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New Day

Republicans on Health Care; Khashoggi's Sons Speak Out; Key Races on Election Night. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired November 05, 2018 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:31:43] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, our new CNN poll says that health care is the top issue for voters. So why are President Trump and his fellow Republicans not talking about it more?

CNN's senior political analyst John Avlon is here with a reality check.

Hi, John.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Ali.

So, look, forget all the fear-based appeals and bitterly polarized Washington politics, health care is issue number one for voters this year. And something surprising has happened. After almost a decade of Obamacare being a political lightning rod, it's become rather popular, especially its coverage of pre-existing conditions.

Now, this puts Republicans in a tricky position. After all, they tried to repeal or modify the Affordable Care Act more than 70 times according to "Newsweek." But the president and his fellow Republicans really want to convince voters this year that they will, quote, totally protect pre-existing conditions, repeating the line in speeches and tweets and campaign ads.

And what President Trump isn't saying is that his own lawyers are in court trying to cut down Obamacare's coverage for people with pre- existing conditions. This effort's been joined by state attorney's general in states like Wisconsin, where Governor Scott Walker personally approved Wisconsin joining the suit, despite also supporting a state law guaranteeing pre-existing condition coverage. And in Missouri, where Attorney General Josh Hawley is running for Senate and airing ads that tout his support for pre-existing conditions coverage, while actively joining the suit to end it. And while senators like Nevada's Dean Heller say they've supported bills to repeal and replace Obamacare, the conservative alternative, well, those bills weaken pre-existing coverage in ways that could leave to massive price hikes.

Now, adding to voters' confusion on health care is an increasing number of liberal Democrats supports for the once far out Bernie Sanders' Medicare for all proposal. That's become a prime target for Republicans who are running ads accusing Democrats like Stacey Abrams in Georgia and Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan, of endorsing the single player plan when they haven't. Look, good people can disagree about health care policy, but voters shouldn't be asked to take candidate's words over their actions in office.

And that's your "Reality Check."

CAMEROTA: Thank you very much, John Avlon. A great one. Great info.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And as you look at our poll -- and as you look at our poll, you really do see how important health care is to voters out there. So, even more poignant.

Thank you, John.

Up next, a CNN exclusive. The sons of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi make an emotional appeal for the return of their father's body. Their first interview after his death. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:37:53] BERMAN: We have a CNN exclusive this morning. The sons of murdered journalist and "Washington Post" columnist Jamal Khashoggi are speaking out for the first time, making an emotional plea. They sat down with our Nic Robertson, and Nic joins us now with this exclusive interview.

Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, John, this is a family who are going through an absolutely terrible time. You see it in their eyes. You hear it in their voices. But we're also -- it's a situation they're in where it's a huge global diplomatic issue. We have yet to hear President Trump weigh in and make his decision about all the Saudi stories so far. But for this family, it's about a father and the father's story and that's what's being lost, that's what they wanted to talk about, most importantly to get his body back.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voice over): Salah and Abdullah Khashoggi are breaking their silence about their father's death.

SALAH KHASHOGGI, SON OF JAMAL KHASHOGGI: All what we want right now is to bury him in (INAUDIBLE) in (INAUDIBLE) with his -- with the rest of his family.

ROBERTSON (on camera): In Saudi Arabia?

S. KHASHOGGI: In Saudi Arabia, yes. I talked to that -- I talked about that with the Saudi authorities and I just hope that it happens soon. I believe that this issue is ongoing. I'm really hopeful about that.

ROBERTSON (voice over): Turkey says "Washington Post" columnist Jamal Khashoggi was strangled, then dismembered in a pre-planned attack as soon as he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul early October. Saudi officials admit he was killed but haven't said how. ABDULLAH KHASHOGGI, SON OF JAMAL KHASHOGGI: It is a mystery and this

is putting a lot of burden on us, on all of us. It is -- it's difficult. Like, it's not easy, especially when the story gets this big, it's not an easy (INAUDIBLE). It's confusing. Even the way we grieve, it's a bit confusing. It's not a normal situation. Like, it's not -- it's not a normal death at all.

ROBERTSON: Salah, who left Saudi Arabia less than two weeks ago, shortly after this awkward-looking handshake with the kingdom's crown prince, is going back.

[06:40:07] S. KHASHOGGI: In that meeting, with the king and the crown prince, when I went there with my Uncle Sam (ph), the king has stressed that everybody involved will be brought to justice. And I have faith in that. This will happen.

ROBERTSON: In your heart of hearts, what do you think happened?

A. KHASHOGGI: Something bad happened. Something maybe. But I really hope that whatever happened it was just -- it was -- it wasn't painful for him or something like that or -- it was quick.

ROBERTSON: How do you think your father would want to be remembered?

S. KHASHOGGI: As a moderate man who is -- who has common values with everyone. Genuine and honest. A man who loved his country, who believed so much in it and its potential. Jamal was never a dissident. He believed in the monarchy, that it is the thing that is keeping the country together, and he believed in the transformation that is -- that it is going through.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: So despite all that suffering, there were some moments of hope. Abdullah told me that when he went into his father's apartment, he discovered by the bedside the last thing his father would see at night were pictures of his grandchildren and for the whole family they just realized how much Jamal, their father, loved them all and that they found really touching and something special.

But, of course, they really feel at the moment they can't -- their lives can't move forward until his body is recovered.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Nic, it is remarkable how measured those sons are given the injustice that has happened to their family. Thank you very much for that really personal story.

OK, back to our top story, what are the key races to watch in the House and the Senate tomorrow. There's something about Harry and his election eve forecast, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:46:07] CAMEROTA: Just one day away from the midterm elections. What should we expect tomorrow night? There's something about Harry and he's here with us, so let's get "The Forecast" with CNN's senior politics writer and analyst Harry Enten.

Hi, Harry.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICS WRITER AND ANALYST: Hi. How you doing?

We're both in the same city, but we're in different rooms, what are you going to do?

So let's take a look at the forecast right now as we have it for the House. This is basically where we've been this entire campaign, right, with Democrats favored with 226, the Republicans at 209. Of course you need 218 to get a majority. We think that Democrats are going to get there. Obviously there is a margin of error so they may not. But, overall, the forecast has been pretty consistent that Democrats will gain the majority in the House.

In the Senate, on the other hand, we have something entirely different. Republicans are at 51 right now, but we think they're going to get all the way up to 52 in Democrats would drop a seat to 48.

Now, there is a margin of error with that, so it wouldn't be shocking to me if Democrats pick up one seat on the net, so they could end up at 50. But getting to that -- or getting to that 51 in order to get the majority, that seems like a longer shot at this point.

BERMAN: Harry, your forecast, so electric, they had to put you in a secured location. That's why we're not allowed to stand close to you.

ENTEN: I miss you, though.

BERMAN: What House races -- what House races are you looking at?

ENTEN: Yes, sure. So, on election night, I think there are going to be a number of Houses races that will give us a pretty good idea of which way the night is going. The first one is New Jersey's 7th District, which is a suburban district in New Jersey. Leonard Lance, the incumbent, is this moderate guy, not really a Trumpy at all. This is a district that went for Mitt Romney back in 2012, then flipped to Hillary Clinton in 2016. And right now this is indicative of what we're seeing overall and that is that Tom Malinowski, the Democrat, we think is going to defeat Leonard Lance by three points.

Now, there's some other districts that all -- other districts that don't really fit this mold very, very well. One of them is Maine's second district. This is not a suburban district at all. This is not a district where Donald Trump did poorly. And, in fact, Donald Trump won this district after Mitt Romney lost it. But here, in the rural areas of Maine, we actually have Jared Golden beating Bruce Poliquin by two points, which gives you an idea that Democrats aren't just fighting in the suburbs, they're actually doing fairly well in some areas that were traditionally Democratic but then flipped to Trump in 2016.

One more I'll point out, Texas' 32nd District. This is in the suburbs of Dallas. This is a district that has historically been very, very Republican and yet Hillary Clinton did fairly well here, and we think that Pete Sessions, who didn't even have a Democratic opponent in 2016, is going to lose this race to Collin Allred by one point. There was a "New York Times" poll that came out last night that had Allred up. That would probably boost this by a little bit.

But, overall, we think that Democrats are going to do what they need to do in a lot of swing districts.

BERMAN: The three districts you point out, I just will say, if they do go the Democratic -- the Democrat's way, and we have a long way to go, we have to wait and count the votes there, then you're talking about 35 -- you know, 30 to 35 gain for the Democrats there, not just the 23 number, right, Harry?

ENTEN: That's exactly right. And one other thing I'll point out is, there are going to be districts that are going to surprise us on election night, ones I didn't even talk about here. That's what happens in wave elections, we're never quite sure which of the districts -- we can get a best estimate of what's going on, but if Democrats sweep the board in these three, it's fairly certain that they'll gain the majority.

CAMEROTA: OK, Harry, what Senate races should we be focused on?

ENTEN: Yes, so I think that there are two that I would kind of point out. Early on, on election night, the eastern part of Indiana will close and all the polls will close at 7:00 p.m. And what we think right now is that Joe Donnelly is going to hold on -- the incumbent is going to hold on and beat Mike Braun by two points, but it's a very, very tight race. But if Democrats hold on here, then Republican gains will be kept to a minimum.

One other state that I'll point out is Missouri. I think a lot of Republicans thought that they had this race in the bag a few weeks ago, but some recent polls -- in fact, the Marist poll came out this morning that had Claire McCaskill, the Democratic incumbent, up by a point. I think that she will probably hold on. But, look, it's just a point. It's just a point. It really could go either way. But if Democrats hold on here, and they hold on in Indiana, they're going to hold their losses to a minimum and they might even gain a seat. Of course, gaining the majority, they'd need a state like Texas. And we spoke about, on Friday, that looks like a tough road to hoe where Ted Cruz's is still favored by six points to win.

[06:50:05] CAMEROTA: OK, Harry, thanks so much. Great to have you here.

Harry's "Forecast" is available each day by 9:00 a.m. at cnn.com/forecast.

BERMAN: Is it true you lost all your clothes on the way here?

CAMEROTA: Yes. Well, I didn't lose my clothes, they were lost in the mail.

BERMAN: Oh.

CAMEROTA: On the way here. But the good news is, is that Dana Bash's closet is like just a shopping day for me. I can go in there at any time and just have all new dresses.

BERMAN: So we're not going to wear this the next three days?

CAMEROTA: No, I'm going to shop in her closet unbeknownst to her, unless she's watching right now.

BERMAN: All right.

"SNL" comedian Pete Davidson mocked a congressional candidate who lost an eye serving in Afghanistan. Now Republicans demanding an apology. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Decorated war hero and Texas Congressional Candidate Dan Crenshaw says he doesn't need an apology from "Saturday Night Live" comic Pete Davidson. But in a web video and a tweet, Crenshaw reminded "SNL" and Davidson that, quote, vets don't deserve to see their wounds used as punch lines for bad jokes. Davidson's joke happened during a segment about his first impressions of some midterm candidates. Watch this.

[06:55:13] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE DAVIDSON, COMEDIAN, "SNL": This guy is kind of cool, Dan Crenshaw.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, come on, man.

DAVIDSON: Go. Hold on. You may be surprised to hear, he's a congressional candidate from Texas and not a hitman in a porno movie. I'm sorry, I know he lost his eye in war or whatever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Crenshaw lost his right eye in a IED blast in Afghanistan during his third deployment. The vision in his left eye was restored after multiple surgeries. Crenshaw then deployed overseas two more times.

CAMEROTA: OK, he could have finessed that a lot better. He could have said, actually this guy is really cool.

BERMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: He could have made his joke, if he wanted to, and then said actually this guy is really cool. Here's his back story. The problem is, he didn't need that joke because the rest of that bit was so funny. He went after Governor Cuomo. He went after Congressman Steve King. And those were funny.

BERMAN: Yes. CAMEROTA: He didn't need that one.

BERMAN: Well, the real problem was the "or whatever." I mean the diminishment of the service there I think really hit a lot of people the wrong way.

CAMEROTA: Well, we're going to have Dan Crenshaw on with us to see what he wants today, what is he looking -- he's not looking for an apology, so what is he hoping for out of this teachable moment. That's in our 8:00 hour.

BERMAN: Looking forward to that.

CAMEROTA: OK, but "SNL" did land some solid, political punch lines, including a spoof of a rival network's coverage of the migrants in Mexico. Here are your late night laughs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": The Trump campaign has launched a new ad with the slogan, things are getting better, we can't go back. Now, in my experience, a good way to tell that things are not getting better is that someone feels the need to tell you that things are getting better. It's still better than a Democrats' midterm slogan, oh, man, are we going to blow this again?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": Democrats are taking back the House. It's a win we need and win we're going to get. I'm sure of it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": And they say don't trust the polls, but I'm choosing to. We're finally going to put this administration in check.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": Now, leading up to the midterms, there's a lot of awful voter suppression going on. That's why I'm proud to present a new segment called "Fox News Tips for Black and Hispanic Voters." We want to make sure your voices are heard. So, tip one, never vote on Tuesdays. The crowds are the absolute worst on Tuesdays.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": But can you imagine how disappointed you'd be if Oprah showed up at your door and it was just to discuss politics? I mean look at this woman in Georgia opening her door for Oprah. She definitely thinks she's getting a new car and not a pamphlet about Stacey Abrams.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: That is such a good point. That's such a good point. You generally think, oh, my gosh, you're getting the 12 gifts that Oprah gives out.

BERMAN: Yes, and making fun of the Democrats about their views of this election. It's funny because it's true. You talk to any Democrat. If you want to scare a Democrat, show them our poll with them having a 13 point advantage. It makes it -- they're like, oh, no, we're leading. Oh, no, we're leading.

CAMEROTA: We get screwed up that badly. Right.

BERMAN: All right, thank you to our international viewers for watching. For you CNN "TALK" is next. For our U.S. viewers, we have brand new numbers giving us insight tomorrow's -- into tomorrow's midterm elections. NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: These Republicans are just shamelessly lying.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Democrats want to invite caravan after caravan of illegal aliens to pour into our country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's got a positive message to run on, but he has made a choice, and the choice is scare the bejesus out of voters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a right to defend our borders. That's what Trump wants. It's political malpractice to not be touting the economy at every opportunity.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Democrat enthusiasm is definitely there. Election Day voting is going to determine the balance of the House.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You see leaders trying to divide us. This is our moral moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. John and I are in Washington, D.C. We are very excited to be here. Election Day is only one day away now. Twenty-three hours and counting until the first polls open in what could be the most consequential midterm election in modern history. This morning we have new polling, the final CNN poll on where the race stands right now.

So Democrats holding a sizeable double-digit lead over Republicans, 55 to 42 percent, in a generic ballot. That's a bigger margin than when Republicans took over in 2010, though smaller than the last time the Democrats flipped the House in 2006.

BERMAN: President Trump's approval rating down 2 points in our poll. It's a 39 percent as we speak. That's the worst pre-election -- pre- election approval rating for any president since Eisenhower. Democrats could benefit from a huge gender gap. Women favor Democrats 62 percent to 35 percent. Men, about evenly divided, 49 percent, 48 percent for the Democrat in their district.

[07:00:01] CAMEROTA: On the issues, health care is the big one, with Democrats -- 71 percent of Democrats considered to be extremely important.