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Obama: Kaepernick 'Exercising Constitutional Right'; New CNN Poll: Trump & Clinton Locked in Dead Heat; Trump Backtracking on Immigration?; Obama Cancels Meeting with Philippines President. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired September 06, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

FERGUSON: ... claiming that African-Americans are oppressed in this country but supports Fidel Castro. Would you say that he's well- informed about his socks and depicting the police as pigs? No, of course not.

[07:00:09] HILL: Is this rhetorical?

FERGUSON: No.

HILL: I would say that. I thought it was a question.

FERGUSON: He should not come out -- the president should not come out and back someone that has been in this way, because when you lend your voice or somehow imply that this is OK -- everybody knows you have a right to do it, but when you're the president you don't help advocate for an individual like this that has said things that are this extreme all over the place. You don't comment on it. The president can say, "I don't comment. I don't know."

CUOMO: All right. Let's leave the debate there for now. It will be nice to see what Colin Kaepernick does to advance his beliefs about this issue. Let's see what else he does to try to make a positive difference.

Gentlemen, thank you very much for having the debate. Appreciate it.

FERGUSON: Thanks.

CUOMO: There's a lot of news. We have a new national poll that will give you the state of the presidential race in this post-Labor Day push. Let's get to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I'm going to fix it. Why wouldn't they vote for me?

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Can't even go to a foreign country without getting into a public feud with the president.

TRUMP: To become citizen, you're going to have to go out and come back in. If you're going out so fast, your head will spin.

CLINTON: Got to hope that we don't pay attention to what he's been saying for 14, 15 months?

TRUMP: I'm just known Pam Bondi for years. Many of the attorney generals turned that case down, because I'll win that case in court.

CLINTON: This is like Watergate only now in cyber time.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Whatever the cause, whatever our intentions, war inflicts a terrible toll.

CAMEROTA: The president makes an historic trip as tensions grow with world leaders.

OBAMA: We've had problems with cyber intrusions from Russia in the past.

RODRIGO DUTERTE, PRESIDENT, THE PHILIPPINES: Who is he? I am a president of a sovereign state.

OBAMA: I have seen some of those colorful statements in the past. Clearly, he's a colorful guy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. We do begin with breaking news for you this morning. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are locked in a statistical dead heat in this new CNN national poll going into the final stretch of the campaign.

CUOMO: So these numbers come just 63 days before the election. That's why there's big numbers on your screen. The first votes are going to be cast in just 17 days. That's when early voting begins in some states. The two nominees are going to face off in the first debate. That's just 20 days away. We have it all covered for you, not just the numbers. Let's begin with CNN political director David Chalian live in Washington. What do we learn in this poll?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, let's start with the horse race and see where we are.

Take a look in the four-way race, Chris, you've got 45 percent for Trump, edging out Hillary Clinton by two points at 43 percent; Gary Johnson at 7 percent, the Libertarian candidate; and the Green candidate, Jill Stein, at 2 percent. This is a margin of error race.

Let's look at some of the voter groups that are driving these numbers. Independent voters, key. Twenty-point lead for Donald Trump, 49 percent to 29 percent, to 16 percent, to 6 percent. Twenty points. Mitt Romney won independents by 5 points, still lost the election. But this walloping of 20 points, Hillary Clinton is going to need to fix.

Take a look at women voters and look at this. How do women split between single women and married women? Overwhelming, 17-point margin, Donald Trump wins married women. Single women go for Hillary Clinton by 53 points.

Now, remember, Hillary Clinton's winning women overall by about 15 points, and this is traditional to see this divide between the Republican and the Democrat, but not this large on either side. So it's a widening gap between single and married women.

Now let's take a look at the key factor of enthusiasm, because that helps tell folks who's going to come out to vote. Are folks ready to come out to vote? Look at this compared to other years. Right now only 46 percent say that they are very or extremely enthusiastic about voting, compared to 57 percent in 2012, 60 percent in '08, 64 percent in '04.

And look how it divides between the candidates. There is an enthusiasm gap. Fifty-eight percent of Trump voters tell us they are very or extremely enthusiastic about voting. Only 46 percent of Clinton voters say that. That is a key number the Clinton folks are going to want to bump up if they're going to get the kind of turnout that they're looking for.

And then, of course, the issues. The top issue driving the election, the economy. And Donald Trump is winning by 15 points on who would better handle the economy. On terrorism, he's winning by six points. On immigration, it's a draw here.

Hillary Clinton at 49 percent, 47 percent for Donald Trump. And on foreign policy, that is Hillary Clinton's strong suit. She's beating Donald Trump by 16 points on who would handle foreign policy better.

CUOMO: All right, David, inside those numbers, we see why there's such an urgency to get those electorate-rich swing states. Both the Trump and Clinton campaigns are trying to get voters, especially in Ohio.

Trump shifting once again on immigration to try to expand his base. Clinton answering questions from reporters to try to tamp down speculation that she's not open enough with answers.

[07:05:12] Phil Mattingly joining us now with more. We're really seeing how each of these guys knows what they have to do to win. Question is who does it better?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. The sprint is on. And the sprint means that there's going to be a states just like Ohio, ground zero.

And if you look at the Trump campaign, if you look at their pathway, it's those 270 electoral votes needed to win in November, they don't get there without Ohio. That's something Trump and the Clinton campaign know, and that's exactly why they were on the ground there on Monday.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Welcome to our big plane.

MATTINGLY (voice-over): Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump inviting the press to travel with them for the first time on their campaign planes. ]

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I think it's nice

everyone is here.

MATTINGLY: Both planes just a few hundred feet apart on the same tarmac in Cleveland. Inside Trump's Boeing 757, the billionaire modelling his stance on immigration again.

TRUMP: We're going to make that decision into the future. OK? Good question. I'm glad you asked me. That decision will be made.

MATTINGLY: The GOP nominee now saying he'll decide later on whether undocumented immigrants could apply for legal status under his administration.

TRUMP: To become a citizen, you're going to have to go out and come back in.

MATTINGLY: A question ruled out less than a week ago today.

TRUMP: For those here illegally today seeking legal status, they will have one route and one route only...

MATTINGLY: Trump spending Labor Day looking and acting more like a traditional politician, glad-handing at Ohio's largest county fair, courting voters at a diner with his running mate.

Hillary Clinton barnstorming Ohio with her top supporters and deploying her former rival to New Hampshire, the former secretary of state battling a coughing fit at a rally.

CLINTON: Every time I think about Trump I get allergic.

MATTINGLY: And answering questions from reporters about her health after months of criticism for avoiding the press.

CLINTON: I'm not concerned about the conspiracy theories. There are so many of them, I've lost track of them.

MATTINGLY: Slamming Trump for cozying up to Vladimir Putin.

CLINTON: I think it's quite intriguing that this activity has happened around the time Trump became the nominee.

MATTINGLY: As investigations continue into whether Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee.

CLINTON: He very early on allied himself with Putin's policies.

MATTINGLY: While Trump is dismissing allegations of impropriety about a donation three years ago.

TRUMP: I never spoke to her about it.

MATTINGLY: In 2013, Florida attorney general Pam Bondi was considering opening a fraud investigation against Trump University. Around the same time, the IRS says the Trump Foundation improperly donated $25,000 to a group supporting her re-election. Trump insisting he never discussed the investigation with Bondi.

TRUMP: I never spoke to her. First of all, she is beyond reproach. She's a fine person. Never spoke to her about it at all.

MATTINGLY: Bondi ultimately deciding not to proceed with the investigation.

CLINTON: There are so many things that are questionable about that, and the IRS certainly thought so and said it was illegal and fined.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: And Alisyn, this is something you're going to hear repeatedly from the Clinton campaign in the days ahead. They're saying right now when you talk to their advisers, they've been attacked for just the allegations of pay-to-play with the Clinton Foundation. What this shows down in Florida with Trump and Trump University is actually pay-to-play, at least according to the Clinton team.

Hillary Clinton going to be in Florida today, so a pretty good chance she brings that up. Donald Trump also in swing states, Virginia and North Carolina -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. We're going to be talking about all of that right now.

Phil, thanks for laying it out for us.

Joining us now is the Trump campaign's national spokesperson, Katrina Pierson. Good morning, Katrina.

KATRINA PIERSON, TRUMP CAMPAIGN NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON: Good morning, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. Let's start with immigration. Let's try to nail down, once and for all, where Mr. Trump is on what would happen to the undocumented immigrants who are here. Because it sounded as if yesterday he was suggesting that he is open to amnesty for them. Is he open to a legal path to citizenship for those 11 million?

PIERSON: Well, what Mr. Trump says is that, when it comes down to the end of his ten-point plan, he'll make a further decision. But first, he wants to make a commitment to Americans to fulfill everything that previous administrations failed to do, which is to secure the border and control the flow of immigration.

CAMEROTA: But Katrina, this is different -- I'm sorry...

PIERSON: Mr. Trump's governing principle is no amnesty.

CAMEROTA: ... but this is a big deal, Katrina. The idea that he might be open to legal status.

PIERSON: It's actually not. Immigration is not showing to be a top priority for Americans in this election cycle.

CAMEROTA: Yes, but he has made it a big deal of his campaign, and he had said that every single one of them had to leave. Now it sounds as if he's open to amnesty.

[07:10:08] PIERSON: No. Alisyn, his governing principle is that, if you are in this country illegally, you need to leave and return legally. That's been his governing principle. He's laid out these primary initiatives one through ten. They're on the website so that he can let Americans know that his priorities are not to go after families. His priorities are to go after the criminal aliens after they build the wall, after they end catch and release, implement e- verify and essentially eliminate all of the magnets that draw illegals into this country.

CAMEROTA: But Katrina, that's different.

PIERSON: For the most past...

CAMEROTA: That is different than what he said yesterday...

PIERSON: ... once you get through one through ten...

CAMEROTA: ... On his campaign plane. Yesterday he said...

PIERSON: Alisyn, when you get through one through ten...

CAMEROTA: Yes. Katrina, hold on a second.

PIERSON: When you get through one through ten...

CAMEROTA: I want to play for you what he said so you can address it.

PIERSON: Sure.

CAMEROTA: OK, this is what he said, where he now says that -- he sounds as though he is open to a legal -- to making them legal here. Amnesty, in other words. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: For those here illegally today who are seeking legal status, they will have one route and one route only, to return home and apply for re-entry like everybody else.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you rule out that one possibility in that determination is...

TRUMP: I'm not ruling out anything. No, no, we're going to make that decision into the future. Good question. I'm glad you asked it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, so Katrina, for legal status, he had previously said one week ago, one route only: they must leave. Yesterday he said, "I'm not ruling anything out." He's open to the amnesty. Explain that.

PIERSON: Well, again, he has said from the beginning of this campaign all the way back to the primary that he was going to be a negotiator in Congress. His governing policy has not changed. If you're in this country illegally, you should return to your home country and enter legally.

He has put out a primary initiative so that voters understand he's going to secure the border, build the wall and get control of the tracking and issuances of visas. Once we get...

CAMEROTA: If you're in this country illegally, will he make you leave?

PIERSON: That will get it down to a reasonable number of illegals in this country.

But we have to consider, Alisyn, after that, we are continuously hearing that there's not 11 million people.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

PIERSON: There could be 20. There could be 30 million people.

CAMEROTA: I understand that it's complicated, Katrina.

PIERSON: Mr. Trump wants to put together...

CAMEROTA: There are all sorts of complications.

PIERSON: Hold on, this is important. And you asked me the question. Let me answer it.

CAMEROTA: Go ahead.

PIERSON: This is important, because Mr. Trump can't promise to deport every single illegal alien in the country if there's 30 million. There's not enough time in his presidency to do that, which is why he laid out his priorities.

CAMEROTA: So in other words, he's realized that his initial promises of every single one of them must leave. Yes, there will be a deportation force. He's realized, you're saying, that that is impractical and undoable?

PIERSON: Well, if there's 30 million, he can't do them all in one presidential term.

CAMEROTA: If there's 11 million can he?

PIERSON: The idea that he's put forth the initiative to start with criminal aliens and put together a force to identify those in the country illegally.

CAMEROTA: Yes. And those who are not the most hardened criminals. PIERSON: There are going to be people who hide out, Alisyn. And we

have to come up with something at a later date to take care of that issue.

CAMEROTA: Let's move on to the contribution of $25,000 the Trump Foundation made to the Florida attorney general, Pam Bondi, just at the same time that she was deciding whether or not to open an investigation into Trump University.

Why did Mr. Trump make that contribution that the IRS considers illegal?

PIERSON: Well, Mr. Trump donates to several politicians of the state of Florida. He has a home there, so I think that's obvious.

Secondly, Mrs. Bondi said that she was not participating in any investigation with Mr. Trump.

CAMEROTA: She decided not to.

PIERSON: So that's a little contradiction. And once that clerical error was found, it was taken care of.

CAMEROTA: Yes, and Mr. Trump had to pay a fine, 10 percent to the IRS.

PIERSON: Like millions of Americans do every day.

CAMEROTA: That's fair. It was misrepresented on the IRS forms and to the IRS. It -- the Trump organization said that it was a different organization that they had made it to, not the Pam Bondi political group.

But I guess the question is, Katrina, how is this different than what Mr. Trump is accusing Hillary Clinton of with the Clinton Foundation?

PIERSON: Well, first of all, there is no classified or confidential information that's been passed around that could have been hacked by foreign.. .

CAMEROTA: Not the e-mails. I'm talking about the payola. The -- not the classified, different subject.

PIERSON: There was no sale of uranium that went to a hostile nation either.

We could talk about the Clinton Foundation and the pay-to-play allegations. You can watch the movie called "Clinton Cash" and get up to date on that.

But this is not the same thing, because this was a clerical error. It was identified and corrected. Millions of Americans have to deal with this every single year with the IRS. And it's completely different, because here we are talking about Mr. Trump and a clerical error, but we're not talking about Hillary Clinton and a number of hostile foreign countries who suppress women, who suppress all kinds of people all over the world that gave tens of millions...

[07:15:15] CAMEROTA: So no effort? There was no effort to try to influence?

PIERSON: ... of dollars to the Clinton Foundation, not 25,000 and a clerical error.

CAMEROTA: So you're saying no effort -- no -- just a clerical error, no effort to try to influence the investigation? That's what you're maintaining, Katrina?

PIERSON: (AUDIO GAP)

CAMEROTA: I believe Katrina is giving me the silent treatment. No, just kidding. The satellite froze. We thank Katrina Pierson for being here.

Let's get over to Chris.

CUOMO: You're lucky you didn't get a "says who" right there.

President Obama canceling a face-to-face meeting with the president of the Philippines. He is the new president there. And this happened because he made a very vulgar comment aimed at the president of the United States.

He's now expressing regret. But the Filipino government says the comment was aimed at a journalist, not the president. That makes it OK.

CNN White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski has more from Laos -- Michelle.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right, how do you overstate how unusual, really shocking this is? The new president of the Philippines, on the eve of what would have been his first meeting with President Obama, a treaty ally, calling him a son of a whore to reporters and threatening to curse him further if President Obama so much as brought up the vigilante-style killings of thousands of people in the Philippines over the last couple of months during the drug war there.

Listen to President Duterte and then President Obama, who responded to all of this in a press conference yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RODRIGO DUTERTE, PRESIDENT, THE PHILIPPINES: Who is he? I do not have any master except the Filipino people. Nobody but nobody.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just heard about some of this, but I have seen some of those colorful statements in the past. And so clearly, he's a colorful guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KOSINSKI: Well, those comments were enough today for the White House to say, you know, there was no way that this was going to be a constructive meeting. And went a step further, saying it would have been a disservice to the Filipino people to have this meeting now.

Duterte has now apologized, saying he regrets that his words were taken as a personal attack on President Obama.

Today, though, in Laos, President Obama wants to focus on this relationship, starting with a commitment to remove some 80 million unexploded bombs of the more than 270 million cluster bombs that the U.S. dropped on Laos during nine years of the Vietnam War. Those bombs continue to cause casualties to this day and, in fact, tomorrow President Obama will meet with some of the victims.

Back to you guys.

CAMEROTA: Michelle, thanks so much.

Well, our new CNN poll numbers are out, and they show Hillary Clinton's post-convention bounce evaporating and Donald Trump picking up steam. Next we'll talk to a top Clinton supporter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:21:59] CLINTON: Look, I've been saying for months he's unqualified, he is temperamentally unfit to be president and commander in chief.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Hillary Clinton answering questions from the press after months of criticism for not holding a formal news conference. She may be regretting her choice not to speak earlier, as a new CNN poll shows her post-convention bump gone. She's now locked in a dead heat with Donald Trump polling two points behind him in the four-way race.

Let's talk about this more with U.S. Congressman and Clinton supporter Seth Moulton from Massachusetts.

What is the poll? Is it confirmed what you suspect, or does it give you new concern?

REP. SETH MOULTON (D), MASSACHUSETTS: No. I mean, look, polls change over time. There's no question that we have an important decision for the United States, between someone who has the experience to be commander in chief on day one and someone, Donald Trump, who is literally out there aiding and abetting enemies of the United States. We've seen that play out with Russia over the past week.

Polls will change over time, but the choice here is clear. We need Secretary Clinton to be our next president.

CUOMO: All right. So let's look at why that choice isn't being viewed by everybody the way you view it. Let's take a look at the independent voters. Right? That's one of the big pop-outs of this poll. And this number, while bigger than we've seen in the past, there's a lot of historical context for how important this number has been in the past. We haven't seen it this big, 49/29. What is the Clinton campaign message to independents to improve on this number?

MOULTON: Well, we just need to start talking about the issues more. And explain to people where Secretary Clinton stands on the facts.

Look, the summer is a sleepy season, and a lot of people aren't paying attention to politics. Maybe people missed the fact that Donald Trump has been out there praising Vladimir Putin, encouraging him to undermine our democratic process through our elections. That's never happened in the history of nominees running for the president of the United States. It is literally aiding and abetting our enemy. It is -- frankly, should be investigated by the department of justice for treason. I mean, that's what we're talking about here. That's how serious a problem we have with someone like Donald Trump running for president.

So what Secretary Clinton needs to do is just get out there and talk more about the facts. Talk about where she stands on the issues. Talk about her economic plan that will bring jobs to this country. Talk about how failed and divisive Donald Trump's immigration policies are. Talk about the things that he's doing to say that he'll discriminate against Muslims, ban them from the United States. Things that -- by the way, religious discrimination is prohibited by the U.S. Constitution. And how those things are aiding ISIS in their recruitment efforts.

It's very clear that, when you get down to the facts, people support Secretary Clinton. And that's why you don't even need to just hear it from me. Over 50 Republican national security officials have come out and said that Donald Trump would be a dangerous, reckless commander in chief, and that's why we need to elect Secretary Clinton.

Yet she is getting all she can handle from Donald Trump in polls, and yes a lot are within the margin of error. But it's indisputable that it's close. And it seems that one pullout number may tell the story of why, the trust number. Seems to be the big thing that, despite everything you've just said, more people find Donald Trump trustworthy and honest than Hillary Clinton in the numbers, and it's not even close.

[07:25:10] MOULTON: Well, that's -- that's why I'm talking about it. We need to talk about the facts. Because the facts are that Donald Trump lies every single day, supports our enemies, praises people like Saddam Hussein and Vladimir Putin, who are trying to create -- kill Americans.

And once people understand the facts, they realize that this Republican effort to undermine the credibility of Secretary Clinton, which I admit has been effective. That's what the polls show. It shows that this Republican slander effort against Clinton has been effective. But once we get down to the facts, when we actually look at the

issues, when we look at who is standing up for the United States of America, I think the choice will be very clear.

CUOMO: Congressman...

MOULTON: And people will vote for Secretary Clinton.

CUOMO: Congressman, I think we're both aware at this point, this is a mood election, right? That's what's going on here. Hillary Clinton isn't just running against Donald Trump, Johnson and Stein. She's running against the mood of a country, which is obvious in its disgust for the status quo.

For a lot of those voters, she checks a lot of those boxes. The Clinton Foundation and the questions about what happens there are real questions. There's no proof of illegality. The server, there was questions about whether it was wrong. It wasn't about illegality, but it still matters.

MOULTON: We absolutely should ask those questions. That's like why Donald Trump should disclose his tax returns, for example. At least Clinton is out there being honest. She's admitting her mistakes. She's willing to have -- she has the courage to stand up and say, "These are things I've done wrong, and I'm going to correct them.

But at the end of the day, we're talking about the Clinton Foundation, a charity which has saved thousands of lives across the globe. The idea that you would compare allegations of improprieties of the Clinton Foundation, a well-meaning charity, excuse me, with Donald Trump, who is out there encouraging Russia, an enemy of the United States to attack our e-mail servers is just ridiculous.

I mean, Donald Trump is supporting state enemies of the United States and we're worried about allegations that the Clinton Foundation, which has saved thousands of lives, might have some -- might have some improprieties. I mean, it's just an absurd comparison. And I think that that's what we need to realize.

Once we get past the rhetoric, once we understand that, you know, Donald Trump knows how to tap into fears. I mean, he is a reality TV star. But he's not fit to be our commander in chief. This isn't an audition to run a TV program. This is an audition to command our troops across the globe. And I think that, once we understand that, the choice will be very clear.

CUOMO: Congressman Seth Moulton, Democrat from Massachusetts, thank you for joining us to make the case for Hillary Clinton on NEW DAY.

MOULTON: Thanks, Chris.

CUOMO: All right -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Chris, as you know, the election barely two months away. Both candidates still dealing with baggage, of course, from their past. Coming up, we'll look at the biggest controversies facing each

campaign right now and how they could affect the next weeks.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)