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Hurricane Matthew Makes Landfall; Ex-Con Becomes Charitable Entrepreneur; Biden on Presidency. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired October 04, 2016 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:32:14] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, so we had this opportunity to sit with Vice President Joe Biden, actually we stood, and he was on his feet because he's very exercised about this election. He believes that now is the time that people are clearly seeing Trump for who he is and Clinton for whom she is. Here's a taste on his thoughts on the race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: We're here in Florida. Polls are tight. There's a suggestion that it's even getting tighter. The main points of dispute are the need for change, the questions about trust, and the idea of energy. That's what Trump is saying, those are his advantages. How do you answer those questions here in Florida?

JOE BIDEN (D), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I bet he couldn't carry his bag 18 holes on one of his own golf courses, speaking of energy. But, look, I think the real issue here is, can you imagine the president getting up at 3:30 in the morning and tweeting vitriol. I really mean this. This - this goes to, this man lacks any sensibilities about the American people. I just don't - I don't get it. And he is so woefully uninformed on foreign policy it's dangerous.

CUOMO: People take it as strength, as speaking the way we do. He doesn't play those games that politicians play.

BIDEN: Yes.

CUOMO: And they reward him, or at least don't punish him for saying things that you find out of bounds.

BIDEN: Well, I think that they're - they're now starting to focus, Chris. I mean this is getting deadly earnest now. Every election in the last four presidential elections people make up their mind later and later in the process. But now they're beginning to focus and they're getting to see who this guy really is. And I predict to you she will win and she'll win clearly.

CUOMO: He says that whatever you have been doing hasn't worked and put us in a situation now where people are more afraid than ever. He will put America first. It sounds good to people. They feel that America is weak and he plays on that and it sent him to the top of the polls. Does that need to be respected by Hillary Clinton?

BIDEN: Well, yes. But the way to respect it is speak to it. And she's doing that. The fact of the matter is, we're still by far and away the most respected country in the world. Number two, we're in a situation where there are more American companies coming home than going abroad. So what - what's happened is, there's been this megaphone out there about how bad off we are and how weak we are and how weak the military is, et cetera. It's simply not true. And the fact of the matter is, now people are beginning to focus.

CUOMO: We didn't see that this was going to be about finding the center of America again and this definitional proposition in this race. Do you believe anybody can fight that fight as well as you?

BIDEN: Well, I'm sure there are people. I don't know anybody that feels more passionately than I do, but I think if there's any one thing we haven't communicated enough to the American people is, they're in trouble. They're scared. We don't speak to them enough. We don't let them know how much we respect them. We do all things that benefit them, but we don't speak to them.

[08:35:13] CUOMO: Trump, many of them believe, speaks to them.

BIDEN: Yes, they do, but they think he speaks to them because they haven't listened to what he's saying. Much of it has been a negative attack on Hillary and a failure to focus on what she's saying. Our job here is to get a focus on what really matters. What's going to change the circumstance for middle class person? It's about being able to send your kid to a park, you know they're going to come home safely, being able to own your own home and not have to rent it, being able to send your kid to a local high school, if they do well, they get into college. If they get in, you can find a way to get them there. And in addition to that, be able to take care of your geriatric parent when the other passes away and never have to be taken care of yourself by your children.

And what Hillary feels, I know, but she doesn't say enough, is she understands that when that kids doesn't get that - that - that loan to go to college, it's not just (INAUDIBLE) the mind wasted, it's that father or mother who looks at this talented kid, like my dad did. I remember, I was trying to get to Amherst. I had got into a lot of schools, but Amherst was the school I wanted to go to and they gave me grant and aid, Division III football, and - and, but, it still wasn't enough. And I remember going down to see my dad where he worked. He ran an automobile agency. He didn't own it. And I asked the person who ran the show, Mary, I said, where's dad? She said, out in a lane going into the service center. And I walked out and my dad was pacing back and forth. This is a true story, my word as a Biden (ph). And he looked at me and he said, oh, Joey, I'm so sorry. I am so sorry. I said, what's the matter, dad? I thought something - this was before cell phones. I thought something happened to my family. He said, I went to the bank today, honey (ph). They won't lend the money to get you to school. I'm so ashamed of myself. I'm so ashamed. All those parents out there, all those parents out there, it's not just about the kid, it's not just about school, it's about being able to meet the expectations of their children and not having a level playing field out there. That's what this is about.

I know Hillary feels that. And every - but every time she expresses emotion, she gets clobbered. She gets clobbered. You know, I - I know her. I know she cares. And it's - I think that's sort of - at least I think that's want has to be communicated to those folks who are looking at Trump and saying, well, maybe he's the answer. He doesn't deliver anything for you that's going to change their lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, we're going to talk about the takeaways from that Biden interview in just a few moments. But first, the East Coast on high alert this morning. We're watching powerful Hurricane Matthew as it makes landfall in Haiti. We have the latest hurricane track for you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:41:57] CUOMO: Breaking this morning, Hurricane Matthew making landfall in Haiti. It is big. It is slow. And it's going to be deadly. Now there is concern about the new track of this storm and how it could hit the East Coast of the United States. CNN meteorologist Chad Myers joining us now with the latest.

We know these tracks change, but what you believe is true at this point is troubling enough.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's what I believed yesterday, because we had that first 24/48 hours with the models yesterday, Chris, turning to the left. And we know that that's the most accurate part of the model. And then it turned right again in a way, but we know that 72/120 hour part of the model is least accurate. So it did exactly now what we anticipated it doing.

One hundred and forty-five mile per hour storm right over Haiti right now. I believe the 11:00 advisory will bring that number down because it's interacting with the land.

What you need to know is the left-hand turn that happened with the models overnight. That is a category three just off shore of Florida. Or if you look at the cone, could be completely on shore. It could be making landfall in Miami. That's a possibility. Now, it's also a possibility that it could be completely off shore. But what you need to know is that there will be heavy rain, there will be heavy wind. And in that purple area right through Cuba and the Bahamas, there's a 100 percent chance that we're going to see tropical storm or maybe even hurricane force winds over the next 48 hours.

Farther to the north, a lighter chance or a slighter chance, but that's only because we get a little bit farther away from shore. Take a look at this. This is what Haiti is going to be experiencing now for the next couple of hours. We are going to see such significant flooding here because the land is topographically high, 5,000 feet high. You're going to put 25 inches of rainfall on a mountain, you're going to get flooding, you're going to get mudslides and you're going to see loss of life. Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh, Chad, that looks really scary, certainly for everyone in Haiti. Thanks so much for keeping an eye on it for us.

So there are new polls to share with you. Trump versus Clinton. Also, how does Joe Biden feel about not running in this election? We're going to get the bottom line, next.

CUOMO: But first, an interesting story for you. For ex-convicts re- entry into society can be a very difficult road. In this "Impact Your World," we're going to look at how one organization is giving them a needed second chance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSS MARTE, FOUNDER, CON BODY: You want to be in prison that bad?

CUOMO (voice-over): For Coss Marte, this mock prison cell is more than a clever branding idea for a gym, it's a symbol of transformation.

Coss was once a major drug dealer. He was caught and spent four years in prison

MARTE: That's what really woke me up and I realized that selling drugs was wrong.

CUOMO: During a routine prison physical, Marte got a second wake-up call.

MARTE: My cholesterol level was - they were like extremely high. And they said, if I didn't start dieting or exercising correctly, that I could die within five years.

CUOMO: Coss developed a full body workout right inside his cell.

MARTE: I lost 70 pounds in six months.

CUOMO: He lost weight and gained purpose.

MARTE: I actually helped 20 guys lose over 1,000 pounds.

CUOMO: Once out of prison, Coss connected with Defy Ventures. The group gives micro-loans to ex-cons so they can start small businesses and then mentors them.

[08:45:02] EDILYN (ph) YUEN, DEFY VENTURES MENTOR: What I really like about Defy was their mission. There is a lot to be said about being self-sustaining in society no matter who you are.

CUOMO: Coss now trains more than 300 people at his New York gym, Con Body. He's also certifying and hiring other ex-cons as personal trainers.

SUITAN MALIK (ph), TRAINER, CON BODY: Coss has an eerie focus that's inspiring. Prison does not have to be the end result. MARTE: From the ground up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: OK, so we've had a lot to talk about in this show. A lot of material today. Chris sat down with Vice President Joe Biden and asked whether Biden now regrets his decision not to run for president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: And I - I wish I were a better man, but I just wasn't ready to do that. But I'm doing my very best as I can to see to it - I'm confident Hillary will be a first-rate president. And, you know, everybody thinks when they're considering running, they only consider running if they think they'd be better. But that all changed for me when Beau passed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK. Let get our political bottom line. We want to bring in CNN political analyst David Gregory.

What do you think when you hear Joe Biden talk?

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it is a really compelling moment and a really good interview. And I think a lot of people have so much sympathy and compassion for Joe Biden as a dad who's gone through just an immeasurable loss in his life. And not just with Beau, but, of course, his wife and daughter as well.

[08:50:12] I think, look, you look at this politically and say, here's a guy who could be very effective against Donald Trump, there's no question about it, but he's not running, and that happens in politics a lot. I think if you're Hillary Clinton, what you rely on is his testimony when he says to you, look, she cares, and I know that. I don't think that make a difference. I think people have made a judgment about Hillary Clinton. Joe Biden can't change that. But he can try to do his best in parts of the country where she's struggling. The rust belt may make a difference for her. She can focus on areas of strength, like Florida, like other sunbelt states.

CUOMO: What would have been, if he had gotten in the race, what would have been the big liability that people aren't imaging right now? Because it's always about, you know, it's always about the positive until you're in the race. What do you think people have to remember in an analysis of what would have happened if Biden ran?

GREGORY: Well, I think he would really wear the cloak of the Obama years, the foreign policy of the Obama years, Obamacare. I think he would wear that a lot more strongly. Again, you've got Obama at 55 percent, so that wouldn't have been such a huge liability.

I think that Biden can probably make an economic values argument about - against Trump, as he did to you, more strongly than Hillary Clinton can. To whatever extent that is going to be effective, we don't know. This idea that he's out of touch as a rich guy, that he didn't pay federal taxes, didn't pay his fair share. You heard in our interview that Biden makes that case in a much more compelling way as a candidate than Hillary Clinton.

But, you know, liabilities about the Obama years and just, you know, personal issues that I think would come up in the course of the campaign, the rough and tumble of the campaign.

CAMEROTA: So we also, on the program -

GREGORY: That he - that he speaks - that he shoots from the hip as well, we should say.

CUOMO: Right.

GREGORY: Things that we can't predict. That he can be unpredictable.

CAMEROTA: So we also had on Governor Gary Johnson, who's running for president, and he's had some public foreign policy flubs of late where he, for instance, didn't know what Aleppo was in Syria. This morning he was fired up and he explained why those flubs shouldn't matter. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY JOHNSON, LIBERTARIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I guess because you can - you can dot the i's and cross the t's on foreign leaders and geographic locations that now somehow you're qualified to put us in that situation? Hey, if that ends up to be the case, so be it. I guess I wasn't meant to be president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GREGORY: First of all, why is he yelling? OK. I mean -

CAMEROTA: He was very fired up.

GREGORY: Well, but if that were Hillary Clinton, people would say, why is she yelling? OK, so we should point that out about a man as well, that he's yelling because he's on a remote interview. Second of all, what he said prior to that is that, you know, we're involved in a civil war in Syria. The criticism of the Obama administration is that we're not sufficiently involved in civil war and there's been carnage as a result.

So, look, Gary Johnson doesn't really know the world. Foreign leaders and the scrutiny that he faces from the media about that is only - is symptomatic of what he doesn't know. And I think some of the enthusiasm you're seeing now for Hillary Clinton that is on the uptick is a sign that maybe younger voters who are still gravitating toward him might be moving away.

CAMEROTA: However, there's enthusiasm for him as well. He's had some very crowded rallies and appearances lately. GREGORY: And his numbers in Colorado are very strong. So he's a real

factor in a state like Colorado and the west where he can do some real damage to Hillary Clinton. Look, there's more work for her to do. I think the debates are important in that regard. You've got think the weakest part of her coalition right now remains younger voters.

CUOMO: You know what's interesting about him, is that unlike Nader, Nader had a reason that went beyond his own candidacy. That, you know, I don't care if I take from these other people because this idea matters. With him it was whether it was climate change or being - what is that with Gary Johnson? He's going to have to live with whoever he's taken votes from at the end of the day. What is his guy - why does - what makes it worth it for him? I wonder about that.

GREGORY: I don't know. I mean I -

CAMEROTA: Third party system that he believes in.

GREGORY: Yes, but it's that he's not Trump or Clinton. I don't think that's enough. You've got to be a viable third path. It could be enough with a certain segment of voters. You know, Nader got 4 percent.

CUOMO: Right.

GREGORY: We'll see. I mean he could do better than that.

CAMEROTA: David Gregory, thank you.

GREGORY: You bet.

CUOMO: How about a little "Good Stuff," next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:57:41] CUOMO: "The Good Stuff" today. A sweet surprise for a World War II veteran. Like so many young men, you know, 91-year-old Charles Veal was called in to serve in 1943. That means he spent his senior year of high school aboard a ship, "The USS Gillette." One Veterans Affairs officer felt it wasn't right that he never got his diploma. So he took action.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATHAN WEINBAUM, BLOUNT COUNTY VETERANS AFFAIRS OFFICE: I wanted to pursue it because he's earned it and he served our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Veal served in the Navy from '43 to '65.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh.

CUOMO: He reenlisted during the Korean War before entering the workforce.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES VEAL, WWII VETERAN: This diploma means everything to me because it's the only way I would have got it. And I appreciate it and everybody that was involved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: So a whole generation of men like Veal, so anxious and devoted to the country to get in and serve in just their teens that they forgot about themselves, forgot about their own lives in high school and went and served. And many never came back. He did and now at least he got his due.

CAMEROTA: Oh, he is wonderful.

All right, let's have a little levity. Late night laughs focused on the Trump tax bombshell and they even sprinkled in a joke about Zika. Here you go.

CUOMO: There's nothing funnier than that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SETH MEYERS, "LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS": According to a new report, Zika virus may be able to spread through sweat and tears, which means, one way or another, come November 8th, we're all getting Zika.

CONAN O'BRIEN, "CONAN": The vice presidential debate between Mike Pence and Tim Kaine, yep, experts - experts expect a record number of people not to watch it.

MEYERS: LeBron James endorsed Hillary Clinton over the weekend, which Clinton says for her campaign is a real home run.

JIMMY FALLON, "THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON": "The New York Times" released some of Donald Trump's old tax returns, which they say were leaked by someone inside Trump's camp.

CROWD: Ohhhh.

FALLON: Or as Trump's lesser known daughter Tiffany put it, want to pay attention to me now, dad?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Extra bite because it was the year that he was married to Marla Maples, Tiffany's mother.

CAMEROTA: Ah. Oooh.

CUOMO: Oooh.

CAMEROTA: Ah. Even I got the LeBron James joke, so that means it's a good one. That's good.

All right, thanks so much for watching us on NEW DAY. We'll see you tomorrow.

Time now for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello.

[09:00:01] Good morning, Carol.