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New Day

Secrets of Mueller Investigation Revealed; Yang Gets Personal; Popeye's Chicken Sandwich is Back. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired November 04, 2019 - 08:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:31:47]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, this morning we're getting our first taste at some of the memos and the work product from the Mueller investigation thanks to some FOIAs from CNN and BuzzFeed. And what's really interesting in here is that the Ukraine conspiracy theories that the president's been putting out there, we heard them somewhere before.

John Avlon has been through the document that has a "Reality Check."

John.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICS ANALYST: That's right, guys, look, journalism is in part the art of holding power to account. And that's what we saw this weekend with the lease of this massive cache of documents from the Mueller investigation which CNN and BuzzFeed obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, FOIAs.

Now, team Trump might defy subpoenas like it's no big deal but they couldn't defy this. And, for example, we now know that one of the earliest boosters of the Ukraine hacked the DNC conspiracy theory was none other than former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Now, remember, before Manafort joined up with Trump, he raked in millions advising pro-Putin elements in Ukraine, including the former president, who bought himself this estate with a classic car collection and a zoo.

After that strongman star turn, Manafort turned to Trump and reportedly fed him the lie that Hillary Clinton's 30,000 deleted e- mails somehow ended up in Ukraine. Trump bought into the clearly debunked conspiracy theory and much of his current mess stems from this.

Now, once they realized Manafort's Kremlin's connections were a liability, team Trump tried to distance themselves from him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN SPICER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Obviously there's been discussion of Paul Manafort, who played a very limited role for a very limited amount of time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: Barely knew the guy. But in these documents we also find out that Manafort was, in fact, advising the Trump campaign until days before the election. The campaign knew they should try to hide that fact. Said one e-mail from Steve Bannon, quote, they're going to try to say the Russians worked with WikiLeaks to give this victory to us. Where would anyone get that idea?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AVLON: Well, as we all know now, Russian hackers were listening and they ramped up their efforts to hack the Clinton campaign almost as soon as Trump said that. But what Trump is spontaneously saying on stage is what he'd apparently been asking for in private for months.

And remember how the president recently denied he knew anything about WikiLeaks despite mentioning them almost 200 times during the last months of the campaign, well, we now know that Trump was obsessed with getting Hillary's e-mails, asking about it constantly behind closed doors. Campaign adviser General Michael Flynn even volunteered his own Russian intelligence sources to help.

But that's not all. We also found out that contrary to White House insistence in sworn testimony, former Trump lawyer and convict Michael Cohen knew early that he should keep Trump out of messaging related to Russia. He also told investigators that any false testimony he gave was, quote, not my idea.

Now, Sarah Sanders blasted "BuzzFeed's" original reporting that the White House coordinated with Cohn on his testimony, calling it categorically false. Well, these new documents would seem to suggest otherwise.

As much as we've learned -- and there is a lot more in these hundreds of pages and a lot more to come. It may be what we still didn't learn that's most important. Because, check this out, it's a typical page out of the document dump. And you see all those redactions. They're littered throughout the document. And 237 pages weren't even released, many of them due to, quote, harm to an ongoing matter. Ongoing investigations.

Now, look, we know that the wheels of justice move slowly but sometimes justice delayed is justice denied.

[08:35:03]

And given the amount of new information we're just getting, and how it contradicts the official Trump administration line over and over again, it's not too much to ask or expect whatever's hiding under those redactions be revealed before the 2020 elections, now less than one year away.

And that's your "Reality Check."

CAMEROTA: John, thank you so much. It's always helpful for a reminder also of where the conspiracy theories and the talking points began.

BERMAN: Some of those redactions could be because of the Roger Stone trial, which starts tomorrow.

AVLON: Some of them, yes. Others, maybe not. We'll see.

CAMEROTA: John, thank you very much.

All right, his supporters are known as the "Yang Gang," so what's behind Andrew Yang's appeal to voters? Yang and his wife talked to CNN's Dana Bash in their first interview together. That's next.

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[08:40:16]

CAMEROTA: Well, he has crowd surfed at rallies and rocked out on stage, but Andrew Yang is struggling to break out of the crowded Democratic field. He has qualified for the next debate and he's now getting personal, introducing voters to his wife Evelyn.

Our Dana Bash sat down with the Yangs for their first interview together. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREW YANG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: All right, good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you for saving our country.

A. YANG: Working on it, brother. We can do it together.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Andrew Yang couldn't wait for his warmup act to finish.

A. YANG: I think I'm going to go up there before the song is over just to like rock out a little bit.

BASH: He called this Iowa gathering Yang-a-palooza. And the rain- soaked crowd knows his core message as well as their favorite songs.

A. YANG: That is not left, it's not right, it's forward.

BASH: This businessman and political newcomer has become a contender by feeling the pain of workers and young people watching automation take human jobs.

BASH (on camera): Do you think you're being taken seriously enough?

A. YANG: Well, one of the things I tweeted was, it's all fun and games until Andrew Yang passes you in the polls. BASH (voice over): By his side more and more will be his wife Evelyn,

who made her first campaign appearance here.

A. YANG: Let's give a warm Yang Gang welcome to my wife Evelyn Yang.

EVELYN YANG, WIFE OF ANDREW YANG: Thank you, guys, so, so, so much. I love the Yang Gang.

BASH: In her first television interview, she describes her businessman husband's decision to run for president.

E. YANG: I thought to myself, this will pass. This is not --

BASH (on camera): Just a phase?

E. YANG: Yes. It was after the last election and it seemed like he had a really bleak outlook of the future based on all the research he was doing. When I realized that he was serious is when he said he was going to quit his job. The freedom dividend and humanity first is the reason why I let him run for president.

A. YANG: She said, Andrew, there's no reason for you to do this because someone else is going to run like odd universal basic income and the automation of jobs. And I was like, I'm not sure that's really happening.

BASH: Before this you weren't famous, you weren't a politician before. You were just a --

A. YANG: A nobody.

BASH: A regular -- not a nobody, but a regular, loving husband and father and businessman living in New York. Did you ever think you would get to there to here?

E. YANG: He did.

BASH: Did you?

E. YANG: He did. And I always thought he was going to do a lot better than what people -- most people thought he was going to do, because I know him and I know his -- I know how capable he is. But I have -- I had no idea that it was going to be where it is today.

BASH (voice over): Yang discuss his family a lot, especially their seven-year-old son Christopher, who is autistic.

BASH (on camera): Why is it so important to you both to talk about your son?

A. YANG: It would never occur to me not to talk about our son. And just that, you know, we love him dearly and we want to share, you know, his story with the world.

E. YANG: It's new to be in the spotlight. And at first, you know, I was actually sheepish about being -- having our family in the public at all. But I do think that it's really important to talk about because there's all this stigma around special needs and autism specifically and there really shouldn't be because, you know, all our children have something special to offer and our son has made our family better.

A. YANG: No one knows how hard it is except for families that have been through some version of it. I think Evelyn --

E. YANG: And it's easy to feel alone and I think that's what's so important about being public with this. It's really a lot more common than you think.

BASH (voice over): Evelyn yang stopped working outside the home in 2012 after Christopher was born.

E. YANG: I just never went back to work because motherhood being -- ended up being a lot harder than I expected.

BASH (on camera): And that's the whole core of your campaign, right, is universal basic income.

A. YANG: Yes.

BASH: How much of that is not just people who are going to get automated out of a job, but people who are working at home?

A. YANG: Yes, it's stay-at-home parents, it's caregivers, its nurturers, it's also even volunteers and artists and people that do things that help move society forward, but right now don't get any recognition.

BASH (voice over): It's the message of this new campaign video.

E. YANG: And Andrew has said that women do the hardest, most unrecognized work in our society.

[08:45:06]

BASH (on camera): I have to ask you about your relationship. When you met, you have said that he had no game.

A. YANG: Yes, she did say that. Yet here we are.

BASH: So what is no game? So what is no game Andrew Yang look like? Not this.

E. YANG: No game. Why did I say that? It's because -- you know it was just so clear --

A. YANG: Because I'm the opposite of (INAUDIBLE).

E. YANG: Yes. But I like that. I really liked that about him. He just -- he wore his heart on his sleeve from the very beginning. It was like our second date and he was like, my mom would love you.

BASH: On the second date you pulled the mom card? A. YANG: Well, if she says that's what I did, I'm certainly not going

to --

E. YANG: Yes --

BASH: How'd that go over?

E. YANG: And I thought that was so sweet that he -- that he would care what his mom thought about me and that she would like me and I thought, well, that must mean that we will get along and --

A. YANG: Oh, you're so sweet, baby.

BASH: And how does this feel?

E. YANG: It's a lot, but it's fun.

BASH (voice over): Now she's marching in the rain with a husband she never thought would run for anything, much less president.

A. YANG: Seeing the people that have just taken this campaign up on their shoulders and elevated it at every turn, it's --

E. YANG: And one of the supporters who tattooed your face is amazing.

A. YANG: On his calf. Yes, you can't see that coming. But there's also --

BASH (on camera): Have you done that?

E. YANG: No. And I -- and I said, I said, Andrew, I think --

A. YANG: (INAUDIBLE) tattoo (INAUDIBLE) --

E. YANG: I think he loves you more than I do because I would never tattoo your face on my body.

But it's that kind of passion. It's that kind of love, that kind of support that has been, I mean, shocking to me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Hey, Dana, John and I have been watching this riveted because that was a very candid and revealing look at their family, that, you know, not all candidates always want to do.

BASH: That's right.

CAMEROTA: So, will we be hearing more from Evelyn Yang, because it sounds like she has a lot to say? And then one other question, what is that song that he rocks out to on stage? I couldn't tell.

BASH: OK. Well, let's start with the second one. So the opening act for him, the warmup act, was Rivers Cuomo, who is the lead singer from the band Weezer. And so he was singing the song "Say it Ain't So." And he needed to get out there and sing it. So that's it. There you go. There's the answer.

CAMEROTA: Makes sense. Got it. Thank you.

BASH: She does plan to go out on the campaign trail more. I mean she literally has not been on the stage with him at all. He announced in February of 2017, almost -- less than a month after Inauguration Day for President Trump. And, look, there's a very understandably practical reason. She has two small children, including one who is autistic, and she has been holding down the homefront.

But as this has been clearly something that is not going to stop any time soon because he has raised -- he raised in the last quarter $10 million, he has a place already on the November debate stage when you have sitting members of Congress who have had to drop out because they have not been able to keep up. She is going to go out more. She said she's going to, you know, kind of see how it goes with their family, but she enjoyed it. It was pretty clear.

BERMAN: That was awesome.

All right, Dana, thank you very much.

BASH: Thanks, guys.

BERMAN: The way she talks about him, it took a while for him to kind of impress her in life, it sounds like.

CAMEROTA: Apparently. Yes. Yes. And she still was like, I never thought my husband would with be doing this. It sounded almost like a mount to this but then she clarified that she did like him right away.

BERMAN: Yes.

All right, here is what else to watch today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ON SCREEN TEXT: 10:00 a.m. ET, Roger Stone trial hearing.

11:00 a.m. ET, Rep. John Conyers funeral.

1:30 p.m. ET, Washington Nationals at White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So it is the fried chicken sandwich that took the country by storm and made Harry Enten very, very happy.

CAMEROTA: It's not that hard.

BERMAN: They're -- they're back. Harry Enten eats live on camera.

CAMEROTA: Wow. All right. That's what we're doing.

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[08:53:02]

CAMEROTA: Talking. You know you're eating and talking.

BERMAN: (INAUDIBLE). It's good. I'm just going to tell you right now.

CAMEROTA: It is?

BERMAN: It turns out it's pretty good.

So the wait is finally over.

CAMEROTA: I'm so excited.

BERMAN: This is Popeye's fried chicken sandwich. It's back in stores and in my belly after selling out across the country in August. There are already long lines to buy it. We've waited the entire show to taste it and to explain what the frenzy's all about.

And we brought in our senior chicken correspondent, Harry Enten. And he brought a wing man with him (INAUDIBLE).

CAMEROTA: Oh.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICS WRITER AND ANALYST: Ah, right here. Look at this guy.

AVLON: I'm auditing the chicken.

CAMEROTA: Wow.

BERMAN: John Avlon is here too.

So what -- besides being yummy, what's the deal here?

ENTEN: I mean, look, it -- I think you hit on it, though. It's really, really good and we saw those long lines back when it came out. I actually am such a Popeye's aficionado that I got it before it sold out. It comes in a classic and a spicy.

BERMAN: You got an embargoed copy.

ENTEN: Well, you know me, I got the embargo polls, I got the embargo chicken. But I was able to get it. And it was delicious. And then all of a sudden I went back, and I went to three separate Popeye's, this is in New York City, couldn't find it anywhere. And it turns out it was selling out everywhere. But now we have it. The long wait is over. And this is the spicy. I had the classic earlier. Let me take a bite.

CAMEROTA: Oh, while you take a bite, you're not even processing it yet how --

AVLON: Did you cause the shortage? That's what I want to know.

CAMEROTA: I feel like he did.

But, Harry, here's the thing, I'm all for research. Obviously I'm a reporter. I'm happy to do field researchers like this. But aren't we supposed to do like a blind taste test with Chick-fil-A and this?

ENTEN: I can tell you, I've had Chick-fil-A. I don't need a blind taste test. This is better than Chick-fil-A.

AVLON: Oh!

ENTEN: I'm a Popeye's guy 100 percent through.

CAMEROTA: Really?

ENTEN: I wash it down with a soda and it's delicious.

CAMEROTA: I don't want to take your word for it. Can somebody also get me a Chick-fil-A sandwich right now?

ENTEN: Are you -- I -- it is better.

AVLON: I think Harry is the official authority on this and I think he's, you know --

ENTEN: I know my pastrami, my corned beef, my friend chicken and my cream soda. This is the best fried chicken sandwich.

CAMEROTA: All right, you do have a lot of credentials. I'll grant you that.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BERMAN: All right, more --

CAMEROTA: What do you think?

BERMAN: More "Good Stuff" is next.

AVLON: I think it's a strong chicken.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:59:01]

CAMEROTA: All right, it's time for "The Good Stuff."

Five-year-old Jeremiah Travis (ph) has founds the beat. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He loved beating on anything he could beat on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, Jeremiah's mom says he has been doing this since he was 18 months old. And now little drummer prodigy is a full-on member of the Saint Helena High School Band in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you like being in the band? Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because it's fun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, it turns out that drumming is not the only thing Jeremiah is good at. He's got the moves to go with it.

BERMAN: Really? Can we see that?

CAMEROTA: I hope so. Well, I mean those are --

BERMAN: He looks a little smaller than the rest of the drummers?

CAMEROTA: Yes, I think that that's --

BERMAN: There we go.

CAMEROTA: Oh, there we go. Oh, my.

BERMAN: There we go.

CAMEROTA: That is great. He's so good that he can be part of the high school band.

BERMAN: He's very good. That is outstanding.

CAMEROTA: Awesome.

BERMAN: All right, there's a lot going on this morning. Major developments in the impeachment inquiry with people called to testify. Will they show up?

[09:00:00]

Time for "NEWSROOM" with Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: All right, good Monday morning, everyone.