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New Day
Commander's Secret Visit to Syria; Clinton and Trump Locked in Dead Heat; Political Satire. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired May 23, 2016 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:30:33] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, ISIS claiming responsibility for a series of bombings in Syria that kill at least 78 people. As the battle against ISIS rages on, U.S. forces are training Syrians in their fight to reclaim areas taken over by ISIS. CNN is the only television network to travel overseas with General Joe Votel. He is the top U.S. commander in the Middle East and he was on a secret mission to Syria. CNN's Barbara Starr joins us with an exclusive report.
Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.
Joe Votel is the most senior U.S. military official to enter Syria during this war. He is working with both Arab and Kurdish fighters to develop a new army in northern Syria that he hopes can take on ISIS.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): These are the first images ever shown publicly from a U.S. special operations training camp in northern Syria. From here and other secret nearby locations, the U.S. military is racing time to train enough local Syrian forces so they can push south towards Raqqa, ISIS' declared capital. CNN was the only television network with General Joseph Votel on his secret, day-long trip to Syria. Votel oversees the war against ISIS.
GEN. JOSEPH VOTEL, CENTCOM COMMANDER: My principle purpose was to meet with some of the Syrian there (ph) democratic force leadership in multiple locations and also to meet with our advisor teams.
STARR: General Votel has come to northern Syria under extraordinary security conditions. In fact, we've been asked not to reveal a number of details on how we all got here. But Votel considers this part of the war a top priority. He is here to meet with the U.S. military advisers that are helping some of these local troops that you see work to defeat ISIS.
Votel went to multiple locations we've been asked not to disclose, meeting with key local leaders in the Syrian democratic forces, an umbrella organization overseeing many of these young Arab fighters the U.S. is training. A spokesman for the Arab forces being trained here is critical of U.S. efforts. He says his group urgently needs more ammunition and weapons beyond the few ammunition supplies he says the U.S. has delivered.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We've been given a limited number of all rifles.
STARR: Due to security concerns, we are not allowed to show details of the base. Our cameras are restricted. Security is so high here, the U.S. advisers want their faces shielded. But they do want to talk about the training.
STARR (on camera): You're a military adviser here. What do you guys do here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are here training the Syrian democratic forces. Now, when I say training, generally that's consisting of basic level weapons training, shooting AK-47s and shooting larger machine guns.
STARR (voice-over): Their four-star general taking an extraordinary step to see it all firsthand.
VOTEL: I have a responsibility for this mission. I have a responsibility for the people that we put here. So it's - it's imperative for me to come and see what they're dealing with, to share the risks that they are - they are absorbing on a day-to-day basis.
STARR: Even if the Arab fighters here patrol the surrounding fields and stand watch, getting ready for whatever their future holds.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Now, while we have significant security restrictions on us to protect the identity of those special operations forces on the ground, I do want to share something. The security team of military personnel that accompanied all of us into Syria and back out again was some of the most highly trained, most elite forces that this country has. Their identities cannot be revealed. I also want to say, working with those security constraints, our own photo journalist, Kahlil Abdullah (ph), did an amazing job bringing all of us these pictures of something we have not seen before.
Alisyn.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Barbara, you both did an incredible job. We would not be able to see this had it not been for your reporting. Thanks for that.
Now for the five things to know for your new day.
[08:35:02] Bernie Sanders bashing his own party for trying to, quote, "anoint" Hillary Clinton. So he is supporting the opponent now of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz in her Florida House race.
Well, Donald Trump meets with Tennessee Senator Bob Corker today, fueling speculation that the Republican could top Trump's short list of potential running mates.
Egypt deploying a submarine to help find those black boxes belonging to EgyptAir Flight 804. Flight data indicates multiple smoke alerts occurred near the cockpit minutes before the crash.
President Obama forging new ties with Vietnam, announcing the U.S. is lifting the decades-old arms embargo. The president stressed the sale of lethal arms is dependent on Vietnam's commitment to human rights.
And it is deadline day for Patriot's quarterback Tom Brady to appeal his four game deflategate suspension. Brady's punishment reinstated by a federal appeals court last month. He's expected to file an appeal.
For more on the five things to know, you can go to newdaycnn.com for all of the latest.
Chris.
CUOMO: Well done.
Two new national polls show Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in a dead heat. But both, it appears, have the same Achilles heel, historic unfavorables. We've never seen anything like it. And we discuss, next.
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[08:40:29] CUOMO: Wow, wait until it's a head-to-head matchup. Trump is going to kill Clinton. No, Clinton is going to kill Trump. Guess what, two new national polls are out and they are in a dead heat. There are your numbers. Clinton at 44 percent, Trump at 46. That's in "The Washington Post"/ABC News poll. The Washington street - "The Wall Street Journal"/NBC poll has Clinton at 46 with Trump at 43.
Let's bring in CNN political analyst and host of "The David Gregory Show" podcast, David Gregory.
Are you more impressed, my friend, by how close it is or how high the unfavorables are or both?
DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think both. I mean I think the one thing that stands out is the consolidation that you see that Trump has experienced, which I think is confounding to so many of us who have watched this and seen how split apart the Republican Party has been, only to see this massive consolidation behind him, even when you've had all of these conservative types and party types, like Paul Ryan expressing real doubts and reservations about him. I think the high negatives we understood certainly about him and about Hillary Clinton as well, that part is remarkable and I think it's striking because we know it's only going to get worse. I think the opportunity for them to turn that around is pretty difficult. There's not a lot that is unknown about them.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
GREGORY: And there's not a lot of opportunity for them to try to, you know, ameliorate their - their public standing.
CAMEROTA: Let's look at those, David, because they really are historic. So we'll start with Hillary Clinton. In the two new polls out in terms of her unfavorable, "The Washington Post" gives her at 53 percent unfavorable, whereas "The Wall Street Journal"/NBC puts her at 54 percent.
Now, let's look at Donald Trump. "The Washington Post", 60 percent unfavorable. "The Wall Street Journal/NBC, 58 percent. So, you know, here - this is - Bernie Sanders can make the argument, as he has been making, that people seem to want something different and that justifies him staying in for as long as he can.
GREGORY: Right. I mean, look, Bernie Sanders, however long he's been in the Senate, is taking advantage of the fact that he is an unconventional candidate in an unconventional year. So he can play to that strength vis-a-vis Hillary Clinton, who's the ultimate party insider, even though she's on the inside track to capture the nomination.
He's also not been roughed up really in the course of this primary fight.
CUOMO: Right.
GREGORY: So his positives/negatives reflect that, that he's got a more positive - positive image. And, look, he is still in this fight against the establishment, against the Democratic Party, against the rules of the super delegates. All of which is an accurate argument on his part to say that it's a process that favors the insider. But, of course, he knew that going in.
CUOMO: Now, look, we know that we caught you right before you begin your Zumba class at home, so I don't want to -
GREGORY: (INAUDIBLE) I have the mat out here. You know, I'm ready to go.
CUOMO: I don't want to keep you too long.
CAMEROTA: We don't want to see what you're wearing from the waist down.
CUOMO: Well then there's -
CAMEROTA: Zumba.
CUOMO: There's really nothing more for me to ask then.
CAMEROTA: There's Lycra.
GREGORY: (INAUDIBLE).
CUOMO: Let me - he did. He flushed up. You got him blushing. Good for you. I thought that was impossible.
CAMEROTA: I know it's not easy to do that for David Gregory.
CUOMO: I think he's got some bike shorts on or something like that, right?
CAMEROTA: I do too. I do too. CUOMO: You know he's got some bike shorts on -
CAMEROTA: Yes.
CUOMO: And they probably have his initials on them.
Let me ask you something. Trump's negatives have actually come down in this poll. They were actually higher. Now, does that suggest a trending in your mind that maybe he will get stronger as people get more exposure to him as the alternative?
GREGORY: Yes and no. I mean the yes part of that is that he's got an opportunity to get stronger, you know, the more he moderates certain views, the more he can reach different constituencies that might be impressed that he's coming off as a more serious candidate. He showed those trend lines improving as he gets out of the nastiness of the primary fight. But he's also going to be open and vulnerable to Clinton attacks now, both from the Clinton campaign and from her super PACs, who are going to try to go at him really hard. This whole business of the poor Donald Trump, why doesn't he release his tax returns? To really make the argument from their point of view that he's not everything he claims to be, that he's not as successful as he claims to be.
If you go back to 2012, look what was done to Mitt Romney early in the race around Bain Capital, around chipping away at that image of a successful businessman. There's no doubt that the Clinton administration - rather the Clinton campaign wants to strike early to try to drive some of those negatives up and not let Trump do what he appears to be doing, which is get more popular, appear to create a new image for himself within the Republican Party.
[08:45:09] CAMEROTA: So enter a third party candidate. We had former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld on talking about why he thinks that this year is the right year for Gary Johnson and he, himself, to enter. So listen to his motivation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM WELD (L), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The American people have woken up to the fact that neither major party has the mix of policy positions that a lot of people, between 40 and 50 percent even, entertain. And that's fiscally and economically conservative, i.e. responsible, but socially inclusive and tolerant. That's neither party.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: So, David, this year, of all other years, is it possible, given the unfavorables of the other two front-runners, that the third party won't just be a spoiler, they'll be an alternative?
GREGORY: I think it's hard for them to be anything but a spoiler. But I also agree with Governor Weld, this could be the year. I mean, again, I go back to looking at the Trump candidacy in the context of Ross Perot. There's a lot of similarities in the arguments and the unconventional appeal. So I think that's - that's something to look at.
One of the questions is - and you see it in some of the polling that was released over the weekend, that there is this willingness to consider a third party candidate, a high percentage. But do you have enough Republicans and even Democrats who feel so disaffected that they feel they've got no other home? They don't want to fall in line. They've got no other place to go -
CAMEROTA: Yes.
GREGORY: Besides some kind of protest candidacy. And I think there may be enough sentiment to pull that off, if you can actually get on the ballot. And I don't think that's a given. I think that's very difficult unless it's done rather quickly.
CAMEROTA: David Gregory, thank you. You can get back to your Pilates.
GREGORY: Yes, I've got to get back to the machine.
CAMEROTA: OK.
GREGORY: I got to keep up with Cuomo. I mean, you know, I got to - got to get into the regimen.
CAMEROTA: Yes. I (INAUDIBLE) that.
CUOMO: Please, aim higher.
CAMEROTA: Thanks so much.
CUOMO: All right, we're not that funny, but you know who - who are really funny are the late night comedians. This race, you know, we keep saying, oh, I've never seen anything like this. Never - certainly at night we've never seen anything like this. We have the best of the best, next.
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[08:51:10] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure, Mrs. Clinton, what can I get for you two?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll have a beer, a new brand that people are flocking to, something refreshing and revolutionary, something that draws huge crowds.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I'll have whatever beer no one likes but gets the job done.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whose bill should I put this on?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mine.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CAMEROTA: That was "Saturday Night Live," of course, having fun with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. The 2016 campaign flush with political satire. So what impact will it have? Let's discuss it with CNN's senior media correspondent and host of "Reliable Sources," Brian Stelter, and CNN contributor Bill Carter.
So, you know, political satire is alive and well in the U.S. You see it every night.
BILL CARTER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you can't - how has there ever been a better setup for this? I mean it's ideal this year. It's such a crazy race with some really broad candidates.
CUOMO: So what do you - what do you make of what they're doing with the opportunity? What do you see there in the range of offerings?
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's been a lot of criticisms, actually, right, Bill?
CARTER: Yes.
STELTER: I mean Trevor Noah, brand new in "The Daily Show" job, not necessarily standing out the way Jon Stewart would have.
CARTER: Sort of a more lighthearted approach than the passionate approach of Jon Stewart. Yes.
STELTER: And Stephen Colbert also relatively new in his job.
CARTER: Yes.
STELTER: It doesn't - it almost - you sometimes wonder if this election is immune to comedy because it itself is so funny or so farcical.
CARTER: Well, that's the thing, that - especially with Trump, he's been sort of a, you know, a target of derision for a long, long time. So how do you make it new? How do you make it fresh? What's the new take of Donald Trump?
CAMEROTA: OK.
STELTER: That's why I think investigative comedy is so hot right now, meaning John Oliver, meaning Samantha Ivey (ph).
CAMEROTA: OK.
CUOMO: Is it an oxymoron, by the way?
STELTER: I don't think it is, actually. I think - I think John Oliver has found a way to do kind of journalism, but in a funny, humorous, amusing way.
CARTER: Yes.
CAMEROTA: OK, so let's look at an example of that. The Donald Drumpf segment that got so much play. Watch this.
CARTER: Yes.
STELTER: Right.
CARTER: Right.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One (INAUDIBLE) found that a precious (ph) ancestor had changed it from - and this is true, Drumpf. (INAUDIBLE) getting blinded by the magic of his name. We need to see him through fresh eyes. So, please, don't think your name is Donald Trump. Think of it as something else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: OK. I mean that got huge buzz.
CARTER: Yes.
CAMEROTA: It went viral.
STELTER: Twenty-five million views on YouTube.
CARTER: Yes, 25 million.
STELTER: I mean this thing took off.
CARTER: Yes.
STELTER: And yet, you know, it was called a Trump takedown and clearly it didn't have much of an impact.
CARTER: No.
STELTER: So maybe John Oliver is going to have much more to say about - about a Trump fall (ph).
CUOMO: Well, may - could that be? Could it be that that's because what we're not seeing, to give Stewart his due, is it was funny but it was insightful.
CARTER: Yes.
CUOMO: As opposed to just being funny -
CARTER: Yes.
CUOMO: Just being mocking, just being entertaining.
CARTER: Yes, I think that's one of the big things. And I think I anticipate a shift when it really gets into the - I do. I think there's going to be much more targeted stuff. If some - you know, if you watch Seth Meyers, for example -
CAMEROTA: Yes.
CARTER: He does his "Closer Look." He -
CAMEROTA: We do have it.
CARTER: He's -- he swings from the heels.
CUOMO: We've got some of it here.
CAMEROTA: Yes, let's - let's watch this. This - this was about whether or not Donald Trump was masquerading as his own PR agent.
CARTER: Right.
CAMEROTA: Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SETH MEYERS, COMEDIAN: That's right, Donald Trump posed as his own publicist to brag about how much publicity he was getting. And it was so clearly Trump. The only way John Miller could have been more obviously fake is if he was three 10-year-olds standing on top of each other in a trench coat, in which case the fake John Miller would have had the same size hands as the real Donald Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: OK, so, funny -
CARTER: Yes.
CAMEROTA: But, again -
CARTER: Yes.
CAMEROTA: It's not like an evisceration that takes -
CARTER: No, but - but if you - if you watch him night after night, he calls him out.
CUOMO: But he called him out. Yes, he calls him out.
CARTER: He calls him out.
CUOMO: He's smart.
CARTER: I don't think you'll see Trump on his show. I don't think you'll see that.
STELTER: He's smarter (ph). This has gotten serious the way John Oliver has.
CARTER: Exactly. Yes.
CUOMO: Yes, he - he's smart - let's make this a little bit more spicy. I would say that I will take a Seth Meyers and maybe a Colbert over an Oliver. I don't buy the investigative comedy thing.
CAMEROTA: Why?
CUOMO: He was right about Drumpf.
CARTER: Yes.
CUOMO: Because I think that he's just snarky, nasty funny. I don't think that he's teaching you something or he's making you think about it.
[08:55:05] CAMEROTA: But the Drumpf thing, he looked into it. Nobody new.
CUOMO: Oh, no, he's - accurate, true, but that's not investigative.
CARTER: Yes.
CUOMO: I mean, who - he probably went to ancestry.com or something like that.
CAMEROTA: Nobody else did it.
CUOMO: I'm saying, I doesn't that it makes people understand things differently the way a Stewart did. I think Seth Meyers certainly could. Colbert as well.
CARTER: And also I - I have to say, John Oliver's on once a week on HBC. That's not as potent as a guy coming after you night after night after night, which is what Jon Stewart would have been doing.
CUOMO: And I think he benefits from that as well.
CARTER: Yes.
STELTER: Right.
CUOMO: I think if he were on every night, we wouldn't be as impressed.
CARTER: Yes.
STELTER: Clearly a lot of people miss - a lot of liberals, in particular, miss Jon Stewart in this election. But there's another part of this, which is, where's the comedian that's having a lot of fun with the Democratic race? I don't see the more conservative or even the middle of the road -
CAMEROTA: "SNL" - "SNL" has done a lot of fun with Bernie certainly and -
CARTER: "SNL." (INAUDIBLE). Yes.
CUOMO: And Hillary.
CARTER: And Hillary. They've had - they have a take on Hillary. Their - their power mad take is really effective (INAUDIBLE). CAMEROTA: Right.
CUOMO: She almost got me, by the way.
CARTER: Yes.
CUOMO: When I sat down with the secretary, just like Tina Fey did to me with Sarah Palin -
CARTER: Yes.
CUOMO: That first second when you sit down, I have this "SNL" skit sewn in my head -
CAMEROTA: Right.
CUOMO: That the first answer or so, you know, you've got to like shake it off.
CARTER: You're talking (ph) to Hillary, yes.
CUOMO: You're like, you're not messing around here. Lock it in here.
CAMEROTA: I mean, that's telling, but it permeates.
STELTER: It's working.
CAMEROTA: Exactly.
CARTER: But it's exact - and that has an edge to it.
STELTER: Yes.
CARTER: And I think that's what we're going to see. I think we're going to see a shift to a little more edgy stuff. That's what I expect anyway.
CAMEROTA: All right, we shall see. Gentlemen, thanks so much.
STELTER: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: Great to look back at the laughs with you.
All right, NEWSROOM with Pamela Brown, in for Carol Costello, picks up right after this very quick break. We'll see you tomorrow.
CUOMO: You remember when I told people enough with your damn e-mails?
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