Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Trump Talks about Hillary as Commander-in-Chief; Checking Polls; Hillary in Battleground States. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired November 04, 2016 - 04:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:31:18] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump suggests America's troops don't see Hillary Clinton become their boss. What exactly did he mean by that?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton slams Donald Trump for an endorsement that his campaign actually condemned.

ROMANS: And polls, oh yes, we are watching these polls. New polls have the race tightening in battleground states both sides crunching these Electoral College members with time running out. Oh, the map and the many, many ways you can play with the map.

BERMAN: All right, welcome back to "Early Start" everyone. I'm John Berman.

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It is 31 minutes past the hour this Friday morning. It is Friday, the final Friday of the race just four days to go. You know, Brian Stelter is starting to count hours now.

Here's the latest. Donald Trump overnight takes the swipe at Hillary Clinton asking veterans to imagine her as their boss. Hillary Clinton slams Donald Trump accusing him of dog whistle politics. This is both the candidates find themselves in two of the same states today, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

BERMAN: All right, it is 4:32 a.m. in the east. Do you know where your election is? Here's a hint. It's really freaking close. National polls seem to show, they maybe ticking up a tiny bit for Hillary Clinton but there are new looks to key states that raise questions and raise blood pressure on both sides. New Hampshire, a couple polls out yesterday showing it's essentially tied. In Georgia, a new poll from NBC News Marist and the Wall Street Journal has Donald Trump ahead by just a wee single point there. Really didn't have a shot without Georgia.

Joining us this morning, CNN Politics Reporter Eugene Scott. Let's start ...

ROMANS: Good morning.

BERMAN: ... with New Hampshire ...

EUGENE SCOTT, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning. BERMAN: ... because this has people, you know, people have said a long time, as long as Hillary Clinton wins Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, you know, she can't lose the election. Well, if New Hampshire is tied, all of a sudden, that math is problematic for her.

SCOTT: It is. And, you know, just a few weeks ago, Donald Trump was having a much hard time in New Hampshire but that's because just a few weeks ago, the headlines about Donald Trump were overwhelmingly negative because he was being faced with all of these alleged sexual misconduct assaults. But right now, the news cycle has shifted to Hillary Clinton. And whoever we're talking about most is usually having the hardest time.

ROMANS: It is so interesting to me that that's the unique quality of this campaign. That if you're talking about somebody, it's bad for them.

SCOTT: Yeah.

ROMANS: Both candidates.

SCOTT: Yeah.

ROMANS: If you're getting the air time, it's bad for you.

BERMAN: All publicity is not good publicity.

ROMANS: That's right.

SCOTT: It's not.

ROMANS: Let's talk about the Georgia here because that's the Georgia polls -- I mean, Donald Trump, all of his many permutations of map include Georgia to win the White House. What's happening in those polls?

SCOTT: Well, Donald Trump will probably get Georgia. But it's been said that Georgia is one place and Atlanta is another place. And the reality it's Clinton's base is in Atlanta. There are a lot of black voters, a lot of millennial voters, a lot of women voters, even a lot of brown voters. And so, the state has historically been red, it's looking more purple as we see demographics change.

BERMAN: It just shows how the country is changing in general and you see Georgia being close to really no one campaigning there. You know, Rosalynn Carter I guess going to campaign there in the next few days but there hasn't been a lot of ad spending there relatively speaking. You see why North Carolina is close to show some similarities in those states. Eugene Scott, great to have you with us on this final election Friday.

ROMANS: All right, Hillary Clinton hits three battleground states in less than eight hours today. She starts with the noon time rally in Pittsburgh then on to Detroit, and Cleveland. Thursday, she was shoring up support in North Carolina rallying a faithful alongside Bernie Sanders targeting Donald Trump and courting African-American voters. CNN's Brianna Keilar has the latest from Raleigh.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, Donald Trump's deputy campaign manager says his path to victory goes through Florida through here, North Carolina, Ohio, and Iowa. And that's why the Clinton campaign wants to cut him off here in the Tar Heel state. And the key to a Democratic victory here on Election Day is the African-American vote. Hillary Clinton has been out performing Donald Trump by a wide margin but she's not doing quite as well as President Obama did in 2012 and in 2008 that's why he's been here making a pitch for her and why Hillary Clinton made this pitch to North Carolinians today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[04:35:10] HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He has spent his entire campaign offering a dog whistle to his most hateful supporters. He re-tweets white supremacists and spreads racially tinged conspiracy theories. And you better believe he's being heard loudly and clearly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And it's a mad dash for Hillary Clinton towards election day. She will be in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio today. Ohio with some help, some star power from Jay-z and then a focus for her on Philadelphia over the weekend and into election day. She will be in Philadelphia with Katy Perry on Saturday and then she'll be accompanied by her husband, her daughter Chelsea as well as President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama in Philadelphia on Monday, the night before election day. John and Christine.

BERMAN: All right, Brianna Keilar, thank you so much.

Donald Trump starts the day in New Hampshire then onto Ohio and Pennsylvania. In North Carolina, Donald trump Had a late night event there and he went off script with military leaders behind him. He made a comment about whether these leaders would ever accept Hillary Clinton as their boss. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, when I look at these great admirals and these great generals and these great Medal of Honor recipients behind me to think of her being their boss? I don't think so. And, you know, they're incredible patriots. They would never say a thing, but I know what they're thinking. It's not for them. Believe me.

END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So her being their boss. What did he mean? Tweet us, let me know, let us know what you think because it is being discussed this morning. Trump did praised the bravery of veterans. I want to bring in Jim Acosta for the latest.

JIM ACOSTA, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, Donald Trump continue to try to make a comeback in this last week of the campaign at the rally here in North Carolina. He once again attacks Hillary Clinton for her e-mail controversy. He also saluted military veterans at one point talking about his own bravery. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They're so much brave than me. I wouldn't have done what they did. I'm brave in other ways. I'm brave -- I'm financially brave. Big deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: But if there's one subject Trump is hesitant to touch, it is President Obama. After days of attacks from the president on the GOP nominee, Trump only responded by saying that the president should be back at the White House doing his job. A far cry from the more personal attacks from Trump on the president in the past. John and Christine.

BERMAN: All right, so Melania Trump, she held a rally outside Philadelphia but the town might as well have been named "Irony". It was one of the more surprising speeches of the campaign. She suggested that our culture is too cruel on social media. That too often tweets and posts are based on looks and intelligence. Our Dana Bash noted after, "Has Melania Trump ever met Donald Trump?" Let's get more now from CNN's Sara Murray.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning John and Christine. Melania Trump made a rare appearance yesterday on the campaign trail traveling to the Philadelphia suburbs to deliver a speech, her first since she gave those remarks at the GOP convention where she plagiarized First Lady Michelle Obama. Now Melania Trump had a different agenda today, she wanted to talk about what she would do as first lady and said one of her top priorities would be battling cyber bullying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELANIA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S WIFE: Children and teenagers can be fragile. They are hurt when they are made fun of or made to feel less in looks or intelligence. Our culture has gotten too mean and too rough especially to children and teenagers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: Now one thing Melania Trump did not mention was her husband's own prolific use of twitter. Donald Trump of course regularly uses it to hurl insults at people in the political arena or people in media who he simply doesn't like. But Melania Trump did make clear that she feels like adults are better and able to handle this criticism or she wants to do more to protect children.

So it was certainly a speech that was heavy on what she wants to do as first lady. Not so much heavy, I'm talking about the personal details of her husband and his quest for the presidency. She's been a rare asset for Donald Trump on the campaign trail in part because she made it clear publicly and privately she would rather be home taking care of their 10-year old son, Barron. Back to you guys.

ROMANS: All right Sara, thanks for that. The final big piece of economic news before the election due this morning. At 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time, the government jobs report is expected to show a 177,000 new positions. That's a little better than we saw in September. The jobless rate forecast had tick down to 4.9 percent. It was 5 percent in September. You know, cut in a half from the worst days of the recession. More people are starting to come off the sidelines and starting to look for work.

[04:40:04] That's going to start to maybe and push that jobless rate up.

These are wages here. Wages up about 2.6 percent year over year. Democrats want a strong number here in the jobs report feeling it will help Hillary Clinton's closing arguments on the economy. She has tied herself to President Obama's economic legacy. In his two terms, the economy has added nearly 11 million new jobs, hiring stayed positive for 72 months in a row, but wages have not been growing very well.

Donald Trump blasted nearly every jobs report since he started running. He has called September's reading anemic. He has called these numbers overall phony. He claims the unemployment rate is much higher than the government is reporting.

BERMAN: All right, time is running out. We're going to talk about what these candidates are doing for the next four days. Their closing strategies when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

]04:45:06] BERMAN: If you're an undecided voter, A, how can you still be undecided, B, well, you have four days left to be undecided. How are the candidates going to win you over? We're joined again by Senior Media Correspondent and Host of CNN's "Reliable Sources" Brian Stelter who've got a great job coming up this Sunday.

ROMANS: Yeah.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Thank you.

BERMAN: And then in Washington, CNN Politics Reporter Tal Kopan was sit a straight many times already this morning.

The president is going to North Carolina for two events today. The president, if you've been watching these events is relishing in this last lap on the campaign trail. But this is not all, hope and change by any means. He is going after Donald Trump hard. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, (D) U.S. PRESIDENT: The most frustrating thing is, some of his support is coming from working folks. People say, well, you know, he's going to be our voice. Are you serious? You don't see him hanging out with working people. Unless they're cleaning his room or mowing the fairways on his golf club.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: This time Tal, it's personal.

TAL KOPAN, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Absolutely personal. And keep in mind, it's personal on a few levels. For a lot of this election, the Obama legacy so to speak is on the line. I mean, think about his signature achievement, ObamaCare. It is talked about arguably more than any other policy perhaps beside immigration and it bears his name in the common lingo.

And so, you know, he really feels like his policies are on the line. But it's clear from the way he speaks that he feels like his legacy beyond policy is on the line. You know, he was the first African- American president. He was the barrier breaker in that regard and there has been so much rhetoric on the trail about race and about how minorities feel and he's made a very clear pitch to minorities on the trail. You know, if you want to vote for me, you need to vote for Hillary. So he has made this personal, he is embracing that and, you know, running full steam ahead with.

ROMANS: I would say Donald Trump made it personal when he questioned where he was born and where he questioned, you know, so darkly for so many months and years. I mean, even the very, you know, the very origin of this president.

STELTER: You know, when we hear about him we need to remember birtherism. I think your absolutely right. He talks about how the fate of the republic rests in the hands of the voters. This is not normal election year rhetoric from a sitting president.

BERMAN: Issues with the world.

STELTER: Yeah, yeah. And what's incredible I think is, he's essentially challenging the voters saying, don't let me down. You know, that's the subtext of all of the speeches now.

ROMANS: So where do we go from here for this weekend Brian? I mean, so we know that they're going to end up -- I think the Clinton team is going to end up on Monday night in ...

BERMAN: Philadelphia.

ROMANS: Yeah. They've got every minute matters, every appearance matters ...

STELTER: Right.

ROMANS: ... every rally matters. And the polls are tightening in some of the states.

STELTER: And these candidates are mostly on the east coast, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Florida, Pennsylvania.

BERMAN: Trump's going all the way to Reno though. STELTER: That's true. Yeah.

BERMAN: It shows that he knows that Nevada is a key part of his map. And Tal, if I can bring you awake because I've been pressing the Clinton team on this. Why are they still working so hard for Ohio, right? I mean, I understand that, you know, it's a state that Barack Obama won twice and it is fairly close there but it's not essential to their map. And they're putting a lot of time and resources into it including tonight this rally with Jay-z.

KOPAN: Yeah it's interesting gambit and keep in mind that the Clinton campaign has been struggling for a few weeks in exactly how to deploy its resources partly because it has so much resources, right? It has had very successful fundraising. It has very high profile surrogates. It has a lot of places that they can play on this map. And, you know, we think politics is about prose and poetry as Hillary Clinton says, it's not, it's about map.

And, you know, Hillary Clinton's map shows a lot more opportunities where to take this thing. You're right, she doesn't need Ohio, she could write it off. She might be playing there to force Donald Trump to spend resources there. Polls have shown it within the margin of error so it's not completely gone. She's been in Arizona, another state where she's trailed. She may be forcing Donald Trump's hand. You know, it's very hard to make these sort of calculations. You kind of want to go as many places as you can but you also want to be strategic. It must be a tough challenge for the Clinton campaign when they have the opportunity to be in a lot of places to really pick and choose.

STELTER: Yeah. And the tighter the race, the worst the day after, right? If you look at the polls -- if Clinton is the prevailing candidate right now, she does win on Tuesday night, but only by a few electoral votes. That's going to make a big difference in what Trump says, what his rhetoric is, how the GOP reacts to her to her election. The difference between say 272 electoral votes and 320. It makes a big difference. So I wonder if part of the calculus here is trying to pick away a few of these toss-up states or fill this lean red states in attempt to turn them blue to run up the score at end of the day.

ROMANS: And they're both just trying to win.

BERMAN: I think right now ...

[04:50:02] ROMANS: They're just trying to win.

BERMAN: ... just settling up on what ...

(CROSSTALK)

KOPAN: ... stands there.

BERMAN: ... Donald Trump finishing his campaign in New Hampshire, right? Going back in New Hampshire, Monday night and both. What both Pennsylvania and New Hampshire have in common is that there's no real early voting. One of the reasons you go to those states late because, you know, it's late. They're basically -- those are the states you campaign in towards the end, Tal.

KOPAN: Yeah, absolutely. And it's been pointed out to me that Hillary Clinton has been very strategic about timing her visits to certain states with when those states are actually going to be voting. And you absolutely want momentum through the finish line.

And, you know, when I said politics is math, you know, the area that Hillary Clinton has demonstrably been able putting a lot more resources into for many months now is a turn-out operation. And, you know, Donald Trump has almost entirely been relying on the Republican Party ...

ROMANS: Right.

KOPAN: ... for his turn-out operation. You better believe when she's going to these states, it's not just about flying in, doing a speech and flying out. There are extensive operations here to get the voters that actually need to vote to the polls. It's an incredible ground game effort that is playing out on both sides throughout the country.

ROMANS: And they're being bombarded with television ads.

KOPAN: Yes.

ROMANS: I mean, if you live in Pennsylvania or Ohio, sorry.

STELTER: Yeah.

ROMANS: I mean, you're going to be bombarded. And even in some -- and this is so interesting, we learned this week Brian that, you know, the Clinton team is even spending money in pretty reliably blue states.

STELTER: Right.

ROMANS: They are going to make sure that firewall holds. They want to shut out Donald Trump in some of the states that he's -- the blue state he thinks he would have to win.

STELTER: Partly because they have the money. I was amused to get text messages overnight from the campaign still asking for a few dollars. But, you know, I suppose they can still spend it on T.V. ads.

Think about Monday night, the idea of this Philadelphia rally, this closing argument by Clinton. It was the site of the couple of Obama's famous speeches. Of course it is a state where you can't vote early so Pennsylvania will be crucial in the final days. But thinking about that as a television event. The whole country will be watching on the eve of the election.

So Trump and Pence will be together which is rare, they rarely campaign together. So they'll have that final appearance together. And then Clinton and her surrogates all together in Pennsylvania for potentially a concert rally. I mean, it's going to be a heck of a made for T.V. spectacle. BERMAN: What it is, it is Clinton and Barack Obama and Michelle Obama. I mean, that's, you know, not just surrogates, it's very much ...

STELTER: The past, the present and they hope the future. Yeah.

BERMAN: ... tagging altogether there at the end.

KOPAN: Right.

STELTER: Yeah.

BERMAN: All right, Brian Stelter, Tal Kopan.

ROMANS: Have a great weekend.

STELTER: You too.

ROMANS: All right.

KOPAN: You too.

ROMANS: It is a popular product for surfers, bikers, and adrenaline junkies, investors are not impressed. To tell you one stock is heading off a cliff here when we get a check on CNN "Money Stream", next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:56:42] ROMANS: All right, it's Friday. Let's get a check on CNN "Money Stream". Futures down a little bit ahead of the government jobs report. Coming out later this morning, a solid number could help Hillary Clinton's chances of winning next week, but it also may firm up the Fed's decision to raise interest rates in December. Stock markets in Europe just opened. They are lower right now. Stock markets in Asia finished mixed overnight for the week.

Oil slipping now as well after a rough week for crude prices. The S&P 500 quietly stringing together eight straight days of losses, election jitters driving lower the -- driving stocks lower the past two weeks. There hasn't been any major move but for the DOW just quietly and slowly have giving up 2.9 percent in this losing streak for the year the DOW is up -- or the S&P rather is up about 2 percent.

GoPro is set to jump off a cliff today and that's not a good thing. Share is down more than 20 percent in pre-market trading. The action camera maker suffering a 40 percent drop in sales. Loss money, a net loss in profit last quarter. Lowering its estimates for holiday sales. Wall Street was expecting bad numbers, not this bad. GoPro struggle to expand beyond its, you know, niche market. Its made new versions of the its cameras even sells a drone now, but neither of those moves seem to be a boosting sales.

All right, that's your money for this morning. That's it for "Early Start." I'm Christine Romans. BERMAN: I'm John Berman. And we just have a few days left until this whole presidential election thing happens. "New Day" picks up right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is "New Day" with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN "NEW DAY"ANCHOR: Good morning everyone. We're delirious.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN "NEW DAY"ANCHOR: The best part of this show is before it starts.

CAMEROTA: Welcome to your "New Day". It's Friday, November 4th, it's 5:00 in the East.

Up first, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton battling it out in North Carolina. That's the state that could decide the presidency so both candidates now waging a battleground blitz as the race continues to tighten.

CUOMO: So who is where and what are they saying? What is their best reason to make them president of the United States? Just one, two, three, four days left until the election. We have it all covered for you. Let's begin with CNN's Sunlen Serfaty live in Charlotte, all important, North Carolina. Sunlen.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Good morning to you Chris. And the battle is so intense here in North Carolina that the candidates are practically running into each other. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton's campaign planes were parked at the same time, at the same airport last night in Raleigh. And today, Donald Trump is onward to north -- New Hampshire, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Three states so critical to his path forward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We know Hillary can't be trusted. We've learned that.

SERFATY: Donald Trump hitting Hillary Clinton over the FBI's new probe of a long time aide's e-mails.

TRUMP: And you take a look at her e-mail situation, can we trust her with our security? She is disqualified.

SERFATY: What person in a defense focus --