Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Gold Star Families Demand Apology from Trump; CNN Poll: Clinton Would Handle Foreign Policy Better; Warren Buffett Challenges Trump to Release Tax Returns; Trump to 'USA Today': Hope Ivanka Would Quit if Harassed. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired August 02, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... you're OK with it. And apparently, the Republican leadership is OK with his behavior and his denigration of the troops.

[07:00:07] CAMEROTA: We'll see what happens today as a result of your letter. Karen Meredith (ph), Cheryl Langford (ph), thank you very much, ladies. We appreciate you being here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Alisyn.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: We're following a lot of news this morning, so let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Horrible things were said about me.

I was very viciously attacked.

KHIZR KHAN, FATHER OF FALLEN U.S. SOLDIER: This is political season. I have the same rights as you do.

TRUMP: The country is a mess. We're going to make it strong again. We're going to make it safe again.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Trump is wrong. America is not weak.

TRUMP: She's crooked as a $3 Bill. Let me tell you.

CLINTON: We would like to see those tax returns, wouldn't we?

WARREN BUFFETT, BILLIONAIRE INVESTOR/PHILANTHROPIST: You're only afraid if you've got something to be afraid about.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's completely nerve-wracking.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The historic warning to travelers heading to a major U.S. city.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is in our backyard.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pandemic in process.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to your NEW DAY. Chris is off this morning. John Berman joins me. Great to have you in studio.

BERMAN: Good morning, everyone.

CAMEROTA: All right. Hillary Clinton emerging from her party's convention with a big bounce. She is now back on top over Donald Trump. Let's look at the numbers. Clinton is getting a seven-point bounce in this new CNN national poll. She leads by nine in a head-to- head match-up, as you can see there on her screen. But in a four-way race, Clinton has an eight-point lead now.

BERMAN: So Donald Trump now says he's concerned that the election, the whole thing could be rigged in his fallout of his feud with a Muslim family of a fallen war hero. It's causing major campaign issues on the trail. We have it all covered for you.

We want to begin with CNN political director David Chalian, with more now on our new poll numbers -- David.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Good morning, John. Let's look inside that Clinton bounce. What is making it happen? We tested some key issues. Take a look here.

Who would be better to handle foreign policy, wow. Clinton 59 percent, Trump 36 percent. That's a 23-point advantage for Clinton. This has been an issue where she has had advantage, but we haven't seen it this wide since way back in May.

Now look at our next issue. Who would be better to handle terrorism? Forty-eight percent Clinton, 48 percent Trump. This is a tie, and that is a big deal, because this has been a Trump advantage for the last six weeks in our polling. In fact, after his convention in Cleveland, John, he had an 11-point advantage on who would be best to handle terrorism. After her convention, Hillary Clinton has brought that to a tie.

You also know that Russia has been in the news of late in this presidential campaign. So we asked, is Russia a friend to the U.S.? And look at the difference. It all depends on which candidate you support. Among Trump voters, 43 percent say Russia is a friend to the U.S. Among Clinton voters, only 36 percent say that.

How about is Russia trying to influence this U.S. presidential election? Again, big difference depending on who you support. Sixty percent of Clinton voters believe Russia is trying to influence the U.S. election. Only a third, 33 percent, of Trump voters believe that to be true.

And John and Alisyn, this last number to me is probably the biggest number in our poll. Who would better handle the economy? We all know the economy is issue No. 1 for voters. Take a look at this. Hillary Clinton is now edging Donald Trump by two points, 50 percent to 48 percent. This is key, because he has been dominating on this score. He had an 11-point advantage after his convention. He has been leading on the economy since way back in the spring.

She now, after her convention, Hillary Clinton is able to just edge ahead on the score of the economy, which is a very important issue -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Very interesting. We'll see if she can sustain those numbers, and we will dive into the analysis of those numbers momentarily. David, stand by.

It's been a rough week for Donald Trump. Now the GOP nominee is warning supporters that he fears the November election could be rigged. This comes as his feud with the Muslim parents of a fallen American war hero is triggering a bitter backlash. CNN's Phil Mattingly joins us with more on all of that -- Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

Well, the backlash has been fierce, and it has been coming from inside the party, both publicly and privately. GOP officials asking Donald Trump to, as one told me, just leave this alone. Trump not going to do that. If you've watched over the course of the last 14 months of his campaign, when he feels like he's attacked, he's going to swing back. That's exactly what's happening now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: He made a deal with the devil. She's the devil. He made a deal with the devil.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Donald Trump ramping up his personal attacks on Hillary Clinton while criticizing Bernie Sanders for supporting the Democratic nominee.

TRUMP: She picked a vice-presidential candidate who is like the opposite of him.

MATTINGLY: And suggesting that if he loses in November it's because...

TRUMP: I'm afraid the election is going to be rigged.

MATTINGLY: All as the ongoing feud between Trump and the parents of slain Muslim U.S. soldier Captain Humayun Khan escalates.

[07:05:09] TRUMP: I have great honor and great feeling for his son, Mr. Khan's son. But, you know, as far as I'm concerned, he's a hero.

KHAN: You can attack Muslims. You can attack judges, and nobody can question your caliber? Your lack of empathy, and you want to be commander in chief?

TRUMP: I was very viciously attacked, as you know, when you have radical Islamic terrorists probably all over the place. We're allowing them to come in by the thousands and thousands. And I think that's what bothered Mr. Khan, more than anything else.

KHAN: He says, "Oh, I am being severely attacked, harshly attacked." Well, this is political season. You're a candidate for an office. And I have the same rights as you do.

MATTINGLY: The dispute rocking the GOP. Dozens of Republican leaders forced to come out in support of the Khans.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: We want to honor the families of those who have served and those who have sacrificed for all of us.

MATTINGLY: Trump's campaign bombarding their supporters on Capitol Hill with e-mails, urging them to back his position, but instead getting the cold shoulder.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our Gold Star families deserve our full and total support.

MATTINGLY: Emotions running high. At a rally for Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, a woman whose son in the Air Force booed for bringing up the issue.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trump has disrespected our nation's armed forces and veterans, and his disrespect for Mr. Khan and his family is just an example of that. Will there ever be -- will there ever be a point in time when you're able to look at Trump in the eye and tell him enough is enough?

PENCE: That's all right. Folks, that's what -- that's what freedom looks like, and that's what freedom sounds like. OK?

I want to honor your son's service to the country and your family's service to the country. I truly do, ma'am.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: Already reverberating on the campaign trail. And guys, that's the issue here, that this becomes what people are talking about. This becomes what voters are concerned about, not the economy, not the jobs, the issues that Donald Trump really up to this point has led on and does well on when you look at the polling.

BERMAN: If you look at how Mike Pence handled it there, as opposed to what you see from Donald Trump, maybe it will not be what people are talking about in days and weeks ahead, because he took the air out of the issue with that audience right there.

Phil Mattingly, thanks so much.

I want to bring in David Chalian, our political director; as well as CNN political analyst and Washington bureau chief for "The Daily Beast," Jackie Kucinich; and Ron Brownstein, CNN senior political analyst and senior editor at "The Atlantic."

I want to go back to the polls, Ron Brownstein, king of demographics right now. There is one number within our polls that you think could be decisive, perhaps even the most important number in this election. And that's college-educated white voters.

And with this group right now, Hillary Clinton is opening up a lead. And with the lead you say she's nearly invincible.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. First of all, thanks, John. The -- you know, the first poll after your own convention is often usually a high point for a candidate. So there's certainly more twists ahead. But what we are seeing here among college-educated whites is unprecedented. You know, if you go back in the history of polling to 1952, as we talked about before, no Democrat has ever won most college-educated white voters. Hillary Clinton is winning among them by ten points in your new poll; and she is over-performing not only along the college white women, who have been her best group from the beginning, but also significantly improving over President Obama among college white men.

And when you add that to Donald Trump's historic deficits among minorities, let's just stop there for a moment. In your poll, he is winning only 12 percent combined among all non-white voters, which is well below even the meager 17 percent that Mitt Romney won in 2012. When you add those two things together, there simply are not enough non-college whites, which are his best group, to win. And that's really underscored in your polling. He's still at 60 percent among them, and he's down by nine points.

So while there are more twists ahead, you are seeing some structure develop in this race with these two key pillars of the Democratic -- you know, what have been the Democratic coalition, socially liberal college-educated whites and non-white voters really aligning in a powerful way against Donald Trump at this point.

CAMEROTA: David Chalian, let's dive into some of the things that you think are most notable, namely terrorism, when the poll asks who would be best to handle terrorism? Conventional wisdom says that's Donald Trump, or at least he's done well historically with that. But now, after the conventions, they are tied, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both getting 48 percent.

I don't suppose the pollers asked the respondents what was it about the convention that allowed her to see that boost?

CHALIAN: Well, we don't have that specific question about what moment in the convention allowed you to do that. But clearly, part of the convention was aimed at -- especially the back half of the convention was aimed at showing Hillary Clinton as commander in chief, when you had General Allen out there speaking on her behalf; when you heard from some veterans and veteran's families out there as we've been talking about. That was all to bolster her commander in chief credentials, as well. [07:10:15] So again, Ron's caution is worth noting here. This is her

bounce poll. This is -- this is where Hillary Clinton is after four nights of lots of coverage of her designed program. And yes, she has drawn to a tie on this score that has been a Donald Trump advantage for much of this election.

BERMAN: Jackie, in talking to the campaigns, do you have a sense of what Hillary Clinton will do with this now, now that she is at parity on the economy, at parity on terrorism, which had been her weak issues? Is she going to push these points or, with this ongoing controversy and feud between Donald Trump and the Khan family, is she going to let that play out on its own or maybe keep pressing those buttons?

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think the answer is yes. I think they're going to walk and chew gum on this one. Because you've heard a lot of -- you've heard the Clinton campaign pile on a bit about -- you know, why wouldn't they -- with Trump and the Gold Star families. That said, she just got done with a bus tour going through the Rust Belt, talking about the economy and talking about how her and Tim Kaine will help the middle class.

So I think you're going to see a little of both, especially as they branch out and you see Tim Kaine head one way, Hillary Clinton head the other. There's no reason to think they won't be focused squarely, mostly on the economy, but you have to imagine some of these other areas where she's getting a bounce, they're going to weave it in.

CAMEROTA: Ron, let's talk about the ongoing feud between Donald Trump and the Khan family, because leading Republicans, John McCain notably, are coming out to denounce, basically, Donald Trump for his response to the Khan family.

And here is a "Wall Street Journal" columnist who writes this yesterday: "Conservative diehards may try to hold fast to the excuse that Hillary Clinton was, is and always will be 'worse,' but the argument can't be sustained indefinitely. Mrs. Clinton is not the apotheosis of evil. She may be a corner cutter and a liar. She's almost surely -- surely to appoint liberals to the Supreme Court, but at least she's not a sociopath."

Are we hearing more...

KUCINICH: Wow.

CAMEROTA: ... from conservatives and Republicans? Is this Khan issue forcing them to speak out instead of just sit on the sidelines?

BROWNSTEIN: It's very similar to the Judge Curiel issue. It's having the similar effect inside the Republican Party and very similar effect on the public overall.

Yes, I mean, look, the schism we are seeing is unprecedented with Donald Trump yesterday tweeting, you know, favorable words about the candidate challenging Paul Ryan in the Republican primary, and Ryan and McConnell distancing themselves from Trump's remarks again but without doing it personally. And then McCain, of course, going much farther than he ever has before.

And this does cut to what I was talking about before. You know, if you see one of Donald Trump's problems in the election, I think the biggest single problem is his underperformance with those college whites, which makes it very hard for him in many of the swing states, particularly places like Virginia, Colorado and even North Carolina.

He has two principle problems with those voters, Alisyn. One is that many of them consider him racially divisive. About half described him as biased against minorities and women in a "Washington Post" poll.

And the other is they don't consider him qualified to be president. Eighty percent of college white women in your poll and 71 percent of the college white men said he does not have the right experience to be president. And this is the kind of fight, plus Crimea -- you look at Khan and Crimea, the past 48 hours have encapsulated precisely the challenge Donald Trump faced with this significant block of white- collar white voters.

CAMEROTA: OK, panel, stick around, if you would. We have more to discuss with you, including this: Hillary Clinton's latest billionaire backer challenging Donald Trump to release his tax returns. Warren Buffett is blasting Donald Trump, suggesting that Trump is hiding something.

CNN senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny has more on this. He's live in Omaha, where he's getting a round of applause. Oh, no, that's rain. Hi, Jeff.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

It is a rainy morning here in Omaha. Warren Buffett often supports Democrats, but he does it very quietly. Not now. His soft-spoken approach was blown apart last night when he went after Donald Trump very hard.

Now, this is all part of the Clinton campaign's effort to bring out businessmen to show that Donald Trump, in their view, is not fit to serve. But it's also an effort to get under Donald Trump's skin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BUFFETT: Hillary! Hillary! Hillary!

ZELENY (voice-over): Hillary Clinton arm in arm on the campaign trail with billionaire Warren Buffett. The 85-year-old oracle of Omaha unleashing a scathing attack on Donald Trump.

BUFFETT: I've never known another businessman that brags about his bankruptcies. To tell you the truth, why not? I mean, it's his -- it's his claim to stardom. I don't know anybody else who's had six bankruptcies, but there he is.

ZELENY: Buffett condemning Trump for refusing to release his tax returns.

BUFFETT: He said it several times. He said he can't do it, can't release it because he's under audit. Now, I've got news for him. I'm under audit, too. I would be delighted to meet him any place, any time between now and election. I'll bring my tax return. He can bring his tax return. Nobody is going to arrest us.

[07:15:20] ZELENY: The billionaire investor forcefully rebuking Trump's attacks on the Muslim parents of a soldier slain in Iraq.

BUFFETT: How in the world can you stand up to a couple of parents who lost a son and talk about sacrificing, because you were building a bunch of buildings? I ask Donald Trump, have you no sense of decency, sir?

ZELENY: Buffett is the latest in a string of billionaire businessmen to speak out against Trump, part of Clinton's strategy to discredit his record. Last week at the Democratic convention, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg questioning Trump's competency.

MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, FORMER MAYOR OF NEW YORK: I'm a New Yorker, and I know a con when I see one.

ZELENY: And Saturday, billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban in his hometown of Pittsburgh calling Trump crazy.

MARK CUBAN, BILLIONAIRE ENTREPRENEUR: Leadership is not yelling and screaming and intimidating. Right? Yes, she knows.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: Now so far Donald Trump has not responded to this. We'll keep our eye on Twitter for that.

But John and Alisyn, you may wonder why Hillary Clinton is in Omaha at all. That is because this race now is all about electoral votes, the path to 270. And Nebraska and Maine, the only two states in the country that divide their electoral votes by congressional district. The Clinton campaign believes they can win this one electoral vote here in Omaha, here in Nebraska. They've been advertising here for weeks already.

She visited yesterday, and I'm told she'll be back again. Of course, Donald Trump will also fight for this, as well as campaign in Maine, actually, this week.

BERMAN: So interesting seeing them both traveling for one electoral vote. All right. Jeff Zeleny in Omaha. Thanks so much.

I want to bring back our panel: David Chalian, Jackie Kucinich, Ron Brownstein.

David, I want to ask you about these billionaires. Warren Buffett, speaking in his folksy manner, talks about being audited. You know, he's just like this except for the 50 billion. Why does the Clinton campaign like these optics? Explain. BROWNSTEIN: Well, listen, first of all, this is Donald Trump's club

in some way, and they're rejecting him, right? He is of the billionaire club, and here people are with their own business acumen to begin criticizing him on this score. So, that's one piece of the optic that they really like.

But also because they want to point out that not -- that the economy, these folks know it, know how to master the economy; and they're on Hillary Clinton's side. So it's twofold. It's the anti-Trump, but it also boosts her credentials on the economy.

CAMEROTA: So Jackie, Warren Buffett is beating the drumbeat that Donald Trump needs to release his taxes. You heard Buffett there say, "I, too, am under an audit. Wouldn't stop me from releasing my taxes." And in fact, he said, "I'll meet him anywhere. I'll bring my tax returns. He should bring his tax returns."

Is this getting -- is this gaining any traction, do you sense, on the campaign trail?

KUCINICH: You'd think. But it certainly doesn't sound like Donald Trump is going to do that. I think Warren Buffett also said he was going to make an offer that Trump couldn't refuse, but it certainly seems like he's going to take a hard pass. Which leaves a lot of questions open about where Donald Trump is giving his money, where he's getting his money.

These are fundamental questions that we've had the answers to in a lot of ways for, you know, as long as I can remember, even when Mitt Romney released just a couple years of tax returns. That was enough to answer a lot of questions that we had, even about the rate that he's paying.

So as long as Donald Trump refuses to do this, Hillary Clinton can say, "What's he hiding?" And that will be something that we hear all the way to the -- all the way to election day if he decides not to release any years of his taxes.

BERMAN: Warren Buffett has literally said, "You show me yours. I'll show you mine." Donald Trump will have a tax return release party. Don't think that's going to happen any time soon.

Ron Brownstein, again, to the idea of these billionaires, if Hillary Clinton's weakness is with white, working-class voters, wouldn't it help to appear with some white working-class voters and not white billionaire dudes?

BROWNSTEIN: This is less about that. I mean, the phrase I heard the most from Democratic strategists at the convention was permission structure. A somewhat obscure phrase. That basically says they're trying to create a permission structure for right of center or right- leaning independent voters to feel comfortable voting for Hillary Clinton and not Donald Trump.

You saw that when President Obama separated Donald Trump from the Republican Party, which couldn't have made Harry Reid entirely happy, having to run against senators. And you see that in this.

I mean, she's basically trying to say to professionals that, you know, she is -- that this is a seal of approval that professionals would see as relevant on the economy. Less so to those blue-collar white voters. And certainly, she did a bus tour this weekend that was aimed at them. But I think many people would say that was the blind spot at the Democratic convention amid the celebration of diversity and changing of America, which was a core message there. There was less there for that traditional Democratic kind of blue-collar Rust Belt voter outside of Joe Biden. And this continues in that vein.

[07:20:08] But look, it is -- you know, if Hillary Clinton can hold even an even performance among college-educated white voters, it gets very hard for him. It does shake up the Electoral College from the Sun Belt maybe all the way to the Rust Belt, but that is a powerful coalition. And he's got to find a way to talk to those college voters.

Quick correction: 64 percent of college white men said he was not qualified. The 71 percent number I said -- I cited was the percentage of college white men who believe that Hillary Clinton does have the right experience to be president.

BERMAN: We'll take that out of our paycheck. Ron Brownstein, David Chalian, Jackie Kucinich, thanks so much.

CAMEROTA: That's a big percentage to come out.

There's new controversy surrounding Donald Trump over his comments on sexual harassment and his daughter, Ivanka. What he said and why it has many people upset.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Donald Trump with a pretty interesting new interview with "USA Today" after answering questions about harassment allegations facing former FOX News chief Roger Ailes. The reporter asked Trump what if his own daughter was harassed? Here's how Trump replied: "I would like to think she would find another career or find another company if that was the case."

[07:25:14] CAMEROTA: All right. Joining us to discuss is former senior adviser to Bill Clinton and writer for "The New Yorker," Richard Sacarides; and CNN political commentator and Donald Trump supporter Kayleigh McEnany. Thanks to both of you for being here.

Kayleigh, what did you think of his response there that his daughter would have to go find another job if she was sexually harassed?

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, I think that that's the same advice my father would probably give me. It's the same advice I would give to my sister. Get away from the situation. If someone is harassing you or someone is being aggressive, move jobs, get away from the situation.

CAMEROTA: But the woman is not supposed to have to leave her job. MCENANY: She's not supposed to.

CAMEROTA: It's not supposed to happen in the workplace. If you have a hostile work environment, you're supposed to go to the authorities and be able to stay at your job.

MCENANY: But look, every woman treats the situations differently. Some women, they might be fine staying around an employer. It might be too emotionally scarring. For my family, the concern would be to get away from this aggressive boss, get away from the situation and leave. That's what I would advise my siblings, too.

RICHARD SACARIDES, WRITER, "THE NEW YORKER": Well, I mean, the interesting thing here now, Kayleigh and I both went to law school, right? So first of all, on one level, this shows a shocking misunderstanding of the legal system and the legal rights and remedies that are available to anybody who was sexually harassed. I mean, the -- you are entitled to...

CAMEROTA: To keep your job.

SACARIDES: ... to work in an environment that is free from harassment, that is free from illegal activity and one in which you are allowed to succeed based upon your merits.

But more importantly here, I think that this remark -- you know, when I heard this remark the first thing I thought about was Mitt Romney and that 47 percent, because this remark exposes a worldview of things. Exposes, you know, shows Donald Trump, you know, the way he thinks about something.

And of course, he's always been the boss. And so I think he feels that he's entitled to act however he wants. And you know, I'm sure he also thinks that his friend, Roger Ailes, was viciously attacked because -- by this woman, you know. So I mean, I think this shows a view of things that is pretty shocking.

MCENANY: But Richard refers to the legal case. He was asked as a father what would you advise your daughter to do? If your daughter is being sexually harassed by a male, the father's preeminent concern is not building a legal case. It is getting his daughter away from that situation.

SACARIDES: But you know, if I -- if it were my -- I mean, I don't have children. But if I was a father, and it was my daughter who was sexually harassed at work and came to me and she said that she had been harassed, I would say, "Go straight to your human resources person. Let them know what's happened, and you know, assert your rights." I mean, because -- because people are entitled to a workplace that is free from harassment. I mean...

CAMEROTA: Isn't that the right course? As a -- as someone who went to law school, isn't that the right course of action?

MCENANY: For some people, maybe. But for a father looking at his daughter in a horrible situation, who knows what level of sexual harassment...

SACARIDES: Can I just say one other thing.

BERMAN: Very quickly.

SACARIDES: It's interesting that his point was not even that she should change jobs but that she should entirely change careers. He's talking about his own daughter here.

BERMAN: You guys both went to law school so you can weigh in on the next subject, which is Hillary Clinton and her e-mails. She did an interview over the weekend with FOX News, where Donald Trump is giving, you know, employment advice. Also in "The Washington Post" has given her four Pinocchios for how she answered questions to Chris Wallace. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Director Comey said that my answers were truthful and what I said is consistent with what I have told the American people.

REP. TREY GOWDY (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Secretary Clinton said all work- related e-mails were returned to the State Department. Was that true?

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: No. We found work-related e-mails, thousands, that were not returned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Richard Sacarides, can you point to a single example in the testimony that Comey gave or in a statement where he said what Hillary Clinton said to the American people was truthful?

SACARIDES: Well, let me say this...

BERMAN: Yes or no?

SACARIDES: No. He said...

BERMAN: Yes or no?

SACARIDES: Yes.

BERMAN: You can't.

SACARIDES: Yes, you can. He clearly said that the -- that the testimony -- responses she gave to his investigation were, I think, his exact words were not untruthful. So but listen, on this whole topic...

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: I'm asking -- Richard, the important thing is what did she say to the American people? The question here is what did she tell the American people, and Comey specifically was asked whether or not when she told the American people that she never had sent classified e-mails, truth she never sent classified e-mails.

SACARIDES: John Berman, did Mr. Comey say that she lied to the American people?

BERMAN: Well, no. Exactly right. He said he wasn't equipped to answer that. so I think her answer is completely consistent with that. But on this whole e-mail thing, look, she said she made a mistake. She said she should she should not have proceeded this way on the e-mails.

But I think that also, if she had done anything illegally permissible, Mr. Comey would have taken action against her. So I think that the American people have to make a judgement about this. I mean, she said she made a mistake. She's apologized. I think the American people have to judge her, and believe me, there's plenty of evidence.

CAMEROTA: Kayleigh, case closed?

MCENANY: If you're going to apologize...