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Presidential Debate Performances Examined; Donald Trump Criticizes Former Miss Universe Winner; Israeli Politician Shimon Peres Dies; Deadly Police Shooting in California. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired September 28, 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] CHRISTINE QUINN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: We saw it all the time. I saw Corey do it in that chair with a "Newsweek" reporter a couple weeks ago. It's attack the messenger, demean the messenger. It's what they do when they're backed into a corner, and they're backed into a corner because yet again Mr. Trump treated women terribly, like they're chattel.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We're running out of time. Very quick.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: What does the Clinton campaign do when the Secret Service agent said that --

CAMEROTA: Five seconds.

MCENANY: And she said, bleep off?

QUINN: Kayleigh, you're talking about unsubstantiated allegations.

(CROSSTALK)

QUINN: And Kayleigh, you're changing the subject. This is in defense of what he did.

CAMEROTA: Christine, Kayleigh, thank you. This debate will continue. I will look forward to hearing what you have to say on Twitter @AlysinCamerota. What's your take? You can also tweet us at NEW DAY or post your comments on Facebook.com/NewDay.

We're following a lot of news this morning. Let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes. One does, two to go.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Almost every single poll had us winning the debate.

CLINTON: He made it very clear, he didn't prepare for that debate. I did prepare. I prepared to be president of the United States.

TRUMP: I was holding back. I didn't want to do anything to embarrass her.

CLINTON: Donald, she has a name --

TRUMP: Where did you find this?

CLINTON: Her name is Alicia Machado.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was really aggressive, really rude.

TRUMP: She was the winner. She gained a massive amount of weight. It was a real problem.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can see the same person that I met 20 years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was one of the founding fathers of the state of Israel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Condolences pouring in from all over the world.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People will remember them with a smile on their face.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For me the great pleasure is to serve my people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, September 28th, 8:00 in the east. And up first, the 2016 race is heating up. Hillary Clinton riding high after her debate performance while Donald Trump is claiming victory himself, telling supporters he plans to hit his opponent even harder the next time.

CAMEROTA: And as you just heard, Donald is also doubling down on his attacks on that former Latina Miss Universe. The beauty queen is firing back. CNN's Sara Murray is live in Orlando with more. What's the latest, Sara?

SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. Well, I don't think a battle with a beauty queen is quite what Donald Trump expected to come out of that debate. And while even his supporter acknowledge he may have missed opportunities on that stage, he certainly tried to make up for them on the campaign trail here in Florida last night, calling Hillary Clinton virtually incompetent as he threw every attack he could think of her way.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've been working to get rid of that crooked woman.

MURRAY: Hillary Clinton may have rattled Donald Trump, but last night the self-proclaimed counterpuncher was ready to throw some jabs.

TRUMP: Hillary Clinton, I mean, she is virtually incompetent. MURRAY: As Clinton is riding high off her solid debate performance.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Did anybody see that debate last night? Oh, yes! One down, two to go.

MURRAY: Trump's claiming he didn't unleash his full arsenal against Clinton in the first debate.

TRUMP: Watched her very carefully, and I was also holding back. I didn't want to do anything to embarrass her.

MURRAY: Clinton continues to hit Trump hard on failing to release his taxes.

CLINTON: They showed he didn't pay any federal income tax. So --

TRUMP: That makes me smart.

CLINTON: So if not paying taxes makes him smart, what does that make all the rest of us?

MURRAY: And is using Trump's own words against him.

TRUMP: I've been all over the place. You decided to stay home.

CLINTON: At one point he was kind of digging me for spending time off the campaign trail to get prepared. But just trying to keep track of everything he says took a lot of time and effort.

(LAUGHTER)

CLINTON: You know what, I did prepare. And I'll tell you something else I prepared for. I prepared to be president of the United States and I think that's good.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: As Trump spent much of the day blaming the debate moderator and once again complaining about his microphone.

TRUMP: My microphone was terrible. I think -- I wonder was it set up that way on purpose.

CLINTON: Anybody who complains about the microphone is not having a good night.

MURRAY: And making no apologies for body-shaming former Miss Universe, Alicia Machado.

TRUMP: She gained a massive amount of weight and it was -- it was a real problem.

MURRAY: After Clinton pounced on his derogatory comments 20 years ago on the debate stage.

CLINTON: One of the worst things he said was about a woman in a beauty contest. He called this woman "Miss Piggy." Then he called her "Miss Housekeeping" because she was Latina.

MURRAY: The Venezuelan actress, now a U.S. citizen, is speaking out.

ALICIA MACHADO, MISS UNIVERSITY 1996: No more insults for the women. I know very well Mr. Trump, and I can see the same person that I met 20 years ago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[08:05:02] MURRAY: Now, rather than letting this story blow over, or perhaps even apologizing, the Trump campaign continues to hit back. They put out a statement saying, "These are totally baseless and unsubstantiated claims by Miss Machado who lobbed a public smear campaign in order to gain notoriety at the expense of Mr. Trump's name and reputation." And we asked him what the baseless and unsubstantiated parts were of Alicia Machado's claims. So far, no response on that from the Trump campaign. Back to you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Sara, thanks so much for all that background. Let's bring in former political director for George W. Bush, Matt Schlapp. He supports Donald Trump. Good morning, Matt.

MATT SCHLAPP, TRUMP SURROGATE: Alisyn, how are you?

CAMEROTA: I'm doing well. Matt, what do you think of Donald Trump, of this whole issue about Alicia Machado being revisited, and Donald Trump once again saying that her weight was a real problem for him. He said it yesterday on "FOX AN FRIENDS."

SCHLAPP: Can I take the politics out of it first, Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Yes.

SCHLAPP: I think when the Clinton campaign has turned this presidential race into Donald Trump versus some individual American out there, it's probably a smart tactic on their behalf, because then we're not talking about the issues that face the country and the issues of the campaign, and we get into all of these firefights about Donald Trump and his past or Donald Trump getting into a fight with someone. So give the Clinton campaign some credit for bringing something up at the end of the debate that has us all talking about it.

And I think -- but when you look at the politics of this, it underscores her weakness, which is, why can't we talk about what the three things that the American people care about -- the economy, fighting Islamic terrorism, and trying to fix Washington? And I wish Hillary Clinton would focus on that, but she wants to focus on these other things because, quite honestly, her negatives are so sky-high, she knows she has to change the topic.

CAMEROTA: Matt, what about your candidate? Don't you wish your candidate could focus on those things?

SCHLAPP: Yes. CAMEROTA: He's the one that once again yesterday, on a morning show,

he went back to the narrative about Alicia Machado being overweight. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I know that person. That person was a Miss Universe person. And she was the worst we ever had. The worst, the absolute worst. She was impossible. And she was a Miss Universe contestant and ultimately a winner who they had a tremendously difficult time with as Miss Universe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I did not know that story.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I didn't know, either.

TRUMP: She was -- she was the winner and, you know, she gained a massive amount of weight, and it was a real problem. We had a real problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK. That was on FOX News, Matt. I don't hear him talking about substantive issues.

SCHLAPP: Yes, Alisyn, I agree with your question. I think it would be better if we were to turn back to talk about the issues that face the American people.

You know, I watched that debate the other night, I was actually there on the ground at Hofstra. And my impression was Donald Trump gets a lot of credit, because when someone asks him a question, he tends to answer it. In politics, you know, we always teach candidates, don't answer every question. Talk about what you want to talk about. And in that debate, he actually answers a lot of questions. I think you know that. CNN knows that. He's answered a lot of questions on CNN.

CAMEROTA: Yes, so why doesn't he -- so Matt, that raises the question. Since all the advisers tell him don't, don't get tangled up in these sorts of side issues, yet he always does. What does that tell us about him?

SCHLAPP: He's authentic, Alisyn. You have to give him that. You ask him a question, he has a strong opinion, he gives it. And sometimes in that politics, that results in a couple of days of talking about side stories. And I think, very quickly, I don't think that debate or the talk of this woman is going to change much about the underlying dynamics of this race. I think it's a dead heat race. And I think at the end of the day, American voters aren't going to pull the lever on things like this. I think the American people are going to pull the lever on the substantive issues that face this country. And I think that's good.

CAMEROTA: Yes, Matt, I just have to ask you, because I know your lovely, smart, beautiful Hispanic wife, I just have to ask, what does Mercedes think about what Donald Trump said? SCHLAPP: We talked about it last night. Let me tell you, throughout

this whole very interesting political year, we're often each other's counselor at the end of the day when interesting things happen on the trail. And I guess her reaction was -- she's in the news business, Alisyn, as you are, and it's not uncommon for women and men, but a lot of times women, let's face it, in the news business or the acting business to have actual language in their contracts, that their physical appearance has to maintain some kind of standard. And people might not like that, but it's in contracts. And I'm not going to ask people if it's in their contracts or not, but she understands is that. Is it fair or is it not fair? Let's face it, TV, Miss Universe pageants, movies, it's a lot about their physical appearance. Alisyn, I can tell you in my case, thank god I don't have that because that's not exactly one of my strengths in life.

CAMEROTA: Hey! Don't sell yourself short.

SCHLAPP: I don't love that we focus on that.

(LAUGHTER)

[08:10:01] CAMEROTA: Don't sell yourself short, matt.

SCHLAPP: You're nice.

CAMEROTA: But your wife, Mercedes didn't see this as an ethnic slur?

SCHLAPP: She's insulted by that.

CAMEROTA: The fact that he called her "Miss Housekeeping"?

SCHLAPP: No, she's insulted by that. She said, if you're going to run in a Miss Universe pageant, you have to understand that part of getting that crown is the fact that you're physically attractive. Now, come on, let's all be candid here. People who are beautiful get involved in Miss Universe pageants, and part of that is their physical appearance.

And I think this is when it gets to like common sense. People in America having been watching pageants for decades and they understand that's a part of it. It's part of the culture. Is that a culture my wife has been involved with? No. But you have every right to be involved in that culture if you want. And if you sign a contract, you've got to follow it.

CAMEROTA: OK, let's talk about the debate. The polls, the scientific polls, suggest that Hillary Clinton won. Donald Trump had a strong first half an hour, and then Hillary Clinton closed the deal with the rest of the time. But Donald Trump is not seeing it that way today. How did you see the debate?

SCHLAPP: I thought he did have a very strong first 30, 35 minutes. I thought his answer on stop and frisk was great. I do think the moderator asked him tougher questions. He got six follow-up questions. Hillary Clinton got zero follow-up questions. He went right into the question of where Obama was born. He went right into the taxes, which are fair questions to ask, but I didn't -- as a partisan Republican, I didn't see those kinds of tough questions from the moderator directed at Hillary Clinton.

So he had a very strong beginning at the debate. I think at the end of the day, the debate is not going to change the underlying dynamics of this race. Most of the online polls and media polls I have looked at, I know CNN is an outlier here, show that he did very well.

CAMEROTA: That's because they're the unscientific polls. Those are surveys. Those are where anybody can -- they're not vetted, the ones you're talking about and he's talking about. CNN does a scientific poll.

SCHLAPP: Yes, I'm not criticizing CNN's poll. All I'm saying is that there were other ways that demonstrate that he did well, just like in the primary debates. I mean, Alisyn, a lot of my friends in the Republican kind of circles Washington, D.C. would look at his performance in some of these primary debates and scratch their head and say, he didn't do very well, and then you would see that a lot of online polls show he did do well, and then the polls would actually help him. And I think one thing I saw at the debate on Monday is that the number one issue in every poll, including all of CNN's scientific polls, is jobs and the economy. And he owned that issue from the beginning to the end.

CAMEROTA: OK.

SCHLAPP: The talk of taxes, regulation --

CAMEROTA: Yes, not a lot of talk about a plan, but I hear you, matt. You are a good surrogate for him in terms of what you heard at the debate. Thank you very much. And thanks for sharing your marital chats with us, also. Tell Mercedes we said hi.

SCHLAPP: Don't get me in trouble, OK.

CAMEROTA: Got it. Thanks, Matt. Let's get over to Chris.

CUOMO: It's interesting that Matt liked Trump's answer on stop and frisk. He said it wasn't found unconstitutional in New York. It was. He said they should use it in Chicago. They already do. He said it was the reason that the homicide rate came down in New York. There's no proof of that. In fact, it continues to be in the right trend without using that exercise. It's interesting that Schlapp points that out as a strong point for Trump.

So other new this morning, the man known as Israel's crusader for peace, Shimon Peres, has died. The 93-year-old Nobel laureate spent more than half a century in public service, serving as prime minister, president. He was in charge of the Navy. He built up the IDF. He suffered a stroke two weeks ago and never recovered. CNN's Oren Liebermann is live at the hospital outside of Tel Aviv with more. That's a country with a heavy heart this morning, my friend.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not just a country with a heavy heart, a world with heavy heart. Condolences coming in from all over the world, not only from Israeli leaders but from European leaders and from American leaders.

Let me read you a short bit of President Barack Obama's statement on the passing of Israel's ninth president, Shimon Peres. President Obama says, "A light has gone out, but the hope he gave us will burn forever. Shimon Peres was a soldier for Israel, for the Jewish people, for justice, for peace, and for the belief that we can be true to our best selves to the very end of our time on earth and in the legacy that we leave to others. For the gift of his friendship and the example of his leadership, todah rabah, Shimon." He says thank you, Shimon Peres, for what he believed in and what he worked for."

Shimon Peres wasn't always known for being a dove and for working towards peace. He started his career as a hawk and behind the settlement movement, but over half a century in public service, his view evolved and he became the champion of the legacy of Yitzhak Rabin, a champion of the legacy of building peace, building trust between Israelis and Palestinians. And he worked on that tirelessly, unapologetically, until his very last day here. In fact, he worked very hard up until he passed away. On the day he had a stroke, he gave an hour speech and posted a Facebook video. He worked hard on peace until the very end. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Oren, thank you very much for all of that.

Another story that we're following, this black man was shot and killed by police, this time in the suburbs of San Diego. The chief of police claiming that the unidentified suspect ignored commands and pointed an object of some kind at officers moments before he was gunned down. CNN's Paul Vercammen is live in San Diego County with more.

[08:15:00] What have you learned, Paul?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, officers responded because they got a report of a man who was in the street, walking in the street, and they said she was a danger to himself and to motorists. That's when they responded.

And by all accounts, it was his sister who might have made that call, fearing for her brother's safety. And when she arrived on the scene, here's what we heard in this video that was taken here at the spot where this man was found to have died later.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just called for help and you come and killed him. Oh my God, you killed my brother. I called you guys to come and help, not to kill my brother!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: And here's what police are saying about this. They say they are going to be very transparent, but at one point, two officers are confronting the suspect. They say that he pulls something from his pants pocket and he basically puts both hands on this item and extends it toward the officers. This, again, according to the police.

And then basically, what happened from there is one of the officers tased this man, but the other shot him fatally. Both of these officers have in and out been put on administrative leave. There had been some protests here in San Diego last night, some taunting of police, but no strong level of violence.

Back to you.

CUOMO: Paul, very charged environment right now, finding its way to San Diego. We'll stay on that story. Thank you for the reporting.

Donald Trump going on the attack, of course, after critics slam his first debate performance. Will his antics hurt him? Will he learn from what happened in that debate and do better the next time? The state of the race, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:20:26] HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Did anybody see that debate last night?

(CHEERS)

Oh, yes! One down, two to go.

(CHEERS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Hillary Clinton seems to be enjoying her post-debate glow. She's trying to capitalize on any momentum from Monday night's debate, while Donald Trump is going on the attack.

So, will the debate that the candidates had have any effect on the polls?

Joining us now, CNN political analyst, David Gregory.

Good morning, David.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: So both the candidates are claiming victory. So, this is this crazy campaign, where everybody sort of lives in their own reality -- and though the polls, the scientific polls, suggest that Hillary Clinton won by a large margin, and you can see there, that she was enjoying that moment.

GREGORY: There's no question about it, and there's a buoyancy to her on the campaign trail yesterday. They reflected in the page, she had a big weigh off her shoulders that she did very well. Certainly those who watched it, who are in this kind of bubble of covering and analyzing politics thought that she was the clear winner. And she was unflappable. So, there's a lot of strengths there.

Whether it really moves the race, I think, is a big question. And I'm not convinced that it will. Historically, there's not a lot of precedent for moving the race significantly. So we have to see.

If we go back to 1980, where Reagan did well and went up in the polls, there were big question marks about whether he could handle the job. And so, being able to do that was a way to change the race. Here, I think may be the look was to whether Trump completely imploded. I think that is in the eye of the beholder.

I think the vulnerability for her is just that. I think Trump comes out much more aggressively next time. She was unflappable and didn't respond to personal attacks and I think it will get more personal next time.

And I think there's another point and it came up in foreign policy. I was re-watching part of this morning. There were big kind of philosophical debates to be had around, say, Iran policy, the Iran deal, the cash payments.

I think she has to be careful not to be dismissive of Trump, like you don't have the temperament, you don't understand diplomacy, you just live in crazy town and understand, no, he's actually making some arguments that other people would make who are thinking very carefully about Middle East, about the Obama-era policy towards the Middle East. I think she's got to engage in that debate very thoughtfully in this next go-around.

CUOMO: You think part of the challenge for Clinton is to show that she gets the mood of the country right now.

GREGORY: Yes.

CUOMO: And then, somehow, figure out the very difficult task of connecting herself to a solution when she is connected to the problem in the minds of those disgruntled voters.

GREGORY: I think that's very well put, because I think the one thing Trump did well was basically say, look, you think the world is a mess? Well, she's been on the watch. And she's part of the establishment that's been making these policies certainly for the past eight years.

And it goes back even in terms of our fight against terror to the earlier Clinton years, as well. So, she's part of that Democratic establishment.

I think acknowledging the mood is huge. Acknowledging the movement behind Trump and getting past the notion of the basket of deplorables and saying, you know what? There's a real view out there. And there's differences in opinion about how we ought to take on some of these challenges. And I think that's important.

I think this tax issues interesting for a lot of reasons. One is, this whole thing about Trump saying this makes me smart, if he didn't pay taxes, I think the Clintons have rightly jumped on that to make an economic argument, a values argument against him to say, he's not one of us, he's not one of you.

You know, working class white voters, he thinks he's one of you, he's not one of you, he's not fighting for you, he thinks you're a chump, because he knows how to game the system. And that's a big danger in not releasing his tax returns, is that nobody can do the scrubbing on that. And therefore, his opponent and are able then to speculate on why he's not doing that.

Again, don't know if it will work, but this is a similar thing that Obama did to Romney in 2012, out of touch rich guy.

CAMEROTA: Another thing the Clinton campaign has touched on is the whole Miss Universe Alicia Machado incident from 20 years ago, where he says he called her miss piggy and fat and brought in reporters to watch her workout. She said she felt humiliated and traumatized. Here's a new ad from the Clinton campaign about all that stuff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALICIA MACHADO, FOMRER MISS UNIVERSE (translated): He was overwhelming. I was very scared of him. He'd yell at me all the time. He'd tell me, "You look ugly," or "You look fat." Sometimes he'd play with me say, "Hello, Miss Piggy", "Hello, Miss Housekeeping."

[08:25:04] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She weighed 118 pounds or 117 pounds and she went up to 160 or 170, so this is somebody that likes to eat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So, we've had his supporters on the program this morning. They said this is a side show. This is another one of his things that voters won't care about. What do you think?

GERGORY: I don't know. The problem is it's going to reinforce what people know about and dislike about Donald Trump. So if he's trying to win a temperament argument, most Americans think he doesn't have the temperament for the job.

If he's trying to court women, college-educated women and women overall, I just don't see how this is helpful. I cannot imagine that his top advisers are saying to him, no, really, you should go out and talk about this, you know, the next day. You should defend yourself. As a matter of fact, you should point out again that she gained weight. I think that will be good. Let's try to tear her down.

As political practice, I cannot understand why they would want to do that. You want to try to be gracious and say, look, I got a different view of this. I'm sorry if she feels hurt by this. I look at this totally differently. Let's focus on what we ought to focus on.

CUOMO: Except --

GREGORY: It's the lack of discipline that continues to hurt him, because he's got some important themes and messages to drive and he's running out of time to do it.

CUOMO: Discipline assumes that there is the capacity to do this thing that we're hoping is repeated. He is not the kind of guy that's going to apologize for anything, no matter how offensive. He has said that many times.

Do you think that they may want to worry more about what he said about it makes me smart if I don't pay my taxes, because people know who he is and either they accept him as that or they don't? But when he says, I'm smart to not pay my taxes, that goes to his ability of being, you know, for other people, of being part of change, you know, that's potentially more dangerous, isn't it?

GREGORY: Yes, I absolutely agree. Whether you want to kind of micro- strategize and say, you know, which persuadable are you trying to reach, I think there's no question about it. They both have these negatives about truthfulness and about apologies, but I think in this one, he's got to show that he can practice for a debate and have some messaged discipline to get those voters he's trying to get to add to where he is.

CUOMO: All right. David, appreciate it, pal. We will get back to you in a little bit. And we're talking about Donald Trump and one of the things that we've been doing on the race, where there's the foundation, the Clinton Foundation, the e-mails, is taking a look at what these allegations are and what is actually there.

We have a very strong reporter joining us who says there are real problems with Donald Trump when it comes to paying taxes, and not just income taxes. There's another layer of trouble at his charity you need to know about.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)