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At This Hour

Hours Left in the 2016 Election; Interview with Jess McIntosh; Interview with Representative Renee Ellmers; Interview with Josh Earnest. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired November 07, 2016 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:04] KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get a couple of other things. And Andre, they're all running around like crazy today. I mean, they're in every state. You pick it, somebody's there for the campaign in terms of battleground --

ANDRE BAUER, TRUMP SUPPORTER: They didn't come to my little old state of South Carolina.

BOLDUAN: Well, I mean, we all like South Carolina, but -- so -- but can they do anything in this last day? How do you think?

BAUER: Mayor Nutter's right. When you have that kind of star power, they come out tonight, it's on the TV, I think it definitely drives people to the polls. It gets excitement up. It gets some -- you know, not that they weren't paying attention before but when you have that kind of star power, don't get me wrong, I mean, you know, anybody who's running for office would love to have all the support that they can get but you've got some unbelievable talent coming there and it shows how important quite frankly Pennsylvania is.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Elizabeth, I want to bring you into this conversation because you've done something interesting. Right? Not only were you a contestant on "The Apprentice" but a lot of people are focused on what happens Wednesday, after this election. You know, things haven't been that nice. We haven't been getting along all that well in this election. People are concerned about whether perhaps there is common ground on Wednesday.

You've actually done an interesting case study on this. Explain.

ELIZABETH JAROSZ, FORMER CONTESTANT, "THE APPRENTICE": Yes, we did a social experiment where we put Trump supporters in the front room of a focus group facility and let recent immigrants, many of which were undocumented, watch from behind the glass. And then we brought them together in one room to see if we could find common ground. And instead of the conversation going nuclear, they actually walked away with empathy, compassion and a lot of common ground. It was phenomenal. Fascinating. So I have a lot of hope for the path forward.

BERMAN: How did that happen?

JAROSZ: Well, one of the things I'm paid to do, and first of all, let me just say I'm honored to be on this panel with all of you guys. I am not a political person and a political commentator. I just understand the human condition. So corporations pay me to really understand humanity at a deep level. So that's kind of what we did. And we got to the values level and what was the most fascinating about it is that they have the same values.

Trump supporters and undocumented immigrants have the same values. I will go ahead and say that on camera. What they agree on is they love America. And once we started to get to those kinds of conversations they saw themselves in each other. So the first video that we just released actually shows a Trump supporter challenging an undocumented immigrant, asking them would they fight for this country. I mean, essentially it's a loyalty question.

And, I mean, their answer just surprises everybody in the room. They start to educate the Trump supporters that even as undocumented immigrants, they are supposed to sign up for selective service which is our draft. And so the conversation just became incredible. The learnings were fascinating and everybody walked away in a much better place.

I have a lot of hope for where we can go. And I just want to say it's not that hard. We can do this.

HILARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, people are fundamentally good in this country, and I think that unlike maybe a lot of his supporters, Donald Trump lost his -- this election and in my view the day of his announcement, when he went out there and said, you know -- started attacking Mexicans, started attacking the reasons that people are coming to this country and their motivations for being here. I think that history will show that that's the day he lost --

(CROSSTALK)

STEVE CORTES, TRUMP SURROGATE: He attacked illegal immigrants. He did not attack Mexicans. That is just factually incorrect. He was talking about illegal immigrants.

BOLDUAN: We'll debate the way this race began --

MICHAEL NUTTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: They are murderers, rapists and drug dealers.

BOLDUAN: All right.

NUTTER: That is not true.

BOLDUAN: We will debate how this race all began in the break.

Guys, thank you very, very much.

It all comes down to this one magic number and the battleground states that can help each candidate reach 270. We've got the reporters everywhere. They are everywhere. And I mean it. We'll go to them next. BERMAN: Plus the one state where Hilary Rosen just announced it's

close. The state of Michigan. You're looking at Congressman Sander Levitt right there in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Go Blue. President Obama speaks there shortly. We'll bring that to you live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:38:42] BOLDUAN: Just hours left in the 2016 election. Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump are in a full-on sprint across key swing states today. Making their pitch to voters, of course. And stop me if you've heard this one before. It all comes down to the battleground states.

BERMAN: So we are there, everywhere. The states that are in play right now. First, where are we going to go? We're going to Brian Todd, he is in Leesburg, Virginia. Virginia, a state that's gone blue the last two elections. Nevertheless, Donald Trump right in Leesburg last night, Brian.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He was, John and Kate. Just a few hours ago, in fact. And if you look over here, these moving crews have just finished breaking down here at the Loudon County fairgrounds, moving all this stuff out, they're heading out now.

Just a few hours ago, Donald Trump was here, it was the last stop on a crazy campaign day for him. He got here after midnight. People were lined up against these fences over here to your right, snaked around those houses down there all the way down that road, thousands of them here waiting since morning to attend Donald Trump's rally that was scheduled for 9:30 last night. Didn't really show up until after midnight but these people were very enthusiastic here.

And a big reason why is that Donald Trump and the Republicans are counting on this county, Loudon County, to turn his fortune in the state of Virginia. This race in Virginia is tightening. Hillary Clinton has been ahead by a few points in the polls. Virginia went narrowly to President Obama in 2012.

[11:40:02] This county went narrowly to President Obama in 2012. But it is seen as leaning a little bit Republican. Donald Trump really betting on this county to help turn his fortunes around. He's been in the state of Virginia 11 times since the Republican convention. He's come to Loudon County a couple of times. This county is one of the more populous in northern Virginia. Other countries in Northern Virginia lean Democrat but this county is seen as a swing county. It's going to be crucial for him to capture the vote here. And he got here last night at midnight to a very enthusiastic crowd.

He really wants this county to go in his corner and maybe turn his fortunes in the state. One thing that can help him, early voting here has surged in Loudon County. That helps him. There's a lot of newly registered voters here in Loudon County. That also could help Donald Trump as he tries to swing northern Virginia his way -- guys.

BOLDUAN: All right, Brian Todd. Brian, great to see you. Thank you so much. Let's now go to CNN's Martin Savidge. He's in Cleveland, Ohio. 18

electoral votes, we want to remind you, up for grabs in that state. Hillary Clinton hitting Ohio there twice just this weekend, Martin.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: She did, yes. Friday, you got Jay-Z, Beyonce and Hillary Clinton all on the same stage here in Cleveland. Yesterday, she's back in town with royalty, LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers. The question is, did that drive people out to the polls? Mixed opinions on that depending on who you talk to.

Early voting going on right now so very late in the early voting process, but people are lined up outside the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections. It goes until 2:00 today and of course we go into the regular election starting tomorrow morning.

The turnout over the weekend, huge. In fact, they are suggesting maybe record turnout here in northeast Ohio. They also had large numbers in Columbus and large numbers in Cincinnati. Down there, some people waited three hours to vote. But who did it really help? Up here in the Democratic stronghold of Cuyahoga County, it is looking like despite the record number of turnout over the weekends, the turnout for Hillary could be lower.

It was projected at the beginning that there would be a 70 percent turnout. Now couple of weeks later, 62 percent. Any less number does not help Hillary Clinton, especially up in this stronghold -- Kate.

BERMAN: All right. Martin Savidge for us in Cleveland. Not too far from Cleveland, we just saw pictures, live pictures of Hillary Clinton arriving in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We're going to check in with Keilar cam, Brianna Keilar live on a campaign bus on her way to the event in Pittsburgh.

Brianna, can you hear us?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, welcome to our home away from home that we have been traveling on for some time, buses like this, as we do on the campaign. We are right now, the press corps is loading on to this bus as we are part of the motorcade with Hillary Clinton. We've just landed in Pittsburgh which is the first of four cities that Hillary Clinton is going to visit today. She's going to Pittsburgh, she'll be Grand Rapids, Michigan, then to Philadelphia, where she's going to be with President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, and then her final event, late, late night, probably after midnight by the time it actually gets going in Raleigh, North Carolina, before she heads back to New York.

So this is really the mad dash in what has been a long, hard fought, sometimes nasty and brutal general election battle here. But we just heard from Hillary Clinton before we left White Plains. She was on the tarmac and she was asked about if she is to be president, what -- you know, what happens afterwards. And she did say that she says she has work to do to bring the country together.

If you look at what's going on today with the campaign, they are out with a new positive ad. They had one out on Saturday. But it's really just almost a drop in the bucket of what has been a really negative campaign, as obviously you guys have noted. But Hillary Clinton says she is glad and actually if we can get a picture over here of the motorcade, she says that she's glad here to be in the final stage as she is going through battleground states and we are soon to be off here.

You can just see this is how she's traveling here in Pittsburgh and she will at each stop in this motorcade that's going to take us to this first event, you guys.

BOLDUAN: Brianna, great to see you. Planes, trains and automobiles. We are waiting for the trains part of your adventure. Great to see you as always, Brianna. Thank you so much.

KEILAR: Good to see you.

BOLDUAN: So CNN's Randi Kaye, let's go to Florida now. She is in Orlando, Florida, where Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are tied in the state, 29 electoral votes at stake.

Randi, what are you seeing on the ground there?

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are here at the Orange County elections office. And this is in the I-4 corridor. We are in Orlando, which is the heart of where they think they pick the president. This is the swingiest part of Florida, the swing state, they call it purple in this area. Republicans do really well to the north and Democrats do really well to the south. But we are sort of peeling back the curtain on democracy at work here.

If you take a look, all of these folks here are counting absentee ballots. They've already counted 145,000 that have come in. Today they expect to count about 17,000. And this is a pretty interesting process because if you'll notice, they don't have anything at their desks with them here.

[11:45:04] They take all kinds of precautions. They're only allowed to use green pens. They have no water. Their purses are in the back. But green pens because who has a green pen at home, right? So they can't mark up any ballot or do any funny business. So they count the envelopes here, they make a mark on the envelopes, the number, and then if you come back here, this is where they put all of the absentee ballots through the machines, and if you could show us here how they get through the machines here.

And then, Linda, once they go through these machines, this gets sent to the secretary of state's office, is that correct?

LINDA: Ultimately. This machine is accumulating the vote totals. It will be transmitted to our election results software and then election night after the polls close is when it's transmitted to the state.

KAYE: So this is where it all happens. This is pretty exciting stuff for you.

LINDA: Yes. This is the nerve center for our absentee process.

KAYE: And we should make a note as well that they are still taking in absentee ballots, right? They can actually hand in an absentee ballot until the polls close tomorrow night, so they will be counting them even past Election Day. Back to you guys.

BERMAN: All right. Randi Kaye for us in Orlando. A, that was very, very cool. B, the footage of people in Florida counting ballots in back rooms is something that gives people a nervous like reaction there. But we'll leave that aside.

Randi Kaye, in Orlando, great to see you.

All right. Shortly President Obama, he takes the stage for Hillary Clinton. He is going to be in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan is a state that hasn't voted for a Republican since 1988. Looking at live pictures of that stage in Ann Arbor.

BOLDUAN: Go, Blue.

BERMAN: We'll bring it to you live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: You got one day left to make this all happen so how do you do it?

BOLDUAN: Pretty straightforward. Let's talk about it. Let's ask someone who will know. Hillary Clinton's director of Communications Outreach, Jess McIntosh is joining us right now.

Jess, great to see you. It's been since Philly, since the convention, since we saw you.

JESS MCINTOSH, HILLARY CLINTON'S DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS OUTREACH: Yes. Just 100 days, who's counting?

BOLDUAN: Yes. Who's counting? And a lot has changed since then. So take us -- take us to Brooklyn right now. Take us inside Brooklyn. What is the level of anxiety felt in there right now on a scale of one to 10?

MCINTOSH: It's directly proportional to the amount of pizza in headquarters at any given time. But -- and the energy is good. It's great. Most of us are out in battleground states. It's as empty as headquarters in Brooklyn has ever been because we know that this election is won in those states and not in the Brooklyn HQ. But people are feeling really good. Hillary is ending this campaign really strong and the energy is very, very high.

BERMAN: But if you're not nervous, you're not doing it right. I mean, there's no --

MCINTOSH: Yes. Obviously. Everybody -- I mean, the anxiety level in terms of this election, the stakes are so high and we know that this is about what kind of country we want to be, what kind of future we want to create for our kids. There's literally no important -- no more important question than that. So of course on that level, everybody is obviously sweating it. And as we should. But I think everyone's done everything that we need to do to get to this point and now it's about turning out those voters.

[11:50:04] So Hillary is making a strong case. She has the president and other strong surrogates doing that and --

BOLDUAN: In terms of those surrogates, if you look at some of the people who are out with her this weekend, you have Jay-Z, Beyonce, Katy Perry, James Taylor, LeBron James, tonight Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi. All stumping for Hillary Clinton. Is this an effort to try to make Hillary cool?

MCINTOSH: No. This is what happens when you have people who support you and like you, and you've got a lot of friends. I mean, this is how a strong Democratic campaign closes. I think you can see Donald Trump on the other side kind of sadly attempting to do the same thing with Joe Episcopo and Ted Nugent.

BERMAN: Joe Episcopo is very funny.

MCINTOSH: He is, he is. And I -- I do have a little bit against Ted Nugent, but I mean, at the end they bring in some celebrity talent. We just happen to have celebrities supporting her who America really, really cares about and loves. So that's a strong way to make that closing argument.

BERMAN: We'll see. You're looking at live pictures right now of -- you know.

BOLDUAN: Ann Arbor.

BERMAN: Ann Arbor, Michigan, where President Obama will be speaking, not Bon Jovi. But the president. I'm sure you'll take his support.

All right. Jess McIntosh, thanks so much for coming in. We really appreciate it.

MCINTOSH: Thanks for having me.

BOLDUAN: Good luck tomorrow.

MCINTOSH: Thanks.

BOLDUAN: All right. So Donald Trump in Florida right now, in North Carolina later. That's the state that could decide the election.

BERMAN: All right, Donald Trump -- I mean, sorry, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, essentially tied in that state. Joining us now, Republican Congresswoman Renee Ellmers of North Carolina. She is supporting Donald Trump. We have seen polls there with that race, just tied. Other polls with Hillary Clinton a point or two ahead. What is going to make the difference in North Carolina between now and tomorrow night? REP. RENEE ELLMERS (R), NORTH CAROLINA: Well, you know, you are

pointing out some polls. But we have some polls also that showed Donald Trump strongly ahead here in North Carolina.

You know, North Carolinians across the state have been going out. The early vote Republican early vote up since 2012. You know, Democrats still ahead but we are outperforming them as far as the percentages. But you know it comes down to the fact that Donald Trump has a message of opportunity and vision for America moving forward. Getting away from all of this corruption and collusion, and failed policy. Failed policy of Barack Obama after eight years.

BOLDUAN: Congresswoman, it's all winding down, I mean, you know it just as well as everybody who's turned on a TV or opened their phone today. This is the last day of campaigning. If you had another five days, and I know you think he's doing really well, but if you had another five days, is there something you would have liked to have seen more from Donald Trump?

ELLMERS: Well, you know, we always wish that we could have a couple more days. I mean, I -- you know, it doesn't matter what the situation is. You know, if we did have more time I would say continue to stay on message, as he has. I would say continue to speak to the American people and tell them that it's really about them, and that they have the power to take this thing and move it where it needs to go.

You know, despite all the things that we've seen, the FBI investigations into the Clintons and all these things, you know, I think Americans are feeling very, you know -- they don't feel like they don't have any power. They can get their power back tomorrow when they go to the voting booth, they can move this country forward, we can start making those changes, we can say no to Obamacare, we can get rid of those out of control premiums and deductibles and move forward with a good health care plan.

We can -- we can get rid of Common Core, we can have training programs back in high school for, you know, for everything from carpentry to, you know, metal works and welding.

BERMAN: Congresswoman --

ELLMERS: All of those things --

BERMAN: Congresswoman --

ELLMERS: We can see again.

BERMAN: When you said, stay on message, does that include this whole Twitter thing, where, you know, story in the "New York Times" over the weekend that they're keeping -- aides are keeping Donald Trump from controversial tweets? Are you glad that that's happening? What does that say about him?

ELLMERS: You know, I heard that as well and I read that, and my understanding is that that's not true at all. I'm glad, because that last thing we need is any off -- you know, off-sided comment. But I think right now he is incredibly focused. I think this is the leader that we will see as president of the United States. I think this is who he is as a businessman, when it comes down to it, he makes the deal. He does what is necessary to move forward. That's who we're seeing right now.

BOLDUAN: Congresswoman Renee Ellmers, thank you so much for your time.

ELLMERS: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Good luck tomorrow. Thank you.

So James Comey clears Hillary Clinton again in the latest chapter of the e-mail saga. What does the White House have to say about this latest announcement coming from the FBI director? We will ask the president's press secretary, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:57:05] BOLDUAN: Let's go to the great state of Michigan where President Obama will be speaking any moment now, very soon. With us to discuss the state of the race is White House press secretary Josh Earnest.

Josh, it's great to see you, thanks for joining us. So the president in Ann Arbor, obviously a lot of students will be attending this rally. He'll be hitting up another university in New Hampshire later today. Why, when it comes to students, young people, why do they still need so much convincing?

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, Kate, good morning. This is obviously an amazing scene here at the University of Michigan. This is obviously an amazing scene here at the University of Michigan. This is an opportunity for the president to talk to the young Americans that have been so critical to his political success throughout his tenure in the White House, and frankly in his campaign for the White House. So the president is somebody who is a particularly persuasive messenger.

The president is also somebody who has an agenda of fighting for young people and the president's going to make a strong case to young Americans across the country, but particularly here in Michigan, that if they want to see the progress that our country has made over the last eight years and fighting climate change, reducing the costs of college education, making it easier to repay your student loans, then you need support Secretary Clinton, and she is somebody who has vowed to continue President Obama's policies and the president is enthusiastic about her campaign, and he views young Americans all across the country should be, too, as well.

BERMAN: So, Josh, last week the president was speaking about investigations in general and the FBI and he said, we don't do investigations based on innuendo, incomplete information or leaks. A lot of people saw that as criticism of Director Comey. Now that the investigation has decided that there's no change in the disposition, basically clearing Hillary Clinton again, what's the view from the White House?

EARNEST: Well, John, the truth is, the view of the White House is the same as last week. There's a lot of controversy. A lot of people on -- frankly on both sides of the aisle that have a lot of experience with these issues who were quite critical of Director Comey's decision 10 days ago to inform Congress, to update them about their intent to continue investigating this laptop computer that was owned by Anthony Weiner even though they didn't know what was on the laptop. And at that point I did an hour and a half long briefing in the White House briefing room in which I said that, I'm neither going to criticize nor defend Director Comey. And, you know, he issued a letter just over the weekend, just yesterday indicating that he was not prepared to change his assessment based on their review. And I'm not changing my position. The fact is the White House is not going to be in a position to defend or criticize Director Comey. At the White House we have been scrupulous about making sure that we're not interfering -- on independent Department of Justice-FBI investigations. That should be separate from politics and we've been scrupulous about that principle. And we believe that everybody should be scrupulous about that, too.

BERMAN: Josh Earnest, a lot of people showing up to see you in Ann Arbor, Michigan. A very popular man apparently.

BOLDUAN: To see Josh. Exactly. Just to see Josh.

BERMAN: Just to see Josh. So thanks so much for being with us. Appreciate it.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, Josh.

BERMAN: "INSIDE POLITICS" with John King --

EARNEST: Thanks for the opportunity, guys.

BERMAN: Starts right now.