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GOP Candidate Opens Hacking Probe Into Georgia Democrats; CNN Reality Check: Presidential Approval And Midterm Results; Pittsburgh Rabbi's Message Of Unity After Attack. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired November 05, 2018 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:32:08] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, just two days before the election, Georgia Secretary of State's office, which is overseen by the Republican candidate for governor, accused the state's Democratic Party of hacking the voter registration system. Democrats say the allegation is 100 percent false.

In the meantime, President Trump is also taking shots at Brian Kemp's opponent, Democrat Stacey Abrams.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But she is not qualified to be the governor of Georgia -- not qualified. And, Georgia's a great state. It's a great, great state.

Take a -- take a look -- take a look at her past, take a look at her history, take a look at what she wants to do and what she has in mind for the state. That state will be in big, big trouble very quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I want to bring in the Democratic nominee for the governorship of Georgia, Stacey Abrams.

NEW DAY, I should say, also reached out to Abram's opponent, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, but we have not heard back from his campaign.

Representative, you were on with Jake Tapper about 24 hours ago but so much has happened since we've got to get an update on all this information. So thanks for being back with us again.

I want to start with this investigation into the Secretary of State's --

STACEY ABRAMS (D), GEORGIA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: Absolutely.

BERMAN: -- office -- your opponent, Brian Kemp -- has launched into the Democratic Party.

Your reaction to this? ABRAMS: First of all, I think it's wrong to call it an investigation. It's a witch hunt that was created by someone who is abusing his power.

Friday, Brian Kemp was notified that there was yet another flaw in the election security system. Twice before he has accidentally released the information of six million Georgians. This was about to happen again.

Instead of owning up to it, taking responsibility, and seeking a way to fix the flaw he, instead, decided to blame Democrats because he does that. He doesn't take accountability, he doesn't take responsibility. What he does, instead, is find someone else to blame.

He has consistently taken this action and unfortunately, this time he did it on national television through a statement that lies. It's a complete and utter fabrication.

BERMAN: This apparently all started with an e-mail from someone who was concerned about the voter Web page that the state runs. This person wrote the Democratic Party and also a lawyer who has been very critical of the Secretary of State.

But this person who raised the initial concerns -- are you 100 percent sure that this person was not engaged in anything nefarious -- wasn't trying to hack the system?

ABRAMS: Well, let's take a step back.

Brian Kemp was notified on Friday that there was a flaw in the system. The e-mail in question was sent on Saturday after people had received similar information.

This is our voter protection division. The whole point is to make certain the votes are protected. And so she, rightly, sent the information to cybersecurity experts to determine whether this was a valid concern.

But let's not lose the fact that Brian Kemp knew on Friday that this was a problem. And because he failed to act on Sunday, before he could get caught, he decided to cast the blame on Democrats because that's an easy ploy to involve.

[07:35:02] BERMAN: All right. I want to follow-up on one issue you discussed with Jake yesterday. Jake brought up that you were a co- sponsor of legislation that would have required people in Georgia to turn in some of their assault weapons if it passed there. You said that's the beginning of a conversation.

What I want to know from you, as a candidate for governor, what do you want the end of the conversation to be? As you sit here the day before the election, do you want -- do you support a law that would require Georgians to turn in some of their assault weapons?

ABRAMS: I support a law that will ban assault weapons. And just as when we banned radar detection, for example, some people turned in their devices, some people were -- some people kept them and just refused to use them anymore.

Weapons are more dangerous. They are more vulnerable to misuse. And I do think that in the state of Georgia we are going to have to figure out how we do this.

We've done it before as a nation and there wasn't a nationwide confiscation. But there are going to be some people who are going to be held to a higher standard because they have demonstrated a lesser sense of responsibility.

What I want us to do is what we should always do in our legislative process -- have a discussion about how we accomplish our goals. And it is wrong for anyone to say I know the exact end.

BERMAN: Right.

ABRAMS: The end of mine for me is this.

BERMAN: Right, but --

ABRAMS: We need to make our state safer and that --

BERMAN: Representative?

ABRAMS: -- means we need to ban assault weapons in the state of Georgia.

BERMAN: Banning them is one thing; requiring people to turn them in is another. And the voters in Georgia just want to know if you support a law that would require them to turn in their assault weapons.

ABRAMS: I will support a law that is mutually agreed upon by the House and the Senate in bipartisan fashion to ensure that we create the safest space in the state of Georgia.

And I understand that what you want is --

BERMAN: Right.

ABRAMS: -- a hard and fast decision, but part of my responsibility as governor is to govern the whole state. To work across the aisle and work with people of differing values but with a core goal of making sure we make Georgia safer.

I believe in common-sense gun safety legislation and that means we've got to work together to figure out the best way to achieve this outcome.

BERMAN: We put a poll out just an hour ago. We asked voters what the most important issue is to them. It's very interesting.

If you look at it, Democrats -- most Democrats list health care as extremely important. But, Republicans list immigration. Sixty-four percent say immigration is extremely important. Now I know, by and large, immigration's a federal issue, not a state issue. But how do you reach those Republican voters who say that immigration is the most important issue to them?

ABRAMS: I believe that immigration is entirely a federal issue. That's the way our laws are designed.

And that's why I focus so heavily on our responsibility to provide access to health care for half a million Georgians because those very same Republicans, those Independents, live in rural communities where they're watching their rural hospitals shut down.

They live in communities where mothers are more likely to die in Georgia within a year of giving birth than anywhere else in our nation.

They live in communities where we can't attract good jobs because we don't have access to health care.

And I believe that if we do our job expanding Medicaid and providing access to good education and to new jobs in the state of Georgia that I can get Democrats, Republicans, and Independents to stand with me as the next governor of Georgia.

BERMAN: I want to ask about who we are as a country and the role that race is playing in this election.

There's a robocall going around Georgia. I'm not going to play it right now because it is racist and it involves someone mocking Oprah Winfrey, among other people.

But when you hear that and when you hear the President of the United States consistently say you are not qualified to be governor of Georgia, where are we? What do you see that discussion being in terms of race in the country?

ABRAMS: I mean, the challenge for America has always been one of new and old clashing. New ideas, old ideas, new opportunities, and old bigotries.

My responsibility is to be the person who brings us together. Who knits together a new coalition that understands that yes, I'm changing the face of what leadership looks like but I'm doing so having the greatest experience of any candidate on the ballot.

I'm a Yale-educated attorney, I am a business owner, a political leader. I'm also creative. I write books. I know how to move our economy forward because I've been a part of building that economy for the last 11 years.

And regardless of any racist tropes that are out there, I believe in the hearts of Georgians that whether we come from urban Georgia, rural Georgia, suburban Georgia, we want what's best for everyone in the state and I believe that I'm the best person to deliver that.

BERMAN: Stacey Abrams, Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia, thank you very much for being with us.

Again, I will note the Republican candidate, Brian Kemp -- we invited him. He did not respond.

Thank you -- Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: John, I think it's fair to say nobody knows what will happen tomorrow. I think that is a fair statement.

However, President Trump's new approval rating could give us some clues about which party might control Congress.

CNN political analyst John Avlon joins us with our "Reality Check." Hi, John.

[07:40:01] JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey, Ali.

OK, hot off the presses, a new CNN poll released this morning shows that Donald Trump is historically unpopular heading into the midterms despite the heated economy. And here's what that could mean for the GOP tomorrow night if past is prologue.

Let's take a look at the losses sustained by the last two presidents under 50 percent heading into their first midterms.

In 1994, Bill Clinton was at 46 percent approval and Democrats lost 54 seats in the House. In 2010, Barack Obama also at 46 percent approval and Dems lost 63 seats.

Now, in 2018, Donald Trump has a 39 percent approval rating and the reaping has yet to be determined. But, viewing Trump side-by-side with his predecessors, it ain't pretty, folks.

And keep in mind that Trump is in the cellar despite unemployment being at a near-50-year low. That's hard to do.

But midterms are often described as high-intensity, low turnout elections so let's take a look at intensity as well. Thirty percent of those polled say they strongly approve of the job Trump is doing, while 45 percent strongly disapprove.

And among likely voters, 28 percent say their congressional vote will act as a message of support for President Trump while 42 percent say it's a message of opposition.

Finally, we all know that President Trump's doubled down on illegal immigration as a core closing message but our new data confirms that this is, indeed, an odd decision. The economy, by far, is President Trump's strongest suit -- the only category where he's close to a majority when considering the sampling error.

On the flip side, his position on immigration has the lowest approval of any of the major categories polled with only 37 percent approving.

And check this out. Eighty percent of Americans feel our country is more deeply divided now that at any time in the past several years, with 74 percent saying that the tone of political debate encourages violence. That's stunning and disturbing.

And that's your "Reality Check."

CAMEROTA: John, I'm so glad that you pointed that out because that is certainly what the feeling in Pittsburgh was when I went to the Tree of Life synagogue -- that hateful speech leads to hateful actions. They see a direct link between that.

So, after the massacre at the Tree of Life synagogue, Rabbi Jeff Myers has been called America's rabbi because of his message of unity.

So I traveled to Pittsburgh to meet Rabbi Myers and his congregation and to witness firsthand the crime scene and to hear the message he told President Trump.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:46:47] CAMEROTA: One week after 11 people were murdered by a gunman simply because they were Jewish, we traveled to the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. We wanted to meet Rabbi Myers in person and see how he's keeping his faith after so much pain. Also, we wanted to hear the message that he delivered directly to President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RABBI JEFFREY MEYERS, TREE OF LIFE SYNAGOGUE, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA: These just showed up.

CAMEROTA (on camera): Oh.

MYERS: We didn't put them here. They just showed up.

CAMEROTA: They just --

MYERS: Showed up.

CAMEROTA: -- organically showed up and these are the names of the victims.

MYERS: These are all the names of the victims and it just showed up. And this is just an outpouring of love --

CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh.

MYERS: -- from countless people. I'm floored by the love.

I don't know where the tents came from. These weren't here yesterday.

CAMEROTA: Is that right?

MYERS: This is -- the rain is coming in. Somebody brought in tents. This is amazing.

CAMEROTA: To shelter all of these stars.

MYERS: This is -- this was not done by the synagogue. We didn't do this. The community did this. So I'm just amazed.

CAMEROTA: And so what is it like for you to walk around here just six days after you ran for your life from this building?

MYERS: It was painful. It still is. It's painful.

I mean, I know it's part of the grieving process but I'm a witness, I'm a victim, and I'm a survivor. And I'm also pastor, but I'm also a human, and I stand here and I'm in pain.

CAMEROTA: Are you scared when you see this building? Do you feel --

MYERS: No, I'm not scared, I'm angry. How dare you defile our holy space? What made you think you could ever do that?

How would you feel if someone did that to your mother's house of worship? How would you feel? And those are questions he's going to have to deal with.

CAMEROTA: But you sense anxiety and fear from the community?

MYERS: Yes, yes, they're afraid.

CAMEROTA: They're afraid this is going to happen again?

MYERS: Yes.

CAMEROTA: You know, you've been so stoical on national T.V. and you have given your message of love and to tone down the hate. But I just wonder do you have moments where you break down or are you still on adrenalin?

MYERS: To give a perfect example, after the last funeral today -- it was the last one -- (INAUDIBLE). I appreciate the fact that outside (INAUDIBLE) is a side there with a contemplative garden. I just sat down there and cried like a baby. I couldn't stop.

I felt the procession was waiting for me. I couldn't stop. It just came out.

I couldn't stop because I haven't held it in me nonstop but this was the last funeral and every time I do one, particularly when I -- for me, because I'm also a cantor, when I chant a memorial prayer it takes a piece of my soul away and I have no more left to give. My tank's empty.

CAMEROTA: And so what do you say to your congregants who say why? How does this happen? Why? How does God let this happen?

MYERS: I don't believe God lets this stuff happen. Humans have a choice and this person chose -- made this choice.

[07:50:00] To me, God is the one I turn to when I have no strength. I just say God, give me strength to get through this, and that's what I do every moment of every day -- give me strength. And somehow, God does. CAMEROTA: And all of these people who have lined up here -- why are they here? I mean, what do you think they are coming here to do?

MYERS: The community is just mourning. This is Pittsburgh and this is what Pittsburgh is. We're one community and Pittsburgh is hurting and we're here to mourn.

And this is what Pittsburgh is about. That's what makes Pittsburgh such a special place.

CAMEROTA: Are you ever going to go back into this building?

MYERS: You know, we're going to do whatever is the necessary work. We have to redo our sanctuary. We have to sit and figure out how and what that means, and what's the best choice in terms of what to do -- which we'll sit and spend the time and plan properly, and we will rebuild in whatever way we need to and we'll be back.

CAMEROTA: Seeing those gun bullet holes --

MYERS: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- through the door -- through the glass door, that's really chilling.

MYERS: It is -- it is.

I've walked through the sanctuary. It's a horror. It's worse than any sci-fi film because it's real. It's not phony Hollywood.

I'd never think I'd live to see that horror in my life because I've faced anti-Semitism before. I faced it growing up as a kid. So I never thought I'd see the horror of this ever -- ever.

CAMEROTA: Just show me here what stands out to you. Show me when you come here to look at this outpouring of the community.

MYERS: It's the sheer immensity of love. It gives me hope because it reminds me there are so many good people and this gives me strength to say hate will never win.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: What a poignant discussion.

And I just want to tell people because you were too, I think, bashful to say it.

Look, you went down to Pittsburgh even though there were no cameras allowed in the service. You couldn't even take notes inside the service. And you went to Shabbat dinner and you went to that service because you thought it was the right thing to do. And I think that is so incredibly commendable.

CAMEROTA: Well, thanks. I mean, we wanted to see, really, on the ground how the community is dealing. And, you know, where the rabbi says that privately broke down and

cried like a baby, we then saw it publicly during the Shabbat service that Saturday morning, which was exactly one week after the gunfire broke out.

There was a minute and 11-second moment of silence for the 11 victims and the rabbi broke down and he was sobbing throughout it, and it was heartbreaking.

BERMAN: I think one of the things that has happened in the aftermath of this shooting -- maybe it's because we've seen so many shootings -- is that I think we lost sight of the grieving that needs to happen in Pittsburgh and is happening in Pittsburgh. Genuine grieving.

CAMEROTA: And I think that, in part, it's because the rabbi has been so strong for everyone that it was easy to move right on to what action are we going to take.

And I do want to say that at the sermon he addressed that visit of President Trump and the first family. They came to the synagogue and not everybody was a fan of that decision of the rabbi opening his arms to the president's visit. And he addressed it head-on and he said that his religion teaches him to welcome the stranger, even if that's a refugee or the President of the United States.

And he said, however, that he delivered a message to the president and his message was hate speech leads to hateful actions. Only love and respect can stop the hate. He said he told the president, quote, "Stop the hate speech."

BERMAN: I wonder if the president heard him?

CAMEROTA: I asked him that and he said he, as a rabbi, cannot be in control of whether someone receives the message. He needs to just give the message.

BERMAN: Thanks so much for going.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much for watching. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:57:26] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Two months ago, I was hearing about this horrendous blue wave. You better get out and vote.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In his mind, he's less the President of the United States and more the producer of the politics of this country.

REP. BETO O'ROURKE (D-TX), SENATE NOMINEE: This election's all about bringing people together, matching the division with strength, and courage, and confidence.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You couldn't have more different closing arguments if you look at the two parties. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a narrow path to a Senate Democratic majority. Everything comes down to turnout.

RONNA MCDANIEL, CHAIRWOMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Democrats, what are they running on? Stop and resist, obstruct?

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: America's at a crossroads. The character of our country is on the ballot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

BERMAN: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Monday, November fifth, 8:00 here in Washington where we are just one day away from the election -- the final hours.

Now, 24 hours from now there will be people voting in actual voting booths.

CAMEROTA: I can't believe it's actually here. It's actually happening. But you're sure tomorrow is the day? You're sure?

BERMAN: Did you hang your stocking?

CAMEROTA: That's how I feel. It is Election Day eve.

BERMAN: I hope you don't get cold this year.

The polls open tomorrow morning. Such a high-stakes midterm election.

We have a new poll just released a short time ago. Look at that -- Democrats hold a sizeable double-digit lead over Republicans, 55 to 42 percent.

That's a 13-point edge on which party voters say they will vote for tomorrow. That's a bigger margin than when Republicans took over in 2010. Smaller, though, the last time Democrats flipped the House in 2006.

CAMEROTA: President Trump's approval rating is down two points from last month to 39 percent. This is the worst pre-midterm approval rating for any president since Eisenhower.

Democrats could benefit from a massive gender gap. Women favored Democrats 62 percent to 35 percent. Men, though, are about evenly divided. Forty-nine percent back the Republican, 48 percent back the Democratic -- the Democrat in their district.

BERMAN: On the issues, health care is the big one with Democrats. Seventy-one percent of Democrats consider it to be extremely important compared to just 37 percent among Republicans.

For Republicans, 64 percent of them say immigration is extremely important. Just 44 percent of Democrats see it that way. Sixty percent of Republicans called the economy extremely important, which is what some Republicans would like to see the president focused on.

"Politico" is reporting this morning that Paul Ryan, the House Speaker, called the president this weekend imploring him to focus on the economy and not immigration and divisive rhetoric.

One senior Republican even told "Politico" Trump is hijacking the election. But the president -- he sees it differently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And they all say speak about the economy, speak about the economy. Well, we have the greatest economy.