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Clinton Cancels Events After Health Scare; Trump: I Will Release Results of Physical; Clinton and Trump Face New Calls for Medical Info; Trump: I Hope Clinton Gets Well Soon; Clinton "Regrets" Comments On "Deplorables"; Critics: Clinton's Remarks Are Her "47 Percent Moment"; New Trump Ad Hits Clinton On "Deplorables" Remarks. Aired 9-9:30a ET
Aired September 12, 2016 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Thanks so much. Have a great day. NEWSROOM starts now.
And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Hillary Clinton forced off the campaign trail by health problems, and Donald Trump's seizing the spotlight by promising to reveal long- awaited details about his own health.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This week, I took -- this last week, I took a physical and I'll be releasing when the numbers come in. Hopefully, they're going to be good. I think they're going to be good. I feel great. But when the numbers come in, I'll be releasing very, very specific numbers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Trump underscoring new questions about Clinton's health after she abruptly left a 9/11 memorial service and appeared wobbly and stumbley as she was led into a van.
Last night, Clinton's doctor revealed that she was diagnosed with pneumonia two full days earlier but the public was never told. This is a pivotal point in the campaigns. The election now looms just 57 days away, and a mere 11 days until the first states open their early voting.
So let's talk about this. CNN's Jeff Zeleny looks at the political fallout and Dr. Sanjay Gupta focuses on the medical aspects. But let's begin with Jeff. He's near the Clinton home in Chappaqua, New York. Good morning, Jeff.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. At this point, Hillary Clinton was supposed to be boarding her campaign plane for a three-day swing to California and Nevada. She was going to be raising money as well as giving a big speech on the economy tomorrow. Well, now, she is at home resting under doctor's orders as you said here, but I'm told she is also going to be using some of this time to prepare for her debate, which is in two weeks from tonight. Now, this is all thrown in to question now. All these conspiracy
theories about her health are suddenly a campaign issue.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZELENY (voice-over): Hillary Clinton off the campaign trail this morning as she recovers from pneumonia, canceling a two-day trip to California. Her health thrust into the spotlight after aides said she became overheated and dehydrated while attending the 9/11 ceremony at Ground Zero.
This video shows Clinton leaving early. And as she tries stepping into her van, she wobbles and slumps. Secret Service agents and aides quickly grab her and hold her up, two law enforcement sources telling CNN she appeared to faint. Clinton then taken to her daughter Chelsea's apartment three miles away.
More than an hour later Clinton emerged, smiling.
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's a beautiful day in New York.
ZELENY (voice-over): Even taking a picture with a young girl before climbing into her motorcade and heading home. Her campaign says she was even playing with her two grandkids inside. Yet more than five hours later, her doctor revealing the 68-year-old was diagnosed with pneumonia two days earlier after an evaluation for her prolonged cough.
CLINTON: Every time I think about Trump, I get allergic.
ZELENY (voice-over): Despite the diagnosis on Friday, she continued a grueling schedule holding two fund-raisers in New York City, a large national security briefing and press conference, along with an interview with our own Chris Cuomo and other media outlets.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Her health incident this morning?
TRUMP: I don't know anything about it.
ZELENY (voice over): Donald Trump just feet away from his rival at Ground Zero, unusually quiet over her diagnosis after speculating about her health for months.
TRUMP: I think she doesn't have the stamina. Hillary Clinton does not have the stamina. And I watched Hillary, who doesn't have the strength or the stamina.
ZELENY (voice-over): Republicans close to the Trump campaign telling CNN they want to be respectful of the health issue. Staff and campaign surrogates instructing supporters not to post anything on social media.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZELENY: Now, the question here for the Clinton campaign may be more of a political one, at least in a long-term sense, than a medical one here, Carol. There is already so much concern about the secrecy of this campaign, you know, the lack of transparency. That certainly is magnified now, now that we know that she had that diagnosis on Friday and didn't announce it until Sunday.
So this clearly is something the campaign will have to contend with here as they adjust their schedule and try and move forward here with that debate now two weeks from tonight. Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Jeff Zeleny reporting live from Chappaqua, New York. All of this putting a razor sharp focus on both candidates' medical history, but let's start with Clinton's pneumonia. With me now, CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Welcome, Doctor.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Thank you.
COSTELLO: So Hillary Clinton is resting right now. How long will it take her to recover, do you suppose?
DR. GUPTA: You know, pneumonia is a serious diagnosis, but there's different types of pneumonia as well. It seems to be a bacterial. We only know that because she's being treated with antibiotics, but, you know, she was up walking around on Friday, as we saw, and Saturday and then up until this event on Sunday --
[09:05:09] COSTELLO: So how serious is this?
DR. GUPTA: You know, we don't still have a lot of information. Even the information we got two days later still is incomplete. We don't know specifically what's causing the pneumonia.
Again, we think it's bacteria. What type of bacteria? Did she have a chest x-ray? How significant? How much of her lungs, for example, does the pneumonia involve? All those things are important when deciding, you know, how much you're going to sort of tell someone to rest. Typically, it's about a week. That's what you'll say, you know, you need to sort of rest for a week, take the medications, and then people generally make a pretty good recovery.
COSTELLO: So Donald Trump has been saying that Hillary Clinton lacks stamina, and maybe she's a little mentally unhinged. Could the type of pneumonia she has affect her stamina? Of course, it could, right, but what about her mental capacity?
DR. GUPTA: I don't think there's -- that we draw any correlation between pneumonia and the mental capacity. You know, it can make somebody tired, and it can make somebody feel unwell clearly.
I think that even what we saw on Sunday, if you take the pneumonia and also you add in other things like the medications that she's on for thyroid -- she's upped her antihistamines which can also be sedating -- it could explain what you saw there. It was very noticeable, what you saw, getting into that van. It was very noticeable, but it could be explained by that. What is a little bit concerning has nothing to do with mental -- the
mentally unhinged comment but more to do with the fact that we still don't have all the information. We're still getting it very piecemeal here.
COSTELLO: Yes.
DR. GUPTA: It makes it hard to draw conclusions.
COSTELLO: Yes. And we put a graphic up about Hillary Clinton's ailments released by her doctor, but those conditions were released in 2015. If we could put that graphic up one more time, so people can see them, that would be great. Because I know she has trouble with clotting. She takes a blood thinner. And the pneumonia symptoms is up, yes.
DR. GUPTA: Yes. And so you have the symptoms of pneumonia which, you know, again, those clearly make sense.
COSTELLO: There it is.
DR. GUPTA: But take a look at the timeline. Back in '98, all right, so she's first lady at the time, and she has this deep vein thrombosis. That's a blood clot in the leg. The concern is it can break off and go to the lungs.
Back in 2009 she has a deep venous thrombosis again. I'm not sure that's on there, but she does have one at that time again and she is put on blood thinners.
COSTELLO: Which she remains on today.
DR. GUPTA: Which she remains on today. But three years after that is when she falls and hits her head while on blood thinners. That's a concern. Any time you put someone on blood thinners, one of the big concerns, if they hit their head, they could have a bleed in the brain.
COSTELLO: Right.
DR. GUPTA: By her medical report that we got, it says she did not have a bleed in her brain but that would have been one of the big concerns.
COSTELLO: OK. Donald Trump, he says he is going to -- he has undergone a physical and he's going to release the results maybe in a week. And he hopes the results are good. So what does a physical entail?
DR. GUPTA: He hopes they'll be excellent, I think, is what he said.
COSTELLO: Yes. What does a physical usually entail?
DR. GUPTA: A physical exam, you know, usually, you're looking at the heart, the lungs. You're looking at the past medical history. You're trying to determine if there's anything that's specifically going on now but also comparing it to how the person has done over time.
What I can tell you is that by releasing lab results, what you're getting is a static image in time. You're getting a static image in time right now. You don't know if those lab results are reflective of years past. You don't know if those lab results are the result of taking medications now. Are you taking medications for lower cholesterol, for example? If you have a low cholesterol --
COSTELLO: Well, supposedly, he's taking Lipitor, right?
DR. GUPTA: Right.
COSTELLO: But we all remember, like, Donald Trump's doctor, you know, he released that letter that said Donald Trump --
DR. GUPTA: Would be the healthiest president.
COSTELLO: -- I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency. I don't know if this doctor performed Donald Trump's physical, but Drew Griffin, CNN's Drew Griffin, caught up with the Dr. Bornstein, and this is what he had to say at the time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And you fully -- whatever you wrote in that letter, you fully believe Mr. Trump is capable of being president physically?
DR. HAROLD BORNSTEIN, DONALD TRUMP'S DOCTOR: Oh, absolutely. There's no question about that.
GRIFFIN: But why did you write that letter? Was it a joke, the words you chose, the way you wrote it?
DR. BORNSTEIN: I was just rushed for time. I had people to see.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So Dr. Bornstein is the same doctor who conducted Mr. Trump's physical today. Should we believe the results?
DR. GUPTA: Well, you know, it's hard to speculate that they would provide incorrect results. What I think is the bigger concern is the sin of omission here. That's part of the reason I've been saying for some time we should have the ability to look at the medical records.
Yes, there's some things that can remain private certainly, and I think people are entitled to a certain amount of privacy. When it comes to the heart, the lungs, the brain, things that can affect function and the job of being president of the United States, those types of things need to be revealed in detail because a simple snapshot of lab results, a simple snapshot of I examined him today, he looked fine, just probably isn't enough. It isn't enough.
And I think it has come into clearer focus in his particular election in part because of the ages of the candidates, but also in part because of, you know, what has happened this past weekend.
[09:10:07] COSTELLO: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks. You're going to join us the next hour. We look forward to it.
DR. GUPTA: All right. Thank you.
COSTELLO: Thank you so much for stopping by. Donald Trump after questioning Clinton's stamina and mental health now says he hopes Clinton gets well soon. He said that this morning on "Fox & Friends."
So let's talk about that with our own CNN Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger, our Senior Washington Correspondent Brianna Keilar, and CNN Politics Executive Editor Mark Preston. Welcome to all of you.
So, Gloria, Donald Trump came out on "Fox & Friends" and says he hopes Hillary Clinton gets well soon. He looks forward to joining her on the debate stage. So he didn't tweet like all weekend long about her pneumonia. So what do you make of that?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN'S CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think it's the right thing to do. I think it's smart of him. He's already put the theories out there, that she doesn't have the stamina, et cetera, et cetera, as you were talking to Sanjay about.
What's interesting to me is that Trump is now saying, OK, I'm going to release my -- I'm going to have a physical -- we don't know who the doctor is, whether the doctor's a friend of his or whatever -- and I'm going to release that, and that should suffice.
And what I would say, given Hillary Clinton's health history, is that both of these candidates -- he's 70 years old, she has a complicated health history -- I think both of these candidates need to do more. I think more disclosure is warranted. I think going -- and I was interested to hear what the doctor said before because going to a doctor and just having a physical is a snapshot in time.
And I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on television, but it is just a snapshot in time. It's kind of like your SEC Disclosure on your -- related to your net worth as opposed to releasing your tax returns, right? There is a need for full disclosure here, and the need for full disclosure is that these are two candidates who are, you know, not 45 years old.
And I look back to 2008 when you saw John McCain who had a history of cancer and he released 1,100 pages of his medical reports that qualified people, including Dr. Gupta, went in and looked at so they could see for themselves. And I think that is what's warranted here for both of these candidates, given their age and --
COSTELLO: For both candidates. Because the thing is --
BORGER: -- and history.
COSTELLO: Right. The thing is, Brianna, we don't know Donald Trump's past medical history. I was trying to find it somewhere. There was a "Wall Street Journal" article that said Mr. Trump is on Lipitor. He eats lots of fast food and he has no exercise regimen. That's all I could find.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yes. No, we don't. And, you know, any medical expert will tell you that's very important. Of course, getting information from a physical is also important. You know, Sanjay was talking about the letter versus the physical. I mean, it's important to know the results of an EKG. What is the candidate's cholesterol? These are important numbers that tell you something. Their blood pressure, you know, those are obviously indicators of potential medical issues and we should know more information.
I think the issue in this case for Hillary Clinton, though, really has to do with transparency. Because what we were hearing initially on Sunday, and clearly this was a very close hold about her diagnosis of pneumonia on Friday, but what we initially heard on Sunday was that she was dehydrated. And then all of a sudden, it was, actually, it's pneumonia.
I don't think it's particularly surprising and completely unexpected that someone might get pneumonia while keeping the grueling pace of a campaign schedule. I think anyone who has campaigned for president and then has won and gone to the White House will tell you that it is more grueling actually campaigning to be president than being in the White House, which may be more of a marathon in the campaigning, may be more of a sprint.
But this issue of not being straightforward about what it is and I think what compounds that for reporters who are watching this, Carol, is you look back to 2012, when the information about Hillary Clinton came out in drips and drabs about her concussion and then that blood clot between her skull and her brain, and that also created the sense of not being fully forthcoming.
So here we have a chance for them to do 2.0, more transparent, and it appears they didn't.
COSTELLO: No. So, Mark, was it because there are all these conspiracy theories around about Hillary Clinton's health, or was it her distrust of the press and her, I don't know, her value of her personal life being kept personal?
[09:15:04] MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Well, we don't know why they decided to keep it quiet regarding the pneumonia. We have some reporting from Jeff Zeleny saying that. Again, only a few people knew about it and she thought that she could power through it.
But this really has created a situation now where this time that we're in, Carol, where you cannot expect that these secrets are going to hold, just imagine if that video did not exist, that video that we're all showing right now of Hillary Clinton, as Jeff noted, slumping into the van. That really says it all. Not only do you have reporters out there now who are following the candidates, you have quote/unquote citizen journalists.
Everybody has a telephone. Everybody has a camera on one. You have to be very careful, and both candidates have to be very careful about what they say and what they do, because in the end, it is going to be discovered.
BORGER: You know here's the problem --
COSTELLO: All right, I have to leave it there, Gloria, but stick around because I want you all to come back in the next block because we have much more to talk about.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Hillary Clinton denounces millions of voters and Donald Trump calls it the biggest blunder of the election season. He said she said and what our panel will say just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Health questions are not the only concern for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, also under fire for her Friday night dismissal of millions of voters. Here's what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: To just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables.
[09:20:08]Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, you name it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Donald Trump seizing on Clinton's harsh assessment and vowing to take the high road, quote, "While Hillary said horrible things about my supporters and while many of her supporters will never vote for me, I still respect them all."
Clinton, back pedaling a bit but not exactly apologizing, quote, "I regret saying half that was wrong. But let's be clear, what's really deplorable is that Donald Trump hired a major advocate for the so- called alt-right movement to run his campaign and that David Duke and other white supremacists see him as a champion of their values.
It's deplorable that Trump has filled his campaign largely on prejudice and paranoia so I won't stop calling out bigotry and racist rhetoric in this campaign."
But this morning, Trump said Clinton's comments could be a disaster for her campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via telephone): Personally when I heard it I thought that it was not something that was within the realm of possible that she would have said it. And I said to my people, I don't believe she said it.
I think you have to check it because there's no way that she said this. And she actually did, and she even really doubled up, because it was said with such anger, such unbelievable anger. And I think this is the biggest mistake of the political season. I really do.
When I saw this in its full form, and I saw the anger with which we -- she said it and then the way she spoke, I think it's the single biggest mistake of the political season.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So let's talk about this with me again CNN's Gloria Borger, Brianna Keilar, and Mark Preston. So Gloria, Trump says this is Clinton's 47 percent moment. Is it?
BORGER: Yes, it could be. Look, it's bad for her. This is something that was expressed very in-artfully, and it allowed Donald Trump to take the high road. And any time you allow Donald Trump to take the high road in this campaign, that's a problem for you.
What was interesting to me was Hillary Clinton's response because instead of backing down completely, she decided not to. That she was going to stand by her comments, and say, look, the half that was a mistake.
But I still stand by what I said about the so-called alt-right, and the -- you know, and the racist, and sexist and all the rest. So she wasn't going to give him, you know, the entire thing.
But she knew that you know and her campaign knew that she had, you know, that she had misspoken. What I want to know is when are these candidates going to realize that all of these so-called closed fundraisers?
Mitt Romney was a closed fundraiser. This was a closed fund-raiser. That there is no such thing as closed or off the record anymore. That everything you'll say is going to come public. And she made a mistake and don't forget also, she was sick at the time, right? Now we know that she -- that she was ill.
COSTELLO: Yes, we do and you're right about --
BORGER: Not to excuse it but she was.
COSTELLO: So Brianna, CNN also obtained these talking points, or its strategy from the Clinton campaign about how to talk about this particular thing.
They're going to blame the media, saying in part, quote, "It's well past time the press stopped grading Trump on a curve. Are they going to make more out of this story than they made out of the racist, misogynistic Trump comments that got us here in the first place? So blaming the media, Brianna, come on?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I generally find that when that is the strategy that just tells you that they're not coming from a place of strength. Any campaign that is going after the media, that's really what that tells you. But also to Gloria -- Gloria's point about the fact that Hillary Clinton was sick at the time. Imagine, Carol, her top aides looking back on this now, because we all know that if you are sick, especially pneumonia is no joke, if you are ill, you're not feeling your best, you're not performing your best at work.
I think everyone can agree with that. And so they're looking now back at this and realizing, she had a diagnosis of pneumonia on Friday, pushed through with her schedule on Saturday, and they were not transparent about the pneumonia.
Imagine if they had just been, said she's going to lay low for a little bit, she's going to go to the 9/11 memorial but otherwise she's going to get some rest, and you would have these two huge issues that have made for the worst weekend of her campaign, that would be gone. And this is sort of --
COSTELLO: So -- I'm just going to point out that, that Donald Trump's camp isn't taking into account that Hillary Clinton had pneumonia when she said these things. In fact, the Trump camp is already out with a campaign ad. So let's watch.
KEILAR: Sure. Yes, well, because --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): -- speaking to wealthy donors Hillary Clinton called tens of millions of Americans deplorable.
[09:25:05]CLINTON: You could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So Mark, how much of a difference will like put this into perspective for us how damaging is this?
PRESTON: It's very damaging. Let's just take a step back and talk about similar instances that have been damaging. You go back to the 47 percent remark by Mitt Romney. That was absolutely damaging to his campaign.
You go back to Barack Obama, back in 2008, saying that voters in Pennsylvania were clinging to their guns and religion that was damaging to his campaign.
You go back just a week ago and you have Donald Trump praising Vladimir Putin. That was damaging to his campaign. So to the point what Brianna is saying, transparency actually is freeing in many ways.
The fact that they decided to cover this up to -- to not be as open and honest about it, that means that the cover-up is actually worse than the crime. Right?
The idea that they left the traveling press corps behind because they wanted to squire her off and take care of her and not allow the American public to know what's going on, that in itself is damaging.
And also the fact that when you do start blaming the media, it does show that you're not coming from a place of strength as Brianna noted. It shows that you're grasping. We've seen that from the Trump campaign. We're seeing a little bit of that now from the Clinton campaign.
COSTELLO: All right, I have --
BORGER: Carol, I need to correct myself because apparently they did let the press in to -- to film her saying the deplorables comment. That was a fundraiser. This was actually pooled and they did let the press in.
COSTELLO: So it wasn't clandestinely shot.
BORGER: No, not at all. My mistake. My mistake.
COSTELLO: Which actually makes it worse, right?
BORGER: Well, there you go.
COSTELLO: Yes, there you go. I have to leave it there. Gloria Borger, Brianna Keilar, Mark Preston, thanks to all of you.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Donald Trump's fix for what he calls a rigged debate system? No moderator.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
