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New Day

New Clinton Documents; Craig Sager Refuses to be Sidelined; Debunking Campaign Conspiracy Theories. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired August 24, 2016 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:31:39] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump seizing on a report by the AP, saying a majority of the private citizens who met with Secretary Clinton while she ran the State Department were major donors to the Clinton Foundation. How much does this mean to the race?

Let's discuss this and many other topics with CNN's senior political commentator David Axelrod, the former senior advisor to President Obama.

It's good to see you, Ax.

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, my friend.

CUOMO: So, the pushback is, AP cherry picked the data. This is only a small sample of her meetings and they found the associations that would be most damming. Fair push back or does the allegation stand?

AXELROD: Well, the allegation is going to stand and it will be an issue in the campaign. Will it be a lasting damaging issue? I - probably not. Look, the names that I saw out there, and I haven't seen the entire list, people like Melinda Gates and Muhammad Yunus and so on, are people who probably would have gotten appointments with the secretary of state regardless. I think it becomes a more serious story if someone can make a link between these meetings and some improper favor that was granted beyond the access.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I mean that's the point, right? I mean that's what - that's what all of Hillary Clinton's supporters who have been on the show this morning are saying is that a secretary of state would meet with the crown prince of Bahrain. That where is the - where is the smoking gun there?

AXELROD: Yes, but they - there's no doubt that, look, I think this was - this kind of stuff is manna from heaven for Donald Trump, who's been in the barrel for the last six weeks mostly because of his own antics. He - it gave him a chance and his supporters a chance to go on the attack, and they took advantage of it. I don't know that it particularly changes the dynamic of the race. And my guess is, it will be a little bump in the road.

CUOMO: The only thing that I think is odd is that there's a narrative that's come out of this, which is, it wasn't illegal. It's not illegal. You know, she didn't break a law. It's not a felony. That is a very low bar for responsible governing for Clinton and for Trump. I mean we hear about it on his side too about a lot of allegations. Have you picked that up in this election, that if it ain't illegal, its OK?

AXELROD: Yes, well, Chris, but I - I don't want to repeat my whole bear joke again, but the fact is that - the fact is that, you know, she is - she is blessed with the right opponent. You look at, for example, these trustworthiness measures and Donald Trump basically is where she is on those measures. So it's - that's not going to decide this election. The people I think have made a judgment that Hillary Clinton is imperfect. Their concern is that they feel like Donald Trump is unstable and unfit. And that's what he has to fix if he's going to get back into this race.

CAMEROTA: OK, David, onto this new cache of 15,000 e-mails from Hillary Clinton. She was on Jimmy Kimmel the other night talking about it and she said, we've released 30,000. What's a few more. You then tweeted this. You said, "the 'what's a few more' answer on Kimmel also was a little off key."

AXELROD: Yes.

CAMEROTA: What should she have said, do you think?

AXELROD: Well, I don't know, but I think she should not joke about this. She's done this a few times. She seemed flippant about it. Obviously there are concerns about the - how she handled these e- mails. And all these jokes fall flat. And it makes it seem as if she's not taking the issue seriously. And that only exacerbates her problem. So whomever - that seemed like a line she was waiting to deliver. And whomever suggested that line did her a disservice.

[08:35:16] CUOMO: Ax, when you take a look at the map, we're seeing more and more of these prognostications of how you get to 270. Can Trump get to 270? Do you feel it's too early for that?

AXELROD: Well, I think if - you know, look, there's a fundamental dynamic between Republicans and Democrats that you start with. Democrats, you know, have won 242 electoral votes I think, six out of six elections. So Democrats start with a big advantage. And then you add the Trump factor and he's in a big hole. And I don't think it's too early to have that discussion.

Can things change? Yes, they can change. The dynamic is pretty grim for him right now, but these debates loom large. And if he comes in and turns in performances that change people's thinking, perhaps he can get back in this race. But I don't think it's too early to suggest that he's got a big hill to climb. I think he does have a big hill to climb here.

CAMEROTA: There's another dynamic, David, that he's trying to change, and that is the outreach to black and Hispanic, all minority, voters. Thus far, he's made the appeal in front of white audiences -

AXELROD: Yes. CAMEROTA: At rallies in white neighborhoods. However, that's changing. And in the next couple of weeks, he is planning trips to urban areas. He's going to make stops at churches, charter schools, small businesses in black and Latino communities. This is according to Philip Rucker in "The Washington Post." He's developing an empowerment agenda based on economy and education. Can he turn this around?

AXELROD: Well, I think he - there, too, he has a big hill too climb. I think he is hovering between zero and 1 percent among African-American voters in most of the polls I've seen. And they have - they have margins of error of four - plus or minus 4 percent. So he could actually be at negative four in some of these polls. I think he's got a big - he's got a big -

CAMEROTA: Interesting math.

AXELROD: I wasn't very good at math. He has a big - he has a big, big challenge here. One of the challenges, and I did tweet about this yesterday as well, this is my - this is my - this is my main mode of communication, 140 characters. I have learned this from -

CAMEROTA: Trump-like.

AXELROD: I've learned this from Donald Trump, yes, is that, you know, he is going to have to explain in these urban communities where he promises to make people safe why he is so fundamentally unwilling to consider any steps that would prevent guns from flowing into these communities, which are - some of which are war zones, primarily because there are too many guns there and they're easy to access. And so there are a lot of issues that he's going to be confronted with. And when he goes into the Hispanic community, you know, Donald Trump's big enemy is going to be videotape. People know what he has been saying for the last year, and he - he's going to be met with great skepticism as to whether this sudden lurch is genuine or whether it's the product of consultation with his latest core of advisors.

CAMEROTA: David Axelrod, thank you. Great to talk to you.

AXELROD: OK, guys, have a great day.

CAMEROTA: All right, we're also staying on top of some breaking news for you. This is out of central Italy. There's been a devastating earthquake there. It's killed at least 39 people and an entire town is gone, according to its mayor. So we have all of the latest on that disaster for you next.

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[08:42:36] CUOMO: We're staying on top of that breaking news from Italy. Now 39 people are judged dead. That number is going to go up. They're just starting to sort through rubble. There are many, many people missing. The quake struck overnight in central Italy leaving mountain towns practically in ruins. So we'll be monitoring this situation. There's - access, still a problem, trying to get heavy equipment in to start the digging. So many of the rescue crews and locals are using hand tools to try to search for survivors. The quake shook the area in the early morning hours. Our correspondent said all these ancient building that make this region of Italy so beautiful are what's making this situation even more deadly.

CAMEROTA: All right, we have more breaking news to tell you about. There's been another earthquake, central Myanmar, rattled by a 6.8 magnitude quake. This hit around 4:30 p.m. local time and tremors were felt several hundred miles away in Thailand's capital of Bangkok. No injuries or deaths reported yet, but some tourist sites were damaged.

CUOMO: Also breaking this morning, Turkish tanks, backed by jets and U.S. coalition warplanes, have crossed the border into Syria. They are attacking ISIS, blasting the militants from the border town of Jarablus. Turkish jets and artillery have been caring out shelling and air strikes targeting at least 93 militant hotspots. Turkish-based Syrian rebel forces are also in the region as part of the operation to take back the town from ISIS. The mission is happening as U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visits Turkey.

CAMEROTA: All right, election rigging, health problems, these are just a couple of the conspiracy theories that are coming up on the campaign trail. So what is the real story? We'll get to that and try to debunk some of the myths.

CUOMO: But first, sportscaster Craig Sager, he just refuses to be sidelined. He's had a two and a half year battle with cancer. He has this never give up attitude that everybody sees and admires. It keeps him going and certainly inspires the rest of us. CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has his story in this "Turning Points."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Veteran sideline reporter Craig Sager is probably best known for his vibrant interviews and his colorful outfits during NBA games.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take all of this, handkerchief, (INAUDIBLE), all of that, burn it, OK?

CRAIG SAGER: Something about getting up and being lively.

[08:45:00] GUPTA: But the upbeat sportscaster was dealt a devastating blow at a game in 2014.

SAGER: I ran into the doctor of the Mavs. He looked at me and, Sager, what's wrong? He says, you've gotta go to the emergency room.

GUPTA: It was leukemia. Sager needed a bone marrow transplant. His son Craig was a perfect match. But the cancer came back. His son saved his life again.

CRAIG SAGER II, SAGER'S SON: I didn't really even think of it as donating. It was, we were in it together.

GUPTA: Sager recovered just in time for the start of the NBA season.

SAGER: I didn't miss a game. I thought, great. GUPTA: But then in February, another relapse. Even through treatment,

Sager never stopped working. He covered the first NBA finals of his career in June.

SAGER: Just a tremendous night.

GUPTA: Now he's back at the hospital preparing for a rare third transplant from an anonymous donor. Last month, Sager was awarded the Jimmy V Award for perseverance at the ESPY Awards.

SAGER: Time is something that cannot be bought. Time is simply how you live your life.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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CAMEROTA: Many conspiracy theories swirling around this year's presidential election. This morning we take a closer look at these claims and we try to expose the facts.

So let's begin with Donald Trump's claim that a rigged system will favor Hillary Clinton in the election. Listen to this.

[08:50:03] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The whole thing with voter I.D., identification, I think is really - I mean people are going to walk in, they're going to vote ten times maybe. Who knows. Just like Bernie Sanders, I said it was rigged. Well, it's rigged here too, believe me.

I'm telling you, November 8th, we better be careful, because that election's going to be rigged. And I hope the Republicans are watching closely or it's going to be taken away from us.

You've got to get everybody to go out and watch and go out and vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Joining us now, CNN's senior media correspondent and host of "Reliable Sources," Brian Stelter.

Brian, great to have you here.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Thanks.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about this. Is there history in this country of people being able to go out and vote ten times and thereby swaying an election?

STELTER: Voter fraud happens only once in a while. It's very rare. And when it happens, it is investigated. You know, there are regulators that oversee this sort of thing. There are also volunteers at polling places that look out for this kind of thing. And it - when it happens, it is usually investigated, sometimes prosecuted, but it is not very common. And what Trump is describing is something that is so much more extreme than what the reality of voter fraud is.

CAMEROTA: One of the things that keeps coming up, certainly on social media, is that there was this election - there were these 59 precincts in Philadelphia in 2012.

STELTER: Right.

CAMEROTA: And in these 59 precincts, Mitt Romney did not get one single vote. And that just, you know, sort of raises everybody's eyebrows. How could that be unless it was a rigged election with all sorts of fraud?

STELTER: Until you think about the precincts in other states, like Utah, where Barack Obama did not get a single vote, and then it starts to make more sense. Yes, I think what happens in these situations are, there are little facts, little grains of truth that are out there, that then becomes talking points. And once they become talking points, they lose almost all semblance of reality. Yes, it's possible to have an entire precinct where all the votes are for one candidate. That would be because most of them are African-American voters in the case of Obama, most of them are Morman voters in the case of Romney. It doesn't mean there's a conspiracy.

CAMEROTA: And just to make everybody feel better, in 2012, because of that - this 59 precincts, "The Philadelphia Enquirer" went back to find the registered Republicans in every one of those 59 precincts and they went and tried to find them and interview them. They found that many had moved. Others did not know that they were registered Republicans. And others confirmed that they, in fact, had voted for Barack Obama. So they did -

STELTER: Right.

CAMEROTA: You know, there's real gumshoe reporting going into that.

STELTER: And that's a great note about going to the local source. You know, when you see some of these ideas online, I see them on my FaceBook page all the time. Donald Trump really has mainstreamed conspiratorial thinking about politics this year. That's - you know, we can take that for what it is. What you've got to do, when you see those theories on FaceBook or Twitter is go to the local sources and the reliable sources. In this case, going to "The Philadelphia Enquirer" is the best source to go to because they actually did the research.

CAMEROTA: Yes, get to the rood of it, investigate it.

OK, next conspiracy theory, Hillary Clinton's health. Listen to what some Trump supporters and Trump himself have been saying about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Well, one thing she doesn't have, the strength or the stamina, coupled with all of the other problems that this country has.

KATRINA PIERSON, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SPOKESWOMAN: What's new are the other reports of the observations of Hillary Clinton's behavior and mannerisms, specifically with what you just showed in those previous clips, as well as her dysphasia, the fact that she's fallen. She has had a concussion.

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: I mean look, (INAUDIBLE), go online and put down "Hillary Clinton illness" and take a look at the videos for yourself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: What is the truth here, Brian?

STELTER: Well, yes, she did have a health scare in 2012. And, yes, it took time for her to recover.

CAMEROTA: She fell down.

STELTER: She fell down. And there's no evidence that that is now causing lingering problems that would stop her from being president. I think what - when you hear Donald Trump talk about her stamina, it's really a cue to his voters, to supporters to think, oh, maybe, maybe she does have that secret illness that I've heard about on talk radio. There's just no evidence that she actually does. And her physician has said repeatedly that she is fit to serve as president, just like Donald Trump's physician has said.

CAMEROTA: But in terms of going to the source -

STELTER: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Would there be a way for her to be more transparent and release maybe more medical records?

STELTER: I think we're going to see both Trump and Clinton continue to be challenged to share more records. And that's perfectly fair. You know, there's a difference between reporting, encouraging more reporting, which we should do, versus buying into the most dramatic and outrageous of these conspiracy theories. And that's why we say, again, in the case of Rudy Giuliani, he's telling people to Google, that's a slippery slope for Rudy to be saying. You know, if you Google 9/11, you're going to see some insane theories about what happened on 9/11. Just because it's on the Internet doesn't make it true. I know that's crazy to say, but it's true.

CAMEROTA: Breaking news.

STELTER: It's true.

CAMEROTA: One last conspiracy theory to get to, and that is that you've heard repeated many times, that immigrants, we don't know where they're coming from. They have no documentation. People, refugees coming from Syria, how can we ever know who they are? Many of them are terrorists. STELTER: This is something that Donald Trump continues to say in

different ways as he talks about his immigration plan. At different times he's said that thousands of radical Islamic terrorists have been allowed into the United States. There's just no evidence of that and there's so much - think about it this way. This is a - probably helpful for our viewers. Think about all the contrary evidence when you hear a claim like that. Think about all the reasons why it might not be true. In this case if, you know, there were thousands of radical terrorists getting across the border, that would be the biggest news story in the world. So some of this just doesn't pass the smell test.

[08:55:20] I get that in an election season, all sides want to believe their candidate of choice, but we've got to apply a lot of scrutiny right now.

CAMEROTA: Brian Stelter, thanks so much. Great to talk to you, as always.

STELTER: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: All right, "The Good Stuff," that's next.

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CUOMO: All right, here's "The Good Stuff." Carson Boutte celebrating his ninth birthday, but instead of getting gifts for himself, guess what he wanted to do?

CAMEROTA: What?

CUOMO: Get something for others.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARSON BOUTTE: We're going to give them lunch so that they don't have to stop what they're doing. So we're going to deliver pizzas to neighborhoods.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Love him. Spent the day going door-to-door in Louisiana, hand delivering pizzas to neighbors that were impacted by the floods. When Carson was finished, he delivered a total of, wait for it, 363 pizzas for his birthday. That's what he wanted to do for his birthday.

[09:00:02] CAMEROTA: Why are my kid so inadequate?

CUOMO: Oh, don't say that.

CAMEROTA: Is that just bad parenting?

CUOMO: It's just - this is a great example for them to do something even better.

CAMEROTA: Great. Great. I'm going to call them later. Time now for "Newsroom" with Carol Costello.

Hey, Carol.

CUOMO: Speaking of perfect -

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks so much.