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Trump Reveals Some Health Details On Talk Show; Will Nominees Release Full Medical Records?;Shocking Images Highlight Heroin Epidemic; Presidential Health: What Do Doctors Look For? Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired September 15, 2016 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:31:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MEHMET OZ, HOST, "THE DR. OZ SHOW": If your health is as strong as it seems, from your review of systems, why not share your medical records? Why not --
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I have, really, no problem in doing it. I have it right here. I mean, I -- should I do it? I don't care. (Applause from audience)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: (Laughing) Wow.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Play to the crowd -- master showman. Donald Trump, seemingly, surprising Dr. -- talk show host Dr. Oz and his studio audience by revealing some details that he literally pulled out of his pocket on --
CAMEROTA: The reveal.
CUOMO: His campaign keeping up the intrigue by saying he wouldn't discuss the results before the taping which airs today. Let's discuss Trump's televised release with CNN media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES" Brian Stelter. And former editor of "People" magazine Larry Hackett.
There are different aspects of this that matter, OK? Are these people fit to serve? That matters -- no messing around, and how do we know that? And then there is the nature of how they deal with transparency. I think that's what Dr. Oz goes to.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
CUOMO: Full disclosure -- momma's a big fan. She loves Dr. Oz and I lot of people watch his show, but is this the right way for Donald Trump to be transparent about something in the campaign?
STELTER: Right. This wasn't actual transparency, it was the appearance, the semblance of transparency. He was looking transparent by doing this. And we government officials do that all the time, by the way. Try to appear like they're open when they're not. I think this matters because it shows Trump's style and his media savvy.
And I think some of his campaign aides would have preferred to separate the release of this physical exam result and the Dr. Oz appearance. It would have made more sense because there's been this 24-hour period where we're relying on studio audience members to tell us about Trump's health. It is preposterous and yet it's classic Donald Trump.
CAMEROTA: Larry, he is a reality show star and nothing is as good as the reveal --
LARRY HACKETT, FORMER EDITOR, "PEOPLE" MAGAZINE: Right.
CAMEROTA: -- on the reality show, and he did it.
HACKETT: Well, and Dr. Oz's furrowed brow, saying why won't you resolve it? When you watch it over and over again -- I never thought that health results and wrestling, I would mush together to the same idea, but it feels that way.
But I'm kind of bewildered by the idea that he missed this opportunity. The most vivid piece of all of this remains the videotape from Sunday of Hillary Clinton leaving the 9/11 celebration. Before that, Giuliani and other people on Trump's behalf were talking about her health. The moment that happened they stopped talking about it.
And then the message, to your point, gets mixed. It's about appealing to women, being on the Oz show. The maternity leave message on Monday. But then it gets mixed up with his health results which, of course, we now realize -- and we're all talking about it -- don't appear to be that thorough. So to me, it's kind of a missed opportunity.
CAMEROTA: But once -- but once she is sick, isn't it unseemly to hit her on --
HACKETT: Unseemly?
CAMEROTA: Yes.
HACKETT: We're talking about Donald Trump and the things he's done in the campaign. The definition of that seems to change to me. So I find it odd because it's not in keeping with what he's been doing all along.
STELTER: Interesting.
HACKETT: I think the moment she appears this afternoon all of this will change and the only thing that will matter for the voters is if there's another episode. That's what's going to matter.
[07:35:00] CUOMO: That would be a mistake, by the way. And again, we're not trying to exaggerate the significance of Clinton's spell where she had to be helped into the van. However, it raises an issue. These people are old -- HACKETT: Yes.
CUOMO: -- and old, by presidential standards, of getting in. McCain was always showing up with gauze pads on his face because he was getting cancers removed.
STELTER: Right, right.
CUOMO: So he took that step and said take a look at it because there was a sensitivity. If people forget, Larry, because there's not a fainting spell, that's a mistake also because that's why you don't get the transparency out of these people. They know it doesn't matter.
HACKETT: You know, in the news this week is the World Anti-Doping Association for bad things, right? Their records got hacked. But you have to wonder that there is kind of body that analyzes athletes, right, and it tries to keep records on athletes. Why don't we have a similar thing when it comes to presidential campaigns? We make them, you know -- they participate in debates. Perhaps, at a certain point, they should both be examined by the same doctor.
CUOMO: Sanjay was asking the same thing.
HACKETT: Absolutely.
CUOMO: A leader of the Free World and it is a mystery when they get in office of whether or not they'll be able to complete this service.
STELTER: Just to move it around briefly, though, we are not just electing a figurehead, we're electing a government -- a form of government. A party to run the country. I understand that this is the ultimate sort of demonstration of the personality-driven coverage. We should be asking questions about both the candidates' health. But we're also choosing a Democratic or Republican Party. You know, sometimes it's lost in this personality contest.
CUOMO: Yes, because if you --
STELTER: I was reminded by --
CUOMO: If they go down. If one of -- God forbid, but I'm saying that's why you care.
STELTER: For sure.
CUOMO: You, then, have Kaine or Pence --
STELTER: Right.
CUOMO: -- running your government and, if anything, it's top down.
STELTER: And, of course, some of dangers -- we're really ? as well.
CUOMO: Right.
STELTER: I was struck by Dr. Oz's scene because it showed me nothing can take the reality show star out of Donald Trump.
HACKETT: Absolutely not.
STELTER: And that's not a good or bad thing, it just is what it is. You can't take it out of him. You know, cameras change conversations. This is a different conversation because of the cameras. That's why we don't bring cameras when we all go to the doctor because it's going to change the conversation we have with our doctor.
HACKETT: Right.
STELTER: So we should know this was for show and it was very effective. And by the way, the best P.R. Dr. Oz has ever gotten.
HACKETT: Well, I also think that -- let's say, for example, there were elements in this that are debatable or that people do question and do make people wonder about what their health is like. I think in quotes I read this morning, Dr. Oz said that Trump was slightly overweight. He's 237 pounds, it appears. Some doctors may disagree with that and say that's more slightly overweight.
At what point, then, how do the voters process this information? I mean, when -- suddenly, if we were Trump or Hillary discussing their cholesterol counts, you know. Would that become an issue, and back and forth. I mean, Iunderstand what you're talking about but the issue is, then, you give people information, what do they do with it? You know, how do they process it.
CAMEROTA: Well, and I mean that's why people argue that somebody like Sanjay Gupta should do what he did with John McCain's health records.
HACKETT: Right.
CAMEROTA: Go in and then he becomes the lens through which you see things because he can sort of parse it and process it --
STELTER: Right.
CAMEROTA: -- for what is relevant to share with the public. About Dr. Oz --
STELTER: Yes.
CAMEROTA: -- that was an interesting choice of a platform for Donald Trump to go to. Dr. Oz has given to GOP candidates so he might be inclined towards Donald Trump, perhaps.
CUOMO: And not without controversy.
CAMEROTA: And, of course, he's had his own controversy. So what about that being the show that he chose?
STELTER: Right. A number of questions in Dr. Oz's past about what kind of remedies and recommendations he makes to his viewers. He is a doctor but he's a controversial figure and he has given donations to GOP figures in the past. I'm sure he was loathe to embarrass or humiliate Trump on that stage.
Not that he would want to embarrass Clinton, either. And Idoubt Clinton will go on the show because of the two styles between the two candidates.
You know, when we see Trump go on Dr. Oz and "THE TONIGHT SHOW" with jimmy Fallon, let's remember he's choosing not do hard-hitting interviews. He's choosing not to appear mostly with television journalists. Instead, he's appearing with performers.
HACKETT: Right.
STELTER: And last night on stage at one of his events he referred to himself as giving a performance which, again, that's Trump in a nutshell. I'm glad we've been reminded of that.
CAMEROTA: Quickly, Larry.
HACKETT: Trump is all about tell and not show. It would have seemed to me that he might have taken a better opportunity, even if he'd, you know, stood on a treadmill on the Oz show. It may have seemed ridiculous but it would have appeared to have been something where he actually may be more healthy than she is.
I think people -- him tell -- here's what happens. Him telling that he's healthy, no one's going to believe it. They need to see real evidence and that's a problem.
CAMEROTA: All right.
STELTER: This election is all above perceived strength. That's the bottom line.
CAMEROTA: Brian, Larry, thank you. All right, so we've shown you these shocking pictures. This is man and woman in a car. They have overdosed on heroin and child -- their child -- is in the car seat behind them. The child now has new home just as a new law aims to help addicts. We'll talk about whether or not this will save lives. CNN's Dr. Drew Pinsky joins us live.
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[07:42:55] CAMEROTA: We want to warn you, this next segment has some disturbing video and images about the nation's heroin epidemic.
We're going to show you this video now. This is from Wisconsin. This happened in March but this video was just released. And first, you see those two people slumped over in their car. They had overdosed on heroin. There was a toddler in their car. And then you see these emergency crews, when they find them like this, rushing them out of the car, putting them on the ground and, in fact, saving their lives.
This new video comes after police in Ohio released these jarring images. And again, a child sitting in the backseat of this car watching his parents overdose in the front seat. We want to bring in the host of HLN's "DR. DREW", CNN contributor Dr. Drew Pinsky. He is an addiction specialist. Dr. Drew, great to have you here.
DR. DREW PINSKY, HLN HOST, "DR. DREW": Good morning.
CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh, these -- this video and that photo -- those still photos -- they just grab you by the throat and make you pay attention. And I guess that's the point of releasing videos like this is to get everyone's attention about this heroin epidemic.
PINSKY: Yes, the police -- even their Facebook posts just sort of casually dropped in that look, we just thought people ought to see what we see all day, every day. I mean, there are millions of people addicted to opioids in this country. Tens of thousands are addicted to heroin. This is what it looks like. When you look at those statistics that's the appearance of it in real life. This is where it goes in call cases. It's not like this is something unusual. This is just what the police are dealing with all day long.
CAMEROTA: That photo -- those still photos that we just has on the screen -- we did the story with the police who decided to release that even though it is ghoulish. I mean, they look dead. They're turning blue. And the police decided to release it again for public awareness.
A woman saw these photos and she took it upon herself to release her own cellphone video of now this video that we've been showing this morning, that we'll show you right here. She took this because it was, yet, another heroin addiction. But this time we get to see the EMS responders doing God's work. I mean, they saved these people's lives.
Dr. Drew, what do you think the upshot of releasing video and photos like this -- does it change something in the fight against the heroin epidemic?
[07:45:00] PINSKY: Well, it doesn't change anything for the addicts you're seeing in these pictures. They are in their disease. And by the way, it doesn't have to be an emergency responder to save somebody's life like that. Now, we have access to naltrexone, a medicine you can squirt in someone's nose and they are reversed immediately. So people should have these things handy if they're at all going to be around someone with opioid addiction.
This is a killer condition. The leading cause of death in this country is overdoses -- one of the leading causes -- and it's not just opioids. It's typically the combination of an opioid and a benzodiazepine. My peers and my profession has created this epidemic through the overprescribing of prescription opioids.
We have finally gotten that message through that this needs to be addressed and so patients are getting cut off. So rather than patients being brought in and the physician saying to them look, we have a new problem we have to get treated, they just cut them off as a bad patient. And if you take an opioid addict -- a pill addict -- and cut them off, they're going to go somewhere to get their drug and that's going to be the cheapest available alternative -- and that is heroin.
CAMEROTA: Dr. Drew, what do you think of this new Good Samaritan law? It's passing in many states. It's already in, I believe, 38 states. But it's a brand new Ohio law and basically it says that if you're a friend or a relative of a heroin addict -- someone who is OD'ing you can call 911 without fear of reprisal for that person. That person won't be jailed. They won't be punished because you basically just want to save their lives. How's this going to change the equation?
PINSKY: It's enlightened because it adds to the caveat that they also must get treatment, and this is the problem. This is a medical condition. Without treatment it will continue. It changes the motivational systems in the brain.
I mean, people seem to be shocked and surprised that there was a child in the car here. Well, that's an example of precisely what this disease does. It takes the usual motivations -- working, surviving, eating, loving your children -- and it takes those motivations and it eliminates them, essentially.
And it's replaced by a single motivation which is using, so all the more usual sorts of phenomena where associated with thinking of as priority just go away and that continues unless there's treatment. And treatment is available. It is effective, but it's costly and it takes a long time.
CAMEROTA: Dr. Drew, I want to pull up that video again -- the one from Milwaukee that is the video of the couple with the kid in the backseat and the EMS responders. This was in March. They saved both of these people's lives, these emergency responders. There's a sad coda to this story and that is that, this month, the man here died of a drug overdose -- of a heroin overdose, as CNN has confirmed.
If someone is struggling out there watching us this morning, what should they do?
PINSKY: It's a reminder and why this video is so impactful and positive is that it's a fatal illness. Whether it's a pill or a needle, opioid addiction is a fatal illness. It will progress to death unless something is done to intervene, and that intervention is to see a specialist. Someone who has experience treating addiction
Or just show up at 12-step meeting and throw yourself on the mercy of the process and say I need help. There is armies of people out there that can help you and there are many alternative ways to approach that treatment. There's no one size that fits all.
CAMEROTA: Dr. Drew, thank you. Always comforting to talk to you. Thanks so much for being on.
PINSKY: You bet.
CAMEROTA: Let's get to Chris. CUOMO: All right, both 2016 contenders are releasing new information
about their health but what are some reliable indicators that they will be fit to be president for the duration of the term? There are actually answers to this question and CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has them, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:52:50] CUOMO: Stamina -- that's a big word in this campaign. Donald Trump has helped make it one. It's a key issue for him. And now he's telling talk show host Dr. Oz why he feels physically prepared for the job despite his age and relative fitness level -- here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OZ: If elected at aged 70, you would be the oldest person to ever enter the Oval Office. Why do you think you have the stamina for the job?
TRUMP: Yes, just about the same age as Ronald Reagan, and Hillary's a year behind me. I would say just based on my life. I mean, I've had -- I actually -- and I don't know if this makes sense -- I feel as good today as I did when I was 30.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Clinton's campaign released another letter from her doctor documenting her recent bout with pneumonia. So, how much of an issue is age for these candidates and their relative levels of fitness? How much should we care and what could we know that would actually give you a good guess as to how fit they'll be in office?
We have answers. We have our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta right now. And, you know, you've been pushing this point for several days now is that this isn't a mystery. There are things that you can look at that will give you comfort on this issue.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think that's an important point and it doesn't need to be relentlessly invasive or embarrassing. There's certain things, I think, in terms of answering this question is someone fit to serve physically and mentally.
And I think, you know, for example, cognitive function is one of those things. Is there something cognitively that you worry about? Early onset dementia or something. Nobody's suggesting anybody has it, I'm just saying these are the sort of things that you look for.
CAMEROTA: Yes, we have the things that you think would be relevant.
GUPTA: Yes.
CAMEROTA: Let's put that up on a full screen. So you want to look at cognitive function, physical limitations, terminal disease, need for medication -- GUPTA: That are sedating, yes.
CAMEROTA: -- incapacitating disorders, untreated mental illness. How you do see that when you look at some tests -- any of this stuff when you just look at raw test results?
GUPTA: It's tough when you look at just raw tests results because when you look at the test results you're getting a snapshot in time. You're getting -- so I think when you -- but, the medical records may give you more than you necessarily need or is relevant. So it could sometimes work as you have an independent group of doctors who look at these medical records and basically try to answer these questions. Try to answer these questions in an objective way.
Is there anything that might incapacitate the president for a period of time? Seizures that are uncontrolled, for example. If that were something that were true that could be of concern or should be disclosed, not necessarily disqualifying. If the person has physical limitations that physical prevent them from doing the job. Again, no one is suggesting that.
[07:55:00] And you also have 18 months now where they've been campaigning and you get to see them. The public gets to see them.
CAMEROTA: That's a stress test if I've ever seen one.
GUPTA: It's a stress -- it's grueling.
CAMEROTA: I mean, what's interesting is that you were the doctor who did this for John McCain.
GUPTA: Yes.
CAMEROTA: They produced 1,700 pages of medical records and you sifted through them and decided what was relevant.
GUPTA: Yes, and it's hard because that's so much information and they gave us a few hours to do it, but I sort of broke it down into these general categories. I've been reporting on this stuff since the 2004 campaign. And this was sort of the list that I have come up with of things that I think are relevant, not overly invasive, not overly getting into private territory, but voters should at least have disclosed to them about the health of the candidates.
CUOMO: Well, but then you get into the real question which is the transparency. You believe in the dynamic of collegiality that someone's doctor can also be their friend and that may compromise the process. You believe it's time that we have an independent person/body take a look at the data for themselves.
GUPTA: I think this campaign put that in a clearer focus. I think this letter that Mr. Trump's doctor wrote about him using all this language and then subsequently saying hey look, we're friends. I tried to write the letter in a way that I thought he would like -- all that sort of stuff. He may be a -- he may be a fine doctor. I don't know him at all. But
if you're trying to write the letter in a way that your patient wants, I think it throws in to question the objectivity of it and this is an important matter. So giving it to independent doctors who don't have any relationship with the candidate and are looking at this in an objective way and can -- again, without being overly invasive, answer some of those questions.
CAMEROTA: I think we maybe are being overly invasive because when I see these results on both sides I read breast ultrasound, I read colonoscopy. I don't know if we -- if everything's fine I don't know if we need to see those results.
GUPTA: Yes, and those are the results they released themselves, right? This is what the campaign decided to release on behalf of --
CUOMO: I think you're falling for a trick by them.
CAMEROTA: What is it?
CUOMO: I think they put that stuff in there --
CAMEROTA: To gross me out.
CUOMO: Is that -- see, you want it, now you have it. Now let's see if you want to read this. And I think we always want more. I'll take more of anything and let me judge.
CAMEROTA: But if the results are fine -- in other words, there's no problem, do you really need -- want to see somebody's colonoscopy?
CUOMO: Do I actually want to review footage?
CAMEROTA: Yes.
CUOMO: No, but it --
GUPTA: They're not showing you the footage, just to be clear. But saying colonoscopy --
CAMEROTA: But, I mean -- it's still -- I don't want to look, just know about it.
CUOMO: But here's the problem.
CAMEROTA: It just --
GUPTA: Well, you should know -- if somebody's got a cancer screening --
CAMEROTA: OK.
GUPTA: I want to know -- that's what that is.
CAMEROTA: No. I just want to know do they have cancer or not.
CUOMO: Yes, but that's how you know.
CAMEROTA: But that's how Sanjay knows. I don't know if the public needs to know that if the results of a breast ultrasound and a colonoscopy. Just tell me do they have cancer or not. I mean, isn't that -- isn't it overly invasive to talk about exactly what tests you got.
GUPTA: Well, and some may say how do you know they don't have cancer --
CUOMO: Right.
GUPTA: -- and what cancer --
CUOMO: Like a reporter --
GUPTA: -- they're talking about specifically.
CUOMO: -- might ask that question. Like Alisyn Camerota might ask that question.
CAMEROTA: No, we have never heard this before.
GUPTA: Doctors are reportedly very similar in this regard.
CAMEROTA: No, we have never heard this level of detail before.
CUOMO: Because we haven't -- but we haven't had people this age. We haven't had somebody flop out on the campaign trail, you know, and do it. Raises issues, you know.
CAMEROTA: Agreed.
CUOMO: I mean, you evolve your understanding of what matters.
CAMEROTA: But I like what Sanjay's suggesting, that you could parse it for us.
GUPTA: You could parse it for you and if you had independent doctors that had no relationship I think you may be more likely to say hey, look, Itrust that because they're totally independent. So whether they say the specific test or they just say no cancer, maybe it would be more likely to actually not be met with some sort of confidence.
CUOMO: Don't worry, you're going to throw in the lab coat and get in there.
GUPTA: You're very squeamish.
CUOMO: A campaign that has been all about them keeping information from us. You've got to beg for information, you know, and if they're going to give you more, let's take it. You know, let's take it.
CAMEROTA: Chris is not a doctor but he'll take a look.
CUOMO: I've stayed at a Holiday Inn Express a lot, though, so I feel about as qualified as --
GUPTA: People think I like this most.
CAMEROTA: Sanjay, I'm sorry that you had to be a part of our --
GUPTA: No, it was good. I enjoyed that.
CUOMO: Yes, and he raised the awareness. It's time for us to have a more effective --
GUPTA: I know a lot more of your trigger buttons now. I will not touch those words -- ultrasounds, colonoscopies.
CAMEROTA: Oh, you just said it again.
GUPTA: I'm sorry.
CAMEROTA: Sanjay, thank you. Always great to have you here. We're following a lot of news this morning. Let's get right to it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It is hot, and it's always hot when I perform because the crowds are so big.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I felt overheated. I decided that I did need to leave and, very quickly, I felt better.
TRUMP: I don't know, folks. You think Hillary would be able to stand up here for an hour and do this?
CLINTON: Donald Trump's doctor said he'd be the healthiest president in history. That's just not even serious.
TRUMP: I feel as good today as I did when I was 30.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything is out there for folks to see.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You've got one candidate who has released decades' worth of her tax return. The other candidate refuses to release any at all.
TRUMP: I will sever connections and I'll have my children run the company.
CLINTON: I think it's time he met the same level of disclosure that I have for years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.
CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone, welcome to your NEW DAY.
First up, Hillary Clinton set to get back on the campaign trail today after being sidelined for three days with pneumonia.
