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New Day
ISIS Launches Coordinated Attacks in Kirkuk; Cubs One Win Away from World Series; Trump: "I Will Totally Accept the Results... If I Win". Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired October 21, 2016 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:02] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Airbus giving us a sneak peek at its new flying taxi. We're told Vahana as it's called does not need a runway. It is self-piloted. It is able to detect and avoid obstacle and other aircraft. That seems important. It will not be available until 2020, sadly. It's possible we'll see sales lift off.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Is there a place to be your gum on the seats, though? That's what I need in a taxi.
CAMEROTA: That's what you're looking for.
Will it come with the taxi scent? I hope.
(LAUGHTER)
CAMEROTA: Come on, meet George Jettison.
BERMAN: And Jane his wife. Yes, that's impressive.
CAMEROTA: All right. The battle for Mosul rages one. ISIS opening up a new front, launching attacks in another Iraqi city. We're going to take you live to the front lines, coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:35:07] BERMAN: It is clear now how and where ISIS is fighting back.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, and in Kirkuk, that's the site that they take the fight to a city that's really not part of this fight around Mosul. Oil-rich, where 30 militants have gone into abandoned buildings it seems in laid siege to a number of police station in there. Seven of the 30 dead we're just learning among ISIS militants but really brings to the fore how bloody this assault could be.
ISIS holding on very tenaciously to towns on the edge of their territory, which you may have thought they could have given up more easily, as we found on the front yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALSH (voice-over): Day four. And perhaps the biggest push yet, from the north into the plains around Mosul, trying to dislodge the determined and deranged remnants of ISIS. Peshmerga with staggering air power.
Now, the common sight of American special forces. The Pentagon says they're advising position in the front of the attack. The work is slow. Destructive. Begging the question, what becomes of the wreckage under new masters?
Suddenly, in the sky, a hail of bullets. I spotted a drone. Trace around, dance around it and finally take off its nose.
ISIS used them to spot targets for artillery, even drop small bombs. This one tumbles down. Its wreckage picked over, it's still unclear whose it is.
Yet progress down the road to Khorsabad is agonizingly slow.
(on camera): This is a source of so much fighting this morning, but still full of ISIS and we heard that Peshmerga have listened on their radios this morning discussing on how they should wait and only launch a counterattack once the Peshmerga are inside.
(voice-over): Two Peshmerga are killed by a mine and others injured in intense clashes when they flank for town heading left across barren farmland. ISIS still here haunting the dust pushed back moments earlier.
Each unit pinned down on a hill. They say that a drone is observing them but also dropping tiny bombs on them.
Like grenades, we are warned, rocket after rocket lands. Over the hill, there is fiercer fighting. And still, the rockets come in. Exposed, trudging through land.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALSH: The U.S. saying they have lost servicemen in the last 24 hours or so. Minimal details as is normally the case in this opening 24 hours. We understand that soldier hit by an improvised explosive device. Taken off the field alive, but dying of their injuries.
Not clear if they're involved in the Mosul offensive itself. I have to say, it's likely provident. You saw in that report there, a lot of American personnel, pretty near the front and the Pentagon saying they're not involved in the assault, but I have to be honest, we repeatedly see them in the opening columns that head in towards Peshmerga assaults against ISIS here.
Minimal details there at this stage. This is likely to be long and bloodied, Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: Nick, we just wouldn't know about any of this without your reporting and without you being here with your camera. And when you say barren farmland that they are traversing and fighting across, we see it. Thanks so much for your reporting. We'll check back in with you. All right. Onto a much lighter note, the Chicago Cubs heading home to
Wrigley on the verge of history. How they took charge of the NLCS and what that even means in our "Bleacher Report", next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:43:22] BERMAN: Happening today, a detention hearing for a former NSA contractor charged with stealing thousands of classified and sensitive intelligence files. Federal prosecutors say the 51-year-old Harold Thomas Martin who was arrested in August committed breathtaking crimes and may face more charges, including violations of the Espionage Act.
CAMEROTA: Another U.S. soldier killed in combat in Afghanistan. According to the Defense Department, Sergeant Douglas Riney was killed in Kabul Thursday after encountering hostile enemy forces. The petroleum supply specialist supported various missions overseas during the last few years including decorations including a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. Sergeant Riney was 26 years old.
BERMAN: A judge has ruled in favor of extraditing drug lord Joaquin el Chapo Guzman. The 59-year-old Kingman has one more appeal available before he could formally be extradited. Guzman and other cartel leaders, they were indicted back in 2009 in the United States on charges of conspiring to bring more than 264,000 pounds of cocaine into the U.S. between 1990 and 2005.
CAMEROTA: Welcome aboard. Three new crewmates set to arrive at the International Space Station this morning. A NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts are expected to dock their Soyuz space station at the space station. Their mission will last until February.
BERMAN: The Chicago Cubs now just one win away from making it to the World Series, which will be their first in 71 years.
Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report" -- Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning.
Yes, one win away from the World Series and five wins away from ending the longest drought in all of sports. Legendary broadcaster Vin Scully, he was on hand last night for the game in Los Angeles. Game five pumping up the games before the game but unfortunately for him, he watched his Dodgers come out on the wrong end of this.
When the game tied at 1-1 in the sixth and Russell, a huge two-run home run for the Cubs and then in the eighth the flood gates really opened. Javier Baez comes up with the bases loaded. That's a base clearing double, 8-1 Cubs at that point. They go on to win 8-4. Game six is going to be tomorrow night in Chicago.
Now, the good thing the Chicago fans have the Cubs because the Bears, they aren't looking very good this season. They are playing the Packers and rough night took that huge hit from Matthews and had to leave the game with a broke arm. Despite that the Bears were winning in the third quarter, but Aaron Rodgers got hot throwing three touchdowns late in the game. Packers win 28-10 to improve 4-2 on the season.
CAMEROTA: Andy, thank you very much for all of that.
All right. So, what might happen in the final two weeks of the presidential race?
BERMAN: Anything.
CAMEROTA: Two people who study Donald Trump extensively say they're very nervous. We'll talk to them about what that means, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:50:24] CAMEROTA: Donald Trump reserving the right to contest the election results, he says.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election, if I win.
Of course, I would accept a clear election result, but I would also reserve my right to contest or file a legal challenge in the case of a questionable result.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: OK. So, what does that mean? What do all the different statements he made about this mean? What can we learn about Trump's past comments about elections?
Here to discuss is Trump biographer Michael D'Antonio. He's the author of "Never Enough: Donald Trump and the Pursuit of Success", and Gwenda Blair, she is the author of "The Trumps: Three Generations that Built an Empire". She's also an adjunct faculty member at Columbia Journalism School.
Great to have both of you here.
Michael, let me start with you.
When you heard Donald Trump at the debate say, I'm going to keep you in suspense. I don't know that I'm going to accept the results of the election. Were you surprised?
MICHAEL D'ANTONIO, TRUMP BIOGRAPHER: Not at all. I mean, this is a guy who plays games and pulls stunts. You know, the first thing I want to say is this interview is rigged because you have coffee and I don't. You know, this is -- that's the way he goes.
You know, this a way of setting up the outcome so that you can say anything is a victory. You change your ultimate goal all the time. I don't think the goal now is to win. I think the goal is to establish his media empire and he's building an audience on the dime of his political donors.
So, this, the whole other people's money thing in real estate, he's using other people's money now to create his brand as a media mogul.
BERMAN: Let's just walk down memory lane. Hillary Clinton did this a little bit in the debate. Donald Trump said the Emmys were rigged in 2004, '05 and '06, when he didn't win for "The Apprentice".
You know, the 2012 election with Mitt was rigged. He said in 2016, with the primaries, that the primaries were rigged and now, he's struggling in the general election and he says that's rigged.
And, Gwenda, you say this is a way he does business, in a way.
GWENDA BLAIR, ADJUNCT FACULTY, COLUMBIA JOURNALISM SCHOOL: Absolutely. He is the most competitive person ever. He was trained as a kid early on to always -- the minute he walks in a room and assesses everybody and looks for the weak point and goes for it. He has to win.
CAMEROTA: What's interesting is that this is not the first time that he has talked about rigged election. This has been a theme of his back in 2012 on November 6th. Election Day. He sent out this tweet, "More reports of voting machines switching Romney votes to Obama. Pay close attention to the machines. Don't let your vote be stolen."
He then sent out this tweet, "This election is a total sham and a travesty. We're not a democracy."
What's this theme about, Michael?
D'ANTONIO: Well, it does sound like someone who is tuned to authoritarian states. If you think about his interest in Russia, his whole fascination --
CAMEROTA: Isn't this just -- I mean, maybe turn to a conspiracy. Why does this say authoritarian state to you?
D'ANTONIO: Well, because in an authoritarian state, things can be rigged. And I think in his games, in the games he played throughout his life, he tried to set the rules himself to play in his favor. This whole thing of this being rigged, most of us don't think of that because we have respect for our system, we trust other people. He doesn't have respect for any system. He doesn't trust almost anyone except his family. So, he imagines that everything is rigged and then you go online and find something that says anything.
BERMAN: So, Gwenda, what does that mean on November 9th? I mean, project for us what he might do if he doesn't win here? What do you think based on your experience? You spent some time with this guy.
BLAIR: He grew up in the orbit of Norman Vincent Peale, the power of positive thinking where you stamp indelibly on your mind an image of yourself as successful, hold to it tenaciously, and never let it go. That's been what his parents did. Norman Vincent Peale was a minister. His parents went to that church. Donald was married there. His parents' funerals were there.
He's on the campaign rail talked about Norman Vincent Peale, that's his philosophy. If we can call that a philosophy, which is you are successful, you're always winning. That's it. No other way to look at the world except winners and losers.
BERMAN: Even if the evidence says the contrary?
[06:55:00] BLAIR: There is no evidence to the contrary. All evidence means that you won. If you didn't win this way, you won that way. You are always successful.
CAMEROTA: Fascinating.
Just yesterday, yet another woman came forward to say that Donald Trump had groped her. There have now been at least ten women who have come forward to say that they were the victims of either sexual assault or certainly unwanted advances.
Michael, does that comport with what you know from spending time with Donald Trump and researching him?
D'ANTONIO: Well, the first thing I want to say is that there were people who spoke to me about this off the record. When I was researching my book and that was before Donald had declared. So, it's not as if people were out to get him.
I think that he lived in a world and Gwenda and I were talking about this -- this happened quite often, most women of that era, of his generation.
CAMEROTA: Meaning in the '80s and '90s, women could more often expect to be the subject of an unwanted advance.
D'ANTONIO: Oh, yes. I think he might have forgotten a lot of these incidents.
CAMEROTA: But was there something particular about how he did it, Glenda? Because let me say this, in the '80s and '90s, we would see the splashy covers of "The New York post" and know that he was a womanizer. But a predator is different than a womanizer. What was your take upon studying him?
BLAIR: I guess I'm not a ten because it didn't happen to me.
But everything is an object to him. It is all transaction. Everything is about, what can I get out of this? That is just how he looks that world. How would woman be different?
And to be an alpha male, to be an alpha dog, part of that job description, part of how you present yourself is you have a good- looking woman on your arm, that's it. Women are prey. You have to constantly prove yourself as being a sexual, you know, somebody who is able to get women. That's part of that whole way of looking at yourself in the world.
He's got to stake out the turf and show that he can immediately get any woman in the room.
CAMEROTA: Even if they don't want to be gotten?
BLAIR: Well, what does that have to do with anything?
BERMAN: Declare success no matter what.
Michael, how does he -- not like he hasn't had adversity, right? He had business failings one after another, went through a few marriages that didn't work out. So, do we have any example of how he deals with things when they do not go his way?
D'ANTONIO: Well, the reform party in the year 2000 is a good example. He had a kind of pretend campaign for the presidency. They had the splinter party that was going to nominate somebody.
But when it came close, he declared that they were all idiots and he backed out. So, I think there will be blame cast on others. But I don't -- I think he is affected by these things. When I see him now, he seems almost depressed.
CAMEROTA: What do you mean? What symptoms do you see that show that he's depressed?
D'ANTONIO: Well, he's more slumped in his posture. There's not fire in his eyes, that I would expect. I think he's tired.
I think they know the poll numbers. You see yesterday, he lost a key campaign person. It can't be easy to be in his place now and, so, reality does affect him. But he's already imagining how to twist this into a victory and he'll declare something when he loses. He'll declare some victory. You can guarantee that.
CAMEROTA: Michael, Gwenda, fascinating to talk to you. You spent more time with him than most. Thanks so much for sharing your reporting with us.
D'ANTONIO: Thanks.
CAMEROTA: We're following a lot of news this morning. The candidates trading barbs at a charity dinner. Let's get to it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: Hillary accidentally bumped into me and she said, pardon me. And I very politely replied, let me talk to you about that after I get into office.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald thought I used some sort of performance enhancer. I did. It's called preparation.
TRUMP: I would reserve my right to contest of file a legal challenge in the case questionable result.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is just about him worried that he's losing.
IVANKA TRUMP, DAUGHTER OF DONALD TRUMP: He's not politically correct. And I think we love that about him, right?
MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY: The voters decide who wins and loses, period. End of story.
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alison Camerota.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. Chris is off this morning. John Berman joins me.
A lot of jokes we're about to get to, John.
BERMAN: And not me this time.
CAMEROTA: That's right.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton trading jabs at this charity dinner last night. The rivals getting some big laughs, but Trump got booed repeatedly for ignoring the dinner's long tradition.
BERMAN: He got booed quite a bit there. Folks who have been said they never seen a reception quite like this before and it comes on the heels to say he will honor the results of the election. Now, he says he will do it if he wins.
Election Day 18 days away. We have the story covered for you from all angles.
Let's begin with CNN's Briana Keilar -- Brianna.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, John.
Well, Donald Trump definitely got more boos. And it was clear before the remarks where Hillary Clinton just had more people coming up to her on a dais that this was a crowd more in her favor.
