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Election Day; President Obama's Approval Rating Drops; Toronto Mayor Admits to Smoking Crack Cocaine

Aired November 05, 2013 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here we go, hour two. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

And we begin with drunken stupors and crack and the leader of the fourth largest city in North America. Turns out once again it's the media's fault. We were all asking the wrong questions. Mayor Rob Ford, are you a crack addict? No way, he says. Turns out what we should have been asking is a much simpler question. Mr. Mayor, have you been smoking crack on the job? Oh, yes.

The mayor expected to speak any moment. Live pictures out of Toronto. What the heck will he say this time? Stay right here. We will take it live.

But, first, big races and big decisions for America's voters today. Folks, it's Election Day across the country. Let me take you first to Virginia. Democrat and Clinton family friend Terry McAuliffe is favored over Republican Ken Cuccinelli in the race for governor there. In New York City, you have Bill de Blasio. He could become the first Democrat to win the mayor's office in that city since the '80s.

But let's begin in New Jersey, where Republican Governor Chris Christie's race for reelection is gaining all kinds of national attention because a Christie victory would be seen as the start of something much, much bigger.

A lot of people are predicting a future run for the White House.

And Jake Tapper, host of THE LEAD, chief Washington correspondent, he's joining me now. He rode along on the bus with the governor. Jake Tapper joins me now.

Jake, how was Governor Chris Christie today?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Greetings from Asbury Park, New Jersey, Brooke. Governor Christie seemed in fine spirits. Polls have him up double digits.

The question of course is largely going to how much does he beat his Democratic opponent by, at least according to the polls? President Obama won reelection here in New Jersey by 18 percentage points. Governor Christie trying to set the bar low. Just wants to get at least in the 50s, he says -- 50 percent plus one would be enough, although one suspects he wants to have a larger margin so he can make an argument to a national Republican audience and say, look, I was able to win Democratic voters and constituencies and independent voters here in a blue state. I can do that nationally.

We asked him, what's the lesson for the national Republican Party as you see it?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: I think that the party's got to focus on winning again. You know, sometimes, I feel like our party cares more about winning the argument than they care about winning elections. And if you don't win elections, you can't govern. And if you can't govern, you can't change the direction of a state, like we have done in New Jersey.

And, so, I don't -- so, one, I think we need to get ourselves refocused on that. And, secondly, I think sometimes we forget that candidates matter. It's not just about a checklist of issues. It's also about how a person presents themselves as a candidate, how they articulate their view on things and how they react to situations. And people make judgments based on all those things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Now, one of the criticisms from some Democrats anticipating that they will lose here today is that Christie is going to win because he has made personality more important than policy. Christie rejects that, Brooke. He says it's about whether or not voters can trust him and whether or not they think he is a leader, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Speaking of personality, let's get to this don't be so cute line that you heard from the governor today. Right? You set it up for me. You were asking the governor about the Obamacare controversy and specifically some advice perhaps that he would have for the president. What did he tell you?

TAPPER: Well, it's interesting. I mean, obviously, President Obama is having some trouble in the last few weeks about his 2009,-2010 promise, if you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance. Obviously, that is not the case for millions of Americans, a small percentage, but still millions of Americans.

And last night, at an Obama campaign-type event with a bunch of supporters, the president tried to go back in time and amend his statement so it was, if you like your policy, you can keep your policy as long as it hasn't changed after the date the law was implemented or something like that.

I asked Governor Christie about these credibility issues the president was having. What would his advice be for the president?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIE: Here's what my suggestion would be to him. Don't be so cute. And when you make a mistake, admit it. Listen, if it was a mistake in 2009, if he was mistaken in 2009-2010 on his understanding of how the law would operate, then just admit it to people.

Say, you know what? I said it, I was wrong. I'm sorry, and we're going to try to fix this and make it better.

I think people would give any leader in that circumstance a lot of credit for just, you know, owning up to it, instead of now trying to like -- don't lawyer it. People don't like lawyers. I'm a lawyer. They don't like them. Don't lawyer it. When I saw that this morning, I saw that this morning for the first time, I thought, he's lawyering it. That's Barack Obama the lawyer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Of course, Governor Christie has a reputation here for his blunt talk. That doesn't always go over well. Some Democrats and skeptics say he is a bully, but in a recent poll here, more New Jerseyans thought Christie was a fighter than thought he was a bully, which suggests that they see things the way that Governor Christie sees them -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Can I ask, Tapper, let's just put politics aside for a second. Listen, he's in the public spotlight. He had that surgery. Much ado about Christie's weight. You asked him about that. What did he say?

TAPPER: Right. I did. He had that lap band surgery a few months ago. Obviously, he's been struggling his weight. It's a health issue, a serious health issue, as you know. I asked him how he was doing. He said that he was more than halfway to his goal. He felt good, he felt like he had a lot of energy.

It was because he was sleeping better. He never realized before how much being obese affected his sleep, kind of waking him up several times during the night. Now he was sleeping better and felt much more energized, more than halfway to his goal, he said. And people were telling him, people on the campaign trail were telling him, you look good, you have obviously lost weight. I think that meant a lot to him.

BALDWIN: You can see the difference just by the pictures up side by side. Good for him. Jake Tapper, thank you. Make sure you watch the top of the hour, Jake's sit-down, every little bit of this interview with Governor Chris Christie today on "THE LEAD" at 4:00 p.m. Eastern.

Jake Tapper, thank you very much.

And now, just for the record, I want to play for you the moment -- the president's previous promise on health care. This is what Jake and I were talking about and then to the clarification the president added last evening. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor, period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan, period.

What we said was you could keep it, if it hasn't changed since the law's passed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Turns out that is a pretty big if for those many Americans who are now receiving cancellation notices from their insurers, and now this number today. The president's approval rating has sunk now to 39 percent. This is the daily Gallup tracking poll.

This was released a short time ago. Just so you know, a track poll, this is an average of Gallup's last three days of polling.

Let's go to Washington. Gloria Borger, she's our chief political analyst.

Gloria, you look at the numbers, how big of a problem is this becoming for President Obama now?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: And I'm in New York today for election night, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Oh, hello, New York.

BORGER: Yes, what a surprise.

Look, I think this is becoming a large credibility problem for the president. What we heard in the first bite that you played was political sloganeering. The president was misleading. He was imprecise, maybe purposefully imprecise. What we heard in the second bite was somebody trying to be a little bit more precise, caveating things.

I think Chris Christie hit the nail on the head when he said the president was being lawyerly. It's hard to be lawyerly when you're looking for bumper stickers, when you're trying to sell something during a campaign. But that doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.

And it was clear to me today from listening to Jay Carney's exchange with Jim Acosta that if the president had to do it all over again, maybe he would have been a little bit more precise, because these are smart people, Brooke. They knew all of the hypotheticals that were possible. They just didn't talk about it.

BALDWIN: So this lawyerliness, go with me. I'm just going to use the word. What we saw with the president last night, how does that hurt his ability to sell this crucial, crucial program?

BORGER: Right. Well, OK, so here you have a program that, first of all, let's start from square one, people were a little skeptical about, if not a lot skeptical about to begin with. It passed with partisan majority. OK? It was political to begin with.

On top of it -- he won reelection, though. OK? But then, on top of that, let's overlay the problem with the Web site, which doesn't give people a lot of faith in the program itself. Then overlay that with the problems people are having in real time who are in these individual plans, as Jake pointed out earlier. It's still five percent, but that still does mean millions of Americans who could receive cancellation notices.

So if you're just out there and you're sort of thinking about this and do I like it and don't I like it, what you're seeing unravel before you, you know, doesn't give you a lot of faith in the plan.

So I think the White House now, look, they're trying to change a tire while they're going 50 miles an hour with this Web site, right?

BALDWIN: Do they need to slow down?

BORGER: Right. Right. Well, slow down and convince the American people that, actually, it's a good plan if you give it a little bit of time. And they have also got Democrats knocking at their door saying, you know what, this is giving me trouble back home, we need to give it some more time.

So we will see how this plays out as the White House decides what its next steps are.

BALDWIN: Gloria Borger in New York for election night, Gloria, thank you very much.

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: Should be fun.

BALDWIN: And any moment here, live pictures. We await and a heck of a lot of media awaits as well. The mayor of Toronto will be speaking live. Remember, hours ago, he admitted, yes, he has smoked crack in office. I have no idea what he's going to stay. So, stay with me. We will find out together.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Let's take a peek at some of these live pictures here. Once again, this is Toronto. Any minute now, the mayor there who just admitted to smoking crack while in office will be speaking there. What will he say? Your guess is as good as mine.

But after months of dodging these allegations, today, he made this admission, which included talk of a drunken stupor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB FORD, MAYOR OF TORONTO: Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine.

QUESTION: When, sir?

FORD: But no -- do I? Am I an addict? No. Have I tried it? Probably in one of my drunken stupors, probably approximately about a year ago.

I answered your question. You ask a question properly, I will answer it. Yes, I have made mistakes. All I can do now is apologize and move on. (CROSSTALK)

FORD: Guys, whoa, can I just...

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Yes, please.

FORD: All I can say is I have made mistakes.

And you guys kept referring to alcohol. There was a couple isolated incidents. There's been times when I have been in a drunken stupor. That's why I want to see the tape. I want everyone in the city to see this tape.

I would like to see this tape. I don't even recall there being a tape and a video. And I know that. So I want to see the state that I was in. But that's exactly it. I don't know what else I can say here, OK?

(CROSSTALK)

FORD: So I wasn't lying. You didn't ask the correct questions. No, I'm not an addict. And, no, I do not do drugs. I made mistakes in the past. And all I can do is apologize.

But it is what it is, and I can't change the past. And I can apologize to my family, my friends, my colleagues and the people of this great city.

(CROSSTALK)

FORD: I can't change...

(CROSSTALK)

FORD: I told you, probably -- approximately, I was probably standing around about a year ago. But I don't know exactly. That's why I want to see...

(CROSSTALK)

FORD: I don't even remember. After some of the stuff you guys have seen, the state I have been in, there's a problem.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Are you on crack right now?

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: There you have it, the mayor himself. As we have mentioned, man, pressure has been mounting on this guy since the Toronto police chief announced investigators found this video of the mayor that allegedly showed him smoking out of a crack pipe.

Earlier, I talked to Robyn Doolittle. She's an investigative reporter "The Toronto Star." And, by the way, she's only one of two Canadian reporters who has seen this videotape. I asked her, what did she see?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBYN DOOLITTLE, "THE TORONTO STAR": This is a group of self- professed drug dealers in the north end of the city. And they secretly shot this video of the mayor.

He's -- it's shot on a -- it looked like it was shot on an iPhone. We watched it on an iPhone. So it's high-definition. He's sitting up against a white wall. It's sunny. He's in a white dress shirt that's kind of unbuttoned around the top. And he looks completely out of it.

He's jerking and bobbing around. He's slurring. His eyes are kind of fluttering. And he clearly smokes from out of what looks like a crack pipe. It doesn't look like a marijuana pipe. It's long and clear and black at the bottom. He also calls liberal leader Justin Trudeau a homophobic slur and he makes disparaging comments about minorities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So that's what Robyn Doolittle told me she saw.

Sunny Hostin, here you are, CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor.

And we don't know what this mayor is about to say. We may have to pull away from this conversation when and if he starts to speak. But here you have the mayor of the fourth largest city in North America saying, yes, in fact, I smoked crack some time about a year ago. What next for him?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It's really remarkable. And I don't know what's next.

I mean, I think the example that a lot of people are talking about is Marion Barry in 1990.

(CROSSTALK)

HOSTIN: And we know after a 10-week trial, he was convicted of possession of cocaine. He was sentenced to about six months in prison. He certainly had a political comeback after that.

But if there is video of this mayor in possession of a drug, smoking crack cocaine, as it is alleged, he could be charged with a crime. There's no question about that, because there's a history, right? We have done things like that before in law enforcement. And so I think that the investigation is ongoing. I'm certain of that.

We have heard reports about that. I think at this point he's really got a lot to do. Are we talking about someone that really needs rehab? We're also talking about someone now that has really violated the public trust. And I think that is really the larger picture here. If we're talking about someone who's addicted, then perhaps people will be more forgiving.

I think law enforcement officers would be more forgiving and you could have some sort of deal where someone goes to rehab.

BALDWIN: But when you mention this video as evidence so if someone, as we have in this case the mayor, is saying, yes, I smoked crack, that's not enough for charges, drug charges to be slapped against him. It would be the video that would produce that evidence to then have those charges?

(CROSSTALK)

HOSTIN: Yes, I think so. I think so.

BALDWIN: OK. OK. Sunny Hostin, thank you very much. We watch, we wait to see what the mayor, what Mayor Rob Ford has to say. Thank you so much.

Meantime, we're going to move along and talk about the president and his approval rating sinking after the stumbled launch of Obamacare. The president said Americans could keep their doctors, could keep their insurance. And now he is amending that statement. We're going to talk about that.

Plus, Houston Texans coach Gary Kubiak collapsed on the field Sunday night. Shocking, frightening video here. Doctors say the cause was a ministroke. What is that? What are the warning signs? That is coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Waiting game here as we and a huge number of members of the press there in Toronto are awaiting the mayor, Mayor Rob Ford, who made big, big news just a couple hours ago when he said, yes, indeed, he smoked out of a crack pipe within the last year, he said. So that translates into being on the job as mayor of the city. What will he say next? We do not know, so stay tuned as we will take that of course live.

But I want to talk about something a lot of you have been talking a , this moment that shocked many when you were watching Sunday night's game between the Texans and the Colts. Didn't actually happened on the field during play here. It happened right before halftime when Texans head coach Gary Kubiak collapsed. You can see it on the field. He was walking to the locker room. People rushed in. What was going on?

We can tell you that he was released from the hospital today. And the cause of this was a ministroke.

Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here with me.

It's scary to see that happen on the field. People were like, what happened? We now know. What is a ministroke?

(CROSSTALK)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So, a ministroke is really just that. It is a mini-version of a stroke. And so let me show you what I mean by that.

BALDWIN: OK.

COHEN: We don't know where exactly coach Kubiak had his ministroke or TIA, as it's called, but somewhere in this system.

So let's take a look close up at a vessel. Blood is running through this vessel, right? That's the way it's supposed to work. When someone has a stroke, you get a clot at some point. And so the blood can't keep flowing to the brain.

BALDWIN: OK.

COHEN: Now, in a full stroke, that clot stays there until medicine or something else gets it out. And that's a really dire situation.

In a ministroke, it kind of breaks up and breaks away on its own. So it just sort of goes away. So it's a very different kind of deal than a full-on stroke.

BALDWIN: So if you have a ministroke or a TIA, what's the prognosis for the person afterwards?

COHEN: The prognosis is great. Many people have no symptoms after they have their initial set of symptoms. We saw the coach is on the ground.

But many people are just perfectly fine afterwards. But there's a big but.

BALDWIN: OK.

COHEN: And that is that someone who's had a ministroke is 10 times more likely to go on and have a full-on stroke. So that's pretty serious. I mean, people who have had ministrokes need to know that they need to really be wary about this.

BALDWIN: What can someone do? I guess even especially when you could be in the middle of it, what does it feel like? What are the signs?

COHEN: Right. There are certain signs you should look for. It's important for all of us to know this, because you never know when you're going to be with someone who is going to have a stroke or have a ministroke. They need medical treatment either way.

These are the signs from the American Stroke Association, face drooping, arm weakness. Both of those would be usually on one side, difficulties with speech. And that means it's time to call 911. So F. for face, A. for arm, S. for speech. Time to call 911. And don't hesitate, because there's a window in which you can get treatment. And you need to meet that window.

BALDWIN: OK. Elizabeth Cohen, thank you. We wish the coach a quick, speedy recovery here.

Coming up, my panel faces off over the president flat-out changing the promise he made to Americans about his health care law, this as his approval ratings which we're seeing the Gallup poll today pretty low, 39 percent.

Plus, once again, we're awaiting the mayor of Toronto. What will he say after admitting to smoking crack? Wait with me. Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)