Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Voters React to Debate; Fiorina Shines in "Happy Hour" Debate; Plane Debris Search off Reunion Island; Race for 2016: Fact-Checking the GOP Debate; "Daily Show with Jon Stewart" Signs Off. Aired 9:30- 10a ET
Aired August 07, 2015 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:30:00] JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Nominee, whoever it is. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The leadership that he has shown in the corporate world, but done so not as a threat and not in, again, an arrogant way, that just would not work in the presidency.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Before tonight, I would have voted for anyone of those people for president if they got the nominee. Now, after tonight, I could say I'd vote for nine of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Another strong reaction from the group came after Trump was asked a question about comments he's made on social media and his assertion that he was more or less talking about Rosie O'Donnell. Some of the women in the group did not like that. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't like his comments about women. And women make up half of the population. And he's called them names like dogs and things. And he didn't even really take that back. And he even made a, you know, a negative comment to Megyn Kelly in the process. So, I mean, if - he's not going to get the women's vote. And women's issues are a hot topic according to the Democrats, even though it's kind of an old subject. But, still, I just don't think he respects women.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: At the end of the debate, most of the voters in that group told me they still have not made up their minds on who they're going to caucus for, who they're going to vote for. But they did say they would like to hear some more from Ben Carson and Marco Rubio. As far Jeb Bush goes, they said he seemed just a little bit - I think the word would be noncommittal and they said he wasn't very exciting. So they want to hear a lot more over the next weeks and months, Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Nothing about John Kasich?
JOHNS: There were some people who said they liked John Kasich. And they sort of lumped him in with the Governor of Wisconsin. There was some excitement there for him. But I think the overarching impression of the people in the group was that Marco Rubio and Ben Carson kind of knocked it out of the park.
COSTELLO: Interesting. Joe Johns reporting live from Des Moines, Iowa, this morning. Thank you.
Well, you could argue there was another breakout star from last night's debate and - but this was the - this was the happy hour debate. That would be Carly Fiorina. She took on her opponents, both the Democrats and Republicans. And this morning on "NEW DAY," she had some strong words for Donald Trump on what some might call his sexist remarks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No one who claims to represent our party should ever be judgmental in tone or vitriolic or angry. I just think it's inappropriate to call people names, whosever doing it, and I think all of those names are clearly inappropriate.
Well, any time people start calling other people names, it's unfair. It's uncalled for. It does not help our political debate. Republicans and Democrats alike are guilty of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: CNN political director David Chalian is following that part of the story.
So, Fiorina, she was the star of the happy hour debate. So actually it was kind of sad when the candidates came out because there was no one in the audience. There were maybe eight people. So it seemed like, oh, this is going to be a bust, but for Carly Fiorina, it definitely was not.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: That's right, Carol. I think she was one of the stars of both debates combined. She had a breakout night last night and she's going to get a very fresh look from a lot of Republican voters. I think Carly Fiorina accomplished two things last night. She showed that she is a tough fighter and willing to take on her opponents. She also showed that she completely mastered her brief and had done her homework and was very prepared to drill down on policy. Early on in that undercard debate, that happy hour debate you referenced, she was asked about Donald Trump and just take a listen to what she said here because she clearly was not pulling any punches.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FIORINA: Well, I don't know. I didn't get a phone call from Bill Clinton before I jumped in the race. Did any of you get a phone call from Bill Clinton? I didn't. Maybe it's because I hadn't give money to the foundation or donated to his wife's Senate campaign.
Hillary Clinton lies about Benghazi. She lies about e-mails. She is still defending Planned Parenthood and she is still her party's front runner. We need a nominee who is going to throw every punch, not pull punches, and someone who cannot stumble before he even gets into the ring.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHALIAN: This is exactly the kind of rhetoric, Carol, that the Republican base is eager to hear, specifically taking on Hillary Clinton. That's just red meat for them. And I think Carly Fiorina entered onto this stage in a way that she may propel herself, who knows, onto the big stage, the main stage come the next debate in September.
[09:35:02] COSTELLO: Very interesting. What about the rest of the participants in the happy hour debate? I can't even remember who they are right at the moment, can you? Well, you probably can because you know everything political.
CHALIAN: Thanks, Carol. But I - I mean we saw former Texas Governor Rick Perry and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum on there. Those are people who had been riding high at different points in the 2011-2012 cycle. But they weren't really able to break through despite fine performances. I do think that Carly Fiorina just emerged as the star from that first debate. And, by the way, so much so that she was - she was used in the second debate. So clearly the moderators wanted to make sure to bring her into the second debate as well.
COSTELLO: Yes, because wouldn't - you know, if she were on stage with Donald Trump, that would have been very interesting, wouldn't it?
CHALIAN: It would be very interesting, especially imagine that interaction that we've seen so much between the Fox moderator, Megyn Kelly, and Donald Trump about comments he made about women, the stuff that Carly Fiorina was speaking about on "New Day" that you played. Imagine to see that conversation take place in a real debate format on the same stage. Perhaps we'll have the opportunity to see that going forward.
COSTELLO: Yes, maybe in September, right? David Chalian, many thanks to you. I appreciate it.
And there's the reason I mentioned September. The Republican presidential contenders will debate right here on CNN next month, Wednesday, September 16th. The Democrats will also hold their first debate right here on CNN, and you can watch that on Tuesday, October 13th.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, confusion over that wing part found in the Indian Ocean has families of the Malaysian Airlines' victims furious. We'll talk about that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:41:09] COSTELLO: All right, this just in to the CNN NEWSROOM, a source closing to the missing Malaysian Airlines flight investigation telling CNN, officials have not received any other relevant objects related to Flight 370 besides that wing part and that suitcase. Officials stepped up search efforts today around the Reunion Islands. This after Malaysian investigators stuck to their guns, insisting they have found more debris, including a seat cushion.
In the meantime, it's been more anguish for the families of the passengers on board. Loved ones gathers outside the airline's offices last night after contradicting statements about a piece of the plane that washed ashore. Saima Mohsin is near Toulouse, France, to tell us more.
Hi, Saima.
SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.
Yes, there seems to be as much of a disconnect in this investigation as there has been in talking about the findings and they're providing the public not least, as you just mentioned, the loved one of those on board. Very decisively and clearly there seem to be very much two camps in all of this, the Malaysians and what the politicians have to say and then the investigators. But there is one caveat in all of that. Let's remember, the investigators have to dot the "i"s, cross the "t"s. They are going to be very careful and very cautious. And that might be the difference we're seeing. Whereas the Malaysians really want to give the family and loved ones every piece of information as and when they get it.
Let's take you through how this is working out from the information I'm getting, Carol. Now, the Malaysian teams on Reunion, according to the Malaysian transportation minister who spoke to (INAUDIBLE) in Kuala Lumpur, speaking directly to CNN, saying that they have identified and found debris that his experts, Malaysian experts, have without a shadow of a doubt identified as from an aircraft. However, not from MH-370.
They then handed this in to the local police on Reunion Island. The local police have collated that and now what they have told us through a source close to the investigation on the island, they are collecting, Carol, a lot of debris because, of course, everyone is helping. It's not just experts out there. It's local people as well. Now, they are picking up everything they can find. If you and I went out. He also told us he's even found a pair of flip-flops.
So what they're doing is they are holding fire before they send everything here to this laboratory in France. He - this source also told us - sorry I'm not sure if it is a he or not - the source also told us, I need to discuss with our authorities in Paris to see what we send there and what we don't send. So that conversation hasn't happened yet.
And that would seem pretty much right given what the press conference that has just been held on Reunion has said. We can't say that these objects collected are relevant. They would need more expertise and analysis, much more complex analysis. And, of course, Carol, this is the place to do it. So it would seem that the Malaysians have collected something. They've handed it in. But the French authorities are yet to decide how relevant they think it is before they send it here. Now, of course, all of this just again exemplifies this disconnect
between the two camps.
COSTELLO: Right.
MOHSIN: And, of course, Carol, they have, today, extended their search. They're sending helicopters, aircraft, out into the air around Reunion 50 by 30 nautical mile search span now. They're searching for more debris.
Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Saima Mohsin reporting live for us this morning. Thanks you.
[09:44:41] Still to come in the NEWSROOM, true or false? We fact check the candidates in last night's debate, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Checking some other top stories for you at 49 minutes past. Police capture a suspected cop killer in Louisiana. CNN affiliate KSLA shot video of the moment Grover Cannon was escorted into police custody. Authorities say he shot and killed a Shreveport police officer on Wednesday. The officer was responding to a report of an armed prowler at a home.
New York City's Health Department is ordering the testing of all buildings with water cooling towers. This comes as two more people died from Legionnaires' disease. The airborne bacteria has now killed ten people and at least 100 have been infected.
North Korea is working overtime to distance itself from Japan. It is now creating its own time zone. The country's clocks will be set back by half an hour to the timezone it used before it was colonized by Japan.
[09:50:05] The change will happen on August 15th, the 70th anniversary of its liberation. North Korea already has its own calendar. It starts from the birth of the founding leader.
A lot of candidates at last night's debate and that means a lot of claims. What was true? What was not? Tom Foreman has more for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The accusations have been answered, the missteps have been made. So now it's time for our top five reality checks from the big debate.
(voice-over): No. 5, we start with the frontrunner Donald Trump who said Mexico is shipping criminals over the border and U.S. officials are doing little about it.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And they send the bad ones over because they don't want to pay for them, they don't want to take care of them. Why should they when the stupid leaders of the United States will do it for them? And that's what's happening, whether you like it or not.
FOREMAN: But deportations have been at record levels., including for criminals. False.
No. 4, Marco Rubio. What a strange mistake. He gave Democrat Hillary Clinton huge credit for her public service.
MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But if this election is a resume competition then Hillary Clinton is going to be the next president because she has been in office and in government longer than anybody else running here tonight.
FOREMAN: Um, except for, at minimum, Kasich, Graham, Walker and Perry. Rubio's statement not true.
No. 3, give it to Carly Fiorina for her triple attack on Trump.
CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Since he has changed his mind on amnesty, on health care and on abortion, I would just ask what are the principles by which he will govern?
FOREMAN: Trump says times change, but boom goes the dynamite. She was right.
No. 2, Chris Christie says his time as governor pulled New Jersey up from the pits of economic despair.
CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And we cut regulation by 1/3 of what my predecessor put in place. And what's happened since? 192,000 new private sector jobs in the five and a half years I've been governor.
FOREMAN: Actually, not quite that many and the state's finances are still a wreck. True, but misleading.
And No. 1, Jeb Bush tried to make the same claim about being governor of Florida.
JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And the net effect was, during my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created.
FOREMAN: But he did not mention the debt his office incurred. So this is also true, but misleading.
(on camera): And that's where they stand for now, at least until the next time the words start flying.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And that will be next month in September right here on CNN. Still to come in the NEWSROOM, saying good-bye. Jon Stewart's final broadcast next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [09:56:44] COSTELLO: Late night television will never been the same now that Jon Stewart has officially left "The Daily Show."
(CLIP FROM "THE DAILY SHOW")
COSTELLO: It was a dance party. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band closed out Stewart's final appearance as host. Those on the receding end of Stewart's ridicule for the past 16 years used the farewell for a little payback.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL BROWN, CEO, ARBY'S: I'm Paul Brown, CEO of Arby's, brought to you tonight by Jon Stewart. Jon Stewart. It's like your TV threw up on your face.
CHRISTIE: I'll never forget you, Jon, but I will be trying.
REP. CHARLES RANGEL (D), NEW YORK: Good riddance, smart (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Don't go. Come back. (Whispering) Jon, I'm being sarcastic.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And just when I'm running for president. What a bummer.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI, MSNBC HOST: See ya', pipsqueak.
MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL (D), CHICAGO: What has nine and a half fingers and won't miss you at all? This guy.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Jon, I just don't know what to say.
LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm sure you'll be dissed (ph) by somebody.
JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: You know, there are a lot of things happening around the world that keep me up at night, which is why I relied on you to put me to sleep.
BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS HOST: Have fun feeding your rabbits, quitter.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I'm Jon Stewart. I'm dumb. I'm stupid. Nah-nah-nah. So long, jack (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: (Laughing) Oh, John McCain. That was awesome.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Finally.
COSTELLO: Brian Stelter, you were actually like inside watching this show live and in person? STELTER: I was as close as I could be. I was waiting for the audience
members to walk out and I got to tell you, some of them were in tears partly because of the humor and partly because Stewart got so emotional toward the end, you know.
I mean, that payback segment was classic. I was so happy some people participated in that. The only person I wanted in that montage who wasn't there was Donald Trump, of course. But I guess he was busy getting ready for the debate or something like that.
You know, Stewart really went out in style. I think this was an episode his fans truly loved and adored. He did get serious toward the end and I really liked his message about, well, BS. He said that it is all over the place, it's in Washington, it's everywhere. We've got to have our BS meters finely tuned. Here is what he told his audience at the end.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": (EXPLETIVE DELETED) gotten pretty lazy and their work is easily detected. Looking for it is kind of a pleasant way to pass the time. Like an I-spy or (EXPLETIVE DELETED). So I say to you tonight, friends, the best defense against (EXPLETIVE DELETED) is vigilance. If you smell something, say something.
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: We'll be right back.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STELTER: In some ways, that sums up his entire tenure on "The Daily Show," his message for 16 years. I have no idea what he's going to do next, but I can tell you, Carol, there are a lot of TV network bosses that would love to hire him. So if I hear anything, I'll let you know.
COSTELLO: Yeah. I'm sure Jon Stewart is counting on you, Brian. How do you think his replacement will do?
STELTER: Well, the meetings at Comedy Central start next week with Trevor Noah. They're going to dig into the plans. I can tell you they're keeping most of the "The Daily Show's" top producers, so they're not going with Jon Stewart. They are staying with Trevor Noah. That's going to give him a big leg up because if we saw anything last night at the debate, we saw there is a lot of raw material for "The Daily Show" this fall.
COSTELLO: Oh my gosh. I know, you almost wish Jon Stewart would stick around for just one more show.
STELTER: That's right. That's right. Well, a long primary season ahead for Trevor Noah.
COSTELLO: Brian Stelter, many thanks. I appreciate it.
STELTER: Thanks.
COSTELLO: The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.
