Return to Transcripts main page
New Day
Razor-Thin Florida Senate Race Heads To A Hand Recount; CNN Reality Check: The Truth Behind Claims Of Voter Fraud; New York Times Reports Facebook Intentionally Downplayed Extent Of Russian Influence. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired November 16, 2018 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:32:54] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, a hand recount is underway in Florida for two races, including the razor-thin Senate battle between Republican Gov. Rick Scott and incumbent Bill Nelson.
CNN's Jessica Dean is live in West Palm Beach, Florida with the very latest. They're doing it by hand, now.
JESSICA DEAN, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John. Good morning to you.
It is a hand recount here in Florida. We're outside the Palm Beach County supervisor of elections warehouse, right there behind us, where they are hoping to start that hand recount at 11:00 today.
So what is a hand recount and how does it work?
Well, they're going to be looking specifically at what are known as over-ballots and under-ballots. An over-ballot is where the machine is reading more than one choice in a particular race. An under-ballot is where the machine is reading no choice.
So what they've done is as they've been going through this recount process -- the machine recount -- the one we just did -- they've been pulling those aside and they have made sure to stack those to the side.
So now, human eyes are going to take a look at these ballots and try to figure out is it clear what this person was trying to do? Is it clear -- this vote? So that process starts today all across the state of Florida.
Now that is in the Senate race. It's important to note that after we got the machine recount results yesterday, the margin was not small enough to continue on for a hand recount for the governor's race, which means DeSantis did come out the victor.
But it is notable that Gillum has not conceded yet and he put out a statement yesterday saying that he wants to see every vote counted. So we'll see what comes of that today. Keep an eye on that.
And then also, John and Alisyn, keep an eye on how these counties do. Palm Beach, Broward, and Hillsborough County all ended up not being able to make that deadline yesterday. They had to revert back to their original results.
So, you guys, we'll see how it progresses down here in Florida throughout the day.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we will, Jessica. That has been a crazy part of this story to watch -- the missing the deadline. Thank you very much.
OK, so in a new interview, President Trump makes some strange claims about instances of voter fraud, but what are the facts?
BERMAN: Are we talking about Count Chocula?
[07:35:00] CAMEROTA: Yes, we're back to cereal. Count Chocula with Kahlua.
CNN senior political analyst John Avlon joins us with a breakfast reality check.
JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, that would explain a lot, guys.
CAMEROTA: Wouldn't it?
AVLON: Yes, it really would. We should get into that.
So, look, for more than a week, the nation has watched as Florida recounted votes while races for Senate and governor hung in the balance and the deadline was Thursday. And the result was a resounding face-plant -- a combination of machine error and human error. And now we'll have to wait until Sunday for that hand recount.
But only three recounts in this century have reversed the initial result. But the larger problem is arbitrary and arcane voting rules that likely function and depress votes, as well as long lines and old machines, especially in urban areas.
Now, normally, we have a voter participation problem in the United States, but this year's midterms saw record midterm turnout with an estimated 115 million ballots casts and nearly 50 percent participation. That's the good news.
The bad news is that we're still struggling with basic process problems in accurately counting votes.
But, President Trump believes the number one problem we face is voter fraud. Armed with a complete absence of evidence it's a point he's hit over and over again.
He cried voter fraud in 2016 before the election, declaring the system rigged and questioning whether he'd accept the results. Then, he won. But he still kept talking about voter fraud as a way to explain why he'd lost the popular vote by historic margins.
His short-lived voter fraud panel was a flop, essentially deemed a fraud itself by one of its own commissioners.
In this election, Trump was back at it again.
But repeating a lie doesn't make it true. And so here, again, are the facts.
Voter fraud is vanishingly rare in the United States. For example, a Loyola professor tracked U.S. elections from 2000 to 2014 and found only 31 instances of voter fraud out of more than one billion votes cast.
The White House has often cited a Pew study from 2012 as evidence of voter fraud but that study actually focused and found problems with voter registration records being accurate -- the kind of troubles that led the president's Tiffany, Steve Bannon, and the Treasury secretary to be registered in multiple states, none of which, of course, demonstrate voter fraud.
The Brennan Center colorfully concluded that you are more likely to be struck by lightning than commit voter fraud.
On the other hand, voter suppression is a real problem. A CNN investigation found that quote, "Hundreds of new restrictions in a majority of states have been introduced since 2011."
There are partisan obstacles at every step. Sometimes we see candidates inadvertently slip as in a Mississippi runoff where Sen. Hyde-Smith was caught on tape saying laws that make it just a little bit harder for liberal college students to vote are quote "a great idea." She says she was joking.
But we are not powerless to improve the situation.
In Maine, an innovative election reform that the two parties fought tooth and nail produced real results. Instant runoff voting allowed folks in Maine's second district to list their second choice on the ballot and the Democratic challenger unseated the Republican incumbent without a costly recount or runoff.
Now, keep in mind there are still 11 major races where votes are still being counted. Bottom line, as we learn every election year, every vote counts and so, every vote should be counted.
And that's your reality check.
CAMEROTA: John, that is such a good one. I suggest you might want to keep that on replay. We may need you to do that reality check again over the next couple of weeks.
BERMAN: Maybe on Monday. Sunday is the deadline for the hand recount --
AVLON: Right.
BERMAN: -- the manual recount in those counties in Florida.
All right, John. Thanks very much.
AVLON: (INAUDIBLE).
BERMAN: It is a shocking report when "The New York Times" learned about the inner workings of Facebook and the mistakes made during its most trying time. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:42:13] BERMAN: Facebook taking action after the stunning "The New York Times" investigation. The company fired a conservative P.R. firm. CEO Mark Zuckerberg also denied "The New York Times" reporting that executives intentionally downplayed the extent of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
The report says executives were uninterested in knowing the truth.
National security correspondent for "The New York Times" Matthew Rosenberg was on the team that broke this story. He joins us now, along with "CNN BUSINESS" chief media correspondent Brian Stelter.
Matthew, this is a wow. It's a heck of a read and there's a lot in it.
I don't want to oversimplify by any stretch of the imagination but the big headline seemed to essentially be that the leadership at Facebook, in some cases, was more concerned with its own image than with releasing the truth about Russia. Is that fair?
MATTHEW ROSENBERG, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: You know, I think we have to -- it is really complicated, it's nuanced. And, you know, they're saying things -- some of their security people are saying things in 2016 -- in 2017, that in retrospect seem obvious. Like many of us, they didn't have the complete picture then.
However, you know, their leadership was also very distracted.
Sandberg was on a book tour, her husband had tragically died the year before. She'd written a book. She was focused on the tour for that book and kind of promoting the idea she was putting forth.
Zuckerberg was sort of -- he spent the first half of 2017 on a listening tour of the U.S.
Meanwhile, these things are all brewing. And I think when they finally saw it all there was also the problem of wanting to worry about domestic politics. We come out and we blame Russia, are we going to be upsetting Republicans? And we've got to deal with that.
BERMAN: But basically, there are these quotes in the piece where they said if this gets released it will make us look bad.
ROSENBERG: Yes, yes, it will make us look bad. We will have problems with a big chunk of our user base in American, which are not Democrats. And I think they also worried about regulation -- of how -- the
government coming down on them. It's been a real concern and it's only getting worse.
BERMAN: So, Sheryl Sandberg, the CEO, she put out a statement yesterday. The end of her statement says, "The allegations saying I personally stood in the way of things being released are just plain wrong."
And then, Mark Zuckerberg, who owns 60 percent of the company -- he held a conference call yesterday.
ROSENBERG: Yes.
BERMAN: Let me play you a little bit of what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK ZUCKERBERG, CO-FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, FACEBOOK: I've said many times before that we were too slow to spot Russian interference, too slow to stand in, and too slow to get on top of it. And we certainly stumbled along the way.
But to suggest that we weren't interested in knowing the truth or that we wanted to hide what we knew or that we tried to prevent investigations is simply untrue."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: So among other things, Brian, Zuckerberg kept on asking the operator to extend the conference call. He kept on saying --
BRIAN STELTER, CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT, "CNN BUSINESS", CNN HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES": Yes.
BERMAN: -- let's keep talking, let's keep talking, let's keep talking.
[07:45:00] STELTER: To his credit, he did take a lot of questions. He was trying to announce something sort of unrelated yesterday. He did take a lot of questions.
The company's spin and the company's position is that they're improving rapidly. Things are getting better. They're learning from their mistakes in the past.
The question, I think, is whether the mistakes in 2015 and 2016 and 2017 are repairable and whether the leadership is in the right place. Are Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg the right people to lead Facebook or is this company simply too big to be led by anyone and should it be broken up?
Those are the questions for regulators. Those are questions for Washington.
BERMAN: Are they the right people? It's such an interesting question in relation to one particular story. Again, and there are so many inside this piece.
But when Donald Trump, who was then-candidate Trump, called for a total and complete shutdown on Muslims entering the country and posted it on Facebook, apparently Zuckerberg had to ask Sheryl Sandberg -- he had to ask whether that violated the terms of service. Zuckerberg, who invented Facebook, had to ask?
ROSENBERG: I mean, this is a sprawling enterprise and they've really divvied it up. Zuckerberg handles the engineering and the product side. Sandberg kind of does everything else -- the business model, policies, lobbying in Washington.
And I think in an enterprise this big -- yes, at some point, you start to lose track and what's what and that goes to either governance of some sort -- he's also the chairman of the board and their chief executive so you're not going to get a tremendous amount of oversight in that situation.
And what do you do here? How do you help this company run the best? And I'm not clear, like you said, that two people can do it anymore.
STELTER: I mean, he's the chair of the board and the board put out a statement yesterday supporting --
ROSENBERG: Yes.
STELTER: -- the company's actions, right? There's a certain amount of insular behavior here.
It's kind of like Facebook is a chemical company.
BERMAN: Yes.
STELTER: Some of its products help people. They make great products.
They also enable an enormous amount of pollution, an enormous amount of misinformation, hate speech, attacks. I mean, you go on Facebook, you see the good, you also see the ugly. And I think this conversation we're having is partly about how much ugly are we going to tolerate as a society and is Facebook doing more harm than helping?
BERMAN: I will say that a lot of the -- I'm going to -- for lack of a better word, outrage over the revelations in this piece that I saw on Twitter, ironically --
STELTER: (Laughing).
BERMAN: -- after the fact, were about the idea that Facebook was behaving in a way that companies behave.
ROSENBERG: Yes.
BERMAN: They hired a P.R. firm --
STELTER: Like the bigger the company gets, the more shady the behavior gets. BERMAN: But they hired Definers.
ROSENBERG: This is a story of -- yes.
BERMAN: They hired a P.R. firm to help them. Companies hire P.R. firms.
ROSENBERG: This is a Facebook -- this is a company growing up, you know.
STELTER: Yes.
ROSENBERG: The difference with Facebook and a lot of Silicon Valley firms is that they say well, we're doing good. We're not like those companies. It turns out they're just like every big company. They're just like the Comcasts of the world, the GEs, the GMs.
If General Motors was out there using opposition research against its opponents would any of us be surprised? Probably not. But nobody's -- General Motors has never claimed to be a force for good in the world or hasn't for a very long time in the way Facebook has.
BERMAN: And exactly what did you report in this case, just in case people didn't have a chance to read? To that part of the article, they hired this group Definers, which is --
ROSENBERG: Yes.
BERMAN: -- was founded by a former Republican strategist.
ROSENBERG: Yes.
BERMAN: And basically, that firm did some -- provided information about Google and --
ROSENBERG: Yes.
BERMAN: -- and other companies.
ROSENBERG: And also went after critics of Facebook -- nonprofit critics -- by saying oh, they're funded by Soros, some of which is true.
BERMAN: Right.
ROSENBERG: But you're playing a dog whistle there. It's the liberal boogeyman dog whistle and some people are going to hear that as an anti-Semitic dog whistle.
BERMAN: Although, other things that they did was say that criticism about Facebook was anti-Semitic.
ROSENBERG: That was Facebook. That wasn't -- that wasn't -- that wasn't Definers.
BERMAN: That wasn't the Definers -- that was Facebook. ROSENBERG: Yes. That was after a congressional hearing. Some of these protesters held up a big sign that showed Sandberg and Zuckerberg -- like the head of a double-headed octopus with their arms -- tentacles wrapped around the world.
And, Facebook quickly tipped off the ADL which said that kind of imagery is anti-Semitic. So you're kind of having it both ways there.
BERMAN: So very quickly, Brian, is there any evidence that Facebook users -- that consumers care about this because the talk about it and the outrage over the story that I've seen is very much at the chattering class level.
STELTER: Yes. I mean, look, people care about car crashes but they still drive everywhere every day. I think Facebook is similar. Most people -- most Americans love to use Facebook.
But, growth has been slowing. Growth has been slowing for the company. Advertisers have had concerns about a lot of this.
And users, when they go online and they get tricked by misinformation they're not satisfied by that.
So, Facebook does have problems here on its user front even though it so big at this point -- such a monopoly -- that it's unlikely it's going to fade away.
BERMAN: All right. Brian, Matt, terrific reporting.
ROSENBERG: Thank you.
BERMAN: Go read the story. I mean, this is a lot of information. A lot of work went into this, so well done -- appreciate it -- Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: OK, John.
Last night's storm made getting around impossible in some places, but at least we got this video out of it. A panda's winter wonderland.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:53:38] CAMEROTA: Seven women have filed a federal lawsuit claiming three former Dartmouth professors coerced female students into drinking alcohol and then raped them. The suit alleges three tenured psychology professors treated women as sex objects.
The women say the professors made them feel as if their success depended on their willingness to go along with the alcohol-saturated culture that the professors created. The women are suing Dartmouth's trustees for $70 million in damages.
Two professors did not respond to CNN's request for comment on this case, but one categorically denies the allegations.
BERMAN: Panic inside a theater in Baltimore when a man yelled "Heil, Hitler" and gave a Nazi salute during a performance of "Fiddler on the Roof." Audience members said it happened during the first intermission of this classic Jewish-themed musical.
One witness tells CNN several people ran toward the exits. Others were visibly shaken until the man was hustled out by security.
A lot of the people that I've read about said they were worried he was going to pull out a gun.
CAMEROTA: Of course, they were.
BERMAN: That is was the beginning a shooting after --
CAMEROTA: Of course.
BERMAN: -- everything we've seen.
CAMEROTA: How could you blame them --
BERMAN: Yes.
CAMEROTA: -- for being terrified?
BERMAN: How horrible, though. We are told the show did go on.
CAMEROTA: Oh.
OK, here's a little levity. The first snowfall on the east coast brought the New York City area to a standstill. This is not the levity part.
The snow was heavier and more sustained than many people expected. It went on for hours. This is the vision on New York's George Washington Bridge where people were stuck for hours.
[07:55:03] BERMAN: That doesn't look like fun.
CAMEROTA: None of that's fun. Here's the fun part.
BERMAN: OK.
CAMEROTA: Check out Bei Bei.
BERMAN: It makes it all worthwhile.
CAMEROTA: It was a ways to get there but now you're happy because you see that Bei Bei is doing somersaults at the Smithsonian National Zoo. The 3-year-old panda was caught tumbling and rolling around in the snow. He even worked up the courage to climb a tree.
BERMAN: That's almost too cute. I have to say it's almost too cute. Something's off here -- something's off.
CAMEROTA: You think that's a -- is that a human being in a -- in a stuffed --
BERMAN: I think it is --
CAMEROTA: -- stuffed into a panda outfit?
BERMAN: -- because this is like a stereotype -- the cliche of what a panda would do --
CAMEROTA: Of what pandas do.
BERMAN: Of what a panda would do during the first snow.
CAMEROTA: You're right --
BERMAN: It's almost too perfect.
CAMEROTA: -- it can't be real. Oh --
BERMAN: What is that?
CAMEROTA: OK. So this is -- was Chris Cuomo's favorite video, ever.
BERMAN: The panda?
CAMEROTA: Anytime we would do a panda story, Chris Cuomo--
BERMAN: Yes.
CAMEROTA: -- would claim that they were vicious animals and he would want this called up to show.
BERMAN: I think he may be right.
CAMEROTA: No, they're not.
BERMAN: It's an important reminder.
CAMEROTA: They are adorable animals. But, Chris did not like pandas.
BERMAN: You just admitted that they're stuffed animals. You just admitted that the snow video wasn't real.
CAMEROTA: Oh, I think that that is a stuffed animal right there.
BERMAN: See? Case closed.
CAMEROTA: Yes, all right.
BERMAN: All right.
Comics are mocking President Trump's foul mood and his bizarre claim that you need an I.D. to buy cereal.
Here's your "Late-Night Laughs."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY FALLON, NBC HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON": A lot of the country got snow today, including Washington D.C. Yes, President Trump spent the whole morning watching the news to see if work was canceled. It's like, come on.
That's right -- it snowed at the White House. There was an awkward moment when Trump offered a kid 10 bucks to shovel the driveway and it turned out to be Jeff Sessions. You go, oh, no.
STEPHEN COLBERT, CBS HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": Trump doesn't like a lot of things these days -- pretty grumpy. Reports are he's moping around the White House. One source says, "He's pissed at damn near everyone."
Wow, being president has really worn him down. Remember inauguration day when he was so lighthearted and filled with joy?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: American carnage --
COLBERT: That's enough.
JAMES CORDEN, CBS HOST, "THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH JAMES CORDEN": The President of the United States thinks you need a photo I.D. to buy groceries -- you don't. Captain Morgan's, yes. Captain Crunch, definitely not.
What does Trump think goes on at a grocery store? Like, is the clerk like, can I see an I.D.? Enjoy your Raisin Bran.
TREVOR NOAH, COMEDY CENTRAL HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": President Trump is supporting bipartisan criminal justice reform just in time for his entire administration to be indicted by Robert Mueller. Just in time. He's up there like, these criminals deserve a second term -- I mean, second chance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: The fiber reference, I think, is --
CAMEROTA: Fantastic.
BERMAN: James Corden noting that there's a fiber connection to all of this.
CAMEROTA: That's -- enjoy your Raisin Bran. That really says it all.
BERMAN: All right.
Court documents suggest that WikiLeaks leader Julian Assange -- possible charges against him. Is it connected to the Russian investigation? We'll tell you what we know and what we need to find out, now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: WikiLeaks -- I love WikiLeaks.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR, EARLY START: An unsealed court filing raising questions about Julian Assange's fate.
MIKE POMPEO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: It's time to call out WikiLeaks for what it really is -- a non-state hostile intelligence service.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's spent the last three days with his lawyers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I think the president sees this as a political battle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want this president, under oath, asked why he took these steps to obstruct justice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A perjury trap can only capture perjurers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're going to manually recount all the votes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Broward County, they submitted the results two minutes late.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The odds that Nelson can make up this strike me as close to zero.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
CAMEROTA: And good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Friday -- it's been a long week -- November 16th, 8:00 now in the east.
And there's been a major revelation overnight.
BERMAN: Just a long week, by the way?
CAMEROTA: Yes, who knows? Long days, long years.
Overnight, there's been this revelation. Is the Justice Department filing charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange? The new report came to light in a very unusual way. This was a file -- sorry, a filing unsealed in an unrelated case.
Prosecutors for the Eastern District of Virginia included what appears to be an inadvertent reference to charge against Julian Assange. A DOJ spokesman later said the court filing was made in error but declined to comment whether there are existing charges against Julian Assange.
BERMAN: Prosecutors have been investigating Assange since 2010 when WikiLeaks began publishing stolen U.S. government documents. And an indictment from special counsel Robert Mueller portrayed WikiLeaks as a tool of Russian intelligence for releasing thousands of hacked Democratic e-mails during the 2016 presidential campaign.
So, is the indictment connected to 2010? Is it connected to Russia? We don't know.
Speaking of Mueller, CNN has learned that President Trump met with his attorneys to discuss written responses to the special counsel. He --
