Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

New Questions Over Claims In Burns' Bio; Clinton Losing Ground In Latest National Polls; Texas Tops Notre Dame In Double Overtime; Megan Rapinoe's Nod To Kaepernick. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired September 05, 2016 - 06:30   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[06:30:00] VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Pastor Burns' Harvest Praise and Worship Center in Easley, South Carolina is a small operation. The church, just a few folding chairs, tables and cameras for his tele-evangelism.

After attending Trump's November meeting with black pastors in New York, Burns said former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, asked him to speak on Trump's behalf at Bob Jones University. He's been a favorite of the campaign ever since.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He just came out of the blue.

BLACKWELL: Virginia Beach Navy veteran, Damon Davis says he's a Republican, but he's never heard of the fiery southern pastor. Neither had his friends.

DAMON DAVIS, KAPPA ALPHA PSI MEMBER: So they looked him up and he had webpages up and they saw one of the claims was that he was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi.

BLACKWELL: Davis who is a member of the predominantly African- American fraternity says he first saw the claim in Pastor Burn's bio on his church's web site. Davis says he captured this screen grab in July, just days after Burns spoke at the RNC then he started investigating.

(on camera): And what did you find?

DAVIS: There's no person named Mark Burns, John Mark Burns or any variation thereof in the fraternity ever.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): Davis says he contacted Pastor Burns and soon after Davis says the web page disappeared. Well, CNN called Kappa headquarters too. They have no record of him. So when we sat down with Burns, we asked about that.

PASTOR MARK BURNS, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I did without question say that I had crossed -- not crossed, but I have started the process of being a part of that organization, but that's the furthest that I've got.

BLACKWELL (on camera): Is that the bio from your web site? BURNS: It is, but it is not the -- it is the bio, but this is not an accurate depiction of the bio. I mean, information has obviously been added. I'm pretty -- I own up to any mistakes that I made like I did with my tweet. Obviously in this case that's not --

BLACKWELL: So this is not from your page?

BURNS: No, this is from my page, but what I'm saying is, obviously this has been manipulated or either hacked or added.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): CNN asked the site's host about the possibility that someone could have tampered with the church's web site. The company tells CNN there is no evidence from the hack. CNN obtained the pastor's full bio from the church's web site through an internet archive.

(on camera): You also claimed that you served six years in the Army Reserves, is that accurate?

BURNS: Yes, it is.

BLACKWELL: OK, we called the Army and they said that you had no active Army or Army Reserve service.

BURNS: No, no. I was part of the (inaudible) National Guard.

BLACKWELL: OK, I just asked you about Army Reserves. That was my question. You had the bio claim six years in the Army Reserves.

BURNS: Which it is Reserve. Army is reserves.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): In a statement, the U.S. Army said Burns served in the South Carolina National Guard from 2001 to 2005, was discharged in 2008. He has no active Army or Army Reserve service time.

(on camera): Did you attend North Greenville University?

BURNS: I did attend North Greenville University.

BLACKWELL: Did you graduate from North Greenville University?

BURNS: No, I didn't complete the degree at North Greenville University.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): In fact, the university tells CNN he was here one semester.

(on camera): Again, the bio that's on your web site claims that you earned a Bachelor of Science degree. Did you make that claim?

BURNS: I actually, just a moment ago, as we were opened up -- first of all, I said that we were off the record.

BLACKWELL: I didn't agree with that.

BURNS: Yes, but I did.

BLACKWELL: We're still rolling. I'm still asking you questions on the record. Did you make that claim?

BURNS: I think this is not fair at all -- this not we talked about. I thought we were doing a profile. All of a sudden, you're here to try to destroy my character.

BLACKWELL: I'm not coming here to destroy your character. These are claims that were made on your web site that was live while you were speaking at the Republican National Convention. My question is, are those claims accurate?

BURNS: I understand this is what media does and I understand that when you find someone that is speaking out their heart and speaking out their desire to bring people together and get past the political correctness of society that the job of that investigative journalist, or in this case is to try to destroy the character of the individual so that voice is silenced.

What I'm saying is this, in reference to my web site, if there's inaccurate information on there that can easily be manipulated by other people, and it can be manipulated by hackers. People can do and (inaudible) and create whatever they want to create.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): Again, the web site's host says there is no evidence of a hack.

BURNS: I don't feel comfortable at all. This is not --

BLACKWELL (on camera): You also claim to be studying at the Anderson Theological Seminary.

BURNS: Yes, I did.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): Currently working on his Master of Theology and Pastoral Leadership, according to the church's website.

[06:35:07](on camera): We called them. You're not enrolled there. You enrolled in 2008 and never advanced.

BURNS: Right, but you know how old this is? I think there's an updated profile on me that's on the web site.

BLACKWELL: So is it old or is it tampered?

BURNS: These are old information. This is extremely old information.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): Seconds later --

BURNS: This is a -- thank you. Thank you so much. I really appreciate you coming. You just take this.

BLACKWELL: Pastor Burns walked out, leaving us in his church. Victor Blackwell, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Just amazing work there by Victor. Now CNN submitted questions to the Trump campaign about its vetting process, particularly in the case of Pastor Burns. We've not received a response.

However, Pastor Burns told CNN to his knowledge he was not vetted by the Trump campaign. They simply liked his message. You know, what's so interesting here, there's nothing that was part of his record that was falsified.

No claim that he made which would have made him more or less acceptable to the American public or more or less acceptable to the Trump campaign. You say things for no reason. People do these things, and it only ends up hurting. When you make stuff up, it ends up biting you.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: When he said, look, this is what the media always does. Yes, we investigate things. That's what we do. We fact check. We cross-check things. That is right. That is our job.

BERMAN: If you're going to stand at the Republican convention and support somebody, you are in the public, and you have to expect that you're going to be looked at.

CAMEROTA: Yes, and people can expect honesty on that. Anyway, we'll follow that story since obviously it continues to develop. Meanwhile, the race for the White House appears to be tightening. John King will break down the electoral map for us.

BERMAN: And the election entering the home stretch as of today. CNN will give you an in-depth look at the candidates off the trail. We have two documentaries tonight on both of the presidential nominees, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Here's a quick preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I accept your nomination.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: For the presidency of the United States.

ANNOUNCER: The essential Hillary Clinton.

CLINTON: We are stronger together in charting a course for the future.

ANNOUNCER: The essential Donald Trump.

TRUMP: I love you and we will make America great again.

ANNOUNCER: All on one blockbuster night. Clinton has been called the most famous person no one knows. CHELSEA CLINTON: I never understand that. It's so clear to me who my mother is. She never forgets who she's fighting for, and she's fighting first and foremost for children and for families.

ANNOUNCER: Trump has a passion for business and the spotlight.

DONALD TRUMP JR.: No one is going to outwork him. No one's got more energy than him.

IVANKA TRUMP: He always said to us, find what it is that you're passionate about and pursue it with your full heart.

ANNOUNCER: Their stories from the people who know them best. CNN's special report, Hillary Clinton at 8:00, Donald Trump at 10:00. CNN Labor Day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:41:36]

CAMEROTA: Now that it's Labor Day, the pundits tell us the race for president begins in earnest. Where have they been for the past year? Recent polls show the race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton tightening, but what does this mean on the electoral map?

CNN chief national correspondent, John King, breaks it all down for us.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump says as we reach this point, the polls are closing in his direction, and to a degree, he's right. Let's take a look.

Back at the beginning of the month just after the conventions, Hillary Clinton had a ten-point lead in the national polls. These are averaging out all the national polls.

If you look at the most recent ones, Hillary Clinton's lead is down to five points over Donald Trump. So Donald Trump is right, in the national polls, the race is tightening.

Here's Donald Trump's problem. When you go state by state through the key battlegrounds, Hillary Clinton is leading in all of them. Some of the leads are relatively small. Florida at the beginning of the month was one. Now it's four on average.

Ohio was one, now it's a three-point Clinton lead. North Carolina a very close race. Pennsylvania in single digits, but still that's a pretty comfortable lead, seven points.

Virginia has moved in Clinton's direction by even more. Her running mate helps there. Michigan, single digits but a Clinton lead. Wisconsin, closer than a lot of people would think, but still a Clinton lead. Colorado, a big Clinton lead. That's the problem when you look at the battleground states. If the election were held today, by our projections, Hillary Clinton would already be over the top, 273 electoral votes.

Donald Trump could win all these yellow states, the toss ups. He could win them all and not clinch the presidency. To get there, he's got to turn some of these that we lean blue, he's got to turn some of the blue red. Pennsylvania would be the biggest prize.

Hillary Clinton, no, it's not over yet. One of her biggest weaknesses in this rust belt that Donald Trump is targeting, blue-collar voters.

CAMEROTA: All right, so let's discuss all of this. We want to talk about the latest polls and swing states with CNN political commentator and political anchor of Time Warner Cable News, Errol Louis, CNN political analyst and Washington bureau chief for "The Daily Beast," Jackie Kucinich, and Ron Brownstein, CNN senior political analyst and senior editor of "The Atlantic."

Panel, thanks so much for spending your holiday with us. Ron, I'll start with you as the newcomer to the panel this morning. So national polls, I guess, don't matter since we are now in the last stretch. We should only be looking at battleground states, right?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: No, national polls matter because the battleground states are part of the nation. They rise and fall together. I think what's striking about the national polls is no question that Hillary Clinton's support has eroded, partially because the post-convention glow has faded.

Also because of the difficult story she's been facing about emails and the Clinton Foundation. But what's equally important, Alisyn is Hillary Clinton's number that's coming down that is making the race closer, not Donald Trump's number going up.

I think there's one credible national poll since August 1st that has had him even at 40 percent or 41 percent in a four-way race. Almost always he's below 40 percent. I think the big reason for that, obviously, is he's facing huge negatives among the key elements of what have been the winning Democratic coalition in five of the last six popular vote in the presidential elections.

He's facing huge resistance among millennials, minority voters. The new dimension is underperforming among those college white voters, particularly women, in the suburbs of places like Denver, Northern Virginia, and Philadelphia. That's why those states are so difficult for him right now.

BERMAN: Stories out of Philadelphia, a lot of reporters to talk to these white educated voters, and they're not going for Trump at all. It's fascinating.

[06:45:06]Jackie, if we can put up the electoral map, because John King's map shows that if the election were held today, Hillary Clinton is at 273. That's without any of the states in yellow. You need 270 to win. By my math, that means if she were to lose New Hampshire that would go down to 269.

What is she doing raising all the money in New York and California and everywhere else. Why not just move to New Hampshire. Why not just spend your time shuttling between Manchester, New Hampshire, and Charlotte, North Carolina. Just go back and forth. That seems to be where the election hangs on right now.

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, right now, but these things shift, as we know, as you get closer. They're going to need that money to tip the scales, frankly, as we get closer to November, which is why she got all the criticism from the Trump campaign about quote/unquote "hiding."

She was actually just bulking up her treasury to ensure they have enough money to sort of hammer home her message and hammer Donald Trump going into the final weeks of this campaign.

CAMEROTA: Errol, do we have any historical lesson we can look at when the two candidates are divided this way in the electoral map on Labor Day?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, sure. I mean, look, the last several cycles, you've had candidates that go into Labor Day divide roughly matched up. What you'll end up seeing is, in part, some of what Hillary Clinton I think you can expect her to do is to try and tie down Trump's resources many states that are supposed to be safe states for him.

So she's buying ads in Georgia and in Arizona. I wouldn't rule out a Clinton visit to Georgia. Not so much because she really expects to flip that state, which is traditionally Republican, to the Democratic column, but that she'll force him to have to do some work there and spend some time and money there.

So it gets to be an interesting kind of strategic final dash to the finish, and I think that's what we can all expect in the next 60 days.

BERMAN: You know, Ron Brownstein, if Hillary Clinton is going to win across the country, she is going to need a strong African-American turnout. Historically high numbers for President Obama the last two elections.

It's interesting Donald Trump has been making this overt effort the last few weeks to make it seem like he is doing outreach to the African-American community. Let's play some sound of him in Detroit this weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We must love each other and support each other, and we are in this all together. All together. I fully understand that the African-American community has suffered from discrimination and that there are many wrongs that must still be made right.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: You know Ron, is there any sign that there's any softness in the polls when it comes to the African-American vote for Hillary Clinton? Jonathan Martin of "The New York Times" today has an article that talks about black millennial voters right now who may not be as enthusiastic as they have been in 2008 and 2012.

BROWNSTEIN: I look at the issue in African-American community really as a subset of our biggest problem in the electorate now, the underperformance among millennials. Donald Trump is enormously unpopular among millennials.

In national polling, 75 percent say they have unfavorable view of him, over 75 percent say that he is appealing to bigotry, and yet, often in these polls, she's only polling around 50 percent among millennials in general.

As Jonathan's piece points out, drawing on research from Cornell Belcher, a former CNN commentator, the Democratic pollster, that it's particularly among younger African-Americans and younger white voters and younger Hispanic voters, all of which, you know, she's facing kind of an enthusiasm gap with.

That is where the third and fourth party candidates are polling best. It is a legitimate reason for concern among them, particularly these battleground states where is they need big numbers among young voters, North Carolina as a good example.

CAMEROTA: Errol, I see you nodding. According to "The New York Times," one of the issues that trips her up with young black voters is criminal justice issues, maybe the crime bill. They believed she represents the establishment, which they don't trust as much.

LOUIS: Well, that's right. There's been this whole theme running throughout the primary season even about the 1994 crime bill, what was in it, what she did in connection with it, what the results of it have been.

I think a lot of science behind the political conclusions people have drawn are really, really kind of fuzzy. It's not as if she went out and personally caused mass incarceration over the last 20 years, although that's how some young people seem to be interpreting it.

She's got to get out there and argue for what the bill was in the past and what the policies going forward will be.

BERMAN: All right, guys. Stick around. We have a lot more to talk about.

In the meantime, I want to show you a live picture of the White Plains airport in Westchester. This is campaign history being made. That is Hillary Clinton's campaign plane. As of today, she will be traveling with the national press.

[06:50:07]The press will be on the plane with her. They could ask her some questions on that plane as soon as today. We'll keep our eye on that plane. We'll also keep our eye on China, where President Obama scheduled his news conference any minute from now. Will he weigh in on the presidential election? There is some dissension about that at this table right here.

In any case, up next, taking a needed support for Colin Kaepernick, why a U.S. soccer superstar says she's standing behind the quarterback. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Notre Dame and Texas, two of college football's most popular teams went down to the wire last night, the Coy Wire. Let's bring him in. He has all the drama in this morning's "Bleacher Report." Hi, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: I see what you did there, Alisyn. I like it. What an awesome weekend of college football. Seven ranked teams go down. The most ever on an opening weekend. One of them number 10 Notre Dame upset by unranked Texas.

A school record of 102,315 fans show up in Austin. A sea of burnt orange and hook them horns. Texas had a two-point lead in the fourth, but an extra point attempt blocked. Notre Dame's John Crawford with the scoop and score ties up the game.

[06:55:13]This would go all the way to double overtime, where then it was time for swoops and score. Senior QB Tyrone Swoops on the keeper. Yes, draws the goal line for the win. Texas upsets the mighty fighting Irish of Notre Dame 50-47.

Finally, another pro-athlete is following in the footsteps of 49ers quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, in protesting racial injustice and police brutality in America. This time, women's soccer star, Megan Rapinoe.

She took a knee during the national anthem yesterday before her Seattle Reign took on the Chicago Red Stars. She said kneeling was, quote, "a little nod to Kaepernick and everything he's standing for right now."

She later tweeted after being thanked for the gesture on social media that, "It's the least I can do, keep the conversation going." John, more and more athletes joining Colin Kaepernick in his message.

BERMAN: You can see the discussion he began. Social consciousness at work. Coy Wire, thank you so much.

WIRE: You're welcome.

BERMAN: All right, President Obama expected to hold a news conference in China any minute from now. Some people say he could be asked about Colin Kaepernick. We'll bring this to you live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)