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Biden Considered for Clinton's Secretary of State; Clinton and Trump in Battleground Iowa Today; Trump: Release of 2005 Tape Was An Illegal Act; Economy Grows at Fastest Rate in Two Years. Aired 9-9:30a ET.
Aired October 28, 2016 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:09] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.
New drama both on and off the campaign trail as we now stand just 11 days away from electing the next President of the United States.
Both Trump and Clinton are in Iowa where the latest polls show the race too close to call. But Clinton appears confident of a win, intimating that Joe Biden could be her Secretary of State.
In the meantime, cleaning crews are wrapping up at LaGuardia airport after Mike Pence's plane makes a rough landing and skids off the runway. No one hurt. Pence, this morning, downplaying the scare.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE PENCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (through phone): It happened so fast, Alisyn, that, you know, it was almost over before it began. You know, but once we came off the plane and saw the first responders on the scene and saw the crumpled concrete, which I've since learned that a portion of the runway is designed to break up to slow down aircraft, and the fact that we've come to rest there out on the grass, in the mud, was more dramatic to look at it from the outside of the plane.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: We are covering all the angles this morning. Joe Johns has new details on where Joe Biden could land after the election, so let's start with you. Hi, Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. The takeaway from this is that, if Hillary Clinton wins the election, her transition team apparently could be asking her to consider one you of the highest profile picks she could make to fill the job that she once held in the government.
CNNS's Elise Labott and Jeff Zeleny, this morning, reporting and confirming a story first reported by "Politico" that the name of Vice President Joe Biden has been mentioned, among others, as a potential choice for Secretary of State in a would-be Hillary Clinton cabinet.
Biden is well suited for the job should he be asked. Besides being called on as one of President Obama's go-to problem solvers in various regional hot spots, he's also a former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It's an interesting name to be floated in this way. Points to the fact that no one really knows whether the Vice President would want to continue his long career with yet another stint in government.
Biden, by the way, gave serious consideration to running for President himself but since has become a seemingly tireless campaigner for Hillary Clinton.
Both the Clinton and Trump campaigns do have transition teams working on potential appointments because there's such a short space between Election Day and the Inauguration.
Hillary Clinton has ordered aides not to talk about this process. No indication Biden has been approached about it. Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Joe Johns reporting live from Washington this morning. Thank you.
Clinton may appear confident but there are still 11 days to go, and it's clear both candidates are not going down without a fight. CNN's Jason Carroll joins me now with a wild day on the campaign trail today. Hi, Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And it is going to be a fight until the very end. The question is, Carol, how much money is Donald Trump going to end up spending in the end? He has said repeatedly that he would spend $100 million of his own money, but his recent spending falling far short of achieving that goal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We should just cancel the election and just give it to Trump, right?
CARROLL (voice-over): Donald Trump reigniting his unsubstantiated claims of a rigged election.
TRUMP: You look at Texas. A lot of calls were made from Texas, an incredible place. I love Texas. And the lines are massive and they were talking about flipping, you know, where they press a button and they press it for me and another name comes up, named crooked Hillary Clinton.
BILL O'REILLY, HOST, FOX NEWS: But do we have any data on that? Do we have any facts on that? You know, anybody can put that in here --
TRUMP: No, they just call in. No, they call in.
CARROLL (voice-over): Texas officials deny any voter fraud issues.
Trump who has repeatedly, publicly, called on African-Americans to support him, now his campaign accused of trying to suppress their turnout through negative advertising though the campaign denies those allegations. As new campaign finance reports show, Trump drastically slowing the
flow of his own money to his campaign after vowing to pump millions more into it.
TRUMP: I'll have over $100 million in the campaign.
CARROLL (voice-over): Filings show the billionaire only put in $30,000 this month after consistently investing $2 million in previous months. Hillary Clinton nearly doubling Trump's fund-raising haul in October.
On the stump in Ohio, Trump slamming the Clintons after hacked e-mails reveal how much Bill Clinton made off lucrative speeches and ties to his Foundation's fund-raisers.
TRUMP: If the Clintons were willing to play this fast and loose with their enterprise when they weren't in the White House, just imagine what they'll do given the chance to, once again, control the Oval Office.
CARROLL (voice-over): The Clinton campaign saying in a statement that she "never made decisions because of donations to the Clinton Foundation... none of the relationships being reported today are new."
Meanwhile, Trump suggesting he might sue NBC over the release of that 2005 "Access Hollywood" video of him making lewd remarks about women.
[09:05:08] TRUMP: I think it was very negative. It was locker room talk. The microphone was not supposed to be on, not that I make that an excuse for myself, but, certainly, it was an illegal act. That was certainly illegal and we have to do something about it.
O'REILLY: Are you going to take any action after the election against NBC?
TRUMP: Well, you'll see. You'll see.
CARROLL (voice-over): A sharp contrast to Clinton and the First Lady joining forces in the battleground state of North Carolina.
MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Hillary doesn't play.
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Seriously, is there anyone more inspiring than Michelle Obama?
CARROLL (voice-over): The duo casting Trump's campaign as a war on women.
CLINTON: Dignity and respect for women and girls is also on the ballot in this election.
CARROLL (voice-over): And condemning Trump's claim of a rigged election.
OBAMA: They are trying to get you to stay home. They are trying to convince you that your vote doesn't matter. They are trying to take away your hope.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: And, Carol, Trump taking some heat today for comments he made last night referring to urban areas as ghettos. Trump, for his part, though, he is back out on the campaign trail today hitting three stops, three states -- New Hampshire, Maine, and Iowa.
Clinton not giving up on the Iowa either. She's making two stops there. Meanwhile, the President will be campaigning for her today in Florida. Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Jason Carroll reporting live for us. Thanks so much.
Indulge me for just a moment while I send a message out to Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump, please stop talking about a rigged election. We have reached out to elections' officials in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. There is zero evidence of a rigged election. Here is what Trump supporter and Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON HUSTED, OHIO SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, I'll say a couple things. First of all, I can reassure Donald Trump I am in charge of elections in Ohio, and they're not going to be rigged. I'll make sure of that. Our institutions like our election system is one of the bedrocks of American democracy. We should not question it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Talk of a rigged election undermines America's democracy. And, no, it is not patriotic to threaten the will of the people if Mr. Trump does not convince enough Americans to cast a ballot for him. So let's talk about this now. Rebecca Berg is with me. She's a
national political reporter for "Real Clear Politics." Errol Louis is here. He's the political anchor for New York 1. And Ann Selzer is president of the polling firm, Selzer and Company, a very well respected polling firm, I might add.
So, Ann, my first question to you, officials in your home state of Iowa issued a statement refuting Trump's claims and saying there's been no evidence of tampering with the process. What are you hearing from Iowans?
J. ANN SELZER, PRESIDENT, SELZER AND COMPANY, INC.: Well, I can tell you that several years ago, the former Secretary of State launched a massive investigation into what was happening with voter files -- did they match up with the people who were actually eligible to vote? -- kind of hoping to find that there were problems with the Iowa file. But we got the good housekeeping seal of approval, that is our files are clean and we keep them clean. So there's just, in that way that you can define rigging, no evidence that that's really possible in Iowa. COSTELLO: So, Errol, former GOP Congressman Joe Walsh of Illinois,
who is known for inflammatory language, is raising eyebrows after tweeting this, quote, on November 8th, I'm voting for Trump. On November 9th, if Trump loses, I'm grabbing my musket. You in? He ended his tweet like that.
Walsh defended his comments in a CNN interview this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE WALSH, (R) FORMER ILLINOIS CONGRESSMAN: When I say grab your musket, man, and let's go to war if Hillary wins, the Republican Party's going to be in our sights because all these people who are pissed off again at what we believe, Chris, is a corrupt political system, we're as angry at Republicans as we are at Democrats. Even if Trump loses, fair and square, Chris, the anger is not going to go anywhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So, Errol, what do you think that he means by that?
ERROL LOUIS, POLITICAL ANCHOR, NEW YORK 1: Well, I mean, look, I'll take him at his word when he says "grab your musket" means, you know, attacking fellow Republicans and trying to sort of change the Party around by legal means.
It's that kind of rough talk, though, it's that kind of sort of borderline violent talk with these sort of intimations that can cross the line between being passionate and being colorful and being sort of menacing and being threatening.
And I think there's been a lot of discussion that people seem to be a little bit uneasy about the prospect of that. I personally don't feel that way. I have great respect for law enforcement, for the military, for the customs and traditions that hold the country together. If a few people want to really seriously act out, I think in almost every jurisdiction in this country, there's somebody there who's ready to sort of get them back within the lines if they really want to sort of act crazy.
You know, the reality is one of the most important parts of democracy is that sometimes you lose. You know, sometimes your candidate loses, not because you did anything wrong, not because they didn't have the best ideas, but because we do operate on a system that involves the majority sort of making a determination. And that's what we're going to see happen on November 8th.
[09:10:14] COSTELLO: But, Rebecca, there's no doubt, though, that the anger will remain, you know, if Donald Trump loses. Right? If Hillary Clinton becomes President, there will be anger there. And there's nothing wrong with acts of civil disobedience because, let's face it, that happens all the time in our country. But the way it's being discussed right now is disturbing.
REBECCA BERG, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, REAL CLEAR POLITICS: Absolutely. And it matters. These words matter especially when they're coming from public officials or former public officials who have a megaphone, who have a larger platform than, you know, some average American on Facebook or Twitter would have as evidenced by the fact that, you know, now, we're interviewing Joe Walsh. We're talking about this. It matters that they use these words.
And so there is the risk of, you know, how are people going to act out on their anger after this election? Who are they going to direct their anger at? Donald Trump is already out there talking, as we know about, this rigged election. Are they going to direct their anger at election officials in the states? Are they going to doubt the outcome of the election? These are all really relevant questions at this point, and this isn't really a scenario we have faced to this extent in recent elections.
COSTELLO: OK. But I just want to go back to this notion of a rigged election, that there's massive voter fraud all across the country. And I just want to look at this logically right now. So let's look at the state of Texas, where Mr. Trump is saying that there are instances of voter fraud, and he's afraid that he's going to lose the election there.
Yes, there were a handful of suspect ballots in Texas. It happens. No system is perfect. But let's assume the problem is rampant. Texas has a Republican governor, a Republican Secretary of State, both U.S. Senators are Republican, 25 Texas Republicans were elected to the House of Representatives, including many Trump supporters. Yes, Mr. Trump did not win Texas during the primary but another Republican native son did and that would be Ted Cruz.
So if indeed there is widespread voter fraud in Texas, why are there so many Republicans in office?
SELZER: You're coming to me for that?
COSTELLO: Yes.
SELZER: I think the answer is that, you know, there's a lot of monitoring for both parties on the actual process. And I think in Texas, one of the reasons that it is so Republican dominated has to do with the Congressional districts are drawn. And when you have control of one Party who then controls that process, you end up with a lot of people from that Party elected to office.
I think, you know, the question really, when you hear the word, "rigged," people immediately think that there are people showing up in person to vote who are not eligible to vote. And I don't think, anywhere, we have found that there's evidence of that. But there are many other parts of the snake, that is the process of voting and counting those votes.
And so I think, you know, people worried about whether you can hack into that system, whether public officials could change numbers in the tallies. Again, there are observers for all of these processes. It's more sun light than anything else, so it will be interesting to see if there end up being credible challenges to rigging. It seems like the system is rigged against rigging.
COSTELLO: Oh, I like that very much. Errol Louis, Rebecca Berg, Ann Selzer, thanks so much for joining me this morning.
Now, to Mike Pence's harrowing landing. CNN's Deborah Feyerick is live at LaGuardia Airport in New York to tell us more about that. Hi, Deborah.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Carol. Well, it's not the first time a plane has actually skidded off the runway here at LaGuardia Airport, but what makes it unique, obviously, is the fact that this was a plane belonging to the vice presidential nominee.
Now, officials say that it overshot the runway and landed way too quickly. People on board the plane say it happened so fast that they didn't even realize the plane was on the grass until after they got off that plane.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have an emergency in the airport.
FEYERICK (voice-over): A frightening experience for Donald Trump's running mate Mike Pence.
PENCE (through phone): When we landed, it was obvious that the pilots were breaking very aggressively on the runway. We could feel that. And then we began to feel the plane fishtail a little bit.
FEYERICK (voice-over): Flying in from Fort Dodge, Iowa, the Trump campaign chartered plane carrying the Indiana Governor skidding off the runway upon landing at New York's LaGuardia Airport.
ELIZABETH LANDERS, CNN POLITICS VIDEO PRODUCER (through phone): We were moving down the runway much more quickly than a plane should be going if it's landing.
FEYERICK (voice-over): Investigators will be looking at a variety of factors including weather. One law enforcement source telling CNN it appears Pence's plane came in too fast and landed too late on a rain- soaked runway. The plane was slowed thanks to cement blocks installed at the end of the runway, preventing the plane from careening onto a major highway.
[09:15:03] PATRICK FOYE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PORT AUTHORITY OF NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY: The plane ended up in the arrester bed at the end of the runway, destroyed about 80 arrester bed blocks.
FEYERICK (voice-over): The plane coming to a stop dangerously close to traffic. A safety layer on the runway torn up, avoiding a catastrophe.
TOWER CONTROLLER: Eastern, stop, stop. Go around. Go around JetBlue 1640.
FEYERICK: Audio from the air traffic control tower capturing the tense moments with crews arriving on scene within one minute.
TOWER CONTROLLER: Eastern Jet 3452, we're getting help for you.
FEYERICK: Officials say Pence was reassured by flashing lights upon exiting the plane. Later tweeting, "So thankful everyone on our plane is safe."
Trump reacting to the scare at a rally.
TRUMP: I just spoke to Mike Pence, and he's fine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: And it's interesting. You heard Mike Pence discuss the lights that he saw by the plane. Emergency vehicles next to that plane within moments of this all happening. They actually practiced for those kinds of accidents or incidents I should say to happen.
The NTSB is coming in from Washington to investigate what the circumstances were and why this occurred. In the meantime, a new plane chartered Boeing 737 is being flown up in the same company and Mike Pence will be on that plane to campaign. He will be leaving this time out of Newark -- Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Deborah Feyerick reporting live for us. Thanks so much.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM: the number one issue for voters -- it's the economy, stupid. And is it finally about to be front and center on the campaign trail?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:21:15] COSTELLO: Crucial news on the economic front. Just 11 days before Election Day, just minutes ago, we learned the U.S. economy grew at 2.9 percent in the third quarter. That is the fastest rate in two years.
CNN Money chief business correspondent Christine Romans is here with me now to tell us exactly what that means.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, it means the economy is doing better than we thought it was in the beginning part of the year, certainly twice the economic growth we saw in the first part of the year.
Let me show you what it looks like on a chart here -- 2.9 percent economic growth in the third quarter. You could see the first quarter was a sluggish 1.4 percent. And there were concerns in -- in the second quarter, the first quarter late last year. Now, this 2.9 percent is the best we've seen in a couple of years, Carol.
Let me put it in broader perspective. It shows an American economy continuing to climb out of the deep, dark days of 2009. Now, you've heard on the campaign trail Donald Trump says this is a result of bad Democratic policies and that his policies immediately would propel the United States economy to 4 percent growth, 4 percent growth you can see is something we last saw back in the 1990s, the late 1990s.
This number shows that the American consumer appears confident. We saw that in the consumer confidence number just last month. The American consumer is spending business spending is less drag on the economy.
What is this number, Carol? You know this is a number that measures just about everything. What we import. What we export. How much money workers are making. What there spending. How much businesses are spending on factories and retooling.
So, this is the biggest most comprehensive piece of economic data before the election, Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Christine Romans stay right there, because we're going to talk about this new.
I want to bring in Katrina Pierson. She's the national spokeswoman for the Trump campaign and Angela Rye is a CNN political commentator and former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Welcome to you both.
ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you, Carol.
COSTELLO: Thanks for being here.
Katrina, the economic numbers appear healthy. Why do so many Trump supporters feel we're on the verge of economic disaster?
KATRINA PIERSON, NATIONAL SPOKESWOMAN, TRUMP CAMPAIGN: Well, I think you've mentioned the operative word, which is appear. Very easily eleven days before the election. But I don't think any working class American is getting up and cheering on a 2.9 percent economic growth because the fact remains, the Federal Reserve is still pumping money into the economy, free money, which leads to a false economy and now that we have globally interest rates still very, very low and sometimes negative in cases, it means it's an artificial stock market.
Working people need jobs, and they need increased wages. And because of wages and jobs, we don't have the middle class that are able to either borrow money, or have the income to sustain consumption at this point. So I think the real test is going to be what happens when interest rates go up.
COSTELLO: OK, so I want to before I get to you, Angela, I want to go back to Christine because Katrina said a number of things.
ROMANS: Yes, well, interest rates -- well this kind of report shows the economy is healthy enough to withstand higher interest rates. A lot of people think the Fed will raise interest rates and start to undo all of that loose economic policy by the end of the year.
When you take this number with jobs growth, it is still looking strong for people who have a job, by the way. We do recognize there are a host of people who have been left out of the labor market. But when you look at the job market numbers, consumer confidence numbers, just yesterday there was a CNN/ORC poll that say 54 percent of people say America is on the right track. You can see there's a better feeling about the economy overall.
COSTELLO: I will say and I'll post this to Angela when I went to Ohio last week and talked to voters who live in Trump country so to speak, those voters in favor of Donald Trump, they said that their biggest fear is economic collapse and while they may be doing well now, they just have a real fear of the future. So, in order for them to even consider Hillary Clinton, she's going to have to make them feel better about the future. Why can't she do that?
RYE: Well, and I don't know that she can't do it, Carol. And I think the reality of it is, 2007 and the mortgage bubble bursting and that crisis is not that far from here, right?
[09:25:07] That's a very recent trauma that many people in all over the country have faced, particularly in communities of color.
I would like to go back to something Katrina mentioned, which was the middle class is hurting. Well, I would go to what we've learned from the Census Bureau last year which is the middle class, and poor people, had the best year they've had ever since -- in 2015, in quite some time rather. I won't say ever.
It says that real median household income was $56,500 in 2015. That is an increase from $53,700 the year prior.
I would also point to you the fact that the unemployment rate is much lower than when President Obama started. Black unemployment is still double the national average, and that has been the truth for 40 years. That is not President Obama's fault.
I think the reality of it is if we peddle this narrative, this conspiracy theory that the economy is horrible, then we'll create and unfortunate fear in the lives of people. That doesn't mean that their economic condition isn't real --
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: I just want to interject here. Because Mr. Trump, Mr. Trump said something on the campaign trail because he does paint especially in the black community a very, very bleak economy. In fact, this is what he said in Toledo, Ohio, just yesterday. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're going to work on our -- the ghettos, you take a look at what's going on where you have pockets of -- of areas of land, where you have the inner cities, you have so many things, so many problems, so many horrible, horrible problems.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So, Katrina, you heard, Mr. Trump there say ghettos, and black communities, and I think that many black Americans would say you're not really taking into account the whole of the black population.
PIERSON: Well, I think there's also a segment of the black community who have been consulting Mr. Trump on this issue who would disagree with you because there are severely depressed and suppressed communities out there. But we're not addressing still is the Federal Reserve's impact into this economy, and if we're talking about a $3,000 to $4,000 wage increase among the working class, which has completely been wiped out by Obamacare premiums, not to mention Hillary Clinton wants to raise taxes.
This does not look good for the middle class.
RYE: Can I just respond to this really quickly, Carol?
COSTELLO: Sure.
RYE: I think it's really important that when we have conversations like this, they're rooted in fact.
PIERSON: Absolutely.
RYE: So, let's talk about -- let's talk about what Donald Trump could actually be saying to black people that would resonate and be based in truth. So, there's an access to capital issues. People like Donald Trump take advantage of the fact --
PIERSON: Which is what I said.
RYE: No, that's not what you said at all. But people --
PIERSON: Access to borrowing is capital issue.
RYE: I know you don't want to hear this because the truth burns. But people like Donald Trump actually take for granted the fact that they have readily available access to capital. People in my community often times don't. But let's talk about the ghetto, because Donald Trump as we know is a real estate developer that has taken advantage of things like gentrification and that's how he ended up keeping people out of neighborhoods where they could earn more income.
PIERSON: He actually has addressed that, Angela.
RYE: No, he hasn't.
PIERSON: And because facts do matter, Mr. Trump has also talked about the fact --
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Let Katrina respond.
PIERSON: -- if you've listened to anything he has said about the black community or his urban development, he's talked about the problems that we have with black Americans being able to access capital, and you can go back to when he testified before Congress on how to fix the economy, he talked about having more affordable housing for minority communities and he's worked with Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow PUSH Coalition to help black entrepreneurship.
Those are the facts you never see on CNN, Angela, because --
COSTELLO: Angela has a former -- you know she was with the Congressional Black Caucus, so is that true, Angela.
PIERSON: And ran it into the ground.
RYE: I'm sorry. Say that one more time, Katrina?
PIERSON: And ran it into the ground.
RYE: I ran the CBC into the ground?
PIERSON: Absolutely.
(LAUGHTER)
RYE: That is laughable.
PIERSON: That's why you're not aware of Mr. Trump's --
RYE: No. Katrina.
PIERSON: -- positions.
COSTELLO: No, because -- wait, wait, wait.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Stop, stop! Katrina what are you talking about?
RYE: It's ridiculous.
COSTELLO: What are you talking about? What are you talking about that Angela ran the Congressional Black Caucus into the ground?
RYE: I'm eager to hear this. What did I do?
PIERSON: The record is out there. Look at where the finances were. So I think it's interesting --
RYE: Oh, I'm sorry, honey, Katrina, Katrina --
PIERSON: -- we're having an economic discussion, but we don't want to talk about the actual facts of Mr. Trump's policies when it comes to urban communities.
RYE: Carol, can I please respond to the personal attack at this point? Let me just -- let me just --
COSTELLO: OK, stop, stop. Angela has to respond to these charges that she ran -- PIERSON: If she's going to call me a liar then, of course, let's have
a personal discussion because I am on CNN and completely having Mr. Trump's policies lied about consistently, because he has addressed every last one of these issues which is why his support in the black community is on the rise.
RYE: OK. Good luck with that lie, as well. Now, let me respond to what your direct --
PIERSON: See?
