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New Day

Anchors discuss "bizarre twists" in 2016 election cycle; Pastor Mark Burns tweets cartoon of Hillary Clinton in blackface; Actor Gene Wilder dies at 83. 7:00-7:30a ET

Aired August 30, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00] MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Also a fine line for John McCain to walk and not just today in today's primary, but also in November. Chris?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Big contrast in styles, though, between McCain and Rubio. McCain does not pull any punches when it comes to talking about character, especially with Donald Trump. Manu, thank you very much.

There's a lot of news from bizarre twists in this election and some headlines from around the world. So let's get to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM KAINE, (D) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump is pushing their values. Ku Klux Klan values, David Duke values.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: People will look at that and say, you seem desperate.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What do you have to lose? It can't get any worse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He can reach all he wants. That's not going to work.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hillary Clinton's most loyal, longest serving aide who's now become a flash point within the campaign.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anthony Weiner caught in yet another sexting scandal.

TRUMP: She's married to a guy that is uncontrolled and uncontrollable. He is a sick puppy.

COLIN KAEPERNICK, SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS QUATERBACK: I'll continue to sit. I'm going to continue to stand with the people that are being oppressed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kaepernick silent demonstration is setting off a fire storm of criticism.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He should never play another down in the NFL again. Move to Canada. KAEPERNICK: When there's significant change, I'll stand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

CUOMO: Gene Wilder is gone. We're going to remember him for you this morning just to give you a sense of the impact he had in the world of entertainment and beyond. Good day. Welcome to your "New Day."

The tone and tenor of the presidential race has gotten uglier by the day. A prominent black Trump supporter tweeting out a cartoon of Hillary Clinton in blackface. Now, you're going to hear from that Pastor in this hour.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: This as former KKK leader David Duke uses a robocall to encourage people to vote for Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, Trump using the latest Anthony Weiner sexting scandal to question Hillary Clinton's judgment. So we have all of this covered for you. Let's begin with CNN's Jason Carroll. You have a lot to get through, Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure do. Allegations of racism, sexting, what's next in the campaign? For those looking for policy of discussion that will come tomorrow when Donald Trump delivers his highly anticipated speech on immigration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Accusations of racism, leading to more personal attacks on the campaign trail.

CONWAY: People will look at that and say, you seem desperate.

CARROLL: Donald Trump's campaign manager hitting back at Hillary Clinton's running mate for remarks he made last week linking Trump to former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard, David Duke.

KAINE: Donald Trump is pushing their values. Ku Klux Klan values, David Duke values.

CONWAY: In the case of Tim Kaine, I mean, we expect the rough and tumble politics, the lies from Hillary Clinton and her folks. And you stoop so low that you are making these allegations and I think it's going to backfire.

CARROLL: But Duke who is running for a senate seat in Louisiana is for is promoting Trump in robocalls in his Louisiana senate campaign.

DAVID DUKE, FORMER IMPERIAL WIZARD OF THE KU KLUX KLAN: It's time to stand up and vote for Donald Trump for president and vote for me, David Duke for the U.S. senate.

CARROLL: Trump had been criticized for not disavowing Duke's endorsement quickly enough during the primary. Trump's campaign did quickly disavow the robocalls in a statement and on CNN.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's absolutely disturbing the Trump campaign has no knowledge of the campaign that David Duke is running and we have disavowed David Duke and don't condone any of the activities that he's doing.

CARROLL: At a fund raising in the Hamptons, Clinton saying Duke's senate bid is a by-product of Trump dog whistles to racist voters.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Nobody knows how well he is doing and how his embrace of Trump and Trump's acceptance of him could put that man, that despicable man, in the Senate of the United States.

CARROLL: This has Trump supporter Pastor Mark Burns apologized after tweeting this photo of Hillary Clinton in blackface, marking her outreach to black voters.

PASTOR MARK BURNS, THE HARVEST PRAISE & WORSHIP CENTER: The last thing I want to do is to offend people.

CARROLL: Meanwhile, the Republican nominees seizing on the latest sexting scandal surrounding the husband of long-time Hillary Clinton adviser, Huma Abedin.

TRUMP: She's married to a guy that is uncontrolled and uncontrollable.

CARROLL: Abedin announcing her separation from disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner after the "New York Post" published suggestive pictures he allegedly sent to another woman with his child lying next to him. Something people close to the family tells CNN left Abedin furious and sickened. Trump using the opportunity to slam Clinton's, "bad judgment."

TRUMP: He's a sick person. And, you know, she has access to classified information, to think that it's very likely that much of this information Anthony Weiner would know about. And I think it's something that was terrible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: And Trump will take center stage when he delivers his speech on immigration tomorrow from Phoenix.

[07:05:03] Some of his supporters concerned he is softening his position on his promise to put into place a deportation force to deport an estimated 11 million undocumented people living in the United States.

The campaign finally hoping to put the issue to rest tomorrow and Trump tweeting about this speech this morning just about a half hour ago saying the following, "From day one I said I was going to build a great wall on the southern border and much more, stop illegal immigration." Watch Wednesday. Alisyn? CAMEROTA: Jason, thank you. You've shown us a lot of material to talk about, so let's discuss it with CNN Political Commentator and Trump supporter, Kayleigh McEnany and CNN Political Contributor and Hillary Clinton supporter, Hillary Rosen. Great to have both of you here.

Let's talk about all the news that is broken overnight and in the past 24 hours. Let's start with this offensive cartoon that was retweeted by this Pastor who is a Trump supporter of Hillary Clinton in blackface.

He was trying to show that she is pandering. Here it is. That she's pandering to black voters. Kayleigh, should the Trump campaign make a statement about this?

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think Pastor Mark Burns apologized for it. He made a statement and that's enough. You know, he shouldn't have sent the tweet, but I know Pastor Mark Burns. He's an absolutely phenomenal person. He's a great guy. And I think, you know, he made a mistake, but we all do.

CAMEROTA: We will be interviewing him, shortly, so everyone just stick around for that. Here is his apology. He says, "The tweet was not designed to anger or stir up the pot like it did. It was designed to bring how I feel a very real reality as to why the Democratic Party and how I view it has been pandering and using black people just for their vote."

Obviously, no candidate is ever responsible for all of their supporters. That's impossible. Does this require the campaign itself to talk about this or no?

HILLARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, the list of things that Donald Trump has to apologize for, for his own behavior or others is just endless. He's just never done it.

And in fact, the more people harp on him to do it, you know, he ends up repeating himself like he did with the Jewish Star. Well, I, you know, I'm story we took it down. So I just don't think we should expect this anymore.

CAMEROTA: Or should he have to for something incendiary that a supporter does. Does a candidate have to apologize?

ROSEN: Define have to. This is every little bit of behavior by Donald Trump we're lock up. But, it's just more information. And I think the same is true of Hillary Clinton.

You know, the fact that he doesn't apologize, the fact that he doesn't think it's inappropriate to use blackface as a symbol, you know, that's more information about Donald Trump that people have.

CAMEROTA: Anthony Weiner's sexting scandal, Donald Trump, it has not become a part of the presidential campaign because Donald Trump has basically linked it to Hillary Clinton's judgment. Let me read for you what he has said. "Hillary Clinton was careless and negligent in allowing Weiner to have such close proximity to highly classified information. Who knows what he learned and who he told. It's just another example of Hillary Clinton's bad judgment. It is possible that our country and its security have been greatly compromised by this." Is that fair, Kayleigh?

MCENANY: I think it is fair. And he also said that Huma made a wise decision getting away from Anthony Weiner. You know, our hearts as women go out to her. I can't imagine being in the situation she was in. With that said, you know, whose Colonel Anthony Shaffer came out and said, "This is a perilous situation for national security."

CAMEROTA: How do we know -- but how do we -- I mean, Huma Abedin seems very discreet. She rarely has ever speaks in public. I mean, she is the person who you see whispering in Hillary Clinton's ear. How do you -- we know there's no evidence that she shared anything with her husband.

MCENANY: We don't know that. We do know that Huma Abedin news broke last week brought classified information into a foreign country and left it in her car and had to have an aide remove it something that is not within the bounds of protocol.

ROSEN: But it was removed.

MCENANY: It is a foreign intelligence officer's dream to exploit a situation like this via blackmail. So that the point is whether it happened or not, I'm not sure it did. We don't have evidence of that. It is still a national security situation, no doubt.

ROSEN: Well, the last, you know, three administrations national security advisers and national security team are supporting Hillary Clinton for president, not Donald Trump. I think the idea of holding state secrets, what we need to do in foreign affairs, there's no question that the judgment that Hillary Clinton has far surpasses the support that Donald Trump has.

CAMEROTA: So what about the Huma Abedin connection in Anthony Weiner? Is there anything ...

ROSEN: The Huma issue is really a Trump attempt to exploit a personal tragedy. Huma doesn't care what Donald Trump thinks of her marriage. He doesn't need his advice to say good job on separating from somebody who painfully hurt her. It's offensive to even go there.

Everything he does now and yesterday change me. Everything Donald Trump says now, I'm going to start thinking about what if a president said that and my child was listening. Like, is that how well we want a president to talk about?

MCENANY: And you have a military leader coming out and suggesting that this was a bad situation.

ROSEN: There are hundreds of military.

MCENANY: None of us are military leaders right here.

[07:10:03] ROSEN: Stop it. Stop it. I've heard you say this for two days. It's just nonsense. You can get a military leader to say anything.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: But why did yesterday change you? Why just yesterday?

ROSEN: Because the fact that a president of the United States would comment and slam somebody's marriage, a painful and embarrassing situation, and use it to exploit it for their own personal, political gains ...

MCENANY: He didn't do that. He said she was wise.

ROSEN: He absolutely did that.

MCENANY: He did not do that. Go read the first half of his statement.

ROSEN: Wise is the point, you know. Yeah, you finally got rid of that guy. Guess what, you know, he ended up -- he's on his third marriage. Who is he to communicate to anyone about other people's marriages? It's totally offensive.

CAMEROTA: Moving on to the emails, the RNC is asking the Clinton Foundation to release their emails that they sent to the State Department. So we've seen it from the other way, where the State Department has

released its e-mails to the FBI or to the public, but now because there have been these communications between Doug Band, the top executive at the Clinton Foundation and the State Department, the RNC is doing it the other way in saying, "OK, Clinton Foundation give us all of your information." Do you have any problem with that, Hillary?

ROSEN: You know, the Clinton Foundation, the reason we know what we know about Clinton Foundation donors is because this foundation has been more transparent and more open than any other foundation in the country.

I don't think we have ever seen anything come out of that foundation that has personally profited anybody other than, you know, poor children with AIDS in Africa or storm victims in Haiti.

The idea that we are working with some nefarious problem here is just outrageous. So let the RNC be the first one to unveil all of their potential secrets.

CAMEROTA: So you're OK with them releasing -- having to release it all or ...

ROSEN: No. I think the Clinton Foundation should do what they want to do, but they don't need to defend themselves against accusations of impropriety or impurity. MCENANY: To suggest there's been transparency is laughable, because we've had two federal judges, one appointed by Clinton, one appointed by Obama ordering the release of 1,500 documents that Hillary Clinton hid from the public.

We learned just yesterday from one of these federal judges, these include Benghazi emails. She told us that these e-mails were about yoga and they were about Chelsea's wedding.

ROSEN: But not the Clinton Foundation.

MCENANY: No, no, no. But this is the Clinton world to suggest that it's been transparent is false. You have two federal judges ordering the release of these emails.

ROSEN: You know what ...

MCENANY: There's problem at the Clinton Foundation, there's problem with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. There is no transparency when it comes to the Clintons. The American public deserves better.

ROSEN: Hillary Clinton has not withholding those emails. Hillary Clinton from day one has ...

MCENANY: She hid them. She deleted them. She used a bleaching program. She bleached them from cyberspace (ph).

ROSEN: There was no bleaching program that Hillary Clinton was responsible for it.

MCENANY: There was. I'll bleach that. Look it up.

(CROSSTALK)

ROSEN: Kayleigh, you're just throwing out, you know, right-wing propaganda.

MCENANY: Please look up bleach fit at public. Please ...

(CROSSTALK)

ROSEN: But the congressional committees and investigations of Benghazi, the State Department, this is all in their control. Hillary Clinton has called for the release of every single document that is out there. There is absolutely no suggestion, including the FBI's conclusion that she did not withhold any.

MCENANY: You can't deny facts and reality and I hope ...

CAMEROTA: Ladies, Kayleigh, Hillary, thank you very much for the debate this morning.

MCENANY: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Coming up in just minutes, you will hear from the Pastor who is now apologizing for the image of Hillary Clinton in blackface. Let's get to Chris.

CUOMO: All right, this morning movie fans are remembering a man of many talents with the passing of the great comedic actor Gene Wilder. His best work came in collaborations with comedy giants Richard Pryor and Mel Brooks. We all remember that. And somehow it was Wilder who always seemed to steal the show.

We have CNN's Brynn Gingras. She has more on the life and legacy.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, speaking on those comedies, whether the "Young Frankenstein, "Blazing Saddles" or his role as the corky chocolate tycoon in "Willy Wonka, " Gene Wilder inevitably put a smile on your face and friends and family say that's what he wanted, even hid his Alzheimer's diagnosis because, "He simply couldn't bare the idea of one less smile in the world."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: "Willy Wonka" has left this world.

GENE WILDER, COMIC ACTOR: We want to change the world. There's nothing to it.

GINGRAS: But actor Gene Wilder leaves it changed with his performances in his Oscar-nominated roll in "The Producers."

WILDER: But under the right circumstances a producer could make more money with a flop than it could with a hit.

GINGRAS: To his other Oscar nominated role in the "Young Frankenstein."

MARTY FELDMAN, IGOR: Dr. Frankenstein.

WILDER: Frankenstein, you must be Igor?

FELDMAN: No, it's pronounced, Igor.

GINGRAS: Wilder died at the age of 83 from complications of Alzheimer's, though his nephew said it never stole his ability to recognize those closest to him.

He was an actor who painted watercolors, married four times, including to SNL great Gilda Radner. Wilder's last wife Karen, surmised (ph) him.

Legendary Director Mel Brooks tweeting, "One of the truly great talents of our time, he blessed every film we did with his magic and he blessed me with his friendship."

[07:15:08] Wilder blazed his way through three Brooks' comedies, multiple films with Richard Pryor and countless other projects. But he'll always remain the ultimate candy man.

WILDER: There is no life I know to compare with your imagination

GINGRAS: A toast to your imagination Gene Wilder, you'll live in ours.

WILDER: Don't forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he always wanted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened?

WILDER: They lived happily ever after.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS: Keep smiling. Alisyn is smiling.

CAMEROTA: I can't help, but smile. It's great to watch him in action. You know, his eyes -- those blue eyes, they're so pale. They've been described as haunting, but they're also twinkling, you know, in those moments.

CUOMO: I love his hair.

GINGRAS: It was so crazy.

CUOMO: Everything about him was funny and sweet and good. He didn't get everything he wanted, though. He was such an advocate for cancer research after he lost Gilda Radner, his wife. And he started some of the early advocacy stuff and that something people want to honor his legacy. That's definitely the place to go.

GINGRAS: Well, you guys have been honoring it all morning. I mean, Miguel Marquez spitting out quotes all day. You've been doing it, though.

CAMEROTA: Right.

CUOMO: He's a real legend.

CAMEROTA: The only way to remember him.

CUOMO: He's a real legend.

CAMEROTA: My kids and I will watch "Willy Wonka" again this weekend. Brynn, thank you so much for all of that.

Well, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are gearing up for their first one on one face-off. Up next, how the presidential candidates are getting ready for their very first debate? We will discuss with Michael Smerconish.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:41] CUOMO: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton getting ready to rumble, the first debate just weeks away. A new report "The New York Times" this morning sheds light on how they're preparing or not preparing.

Let's discuss with CNN Political Commentator and host of CNN "Smerconish," Michael Smerconish. Good to see you, my brother. So, we see what I guess should be obvious to most who follow this game, Hillary Clinton is a preparation fanatic, enlisting the likes of that ghostwriter who worked with Trump decades ago to plum his psychology and having people stand up, they're trying to anticipate what he'll say.

Trump saying, "I don't want to do mock debates. I don't want to get into that kind of stuff. I am who I am. I have to be authentic." What do you see in all that?

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's a great story. And what it portrays is the visceral versus the methodical. He wants to go with his gut. He thinks correctly that it got him this far. She's far more of laborious and researching in her approach.

Chris, if he were to bring me in for a bacon cheese burger at that country club where he is doing his prep and seek my advice, I would say, "Mr. Trump, you better know your audience. And the audience for the general is not the audience that got you thus far. You won the primary because you fed on the live crowd. You're not going to be able to do that in this kind of a hall. And you have your base. You need to expand your tent. And if you go with one liners and stingers and just try and tear her down, you're not growing the tent."

CAMEROTA: But Michael, are you sure about that? Because don't people the day after debates always give the award to the winner who got in the most zingers? I mean, are people truly listening for the granular details of policy of these things?

SMERCONISH: I think that most people tune into "New Day" the following morning and want to be told what they were supposed to have thought about the night before. I happen to think that there's an enormous whisper down the lane effect because we all want to appear intelligent at the water core.

You make a good point, but there are still a small sliver of individuals who are out there whose votes are up for grabs and, God, I'd love to think they are looking for substance and not just the one liner.

CUOMO: And one of the -- look, one of the strongest rules in politics is what they call confirmation bias. People want to see solidify the ideas they already had going into the debate.

CAMEROTA: Well then, he's got it. I mean, if that's the situation, then Donald Trump doesn't need prep.

CUOMO: I know he doesn't have it, because he only got 40 percent.

CAMEROTA: Well, I see what you mean.

CUOMO: Yeah. That's exactly the point is that he's got to expand. That's what Michael is talking about. The question is whether or not he'll be ready to do that, whether he is willing to do something different than he's done. What do you think about some of the tactics that we've seen come out here, getting a black Pastor to put out the blackface picture with Hillary Clinton and now he's apologizing, saying he didn't want to stir the pot.

Clinton -- and Trump trying to use Anthony Weiner as some type of indexing of judgment for Hillary Clinton. What lands?

SMERCONISH: Well, I think that Weiner is just a sad sack. I don't think it reflects on Hillary Clinton. I mean that is really a troubled situation. But, I think it's very difficult to say and, therefore, Hillary Clinton has jeopardized national security.

Maybe the Russians will handle that aspect for him if there's some revelation between now and when we go forward. This time he did quickly disavow David Duke when David Duke put out that robocall, but this is just the ugly side of the campaign and I hope not what's going to determine the election.

CAMEROTA: Hey, Michael, I want to get back to the debate prep, because this "New York Times" story is really fascinating about how each side is doing it. So, Hillary Clinton, it sounds like he's doing something different than what we would traditionally expect with the binders full of policy research.

This time, according to the article it says, "Hillary Clinton's advisers are talking to Donald J. Trump's ghostwriter of 'The Art of the Deal,' seeking insights about Mr. Trump's deepest insecurities as they devise strategies to needle and undermine him."

That is about style. Obviously, it looks like they're looking for some sort of juice to go after him and put him back on his heels.

SMERCONISH: Alisyn, the confirmation for me in what you just referenced was that Donald Trump judges the size of a man or woman by their wallet or their purse. And what you're making reference to I thought was really interesting.

It's as if she wants to see what button do I need to push with him if I have to go there, and she probably will that's going to upset him, that's going to get to his vulnerabilities and it's ego and it's money.

[07:25:13] And I think that that will be -- I think it will be a quiver that she will, you know, sort of keeping it close to the vest if she needs it, she pulls out that arrow and shoots him with it.

CUOMO: I think it's the Clinton campaign leaking stuff into the media that they know we'll be talking about. And, you know ...

CAMEROTA: But still means they might be doing it. I mean, that doesn't ...

CUOMO: I think there's absolutely nothing new about them reaching out. The kinds of people who show up to debate preps would boggle your minds in terms of what they're trying to get. CAMEROTA: Is this that psychologist, the ghostwriter ...

SMERCONISH: Yeah, but that's not ...

CAMEROTA: Well, I mean, that's different than the people that are around the table for Donald Trump.

CUOMO: I don't know. Well, I don't know. I don't know who's around the table for Donald Trump. I mean, look at the cast of characters the guy can draw from to have around. Who knows what he's going to do.

But here's what it's going to all add up to, Michael. I've been saying I think that this is going to be the biggest night of the entire campaign before or after. I think this will be the first time that he has to talk to her, not about her. It will be the first time for the American people to see him side by side and as we all know, you only get one chance to make a first impression.

SMERCONISH: Well, can I add to that list that it's a tall order for whomever the moderator or moderators will be. And keep your eye on the rules of the commission on presidential debates because they are repeating something they did in the last cycle. They're breaking down the night that 90 minutes worth of debate into 15 minute segments with the intention of making the candidates go deep.

Now, if you can keep those candidate's focus, especially him not her, on whatever the real question might be, that's going to require a lot of substance, 15 minutes. The two of you know well from managing your television clock, that's a lot of time for content. So, he needs to be prepared to get beyond the generalities.

CAMEROTA: That is interesting, Michael, to know that they're going to have it chunked out like that. So we do know a little bit from this article and other reporting about who has been advising Donald Trump and we know there was this meeting at his golf club with Rudy Giuliani, Roger Ailes and Laura Ingraham.

Laura Ingraham, according to the reports offered to play the part of Hillary Clinton and to do these mock debates, and Donald Trump was resistant to that. I mean, why fight that? Why not practice that? Isn't what most presidential candidates do these mock debates?

SMERCONISH: Yeah. And he said that maybe Ivanka could fulfill that role. Hey, Alisyn, let's not underestimate him. You know what occurs to me? He had what, 15 opponents on the stage at the outset and who was the individual that many of us focused on? Ted Cruz, because he was an Ivy League debate champion.

And frankly, Trump made handy work of him. I mean, he was able to dismiss all of them. And all of the individuals on that stage, they all spoke for a living. I know he was a reality T.V. star, but this was a form to which he was unaccustomed and he performed just fine.

CAMEROTA: Great point, Michael. Great point. Always fun to get your insights. Thank you so much. CUOMO: We've been covering what's been happening in Chicago. Obviously brought into sharp focus because of what happened to the cousin of Dwyane Wade, but problems way bigger than any one incident.

Over 20 years they've had historic violence there. And right now there at an all-time high. Why? We're going to ask a former Chicago police superintendent ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)