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New Day
Second Presidential Debate Between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Reviewed; Interview with Representative Marsha Blackburn; Trump And Clinton Clash In Ugliest Debate Yet; Trump Invites Clinton Accusers To Debate. Aired 8-8:30a ET
Aired October 10, 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] TIMOTHY O'BRIEN, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "BLOOMBERG VIEW": It's pretty astounding that Trump is on a stage with her, and one of his talking points is that he has great judgment. This is a guy who blown up his real estate business, blew up his casino business, has shredded tons and tons of personal relationships, and is willfully ignorant about matters of public policy. So the idea that he would be comparing himself to her around matters of judgment or temperament is a little silly.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Gentlemen, thank you very much. We have to leave it there. Thanks for all of your insights. You guys have studied this man very well and know him better than most. Thank you.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, there's a lot more debate coverage to give you, including a live interview with Donald Trump's running me, Governor Mike Pence. He loomed large last night and not for the best reasons. Let's get to it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Nobody has more respect for women than I do.
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it's clear to anyone who heard it that it represents exactly who he is.
TRUMP: This was locker room talk.
CLINTON: It's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of law in our country.
TRUMP: Because you'd be in jail.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You running mate said the United States should be prepared to use military force.
TRUMP: He and I haven't spoken, and I disagree.
CLINTON: With prior Republican nominees, I disagreed with them. But I never questioned their fitness. Donald Trump is different.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.
CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY.
Up first, the final month of the 2016 race, and boy did it start on a very bitter, bitter tone. Last night's debate will likely be remembered as the ugliest in presidential history. Clinton going after Trump, saying that what he said on that videotape is not locker room talk. It's a reflection of who he is.
CAMEROTA: Trump trying to excuse his lewd comments about women as locker room talk. He also threatened to put Clinton in jail over her e-mails if he is elected. All of this is just nine days until the final debate, only 29 days until the election.
So let's begin our coverage with CNN's Manu Raju. He is live in St. Louis. Good morning, Manu.
MANU RAJU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. That nasty tone was set before the debate even began. That's when Donald Trump appeared with several of Bill Clinton's accusers of sexual misconduct from the early 1990s. Now, after that the two candidates got on stage, they didn't shake hands, and they could barely hide their contempt from one another, hurling insult after insult at each other. And when Donald Trump was asked about that now infamous video in which he's talking openly about groping women, he apologized, but he also downplayed it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Donald Trump entered last night's debate with one major goal -- to end the crisis engulfing his campaign after a tape of his vulgar remarks about groping women from 2005 was uncovered.
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This was locker room talk. I'm not proud of it. I apologized to my family. I apologized to the American people.
RAJU: CNN's Anderson Cooper pressing Trump over his crude comments about forcing himself on women. Trump denying he ever actually did that.
TRUMP: I have great respect for women. Nobody has more respect for women than I do.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: So for the record you're saying you never did that.
TRUMP: I said things that -- frankly, you hear these things. They're said. And I was embarrassed by it, but I have tremendous respect for women, and women have respect for me.
COOPER: Have you ever done those things?
TRUMP: And I will tell you, no, I have not.
RAJU: Hillary Clinton linking the tape to his past controversial rhetoric.
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I said starting back in June that he was not fit to be president and commander in chief. This is who Donald Trump is. But it's not only women and it's not only this video that raises questions about his fitness to be our president, because he has also targeted immigrants, African-Americans, Latinos, people with disabilities, POWs, Muslims and so many others.
RAJU: And as he'd long threatened, Trump rehashed old Clinton controversies, bringing to the debate three women who accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct in the 1990s.
TRUMP: If you look at Bill Clinton, far worse. Mine are words and his was action.
CLINTON: I am reminded of what my friend, Michelle Obama, advised us all. When they go low, you go high.
RAJU: And Trump in an extraordinary remark threatening to jail Clinton if he becomes president over her handling of classified material on her private e-mail server as secretary of state.
TRUMP: If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation.
CLINTON: It's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country.
TRUMP: Because you'd be in jail.
[08:05:06] RAJU: Trump frequently interrupting Clinton throughout the heated exchange.
CLINTON: It's just not true. And, so, please, go to --
TRUMP: You didn't delete them?
COOPER: Allow her to respond, please.
CLINTON: Personal e-mails --
TRUMP: Oh, 33,000?
CLINTON: Well, we turned or 35,000. So --
TRUMP: Oh, yes, what about the other 15,000?
COOPER: Please allow her to respond. She didn't talk while you talked.
RAJU: Clinton becoming visibly frustrated.
CLINTON: OK, Donald. I know you're into big diversion tonight, anything to avoid talking about your campaign, and the way it's exploding and the way Republicans are leaving you. RAJU: Trump at times seemingly comfortable, pacing around the stage
and hovering over Clinton. The billionaire admitting that he wrote off nearly $1 billion in losses and didn't pay federal income taxes in some years.
COOPER: Did you use that $916 million loss to avoid paying personal federal income taxes?
TRUMP: Of course I do. Of course I do.
RAJU: Trump making a stunning admission when pressed about Governor Mike Pence, flatly contradicting his running mate's call to use military force in Syria.
TRUMP: He and I haven't spoken and I disagree. I disagree.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You disagree with your running mate?
TRUMP: I think we have to knock out ISIS.
RAJU: Clinton found herself on the defensive, as well, over leaked transcripts of her speeches to banks, including one where she talked about having different positions publicly and privately.
CLINTON: As I recall, that was something I said about Abraham Lincoln. President Lincoln was trying to convince some people he used some arguments, convincing other people he used other arguments.
TRUMP: She lied. Now she's blaming the lie on the late, great, Abraham Lincoln. That's one that I haven't --
RAJU: The ugly tone of this debate which started with the candidates refusing to shake hand, ended by both sharing what they respect about each other.
CLINTON: His children are incredibly able and devoted, and I think that says a lot about Donald.
TRUMP: She doesn't quite. She doesn't give up. I respect that. I tell it like it is. She's a fighter.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RAJU: The question today is whether or not we'll see more mass defections from Republicans. Later this morning, House Republicans will gather on a private conference call to discuss the second debate and discuss Donald Trump. And Speaker Paul Ryan, what will he do? That is a big question, as well. And I am told from a Ryan official that there's been no update in Ryan's position, meaning at the moment he's still supporting Donald Trump. Alisyn?
CAMEROTA: OK, Manu, it will be interesting to see what happens today. Thank you for that.
So who won last night's debate? Hillary Clinton is two for two according to CNN's scientific poll - 57 percent of debate watchers say Clinton won, 34 percent say Donald Trump did. Nearly two-thirds of women say that Clinton won and half of the men watching agreed. As for Trump, 63 percent of debate watchers say he exceeded their expectations, while 39 percent felt Clinton exceeded their expectations. We should point out that our poll sample this time leans slightly more Democratic than an average CNN poll of all Americans. Chris?
CUOMO: All right, we're joined by Tennessee Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn. She supports Donald Trump. It's good to have you with us this morning. I want to play something that Hillary Clinton said last night, stated it as a proposition. I want your take on it, congresswoman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: OK, Donald. I know you're into big diversion tonight. Anything to avoid talking about your campaign and the way it's exploding, and the way Republicans are leaving you. But let's at least focus --
TRUMP: Let's see what happens in the election.
COOPER: Allow her to response.
CLINTON: -- issues that people care about tonight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: There is a list of some 26 Republican big names that stepped away. People were waiting on Ryan. Ryan, the speaker of the House, had said his endorsement is not a blank check, but we just heard from our Manu Raju that his people are saying his support stands for now. What do you believe the status is of Donald Trump with your party?
REP. MARSHA BLACKBURN, (R) TENNESSEE: Most of the people in our party are staying with Donald Trump. And one of the interesting things to me, Chris, is wherever you go, there are new people coming into the country -- into the party because they know the country is on the wrong track and they want to see things done differently.
And because of that, you're going to see, just like the Reagan Democrats that came to our party, I think you're going to see many people say, look, I want us to talk about and address national security, jobs, and the economy, wage stagnation. Those are things where people want actions. And I think most people are staying with him.
I appreciated something Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council said yesterday, which was, he didn't share Trump's values. He shares his concerns.
[08:10:00] And that is a pretty good summation of where so many people are today. They know things are not heading the right direction. They know the actions of Mrs. Clinton on her e-mails, the actions to our individuals in the foreign service, in the military, related to Benghazi, they know these are not appropriate for someone who would be the leader of our country, and so they want to see some change.
CUOMO: You use the word "appropriate." Really the headline from last night was that Donald Trump was trying to run away from comments he made, on camera, on a microphone, saying that he likes to grope women. And he did that by bringing up a group of women that he had dismissed in the past as ugly accusers, the women who say that Bill Clinton violated them in one way or another. Is that what you call good change?
BLACKBURN: I think Donald Trump's comments were indefensible.
CUOMO: And what he did last night, having the women there?
BLACKBURN: That is the way he chose to bring them in to that debate, to have them present, and to give them the opportunity to state their case. I think the comments on the tape of Mr. Trump were indefensible.
CUOMO: And yet you do defend them by proxy of supporting him to be president of t United States. You can't have it both ways, can you, congresswoman?
BLACKBURN: I told you, I agree with Tony Perkins, I share the concerns. And we have a binary choice here, Chris. You're going to have one or the other as president of the United States. They are both flawed candidates. I agree with Mr. Trump that we need to do something about ISIS, terrorism, national security. I have a major military post in my district. They want to see a change in the way the administration has dealt with our military and the way we need to make certain that our commanders in the field are listened to and our men and women in uniform have what they need to do the job that they're expected to do.
Jobs and the economy, and my goodness, we have had a terrible situation, look at the labor force participation rate. It is the lowest it has been in 40 years. You look at the rate of taxation, you look at the overreach of agencies. I talk to business owners every single week who say, Marsha, Obamacare is driving up our costs. We're at the point we can't Offer health insurance --
CUOMO: So you need somebody who can fix it?
BLACKBURN: -- or the EPA and regulations. No, what you do, what you need to do with health care, you did not need hil2ry Clinton trying to deal with health care, Chris. She nearly bankrupted the state of Tennessee.
CUOMO: So you're saying Donald Trump --
BLACKBURN: Through --
CUOMO: No, you can't --
(CROSSTALK)
CUOMO: Congresswoman I'd like to ask you a question at some point. I understand your list of complaints, I understand they're long. But you're oversimplifying the situation. You have to find someone who can fix those problems. You say Donald Trump is the man to fix them. So, why do you say that? What did you see on that stage last night that makes you proud to say, vote for him. He can get it done. Was it him saying that he was basically unilaterally put Hillary Clinton in jail for what he doesn't like about her e-mail situation? Was it him saying that he'll force companies not to leave by passing a tax, the first president to ever pass a tax because it's your job in Congress? What gives you that confidence?
BLACKBURN: I know what Hillary Clinton has done in the past --
CUOMO: I'm asking you about Donald Trump and why you support him. Why is he the right person --
BLACKBURN: Well, I'm going to talk to you about what Hillary Clinton has done in the past --
CUOMO: What does that say about how you feel about Donald Trump if you can't defend your support of Trump? I get it. Let's assume for the record that Hillary Clinton would be a horrible choice for president.
BLACKBURN: No, Chris, let me tell you, Donald Trump has said --
CUOMO: You're saying Donald Trump is a good one. Why?
BLACKBURN: Donald Trump has said he is going to work with members of Congress and he is going to have a good team around him. And he is known for building good teams --
CUOMO: You just called your leadership a bunch of hypocrites --
BLACKBURN: We both know that. He has said he is going to work with congress.
CUOMO: He just called them a bunch of hypocrites. He just called them a bunch of hypocrites.
BLACKBURN: Chris, he has said he is going to work with members of Congress. He is a big supporter of our better way agenda, and he's a big supporter of a piece of legislation that I've worked on seven years, which is across state line purchase of health insurance.
Now, going back to the health care issue, we do know that Hillary Clinton's test case for health care was in my home state of Tennessee. It was called Ten Care. It quadrupled in cost in a five-year period of time. It drove the state to the point of bankruptcy, to the point of being 35.3 percent of the state budget, and it was a Democrat governor who ended up taking much of this down and reshaping the program.
[08:15:10] Now, you cannot fix something that is structurally flawed to the point that it does not work.
Hillary Clinton is not the person to come in and fix the health care issues in this country. You're going to have to begin by repealing this, getting this, getting Title I of Obamacare, the insurance title off the book --
CUOMO: Yes, except that you tried that dozens of times, Congresswoman, and it hasn't worked. It doesn't seem as though --
BLACKBURN: It will work.
CUOMO: -- it seems like the political reality and it seems like the --
BLACKBURN: No.
CUOMO: Well, let's take your proposition. Why will it work? It has not worked to this point. It is something that's done through Congress, you haven't had the votes. It doesn't look like in this election cycle you're going to increase your votes so why do you think it would work if you have a different president? It never got to him to have to veto.
BLACKBURN: It would work because you'll get -- be able to know that working with an administration, you can get something to the desk that that president is going to sign.
CUOMO: But the Democrats won't let it happen.
BLACKBURN: You'll be able to get -- you know, and I think there you go. Let's get rid of that 60-vote rule in the Senate so that we can get things to the Senate floor and call an up or down --
CUOMO: But how do you do that if you don't have more votes?
BLACKBURN: I think it's time for those senators to stop hiding in the high grass. They can say well we just can't get 60 votes so we're not going to be able to get something to the floor.
So, Chris, you know, let's put it on the -- let's challenge the senators. Put it on the floor. Put across state line purchase of health care on the floor in the Senate. Put liability reform on the floor in the Senate.
Make certain that you open up the health care marketplace where people can buy something that they want. Get rid of these essential mandates. Require the preventive service task forces to have people on them that understand that actually understand there are specialists in that.
So that we know there's going to be consistency of access in demography for prostate cancer test for men. We want to make certain that everyone has access to affordable health care, and that they have a health insurance product --
CUOMO: Congresswoman, the problems are real. The problems are real. Anyone who denies them does not want to see the truth. The question is, who is going to help you achieve more of these things? You say it's Donald Trump. BLACKBURN: That's right. The problems are real.
CUOMO: I got you.
BLACKBURN: The problems are real. And yes, I believe that with the choices that are in front of us, that Donald Trump is going to do a much better job --
CUOMO: Understood.
BLACKBURN: -- of working with the House and Senate to achieve change for the American people.
CUOMO: Understood.
BLACKBURN: That is what they want. They don't want the status quo.
CUOMO: Understood. I just wish you could have helped me understand better why you think he's the right choice, but we'll get to it next time. Congresswoman, thank you for being with us. Appreciate it.
BLACKBURN: Sure. Bye-bye.
CUOMO: All right, coming up in a few moments, Donald Trump's running mate, as you see, it's not easy for Republicans to defend what Donald Trump says, and that's been a problem for Governor Pence as well. Last night, he was brought up in the debate. Donald Trump said he was wrong. How does he feel about that -- Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: All right, Donald Trump also shocking the audience saying that if he's elected president Hillary Clinton would go to jail. So how will Clinton's campaign respond to that? We'll talk to the chief strategist next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:22:12]
CAMEROTA: Well, the presidential debate turned ugly. Both candidates getting personal with Donald Trump then making a surprising promise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to get a special prosecutor, and we're going to look into it because you know what? People have been -- their lives have been destroyed for doing one-fifth of what you've done and it's a disgrace. And honestly you ought to be ashamed of yourself.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Secretary --
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Everything he just said is absolutely false, but I'm not surprised. Go to hillaryclinton.com. We have literally Trump, you can fact check him in realtime. It's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country. TRUMP: Because you'd be in jail.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: Our CNN scientific poll shows that Clinton was the winner. But did she land a knockout blow? Joining us now is the Clinton campaign's chief strategist, Joel Benenson. Joel, thanks for coming in.
JOEL BENENSON, CHIEF STRATEGIST, HILLARY FOR AMERICA: Thanks for having me.
CAMEROTA: OK, so you heard Donald Trump say there that if he were president, he would appoint a special prosecutor to look into whatever misdeeds he thinks Hillary Clinton has done and that she would go to jail. What would Hillary Clinton do to Donald Trump if she becomes president?
BENENSON: Probably ignore him. I think if she becomes president he will be a footnote in history and I think that's likely to happen because what he did last night on the debate stage was failed to rescue what has been a failing campaign over the last 48 or 72 hours. He needed a game changer. He didn't deliver and he didn't reach any voters in the middle last night with the kind of performance he gave last night.
CAMEROTA: I don't know if your conclusions have been proven yet. Over the weekend people were jumping off the Trump train, but, some people we've had many of his surrogates on this morning think that he resuscitated his campaign last night and in fact that it was Hillary Clinton who was rattled because of his tactics where he brought in the Bill Clinton accusers and put them in the audience.
BENENSON: I call it his antics, not his tactics. I think she wasn't rattled by him at all. If you go over the conversation they had during the course of the 90 minutes, he was the one who was rambling and incoherent.
She came to the debate to talk to people about their lives, what she would do to get things done and make a difference. He needed to rescue his campaign. I think you're judging him by a pretty low bar. He stopped people from jumping off a sinking ship.
That's considered success. I don't think so. I'm not sure he even did. I think over the next 24 or 48 hours we will still see more Republicans saying that this man is unfit to be president. Just as they have been from the beginning of his campaign.
CAMEROTA: Joel, can you tell us what happened inside the campaign yesterday when it became apparent that that was the tactic or antic that he was going to use and then he had that photo-op with these old accusers of Bill Clinton, who wanted to once again tell their stories about what they say --
BENENSON: We have always viewed Donald Trump as capable of anything and show type antics that he think people are focused on. What we've done from the beginning is say let's stay focused on the people, particularly in the town hall debate.
[08:25:11]These folks are coming with questions about their lives, whether it's their economic lives, their kids' education, their future, how we're going to keep the world safe.
We actually had Donald Trump last night on that stage say that he knows nothing about Russia. I know nothing about the inner workings. He actually repeated Russian talking points by saying Russia and Syria are fighting ISIS which they're not.
They're bombing civilians and cutting off humanitarian aid -- humanitarian aid to those women and children who've been bombed out of their homes. Even his own vice president knows what's going on in Syria. He doesn't.
It's almost like a Gerald Ford moment going back to 1976 when he said there's no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe. I mean, this man said he knows nothing about Russia. Nothing about the inner workings, and he's asking for people's vote to be commander-in-chief. He has totally disqualified himself.
CAMEROTA: We will be talking to Mike Pence about that coming up. But did the sight of those women make Hillary Clinton pull her punches a little bit? Why didn't she go after that leaked audiotape in which Donald Trump says, you know, repugnant things about what he'd like to do to women. Why didn't Hillary go after that?
BENENSON: I think maybe you didn't hear everything she said in the first answer and the second answer that she gave, Alisyn. Let me be clear here. She raised what he said about that videotape and she said but this shouldn't surprise us.
He has been demeaning and disrespected not just women. She brought up what he did after the first debate to Alicia Machado again, a woman he berated for her appearance, a former Miss Universe. She then went on to call out the fact that he insulted the parents of a gold star hero, Latino -- American born judge of Latino heritage --
CAMEROTA: Yes.
BENENSON: Said he couldn't do his job, which he said this is what he's done it is a pattern with women, with Latinos, with African- Americans, with our veterans and our -- our heroes. He dissed John McCain. He said he wasn't a war hero --
CAMEROTA: Yes, she did --
BENENSON: -- there is a larger pattern here, yes, but there is --
CAMEROTA: But not focused on the audio. The actual leaked audio that got so much attention over the weekend.
BENENSON: Eighty million people heard the audio. She lifted it up and said look these were terrible things he said. Terrible things he's done. His bogus apology last night, he dug the hole deeper for himself by doubling down frankly, and saying, again, these were locker room banter.
Nonsense. There isn't a man I know, there isn't a woman I know, who believes for one minute that when you're describing not just a language that's offensive, but behavior and bragging about it, that this is locker room banter.
And she made a point about that and said but there is a bigger pattern here we need to be concerned about, as well, when this man is running for president. Yes, he demeans women. Yes, he has done terrible things to women.
But there are also things he has done to every one of us in some way, shape or form whether it's the disabled reporter he mocked, or as I said the parents of those gold star -- that gold star hero, or a war hero like John McCain.
CAMEROTA: I guess I'm referring to the very first question that she was asked where the person, the teacher, in the audience, and said you know, we try to have our students watch these debates, but they're basically so base that we can't, and it seemed as though almost she was serving it up on a silver platter to have Hillary Clinton then go after what she might consider lewd comments of Donald Trump. But instead, she -- Hillary Clinton sort of pivoted to her policy positions --
BENENSON: No, I don't think it was just policy and I think, Alisyn, in fairness, Hillary Clinton came to that debate to talk to the American people about their lives. Town hall setting, people are asking very legitimate questions.
And there's a bigger issue than just that tape which I believe was probably heard over and over against during the course of the last 48 or 72 hours by 80 million Americans. I'd say probably as big as the audience for the first debate.
What those people wanted to hear last night is which one of these people can really work with the other side and get things done for me and my children. And yes, a teacher asked that question that was very much about her role as a teacher.
And what she said is Donald Trump is not a role model for anybody. He's a hideous role model. That's at best. At worst he is a degrading, demeaning person when it comes to women, when it comes to people he disagrees with, when it comes to people who aren't like him.
CAMEROTA: Is the campaign prepared that it seems now as though these three women, these three Bill Clinton accusers, that they're going to be part of Donald Trump's campaign, that they're not going anywhere?
BENENSON: You know, Donald Trump has a problem in his campaign. His problem is with the number of Republicans who are fleeing every day and I disagree with Congresswoman Blackburn. I think more will continue to because he continues to -- continues to fail to change the impression of him that he has built in to the course of this campaign through his own words and actions. The American people have taken the measure of this man, even in last night's debate, he had -- I said he needed a game-changing performance. He has to reach voters who are undecided, in the middle, and that is a very shrinking pool of people and he completely failed last night. I'm not even sure he solidified his base last night.
