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Gold Star Father Reacts To Trump's Debate Comments; House Speaker: I Can No Longer Defend Trump; Do Millennials Care About Bill Clinton's Past Controversies?; Republicans On Brink Of Civil War Over Trump. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 11, 2016 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:03] KHIZR KHAN, FATHER OF FALLEN MUSLIM-AMERICAN SOLDIER: And for this candidate to put his political expediency ahead of any realization of pain and suffering of the families is shameful. And this -- I have said it two months ago that this candidate does not have the character to be the commander in chief of the Armed Forces.

And my appeal to the Republican had been, and I repeated, that they should have repudiated. We would not have been watching what is happening to the Republican Party. The Republican Party used to be the party of the family values. Is that what we are going to be leaving behind? Is this what Republican Party has come to?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: I know that after Donald Trump took a shot at your wife during your presentation at the convention, he backed off that. He said this is a Gold Star family, your son was a hero. Did he ever reach out to the family? Have you heard from him directly yet?

KHAN: No, we have not heard from him.

CUOMO: So the next mention that you get from Trump is bringing up your son again, saying that he would be alive. Were you shocked that --

KHAN: I --

CUOMO: -- he brought him up?

KHAN: That is so true. We were -- we were not only shocked, we were saddened that for such disingenuous expression of his thinking and of his feeling, and that was nothing but -- it was so blatant political expediency.

CUOMO: Now look, you're not a politician but you were motivated by your personal situation. You came out and now you're part of the dialogue. A lot of military members back Donald Trump. They say that he gets them. He gets what they need and they support his candidacy over Hillary Clinton. What do you say to them?

KHAN: I respect them equally as I respect my son and other military members. They deserve our respect and they are entitled to their choice. But I ask them to think back -- review this person's character. Review what he has done for this country -- nothing. Look how much he has paid in support of the military -- nothing.

Think back what his character had been. Is that what we want in our commander in chief? Look what he -- how he has shown, up until now, that his values are only for the self-interest -- country is -- and the political party is somewhere down the line. He is nothing but a selfish person that is exploiting the sympathies, exploiting the loyalty of the military families.

CUOMO: Mr. Khan, he has changed his position on Muslims. Originally, he had said no Muslims can come in the country. Essentially, they're all a risk. Now he says we're just going to do extreme vetting so that we can make sure that only Muslims who share American values and pass some, as of yet unexplained, checklist of qualities will get into the country. Do you see that as an improvement?

KHAN: I wish I could -- I could accept that as an improvement, but knowing his behavior for the last entire year you will see everyday something changes. It is nothing but political expediency. He is insincere. He does not comprehend the implications of his statements when he realizes, and his surrogates realize that they have made a mistake or he has made a mistake they begin to backtrack. So, these are insincere statements.

I was shocked to listen to his speech last -- a couple of nights before when he said something so profound, and I want to remind this nation to reconsider. To think about what has happened in 1973 -- October -- when then-President Nixon interfered with the independent prosecutor and the attorney general at that time and the deputy attorney general of that time repudiated -- resigned in disgust that this president was interfering in the investigation.

And Donald Trump has laid the foundation of interference to investigate Hillary Clinton, his political opponent. This is not a Third World country. This is the democracy of the United States. What example are we setting? Are we setting this example that will come to haunt us later? I am just so shocked and I wanted to remind this nation to think back. That this is -- that event of Saturday night massacre is in our history and we are so far away from that. This candidate thinks and makes us fear that this candidate is able to do that sort of thing all over again.

[07:35:10] CUOMO: Well, you have to remember, the reason that Trump says he needs to appoint a special prosecutor is because he believes that the system was manipulated to help Hillary Clinton. That the attorney general, essentially, met with Bill Clinton and decided not to prosecute a case that would have been prosecuted against anyone else, but that's politics.

I know from someone who you speak to that this is killing you on a certain level -- having to come out and speak out this. That it opens up wounds for your wife and it opens up wounds for you that -- you know, you're not a politician. You're dealing with having lost a son who gave everything he had to the country. Why do that to yourself? Why open the wounds to get involved in an ugly campaign?

KHAN: Look, our son gave his life in protection of this country, in protection of constitution. He was honorable to his oath. We do all this under his grace, under his light. Care for this country, care for this nation. How could a patriot American sit and watch this mockery of the democratic process that this candidate has conducted himself?

It is under that spirit, under the service of this country that we stand up -- and we stand up and we fully realize that we will be subjected to all the hate and -- un-American hate. We will be subjected to ridicule and we have been by his surrogates. But that is the price that we are willing to pay because we want to stand up for some values -- for the values of this country, for the values of democracy. So we will do it all over again. We will do it a million times to stand up and point out that this candidate is unfit, unsuitable for the leadership of this country.

CUOMO: Well, Mr. Khan, I respect your stepping up, I just wish that your motivation didn't come from such a place of loss and pain. And again, we are sorry for the loss of your son and we thank all of you for your service. Appreciate you being on NEW DAY, sir.

KHAN: Thank you.

CUOMO: Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Chris, House Speaker Paul Ryan delivering a blow to Donald Trump's presidential bid. Who has more to lose in this showdown? Michael Smerconish joins us to discuss this and more, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:40:55] CAMEROTA: The nation's top elected Republican, Paul Ryan, saying that he will no longer defend Donald Trump. Instead, the House Speaker says that he will focus on keeping control of Congress and helping vulnerable Republican members try to win.

Joining us now is CNN political commentator and host of CNNs "SMERCONISH", Michael Smerconish. Good morning, Michael.

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: So tell us about the -- what you think are the ramifications of Paul Ryan saying that he can no longer defend Donald Trump.

SMERCONISH: I think that Paul Ryan believes that Donald Trump is about to lose and lose badly. And I'm sure he's mindful of polls like those that have just come out, whether it's "NBC NEWS" and "The Wall Street Journal" or it's "POLITICO" and the "Morning Consult" which show that Trump is now trailing by double digits in nationwide polls. And even more importantly, that in the battleground states he's fallen behind and we still haven't seen the full impact, I don't think, of both the tape and the debate.

So, Ryan is looking at the tea leaves. He's looking at the data and he's saying to himself I've got to do whatever I can do now to try and hold onto control of the House. The short-term loser, I think, is Donald Trump because Donald Trump is the one who's in peril in just three-plus weeks. Paul Ryan's going to be around but what kind of a party he'll be leading after November 8, obviously, has him concerned.

CUOMO: Well look, that comes down to whether or not Trump winning would be a good thing for the GOP or a bad thing for the GOP. And I know, to many people, they'll be like well, the House would be good. Not necessarily.

Steve King, though, was just on and he's a diehard, obviously. What we used to call the rock-ribbed conservative. He says there is only one choice and it is Trump because Clinton is unacceptable. That could be where your long-term analysis comes in. If she gets -- if she wins and gets in there will Ryan be held responsible?

SMERCONISH: Well, I watched the interview and that is the pitch that he makes. I mean, his pitch is not so much to defend Donald Trump if you heard him, and you obviously did, but rather to say come on, look at the alternative. Now, that works with the base when you say that Trump is preferable to her, but it's all feeding on itself.

You know, in the aftermath of the 2012 election the RNC had that autopsy report and one of the conclusions from Reince Priebus was that Republicans need to stop talking to themselves. And that's exactly what's going on now. This is all about salving the wounds of the base.

That debate on Sunday night was a greatest hits reel for the hardened constituency that they already have, but there was absolutely no outgrowth. And I'm convinced that the people who are now running the Trump campaign -- that inner cadre -- continue to tell him that all he needs to do is play that which leads "Breitbart" or leads the "Drudge Report" or leads Fox News. Well, I've got news for you. It's a big country and that's not enough to win.

CAMEROTA: Michael, I can't count the number of times that you've come on this program and you were certain, as were many pundits, that there was some moment that was going to tip the scales away from Donald Trump. Whether it was going after the Khan family, whether it was going after POWs, whether it was going after Muslims. Why was it this audiotape -- this lewd audiotape -- why is that the tipping point?

SMERCONISH: I'm not so sure that it was. And look, let me call out myself. You're right, I'm one of those who told you that when he said what he said about John McCain that he would sink like a stone and he didn't, so I was wrong. But the cumulative effect of all of these things, I think, has finally caught up to him.

And the tipping point did come in the form that tape although he has now struggled to regain his footing and try and chalk it up to locker room talk. I think I've been in a lot more locker rooms than Donald Trump ever has. I'm waiting for somebody to tell me where on his resume it describes the number of sports that he's actually played.

But this really was a tipping point, but it's everything in total now and the commercials that are being run that are reminding Americans of all the things that have transpired in this campaign.

[07:45:00] CUOMO: I like all the athletes coming out and saying not in our locker room.

CAMEROTA: Yes, right.

CUOMO: Everybody wants to get away from this. Let me play you something that happened with Mike Pence yesterday when Alisyn was interviewing him, and we want to get your take on whether or not he's just flat out lying about what his position was. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. MIKE PENCE (R-IN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I've talked to him about our policy. And, frankly, I've got a lot of respect for Martha Raddatz but she just misrepresented the statement that I made in my national debate, frankly, Alisyn. You know, the question that I got was about Aleppo, it was about humanitarian aid. It was about being willing to use military force to prevent a further humanitarian crisis, to establish safe zones and allow people to escape the horrors of further barbaric action in Aleppo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So, Michael, basically what he was saying is that he only wants to use U.S. military force to solve the humanitarian crisis. But in his debate he actually said "No, I just have to tell you that the provocations by Russia need to be met with American strength."

CUOMO: And by strength, he meant military strength.

CAMEROTA: Military strength.

CUOMO: He says it later in the bite.

CAMEROTA: Right. So he's, basically -- I mean, he's trying -- he seems to be at odds with Donald Trump on this position that Donald Trump doesn't want any military use in Syria and he's threading his own needle of whether or not he would just do it to protect the humanitarian crisis -- or to avert the humanitarian crisis or from Russian provocations.

SMERCONISH: I watched your interview. I also, of course, watched the debate on Sunday night and it was pretty clear to me that Gov. Pence was contradicted in what he said to you yesterday by what he said in the debate itself. The second point I would make is I don't get unnerved by the idea that the president and the vice president are at odds on some issues.

I kind of get a kick out of the fact that Gary Johnson and Bill Weld speak openly about the issues where they disagree. And I watched Jake Tapper interview Tim Kaine the other day and Kaine struggled when he couldn't even say whether the WikiLeaks data was accurate.

I mean, to me it's like a couple that, you know, they date for a while and then they're married. Well, they still have some disagreements about the way they look at life, now they just happen to be husband and wife. I think it would be healthy for presidential and vice presidential candidates to say we don't see eye to eye on everything but in the end it will be the top of the ticket that calls the shot.

CUOMO: Yes, there's nothing wrong with that. He was right about one thing, although he was saying it in a nice way but he didn't -- he was still going after Martha Raddatz and Martha Raddatz is one of the best, hardest-core journalists in the business, respected by everybody around. He got that part right. He just got it wrong that she misquoted him because she didn't.

CAMEROTA: Michael Smerconish, thank you very much. Great to have you.

SMERCONISH: Good to see you guys.

CAMEROTA: OK. Both candidates are trying to court millennials but what do these young voters care about? Do they care about the controversies like Trump's lewd comments or Bill Clinton's past? Do they care about Hillary Clinton's email saga? We break it down with supporters from both sides, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:51:45] CAMEROTA: Millennial voters make up as much of the electorate as baby boomers now and they seem to lack enthusiasm for either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. This important voting bloc is a focal point now and this is a front page story in "USA Today" -- just this morning, that we're showing you.

So here to discuss what is important to millennials are CNN political commentator and Trump supporter, Kayleigh McEnany. And national spokesperson for MoveOn.org and Hillary Clinton supporter, Karine Jean-Pierre. Great to see both of you ladies this morning.

So, you know, "USA Today" -- you guys were on the front page. Everybody wants to know what makes millennials tick. Karine, what are the issues that are most important to millennials?

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON, MOVEON.ORG, CLINTON SUPPORTER: Well look, Alisyn, millennials are the most diverse, right, and the most progressive group -- generation that we have. And as you were saying, they're going to make -- they're going to be a huge factor, maybe make or break the election this cycle and so they really care about the issues because of that.

They grew up in a time where nasty ads -- T.V. ads really took over and so this is why they really care about climate change, they care about income and equality, college -- you know, debt-free college and that's what they're going to be looking towards. And I think Hillary Clinton really aligns with the issues that they truly, truly believe.

CAMEROTA: And yet, we keep hearing that they're not enthusiastic about either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. What do you think is behind that, Kayleigh? KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's true, and I think the big story with millennials is that they are progressive. They do lean left but they don't like Hillary Clinton.

Something that Donald Trump hasn't hit nearly enough -- in fact, I don't think he's hit it ever -- is the fact that Hillary took $2 million in speaking fees from universities on the backs of students. She spoke at UCLA for an hour -- took $300,000. Her team called it the special university rate. That could have funded six students going to college.

CAMEROTA: But is that her fault or is that the university administration deciding to pay big-ticket speeches?

MCENANY: It's her fault, too. Her fault, too. If you're going to give a speech at a university give the money back so that six students can go to school free. Don't tell us you care about student tuition. I have student loans out right now. Don't tell us you care about my student loan debt --

CAMEROTA: OK.

MCENANY: -- if you want to take it and profit from it.

JEAN-PIERRE: Forty million people -- 40 million people in this country have student loan debt so that's definitely a reality.

CAMEROTA: But wouldn't have -- would it have helped the millennial's enthusiasm for her if she had said I'm going to give this to a scholarship fund?

JEAN-PIERRE: So, here's the thing. There's a Quinnipiac poll that came out before 'P****gate', less than a month ago, that showed that millennials believe -- 73 percent of millennials believe that Donald Trump is biased towards women and minorities. I mean, that's just -- that's just the fact. So --

CAMEROTA: I want to ask you.

JEAN-PIERRE: -- we're talking about them being progressive and diverse.

CAMEROTA: I do want to ask you about the most recent controversies. Do millennials care about, you just said, 'P****gate'? Do these controversies -- is this something that millennials are talking about? The controversies with either Bill Clinton's past or Donald Trump's lewd comments?

MCENANY: I think they do care about both of those things. What I think they care about more is being respected. I think they care about authenticity. I think they care that they turned out to support Bernie Sanders to the tune of 90 percent in most states and then they find out that the DNC actively thwarted his campaign.

And then they find out from this WikiLeaks documents, you know, they care deeply about Wall Street and paying their fair share and these are progressive values millennials hold. And yet, Hillary Clinton is standing before Wall Street not releasing the transcripts because she was telling Wall Street she is going to do everything she can for the financial industry while telling millennials something different and using the DNC to thwart the messenger for those causes in the form of Bernie Sanders.

[07:55:10] JEAN-PIERRE: But here's the thing. Here's the thing, Alisyn. Hillary Clinton has Sen. Sanders, Sen. Warren. She has President Obama, Michelle Obama all behind her. Who does Donald Trump have at that level? Nobody. So that's sort of just the reality that we have there.

CAMEROTA: Let's look at the poll numbers right now in terms of how millennials are feeling. If you're under 45 -- is that really a millennial? I think you have to be younger, right?

JEAN-PIERRE: We're getting older.

CAMEROTA: I mean -- but anyway, there's where we have 54 percent of under 45-year-old voters support Clinton right now. Only 29 percent support Trump. So I hear you, Kayleigh, that they wanted Bernie Sanders but they're not crazy about Donald Trump.

MCENANY: Yes, and this is where Donald Trump could improve. He has a message that millennials will hear and that is I'm going to better the economy. You're going to have jobs. You're still hurt by the Great Recession and, you know, I'm here to help you. But I don't think he's effectively brought that case to college campuses, to millennials. I think he has four weeks left, he should start to do that. It's really important and that's where he could improve.

JEAN-PIERRE: Yes, and I totally agree. Look, last night, Hillary Clinton was at Ohio State -- 18,500 people showed up. It doesn't speak to who's going to vote but it definitely speaks to enthusiasm. And look, millennials aren't stupid at all. They're very smart, they're paying attention. And just like the night of the debate there was a Muslim woman who -- a young Muslim woman who asked Donald Trump hey, how are you going to deal with Islamophobia, which what did he do? He gave an incredibly Islamophobic answer.

A black man asked him hey, how are you going to bring America together as president? What does he do? He talks about inner-city violence, which he assumed because he was black that he lived in an inner city. I mean, so millennials are paying attention to that and they're listening and they're watching.

MCENANY: And they also don't need these answers refiltered. He said to the Islamic woman look, Islamophobia is a real problem and we've got to address it and we have to make sure that it doesn't happen. And then he proceeded to talk about Islamic terrorism and the importance of saying that word. So I think millennials see the nuance there and it's important to say that word.

Which, by the way, we've learned today that in these WikiLeaks Hillary Clinton said terrorism is not a problem. This was in 2013. How prescient was she? Look at ISIS now. CAMEROTA: Karine, what about the idea from Kayleigh's side that millennials are not that familiar with the Clintons -- Bill Clinton's controversial past with women and that by bringing these women into the debate, Donald Trump sort of raised awareness of what had happened in the 90s. What do you think about this?

JEAN-PIERRE: I think it's a -- I think it's a completely -- it's failed strategy. It's not going to work. That's not what millennials actually care about. They care about the issues of climate change, they care about college affordability, they care about income and equality. Those are the things that they care about.

Now we have to remember, they grew up in a time where attacks really took over their lives and that's why issues matter to them. That's why Bernie Sanders really resonated on those types of issues.

MCENANY: I think it -- I think they care deeply about this because look, there's a revolution on college campuses. I was on Harvard Law School's campus last year. Sexual assault was the dominant issue among young people -- that and "Black Lives Matter".

(CROSSTALK)

MCENANY: They didn't know about it, it's important to them.

JEAN-PIERRE: Look, at the end of the day, especially when we're talking about "Black Lives Matter" there's only one candidate meeting with "Black Lives Matter". There's only one candidate that's talking about implicit bias. She spoke about it in the first -- in the first debate. There's only one candidate who has the support of the "Mothers of the Movement" and I think that's what matters. That's what they care about.

MCENANY: And Donald Trump has talked about Sandra Bland. He said that that was wrong.

JEAN-PIERRE: No, no. What Donald Trump --

MCENANY: The situation --

JEAN-PIERRE: Not at all. What Donald Trump has done is that he goes in front of a majority of white audiences and does a character assassination of the black community. And what does he offer? Hey, what do you have to lose?

CAMEROTA: OK, ladies, thank you for spelling out both of your positions. Really appreciate it. What do you all think? You can find me on Twitter @AlisynCamerota. I'd love to read your comments.

OK, we're following a lot of news including the growing turmoil in the GOP. Let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), HOUSE SPEAKER: I meant what I said and it is still how I feel. DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: People that can't fix a budget but then they start talking about their nominee. Isn't it really sad?

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I no longer support Donald Trump.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Any of you see that debate? I'm not sure you'll ever see anything like that again.

TRUMP: If they want to release more tapes we'll continue to talk about Bill and Hillary Clinton.

CLINTON: He just doubled down on his excuse that it's just locker room banter. That is just a really weak excuse.

TRUMP: WikiLeaks -- I love WikiLeaks.

CLINTON: We now know who Donald Trump is, but the real question is who are we?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

CUOMO: Good morning, welcome to your NEW DAY. Up first, is there a Republican civil war happening right now? House Speaker Paul Ryan declaring he can no longer defend his party's nominee. He says the focus has to be keeping control of the House and Senate.

CAMEROTA: This, as the first national poll is out after Trump's vulgar comments on that audio surfaced. They show Trump's 11 points behind Hillary Clinton today. Trump is promising to ramp up attacks against the Clintons.

Only eight days until the final debate and just four weeks left until Election Day. CNN has every angle covered for you.

Let's begin with chief political correspondent Dana Bash. Good morning, Dana.