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New Day

One Killed, 114 Injured in NJ Train Crash; Trump Attacking Clinton, Former Miss Universe in Tweets. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired September 30, 2016 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:31:17] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Time for five things to know for your NEW DAY.

Number one: Donald Trump on an early morning tweet storm attacking a former Miss Universe who now supports Hillary Clinton. Meanwhile, Clinton is reaching out to millennials and continuing to slam Trump over his taxes and business dealings.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Federal investigators trying to determine the cause of yesterday's, of Thursday's deadly train crash in Hoboken, New Jersey. Witnesses say the train never slowed down before plowing through a barrier.

CUOMO: President Obama among dozens of world leaders in Israel attending funeral services for former prime minister and president, Shimon Peres. The president praised the 93-year-old for advancing dignity and goodwill.

CAMEROTA: Wells Fargo CEO hammered, again, on Capitol Hill. The bank agreeing to pay $24 million settlement for allegedly mistreating the military, including illegally repossessing their cars. Wells Fargo already dealing with the scandal over fake accounts.

CUOMO: And Lady Gaga will be the half-time headliner at Super Bowl LI in February. The singer confirming rumors on Twitter.

CAMEROTA: Why are they showing us?

CUOMO: Because nobody loves Gaga like we do. Gaga performed the national anthem at Super Bowl 50 and killed it. So, it will be a really fun show, I'm sure.

Are you a Gaga? What do they call her fans? Little monsters. Are you a little monster?

CAMEROTA: Yes. A big monster. Big.

CUOMO: You're a big, bad monster.

For more on the five things to know go to NewdayCNN.com for the latest. CAMEROTA: All right. So, was that train crash in Hoboken, New

Jersey, preventable? There was technology that could have stopped the train. That technology exists. Why was it not installed? CNN digs deeper, next.

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[06:36:55] CUOMO: One dead, more than 100 others injured after a commuter train plowed through a busy Hoboken, New Jersey, train station during the morning's rush hour. This is even more tragic when you think in all likelihood, it could have been avoided.

There is something that has been mandated by Congress, pushed by the NTSB for 40 years to be installed on all transit trains and it hasn't happened in most places.

Let's discuss, CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general of United States Department of Transportation, Mary Schiavo, and railroad operation and safety expert, and former locomotive engineer, Richard Beall.

Mr. Beall, good to have you. Mary, as always.

We know it's early. We know they don't have the black boxes or video cameras yet. They haven't had a chance to fully interview the engineer. He was injured, also.

But no matter what they find, Mr. Beal, isn't it true that if there were PTT, Positive Track or Train Control, this would not have happened?

RICHARD BEALL, RAILROAD OPERATION AND SAFETY EXPERT: That's the way it's supposed to work. Exactly. It's supposed to be able to take over from the engineer, if he doesn't function the way he's supposed to operating the train.

CUOMO: Now, Mary, New Jersey will say, well, but we have ATC, automatic train or track control. But what that does is my understanding and, please, correct it, that system just alerts the engineer to excessive speed. So, it still winds up putting it on the engineer. Is that true?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: That's correct. And then their secondary, their backup system is a form of a dead man's switch. In other words, if the engineer doesn't have any input to the controls. If his or her hands falls from the control, doesn't do anything with the control, then the train will stop, as well.

But, again, it goes back on the engineer and there's a time to stop the train. Trains don't stop on a dime. It can take, you know, if it's a heavy train, it could take a mile to stop a train.

CUOMO: Why is there no PTT in place in New Jersey, Mary?

SCHIAVO: Because the Congress has continued to give them extensions, both the rail industry and others have lobbied who have additional time because of the expense. It's very expensive.

A lot of times, the railroads that operate over the track don't also own the track and, of course, to make it work, both the track and the trains have to be fitted with Positive Train Control. And, so, there's been an issue in coordination between the rail operators and the owners of the track, as well. But the real bottom line is Congress keeps giving them more time.

CUOMO: So, comes down to money, Mr. Beall. When you look at the past, I understand that rail safety is going in the right direction, that the rate of injury is actually improving, not decreasing. Yet, April 2016, you have two killed, May 2015, eight killed, February 2015, six killed, four more in 2013. It seems like a tradeoff of lives for money.

BEALL: Well, in some ways it is. In other ways, it isn't. They're getting better all the time. What they don't say is the fact that they have taken the second man out of the cab of the locomotive, the assistant engineer.

[06:40:02] CUOMO: Why is that important?

BEALL: Well, because of money, again. You know, no matter what happens, whether there was a medical event with this engineer or whether he had blackout, whether he fell asleep. If there's a second set of eyes up in the cab, like airport cockpits, you know, this prevents this. It prevents a lot of the other ones, as well. That comes down to money.

CUOMO: Was that raised at the time that the second person was being taken out. This is a safety issue?

BEALL: Of course, it was. Unions went crazy about it. They still are.

But this only proves it continues to happen -- will continue to happen until such time they can put train control in place.

CUOMO: Mary, you know, we have had this conversation before. You and I. About, you know, this is supposed to be done by 2015 and now extended to 2018. Money, money, money.

What will change this?

SCHIAVO: Well, really, it's going to take the will of Congress and federal regulation. If there is a hard deadline to meet and if it's enforced.

Unfortunately, people don't like way the for enforcement will come about. If you do not put it in place by the deadline, you will not be able to operate. No one has the will to do that. But it's going to take full and, you know, the effect of the law and enforcing the law.

Unfortunately, the only thaw that can't be broken is the law of physics and that's what applied here. The train wasn't slowed and it jumped the track and it was a in the back of the train, which is why it became airborne. But it will really take enforcing the law and requiring this deadline to be met.

He's right about the second person in the cab. I mean, this has been debated. This was debated back when I was in the DO and even before and that coupled with cameras in the cab, which is a huge issue. They don't want it. But that would help in instances where the engineer might be doing something that shouldn't be done. Not saying that happened here at all.

CUOMO: Forty years the NTSB has been causing for positive track control. When you heard that this happened, what went through your mind?

BEALL: Here we go, again. Same thing. We went through it May a year o in Philadelphia where the train left the track. Same situation. Had there been a second set of eyes in the cab of that locomotive to prevent whatever took place, I can almost guarantee you it wouldn't have happened.

CUOMO: You have the guy in New York who had some kind of medical disorder and he fell asleep and you had another person there, and you had positive train control, maybe those people end up going home that day.

BEALL: Almost guaranteed.

CUOMO: Mr. Beall, appreciate it.

BEALL: No problem.

CUOMO: Mary Schiavo, frustrating conversation we have again and again whenever it's lives versus money. But thank you for making the points. Appreciate it.

Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris.

A fan heckles golfers at the Ryder Cup and the golfers call him out from the sidelines to see if he can make it himself. How did that go? We'll show you, next.

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[06:46:54] CUOMO: Wow. Did you see Thursday night football last night. Don't worry about it. I'll tell you what the headline is.

The Bengals receiver A.J. Green, he's awesome, but he nearly outgained the entire Dolphins team by himself.

Andy Scholes has more on this morning's bleacher report. Now, it's feeling good for the Dolphins, even though I'm a Jets fan, because I love the hot orange uniforms.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Most people did not love them so much, Chris. I tell you what, A.J. Green put on a show last night, but I tell you

what, Dolphins, they're struggling this year. Don't look like a very good football team. To me, they played as good as their color orange uniforms looked last night. I wasn't a fan.

Green, amazing game for his fantasy owners, 173 yards receiving on 10 catches. By comparison, all of Miami receivers combined they only had 189 yards. Bengals would win this one easily, 22-7.

College football pumped up for their game against UConn last night. Check out the ball boy and the coach before kickoff. Bonner right here may have had the catch of the year and grabbed this one with one hand in the corner of the end zone and that was one of Houston quarterback three touchdown passes. He added two more on the ground as they ran away with this one. Final 42-14.

Finally, this may be the best golf moment of the year. A fan named David Johnson was heckling Justin Rose and Stetson pulled the fan out of the crowd and said, you know what, you come out here and make the putt. Rose upped the ante slapping $100 bill on the grass.

Amazingly Johnson sinks the putt. He is now a hero to hecklers everywhere, guys. You know what they say, if you're going to talk the walk, he got to walk. Johnson certainly did that.

CAMEROTA: You have to putt the putt. Wow, that was a highlight in his life, it looked like.

SCHOLES: I bet.

CUOMO: What a moment. He knew it was going in. I wonder if he's like a teaching pro somewhere.

SCHOLES: He was so confident, even making fun the putter that it was too small and he still made it.

CAMEROTA: We need to know that guy's back story.

CUOMO: He will be somewhere soon.

CAMEROTA: Andy, thank you. That was great.

All right. So, both candidates marital issues making headlines. Our own favorite married couple, the Hoovalon, will be here next with their strong thoughts on this.

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[06:53:30] CAMEROTA: Donald Trump tweeting up a storm this morning, taking on the former Miss Universe that was brought up by Hillary Clinton on the debate stage earlier this week. Oh, we're still talking about sex scandals from the 1990s.

So, let's bring in our sex scandal expert. John Avlon, CNN political analyst and "Daily Beast" editor in chief, along with CNN political commentator, former George W. Bush White House staffer and veteran of two GOP presidential campaigns, Margaret Hoover.

Great to have you, guys.

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: We're (INAUDIBLE) the sex scandal expert.

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: That's right.

CAMEROTA: All right. Let's start with the tweets. We'll assess that so we can get on sex scandals.

The tweets, Donald Trump has been tweeting up a storm this morning at 5:14 a.m., he sent out one basically saying that Hillary Clinton was duped. She was used by my worse Miss Universe. Hillary floated her as an angel, without checking her past which is terrible.

We know from reporting and from having Donald Trump's surrogates on that his advisors don't want him to continue talking about this. They think that this should not, this should be dispensed with.

Why is he still talking about it, John?

AVLON: Because he doesn't have impulse control the way normal presidential candidates or people seem to. Let's be honest -- let's be real about this. He has been tweeting overnight at regular intervals throughout the night, largely but not exclusively tripling down on the controversy around his former miss universe and tweeting out conspiracy theories about a beauty pageant queen.

That's not something presidential candidates do. That's not something most normal adults do yet alone people who are asking for privilege to have access to the bomb.

[06:55:01] This is not a hinged human being and let's be honest about it.

CUOMO: Does his base of support like his feistiness that he is a fighter? That's what they'll usually use as an excuse, the campaign. You attack him and he attacks back. Does that negate any need to be right about anything or decent about anything?

HOOVER: Well, sure, you frame the question, Chris, by saying do his supporters, dot, dot, dot. Sure they like it.

But this is no longer about his supporters because just his supporters aren't enough to get elected. He's got to win independent women. He's got to win Republican women. By the way, he's only winning in August. Before any of this happened, he was winning 70 percent of Republican women to Mitt Romney's 93 percent of Republican women, John McCain's 89 percent of Republican women, all right?

This isn't going to make that number tighten up. This softens it.

AVLON: Yes. If you're only trying to play (ph) to alt-right trolls who are up in the middle of the night, you're not going to win a national election. You're trying to win something different. CUOMO: But he brought in these people. In truth, the answer winds up

being in the question. He brought in Bossie and Bannon, OK, heavyweight guys. Especially Bossie, I mean, Citizens United is a real outfit.

But however, they love this stuff. So, there's a conflict. You brought in the heavyweights to help you do this the right way, but they happen to love this stuff that is arguably the wrong way.

HOOVER: Challenge the premise of the question, what makes them heavyweights? All right? I mean, honestly --

CUOMO: Citizens United is no joke within your party's organization.

HOOVER: It was a real legal challenge, a constitutional question that was resolved by the highest court in the land. That makes it serious.

CUOMO: Bossie is a huge fund-raiser and huge power broker within your party.

HOOVER: He is one of many fund-raisers and one of many power brokers, because as you know, this party and this political system has become highly, highly decentralized because of Citizens United.

CUOMO: Yes, that makes him more powerful, not less.

AVLON: Just look, everything is fragmented right now and just because you get the alt-right media and activist groups to rally around your base and take over your campaign, that's not actually a sign of health if the mission is actually winning a general election, which is about reaching out beyond your base, winning over the recent opposition, not tweeting in the middle of the night determined to do the very opposite.

You can launch troll armies and very good for ratings in some post- election scenario but it's not going to win you a general election where your job is to reach out and build beyond your base.

CAMEROTA: Will sex scandals, when you're in general election -- let's talk about this because the '90s have come back with vengeance.

CUOMO: My hair hasn't.

CAMEROTA: Bill Clinton and Donald Trump both had their share of sex scandals in the 1990s. So, who does this argument work for?

HOOVER: Look, so, there's this question of like is it fair to bring up sex scandals from the past? And I think the question isn't is it fair? The question is, how do you win an election?

If you're Donald Trump, you've got to win, independent women, left- leaning women, Republican women. I'm doing a lot of polling right now with my organization and we're in the field, we're in Senate races, we're in House races.

We're doing a huge amount of polling, directing our focus to independent women and what their sensibilities are. They're stretched out because the economy. They want specific policies from their candidates on national security and the economy. And they want candidates who understand them empathetically. How much mostly working women are juggling between having their families and they want their politicians to be empathetic.

If you go after a woman and you highlight these affairs, right, and especially Hillary Clinton, who by the way, didn't participate. She -- I mean, her husband had the affair.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: But the argument is she stood by her men to the detriment of the women who are --

(CROSSTALK)

HOOVER: I think there are a lot of women out in America whose husbands have cheated on them and they -- you know, look, this is not going to help Republicans. It never does. Hillary Clinton if you are going to invoke Monica Lewinsky and those days, that -- just look at how that worked out for Republicans in the '90s, all right?

AVLON: Yes, look, both these candidates are living in glass houses, right? If Donald Trump, you know, who is -- we had divorced presidents before. Thrice married is something new. People who actually act as their PR agent talking to tabloids, bragging about their extramarital exploits is something new.

So, you know, the scars in the country and certainly on the marriage with regard to Monica Lewinsky and impeachment are real and Donald Trump is basically trying to get the point of referencing it without directly doing it in the --

CUOMO: Although he was one of the voices who said it was ridiculous when it happened and Bill Clinton should not have been impeached, that Monica Lewinsky wasn't a big deal.

AVLON: Right, but we're deep in the situational ethics here, Chris. I mean, this didn't offend him before he was running for president, it is now.

But I think, more politically, it runs the risk of majorly backfiring. Whatever things they want to raise, not only is Donald Trump not the best messenger for this particular message, it also makes Hillary Clinton -- you know, whatever role she played in the administration. She was a victim of infidelity. That is something different to most people emotionally and differently than being a perpetrator of.

CAMEROTA: We applaud your marriage, Hoovalon. Thank you.

HOOVER: I know. I was like, don't you ever think about it.

CAMEROTA: On that note --

AVLON: Not going to cause my own problems. CAMEROTA: Thank you for weighing in.

We're following a lot of news this morning, including new questions about Donald Trump's foundation. So, let's get to it.