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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Officials: Comey Won't Update Public on Emails Until Review is Complete; Abedin Attorney: "Ms. Abedin Has Complied Fully and Voluntarily"; New Poll: Clinton Leads By 7 Points in New Hampshire; Trump Supporters Encouraged By Email News; Officials: FBI Won't Complete Review Of New Emails Before Election Day; Attorney: Abedin Has Complied Fully From The Beginning. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired October 31, 2016 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:04] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And good evening from Washington. Thanks for watching.
We are just across the street from the White House. A week and a day from now, voters will choose the next occupant. Just eight days for presidential campaign that adds up to almost no tomorrows. For the Trump and Clinton campaigns, that means there's almost no time left to capitalize on bad news for the other side, or perhaps just as important for the other side to recover from it.
So, we begin tonight just eight days out with new developments in the one piece of news that has dominated the headline, since it broke on Friday, the discovery of e-mails on a device seized from the computer shared by top Clinton adviser Huma Abedin and her estranged sexting husband Anthony Weiner.
Donald Trump is doing a campaign victory lap over FBI Director James Comey's decision to reveal their existence. Hillary Clinton saying in her own words, there is no case here and publicly challenging the FBI director to produce anything they got. Republicans and Democrats alike are taking aim at Director Comey.
As for the FBI, we're learning tonight that they have begun the process of analyzing the e-mails and sources tell us they will not be done by Election Day. And just moments ago, we also learned this, Director Comey says he will not be saying another thing about all of this until the review is complete.
Our Jim Sciutto joins us now with the very latest on what he's learned.
So, no word at all?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: No word at all. First, we're learning tonight that Director Comey, he stands by his decision. Sources familiar with his thinking said that he had a tough decision. He made the best choice possible. He doesn't have a partisan bone in his body. Sources are telling our Pamela Brown. But in addition to that as Anderson was saying, Comey saying he will
not have any partial updates before the investigation is complete. No announcement of a certain number of emails discovered, early indications of whether it was classified material. He is not going to come back until the investigation is done, which means that this will certainly extend beyond the election.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SCIUTTO (voice-over): Tonight, CNN has learned that agents at FBI facilities in Quantico are now combing over thousands of e-mails on a laptop belonging to disgraced Congressman Anthony Weiner, and his estranged wife, Huma Abedin, key aide to Hillary Clinton.
Just eight days from the election, the FBI has now obtained a warrant to search those e-mails found in a separate investigation of Weiner for allegedly sexting with a minor. Officials tell CNN Comey was made aware of the e-mails in mid-October, but only went to Congress with the information after he was given a fuller briefing on Thursday.
Today, the White House walking a fine line, praising Director Comey's character --
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Director Comey is a man of integrity. He's a man of principle. He's a man who is well-regarded by senior officials in both parties.
SCIUTTO: -- but communicating the importance of FBI traditions, limiting public discussion of ongoing investigations, especially close election.
MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Would not the White House say let's put more information out there then?
EARNEST: I think that was the hope that director Comey had. That was his stated hope of sending the letter in the first place.
KOSINSKI: Certainly, it's not enough.
EARNEST: Well, clearly, it had the opposite of the intended effect.
SCIUTTO: Comey's decision to go public so close to Election Day has drawn fire from both Democrats and Republicans, including George W. Bush's attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, who spoke to CNN today.
ALBERTO GONZALES, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I really worry that in this particular instance, the FBI director has made an error in judgment in terms of releasing this kind of letter which really says nothing.
SCIUTTO: However, when Comey testified on the Hill in September after recommending not to bring charges against Clinton, the FBI director did hint he would investigate if he discovered new evidence.
REP. LAMAR SMITH (R), TEXAS: Would you re-open the Clinton investigation if you discovered new information that was both relevant and substantial?
JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: It's hard for me to answer in the abstract. We would certainly look at any new and substantial information.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: What else, Jim, are you learning about the timing after all this, how long it will actually take?
SCIUTTO: Well, really, there are two steps, right? Now, and this is under way, there's cataloging these e-mails. They can do this with a tool. This is happening at Quantico now, to see how many e-mails are new. Ones they haven't looked at before. That's something you can do with technology.
The next requires --
COOPER: Which you'd think would be pretty fast.
SCIUTTO: That's pretty fast. That could take a matter of days.
The next step requires human beings to make a judgment, and that is judging whether there's classified information here, or perhaps other evidence, was there evidence of obstruction of justice? Each of those things requires consultation with a number of agencies, particularly when you're talking classified. As we knew in the last investigation, that can take some time. And that's the part that really takes you past Election Day.
COOPER: All right. Jim Sciutto, appreciate the update.
Speaking today in Michigan, Donald Trump sarcastically thanked Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin for the e-mails he claimed without citing any evidence. They will be in his words absolutely devastating to Hillary Clinton and praise Director Comey's guts for doing what he did.
The reality, though, is that neither the Trump nor the Clinton campaign has the facts and as we've been reporting, not even the FBI does yet which leads a vacuum that both campaigns are trying to fill. Just a few moments ago, I spoke with Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Kellyanne, Secretary Clinton said today, I quote, "there is no case here."
[20:05:01] She and her campaign have insisted that voters have already made up their mind about essentially anything e-mail related. Paul Begala, as you know works for a pro-Clinton super PAC, said the same thing, essentially that he believes the whole e-mail situation is kind of baked into people's opinions.
Do you think that's true? Have voters already made up their minds? KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: It is not true. I
appreciate the spin on their side with eight days to go before the election, Anderson. I can imagine they've booked up every focus group facility from Santa Fe, Mexico, to Columbus, Ohio, and in between trying to figure their way out of this one. But there's no evidence of that.
In fact, if anything, the undecided voters really struggle with why to vote for Hillary Clinton. They've known her for decades. And their hesitation about going for her is well known. It really goes to the voracity and honesty. She already put us through one FBI investigation.
We're having this entire conversation, Anderson, and this entire crisis right now because she flouted the law from the beginning, she set up the private server, she deleted the e-mails, she BleachBited them, then she lied about lying. Now, we need full disclosure about the lies that she lied about.
There's no way that they know what is and isn't real in terms of this investigation. Finally, I'll just remind everybody, under the 4th Amendment you can't get a search warrant unless you show some type of -- some type of probable cause or some type of reason to be able to search somebody's device. That's just very clear.
COOPER: Donald Trump, your candidate, and much of the campaign, including you, were highly critical of FBI Director Comey obviously after the July announcement to not recommend charges. You tweeted that there was zero accountability -- that was your term -- at the FBI. Mr. Trump, the night before Friday's letter from Comey was released said, "Hillary Clinton as an example deleted 33,000 e-mails and FBI saw that and let her go. It's part of the rigged system."
So, if there were zero accountability before, at the FBI, and it was part of a rigged system, is it still part of a rigged system?
CONWAY: So, our reaction and frustration in early July, Anderson, was grounded in the fact that Director Comey went forward and said we're not going to follow through with charges, however, here's everything she did wrong. She was reckless, she was careless, then two days later on July 7th under oath to the congressional committee, told Chairman Trey Gowdy that he had to disagree, he undercut Hillary Clinton's own testimony and his own conclusion in saying, well, there was not one device, there were multiple devices. Yes, there was classified or confidential information. Yes, national security information was exchanged on this private server.
We now find out, Hillary Clinton was exchanging e-mails with President Obama on this private server. I mean, that's terrible.
So, in July, Director Comey frustrated everyone by saying things that undercut his conclusion. This is a new investigation. We don't know much about it. And I think everybody should just take a deep breath and let the FBI do their work. I can't imagine they can tell us what this is about in the next eight days but I have no idea. We have no special knowledge here. I just think attacking Director Comey, these print papers, the Clinton
campaign, I think Josh Earnest, the White House secretary, put it best today, assume on behalf of President Obama, said he will neither condemn, you know, neither criticize or praise Director Comey's decision. I think the White House disagrees with Harry Reid and other Democrats that Director Comey is trying to, quote, "interfere in this election." There's no evidence of that.
COOPER: Do you -- do you believe that Comey should give out more information? Because as you know, I mean, even, you know, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Republican, was raising questions about Comey's decision to come forward and the way that he did.
CONWAY: Perhaps. I don't really know the procedures that well for me to be expert on that and tell you. What I will tell you is we all know these investigations take a long time and there are always things, Anderson, that you and I don't know. And that's probably how it should be. Let the government agencies do their job.
We don't, at the Trump campaign, we don't want to politicize the FBI. I'm sorry that Hillary Clinton is making this an affirmative talking point at her rallies and all the Sunday shows yesterday with her staff. But that's really unfair not just to Comey but really to the process.
And, by the way, none of this conversation is about e-mails. It's not about Jim Comey. It's not even about the FBI. This entire conversation is being had because of a couple selfish people. Hillary Clinton in setting up that private server from the beginning, and the lying about it, deleting e-mails, being reckless and careless, according to many people.
And secondly, Anthony Weiner. The only reason we're having this conversation again, the only reason there's not one, but two FBI investigations now, is because Anthony Weiner is texting pictures of himself to a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina. That's how this all started.
I think when Hillary Clinton cannot blame the Trump campaign, cannot blame the RNC, cannot blame the vast right wing conspiracy, they're really at sea, because now they're just trying to blame, they're cursing the sky and it's not working.
COOPER: Let's talk about the polls. Trump's campaigning today in Michigan. According to Real Clear Politics Average, Clinton is leading by seven. It's a state which hasn't voted Republican in presidential elections since 1988, I think.
Why spend crucial hours there? Do you believe Michigan is up for grabs?
CONWAY: It is. Michigan is up for grabs. We like what we hear on the ground there.
[20:10:00] The Real Clear Politics average is great, but it always includes polls taken weeks ago as well as more recently. We like the trend lines there and states like New Mexico, Wisconsin,
certainly Pennsylvania, it's always been on our list, Colorado. These states that have been blue for a while. These states that President Obama carried twice.
But remember, any time you try to apply conventional tactics and historical precedent in politics to Donald J. Trump, you get disappointed and you get surprised because he defies all of that. And, you know, we also -- we just need a couple of insurance policies to 270, Anderson.
I'm managing this campaign. I'm not going to have just one route there. So, we're not going to chase every new promising poll in every state, but we are going to go where we see real movement and real promise. It's also a state where Bernie Sanders cleaned Hillary Clinton's clock.
It's like Iowa, it's a state that does not like Hillary Clinton. And people are saying that's the primary. It matters tremendously because it means the voters aren't enthusiastic about her.
So, we'll continue -- if you're Donald Trump's campaign manager, you know he's willing to go to two, three states a day, so is Governor Pence. So, we have the luxury of expanding the map a little bit because they don't just do one or two stops and go home. They're willing to take it all over the field and that's what we're going to do. We're dotting the map.
COOPER: Kellyanne Conway, appreciate you being with us. Thanks.
CONWAY: Thank you, Anderson.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, we should mention we invited the Clinton campaign on tonight. They declined.
There is more breaking news. We've just gotten a statement from Huma Abedin's attorney, Karen Dunn. It reads, "From the beginning, Ms. Abedin has complied fully and voluntarily with State Department and law enforcement requests, including sitting for hours-long interviews and providing her work-related and potentially work-related documents."
The statement goes on, "Ms. Abedin's willing cooperation has been praised by members of Congress and law enforcement officials alike. She only learned for the first time on Friday," this is important, "she only learned for the first time on Friday, her attorney says, from press reports that a possibility, that a laptop belonging to Mr. Weiner could contain e-mails of hers."
Ms. Dunn concluded by saying, "While the FBI has not contacted us about this, Ms. Abedin will continue to be, as she always has been, forthcoming and cooperative."
There's also this, Ohio governor and former presidential candidate, John Kasich, we learned has voted, he is not a Trump fan as you probably know. He wrote in John McCain on his ballot.
Let's bring in the panel. "INSIDE POLITICS" anchor John King is joining us. CNN law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director, Tom Fuentes. CNN senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, Jeffrey Toobin, CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger.
Also, Trump supporters Kayleigh McEnany and Jack Kingston, and Clinton supporters Bakari Sellers and Paul Begala. Paul is an adviser of a big pro Clinton super PAC. Jack and Bakari are former lawmakers.
Jeff Toobin, first of all, I think it was on Friday, you and I talked, you said Comey is not going to speak anymore on this and this is not going to be done until past Election Day. It seems like you were right on both counts.
Will anything develop between now and Election Day on this?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: A lot of leaks from the FBI.
COOPER: That's how it's going to happen.
TOOBIN: I think one of the really unfortunate aspects of this announcement of raising in issue is that it will contribute to a constant stream of leaks from the FBI, from the Justice Department, some of which may turn out to be accurate, some of which may turn out to be wrong. The number of e-mails, how many e-mails are from, if any, Hillary Clinton, how many e-mails are classified?
I mean, these are the things that all of us who are reporters are going to be trying to find out over the next eight days. We will get answers. Some of those answers may be right, and I think this is yet another reason why the FBI and Justice Department he long-established traditions of not disclosing politically sensitive information close to Election Day because they know that the press feasts on it and they know that this is not something that law enforcement should be doing at this time. That's why this very strong tradition exists in the Justice Department of not doing it.
COOPER: John, we know this is going to eat up certainly a lot of media coverage between now and Election Day unless something else new develops. Do we know whether or not it is actually going to have an impact on voters, will it change voters' minds?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We don't know yet, and we should be careful about that. It will be another day, probably, two. Actually, to be safe, you want to wait three, get to Thursday or so before you trust the polling.
There's a new New Hampshire poll out tonight. We'll talk in detail about it in a little while. Hillary Clinton still has a very big lead in New Hampshire, so her campaign can look at that and say a-ha. The Trump campaign can say the last time the organization polled it was a much bigger lead and it's smaller now.
If you want to take one poll and go to Vegas on this, be my guest. But let's take a few days to ride this out.
But I will tell you this, the Clinton campaign, Paul's super PAC understands that this is what we're going to do, until we find out the evidence, unless something else comes up. So, you see a change in her paid media strategy, going negative on Donald Trump. You see his super PAC today went up with a very tough ad on Donald Trump and women.
They understand that the conversation is now about Hillary Clinton. She spent the whole campaign trying to make it about Donald Trump. So, what they won't get in the free media, they're trying to do with their paid media.
COOPER: So, Paul, for your super PAC, is that what you're trying to do now, redirect it to character issue on Donald Trump?
PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, to frame up the choice.
[20:15:02] This is what we did from the beginning. Our first ad was about Donald Trump's comments about women and so this is, perhaps, our last one.
I have to say people -- we got Carol King to give us the rights to her song, "Natural Woman." You make me feel like a natural woman. The first half is very positive. It's images of Hillary and it's very positive, then it pivots so that you see the choice.
It's not fully negative which I'm a little disappointed in. I like to go 110 -- the other folks at the PAC have more stroke than I do, so they insisted half be positive.
But, yes, we want people to know the choice. And I said this to you on Friday, I say it again, voters, Hillary may have mishandled e- mails, Donald Trump may have mishandled women. Which is worse?
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Paul, you have a huge problem on your hand when 45 percent according to "Politico" believe what Hillary Clinton did was worse than Watergate. That is a very big deal.
BEGALA: It's called the Trump vote.
MCENANY: And according to CNN's reporting, Evan Perez says investigators have told him that it's likely that some of the deleted e-mails from Hillary Clinton's server are contained in this bunch. Those are the e-mails, of course, we know, were bleached from eternity, the e-mails slammed with BlackBerries. This is a very big deal.
When voters deserve -- voter deserve to know if the person they're casting their ballot for is under criminal investigation by the FBI.
BAKARI SELLER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: She's not.
MCENANY: They have an obligation --
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: The reality is we will not know, Gloria, until past Election Day.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: The truth is, we don't -- if anybody here at the table knows, tell me, because we, I believe, do not know whether these were Hillary Clinton's e-mails. We don't know whether these are duplicates we don't know what's among these thousands and thousands of e-mails. All we have is conjecture.
COOPER: So, do you think it impacts voters?
BORGER: Well, I think that for voters, in particular, who believe that Hillary Clinton is a crook and that these e-mails are terrible, it confirms the view, and I think for people who don't care about the e-mails, it -- you know, it's already baked.
However, I will say it can have impact on enthusiasm on both sides. It could make people who are undecided say, you know what, I'm going to stay home. It could make Trump supporters more enthusiastic about getting out to vote and it could make Hillary Clinton supporters say, you know what, I'm going to go for her because this is, you know, this is unfair.
COOPER: Let's talk about the investigation.
BORGER: I just don't know.
COOPER: Tom, I mean, you know about FBI investigations, formerly with the FBI. OK. It's not going to be done -- what about this idea of just kind of leaks emerging, how does that concern you as somebody who formerly worked for the FBI?
TOM FUENTES, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I think -- it would concern me and they don't want these leaks coming out. But just to describe the procedure, it would be an incremental situation. They got Anthony Weiner's computer which they found out is shared with Hum Abedin. They received that in September.
And the team looking at his e-mails, and the things that he's been sending online, in connection with his sexting case, they're looking at that then they see her e-mails are also on that computer for whatever reason, were downloaded to it. And so, they think this may impact the original e-mail investigation.
So, they go to -- the team working the sexting case met with the team that had worked on the e-mail case and they said, we'd like you to look at least the metadata on these e-mails that takes a subpoena. It doesn't take a search warrant for metadata.
Now, metadata is the electronic breadcrumbs that show which servers the e-mails passed through. And in order to get the search warrant to extend this, I'm guessing, this is my professional opinion, that the subpoena showed metadata that it passed through her server, the server at home. And based on that, they use that for the probable cause to get the
search warrant which they obtained this weekend and the search warrant now is for content to look at what is discussed in that.
And remember, back on July 5th, whether Comey should have or shouldn't have made that press release that he did, but he said the main and only reason really for why he recommended no charges was that he couldn't prove her criminal intent.
COOPER: Right.
FUENTES: So, they don't need to have e-mails to and from her. They could have Huma Abedin's e-mails to and from other key, like Cheryl Mills, for example, or other key aides that discuss and show evidence that she may have, or what the motivation was for setting up that private server.
COOPER: Right. It doesn't even have to be actually classified content on those e-mails.
FUENTES: No, it can be proof of her intent.
JACK KINGSTON, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Anderson, one of the things I want to point out, you just showed the clip of Congressman Lamar Smith asking Director Comey in Congress, and Jim Sensenbrenner also asked a similar question, will you re-open this, will you revisit it if there's something serious? And Sensenbrenner's question actually said there already have been some serious things come up and Comey said nothing that rises to the motivation to re-open it.
He's re-opened it. Therefore, it think it's very, very serious. I want to say --
COOPER: Democrats claim this is not a re-opening of the investigation. This is simply --
(CROSSTALK)
KINGSTON: No, he said -- I read the testimony, said he closed it. But it doesn't really matter. I mean, here's what you're also going to have along with the drip, drip, drip of FBI leaks, you're going to have WikiLeaks coming out with new things and innuendos.
[20:20:04] And the question that strikes to me was Huma Abedin's statement that we just heard that she did not know her husband -- well, good gosh, you are the second person in control of the State Department. Why would you let your husband get that information? You just can't do that. I mean, to me that goes back to the word, reckless.
COOPER: It's understandable to raise questions about it. We do not know how those e-mails ended up on that computer.
KINGSTON: Right. That's going to be one of --
COOPER: And her attorney is saying she was not aware. SELLERS: It's not legitimate. What we just did, what my good friend
Congressman Kingston did was go down this path of innuendo that's filling the void left by Director Comey.
COOPER: And Comey, by the way, did not say he's reopening --
(CROSSTALK)
SELLERS: One second. And this is where -- this is where we have to go back to the July 5th statement. And it violates everything that's in the USAM, which those gentlemen on the other side know, the U.S. attorneys manual, which conducts media relations and behavior of the Department of Justice, all the agents of the FBI.
He should not have made that statement. Now, he's in a corner. What he did is threw a proverbial football out there on 11 days before the election and now we have everybody and their mother coming up with innuendo to fill it.
You know what the most amazing thing about it is? He got probable cause, of course, due to the metadata but had not read a single e- mail. The reason we know he didn't read a single e-mail is because he did not have a search warrant.
So, anyone who stands up here, whether or not they're a Hillary supporter or whether or not they are a Donald Trump supporter, is flat-out misleading the public.
COOPER: We got to take a break. We're going to continue this discussion. We're on for two hours tonight. There's a lot more to talk about, including early data on what we've been discussing already, whether this changes the all important state-by-state road to the White House. John King breaks down the polling impact so far.
And later, a closer look at one of the longest running professional power partnerships in Huma Abedin and Hillary Clinton and the history they've seen together. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:25:35] COOPER: Some breaking news in the voter impact the e-mail story might be having, with an emphasis on might. New polling from New Hampshire, John King mentioned in our last block, where Hillary Clinton still holds a big lead, seven points. About half the surveys conducted by the University of New Hampshire, local station WMUR, were done after the story hit. Secretary Clinton was up 15 in the same poll just after the third debate. But that was just after the "Access Hollywood" tape, so you take that into account as well.
As for the larger impact, John King is back at the magic wall breaking it down by the numbers.
So, Trump's campaign calls the FBI's announcement a game changer. He says he's leading everywhere he visits. Is that true?
KING: We don't know about the game changer yet, part. No, he's not leading, Anderson, everyone he visits.
Let's look first. You just mentioned the New Hampshire numbers. Let's just pump them so people can see them.
Seven-point lead now in New Hampshire. You're right. She was up larger in the last WMUR poll, but it was taken when Donald Trump was cratering. So, is this, look, it was taken over the weekend including is this because of the FBI allegations? We simply don't know. We can look more deeper into the survey data and watch it.
But that's still a pretty healthy lead in New Hampshire, even if she did take a hit in the state of New Hampshire.
What we're waiting for, Anderson, is more polls from other battleground states. I'm going to show you the most recent North Carolina numbers. This is troublesome for Donald Trump, but this was taken before the FBI story broke.
We'll see new North Carolina data throughout the week, but Donald Trump heads into this even if there's a benefit for him here, a six- point deficit in North Carolina, simply he cannot win without North Carolina. So when you see this, at least Hillary Clinton had a cushion going into this controversy. We'll see how it plays out.
I want to go back to one more other state, again, Florida a must-win for Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton wants to win it, she doesn't have to win it. This poll taken before this, again, shows essentially a dead heat. One-point Clinton lead. That's a statistical tie.
So, was Donald Trump getting closer in some of the battleground states? You could make that case.
I will say this -- he was out in New Mexico over the weekend. I want to pop this one up. A lot of Republicans scratching their head about this. Kellyanne Conway said they see data they're moving in New Mexico. I'd love to see that.
There's not a lot of public polling in New Mexico. There's nothing recent. But this was a ten-point race four years ago. This was a 15- point race in 2008.
I don't know any Republican who thinks Donald Trump can win New Mexico even with these new developments but we'll wait and see.
COOPER: The intensity of the Clinton campaign attacks on Director Comey showed they are worried it could have an impact. I assume that's why they're doing it. Will it change their strategy in the final week?
KING: Yes. They won't say so, but yes. Hillary Clinton is still scheduled to go out to Arizona on Wednesday. That has been a red state for years. They land in the most recent pubic polling there. They think they can change it.
More importantly, the trip was already announced before this broke. The last thing you want to do is cancel it and cause panic. But they actually think they can win out there, so let's see.
But after that, you will both in the paid media and her travels much more of an emphasis on the traditional battleground states. I'll circle this half of the country, because that's where you find Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida, Michigan, and the like.
And, Anderson, I just want to make this point. This is using, the old map, the McCain map. So, don't be misled by what you're seeing on the map.
But here's what's worrisome for the Clinton campaign. Again, check this data at the end of the week. There are some reasons why things in Ohio, things in North Carolina, things elsewhere haven't gone perfect in early voting. For the most part, the Democrats are leading when you look at his. But African-American early voting in North Carolina down a bit from 2012. African-American early voting in Georgia down a bit from 2012. African-American early voting in Florida down a bit from 2008, the only year we compare it to.
Now, what the Democrats will tell you is fewer polling sites in Ohio, shorter days. So perhaps there are reasons for this. They had a big weekend to turn out early votes. Let's watch this data later in the week to see if there's an intensity problem for Hillary Clinton that could be magnified by the troublesome news.
COOPER: John, just one other thing, I read today that among undecided voters, they seem to be breaking more Republican. Is that your understanding as well?
KING: We've seen that in the data of the people still left, of the people still say they're undecided when you ask them their voting history, they're either Republican voters -- more Republican voters and more independents who lean Republican in the undecided pool. It's a relatively small pool but it could be significant in the final week.
COOPER: All right. Kayleigh, when you look at where things are, where do you see -- do you believe Trump has a chance in New Mexico, in Michigan as Kellyanne Conway says?
MCENANY: I do believe that and I know it's unmistakable there was momentum behind Donald Trump. Look at the ABC daily tracking poll, Donald Trump gained 11 points in one week, and that was before this FBI scandal broke. That's a national poll.
But you also look at Florida, "The New York Times" poll that came out today, Trump's leading by four.
[20:30:00] Early voting as of this morning, he was leading by 24,000 votes when you consider absentee and early voting. When you look at Pennsylvania and to me, this is key, because if he wins, keeps the Romney states, wins Florida, wins Ohio, wins Pennsylvania, and there are two polls out today that show him down by two points and three points, the Remington and the Gravis poll, he becomes the next president of the United States. And this is before the FBI scandals factor in.
COOPER: So, Paul, are you running for The Hill?
BEGALA: Oh yeah, all is well in Trump land. No, he didn't have a chance in a world in New Mexico. And his wasteless time -- contributors might be going out there. Lowing in two polls out in the ...
COOPER: You don't believe that they have internal polling that shows otherwise?
BEGALA: I don't. Maybe they do, if they do, they're garbage polls, OK. I looked at RealClearPolitics today and those three states, because I thought what am I missing here? New Mexico, there's only been two polls came points out. If Hillary led both by an average of 8 1/2 points, in a state President Obama won by 10.
In Wisconsin, there have been 11 polls since Labor Day. Hillary's led in all 11. All of them by an average of 5.7 percent a state President Obama won by 7. In Michigan, there have been 14 polls since Labor Day. Hillary has led in all 14 of them by an average of 6.2 percent ...
COOPER: Kellyanne Conway says the RealClearPolitics, you know, has too many old polls ...
BEGALA: It doesn't so -- we have the older ones. And this is just from Labor Day, this is in the general election, but it doesn't matter when you win all 14 ...
COOPER: But.
BEGALA: ... your winning the recent one ...
COOPER: So, this idea that there's Trump momentum, you don't buy that?
BEGALA: But he's full of baloney. Look, I think it's fine. I'm glad his -- as a Clinton guy I don't want him in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, the states that are really close. OK, I don't want him wasting him time in blue states. But ...
COOPER: Congressman?
KINGSTON: Paul, as you know, Labor Day is a history particular this year and let me ...
(CROSSTALK)
KINGSTON: But let me say this, what really has happened in the last 10 days, are really one week, WikiLeaks and Obamacare. WikiLeaks has a cumulative effect, is like putting salt on your food.
(CROSSTALK)
BEGALA: ... do you realize and you're a tough on crime Congressman, you realize that's a crime perpetrated by the Russians against America. And do know that. Right? (CROSSTALK)
KINGSTON: Don't get mad at the camera if the picture comes out bad. And I don't know where it came from. But there are lots reality is ...
BEGALA: Somebody robs a bank, and you're running away, you pick up the money and keep it? No you don't, that would be wrong.
COOPER: All right, one at a time. Congressman?
KINGSTON: The point -- since you like point number one so much, you do agree that Obamacare is going up, 116 percent in Arizona, 40 percent in North Carolina, 53 percent in Pennsylvania. The Obamacare bombshell really is huge because Americans who are maybe part of the 94,000 that are underemployed or underemployed, or the 43 -- 95 million, excuse me, 43 million who are on food stamps, you're in the middle income, that you've seen your household income shrink from ...
COOPER: OK, so Paul, do you see the Obamacare premiums going up as a bombshell?
BEGALA: It's not a bombshell but it certainly doesn't help. But that's actually an issue, the first time we've talked about one. What's Mr. Trump's solution, it's to repeal Obamacare, take 20 million people who have it out. It's to return to situation where if you have a pre-existing condition, insurance companies can tell you no. I mean he doesn't have an answer to it. Of course it's not good, but it's not, I think, what's driving this election ...
COOPER: Bakari?
BEGALA: ... because he don't answer.
SELLERS: November 2nd of 2012, the "Wall Street Journal" had an article about Mitt Romney going to Wisconsin and Pennsylvania because the Republican Party was going to flip them red. So this is something that always happens. Talk to President Romney about how good that worked for him. So that's first. But I also ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Caucus.
SELLERS I want to talk about briefly something that John King put up on the board which was the downtick from 2012 of the African-American, and the reason we're seeing that is because the limit, voting places and in a state like North Carolina where you saw it was down 6.5 percent, but Hillary Clinton is still winning, they just opened up new voting centers where African-Americans and African-American counties like Gilford county, and Mecklenburg county, and all these other places where you're seeing the turnout increase.
And so what you're seeing is Hillary Clinton doing extremely well with white Democratic voters in this early voting places, and the uptick amongst Hispanic voters ...
COOPER: Just very briefly, John, you were saying that Democrats have that same ...
KING: At the end of the campaign this is what happens, my first campaign was Michael Dukakis. We were on the road this week, and he was saying George H.W. Bush, he's slipping and slide and we're rocking and rolling, by the Dukakis less 40 states.
So when Kellyanne Conway tells you we're winning everywhere, no offense to Kellyanne Conway, that's her job. That's she's side. The Congressman is right about the Obamacare, and let there are a lot of Republicans especially after the "Access Hollywood" tape who ran from Donald Trump, sprinted from him. Especially women. And a lot of them have come home. And the Obamacare announcement has helped with that.
But where are now until we get new data, we don't know about the FBI, where we were before the FBI, was a traditional election American presidential election, a one, or two, or three, four-point national race just like Obama/Romney.
COOPER: And why ...
BORGER: I just -- why is Trump doing this? Because he's a one man get out the vote machine. They don't have the ground games in a lot of states that the Democrats have and nobody can get his voters out better than Donald Trump. So he's got to do these rallies.
COOPER: We got to take a break. I want to thank everybody on the panel. We're going to hear more from them a little bit later on.
Up next, so how is all this playing at dueling campaign rallying? Is there simply no case here as Clinton says? Or will it be devastating as Trump says. We're going to hear what their supporters had to say today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:38:32] COOPER: Well as we've been talking about, there's certainly a lot we do not know about these e-mails that the FBI is looking into. We don't know what's in them, we don't know how many are duplicates the FBI has already seen. We really just don't know and most likely won't for a while. That is not stopping Donald Trump from saying he's sure whatever is in the e-mails will be in a, "absolutely devastating" and the people at his rallies seem to agree.
Randi Kaye tonight reports.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A familiar chant outside Donald Trump's rally in Warren, Michigan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is not an election, it's a revolution.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is, it's a movement.
KAYE: Like Donald Trump himself, some supporters are suggesting the case against Hillary Clinton is being re-opened. Even though FBI Director James Comey never used that language. He told Congress investigators should review the newly discovered e-mails.
SCOTT BENJAMIN, TRUMP SUPPORTER: So I guess I'm most encouraged that they're re-opening it and they're going to look at it more thoroughly.
KAYE: They're not actually re-opening it, they're going to take another look at what might be there.
BENJAMIN: And there's -- there's mean they're going to take another look and re-opening?
KAYE: The Director never he said re-opening. He said, there may be something significant and they're going to look at somebody's e-mail.
BENJAMIN: Is this a hair we're going to split?
KAYE: I'm just being -- I'm just sticking to the facts. That he didn't use the words re-opening.
BENJAMIN: You're sticking to your interpretation of the facts.
KAYE: And supporters here believe the FBI director knows more than he's letting on.
STEVE COOLEY, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I think they already though there's some very damaging e-mails in there and she's in a lot of trouble.
KAYE: With the FBI director hasn't seen the e-mails yet. So how would he know?
COOLEY: His underlings below him, they have to know. They're not going to bring that to the attention unless there some serious information in there that's very damaging for Hillary Clinton.
[20:40:07] JULE HOGAN, TRUMP SUPPORTER: How do you know he don't know?
KAYE: Because that's why they have to get the Warren to take another look at them.
HOGAN: He wouldn't have done that to Hillary if he hadn't already seen or heard something.
KAYE: And despite the fact that the FBI has not released a single detail about what the e-mails say, supporters here make it sound like they already know.
What do you think could be big that's on those e-mails?
KATHY BUTLER, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I think there's probably e-mails that she forwarded to a laptop at her house that may be perhaps implicates the Clinton Foundation.
HOGAN: The e-mails are there and the 33,000 are there and I think -- I think there's been talk with probably the president of the United States to her on the e-mails. Who knows?
KAYE: OK. But you don't know any of that for a fact.
HOGAN: Sure, no. But neither do you, neither does anybody else.
KAYE: And if the e-mails damage Clinton's campaign, voters here say there is only one person to blame.
BENJAMIN: This is a huge mess, but you have to come back to who started this mess, it was the secretary of state who chose to have a private e-mail server.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: And Randi joins me now from Detroit. Certainly, a lot of support there among Trump supporters for essentially what is Donald Trump's position, and a lot of distrust of Hillary Clinton.
KAYE: Absolutely, Anderson. You could tell they all certainly think they have it figured out. I mean, one woman said to me, well, they must have a smoking gun, the director must have a smoking gun. And I tried to point out to her, well at that point, he hadn't even seen the e-mails, he didn't have a search warrant for them yet.
But they don't want to hear that, their attitude is lock her up, throw away the key. But in terms of timing of this, they're fine with it even though it's so close to the election. They say the American people have a right to know everything about their candidates even if the position was reversed and the FBI said they were going to look once again at a case involving Donald Trump, I asked them. And the said, that would be fine, too.
Again, the people have a right to know. But of course, Anderson, as you pointed out earlier in the show, we probably are not going to know very much about what he's in these e-mails before Election Day, Anderson. . COOPER: All right. Randi, thanks very much. And no surprise, the feeling is somewhat different at Clinton rallies, equally strong. Believe it or not, it has been a full year since Bernie Sanders said in a primary debate, quote, "The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails."
And one year later and after Friday's letter from FBI Director Comey, it seems the sentiment is still very much true at Clinton rallies among her supporters. Hillary Clinton had two stops in Ohio today.
Gary Tuchman spoke with some of them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Rally goers here in Cincinnati have different reasons for voting for Hillary Clinton, but everyone we talked to feels the same about her e-mails. They are tired of hearing about them. And that's why FBI Director James Comey's action last Friday has upset so many here.
How concerned are you that it could affect the election? BRIAN EVERSOLE, CLINTON SUPPORTER: About -- On the scale of 1 to 10, about 5.
TUCHMAN: So, it means you're somewhat worried.
EVERSOLE: I'm somewhat worried, yeah. There some of the people that didn't want to vote for before because of it, it could tip them to Trump.
JOSH BUCHMAN, CLINTON SUPPORTER: I'm a little concerned, but I feel like people have mostly made up their mind, they know who they're voting for and they just won't change it.
TUCHMAN: But in the back of your mind, are you having sleepless nights about it?
BUCHMAN: It doesn't weigh on my mind, sometime, yes.
TUCHMAN: There is concern among some here that there is more to the FBI director's action.
JACKIE FISHER, CLINTON SUPPORTER: Well, I think that the Republicans, they ganged up on her. That's what I believe.
TUCHMAN: Did you think the FBI director is involved in that effort to gang up on her?
FISHER: He has something to do with it. He's being real quiet, but I believe he has something to do with it.
MARDIA SHANDS, CLINTON SUPPORT: I am disappointed in him. I am not angry at him. I think he has a job to do. But I am disappointed that he did not put forward more information.
TUCHMAN: Derek Daniel arrived 9 1/2 hours early for this rally. He's enthusiastic and diplomatic. Are you surprised that there's still so much suspense in this race with all the things that Donald Trump has said that have been controversial? Does that show a weakness in your candidate?
DEREK DANIEL, CLINTON SUPPORTER: No, not necessarily. I think it shows there's a clear divide in the American people.
TUCHMAN: But as this race winds down, many Hillary Clinton supporters have lost interest in being diplomatic about Donald Trump or those who admire Donald Trump.
MARK JESSEE, CLINTON SUPPORTER: Why do you think the Trump supporters are voting for him for one reason, that they don't want any of their tax dollars going to benefit any minorities? I think that's the overlying reason that he has so much support in this campaign.
TUCHMAN: That's kind of cynical.
JESSEE: Well, that's what I believe.
TUCHMAN: And something else many here believe, that the writing is on the wall.
Does it concern you that Hillary Clinton is not running away with this?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not so sure she's not running away with it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: And Gary joins me now from Cincinnati. Did Hillary Clinton talk at all about her e-mails to her supporters in Ohio today?
TUCHMAN: Anderson, she did have that e-mail discussion here in Cincinnati and earlier in the day at Kent State University in Northern Ohio. She said she made a mistake. She has no excuses. And she said she has declared that repeatedly.
[20:45:00] She also issued a challenge to anyone who wants to look at more e-mails of her staffers. She said, quote "by all means, go ahead." Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Gary Tuchman. Gary, thanks very much.
Coming up, we're going to take a look at the role Huma Abedin plays in Hillary Clinton's administration. Hillary Clinton -- She's really, Huma Abedin is her longest serving, probably most loyal aide. What we know about their working relationship, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Welcome back. Just in case you forgot how bizarre this election is, this late in the game potential twist in the e-mail story all goes back to Anthony Weiner. It was his sexting scandal investigation that led to the discovery of the new e-mails.
Now, in the past, Trump has called Weiner a psychologically disturbed perv and questioned why Clinton adviser, Huma Abedin, was married to him. Here's what he said at a rally in Michigan today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We can be sure that what is in those e-mails is absolutely devastating. And I think were going to find out, by the way for the first time. Thank you, Huma. Thank you, Huma. Good job Huma.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Again, just factually speaking, no one, including Donald Trump, knows what if anything is in those e-mails. What we do know is that Abedin has been by Clinton's side for decades and is one of the most trusted people in her circle.
Sunlen Serfaty tonight reports on more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For the last two decades, it has been Hillary and Huma, one of Clinton's longest serving and most loyal aides, a permanent fixture in Clinton's daily orbit.
[20:50:02] It was 1996 when the two first met, Clinton, then, first lady, Abedin, a White House intern. Abedin was born in Michigan but raised in Saudi Arabia. She came back to the US to attend college in Washington. Accepting a prestigious White House internship assigned to work with the first lady's chief of staff.
Their bond and trust forged during that time turned into a partnership that would outlast many of Clinton's other relationships.
Huma has remained by her side ever since, working on Clinton's Senate run, her 2008 presidential bid as the candidate's essential right-hand woman on the campaign trail in the State Department.
HUMA ABEDIN, HILLARY CLINTON'S TOP AIDE: And with that, I'll be making no further comments.
SERFATY: Traveling the world alongside Clinton as her deputy chief of staff.
ABEDIN: Unconfirmed, yeah.
SERFATY: And rising now to vice chairwoman of the Clinton campaign.
ABEDIN: She's on the road a lot. And, I just, you know, and there to help keep it all together and help people be at their best, including my boss.
SERFATY: Their connection goes beyond work, they are friends. E- mails released by the State Department show a flood of correspondents between the two, highlighting their closeness. One in 2009 shows Clinton e-mailing Huma to come over to her house in D.C. for a chat, quote, "I'm up now, so come when you are able. Just knock on the door to the bedroom if it's closed."
In other casual exchanges, the two checking in on each other in the middle of the night, you still awake? Huma e-mails. Are you? Just woke up and saw this, Clinton responds. And others, almost read like gossipy girlfriends. Huma once writing in the subject line, all good here, have lots of stories.
Clinton has been known to refer to Huma as a second daughter, and it was Clinton who first introduced Huma to former Congressman Anthony Weiner. When the two wed in 2010, their wedding officiated by Bill Clinton. Later, it was Hillary Clinton who helped Huma through the public fall of her now-estranged husband over his sexting scandal.
ABEDIN: Our marriage, like many others, has had its ups and its downs. It took a lot of work and a whole lot of therapy to get to a place where I could forgive Anthony.
SERFATY: Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well again, we have no idea what's in these e-mails. So, we don't know what, if any, impact this will have on Clinton and Abedin's relationship going forward. But it is certainly unwelcome attention for Huma Abedin, who has had no shortage of that in recent years.
Joining me now is Wall Street Journal Reporter Laura Meckler and CNN Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger. I mean Gloria, given the length of time these two have been working together and their loyalty to each other, do you think there comes a point where Huma Abedin becomes too much of a distraction?
BORGER: I think that's why we haven't seen her on the campaign trail in recent days. And I think it's as much for Hillary Clinton as it is for Huma, herself. In politics, when you're the politician, you always need someone that you can trust, rely on, who's with you all the time, somebody that you can bounce things off of in a personal way because, particularly, traveling on a presidential campaign, you're in a bubble.
And I think Hillary Clinton over the years, whether it was at the State Department or as first lady, has always depended on Huma that way. And I think it's probably very difficult for both of them right now because they're so personally close. And I think that Huma has to kind of disengage herself to a certain degree.
And Hillary Clinton has to let he do that. The question is, going forward, does she come back on the campaign trail? If Hillary Clinton were to win, would Huma Abedin now not be able to serve in any way in the government?
COOPER: Yeah Laura, and what do you think of that?
LAURA MECKLER, WALL STREET JOURNAL REPORTER: I think it depends entirely on what if anything is in these e-mails.
BORGER: Right.
MECKLER: I mean, it could be a big nothing at the end of the day. It could be something minor. If that's the case, I don't think there's much doubt that if Hillary Clinton is elected, then Huma Abedin will come back with her to the White House. Now, if there's something serious, then Hillary Clinton is going to potentially have a hard decision to make.
She has been very loyal to people who are close to her. Some people say to a fault. Of course, others say that there have been people who have been thrown off the bus, off the Clinton bus at times, and no looking back. So it just sort of depends on the situation.
I think that it will be very hard for Hillary to move forward without her, both because of the bond that she feels and also because she the does rely on her. So, I think we'll have to see what's in these e- mails.
COOPER: And you look at the WikiLeaks releases and the e-mails from Doug Band, Huma Abedin, about the Clinton Foundation. I mean, Huma Abedin is really -- it seems to be like the gatekeeper for many people to actually get to Hillary Clinton.
BORGER: And to know what Hillary Clinton is thinking at any particular time. And the e-mail that Sunlen was mentioning also, Hillary saying, just come on up and knock on the door. People know what a close relationship they have.
[20:55:00]: Right. And I think though that beyond that the close personal relationship getting at what you were just talking about, Anderson, is that she is the gatekeeper to Hillary. She knows what Hillary will want. She helps to manage her sort of sprawling network of contacts. She figures out what kind of paper the candidate needs to see or the she figures out who gets in to see her. I mean, those are very important jobs in any kind of office.
COOPER: Right. I mean, she -- access is power. I mean, she is the person who grants or denies access.
MECKLER: Yeah, exactly. And that's why in other controversy, she was wrapped up in -- at the State Department is that a lot of the e-mails from that have come up from her State Department account show Clinton Foundation people e-mailing her ...
COOPER: Right.
MECKLER: ... seeking favors from the State Department. That's likely because she's the one they knew. She was the one who was again the access to the secretary.
BORGER: And if Huma were to refuse something, you would know not to take it any further, that Huma would be the one to say, I don't think the secretary will do this. I think she'd like to know that. We can set this up, we can't set this up, so gatekeeper extraordinaire.
COOPER: I mean, it is a testament to the power of their relationship, the fact that they maintained that relationship even during the whole Anthony Weiner implosion, I mean, the multiple Anthony Weiner implosions.
MECKLER: I don't know if it's that surprising for me at the end of the day. You think of how do I mean if anybody understands what it's like to be publicly embarrassed by their husband's sexual misconduct, I think its Hillary Clinton.
COOPER: Right.
MECKLER: So, I think that I'm not surprised at all that she stuck by her through that. I don't think that's ever going to be the issue and -- for Hillary. And in fact, you saw in August, that was the final straw, when it came out that he, Anthony Weiner, had continued sexting people even after the mayoral race ...
COOPER: Right.
MECKLER: ... and in fact had sent a sexually explicit photo to someone with their son lying on the bed with them. That was the final straw. And that's when Huma said the relationship was over. And I'm sure Hillary approved.
BORGER: And I think in a way Hillary's instinct would be to protect her rather than to throw her aside.
COOPER: Laura Meckler, great to have you on, Gloria Borger as well.
Coming up, another hour of "360", the latest on what we know about FBI Director James Comey's decision to open up a political can of worms this late in the game with 8 days to go until Election Day, does he stand by that decision and how long is this investigation going to take. What we're learning, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
