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New Day

Orange County Flips Blue; Redskins Quarterback Breaks Leg; Rice Not Considered for Coaching. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired November 19, 2018 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:33:18] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: An American Navy sailor could face questioning in connection with the collision of a Norwegian warship and an oil tanker. At least eight people were injured in this crash in the waters west of Norway this month. The ship itself is now almost completely submerged, as you can see. The sailor, who has yet to be identified, was serving as an exchange officer aboard the Norwegian ship.

JOHN BERMAN: The Colorado man who pleaded guilty earlier this month to killing his pregnant wife and their two young daughters will learn his fate in a few hours. Chris Watts faces at least three life terms in prison with no chance of parole. The crime shocked the nation last summer. Watts' publicly pleaded for his family's return but his story fell apart. The DA is planning a news conference after the sentencing and could share more details about what happened.

CAMEROTA: Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is reportedly considering a run for president in 2020, he has made a $1.8 billion donation to his alma mater Johns Hopkins University. In what is being called the biggest contribution to an academic institution in American history, this gift will provide financial aid for low income and middle income students. In a "New York Times" op-ed, Bloomberg writes, quote, America is at its best when we reward people based on the quality of their work, not the size of their pocketbook.

BERMAN: That is a huge donation.

CAMEROTA: It's stunning.

BERMAN: It is a huge donation. Like, I don't know if it's political or not, but I know for Johns Hopkins, it's going to make a huge difference.

CAMEROTA: And also for students. I mean basically it avoids -- it allows them to avoid having to take out student loans.

BERMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: And, as we know, that can be so crushing after somebody graduates.

BERMAN: Absolutely. CAMEROTA: So this 76-year-old billionaire, Bloomberg, says he plans to decide on a 2020 bid by February.

BERMAN: He started his first donation to Johns Hopkins after he graduated. It was $5.

CAMEROTA: I know.

BERMAN: And now it's $1.8 billion. Schools say what they really want is participation. I bet you they'd rather have the $1.8 billion.

[06:35:03] CAMEROTA: Probably. But that is just a remarkable, also a personal success story.

BERMAN: Yes.

A possible breakthrough for people with peanut allergies. Researchers found a treatment using peanut powder that helped patients build some immunity to the allergy. Most of the people at the end of study could at least two peanuts without any severe reaction. That, per say, is not a cure, but could provide a safety net for children who have life- threatening reactions to race amounts of peanuts. The study was published in the "New England Journal of Medical." This is a big deal for a lot of people.

CAMEROTA: That is a big deal. Any hope people have been looking for.

All right, so somebody managed to get onstage during Michelle Obama's book tour this weekend. But this was no security breach. This was a happy surprise.

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CAMEROTA: All right, I don't know who was running the camera there, but that was -- that was former President Barack Obama. He brought a bouquet of flowers for his wife. Mr. Obama compared himself to Jay-z, referencing the instances when the rapper appears at his wife's concerns and surprises her onstage. And also, I guess, being married to a superstar.

Ahead on NEW DAY --

BERMAN: Good for them. I'm very happy -- they have (INAUDIBLE).

CAMEROTA: Yes, you know, we will be talking at some point about her book tour because the crowds that she's getting, the rock-star like reception she's getting, what does that mean?

BERMAN: It reminds me -- it reminds me of the reception you received for "Amanda Wakes Up," now available in paperback.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my God. I'm going to start obviously giving you a cut of the sales.

BERMAN: Look, I -- if there are two books you're going to read, maybe the first lady's book and "Amanda Wakes Up." CAMEROTA: And, you know what, Christmas is coming up.

BERMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: We're also going to have President Obama's senior adviser Valerie Jarrett on with us to tell us what is Michelle Obama thinking? Would she consider a run, as so many people are --

BERMAN: Oh, my God, how many more times does she have to be asked before we --

CAMEROTA: At least one more, today.

BERMAN: Oh, good. There we go. We're going to get a different answer coming up, so don't miss that.

Democrats pick up more House seats and capture a Republican crown jewel. So was this a blue wave after all? There's something about Harry, next.

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[06:41:12] BERMAN: Orange County, California, once a Republican stronghold, a county that President Ronald Reagan credited for his rise. Orange is the new blue.

CAMEROTA: Well done.

BERMAN: Do you like what I did there?

Democrats now hold 232 seats in the House with a net gain of 37 seats. Three races are still too close to call.

There is something about Harry. Harry Enten here.

What happened in Orange County, it is flat out historic.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN POLITICAL SENIOR WRITER AND ANALYST: So we can take a look at this nice little map that we kind of picked up, right? And this is 2016. You can see, there's some blue going on there, but it's mostly red. Four districts. All four of those districts were won by Mitt Romney in 2012. Four years later, they're won by Hillary Clinton. All four of those districts have above average education levels compared to the nation as a whole. Look what happened in 2018. They all flipped to blue. And keep in mind that all of these districts, not only did they flip to blue, but, at the end of the day, it doesn't look like they're going to be particularly close.

So we can look at a few of them. This is Ed Royce's district, the 39th. This was -- Young Kim was this -- you kept talking to me about Young Kim.

BERMAN: She's a great candidate.

ENTEN: A great candidate. A great candidate. A great candidate. Now it's a two-point margin and it keeps going up. The 45th district, this is Mimi Walters, an incumbent running. Liz

Warren endorsed Katie Porter. They thought that they could get to Katie Porter by pointing out her Liz Warren connections. This race, not even close. Katie Porter keeps coming up. Mimi Walters was even talking about running the NRSC or whatever --

BERMAN: After the election.

ENTEN: After the election. She was so convinced she was going to win. Didn't happen.

The 48th district. This is Dana Rohrabacher's district. Dana Rohrabacher, of course, with his connections with Russia. You know, he kept running. I think there was talk, just before the election, that he might be the lone Republican to survive down in Orange County. This is a blowout. This is turning into a blowout. This was racing towards seven percentage points.

And then the 49th district. This one was the one I think all along we thought was going to flip. This was Darrell Issa's district. He got out. Mike Levin, way up ahead, a double-digit win here.

And keep in mind, Orange County is a place -- to go back to this nice map right here -- Orange County was a place, not only did Ronald Reagan credit to his rise, in 1984 Reagan won this county by 50 points. Fifty points.

CAMEROTA: And so do you have an explanation for why? I mean is it just changing demographics?

ENTEN: It's partially changing demographics, but really Orange County encapsulates everything about this blue wave, right? So in 2016, if the story was that white working class voters in the north were beginning to vote like working white class voters in the south, the story of 2018 is that whites with a college degree in the south started voting like whites with a college degree in the north. And Orange County, though we can argue whether or not Orange County's the south or north or whatever, this really is like that. This is a place where Mitt Romney did very well, where Donald Trump did very poorly and a lot of whites were college kids (ph).

BERMAN: Yes, and Hillary Clinton was the first, in a way, to make a break through there and just in this congressional election is just exploded to something that we haven't seen before and it may be that it keeps on getting more blue with time.

ENTEN: Right. Exactly we saw this throughout the country, right, in Texas in the 7th district, in the 32nd district, and the Atlanta suburbs, in Georgia 6, right, which was that special election which we all lost track of, which John Ossoff lost, but then Lucy McBath won that.

BERMAN: So, Harry, you have told us -- I believe your final prediction before Election Day was the Democrats would end up with 227 seats.

CAMEROTA: Ouch. ENTEN: No, you --

CAMEROTA: Uh-oh.

BERMAN: You were so wrong.

CAMEROTA: Ow, Harry.

ENTEN: I was so -- I was -- I was so wrong. Look at this.

CAMEROTA: Wow.

ENTEN: Look, it looks like I'm going to be five or six or seven seats off. So right now --

CAMEROTA: How can you live with yourself?

ENTEN: How can I live -- well, you know, the good news is that I eat my Wheaties in the morning. And not only that, my Columbia football Lions won this weekend. That's their second year in which they have a winning record. That's the first time that's happened since the early '60s.

CAMEROTA: All right.

ENTEN: So I can live with myself that way.

But, look, all the way up already to 232 seats to 200 for the Republicans, at least a net gain of 37. I think, based upon the math that I'm looking at they may end up with a net gain of -- let's see if I can do this, yes, 39, as I can learn from my cousins later this week on how actually to write properly when we go over at Thanksgiving. We're looking at a net gain of 39, which would be the biggest gain since Watergate by far.

But --

[06:45:19] BERMAN: For Democrats.

ENTEN: For Democrats. For Democrats.

BERMAN: For Democrats.

ENTEN: But there's another way to look at this, which I think is important, right, which is actual votes won and lost. And this is our friend Dave Wasserman at "The Cook Political Report," is keeping tabs on the House popular vote. Right now this is up to nearly 8 points. This is as large as it was for Democrats in 2006, as large as it was -- it's actually larger than it was for Republicans in 1994 or 2010. I wouldn't be shocked if this gets up to the 8.5, 9 point range with the votes still to be counted in California. That would be the largest popular vote win for the minority party heading into a House election. Remember, the Democrats are in the minority. Largest win since 1946.

BERMAN: And Nate Silver points out that there's some 61 million voters who voted for the Democrats. I think that Trump only got 63 million votes last time in a presidential election.

ENTEN: That's exactly right. The number of pure votes for Democrats in this midterm is off the scales, fantastic. But more than that I -- for them. But more than that what I'll point out is I think that this is leading to a very large turnout in 2020. Stay tuned.

BERMAN: House bop.

CAMEROTA: That will be great.

BERMAN: Is that like --

CAMEROTA: Um-bop.

ENTEN: Yes, House bop.

CAMEROTA: Like um-bop.

ENTEN: The House um-bop, like Hanson, um-bop. Ba dum-bop.

CAMEROTA: Keep going. Sing us out.

BERMAN: You sing us out to break.

ENTEN: I think I'll bring Uncle Neil in next time. He'll do it better.

BERMAN: All right, Harry Enten, thank you, I think, for that. We appreciate that.

CAMEROTA: I look forward to this turn you're going to make.

BERMAN: All right, I will make this. If you were watching football yesterday you saw this. This is one of those injuries that you just never want to see on a football field. It's awful. Alex Smith out for the season. And it happened 33 years to the day after another horrific sports injury. Details in "The Bleacher Report," next.

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[06:50:48] BERMAN: I've got to say, it was just an awful, awful injury in the Washington/Houston game. The kind you watch and think, why am I a football fan at all?

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

Hey, Andy.

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

You know, the most gruesome injury in NFL history is thought to be that Joe Theismann broken leg back in 1985. Well, on the 33-year anniversary of that play, it happened again to the Redskins quarterback. And this time it was Alex Smith. It happened in the third quarter. Warning, this is tough to watch if you don't like seeing these kind of things. Smith gets sacked by JJ Watt and Kareem Jackson. He immediately knew he was hurt bad. He took off his helmet, covered his face with his hands. Smith breaking his fibula and tibia. He's already had surgery. Joe Theismann was actually at this game and said seeing this happen again brought back all of those bad memories from that day.

All right, ESPN was reporting yesterday morning that the Cleveland Browns wanted to interview former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for their head coach opening. This despite Rice having zero football head coaching experience at any level. The Browns quickly said this report was untrue. The team's general manager, John Dorsey, saying in a statement, we are still in the process of composing a list of candidates and Secretary Rice has not been discussed.

Now, Rice, who is a big Browns fan, posted on FaceBook saying, I love my Browns and I know they will hire an experienced coach to take us to the next level. On a more serious note, I do hope that the NFL will start to bring women into the coaching profession as position coaches and eventually coordinators and head coaches. And she joked, Alisyn, that, you know, she's not ready to be a head coach right now but she wouldn't mind calling a play or two.

BERMAN: I remember being in her office at the White House when she was national security adviser, and it must have been 2001, and she had a Cleveland Browns helmet sitting in there inside the West Wing. And we -- you know, we always joke with her about that. I think she would rather be commissioner of the National Football League and she'd be good.

CAMEROTA: Is that your dream? Are you also angling to be coach of the Patriots or do you just want to be a --

BERMAN: Oh, coach.

CAMEROTA: Coach. Or would you rather be a player?

BERMAN: Do you get to be near Tom Brady with either of those?

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BERMAN: Whichever one gets me closer to Tom Brady, I'm game.

CAMEROTA: OK, I'm glad -- I'm glad you admitted that.

BERMAN: Andy Scholes, thank you very much for that.

CAMEROTA: OK, meanwhile, as the deadly Camp Fire approach a California hospital, a woman was forced to evacuate with her baby, who was just a few hours old. She told the man who drove her through the flames that if they got stuck he had to take the baby and run. She will be here live with that harrowing experience.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:57:34] BERMAN: All right, John Oliver was mocking the president over a slip-up in California as "Saturday Night Live" takes on President Trump's feud with Amazon. Here are your late night laughs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, COMEDIAN, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": I am here to announce a brand new delivery option that doesn't involve the post office at all. Amazon Caravan. Any package going to any Trump building will get delivered by hundreds of Honduran and Mexican immigrants to pick up the bill, unless you order "The Art of the Deal," that costs more to ship, because it's heavier. I guess it's the only book with four chapter 11s.

I want to make sure to give back to the new communities we're joining. That's why I'm purchasing a building in Queens that used to be the crown jewel of Fred Trump's real estate empire and converting it into public urinals. And in Virginia, we'll be very close to Arlington National Cemetery, so we can pay our respect to fallen veterans, even when it's raining outside.

JOHN OLIVER, COMEDIAN, "LAST WEEK TONIGHT": What he saw there in Paradise, California, it's clearly something he will never forget.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You don't see what's going on until you come here. And what we saw at Pleasure, what a name right now, but what we just saw, we just left Pleasure and --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Paradise.

TRUMP: Well, Paradise.

OLIVER: You have to remember the name. You were just there. The most amazing part of that is not just the entirely predictable mistake. It's the face of the governor of California as it unfolds.

TRUMP: What we saw at Pleasure, what a name right now --

OLIVER: You can actually see it him thinking. Him thinking, let it go. He only said it once. There's no way he'll say it again. Then realizing, (EXPLETIVE DELETED), we're going to have to do something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Oh, my God.

BERMAN: You want to say --

CAMEROTA: I don't know what more to say. I mean I -- there's so much -- there's so much there. I won't even go with the Freudian -- I won't even go with the Freudian explanation.

BERMAN: It's Paradise.

CAMEROTA: Yes, I know that.

BERMAN: Paradise.

CAMEROTA: Thank you to our international viewers for watching. For you CNN TALK is next. For our U.S. viewers, President Trump is speaking out about the Mueller investigation. NEW DAY continues right now. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's a very smart person. A very respected person.

CHRIS WALLACE, HOST, "FOX NEWS SUNDAY": But you won't overrule him if he decides to curtail --

TRUMP: I would not get involved.

REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), MARYLAND: I am extremely concerned about the acting attorney general.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most Republicans on Capitol Hill and Democrats believe that Mr. Mueller should be allowed to do his job.

[07:00:00] SEN. JEFF FLAKE (R), ARIZONA: How in the world my colleagues don't see this as a priority now, I just don't understand.