "The Times" says his own tax attorney says, we don't think this would survive an audit. If the IRS saw this, we don't think it would get through.

COSTELLO: But as far as we know, Donald Trump did everything legally -- ROMANS: We don't know.

COSTELLO: -- right?

ROMANS: No, Carol, we don't know.

COSTELLO: We do not know.

ROMANS: We don't know. We don't know. His own tax attorneys at the time, according to "The Times," are saying, this is really stretching it. We are right on the limit here. So we don't know. But essentially, it's talking about taking other people's money, they invest in your company, you lose the money, the debt is forgiven, you issue stock instead of a debt, and then both parties take the loss. That's something that is now illegal.

COSTELLO: All right. Christine Romans reporting, thank you so much.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: So Clinton's camp might take on Trump's taxes again after this new report. As for the investigation into her e-mails, her campaign manager says the FBI isn't playing fair. This morning on "NEW DAY," he questioned why Director Comey is opening the door on Clinton's e-mails, but when it comes to Trump's alleged Russian ties, it's no comment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBBY MOOK, CAMPAIGN MANAGER, HILLARY FOR AMERICA: He's not resolving anything. He's dangling out there that they have some information. We find out he didn't even have a warrant to know what it was. And he's coming out and saying, well, I have some information. It might be important, it might not. It might be pertinent --

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: So why do you think he did it?

MOOK: I don't know. I don't know. And what was particularly disturbing was, we learned yesterday, when 17 agencies all agreed, that it was the Russians that stole e-mails from Democrats, it was Director Comey who said this information should not come out because it's too close to the election.

[09:10:12] CUOMO: Wait. Didn't he say I don't want the FBI name on it?

MOOK: Why in the world is it too important --

CUOMO: Robby, just so --

MOOK: This is important.

CUOMO: Just so we're clear on it.

MOOK: Why in the world is it too important -- why is it important to hold back information about Russians, and it's not important to hold back information about a Democratic candidate for President? It is mind boggling and Director Comey needs to answer this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK. So let's talk about this and more. With me now is David Swerdlick, assistant editor for "The Washington Post," and Jay Newton-Small, contributor at "Time" magazine. She's also the author of "Broad Influence: How Women Are Changing the Way America Works." Welcome to both of you. We have a lot to dissect this morning, as usual.

Before we start, though, with this Russia thing, I want to clarify. The FBI is not commenting on whether Director Comey advised against mentioning Russia as the entity behind the hacking of Democratic e- mails and CNN cannot corroborate Mook's claims.

With that in mind, David, is this a legitimate line of attack?

DAVID SWERDLICK, ASSISTANT EDITOR, THE WASHINGTON POST: So to the point you just made, Carol, it's legitimate, in my view, if, in fact, what Senator Reid said in his letter to Director Comey is accurate, that he was told directly by Director Comey that they were looking into a link between Trump and Russians or the Russians and some of the leaks that we've seen in recent weeks. And if Senator Reid was at liberty to disclose that in a letter, if the information wasn't classified to the point where he couldn't discuss it outside of the briefing that he says he received. If that's the case, then, yes, he, at least -- I don't know if I'd call -- I think it's a little bit of apples to oranges, but I guess it's fair game.

But I would just like to say one quick thing, which is that the original double standard was that Democrats have complained over the last several days about Director Comey sending his letter to members of Congress about looking into Huma Abedin or Anthony Weiner's device, potentially with e-mails on it, but they didn't say anything about breach of FBI protocol back in July, when Secretary -- excuse me, Director Comey announced and gave a speech talking about the fact that he was not going to recommend prosecution of Hillary Clinton. So there's double standards all around.

COSTELLO: OK. So, Jay, the Democrats are going all in, though. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid wrote a letter to the FBI Director, James Comey. And I'm going to read our viewers part of it, quote, "In my communications with you and other top officials in the national security community, it has become clear that you possessed explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisers, and the Russian government. I wrote to you months ago calling for this information to be released to the public."

So I guess my question to you, Jay, is does Director Comey have an obligation now to clarify things for voters?

JAY NEWTON-SMALL, CONTRIBUTOR, TIME MAGAZINE: Well, there's a lot of clarification that needs to go on, Carol. And this is part of the problem of why you're not supposed to release sensitive information about investigations, especially when you don't know what they're actually revealing -- you don't even know what's inside those e-mails -- just days ahead of an election because it becomes politicized.

Now, you see back and forth, all of these leaks from the FBI, some of them helping Clinton, some of them helping Donald Trump, some of them hurting both of the candidates, and it's going to go back and forth like this. And this is exactly why you don't want to have this happen because it all becomes politicized. Everything becomes politicized. And everything is sort of a conspiracy to get Clinton or to get Donald Trump.

And there's no way of knowing a real answer to any of this, unless you really begin to, like, you know, rush these investigations, which is never a good idea, right? You don't want to rush these things and come to rapid conclusions. And so you're really not going to know go before the campaign what's going on. And then it just becomes a game of, well, who knows? It's all speculation.

COSTELLO: I know. It kind of makes your head spin, right?

SWERDLICK: Yes, right.

COSTELLO: I mean, the only thing we know for sure, David, is there is an inquiry into former Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort's ties with Russia. So do voters have a right to know what this inquiry has turned up?

SWERDLICK: Look, I agree with everything that Jay said, and I think you're right, that, you know, we're just talking about an inquiry, Carol. I think, right, there could be nothing in the e-mails that have apparently turned up according to Director Comey. There could be nothing to the link between -- the alleged link between the Russians and anybody tied to the Trump campaign.

I think the point is that this was politicized a long time ago. It wasn't just politicized on Friday when Director Comey sent his letter.

COSTELLO: OK. So, Jay, are voters just covering their ears and just --

NEWTON-SMALL: La, la, la.

COSTELLO: I know. Because it's a little complicated, I know. Whatever, it's all noise at this point, isn't it?

NEWTON-SMALL: It's just, I know, great thinking (ph) it's all just noise. I mean, there aren't that many people who haven't made up their minds at this point, if even before all of these latest revelations.

So what this really does is sort of, it bakes it in and sort of says, OK, this just makes me angrier on one side or another, and gins up enthusiasm, arguably, for both side.

[09:15:07] And you see that, I mean, look, I -- having written a book about women, looking at all of my women listeners in the last two days, they're incredibly angry at the idea of a double standard. And for them, that's a total dog whistle to women. That's saying, you know, there's some standard, there's one standard for men in the race and there's another standard for the women in the race. And that gets women incredibly riled up, incredibly unhappy.

And that's what Hillary Clinton's betting on here, by using the words, double standard, is to get the women's vote out and say, hey, this is really unfair.

COSTELLO: Interesting.

NEWTON-SMALL: So I think it's a lot of -- a big question of enthusiasm. And I think both campaigns are using for their advantage and to get the other person. But, really, I mean, is this going to change any minds in America?

COSTELLO: I don't think so either.

Anyway, got to leave it there. David Swerdlick, Jay Newton-Small, thanks to both of you.

And we're also following breaking news out of Baltimore, where a school bus has collided with a transit bus. Police say six people have been killed in this accident. No children were onboard that school bus at the time of the wreck. It happened around 6:30 Eastern Time. Investigators now working to find out, you know, what caused this terrible crash in Baltimore.

Still to come in the Newsroom, Clinton on the offense over this latest e-mail investigation. Trump on the attack, but what about voters? Do they care?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:35] COSTELLO: The campaigns and Washington insiders are consumed with the latest e-mail scandal, about Russia, right? Donald Trump telling his supporters that it proves that putting Hillary Clinton into office would throw the country into turmoil.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The investigation will last for years. Nothing will get done. Government will grind to a halt. And our country will continue to suffer. Hillary's corruption is a threat to democracy.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Clinton voters are worried about these new e-mails and confused about what they mean. Trump supporters think they're a game changer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE COOLEY, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: I think they already know that there's some very damaging e-mails in there. And she's in a lot of trouble.

REPORTER: But the FBI director hasn't seen the e-mails yet, so how would he know?

COOLEY: Well, his underlings below him, they have to know they're not going to bring that to the attention unless there's some serious information in there that's very damaging for Hillary Clinton.

REPORTER: How concerned are you that it could affect the election?

BRIAN EVERSOL, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: About -- on a scale of one to them, about a five.

REPORTER: That means you're somewhat worried?

EVERSOL: I'm somewhat worried, yes. Because some of the people that didn't want to vote for her before because of it, it could tip them to Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

COSTELLO: With me now to talk about all of this is Robert Wolf, he's an outside economic adviser to President Obama and CEO of 32 Advisers. And a Donald Trump campaign adviser and former Georgia congressman, Jack Kingston.

Welcome to both of you.

ROBERT WOLF, CEO, 32 ADVISERS: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Jack, I want to start with you. Mr. Trump said that Mrs. Clinton is a threat to democracy if she becomes president of the United States. Really, a threat to democracy?

JACK KINGSTON, SENIOR ADVISER, TRUMP CAMPAIGN: Well, I think the idea of a president-elect being under, potentially, a criminal investigation by the FBI, could lead to a constitutional crisis. And I think there's real questions about that.

If you look at what has happened between the Department of Justice and this investigation, the friction with them and the FBI, Bill Clinton meeting with Loretta Lynch on the tarmac, totally unprecedented. If you look at the FBI's inconsistency, which I think we all can agree on, it's been a very disturbing investigation, if you look at Hillary saying, I turned over all my e-mails and then saying that she did not know or I don't exactly know what she's even said about having her private server. She had 13 different devices. Huma Abedin saying that she turned over her e-mails and then 650,000 of them turn up on her husband's computer.

I mean, this is a very strange year. And yes, I do think that if Hillary Clinton was elected, we're going to have all kinds of investigations and all kinds of uncertainty.

COSTELLO: Got you. OK, Jack, I'm going to go to Robert now. Unfortunately, Robert cannot hear you.

WOLF: I can't hear him.

COSTELLO: So try to --

WOLFE: I've been on jack before. You know, he's a surrogate, he reads a great script, I have to admit. But as a former congressman, I'm sure he would probably talk about what Alberto Gonzales said, Republican attorney general, Michael Mukasey. They though what FBI director Comey did was outrageous.

You know, from my perspective, the vote isn't going to be about emails. What's amazing is over the last five days, we had the best GDP in a year, and everyone's talking about e-mails and this process that we know nothing about today. It's complete speculation. And the only thing we know is the last time Comey made a direct comment, he said there was no case against Secretary Clinton.

So, this is all speculation. We don't know what's in there, at all.

COSTELLO: You know what? Why don't we go to a break and try to fix our technical problems, because it's very hard to have a three-way conversation when one party can't hear the other.

KINGSTON: You don't want Robert to hear me.

COSTELLO: I'm sure you do. We'll take a break and be back with much more in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:28:42] COSTELLO: OK. I think we got our technical bugs worked out. Jack Kingston is back, a Trump surrogate and a former Georgia congressman. Robert Wolf also joins me, he is an outside economic adviser to President Obama and a Clinton supporter.

So, welcome back. So let's dive right in. Pardon?

KINGSTON: I said, it wasn't the Russians.

COSTELLO: That's true. Now, I'm having trouble hearing you.

So I'm going to standard with Robert, because Robby Mook came out, who's Clinton campaign manager, and he said that there's a double standard with the FBI, when it comes to, you know, announcing this new batch of e-mails, from Huma Abedin and FBI looking into possibility of Russia disrupting the election.

Is there a double standard?

WOLF: Well, you know, 17 national agencies have come out and said the Russia is involved with hacking. You have the Trump former chairman of his campaign, possibly involved with doing business with oligarchs there. You have, I think, one of the Trump kids made comments about their relationship with Russian banks. And then, you know, for a fact, Trump has been incredibly complimentary of Putin.

So, there's definitely something going on, if you look at those four different situations. And someone who was involved in those WikiLeaks hacks myself, you know, yes, you know, I think it's important to find out what really happened. And I would like to think that the FBI is taking it much more seriously than this email approach where actually they've already said that the secretary had no wrongdoing.