Return to Transcripts main page
Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
President Trump Goes All Out with Five Rallies in Two Days; Trump Keeps Up Immigration Drumbeat; Democrats Make Closing Arguments Before Midterm Election; Trump Vows Protection for Preexisting Conditions; Second Insider Attack in 2 Weeks Kills Utah Mayor; California Teacher Arrested for Punching a 14-Year-Old Student; SNL Comedian Faces Backlash for Mocking a War Hero; Patriots Beat Packers in Brady-Rodgers Showdown; Saints Hand Rams Their First Loss of the Season; Chargers Get the Last Laugh, Beat Seattle 25-17. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired November 05, 2018 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:00] DAVE BRIGGS, CO-HOST, EARLY START: That is way up, folks, up from 44 percent in the last midterms. A lot riding on whether Democrats can flip the house. Cnn Political Director David Chalian handicapping the state of play.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Nearly 70 districts truly in play. Some leaning a little blue, Democratic, some leaning a little red, Republican. Thirty one in yellow, true toss ups, total coin flip, and of those, 30 of them are currently held by Republicans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CO-HOST, EARLY START: The president campaigning like crazy, holding three rallies today in Ohio, Indiana and Missouri where he will be joined by special guest Sean Hannity of "Fox News".
On Sunday, the president was in Georgia and Tennessee, he repeated his ominous warnings about the migrant caravan. The first members have just reached Mexico City about 500 miles from the U.S. border.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No nation can allow its borders to be overrun. And that's an invasion. I don't care what they say. I don't care what the fake media says, that's an invasion of our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The president has kept up his drum-beat on the caravan and the border for more than a week. The Republican Party's chairwoman is downplaying that focus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RONNA MCDANIEL, CHAIRWOMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: I'm with
the president at these rallies, the media is talking about all of the accomplishments. I think the media is focusing on immigration constantly and I get that. But he is focusing on the economy, he is talking about the jobs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Cnn political analyst Rachel Bader reporting this morning for "Politico", how Speaker Paul Ryan told the president Sunday for one final plea, please, talk up the booming economy in the final hours before the polls open.
President instead posted to Ryan that is focused on immigration has fired at the base. Rachel will join us shortly.
ROMANS: Democrats say they're playing their heavy hitters to make a closing midterm arguments. Party leaders from the past, the present and perhaps the future fanning out across the nation, notably absent from the trail, Hillary Clinton.
President Obama campaigning in Indiana and Illinois on Sunday, delivering a stinging indictment of the Trump administration's record and rhetoric.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Don't be hood- winked. Don't be bamboozled. Don't let them run the okey-doke on you. Because while they're trying to distract you with all this stuff, they're robbing you blind. You'll be like look caravan, then they're giving tax cuts to their billionaire friends.
They promised they were going to take on corruption in Washington, instead they've racked up enough indictments to fill the football team. Nobody in my administration got indicted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: As of Sunday morning, more than 34 million people had voted early in this country, that's two-thirds more than the early votes cast in all of 2014.
BRIGGS: Of course, a lot of different interpretations of what that means and who would help. Joining us this morning, two political analysts just joining in, Preston Professor Julian Zelizer and "Politico" congressional reporter Rachel Bade. Great to see you both --
RACHEL BADE, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, POLITICO & CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, guys --
JULIAN ZELIZER, PRESTON PROFESSOR & CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning --
BADE: Thank you for being here on a Monday. Rachel, let's start with you in your reporting leading "Politico" this morning, a big headline: "Trump has hijacked the election". That's from a senior house Republican aide.
Yes, he is talking about the economy, but here is his own revelation over the weekend regarding what happens when he touts the economy. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And they all say speak about the economy, speak about the economy. Well, we have the greatest economy in the history of our country. But sometimes it's not as exciting to talk about the economy, right?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: He's talking about the caravan, fear. What is your reporting, Rachel, that Paul Ryan and other House Republicans do fear about the impact of that?
BADE: Yes, it seems that the president was taunting Republican leadership privately, sort of an inside joke --
BRIGGS: Yes --
BADE: Right there on the campaign trail. There's a debate going on in the Republican Party, and that is what do they want the closing message of the election to be? The president has been talking about immigration, the caravan, sending troops to the border.
And Republicans initially felt that this would be a good thing, sort of drumming up the base and getting Republicans excited to vote and sort of districts that lean Republican. But there is a sense that he's gone overboard and they are worried about things like birthright citizenship which he talked about a lot last week.
That controversial ad that showed a migrant bragging or an immigrant bragging about killing a police officer. That that's going to have a backlash on these suburban districts. So with that in mind, Speaker Ryan called the president yesterday and said, look, we had a great jobs report, let's talk about the economy.
And so you have a lot of Republicans who want to talk about these record unemployment numbers that are out right now, the lowest in 40 -- 50 years. And this is like one of the bright spots for Republicans.
[05:05:00] They want to talk this up, they think if they're going to be able get sort of suburban moms swing voters, that it's going to be the economy that brings these people to vote for the Republicans, not this sort of divisive immigration rhetoric.
BRIGGS: Yes --
BADE: But TBD if the president listens. ROMANS: Julian, there's a lot of interests over the weekend, Peter
Baker of the "New York Times" rightfully pointed out the last 21 months of the Obama administration created more jobs in the first 21 months of the Trump administration.
We also know that putting that rocket fuel of fiscal stimulus on top of an already strong economy is blowing up the deficit. And last week, you know, the Tim Geithner; the former Treasury Secretary under Obama, he held the record for the most debt issued under his watch until last week when Treasury Secretary Mnuchin took that dubious honor.
It might be, because there are some other numbers that go along with a strong economy, that don't look so good for the Republicans.
ZELIZER: Yes, but I still think it helps the Republicans. I do think wherever the economic recovery started, it doesn't matter. It's where and who is president at the time people are enjoying the benefits.
ROMANS: Right --
ZELIZER: And the deficit just is not really mattered as much as an issue, and many Republicans frankly don't care about that, even though it's part of their rhetoric. So I think it's an origin story that, you know, might not have a big effect on the campaign trail.
The real issue is if people are thinking about the economy, they're thinking about their jobs or as Rachel said, if all of a sudden there's some kind of backlash to the ugliness.
BRIGGS: And the real question here is turnout. Turnout will be key to see what groups do turn out. And Rachel, let's talk about the broad forecast show 85 percent chance Democrats flip the house. Eighty five percent chance Republicans hold the Senate, may even gain some. If Democrats are unable to flip and take control of the house, what will that reveal to you?
BADE: Oh, man, if that happens, there's going to be a total blood- bath in the Democratic Party here in Washington. And a lot of people I think will point the finger at Nancy Pelosi, you'll see people try to push her out of town. Look, for months, everybody has been predicting that Democrats will take the house.
They have record numbers of fundraising with candidates across the country bringing in millions of dollars, candidates that nobody knew about even last week -- or not last week, last year. But look, if you look at the congressional ballot right now and what was announced yesterday in terms of new polling, it's pretty -- you know, it's showing that it's going to be close.
Democrats have a seven-point lead on the congressional ballot, but that is down from 11 points in September which is down 14 points in August. So it's going to be tight and at the same time, people really do feel like the economy is on the right track and you can argue again about whether the tax cuts added to the deficit and you know, are Republicans, you know, doing the most responsible thing in terms of the economy?
But people are feeling it in their pocket books --
ROMANS: Yes --
BADE: And the polls coming out yesterday show that something like 65 percent of Americans feel like the economy is doing better under President Trump than it had been previously. And I think, you know, things like this -- these are a sign that it's going to be close, I do think Democrats will pull this out, and if they don't, there's going to be a serious identity crisis in the Democratic Party.
ROMANS: Even though supporters like me and my colleagues have been saying that the economy is stupid when the economy is not good. And when the economy is good --
BRIGGS: Right --
ROMANS: People are like, well, it's supposed to be good. You know, and so they're --
BRIGGS: Right --
ROMANS: Less motivated, and maybe that's what the president knows that. What do you make of the early voting? Who does it benefit in your view here?
ZELIZER: I don't think it's clear at all. And let me just come back to the --
ROMANS: Sure --
ZELIZER: Look, this is a close election. It wasn't supposed to be close, and it's partly the economy, the divisive arguments have actually worked to some extent. And the fact is the polls are much narrower than we thought. Any one going in tomorrow needs to admit it's a toss-up, and it's not even clear.
Usually, at this point, we think the early voting used to be and help the Republicans. Then they thought it would help the Democrats, and at this point, I think it's unclear --
ROMANS: They don't know --
ZELIZER: This is a total turnout game tomorrow. I think the generic polls give us limited information. That's what President Trump is banking on. That he can go out there and he rail against the caravan, and Paul Ryan might say calm down, but in the end, that's what's going to bring people out.
And I think we have a narrow margin. Remember 2016, we didn't really know going in and we don't really know going out. So it's going to be about voting turnout, and unfortunately the impact of voting disenfranchise me, what that does in states like Georgia.
BRIGGS: And particularly -- ROMANS: Yes --
BRIGGS: Here in Georgia. Rachel, I want to ask you about another story on "Politico" this morning and it's entitled "did Beto blow it?" And the concept being, there are a lot of Republicans in Texas that wanted to vote against Ted Cruz, but they were not spoken to. A lot of independents around the country feel like they were ignored ahead of these midterm elections.
Might that be something that Democrats ultimately regret that they seem to be running a bit far to the left while Obama, Biden and even Oprah seem to be courting more of a middle undecided voter.
BADE: That's right, Ted Cruz is -- wasn't the most popular person in Texas -- yes, easily re-elected for a while, but he sort of has an arrogance I guess that turns people off.
[05:10:00] And there is a sense that Beto could have reached out to these people and could have tried to build a bridge with them and got them to vote for him. I do think that was a long shot, just because he's such a progressive candidate. But look, I mean, there are independent votes in Texas that he would have needed to win this over.
My colleague has been doing some really intense research on this, and he just -- it sounds like he has not done enough in terms of winning people over in Texas. And we know that Beto also peaked a little too early. I mean, we saw polls tighten a few weeks ago, Cruz was able to sound the alarm, get the president down there and rallied Republicans and it looks like, you know, he's going to be able to swing this out --
BRIGGS: Yes --
BADE: Down there.
ROMANS: Right --
BRIGGS: You wonder if he ran as more of a Connor Lamb-type of candidate that we saw --
ROMANS: Right --
BRIGGS: In Pennsylvania. Could he have rallied some of those voters? But hey, a lot of things could happen --
ROMANS: Yes --
BRIGGS: Tomorrow.
ROMANS: All right, Rachel, Julian, come back in a few minutes, we'll talk more about the state of play here --
BRIGGS: Yes --
ROMANS: All right, a fist fight between a teacher and a student, what prompted it and who is facing charges here? (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:15:00] ROMANS: In a interview with "Axios", President Trump claims he will reinstate protections for pre-existing conditions if a lawsuit in his administration supports successfully guts the Affordable Care Act.
Right now, Justice Department is arguing the courts should strike down Obamacare's pre-existing conditions protection, that could lead to skyrocketing costs or obviously loss of coverage for millions of people who have a pre-existing condition. The president blaming the entire mess though on his embattled Attorney General.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did Jeff Sessions give you a head's up before the Justice Department filed that --
TRUMP: No, he didn't actually --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because it's an amazing lawsuit. I mean, you've seen this thing --
TRUMP: Yes --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right?
TRUMP: No, he didn't. But it wouldn't matter because pre-existing conditions on anything we do will be put into it. So it doesn't matter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: We should note that Attorney General Sessions says the president did sign off on the lawsuit. The Justice Department is referring all questions by "Axios" about that discrepancy back to the White House which claims the lawsuit is about a quote, "technical constitutional issue and does not represent the administration's general position on pre-existing conditions."
ROMANS: The second insider attack in Afghanistan in as many weeks has killed the Mayor of North Ogden, Utah. The Pentagon says Brent Taylor was serving as a major in the Army National Guard, the gunman apparently a member of the Afghan Security Forces was shot and killed by other Afghan troops.
Another U.S. service member who had not been identified was also wounded. Taylor energetic and beloved figure in Utah politics is survived by his wife Jenny and seven children.
BRIGGS: A fist fight between California high school teacher and student captured on video. The music teacher Marston Riley seen exchanging punches with the 14-year-old at Maywood Academy in L.A. Friday. The brawl ends with students and what appears to be a campus resource officer trying to break it up. The students telling Cnn affiliate "Ktla" the fight began after Riley
asked the student to leave class because he wasn't wearing the proper uniform. The boy refused shouting profanity and a racial slur. Riley was arrested for alleged child abuse.
Cnn has reached out to Riley, but has not yet heard back. "Snl" comedian Pete Davidson facing a growing backlash for mocking a Republican presidential candidate who lost an eye in Afghanistan. Dan Crenshaw did five tours of duty in Afghanistan as a Navy SEAL. On "Saturday Night Live", he made Pete Davidson's list of gross people running for office this year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE DAVIDSON, COMEDIAN: This guy is kind of cool, Dan Crenshaw.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my man --
DAVIDSON: You all hold on. You may be surprised to hear he is a congressional candidate from Texas and not a hit man in a porno movie.
(LAUGHTER)
I'm sorry, I know he lost his eye in war or whatever or those --
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: Note the laughter there from his co-host on set. That joke met with anger from veterans and the National Republican Congressional Committee. It needled him about his breakup with Ariana Grande, writing an actual funny joke.
"Getting dumped by your pop star girlfriend is no excuse for lashing out at a decorated war hero." Crenshaw himself taking the high road tweeting, "good rule in life. I try hard not to offend. I try harder not to be offended. That being said, I hope "Snl" recognizes that vets don't deserve to see their wounds used as punch lines for bad jokes."
When you're a former Navy SEAL, you're not going to let a stupid joke --
ROMANS: No --
BRIGGS: From a late night comedian bother you much. Good for him. Two future hall of fame quarterbacks going toe-to-toe in Foxborough, Andy Scholes has more on Brady v. Rodgers in the "BLEACHER REPORT" next.
[05:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BRIGGS: Sunday night was billed as the game to decide who is the greatest of all time. Is it Brady or is it Rodgers? Andy Scholes has the answer in the "BLEACHER REPORT", good morning buddy, quite a game last night.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS REPORTER: Yes, certainly was Dave, and you know, Brady and Rodgers, they pretty much dominated the NFL for more than a decade. Now, you would have thought they'd face off multiple times in their career, this was actually just their second match up ever against one another.
Brady seven years older than Rodgers, got four more Super Bowl ring, but this is a great game, tied in the fourth quarter, check out this (INAUDIBLE) from the Patriots, so Brady, he ends up just running down the field, and he even acknowledged after the game that he had no idea what he was doing on the play.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM BRADY, QUARTERBACK, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: That was a great play, I mean, I had no idea, you gotten space, I had no idea what the hell was going on. I don't know what's illegal to hit or dive or you know, cut. I thought no way the ball is getting to me, the next thing you know a game is running by me, and I said, you know, this is even by me because I probably could have made him a play to get him a touchdown, but you live and you learn.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Now, the Patriots ended up scoring on the drive to take the lead, and then Brady put the game away with this 55-yard touchdown pass to Josh Gordon. New England wins 31-17, it's their sixth win in a row.
All right, Saints hosting the undefeated Rams in a possible NFC championship preview yesterday. New Orleans is up 35-17 at the half, but the Rams come storming back to tie the game at 35-35 in the fourth quarter on this Cooper Kupp touchdown.
The Saints though didn't panic, Brees going to finds Michael Thomas and he is going to take this one 72 yards to help put the game away. Then check out Thomas, he goes over to the goal post and pulls out an old cellphone as a part of his celebration, a nod to Joe Horn who was the Saints wide receiver, dude did that back in 2003.
[05:25:00] Saints' head coach Sean Payton not very happy with it as Thomas was flagged for using a prop. New Orleans, they won the game, 45-35, there are now no undefeated teams left in the NFL.
All right, finally, this may be the best touchdown celebration of the year. Jaron Brown scores for the Seahawks -- and then check out his teammates, the full choreographed dance celebration. We see it again -- Dave, I tell you what? These guys must have practiced this quite a bit because they're just as in sync as the cheerleaders.
And you know that they didn't know who was going to be on the field at the time of the touchdown, so all of these guys must have known every single one of the dance positions, quite impressive in my opinion. BRIGGS: I would love to see the video of them practicing, but you said it, they were in sync. Do you think that was an NSYNC dance? I don't know my boy bands all that well. But it strikes me as Backstreet Boys, NSYNC --
SCHOLES: Looked good to me, and moved back to the middle, yes, impressive --
BRIGGS: All right, very nice move, Jaron Brown, all right, thank you, Andy.
SCHOLES: All right --
BRIGGS: Romans, over to you.
ROMANS: All right, that's good, I've got to admit it --
BRIGGS: Pretty good --
ROMANS: All right, thanks, Dave. The final pitch, President Trump trying to rally his base to the polls ahead of the midterms and a slew of Democrats cast President possibly future countering the message.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
