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Anonymous Author's Book Excerpts; Bloomberg Enters Race; Raiders Rally Past Chargers; Trump Re-election Investments; Ambush Attack Victims Laid to Rest; Vaping-Related Injuries Top 2,000. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired November 08, 2019 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[06:30:45]
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we do have a developing story for you this morning.
"The Washington Post" has released new details about the book written by anonymous, this anonymous writer who claims to be a senior Trump administration official. One of the many claims the author makes, quote, senior Trump administration officials considered resigning en masse last year in a midnight self-massacre to sound a public alarm about President Trump's conduct, but rejected the idea because they believed it would further destabilize an already teetering government.
Back with us now, Joe Lockhart and Alex Burns.
And, friends, I think Bianna and I actually want to read a few more of these excerpts just so people see the scope.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: They are so colorful. Yes.
BERMAN: Right.
So, OK, first, it's like showing up at the nursing home at daybreak to find your elderly uncle running pantsless across the courtyard and cursing loudly about the cafeteria food, as worried attendants tried to catch him. You're stunned, amused, and embarrassed all at the same time. Only your uncle probably wouldn't do it every single day and his words weren't broadcast to the public and he doesn't have to lead the U.S. government once he puts his pants on.
GOLODRYGA: OK, so that's alarming. But then there's this one. The author says, Trump is, quote, like a 12-year-old in an air traffic control tower pushing the buttons of government indiscriminately, indifferent to the planes skidding across the runway and the flights frantically diverting away from the airport.
BERMAN: And anonymous also says in the book that he or she was wrong to write this essay last year or suggest that he or she was a guardrail against the president. Quote, I was wrong about the quiet resistance inside the Trump administration. Unelected bureaucrats and cabinet appointees were never going to steer Donald Trump the right direction in the long run, or refine his malignant management style. He is who he is.
Whoo. That's a lot --
GOLODRYGA: Right.
BERMAN: Alex, from this unnamed person.
ALEX BURNS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It really is. That last excerpt to me is the most revealing one, right? And, you know, I've not read this book, but I'm curious how much introspection there is on the part of this author because that argument that they made in the anonymous op- ed a year ago was really sort of widely discussed and made a big splash in the political world that, wow, are there these people inside the government steering Trump in the right direction? Is it the noble thing to do to stay on the inside to keep yourself anonymous and do what you can to put government on the right track?
I am curious how the author sort of reconciles this idea that there's no such thing as a quite resistance. He can't be steered onto the right track. And yet I sort of still think it's important that my name not be out there.
GOLODRYGA: But, Joe, if I could just read one more excerpt from this, because as we're entering the election year, so much focus is on women, on women voters. Will they turn against the president given his language, given some of the things that he's said in the past? And here's something from the book that may question that as well.
I've sat and listened in uncomfortable silence as he talks about a woman's appearance or performance. He comments on makeup. He makes jokes about weight. He critiques clothing. He questions the toughness of women in and around his orbit. He uses the words like sweetie and honey to address accomplished professionals.
Hillary Clinton tried to go down this path during their debate too in 2016. Will this be different?
JOE LOCKHART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I -- you know, I don't know. I agree with Alex, that the one of -- the previous excerpt was the most interesting and revealing. We know this about Donald Trump. We -- everything in that, you know, as offensive as that is, there is nothing new revealing. He has all his life acted this way. You know, if you -- that's nothing compared to the "Access Hollywood" tape.
GOLODRYGA: Right.
LOCKHART: And the public seems to shrug. You know, and it's -- I don't know the answer to that.
BERMAN: The white House has responded. You know, the White House, which doesn't talk much, responded specifically to this. Stephanie Grisham put out a statement saying, quote, the coward who wrote this book didn't put their name on it because it is nothing but lies. BURNS: Look, one of the reasons why we know that this isn't nothing
but lies is because of all the people who have been testifying in the impeachment inquiry and putting their names on detailed and specific anecdotes describing the chaotic and, according to some of their assessments, ethically compromised operations of government.
I do think this book might have made a bigger, political splash in a world where it wasn't coming out alongside these testimonies where we have names and faces and voices and details describing these events inside the administration.
I think the broad brush that's being used to paint here, as Joe was saying, doesn't necessarily move the public's understanding of this administration dramatically past where it is.
[06:35:07]
Though the fact of the book's existence is still really striking. The fact that somebody who apparently was close enough inside the administration for a newspaper and a publisher to take their account seriously is still pretty striking.
GOLODRYGA: Yes, and the publisher has decided to speed up the release date as well, in line with the impeachment hearings.
BERMAN: Right.
GOLODRYGA: But, you're right, such powerful testimony from people who put their name out there and give details about what they thought went wrong.
Both of you, thank you so much. We appreciate it.
Well, two months ago, Michael Bloomberg basically ruled out a presidential run. So the big question is, what changed? We'll discuss what the surprise development says about the rest of the Democratic field, next.
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BERMAN: New details this morning about why Michael Bloomberg is preparing to enter the presidential race now --
GOLODRYGA: Right.
BERMAN: In November after months of saying he wasn't going to get in. One of Bloomberg's advisers tells CNN, quote, we now need to finish the job and ensure that Trump is defeated, but Mike is increasingly concerned that the current field of candidates is not well positioned to do that.
[06:40:03]
Joining us now, CNN political commentators Aisha Moodie-Mills, a Democratic strategist, and Jess McIntosh, former director of communications outreach for the Hillary Clinton campaign. I want to put up a poll number here because Michael Bloomberg's convinced that the Democratic candidates aren't doing the job. Democratic elites might be because they keep giving blind quotes in stories. But there's not evidence that the Democratic voters are dissatisfied with their candidates.
In this latest Fox News poll, 69 percent say they're satisfied with the choices, 28 percent say they wish there were other options, Aisha. And, actually, the satisfied number here is lower. I've seen much higher levels of satisfaction in other polls. So Democrats, at least being polled, seem OK with their choices, even if Michael Bloomberg's not.
AISHA MOODIE-MILLS, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, you absolutely nailed it. I mean, at the end of the day, I don't see where Michael Bloomberg has an actual constituency of real people who are voters that are going to come out and are actually going to vote for him to get to the delegate count that you need to actually get the nomination. I think that, you know, what we're seeing now is kind of an attempt by donors who want to have an alternative to Joe Biden, who looks like maybe he won't be able to actually bring in the cash to compete in the long haul, and trying to figure out, you know, what are we going to do now to make sure that Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders don't do something crazy with structural reform that's actually going to affect our wealth.
And so this feels a little bit like a Hail Mary for a certain class of folks. I think it would be more genuine if he were to actually run as a Republican given his record. And, frankly, back to my point about not knowing who his base is, this is a man, as my friend Jameel Smith (ph) tweeted, this is a man who actually ran New York City like an oligarch and ultimately supported and defended a stop and frisk policy that essentially mass incarcerated black and brown people. I just don't see how the Democratic base is going to really respond well to the leadership of Michael Bloomberg at this point.
GOLODRYGA: And on that point, Jess, you said you're not necessarily surprised that he's jumping in. You're more surprised that he's jumping in, in a Democratic primary and not running as an independent.
JESS MCINTOSH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Absolutely. I actually worked for Mike Bloomberg in 2005 when he first ran for re-elect of mayor of New York City.
I've been waiting since then for this to happen. But I always assumed that he would do it as a third party independent candidate. I'm glad that he recognized that that would make him a spoiler and possibly throw the election to Donald Trump, but Aisha's entirely correct, I don't see any room here. He's a relatively ideologically neutral billionaire and there are zero people clamoring for that right now.
BERMAN: I will say that Michael Bloomberg would say, on climate change, he is, you know, he is a progressive and he's put money behind that. On fighting gun violence, he is a progressive on putting money behind that.
MCINTOSH: On guns he's been amazing.
BERMAN: Right.
GOLODRYGA: Right. Right.
BERMAN: On social --
MCINTOSH: He has some incredibly progressive views and he puts money behind it.
BERMAN: Right. So when you said he's a Republican and you guys are saying he's (INAUDIBLE), I mean I think Michael Bloomberg would say he is ideologically in line with a huge part of the Democratic Party on many issues.
But there's one thing that I'm interested in, Aisha, and maybe you can address this. You've been telling me for days, and I've been quoting you, that the core, the base, the actual core of the Democratic Party, is African-American women. And if we're also saying Michael Bloomberg thinks that Joe Biden is not doing the job right now, well, his base right now is African-American voters. And I'm not sure I see Michael Bloomberg picking away African-American voters from Joe Biden.
MOODIE-MILLS: I don't see Michael Bloomberg picking away any voters. And that's the thing that's most concerning to me about anyone who's jumping in this race at the late date.
Here's the thing. If the billionaire boys club really wants to get rid of Donald Trump, here's what they could do. They could invest a ton of money in combatting the disinformation campaign that's actually suppressing African-American voters. They can actually invest a lot of money in figuring out how we can neutralize and get rid of the voter suppression efforts that are structurally happening state by state in this country to make sure that our elections are fair and that people can really show up and vote. There are a lot of different ways that money can be spent.
At some point, I believe the voters are going to look at this as a vanity project, right? And that's not helpful for anybody in my humble opinion at this late date.
BERMAN: Jess, want to give you one quick last word.
MCINTOSH: It might be helpful for Elizabeth Warren. We already saw her fundraising off of Bloomberg's pseudo announcement last night. So there's a chance that this actually boosts the candidacies that he is probably the most concerned about.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. And she's responded. Bernie Sanders has responded. Who hasn't responded are the president of the United States and Joe Biden.
BERMAN: Indeed.
GOLODRYGA: Ladies, thank you so much. Great to see you.
MOODIE-MILLS: Thank you. GOLODRYGA: Well, the Oakland Raiders rallying past the Chargers for a big win on Thursday night football.
Andy Scholes has more in the "Bleacher Report."
Hey, good morning.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, guys.
You know, Jon Gruden's got the Raiders playing some good football right now and they're just right outside that playoff picture in the AFC. The game in Oakland last night between the Chargers and Raiders, it was a tight one, down four with under 90 seconds to go. Josh Jacobs rumbles 18 yards here for the touchdown. But that gave the Raiders the lead.
[06:45:00]
Philip Rivers had one more shot to go win this game, but he ended up throwing an interception. So the Raiders win 26-24, improve to 5-4 on the season. The Chargers have lost six games this year by one score.
And check out Gruden, celebrating there with the fans in the Black Hole in Oakland. He even gives one guy a bear hug there. That's pretty cool.
All right, finally an update for you. Everyone's favorite black cat still on the lam. MetLife Stadium putting out a tweet saying they set up a bunch of humane traps and they continue to search, but they can't find the kitty.
And, John, the 1-7 Jets host the 2-7 Giants this Sunday. I'm not sure the cat's going to want to go out there and watch that one.
GOLODRYGA: That cat is staged. That's not just one cat. Come on.
BERMAN: It's staged?
GOLODRYGA: Come on. Yes. I'm not buying it at this point.
BERMAN: And, Andy, I want to give you huge props for using cat on the lam, which is one of my favorite -- favorite statements ever.
All right, so more than 2,000 cases of vaping related injuries have now been reported and that number continues to grow. So what is the Trump administration going to do about it? Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us next.
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GOLODRYGA: No comment yet from Joe Biden on Michael Bloomberg potentially entering the Democratic race. The former vice president is scheduled to meet with reporters today during a swing through New Hampshire. The nation's first primary state is also getting attention from President Trump's re-election campaign.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny is live in Manchester, New Hampshire, with more.
Jeff, good morning.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Bianna.
For all the talk about the big field of 2020 candidates, it's important to remember that Donald J. Trump is also a candidate in the race.
[06:50:03]
That became official yesterday here in New Hampshire.
But as we travel across the country, of course we see those big Trump rallies. We've also learned in many cases the Trump campaign is going small.
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MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: New Hampshire, we need four more years.
ZELENY (voice over): And now it's official. President Trump is on the 2020 ballot with Vice President Pence signing the ceremonial paperwork for the New Hampshire primary.
As a parade of Democrats and even a few long shot Republicans pass through the first in the nation primary state, team Trump is taking advantage of its head start.
While the president loves his big rallies, the Trump re-election campaign is also going small, inside living rooms like this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're members of the Women for Trump Group, right? This is the official gear. Be sure to get it.
ZELENY: They come wearing Trump hats and shirts. Women both young and old. With a campaign collecting names of those supporting the president.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who in here is done hearing about the impeachment madness? Anyone?
ZELENY: Under fire in Washington, across America the Trump campaign is focusing on things it can control, through intimate organizing events.
REGINA BARNES, TRUMP SUPPORTER: It gives me hope again in America.
ZELENY: Regina Barnes has been a Trump fan from day one.
BARNES: The rallies are great, but I think that when he's not in a rally, we need to keep the momentum going.
ZELENY (on camera): So for the next year, what do you plan to commit to do to elect -- re-elect President Trump? BARNES: Just talk about him all the time. Get the word out. Once you
start talking about it, I think it makes people feel a lot more comfortable to be open to talk about it.
ZELENY (voice over): For Trump, the 2020 battleground begins where the 2016 campaign ended, fighting to defend once blue states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, and trying to hold Iowa, Ohio, and Florida. The campaign is also working to expand its map, trying to flip two of its narrowest defeats, in Minnesota and here in New Hampshire, where Trump lost to Hillary Clinton by 2,736 votes, or less than 1 percent.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We did great in New Hampshire. We should have won New Hampshire.
ZELENY: So far the Trump campaign and its outside allies are dramatically out-spending most Democratic candidates, investing $33 million on FaceBook and Google ads, and nearly $8 million on television spots.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's no Mr. Nice Guy, but sometimes it takes a Donald Trump to change Washington.
ZELENY: Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, said Democrats underestimate Trump at their own peril.
RONNA MCDANIEL, CHAIRWOMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: I think that Democrats don't understand the Trump voter in a lot of ways.
It's important to understand why he connects and why they're so engaged with him and will continue to turn out and fight for him.
ZELENY: For now, some of the campaign's most important work may be closer to home than at signature rallies.
FRED DOUCETTE, TRUMP 2020 NEW HAMPSHIRE CO-CHAIR: We will deliver this state to President Donald J. Trump come November 3rd of next year.
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ZELENY: And Republicans are building a massive ground game in 18 states across the country.
John, one of the biggest differences, the Trump campaign is far more organized than four years ago. Of course he does not know he'll -- who he'll be running against. Another candidate, Joe Biden, coming here to New Hampshire in just a few hours, to also file his paperwork for the New Hampshire primary ballot.
John.
BERMAN: Yes, considering that four years ago there was no organization, it doesn't take much to be more organized.
ZELENY: Indeed.
BERMAN: But they certainly have a very vast apparatus this time.
Jeff, thank you so much for that reporting.
BERMAN: Funerals will take place today for six more American victims of the massacre in Mexico. Three victims were laid to rest yesterday. This as CNN has obtained audio that captures the confusion among family members immediately after the attack.
CNN's Patrick Oppmann live in Mexico City with the very latest here.
Patrick.
PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning.
And of those six funerals you mentioned, four of them will be for small children that were killed in this attack.
And we are learning more about what transpired just in the moments after the attacks took place as family members in this community struggle to try to understand what was happening and try to seek help from relatives living in the United States. And they began just sending out these audio messages via WhatsApp. And you can really hear the desperation, the confusion, and eventually the sorrow in their voices. We have to warn you guys, these audio clips are disturbing.
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KENDRA LEE MILLER: Dear God, everybody pray. Officers just came and said my mom's suburban is blown up, up on the -- (INAUDIBLE) by the hill. Everyone, please pray.
Nita and her children are gone. They've been burned inside the vehicle. Uncle Jeffrey verified, counted all five bodies. Their bones are burned -- their bodies are burned to a crisp. Dear God, pray for us all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OPPMANN: And members of this community say they are somewhat disturbed that the government is telling a slightly different story than the one they have been telling.
[06:55:03]
There are discrepancies in the timeline, discrepancies in the perhaps motives of why a cartel would go after what is believed to be a peaceful community. Members of the community have also told us that they are afraid that in the days and weeks ahead that there will be less of a military presence garden them and very soon they could be left on their own to face these cartels and could be exposed to further attacks.
Bianna.
GOLODRYGA: All right, still such a mystery remains, but it's so disturbing just to see the pictures of those children, how heartbreaking it is, right?
BERMAN: Yes.
GOLODRYGA: Innocent lives lost. And you think about the family members having to bury their loved ones. We're thinking about them all.
Well, shifting gears now.
The CDC announcing that vaping related injuries in the U.S. have soared to more than 2,000. Forty people in states around the country have died.
CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is with us now.
And, Sanjay, the numbers keep going up. At this point, the FDA and the administration are having to answer to some of this, right?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: They are. And there's really, you know, two separate issues here. One is the illnesses and the deaths, which is something that we've been talking about a lot. And that's an ongoing investigation.
What you hear is they still haven't precisely identified the single cause here. There may not even be a single cause.
And, look, one thing that complicates matters is that these THC cartridges appear to be at the -- at the root of a lot of these illnesses and deaths. The problem is, in a lot of these states, they're illegal. So people may not be forthcoming in hospitals and that complicates the investigation as well. People aren't always getting drug tested, for example, so you just don't know. And I think that's part of the complication.
The second issue, which predates this issue, is the concern about youth vaping. And when you heard the president talking about it, when he talked about banning flavorings, it was really about this youth vaping issue. And they say, look, it's still very much top of mind. In fact, Kellyanne Conway was asked about this yesterday. Just take a listen to what she said.
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KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT: So if we're talking about e-cigarettes, the president, yes, he's been discussing this with his team. And he will -- he -- or the HHS will make an -- will make an announcement soon. I think nothing has changed. In fact, what got worse is the JAMA (ph) data came out yesterday. You can go look at it for yourself. It's very alarming.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GUPTA: The JAMA data that she's talking about basically show that, look, if you look at middle schoolers and high schoolers, you've got 5 million kids now who are vaping, 3.5 million roughly last year. So, I mean, you could see the trajectory here. The chart that we have up there for a second just looks at the most
common flavorings. And one of the things that popped out of that was that mint was the most common flavoring among kids.
BERMAN: Well, Juul, yesterday, just announced they're going to stop selling mint, right?
GUPTA: What -- yes, they did, and they had already banned some of the other flavors earlier, which could be why mint sort of came to the top, because some of those other flavors weren't as available before.
Juul's sort of playing an interesting role here, John. I mean, you know, in some ways the vaping community as a whole says there is Juul and there is us. These are two separate issues. Juul has been sort of proactive in this, anticipating regulation and trying to basically, you know, act preventively, if you will, here. Whether that's going to make a difference, I don't know.
This illness and death issue, they still have got to figure this out.
GOLODRYGA: Right.
GUPTA: I mean there are people who have no idea. There's probably these ingredients that are being used to cut THC. It's an acute phenomenon. I mean e-cigarettes have been around for 12 years, 13 years in this country. What we've seen has happen over the last year. So something has happened recently and it seems to primarily involve THC.
GOLODRYGA: And young Americans as well.
GUPTA: And young Americans. Exactly.
GOLODRYGA: All right, Sanjay, thank you so much.
GUPTA: Yes, thank you.
GOLODRYGA: Great to see you.
BERMAN: All right, major developments overnight. This shakeup in the Democratic primary with a $50 billion reason to pay attention.
GOLODRYGA: How much?
BERMAN: $50 billion.
NEW DAY continues right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike Bloomberg is very concerned that Joe Biden may not have sufficient support to win the Democratic nomination.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no possible calculous that I can think of that the Democratic Party is going to embrace Mike Bloomberg.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If he stands on a stage with Donald Trump, I think he matches up very well.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Democrats potentially could be wrapped up with their impeachment inquiry before the Christmas holiday.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: The calendar is what Nancy Pelosi wants, impeachment done by the end of the year.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Democrats have a lot of information already. And it would be great to have Mick Mulvaney.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He essentially conceded that it was a quid pro quo. It's not needed for an impeachable offense. But we've got a central player acknowledging it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.
BERMAN: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY.
A pretty stunning development that could dramatically reshape the Democratic presidential race for more than 50 billion reasons.
[06:59:56]
Multi-billionaire businessman and former New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg, has opened the door to a 2020 run for president. Bloomberg is expected to file the necessary paperwork to get on the Democratic primary ballot in Alabama today.
END
