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Trump Holding Town Hall Today As Dry Run for Debate; Bumgarner Throws Shutout Against Mets; NSA Contractor Accused of Stealing Top Secret Files; Florida Braces For Direct Hit From Hurricane Matthew. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired October 06, 2016 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:32:10] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump will hold a town hall tonight in New Hampshire. This is considered a dress rehearsal for the next presidential debate on Sunday where undecided rotors will ask the candidates questions. Both campaigns say this upcoming town hall format showcases their candidates' best side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLYANNE CONWAY, DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: We prepare constantly and he has gotten really excited about the format. The town hall format is really a sweet spot for him because he's the one out there with voters every single day.

JOHN PODESTA, CLINTON CAMPAIGN MANAGER: She's very used to the format. She likes it. She likes answering questions from individual citizens that, you know, she listens hard and relates to people. And that's a format that Donald Trump isn't as used to and, so, we'll see. I think it's a natural format for her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK. So, let's bring back our panel. We have Philip Bump and Abby Phillip.

So, both sides like this town hall format. Donald Trump is doing this dry run tonight. He's obviously taking it seriously and he's using Chris Christie -- Governor Chris Christie who made that one of the hallmarks of his campaign doing all sorts of town hall meetings in New Hampshire.

PHILIP BUMP, POLITICAL REPORTER, WASHINGTON POST: I think you're right. Especially compared to the stand at the lectern, this definitely does play more to Donald Trump's strengths. You know, I think part of the reaction we saw to the vice presidential debate is, why can't he, like Mike Pence?

And the answer is, because Mike Pence has been doing this for a decade and he was on radio before that, right? And there are all these reasons, and you can't just suddenly change Donald Trump's personality which is the big personality hanging over this thing.

How is he going to react to those folks? What's he going to say? Will he be pressed on policy issues but that said this is still a better format for him.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Now, Bump just said two different things here, Abby. Let's see if we can get a division in "The Washington Post", "The Washington Post" ranks here. He's not Pence because he hasn't been doing this a long time. I don't give Trump that excuse. OK, he has been in the public and at the level of media exposure that Mike Pence could only dream of for decades he's been doing it.

This is about how he is and how he wants to communicate with people. The town hall is tricky. You aren't talking to me and ducking my question, which is easy and people expect it. You are talking about a person who is living a real issue. So, if you slip it and you say it in a crass way, it plays differently to the audience. That's not something you can prepare for.

ABBY PHILLIP, REPORTER, WASHINGTON POST: Right, and I think you're right. Donald Trump is not Mike Pence because he's not Mike Pence.

CUOMO: Giving Trump the pass. No pass for anyone on this show.

PHILLIP: You know, I also think that Donald Trump has also demonstrated that he has a little bit of trouble with empathy. I mean, think about the way that he operates on social media, which is where we see him at his sort of most unfiltered. He doesn't usually go for sympathy first and then makes a point about why he's right or why he deserves congratulations.

[06:35:01] And so, in a town hall setting, you have to empathize with this person asking you questions. That's a skill. You have to practice that.

You have to practice going to the empathy first. And the question is, is he practicing? Maybe so. If he is, he might have a good chance.

I think Hillary Clinton has actually had a lot more practice. She's done a lot of these. Most recently, one just this week. It's just something that she's more familiar with. She has her own pitfalls but she's a lot more familiar with it.

CAMEROTA: Both sides practicing empathy. It sounds like something from "The Onion". I mean, this is where we are. Having seen them in this setting before, they both do well when they're actually connecting, when they're able to connect more with the audience.

However, town halls are, there are some awkward moments that are possible in a town hall setting. Cast your memory back to 2000 and Al Gore and George W. Bush.

Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT: That's what the question in this campaign is about. It's not only what your philosophy and what's your position on issues, but can you get things done? And I believe I can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: What a great moment that was.

CUOMO: We call that framing up in man law. Gore was trying to frame up on Bush. Stand tall and get into his space and I thought, you know, he would be president there wound up playing it very well. Please.

CAMEROTA: When candidates are loose on the stage. It doesn't work. So, we don't know what the staging will be for Sunday night. But it's possible that spontaneous things happen.

CUOMO: But we do know this, OK? No matter what the different variables are at play, this night matter. That first debate change how this race was seen. And that wasn't hype. Not just in polls, but in perceptions.

This is his last chance to show I know how to do this job. Not who's more likable and all these other simple metrics. That's the bar for him. I think it's harder in a town hall. People think this will be easier because it's real people. I don't know where this confidence comes from that he's somehow has this magic touch with real people.

But do you believe that the stakes are that high?

BUMP: Yes, absolutely. I mean, there are few factors here. The first is that people are already voting. Early voting has started in some states. It's going to start in more states very shortly.

The second is the concerns that people have about Donald Trump are, if he's qualified and that question stems from his temperament. This is absolutely the quintessential moment to show that he has the temperament to be president by answering questions, having sound policy background, so on and so forth, things that he has not been able to demonstrate so far.

This is going to be a big show case with millions of people watching, adding point when he needs people to change their minds.

CAMEROTA: OK. Abby, Philip, thank you very much for all of this insight.

You can join us Sunday night for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. This is their second presidential debate. It will be co-moderated by Anderson Cooper. The coverage begins at 4:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN.

CUOMO: Hurricane Matthew. That is the big story. That is the big reality. It is gaining strength. Millions have been told to leave their homes.

We have the latest on the powerful storm that will hit Florida, next.

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CUOMO: All right. There's no getting around it, the New York Mets are done. They have Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner to blame for that.

Andy Scholes in this morning's "Bleacher Report".

Three nothing but Bumgarner, he's being everything he's supposed to be.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Unbelievable, Chris.

You know, Madison Bumgarner, maybe the greatest post-season pitcher of all time and he's only 27 years old. Bumgarner just dominated the Mets last night, pitching a complete game shutout in this one. And, get this -- he's the only pitcher in baseball history to throw multiple shutouts in winner-take-all post-season games. Just incredible.

This game did go all the way to the ninth inning tied at zero. That's when Conor Gillaspie was the hero for the Giants, crushing this three- run home run to seal the win. San Frans beats New York 3-0 in the NL wildcard game. The Giants is now going to move on to face the Cubs on Friday.

Today, the division series gets going. Blue Jays at the Rangers, and we've got Red Sox at the Indians. You can watch both of those games on our sister network, TBS.

All right. If you draft Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski on your fantasy team this year, you probably aren't doing too well. Gronk has only one catch for 11 yards this season, and he said he knows fantasy owners aren't happy with him right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB GRONKOWSKI, PATRIOTS TIGHT END: Man, you know, I can't even go to the grocery store without getting yelled at. I am like, why did you draft me then, baby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: You know what, Alisyn? I think Gronk's production will pick up this weekend. Tom Brady back in the lineup for the Patriots as they take on the Browns.

CAMEROTA: All right, good. And my fantasy football team is safe, Andy. Thanks so much for all of that.

SCHOLES: All right.

CAMEROTA: All right. Up next, an NSA contractor charged with stealing top secret government information. What info did he get and why did this happen, again?

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[06:48:10] CAMEROTA: An NSA contractor is in federal custody this morning for allegedly stealing highly classified files from the agency. The arrest of 51-year-old Harold Martin is drawing strong comparisons to the Edward Snowden case.

CNN justice correspondent Evan Perez is live in Washington with more.

What do you know, Evan?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

Well, for years, investigators believe Harold Martin has been illegally taking home some of the nation's most sensitive secrets. When he was arrested, the FBI agents were stunned to find thousands of pages of classified information, hundred of computer hard drives and thumb drives and enough computer service to operate his own cloud.

He's facing charges now of theft of government property and unauthorized removal and retention of classified materials. Now among the documents that he is accused of stealing, sophisticated computer code that the NSA developed to hack into foreign computer networks.

Now, Martin worked as a contractor for Booz Allen Hamilton. That's the big national security contracting company that also employed Edward Snowden. The big question hanging all over all of this is why.

The FBI and prosecutors at the Justice Department, they're still trying to figure out what his motivation was. Investigators so far don't believe that he was selling secrets to foreign governments or that he had political motives.

A statement from his attorneys says in part, there is no evidence that how Martin betrayed his country, what we do know is that Mr. Martin loves his family and America. He served his nation honorably in the U.S. Navy as a lieutenant and devoted his entire career to making America safe.

Chris, the government has spent millions of dollars on new efforts to try to prevent just this, another Snowden and that appears to have failed here.

CUOMO: All right. Evan, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Let's discuss how this happened and what it means. We have James Bamford, columnist with "Foreign Policy Magazine" and author of "Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA From 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America."

[06:50:08] Also here, Robert Ford, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington and at the Yale University Jackson Institute. He is a former U.S. ambassador to Syria.

So, when we look at this situation on its basis, they did catch the person, right? So, there shouldn't be -- professor, let's start with you. They did catch the person and they were able to detect something and what does this reveal about security at the highest level?

Either one of you. You with the Yale background, that's why I called you professor. It's my alma mater. Go ahead. What do you think?

ROBERT FORD, SR. FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE IN WASHINGTON: I'm sorry.

CUOMO: Go ahead.

FORD: Well, I think it's obviously very serious if the contractor first removed classified documents, there is a problem of physical security. And then, second, if, in fact, he turned these documents over to unauthorized users outside, that's even more serious. So, we'll have to see what the investigation comes up with.

CUOMO: Well, they're trying, they're struggling, Bob, with what the motivation might have been, but as a follow up to that question. It's that it happened, right? That's what Snowden was. Why he did it was going to be secondary. That he was able to do it.

What's your take on that?

JAMES BAMFORD, COLUMNIST, FOREIGN POLICY MAGAZINE: Talking to me?

CUOMO: Mr. Ford, what is your take on it?

FORD: Yes, OK, so if he's able to remove documents like that, it suggests that there is not careful screening of employees as they come in and out of the building and, in particular, it suggests, also, that there are very few controls internally in terms of who is accessing documents and why they are accessing them.

CUOMO: All right. Now, James, you've been looking at this very deeply for a long time and you know what people are going to say. They're going to say, it's not safe. People just keep stealing things. This is what happens. We don't know how to keep things safe.

Is that fair criticism?

BAMFORD: Sure it is. How many millions of documents have we lost in the last few years. Again, this is an agency that's keeping track of everybody's telephone number. You know, they were keeping track of everybody's e-mail for a long time. For everybody's telephone number and everybody's communications.

If people, can walk out the door with millions of documents, it's very, very serious. The problem here, what makes this very different is the fact that they're now alleging just that there were documents released, but that he took actual code, code that's used to penetrate computer systems. And that's very dangerous.

If somebody takes that as basically like taking the key to Yahoo or to Apple or to whatever communication system is out there. It gives you the key to open those doors to do whatever you want. And that's one of the differences here.

It's the same thing that the Shadow Brokers, that group last August, was trying to sell, these basically cyber weapons. The weapons you can use to break into other networks that can do a lot of damage.

CUOMO: Robert, is it just the case that you can't keep digital things 100 percent safe like you might be able to with something physical like a brick of gold. You know, you're always hearing about China or Russia or somebody being able to hack the United States, and who knows what the United States is doing on its own terms. Is this just a different reality that we have to get comfortable with?

FORD: Well, it certainly is a new kind of technological challenge to keep digital information safe, but there also safeguards that you can take. You can always monitor who's accessing data and how long they're accessing it and you should be able, through management's controls, to have a good idea of who needs access to particular information and when they need it. But that requires a set of management and internal controls.

CUOMO: Robert, let's switch topics. I want to stay with you, though. This reporting that we have that Russia has moved an anti-missile system into Syria. It smacks of a Cold War build up situation. We know the talks have broken down.

What do you make of this move?

FORD: Well, it comes within a context of declining, deteriorating U.S./Russian relations. The reason the Russians moved those anti- aircraft systems to Syria is they want to deter any potential U.S. military airstrike against either their facilities or against Syrian air force facilities.

CUOMO: So, James, in terms of what the U.S. is supposed to do in this situation, you have someone who's supposed to be a neutral to negative, right?

[06:55:06] And we thought it might be more of a neutral with Russia. Maybe there were some common aims we'd be able to work with them in terms of fighting ISIS. They're now building up in a way that they could only use these systems on the U.S. and coalition forces. What does this do in terms of the avenues of response for the U.S.?

BAMFORD: Well, it didn't help the fact that we bombed, just recently bombed a Syrian army unit killing 60 people. That gives them an excellent excuse to bring in anti-aircraft, anti-missile weapons. So, this is just deteriorated from the day we've entered this conflict. It's time to look to start helping these people instead of just bombing them. We have to start helping the refugees in Jordan and Turkey and bringing more refugees home.

I mean, continuing this warfare is senseless. All we're doing, obviously, the Russians are not going to go away. This is their client's state. I don't know why somebody hasn't realized that yet. But this is not going to end well in the United States if we keep on dropping bombs. CUOMO: The concern of helping on the ground is that you can't create

safe zones because of where the Russians are bombing. So, the military component is an essential facet of being able to make it safe on the ground, James. How do you handle that part?

BAMFORD: You reach an agreement where you're not going to be bombing them. You're going to send planes in that will air drop food and supplies. These people need food and the need supplies and they need places to live in a tent and so forth. So, these things can be air dropped in on planes that are not warplanes.

CUOMO: Right. They can be.

(CROSSTALK)

BAMFORD: -- agreement like that with --

CUOMO: Well, can you? That's the question. Now, let's end in that, Robert. The idea of what James is saying. You can reach an agreement with Russia to stop military missions and just make humanitarian missions. Do you agree with that?

FORD: That's exactly what John Kerry had been trying to do. John Kerry was unsuccessful. The Russians are backing the Syrian government. The Syrian government has said it will attack planes that are bringing supplies, humanitarian supplies. Of course, there was an aid convoy which Syrian and/or Russian aircraft struck two weeks ago killing 20 aide workers.

Their whole point is, they will not allow humanitarian aide. They want to starve the opposition into surrender.

CUOMO: James Bamford, Robert Ford -- thank you very much for helping us understand this situation this morning.

We're following a lot of news. We have the latest on Hurricane Matthew. Let's get right to it.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. We do begin with breaking news.

Hurricane Matthew is the real deal. It is gaining strength again this morning. It's heading for a direct hit on Florida's East Coast. Millions have been told to evacuate ahead of this powerful storm. More than 26 million people are now under watch, and warnings in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

CAMEROTA: Matthew could be the worst hurricane to ever hit Florida's central coast. Many residents are rushing to stores. They're finding store shelves empty and picked over. Hurricane Matthew is slamming the Bahamas at this hour, as you can see on your screen. It has already killed 15 people in the Caribbean.

So, let's begin our team coverage with Boris Sanchez live in Daytona Beach.

What's the situation there, Boris?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Alisyn.

The wind is starting to pick up. It gets stronger and stronger as we see the storm surge nearing the coast of Florida. It is picking up water and sand and bringing it in to where we're standing right now.

There are evacuation orders all along the coast. About two million people have orders to evacuate. It's going to be the largest mandatory evacuation since Hurricane Sandy back in 2012. As we've been driving around town, we've been seeing businesses that are boarded up. Our hotel is boarded up right now and has sandbags outside.

I actually just spoke to a gentleman who told me that he moved here from Cleveland three days ago and he's heeding the warning and about to take off from the path of the storm. Just like him, so many trying to get out of the way of this very, very powerful storm. Fifteen hundred National Guard members have already been deployed to help with the infrastructure and to help people get out of here.

As you can imagine, more than 25 counties have shut down their operations for the day. Schools are closed all across the state. The idea here is to be ready. This is a crucial time that Florida Governor Rick Scott was talking about yesterday to get out of the way of the storm. Even if there isn't a direct hit where you are, it's best to be prepared for one and be out of the way before it's too late -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Boris, thank you very much.

You have this urgency to move, if you are told to. Then, where do you go? Many Floridians are heading inland this morning.