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New Poll Says That Clinton Won Debate; Analysis of Trump's Talking Points. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired September 29, 2016 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:33:21] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Isn't this one of the strangest elections you've ever seen? I - I really sometimes don't know what to make of it. Standing on that debate stage the other night, I was especially thinking about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton taking a bit of a victory lap after the first debate. Our CNN poll finds that she won that night, but, of course, the election is still 40 days away. Clinton heads to Iowa today where early voting begins.

So, is she celebrating too soon? Joining us now is Democratic Congressman and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer.

Good morning, congressman.

REP. STENY HOYER (D), MARYLAND: Good morning, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: So after you watched the debate Monday night, what lessons do you think Hillary Clinton needs to take away and bring to the next debate?

HOYER: Well, I think she did very, very well. I think the - all the polls reflect that. Your poll, but all the other polls reflect that as well. Focus groups reflect it. I think she - she was strong. She was substantive. And she was on point on the answers. And I think her - her answer, well, I prepared to be president is absolutely correct. So I think she had a - had a very, very good night. I don't think she's going to be overconfident. Donald Trump is unpredictable to say the least. And I think Hillary Clinton will continue to be very focused on the issues.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

HOYER: And I think in the next debate, and debates thereafter, you know, they're different formats -

CAMEROTA: Yes.

HOYER: But I think she'll do very well.

CAMEROTA: Well, the next format is a town hall style.

HOYER: Yes.

CAMEROTA: And that one, you know, pundits say that Donald Trump really feeds off the crowd. He likes interacting with the crowd, and that may be his strong suit.

[08:35:11] HOYER: Well, I - he certainly feeds off the crowd, and the crowd feeds off him. In my opinion, mostly negative. But having said that, I think that Hillary Clinton will do very well. Again, in a town hall, people ask questions. Donald Trump doesn't have answers. Hillary Clinton has not only answers, but she has a vision for the future. She's steady and she's experienced. And so I think she'll do very well in that format. So I'm not worried about that at all. And I'm not worried about overconfidence. We can't take this for granted. Hillary did well in the last debate. She needs to do well in the next two debates. And I think she's going to win this election.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

HOYER: But we're not going to take that for granted.

CAMEROTA: Congressman, let's talk about what happened in Congress yesterday and the ability of the 9/11 families, or anyone, to sue a country that is a sponsor of terrorism. You voted to override the president's veto on that. Why did you make that decision?

HOYER: Well, I think it was a close call. There were a number of people who voted against it. The overwhelming majority, only one person voted against it in the Senate, as you know. And it was to give citizens who have been very badly damaged the opportunity to have their day in court. There are obviously concerns about it. I'm sure we'll be discussing those concerns over the next few weeks before we come back in a special session, or in lame-duck session. But I think that as you saw the overwhelming majority, the Congress thought that it was fair to give these people their day in court.

CAMEROTA: OK. Well, as you know, President Obama says that this is a problem and that this exposes Americans, military people who are deployed overseas, to personal lawsuits. That's what he was trying to avoid. Are you worried about that?

HOYER: I think that's a good point, and I think we need to be looking at that closely. That was certainly not the intent, nor do we think it's the effect. But it is a valid concern that the president raises, and I think we have to look at it very, very carefully to make sure that his concerns are dealt with.

CAMEROTA: But then why did you already vote to override his veto, which would have addressed that?

HOYER: As I said, the overwhelming majority of the Congress of the United States believed that people who had been very badly injured, lost family members, devastated in many ways, deserve their day in court to see whether or not there are culpable parties that are involved in this that ought to be held accountable. So that's why the Congress overwhelmingly voted for that. But the president's concerns are valid. And we need to look at those. And I'm sure we'll continue to do so.

CAMEROTA: Congressman, also last night the House passed a spending bill, but it only lasts until December 9th.

HOYER: Ninth, right.

CAMEROTA: Why can't Congress pass one that lasts more than several weeks?

HOYER: Well, in this case, we have not done our work. We have not passed a single appropriation bill. The Republicans are in charge of the House and the Senate. They haven't sent a single appropriations bill to the president for signature. There are 12 of those. We haven't even had five of them come to the House floor. The Republicans control all the levers of power and the House of Representatives could have done that. They didn't.

In any event, the reality is the fiscal year ends ono September 30th, tomorrow. We needed to have what is called a continuing resolution, which simply means the authority to keep spending money, i.e. keeping government in operation. Some wanted to do a longer term. We did not. We want to complete the process by the end of this calendar year. I am hopeful and believe, as we did last year, that we will pass an omnibus appropriation bill which will fund government through the balance of the fiscal year till next September 30th.

But you're absolutely right, we should pass appropriation bills individually. They should be considered, passed and sent to the president. He has the option of signing for vetoing. And then we'll take action from there. But that's the way the process ought to work. The process is not working, notwithstanding the fact both Senator McConnell and Speaker Ryan said we're going to proceed with regular work. We haven't done that, which required the passing of a continuing resolution.

CAMEROTA: Congressman Steny Hoyer, thanks so much for being on NEW DAY this morning.

HOYER: You bet. Thanks a lot, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Let's get over to Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Alisyn, Donald Trump's talking points on the Clinton campaign are out. And another flub for Gary Johnson. Just some of the big political headlines that we're going to cover. How do they all play out ahead of the election? We're going to give you "The Bottom Line" with David Gregory, next.

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[08:43:42] CUOMO: "The Bottom Line." I like it. CAMEROTA: I, do too. Look at that fancy new graphic. CNN obtaining an

internal memo from Donald Trump's campaign that shows their talking points, what the surrogates were going to be talking about to the media today. Former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski chimed in earlier on why they decided to bring up Bill Clinton's past infidelities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COREY LEWANDOWSKI, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: These aren't the talking points of the Trump campaign. This is the a-1 story above the fold of "The Washington Post" who's talking about a 40-year history.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

LEWANDOWSKI: And specifically in that story, references George Stephanopoulos, who, at the time, worked for the administration, who has quoted Hillary Clinton as saying, we must destroy these women who are going after Bill.

CAMEROTA: Corey, are you confident that this is a winning strategy to bring all this up again?

LEWANDOWSKI: Look, I think it's about the hypocrisy of Hillary Clinton, you know, calling into question what Donald Trump has said and what his actual path has been with women.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK. That's not all. But we do want to talk about it now because it is "The Bottom Line." Oh, we did it again. We want to bring in CNN political analyst David Gregory.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I should wear my - I think I should put on the red glasses for "The Bottom Line." What do you think, Cuomo?

CUOMO: Oh, fetching. Fetching.

CAMEROTA: I think so too.

David, thank you for being here.

So we're going to do a political round-up here with you.

GREGORY: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Here we have the talking points that have been put out to the Trump surrogates, and number six is where they basically are responding, anybody who brings up the Alicia Machado, the former Miss Universe, then they are suggested, advised to go after Bill Clinton's past. How is that strategy working?

[08:45:14] GREGORY: Well, I just don't understand from the Trump campaign why they want to continue talking about this issue overall and the Miss Universe issue when you've got, you know, Donald Trump and Newt Gingrich talking about how it's important to keep your weight off if you want to be a beauty contestant, two overweight men. I just don't understand why you'd want to go there.

In this regard, if you want to make a hypocrisy argument against Hillary Clinton, it may have some political potency. It may be a reminder to a different generation of voters about a part of the Clinton's past and past allegations and an ugly personal episode. I think Hillary Clinton will be prepared to deal with that. And I think the larger question for Trump is, does he think he can really mitigate the ground he's losing among women or would he rather focus on how to persuade people who think he's not qualified or doesn't have the temperament for the job? This is certainly potentially ugly territory for him.

CUOMO: And why would he oppose himself to the same level of analysis? You know, this is not a man who stands on a high moral box.

GREGORY: Right.

CUOMO: And the problem is, if they start talking about it, we're going to start covering it. And then, who knows which way this election goes.

GREGORY: Right. It - right. So you just - you get into marital infidelity and - and judging each other.

CUOMO: Yes.

GREGORY: And, again, the question I think as a debate moment, for instance, again, he's telegraphing what he's going to do so Hillary Clinton will be that much more prepared, is how she chooses to deal with it. You know, I thought Chelsea Clinton was very interesting in this interview that she did saying that it's a distraction. And - and so I don't think that Hillary Clinton is actually going to go there in the same way. I don't think she's going to response as Trump did, which was like, you know, well this, you know, contestant, Machado, she gained a lot of weight and you just can't do that. We had a big problem with her. I mean I think he just allowed himself to be pulled down into that.

CAMEROTA: "The New Yorker" is making some hay of all of this. Here's their new cover just out. And it has Trump as a beauty - a beauty contestant.

CUOMO: I think you may have to pronounce that - hay.

GREGORY: That was a good one, Chris.

CUOMO: (INAUDIBLE).

GREGORY: That was a good one.

CAMEROTA: That was a good one.

GREGORY: I mean that's just - that's just - that's "The New Yorker" at its best. I don't know how - you know, how wide - how wide the appeal is on that. But I do think this is really important. You know, the Donald Trump that showed up to the debate for the first 45 minutes of the debate appeared to me at least to be a different, more disciplined campaigner in the final stretch. And then he unraveled and kind of, you know, indulged his worst impulses. And the fact that this is still a topic of conversation is just not where they want to be. That's the bottom line. He's got a big task, persuadable voters, are you qualified, do you have the temperament to be president, can you ameliorate your deficiencies if you're Donald Trump with college educated voters? This is micro targeting time. And I know, you've got to know that he's got advisers who are telling him to stay on track here, even as others are doing talking points about going after Hillary Clinton's, you know, views of women who, you know, may have been in a relationship with her husband.

CUOMO: Under the topic of ameliorating, do you think that Gary Johnson will be able to ameliorate what happened to him again, this time with Chris Matthews and him just drawing a blank on something that you just got to know if you're going to be president. Take a watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC: Name a foreign leader that you respect.

GARY JOHNSON (L), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I guess I'm having an Aleppo moment in the former - former president of Mexico.

MATTHEWS: But I'm giving you the whole world.

JOHNSON: I know, I know, I know, I know.

MATTHEWS: Anybody in the world you like? Anybody? Pick any leader.

JOHNSON: The former president of Mexico.

MATTHEWS: No. Which one?

JOHNSON: I'm - I'm having a brain - I'm having a brain freeze.

MATTHEWS: Well name anybody.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fox?

JOHNSON: Fox.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Calderon?

MATTHEWS: Who's your favorite foreign leader? Get him off the hook. Name a foreign leader you -

JOHNSON: Fox. He was terrific.

MATTHEWS: Any foreign leader.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Merkel.

MATTHEWS: OK, Merkel. OK. Fine. Save yourself. Can't argue with that. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, David, what are we to make of that?

GREGORY: I mean it's just - it's - it's disqualifying. I mean you can't be out there saying to the country that you are a legitimate third way and you don't understand, you know, who you might be dealing with on the world stage. I mean look what we've heard in the past couple of days from the CIA director and from the FBI director about the nature of terrorism and the threat coming from around the world. Foreign fighters who leave the battlefield in Iraq and go to Europe. Syrian refugees, 7 million of them, who could become radicalized, some of whom who could be exposed to terrorist elements as they - you have young people who are, you know, homeless and displaced. These are real issues that require a leader who understands America on the world stage. And I think young people who may support Johnson, I think, understand the importance of that as well.

CAMEROTA: I mean it also shows that he didn't take Aleppo as a teachable moment.

GREGORY: Right. Exactly.

CAMEROTA: He didn't go back and hit the books.

GREGORY: Which might be more important than all those other things.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CUOMO: But, you know, David's point is the right one, people are looking for alternatives. Maybe see - many see this election as the less bad choice, but is this third option a real option?

CAMEROTA: David, thank you very much. Great bottom line.

GREGORY: Have a good day. Thanks.

CAMEROTA: All right, the presidential candidates, the gifts that keep on giving for comics as "SNL" prepares for their fall return and a new face taking on Donald Trump. Who is that?

[08:50:04] CUOMO: Controversial says Camerota. Look at her. That was great.

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CUOMO: Late night comics having their fun with the 2016 race. The jokes will not stop any time soon. Here's a little dabble.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, "THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON": The second presidential debate is just 11 days away. And this one will have a town hall format. Yes, the first question will be, why did you have to do this in our town? Can you do it somewhere else? CONAN O'BRIEN, "CONAN": Hillary Clinton is campaigning with Bernie

Sanders for the millennial vote. (INAUDIBLE) the millennial vote, yes. Yes. Yes, they're trying to get millennials with the opening line, hey, our combined age is approximately one millennia.

SETH MEYERS, "LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS": Donald Trump, last night, held his first rally since Monday's debate and told supporters, Hillary Clinton showed she is stuck in the past. Luckily, Hillary knows someone who can get her back to the future.

O'BRIEN: At the next debate, Donald Trump is threatening to talk about all of Bill Clinton's affairs. Yes. Hillary is not too worried because the debate's only 90 minutes. So (INAUDIBLE) completely safe.

MEYERS: Trump supporters are claiming that Hillary Clinton used a secret device Monday night to boost her debate performance. And we have a picture of it right here. Though, to be fair, Donald Trump's been wearing a secret device this entire campaign.

[08:55:04] FALLON: Seems like everybody was watching the debate. And, get this, it's reported that the Taliban even had a debate viewing party. So for the first time it looks like they're torturing themselves. I mean it's very interesting times we live in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, very funny, and we do have some breaking comedy news. Alec Baldwin will play Trump on the new season of "Saturday Night Live." Here are the promos for it. That's Kate McKinnon playing Hillary Clinton.

CUOMO: Kate McKinnon.

CAMEROTA: Alec Baldwin getting the eyeball treatment there. Kate McKinnon with the eye treatment.

CUOMO: Let's get real. Camerota, do you like the choice of Alec Baldwin?

CAMEROTA: Well, no, because why tamper with success.

CUOMO: Oh.

CAMEROTA: Darrell Hammond is so perfect. I feel that he just fills the essence of Donald Trump. Why mess it up?

CUOMO: He is very strong, but I must be pro-Baldwin.

CAMEROTA: Why?

CUOMO: I think that he has an edge. He has a name value that will help the show. And I think he will bring something different to it, especially because of his political background. Leanings, not background.

CAMEROTA: Well, I - I - I hear you. With all of the commutation that it does help with Alec Baldwin, but I just think Darrell Hammond is so great. When he -

CUOMO: A lot of lip.

CAMEROTA: There's too much lip with Alec -

CUOMO: Too much lip.

CAMEROTA: Alec Baldwin is giving too much lip.

CUOMO: What do you think? Too much lip? Let Alisyn know. Never tweet me.

"NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello right after the break.

CAMEROTA: See you tomorrow.

CUOMO: Too much lip? Maybe it's after he gets -

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