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New Day

Sinema Expanding Lead; Recounts in Florida Races; NFL Weekend Games; Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired November 12, 2018 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:33:29] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, now to some important headlines.

A U.S. Navy fighter jet has crashed in the Philippine Sea. Officials say the FA-18 experienced mechanical trouble during a routine operation before going down 156 miles southeast of Okinawa. Both pilots successfully ejected from the aircraft. Sailors with the USS Ronald Reagan rescued them in good condition. The cause of this crash is under investigation.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Turkish President Erdogan says audio recordings of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi's death have been shared with the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Saudi Arabia. Khashoggi was murdered after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul nearly six weeks ago. Erdogan is not revealing what is on the tapes. Turkey's chief prosecutor says Khashoggi was strangled and his body dismembered. Saudi Arabia has arrested 18 suspects in connection with Khashoggi's death.

CAMEROTA: Well, for the first time Michelle Obama is opening up about her relationship with First Lady Melania Trump. Here's what she told ABC's Robin Roberts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBIN ROBERTS, ABC NEWS: I know that Laura Bush reached out to you and said, if you need any help, I'm a phone call away.

MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY: Yes. Yes.

ROBERTS: You wrote about how and have talked about how you extended that same courtesy to Melania Trump. Has she reached out to you and asked for any help?

OBAMA: No. No, she -- she hasn't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Well, I'm not surprised. I mean the --

BERMAN: No, she hasn't. CAMEROTA: No, she hasn't. but, I mean, I'm not surprised by that. The Trump's whole brand and everything they stand for is doing something differently than -- they're braking the mold, doing something differently than their predecessors. They don't stand on protocol. I mean Michelle -- I mean Melania is doing things her own way. I don't know if she needs --

[06:35:08] BERMAN: This isn't so much a protocol issue, though, as I feel like the reason the Obama's did reach out to the Bushs before was about raising children in the White House, raising younger kids, figuring out the right way to deal with children in Washington. I don't know whether or not -- maybe, you know, Michelle Obama and the Obamas had something to offer Melania Trump for, you know, for Barron Trump, but apparently that assistant not needed.

CAMEROTA: Well, look, I mean just from where we sit, Barron Trump has been sheltered.

BERMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: I mean we don't see him. So obviously they are handling that.

BERMAN: As what should be. I mean, honestly, it's not our business what's going on with Barron Trump. It's like, you know, the two Obamas in the White House then before.

CAMEROTA: All right, the midterm elections are not over yet. Close calls in Florida and Arizona have workers in both states counting the votes. So who has the advantage? Our Harry Enten breaks down the numbers when there's something about Harry.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, this is actually going as we speak. This is Lauderhill, Florida.

CAMEROTA: Look at the action there.

BERMAN: Where Broward County workers --

CAMEROTA: Can you -- can you narrate the action here?

[06:40:00] BERMAN: But back there -- what you don't see is in the background there, there are people who are involved in the recount in Broward County.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BERMAN: There's also, I have to say, I'm concerned about the electrical work in there. There's a lot of cords hanging from the ceiling.

CAMEROTA: Those things hanging, what are those? Chads?

BERMAN: I don't believe that's OSHA approved. The races for senator and governor in Florida were both decided by less than half a percent. That is why there is a legally mandated recount. Will this recount change anything? We're going to dig into those numbers and some other numbers. Joining us, CNN's senior politics writer and analyst Harry Enten. There is something about Harry.

Before we get to Florida, I insist we talk about Arizona where Kyrsten Sinema looks like she is expanding her lead and may very well soon be declared the winner in that state. This is a huge flip if it happens for the Democrats.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN POLITICS SENIOR WRITER AND ANALYST: Yes, it's a huge flip. I mean you can see this lead is now heading towards a point and a half, ever since election night. Kyrsten Sinema's lead has started -- in fact, she was behind and then she took the lead and it just keeps rising and rising and rising as more ballots come in. Remember, a lot of mail-in ballots in that state.

And, yes, you mentioned it, it's a huge -- it's a huge deal because this is a state that hasn't elected a Democratic senator since 1988. And it's a state that Democrats want to play in in 2020. And it's not just this race where Democrats are doing well. In the secretary of state's race that was called by some people, in fact the Democrat has taken the lead there. So this may be the future of the Democratic party in the southwest, Kyrsten Sinema leading the way.

CAMEROTA: OK, in Florida, the Democrats in Florida are hoping that's their future, but it's a much tougher row to hoe.

ENTEN: Yes. So let's take a look at the vote counts first and then we can get into sort of the rules of the game.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

ENTEN: So in the governor's race, what we essentially have right here, and I made them put in these extra decimal points. You can see --

CAMEROTA: For extra confusion?

ENTEN: For extra-extra confusion. I'm a math guy. No one else is. But I like my math, so we're doing to do it. It's my morning segment, so here we go.

So you can see right here that this is a pretty -- seems like a pretty small lead at 0.41 percentage points. That's actually a pretty large lead in the overall vote count, right, 33,684. In the Senate rate, we have a slightly smaller advantage right here for Rick Scott, the Republican candidate, as it was for DeSantis, the Republican in the governor's race. It's just 0.15 percentage points. But, again, 12,562 votes. That's a pretty substantial lead.

So what are the rules on a recount, right? So a machine recount, which is what we're going through right now is, you were talking about it, right, 0.5 percentage points. That -- both within in that, right? We have a 0.41. We have a 0.15. We're going to recount the ballots. And what happens at the end of that race, if, in fact, the machine recount shows a margin under 0.25, then you have a manual recount. But that's only for the under votes and the upper votes.

CAMEROTA: I don't --

ENTEN: Yes, go ahead.

CAMEROTA: I have a lot of questions here. OK.

ENTEN: Ask me all the questions you want. We have all day.

CAMEROTA: OK. Go back to the machine. That's what's happening right now.

ENTEN: That's what's happening right now.

CAMEROTA: We are in the middle of a machine recount. Right. OK. What if it is not completed by 3:00 p.m. on November 15th? What happens?

ENTEN: Those votes -- I mean we've seen what -- we've played that game in Florida before, right?

CAMEROTA: Then, what?

ENTEN: Those votes aren't counted. If they don't get those -- those tallies in, forget it, it's over. You can go to court and you try and get those ballots.

BERMAN: It defaults to the original count which happened on election day is what happens.

ENTEN: Correct.

BERMAN: So you don't get the new count that is supposed to be redone by Thursday.

CAMEROTA: And there is a suggestion that it will not be completed by Thursday?

ENTEN: Correct. And we saw this in 2000, right, where we saw these same counties in the southeast, Palm Beach County not being able to get its vote in on time and that my very well be the case here. And it just defaults and then people's votes don't get counted.

BERMAN: And part of the reason is they have three of them. They have three of these races going on now at once and it's just hard to get it all done.

ENTEN: Correct. I believe it's the agriculture commissioner, which is a very tight race statewide. The Democrat actually leads in that race. But, yes, so, look, 0.15 percentage points, that gets you a manual recount.

But I want to point out something, that this race seems particularly tight, both of these races seem tight. They're not actually that, that tight. So go all the way back to 2000. Remember we had that election night, you know, they called it --

CAMEROTA: We remember, yes.

ENTEN: And they called it back. Right. People as young as me perhaps don't remember it, though I do remember I was watching it up in my room. A real nerd.

But, look, look, make this comparison, right, 0.41 in the governor's race, 0.15 in the Senate race, 0.3 in the U.S. presidential race heading in that recount. So this is five times that in the governor's race.

BERMAN: So one of the things that people like to say, Harry, is, oh, recounts never overturn the results on Election Day. That's not totally true.

ENTEN: That's not totally true. So we can go to an example where that actually didn't happen. And you can go back to the 2000 Minnesota -- 2008 Minnesota Senate race. Perhaps you remember that. It was between Norm Coleman, the Republican incumbent senator, and Al Franken, who is now no longer in the Senate. And before that recount took place, Norm Coleman, the Republican, was ahead. In fact, he was ahead by more than this on election night. And then before the recount, when it was the certified vote, he was still up but it was 0.007 percent points.

CAMEROTA: Yes, but I -- just tell me how many votes that is. How many votes flipped it that year?

ENTEN: That was less than 1,000 votes.

BERMAN: It was like 300 votes. He was up by -- maybe it was three --

ENTEN: It was --

BERMAN: It was something.

ENTEN: Yes, it --

CAMEROTA: So there's no precedent for 33,000 votes, the difference in the Florida governor's race?

ENTEN: No, no, there isn't. But the one thing I will say, of course, is we're dealing with a lot more votes in Florida than we dealt with in Minnesota. There are a lot fewer people in Minnesota. People apparently prefer the warmth of Florida than they do the cold there.

[06:45:08] CAMEROTA: That's what you're taking away from this segment?

ENTEN: Exactly. It's --

BERMAN: But, to me, it doesn't argue against doing the recount. The recount is mandated by law. They're doing this because they have to.

CAMEROTA: No, I'm trying to manage expectations.

BERMAN: Right. No, I think that's important. ENTEN: Yes, exactly. That's very important. It is very, very, very unlikely that this will overturn. In fact, Bill Nelson will need seven times as much --

BERMAN: Yes.

ENTEN: More than seven times as much of the recount margin to flip, as compared to Minnesota, in order to win this race. That seems unlikely.

BERMAN: Doesn't mean they shouldn't do it, though.

ENTEN: No. They should count the votes. Maybe there's something going on with the machines. That's what Marc Elias, Nelson's lawyer, is arguing. I just don't think it's particularly likely.

BERMAN: Harry Enten, there is something about you, I'm told. Thank you so much for being with us.

ENTEN: Thank you, sir.

BERMAN: Tragedy strike close to home for the Los Angeles Rams. What the team did to try and lift their community, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: After a rough week in southern California, the Rams delivered a big win to give the community something to cheer about.

Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report."

Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, John.

You know, the Thousand Oaks shooting took place less than five miles from the Ram's practice facilities. And many of the team's players and coaches have had to evacuate their homes because of the wildfires. So it's definitely been a rough week for the Rams and the team holding a moment of silence before their game for those who lost their lives in the shooting.

[06:50:15] The Rams then did give their fans plenty to cheer about in this game against the Seahawks. Fourth quarter Brandon Cooks' going to take this handoff in for the touchdown. Then he finds Floyd Mayweather, who was sitting in the front row, gave him that ball. That was actually the second touchdown ball given to Mayweather in the game. L.A. goes on to beat Seattle 36.-31. And afterwards the team talked about getting the win for southern California.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JARED GOFF, RAMS QUARTERBACK: It's just been a tough week for the whole city, the whole area up there, the northern L.A. area, and I'm hopefully today provided a little bit of joy and regularity for those people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right, the Patriots, meanwhile, once again trying the old trick play where Tom Brady is the receiver. And unlike the Super Bowl, this time Brady makes the catch. But then the turf monster got him. He stumbles to the ground. Actually gets hit pretty hard right there. And, again, just like the Super Bowl, the Patriot's opponent showing that they're better at this play. Marcus Mariota catching a pass himself. He got a big first down there. The Titans, surprisingly, blow out the Patriot's 34-10.

And, John, my question is, how many more times are your Patriot's going to try that play because it seems to not go very well?

BERMAN: No. No, he's not a good receiver. He does a lot of stuff pretty well, Tom Brady does.

CAMEROTA: Oh, but there's something wrong with your boyfriend? There's something he doesn't do well?

BERMAN: He doesn't need to catch the ball, he needs to throw the ball.

SCHOLES: And get hit, yes.

CAMEROTA: OK. Well, then he should just stop catching it, I guess.

SCHOLES: I agree. I agree with that statement.

Andy Scholes, thank you very much.

SCHOLES: All right.

CAMEROTA: Thank you, Andy.

All right, "Saturday Night Live" using controversy to create unity. How did Congressman-elect Dan Crenshaw react to Pete Davidson's apology?

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[06:56:02] CAMEROTA: One week after "SNL's" Pete Davidson joked about congressman-elect and former Navy SEAL Dan Crenshaw's eye patch, Davidson apologized and Dan Crenshaw made a surprise cameo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE DAVIDSON, COMEDIAN, "SNL": I mean this from the bottom of my heart, it was a poor choice of words. The man is a war hero and he deserves all the respect in the world. And if any good came from this, maybe it was that for one day the left and the right finally came together to agree on something, that I'm a (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

DAN CRENSHAW, CONGRESSMAN-ELECT: You think?

Thank you, Pete, I appreciate you saying that.

DAVIDSON: So, we good? CRENSHAW: We're good. Apology accepted.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (singing): I just keep breathing and breathing and breathing and breathing.

CRENSHAW: It sounds like my phone is ringing.

DAVIDSON: You going to answer that?

CRENSHAW: No. And I'm just going to let it ring because I -- that's rude to answer. I'll just let it go to voicemail.

DAVIDSON: No, it's cool.

CRENSHAW: Well, I --

DAVIDSON: It's cool, man.

CRENSHAW: Oh, do you know her?

DAVIDSON: Last week I made a joke about a picture of you and I feel like it would only be fair if you got me back and made fun of a picture of me. Does that sound OK?

CRENSHAW: I don't really need to do that.

DAVIDSON: No, come on, I deserve it. Please.

CRENSHAW: All right, I'll do it. All right.

This is Pete Davidson. He looks like if the meth from "Breaking Bad" was a person.

DAVIDSON: Not bad. So, there, we're even. All right.

CRENSHAW: Well, wait, one more. This is --

DAVIDSON: All right. All right.

CRENSHAW: He looks like a troll doll with a tape worm.

But, seriously, there's a lot of lessons to learn here, not just that the left and right can still agree on some things, but also this, Americans can forgive one another. We can remember what brings us together as a country and still see the good in each other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I thought this was a master class in how to apologize and how to accept an apology, because Pete Davidson didn't give a, oh I'm sorry to those who were offended. He said I'm sorry because what I did was wrong. And Dan Crenshaw came in and said apology accepted and then said this is what we need to start thinking about. Never forget. So that alone was fantastic.

And then it was really funny. And then they made it really funny. CAMEROTA: Yes, Dan Crenshaw, I mean in addition to being gracious, had great comedic timing.

BERMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: So he played those perfectly. And Pete Davidson played it perfectly.

BERMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: He also had great timing in terms of taking their -- sitting there and taking it and accepting the humiliation of having to apologize and having gotten it wrong. I thought it was funny when he said, in what will come as a huge shock to people who know me, I made a poor choice.

BERMAN: No, he did. And then Crenshaw said to him, you know, thanks for making a Republican look good. And then Davidson basically said, stop saying that. You've been saying that the whole day, because they'd been rehearsing.

I thought it was great. You could see that the two had obviously talked a lot over the course of the day. And I just think that people should look at this and say, hey, you know what, sometimes we make mistakes and sometimes we should apologize and it's not the end of the freaking world.

CAMEROTA: I thought it was great also. And I also think that they do share something in their loss. Pete Davidson lost his father on 9/11. Obviously Dan Crenshaw has made huge sacrifices for this country. And that is really nice that they were able to come together and show the county about that.

BERMAN: So good on both of them.

Thanks to our international viewers for watching. For you, CNN "TALK" is next. For our U.S. viewers, the deadliest wildfires in California history tearing through the state. We have new information coming in. NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When the fire hit, it was literally hell on earth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At its height it was spreading about a football field every three seconds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Managing all the forests does not stop climate change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The rate of spread is exponentially more than it used to be.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll have nightmares for the rest of my life.

SEN. BILL NELSON (D), FLORIDA: The governor fears that he will lose the election if all the votes are counted.

GOV. RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: Bill Nelson is a sore loser. He just won't give up.

[07:00:02] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Procedures are in place to stop fraud. They are not following procedures.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you wonder why the president