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New Day
Donald Trump's and Hillary Clinton's Performance in Presidential Debate Examined; How Will First Debate Change the Race?. Aired 8-8:30a ET
Aired September 27, 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] STEVE FORBES, CHAIRMAN AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, FORBES MAGAZINE: Most of that increased in the deficit, $1.7 trillion national debt came from the big military buildup which worked because we won the cold war. The wealth of the nation in the 1980s, that went up $1.7 trillion. The wealth of the nation went up $17 trillion. Real wages went up.
TONY SCHWARTZ, DONALD TRUMP'S CO-AUTHOR ON "THE ART OF THE DEAL": Let's be clear. This is a guy who said I did smart things to say that I could benefit from a drop in the housing market.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
SCHWARTZ: He is a self-interested man. The key issue here is does he have your interest in mind or does he have his interest I mind?
CAMEROTA: Gentleman, thank you.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: We're leaving it there. Thank you very much for both of your takes on this.
CUOMO: We have more coverage, including live interviews with Clinton's campaign manager and Trump's running mate, Governor Mike Pence of Indiana. Let's get to it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald just criticized me for preparing for this debate. You know what else I prepared for? To be president.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She doesn't have the look. She doesn't have the stamina.
CLINTON: As soon as he travels to 112 countries or even spends 11 hours testifying, he can talk to me about stamina.
TRUMP: I will bring back jobs. It's going to be a beautiful thing.
CLINTON: We tried to put the whole racist birther lie to bed.
TRUMP: I was the one that got him to produce the birth certificate. I think I did a good job.
CLINTON: Why won't he release his tax returns?
TRUMP: Why did she delete 33,000 e-mails?
CLINTON: I have a feeling by the end of this evening I'm going to be blamed for everything that's ever happened.
TRUMP: Why not?
CLINTON: Why not? Yes, why not?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.
CUOMO: What a night, and now we say good morning and welcome to your "new day." Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump did not disappoint. They're both back on the campaign trail but, wow, we had a big first this presidential debate. It was fiery. There was a lot of conflict. Clinton accused Trump of racist behavior, had him playing defense much of the time. Trump painted Clinton as a typical politician, calling her years of public service "bad experience."
CAMEROTA: So who won? A new CNN post today poll shows it was a big night for Hillary Clinton. Clinton's campaign manager will join us live in a few moments. But first, let's begin our coverage with CNN's Phil Mattingly. Good morning, Phil.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.
Both campaign's had a specific message they wanted to get across last night, Donald Trump that he was the change maker, that he could break the status quo. Hillary Clinton, that she was ready, prepared to take office.
But if you were one of the millions of viewers who was watching last night, you'd be forgiven if you weren't so much focused on that as you were the fireworks between the two candidates.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have a feeling by the end of this evening I'm going to be blamed for everything that's ever happened.
TRUMP: Why not?
CLINTON: Why not? Yes, why not?
MATTINGLY: The highly anticipated duel between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton began with an exchanging of pleasantries.
TRUMP: Secretary Clinton, yes, is that OK? Good. I want you to be very happy. MATTINGLY: But it didn't take long for the gloves to come off.
CLINTON: The kind of plan that Donald has put forth would be trickle- down economics all over again. I call it Trumped-up trickle-down.
TRUMP: NAFTA is the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere but certainly ever signed in this country. And now you want to approve Trans-Pacific Partnership.
MATTINGLY: Trump repeatedly casting Clinton as a typical politician while attempting to portray himself as a change agent.
TRUMP: You've been doing this for 30 years. Why are you just thinking about these solutions right now?
MATTINGLY: Clinton putting Trump on the defensive for much of the debate, baiting the GOP nominee on his business record.
CLINTON: Donald was one of the people who rooted for the housing crisis. He said back in 2006, gee, I hope it does collapse because then I can go in and buy some and make some money. Well, it did collapse.
TRUMP: That's called business, by the way.
CLINTON: And 9 million people, 9 million people lost their jobs.
MATTINGLY: Challenging him on his refusal to release his tax returns.
TRUMP: I will release my tax returns against my lawyer's wishes when she releases her 33,000 e-mails that have been deleted.
CLINTON: Maybe he doesn't want the American people, all of you watching tonight, to know that he's paid nothing in federal taxes.
TRUMP: That makes me smarter.
CLINTON: He's paid zero. That means zero for troops, zero for vets, zero for schools or health.
MATTINGLY: Trump pouncing on Clinton about her use of private e-mail, but not dwelling on it.
CLINTON: I made a mistake using a private e-mail.
TRUMP: That's for sure.
CLINTON: And if I had to do it over again, I would obviously do it differently.
TRUMP: That was more than a mistake. That was done purposely.
MATTINGLY: And insisting she can't be trusted.
TRUMP: I have much better judgment than she does. There's no question about that. I also have a much better temperament than she has.
[08:05:05] CLINTON: Whew. OK.
MATTINGLY: Trump on the defensive over years of false claims that President Obama wasn't born in the U.S.
TRUMP: I think I did a great job and a great service not only for the country but even for the president in getting him to produce his birth certificate.
LESTER HOLT, DEBATE MODERATOR: Secretary Clinton?
MATTINGLY: Clinton hitting Trump hard, dubbing his crusade racist.
CLINTON: He tried to put the whole racist birther lie to bed, but it can't be dismissed that easily. So he has a long record of engaging in racist behavior. And the birther lie was a very hurtful one.
MATTINGLY: Debate moderator Lester Holt fact checking in real time. Trump insisting he did not support the Iraq war despite proof that he did.
TRUMP: I did not support a war in Iraq.
HOLT: In 2002.
TRUMP: That is a mainstream media nonsense put out by her.
HOLT: The record shows otherwise, but why --
TRUMP: The record does not show that. The record shows that I'm right.
HOLT: The fiery debate ending on a personal attack of Clinton.
TRUMP: She doesn't have the look. She doesn't have the stamina. I said she doesn't have the stamina, and I don't believe she does have the stamina. To be president of this country, you need tremendous stamina.
CLINTON: As soon as he travels to 112 countries and negotiates a peace deal, a ceasefire, a release of dissidents, an opening of new opportunities in nations around the world or even spends 11 hours testifying in front of a congressional committee, he can talk to me about stamina.
TRUMP: Hillary has experience, but it's bad experience.
MATTINGLY: But the veteran debater fought back at Trump's critiques.
CLINTON: I think Donald just criticized me for preparing for this debate. And, yes, I did. And you know what else I prepared for? I prepared to be president, and I think that's a good thing.
(END VIDEOTAPE) MATTINGLY: Guys, while there were certainly moments where Donald Trump was strong last night, for much if not the vast majority of the debate he was on the defensive. A good reason why, think about the wheelhouse issues for Donald Trump -- immigration, attacking Hillary Clinton on the Clinton Foundation, the Benghazi terror attacks. One of the survivors of the attacks was actually in the audience as a guest of Donald Trump. Those are issues that never came up. Donald Trump didn't bring them up. Donald Trump didn't attack on those issues, something you can definitely keep an eye on the debates ahead. They were missing from his repertoire last night.
Guys, obviously both candidates back on the campaign trail today, and that means swing states. Hillary Clinton in North Carolina, Donald Trump in Florida, two states that both candidates desperately want to win if they want to win in November.
CUOMO: Phil Mattingly, good reporting. Thank you very much.
Lessons learned, but at what cost? There are a lot of overnight polls of people going online and voting, but CNN doesn't use those. We did our own poll, and it recorded a resounding victory for Hillary Clinton last night. Take a look, 62-27 in the CNN/ORC debate poll. You had 62 percent for her, 27, both of those numbers unusually large for this kind of poll. But you do have to know it does skew slightly I favor of Democrats. More of them responded than Republicans. That's not unusual. When supporters feel like they've won, they're more responsive to the polls. A majority of independents watching deemed Clinton the winner as well. Alisyn?
CAMEROTA: Let's see how the Clinton campaign feels this morning. Joining us now is Hillary Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook. Robby, great to have you here.
ROBBY MOOK, CLINTON CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: What did you think was her best and her worst moment last night?
MOOK: This debate was a tremendous opportunity for the voters to look at both of these candidates on the same stage and judge who is prepared to be president of the United States. For Hillary in particular, we thought this was a great opportunity for her to talk about the things that she's going to do to make a real difference in people's lives. She got a chance to talk about how she would create jobs, how she would help families afford college, how she would help families afford health care. She doesn't always have unfiltered opportunities to communicate with voters on those issues.
CAMEROTA: What opportunity did she miss?
MOOK: Well, you know, look, I actually wish she had had more opportunity to talk about how she can get this kind of work done. It was raised briefly, but one of the things that I think Secretary Clinton really stands out on is her ability to bring both parties together to actually achieve these goals. I wish she had had more opportunity to talk about that, talk about climate change and some other issues. But we've got two more debates and we'll get them done there.
One of the things that pundits think that she did not answer adequately or just even satisfactorily that could have been better and was a missed opportunity was when asked about her record, what has she accomplished in terms of jobs for the past 30 years. So let's play that moment for everyone.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You've been doing this for 30 years. Why are you just thinking about these solutions right now? For 30 years you've been doing it and now you're just starting to think of solutions.
[08:10:07] CLINTON: Well, actually --
TRUMP: I will bring -- excuse me. I will bring back jobs. You can't bring back jobs.
CLINTON: Well, actually, I have thought about this for quite a bit.
TRUMP: Yes, for 30 years.
CLINTON: And I have -- well, not quite that long. I think my husband did a pretty good job in the 1990s. I think a lot about what worked and how we can make it work again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: So going to her husband's record, that's not her own record.
MOOK: Well, you actually heard in the clip you played in Chris's earlier segment, she talked about a lot of things she had done, traveling to 112 countries, negotiating a ceasefire in a hot war in the Gaza Strip.
CAMEROTA: Should she have had an answer there for exactly what she would do or has done?
MOOK: She got it there at the end. But look, I think Donald Trump's record got examined as well. He doubled down on not releasing his taxes. He said it was smart that he didn't pay taxes. So he -- it sounded like he admitted he's paying no taxes and that's why he's not releasing them. He said it was good business to bet on the housing -- the housing crash in 2008 when people lost their homes. He said it was a great opportunity to make a lot of money.
You know, and, actually, I'll say one other opportunity that was missed, he talked about all of these jobs going overseas. Donald Trump outsourced jobs to 13 different countries.
CAMEROTA: And Hillary Clinton didn't drive that home.
MOOK: She didn't bring that up, but, again, we have two more debates.
CAMEROTA: That's what you would counsel her to do differently? MOOK: Yes. But, look, I think this tax thing is a real problem for
Trump. To say it's smart to pay no taxes when you are a billionaire, is that really what you want to say to the American people who work hard and pay those taxes themselves?
CAMEROTA: Pundits this morning are saying that he had a very strong first half an hour, maybe even first hour, and then seemed to recede. During that first half an hour were you nervous that he had the upper hand and that he was winning and she was back on her heels?
MOOK: You know, I wasn't. Again, on that trade argument he was pretty aggressive but he was interrupting her. We saw him to begin to unwind and become unhinged. And as you pointed out, by the end of the debate, that temperament that we're all concerned about, that inability to, you know, think clearly and make good judgments, it just came out. I mean, the fact that he went on a long diatribe about the racist birther lie, seemed to defend it, you know, he just doesn't have the temperament to be president of the United States.
And you think about if Donald Trump were to sit in the situation room for an hour and -- or 90 minutes and unwind this way, I mean, I think it was a huge warning sign. I think that's why two to one people think Hillary won this debate.
CAMEROTA: Donald Trump said at the end that he was not going to touch a very hot topic and he had made a decision, and it was very thinly veiled. Everyone assumed that he was talking about Bill Clinton's past. Here's the moment that he said it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I'm very happy that I was able to hold back on the -- you know, on the indiscretions with respect to Bill Clinton because I have a lot of respect for Chelsea Clinton and I just didn't want to say what I was going to say.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Which is?
TRUMP: Which is I'll tell you maybe at the next debate. We'll see.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOK: So at the end of the debate he said that he had intentionally not touched it and then that was with Dana Bash afterwards where he said maybe I'll bring it up next debate. Were you surprised that he didn't go there?
MOOK: You know, Donald Trump is a great reality television star, that's where he -- his career really went to the next step. This is -- it's such an obvious dodge. He spiraled out at the end of the debate, and so of course he wants to bully. And so he wants to talk about these supposed indiscretions.
The American people want to hear how someone's going to create jobs, how they're going to help them afford education and child care. And he came with no plans. He came with no substance and he had no command of the issues. So this is his way of wallpapering that.
CAMEROTA: Will you have a prepared response for him?
MOOK: I think Hillary is ready for anything. She's experienced at these debates. I'm not concerned about that. It's just sad that we can't have an actual discussion about the issues because Donald Trump doesn't have a command of the issues.
Trump supporters say that they were disappointed that nothing about Benghazi was brought up by Lester Holt, nothing about the Clinton Foundation was brought up, and that they felt that in that way she got some soft pedal treatment.
MOOK: Nothing came up about Donald Trump's foundation, the six foot portrait of himself that he bought with those charitable dollars, the lawsuits he paid for against his enemies. You know, there's two more debates, lots of time for this to come up. But, again, you know, Trump wants to talk about anything but the actual issues that people care about, and that's because he didn't prepare. He didn't show up ready to talk about the things that matter in people's lives. And it's unfortunate. We'll see what he does next.
CAMEROTA: Robby Mook, thanks so much for being here on NEW DAY, great to talk to you.
MOOK: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: So the big question of course if you're just waking up is who won the debates. We have the key moments that defined this epic showdown. How could what happened last night change either of their standings in the polls.
[08:15:04] Our political panel weighs in on that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CUOMO: Hillary Clinton had a strategy, put Donald Trump on defense. Make him upset. Make him want to defend himself, and it worked.
A CNN poll conducted after the debate had 62 percent of debate watchers saying Clinton won, 27 percent thought Donald Trump won. Independent voters also thought that Hillary Clinton won.
So, does this matter? Are we going to see this in the real polls when they start to come out?
Let's remember, Mitt Romney's first debate performance certainly shook up the 2012 race, right? Seemed like President Obama slept through it. You remember those criticisms? Went from an eight point deficit to a four point lead.
Let's bring in CNN politics executive editor Mark Preston and host of CNN's "SMERCONISH", and CNN political commentator, Michael Smerconish.
Couple of other races. 2012, you know, it sounds funny, but that's what the take was on Obama, he was sluggish. CAMEROTA: Right.
CUOMO: You had that one.
In 2008, though, you had Obama versus McCain. This was supposed to be the battle old versus young. Coming in pre-debate, it was 47-42 in favor of Obama. He picked up two and McCain lost. You had a four point swing there effectively.
In 2004, Kerry and Bush. Kerry went in there heavily under weighted, 44 to 52, right? Wound up being an eight point swing, plus five, negative three.
[08:20:00] So, it can matter.
Smerconish, do you think this will be a debate that matters and is reflective in polls?
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I do. I think it matters more than you just cited for a different reason.
CUOMO: I spent a lot of time.
SMERCONISH: Very cerebral. You lost me by the third number.
CUOMO: Ahh!
SMERCONISH: But here's the point -- seven states are already voting and 1/3 of those who voted in 2012 voted early. So, I think I get sucked into this sometimes thinking, well, it's five weeks out. What will happen between now and Election Day, November 8th.
Forget about it. People are casting their ballots right now based on what happened and they're in the vault. You can't get it back once you cast your ballot. So, I think that that debate last night was a great significance.
CAMEROTA: So, tell us who you think won and lost and the best moment.
SMERCONISH: Well, I think she won the debate. There's a huge whisper down the lane campaign that takes place. We all want to appear knowledgeable. We want to go to work this morning and have something to say at the water cooler or something to say among family members.
So, I think the fact that the narrative has so quickly taken hold that she won, and I do believe she won, really redounds to her benefit in ways that he can't control. She did have a strategy. The strategy was push his button. So, within the first 10 minutes, she talked about his father's loan, she used the verbiage of trumped up, and she said, I think the third one was he rooted for the housing crisis.
And you could see, it got under his skin because he initially, he made a big point out of saying, you know, I'm referring to you as Secretary Clinton but you could see him getting PO'd as it progressed.
And then, her biggest asset, the split screen, because she had rehearsed that, she looked presidential. He looked hostile and he looked a bit unhinged at times. That's precisely what she wanted.
CUOMO: Now, when we talk about this stuff, Mark, I have a tendency to dismiss it as tactic. She went after him and it worked. You say, no, this is a test for these candidates of how they'll deal the crushing pressure of being president of the United States, that's why it matters beyond the actual moment.
How so?
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Just from the fact when she was able to pivot off and say -- when Donald Trump said, look, I've been all over the country and you've been off the campaign trail. She said, yes, I have, I was preparing for this debate just like I am going to be prepared to be president. I think that was an important moment. Here folks would be like, wow, I can't believe that just happened, but it was something that showed the differentiating between her and him.
He didn't prepare. She clearly did. She had a grasp of the issues, he clearly didn't. And I think that showed last night and that is extremely important.
And as Michael says, the narrative is important. What happened last night is now going to be discussed for several days right now and that is to her advantage, especially at a time when the wind was at his back and if he came out of this debate really strong last night, then he would have a big advantage in these closing weeks.
SMERCONISH: May I add to that?
CAMEROTA: Yes.
SMERCONISH: Because I wondered if we were getting snookered going into the debate if, in fact, he really was at the Westchester Country Club eating bacon cheeseburgers but rehearsing. No, he wasn't.
It was exactly as advertised. He hadn't rehearsed and it caught up with him. If you get asked a question about race relations, your answer is not law enforcement. I'm all for law enforcement, but the first words out of your mouth when the question is, "How can we improve race relations?", is not to talk about stop and frisk and then make it a referendum on that issue.
These were all predictable issues that he should have had an answer for. He should have had a better answer for the tax returns. He blew it. When he was given an opportunity to talk about her e-mail and he quickly pivoted.
CUOMO: But you're assuming that he h better answers. What if this is what he believes? That I like paying no taxes. I don't care about giving my fair share. I don't want to talk about healing race. I want to talk about cops and law and order.
SMERCONISH: Well, then he needs better answers. Those are poor answers. And I --
CUOMO: Got him this far.
SMERCONISH: It did get him this far, but that was not a primary debate last night. That was a general election debate without an audience on which to feed and the one-liners that delivered him to get this far are the same lines that will preclude him from going further.
CAMEROTA: And yet is it possible that if people just tuned in for the first half an hour or hour that they thought he won because he did have a strong first half hour?
PRESTON: That would be predicated on the fact that everything that happened in that half hour would be the only thing that's discussed for the next three or four days, and that's not what's going to happen. What happened last night in its totality certainly as momentum grew for her and he really started to crash -- I mean, he was crashing last night. He didn't have answers. He wasn't able to fill the two minutes and then those little quips, the interruptions where it looked snarky. It looked like a school yard fight as opposed to a real debate on the issues or fight on the issues.
She did the same thing but she did it very presidential. There was a difference there.
CAMEROTA: Michael, Mark, thank you very much.
So, was Donald Trump prepared for the debate? Did he consider that adequate preparation? How will he change his strategy for the next debate?
Up next, Trump's running mate, Governor Mike Pence, is here. He'll answer those questions.
CUOMO: He's got a big debate coming up of his own. Talk to him about that, too.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[08:28:52] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Behind the blue screen, I don't know who you were talking to, Secretary Clinton, but you were totally out of control. I said, there's a person with a temperament that's got a problem.
LESTER HOLT, DEBATE MODERATOR: Secretary Clinton?
TRUMP: Whew. OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Just taste of the high stake showdown between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The next presidential debate is just 12 days away. So, how is the Trump strategy going to change between now and then?
Let's put that to the side because before anything happens with the presidential candidates, you're going to have the vice presidential candidate debate just one week from today.
Joining us now is Indiana Governor Mike Pence, of course, the running mate for Donald Trump.
Governor, thank you for being with us.
GOV. MIKE PENCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Great to be with you.
CUOMO: So, you are known as a student. You are known as a studier and a worker. One of the criticisms for Donald Trump last night was he said he wasn't going to prepare and he meant it and it hurt him. Will you prepare differently than he did for your debate?
PENCE: Well, first off, let me say, I think it was a good debate. I think Donald Trump had a great night.
I think the American people saw in Donald Trump the kind of the leadership and the kind of clarity and candor that's created the tremendous momentum in this campaign.
