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New Day

New National Poll has Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in Dead Heat; Donald Trump Accused of Corruption Surrounding Possible Trump University Investigation; Biden Opens Up on Clinton's Trust Issues. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired September 06, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] ALFONSO AGUILAR, FORMER CHIEF, U.S. OFFICE OF CITIZENSHIP: -- the majority, as he clearly said, have to leave. And things are going to be made so difficult for you that you won't be able to stay here.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Alfonso Aguilar, thank you for your perspective.

AGUILAR: Thank you so much.

CAMEROTA: We're following a lot of news, including this new CNN national poll. So let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I just don't think she's presidential.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The best I can tell is Donald Trump is for building a big wall.

TRUMP: We've got to stop the drugs, get rid of the bad ones, build a wall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm absolutely confident she is doing it by the book.

CLINTON: Making a political contribution to the Florida attorney general, there are so many things that are questionable about that.

TRUMP: I think I'm going to do great with the African-American people. People can't walk down the street without getting shot. I'll stop that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you can't meet the standard of Richard Nixon, God help you, folks.

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The remnants of war continue to shatter lives here in Laos.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Obama's overseas trip overshadowed by a diplomatic spat.

OBAMA: I always want to make sure that if I'm having a meeting that it's actually productive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY.

CAMEROTA: Don't make us wait for the good morning.

CUOMO: I was waiting for the shot to be on us locked and tight. We don't want to waste all this.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: This is where the money is, people.

CUOMO: Up first, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are locked in a dead heat in a new CNN national poll here in the final stretch of this frenzied campaign. The candidates are putting their campaign into full throttle in the swing states.

CAMEROTA: OK, everyone, get all your calendars because I have a lot of dates to drop on your right now. The new numbers come 63 days before Election Day. The first votes, though, will be cast in just 17 days because that's when early voting begins in some states. And the first debate is 20 days away. So we have this high stakes race covered from every angle. Let's begin with CNN political director David Chalian. He has all of the other numbers for us. Hi, David.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Good morning, Alisyn. Let's start with that horserace. Take a look at the four-way race, and this is among likely voters. Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton in a margin of error race. He's at 45 percent, Clinton at 43 percent, Johnson at seven, Stein at two percent. Among the broader universe of registered voters Hillary Clinton has a slight edge, but now that we're, you know, as you just pointed, 62 days out, 63 days out, likely voters is where we're looking.

Let's take a look at some of the groups that are driving these numbers underneath. Independents, a key voting bloc, Donald Trump is winning by 20 points. Mitt Romney won independents by five points and still lost the election to Barack Obama. But 20 points is a huge margin among this key voting bloc and Hillary Clinton is going to have some work to do there.

Women voters -- this is fascinating and I think one of the most interesting findings in the poll. Look at how single women, they go for Hillary Clinton by a 53-point margin. Donald Trump is winning married women by 17 points. This is a traditional Democratic- Republican divide, but we're seeing it on steroids this time around. Hillary Clinton is of course winning women overall by about 15 points.

And now take a look at voter enthusiasm. This is critical. Look at now compared to the years past. Among the extremely and very enthusiastic about voting, 46 percent say they fit that category now. That compares to 57 percent at this time four years ago, 60 percent in 08, and 64 percent in 04. That may mean that we might see some lower turnout. We'll see if that number changes.

Look at how it changes, though, when you look at enthusiasm between the candidates. And 58 percent of Trump voters say they're very or extremely enthusiastic about voting. That compares to 46 percent of Clinton voters. Hillary Clinton and her team are going to want to narrow this gap because getting their voters out is going to be key and getting them enthusiastic to do so.

And then of course the issues, the economy number one issue in our poll for voters, Donald Trump winning by 15 points, 56 percent to 41 percent. On terrorism he's got a six-point lead. On immigration, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are basically tied. She's got a two point edge, 49-47. And on foreign policy Hillary Clinton's strong suit, she has got a 16-point edge, 56 percent to Trump's 40 percent. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: David, thanks so much for all of that.

Well, the final sprint playing out in a big way in Ohio. Trump was there engaging in retail politics and Clinton answered questions from the press on her plane. That's not all. Trump again pivoting on his immigration plan. CNN's Phil Mattingly joins us now with more. Give us all the Labor Day highlights.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So you live in a swing state. Ohio was a pretty good example of what you're going to be dealing with over the course of the next 63 days. Both candidates, both their running mates, a lot of surrogates all on the ground because battleground states are what's going to decide who wins in November.

[08:05:00] But also both candidates taking some time to meet with the media, answering questions as they get ready for this last two-month sprint.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump inviting the press to travel with them for the first time on their campaign planes.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's nice everyone's here.

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

TRUMP: We're going to make that decision into the future. That's a 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: I'm not ruling out anything. 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. TRUMP: For those here illegally today who are 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 and 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.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 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 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 reelection. Trump insisting he never discussed the investigation with Bondi.

TRUMP: I've never spoke to her. First of all, she's 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: Chris, this is an issue the Clinton campaign wants to continue to attack on. They've obviously been on defense in the Clinton Foundation and Trump's allegations of pay to play. On this issue specifically they say there is explicit evidence of pay to play. So expect to hear more about that, especially because Hillary Clinton will be in Florida today. Donald Trump in Virginia and North Carolina. As I noted, battleground states, get ready, the candidates are coming your way. Chris?

CUOMO: Phil, thank you very much.

Let's talk about all this. We have former senior advisor to Bill Clinton and writer for "The New Yorker" Richard Socarides, and senior adviser to the Trump campaign and Republican strategist Boris Epshteyn. Good to have you both here with us. So the shift on immigration is working for you, Boris. You see those poll numbers? It's getting to be a close race. Is that why Trump is trying to expand his definition of what will happen with people who are in the country undocumented right now, to appeal to a broader base of voters?

BORIS EPSHTEYN, TRUMP CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: You know, Chris, interestingly, it's a perceived shift. Actually Trump is exactly where he is now where has been for the last year. So one, deport all illegal aliens who are criminals. Two, end sanctuary cities. Three, end catch and release, institute e-verify. It goes to the 10-point plan. Once you've done that, once you're executed the plan, once it's in place, then you deal with the remaining illegal immigrants. And according to the laws on the books now, the laws you pass and work with Congress, constitution, end humanely. And then you contrast that with the Hillary Clinton plan, which is 100 amnesty, 550 percent increase in Syrian refugees.

CUOMO: The difference is, and what's making so much play right now is, Clinton's plan has not changed. Trump's has, and that's what you're trying to play to --

EPSHTEYN: It's not a change when you don't have a plan. She doesn't have a real plan.

RICHARD SOCARIDES, WRITER, NEWYORKER.COM: This does not seem like a consistent plan to me. I think what it shows is that Donald Trump, we don't know what he believes in, if he believes in anything. I don't think he understands the issue. I think this is another example of him saying anything that seems smart to get him votes. There is such a double standard here I think in the media and in some of the electorate. I mean, you just said, when he changes his position, he's expanding his base. When Hillary Clinton makes one little adjustment, she's a flip-flopper. So I think that this is another example of the double standard.

[08:10:07] EPSHTEYN: I couldn't disagree more.

SOCARIDES: But I will say that the race is indeed close. I think it's going to be a close race. I've always thought it was going to be a close race. And no doubt the bar is very low for Donald Trump right now. His new handlers will undoubtedly have days where they succeed and he does not seem like a madman. And I think -- but I do think the voter dos not have amnesia and they know he has been all over the place.

EPSHTEYN: This is an 11-point swing in the polls from Hillary Clinton being up by a huge amount to now us being up by two points. And here's why, because the voters simply do not trust Hillary Clinton. Her trustworthiness keeps going down and down and down. Now over 70 percent of people don't trust her. Why not? Because of the e-mails, because of the news that just came out on Friday. They destroyed BlackBerrys with hammers in the White House. She said the reason for the server was to have one device. She had 13 BlackBerrys and five iPads. That's like a mobster having burner phones.

CUOMO: Where is the high ground? We know. We talk about this stuff all the time. Every development in the e-mail or the foundation you see all over the media. Here we just pick it apart a little bit better. That's the job. Which is to this question -- Where is the high ground for Donald Trump? The list of controversies under his name is like five times as long as Hillary Clinton.

EPSHTEYN: Absolutely not.

CUOMO: Please. All the different lawsuits -- I'm not saying illegalities. Trump University isn't something that he said. Pam Bondi's situation isn't something that he said. What happened with Texas --

EPSHTEYN: Hillary Clinton broke the law, rules and regulations while she was secretary of state.

CUOMO: She did not break the law.

(CROSSTALK)

EPSHTEYN: Let's look at the dates. March 2nd the "New York Times" puts out that there's a secret server. March 3rd there's a preservation letter. March 4th there's a subpoena, 2015. Then in late March the Hillary Clinton State Department uses BleachBit to wipe her secret server. If that's not obstruction of justice, as a lawyer, you tell me what is.

CUOMO: The FBI looked at it and brought no charges.

EPSHTEYN: Just because they didn't bring charges doesn't mean it wasn't. They decided not to bring charges. Who knows why? Maybe it's because Bill Clinton sat on the tarmac with Loretta Lynch.

CUOMO: You're deciding to tar the system. But this does go to the main point. You had the FBI look at it and they said no. You guys don't seem to want to deal with it.

EPSHTEYN: You don't have an independent opinion of it?

CUOMO: You can have it, but you also have an objective rendering of it by the FBI and some would think that would end the conversation whether or not it was illegal as a lawyer. As a political matter you can talk about it all day. But the political issue remains, the trust issue in this poll. It's not just that both of them have unbelievable and deplorably low trust numbers, which they do, historically Trump and Clinton. And 50 percent think he is more trustworthy than her. What can you do with that in 63 days? SOCARIDES: I think this has been the most negative campaign we've seen. I think all participants in it bear some responsibility, including the media. Hillary Clinton has been subjected over the course of the campaign --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Neither of you guys are victims of the media, by the way, so you know that. Neither of you are victims.

SOCARIDES: No, no. Everybody knows the kind of --

CUOMO: But we don't take the words and put them in Donald Trump's mouth.

SOCARIDES: Everybody knows the kind of double standard that Hillary Clinton is subjected to by the media. But she has to show herself, she has to show her compassionate side, she has to show her personal side. She has to get up close and personal --

EPSHTEYN: You can't show things that don't exist.

SOCARIDES: She will show that during the debates. Don't say it doesn't exist. I have known Hillary Clinton for over 25 years and I know that she is not only trustworthy, but she is personable. She has a long record of caring for people and caring for children and caring for people who need help.

EPSHTEYN: Here's her record.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Hold on.

SOCARIDES: Not the Donald Trump that makes fun of people who are disabled.

(CROSSTALK)

EPSHTEYN: Her record is Whitewater. Her record is the Clinton Foundation taking money from sovereign governments when they said it wouldn't. And then her record is not knowing that "c" stood as classified as confidential. What did it stand for, "Cookie?" She knew better. Then she lied to Congress. She said that she turned over all her emails that are work related.

(CROSSTALK)

SOCARIDES: Boris, let's talk about some issues.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Gentlemen, gentlemen, gentlemen, please. Both campaigns have made a decision to talk about why the other person is a worse person.

EPSHTEYN: I'd love to talk about the issues. CUOMO: I'll you what though, and one of the issues we are dealing

with today is, it is interesting for the Trump campaign to go after the Clinton Foundation when you have this surface about the IRS banging your charity for an illegal donation. If she did that, Boris, you'd be running around with the constitution over your head saying she broke the law.

(CROSSTALK)

[08:15:02] CUOMO: Hold on. We'll continue in the break.

EPSHTEYN: Only one attorney general has brought that case, Eric Schneiderman was a partisan hack, who has donated to Clinton. Forty- nine attorney generals have not brought that case. Why? Because there's no merit to it.

CUOMO: Well, that's not saying, we'll discuss this in the break. Not bringing a case doesn't mean you don't have a case to make. It's different.

EPSHTEYN: You just said that about the FBI.

CUOMO: No, the FBI objectively look -- no, you're saying 49 states looked at Trump University and decided not to bring the case. You didn't say that because it would be false.

(CROSSTALK)

SOCARIDES: What about the fine at the IRS?

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Richard, Boris, thank you very much.

Alisyn, to you.

CAMEROTA: Why deprive everyone and just do it in the break? I look forward to hearing more of that.

Vice President Joe Biden does not hold back when it comes to Hillary Clinton's campaign. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sure, look, look, I have a bad habit of saying what I believe and sometimes saying all that I mean here. The truth is Hillary knows it's a problem and she's trying to figure out how to remedy it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Let's find out what the vice president is talking about, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CAMEROTA: Vice President Joe Biden not holding back when it comes to Hillary Clinton's trust issues. The vice president joined Tim Kaine on the trail and he spoke to our Jeff Zeleny, who joins us now with more of his interview.

Jeff, tell us about it.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, he was in Pittsburgh before Labor Day rally there. To see Joe Biden back on the road for really what is his final campaign, trying to teach Tim Kaine a thing or two about this race was interesting.

[08:20:01] But we started out by asking Joe Biden why Hillary Clinton is still struggling winning over those white working class voters.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BIDEN: And my advice to Hillary always is, just open up. Let them see your heart a little more. She has the heart.

ZELENY: Does she need to do more explaining on some of these controversies like e-mail and other things or should she stop explaining?

BIDEN: Well, I think she's -- I -- certainly Tim (ph), but my understanding is she is going to make a final judgment about what they're going to do with the foundation and just lay it all out and this is what's going to happen from this point on, this is who I am, this is what we're going to do. And they've got to be good.

ZELENY: Has she not been clear enough?

BIDEN: Well, it's been a moving target. Look, the whole notion of how foundations function is now, all of a sudden, being put in play like it never was before. So, I'm absolutely confident she is doing it by the book and I think she is going to figure out what she is going to say crystal clear to the American people about what the relationship between the family and the foundation will be from this point forward.

TIM KAINE (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: And one of the things that's interesting, Jeff, is, you know, she made a commitment about the foundation activities before the election. You know, we'll stop taking donations, the foundation will from certain groups, and after the election, additional commitment about President Clinton stepping back.

Meanwhile, this week, there's been a story about the Trump foundation that they used charitable foundations money in the Trump Foundation to make an illegal campaign contribution to a Florida attorney general who is considering whether to sue Trump U or not.

ZELENY: One of the things that is alive and well in the Democratic Party is TPP.

BIDEN: That's true. ZELENY: Mr. Vice President, what are you and the president going to do to get Senator Kaine and Secretary Clinton on board with this?

BIDEN: Well, we're not because they're people of principle. They know what they think. They don't think it's a good enough deal to support. The president and I think it is.

But the bottom line is that in this attempt we're going to attempt on a lame duck to actually have a vote. There's going to be some additional changes that are going to have to take place. For us, it's all about allowing us to compete on an even field by making sure there are labor standards and everybody is treated the same way.

We think if we don't do that, then the Chinese are going to set the rules. But we've got some convincing to do.

ZELENY: Yes.

BIDEN: We've got some convincing to do. And I take Tim at his word that he's not for it.

ZELENY: But you're recent converts to this opposition to TPP, both you and Secretary Clinton.

KAINE: Labor understands the value of trade if it's done right. I mean, we've got companies that want to sell more products overseas. We just want to make sure that the standards are right.

So, I voted for President Obama to have the fast track tools to negotiate the best deal possible. There's three criteria, does it increase jobs, does it increase wages, does it improve national security?

And the enforcement areas, I've got grave doubts about it. So, I said -- I want to give you the tools to negotiate the best deal, but we're going to have to look at it on the merits. I have some major concerns about whether a deal can be enforced. But on the Dem side, we all understand -- and labor does too -- that trade done right is good for the economy. But you just have to make sure that the deals do right.

BIDEN: There are legitimate concerns we've got to answer.

ZELENY: Final thing, I remember eight years ago when you said Senator Obama could be the last man standing in a room, the last person to give advice on a major issue, has Secretary Clinton made that same commitment to you about what type of vice president you would be, you could be?

KAINE: I'll tell you what she said to me, this is really humbling. She asked me to be her V.P. and I started to say yes, and she said, wait a minute, I want to tell you why. Then she said, look, the test of a Clinton administration is not going to be a bill signing or the margin that something passes. It's going to be is somebody's neighborhood a little better or does somebody sitting around a kitchen table have more tools to figure out how to pay for college, or in a classroom, can a teacher and kid have a better learning environment or can workers have a better shake?

And because you've been at the local level and the state level and at the federal level, I think you'll help me figure out how to govern so that it really is affecting people's lives. That's why she asked me to do the job. I think that tells you something about the way she's thinking. It's about making a real difference in people's lives.

ZELENY: Anyone piece of advice you'd give him, something you wish you had known eight years ago before step into the vice presidency?

BIDEN: Understand that the bureaucracy is gigantic, as well as you know it. Take control of it, grab it by the throat, and make sure you follow up in detail on whatever initiative the president gives you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: That was a bit of a passing of the torch moment, at least they hope so here, if Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine in November.

But Joe Biden and Barack Obama are going to be out campaigning more than any sitting vice president or president have in more than a generation here, trying to keep the White House in Democratic hands.

CAMEROTA: It's going to be an interesting next few weeks. Thanks, Jeff.

[08:25:00] Thanks so much.

ZELENY: Thanks.

CUOMO: All right. And we're seeing that play out in real-time in the new CNN poll. Clinton's post convention bounce is gone. There's no other way to look at it. We're going to break down her strengths, weaknesses and what can be done in these -- how many days? Sixty, what?

CAMEROTA: Eight? Oh, three.

CUOMO: Six thousand, what did you say?

CAMEROTA: Sixty-three.

CUOMO: Sixty-three days before election day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: I know you're counting with 63 days --

CUOMO: I don't believe it.

CAMEROTA: -- until the election. Believe it.

The race is locked in a dead heat today. Our new national poll shows Donald Trump with a slight edge, wiping out Hillary Clinton's post- convention bump. He has a double-digit advantage among independents and there are other findings that should concern the Clinton campaign as well.

So, here to discuss is CNN political analyst Kirsten Powers.

Good morning, Kirsten.

KIRSTEN POWERS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: OK. So, what do you make of these new poll numbers? They're just out two hours ago, that show that whatever bump she had from the convention has been erased and they're now in this dead heat?

POWERS: Well, I think this was somewhat expected, that things would even out a little bit. This is where the country is. It's very divided. And we tend to -- so, we're going to see these very close races.