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Is The Clinton Campaign Writing Off Trump Too Soon?; Obamacare Premiums Set To Soar Next Year; Pentagon Forcing Vets To Repay Enlistment Bonuses; Michelle Obama Will Campaign With Clinton On Thursday; Obama Reads Trump's "Mean Tweets" On Jimmy Kimmel Live. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 25, 2016 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:31:35] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, so what do you think of this? Hillary Clinton is putting more focus on down-ballot races, transitioning to the White House. Does that mean that she's looking past Donald Trump and, certainly, doing it too soon?

Joining us now to make the case is Democratic congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan. She is a Clinton supporter. Now, I've struggled to test you in the past, Dingell, but not today. Today, I feel like I have high ground in testing this proposition. We're going to put up a map in a little bit of the battleground states that, if anything, give a generous appraisal to the Clinton side of the map.

Why this confidence that you can -- ah, we pretty -- this should go the way we think it's going to go in a race like this, so unpredictable? Why so confident?

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D), MICHIGAN: OK. Well, first of all, you're not hearing me be confident. I am the woman who always says this race is competitive and there is no place for complacency in the next two weeks. So, I -- do I -- going into the primary -- you all know how I felt. I warned that there was trouble. My gut is still worried because we've got to make sure that people do get out and do turn out.

CUOMO: So what are they thinking with this let's talk more about down-ballot, let's make sure our transition game -- she's had a transition game going. Everybody knows how that works. If you wind up getting into power there's going to be a time and lag there. But it seems to speak to an arrogance, to a condescension with the process, and that's what you need to compete with.

DINGELL: OK, I'm not going to let you get away with that one. It is not condescending to say --

CUOMO: Here we go.

DINGELL: We're going to be -- she's going to be elected in two weeks and people are -- speculation is immediately going to start. She is not focused on a potential cabinet. She's got a team of people that are off doing that. And what she -- I am very happy to see the coordinated campaign that you are witnessing across this country. She has to have people that she can work with.

I am sitting here in Michigan and I'm coordinating from the very top of this ticket down to every local race. And that's how -- there are people, if we make sure that they vote, are going to go out and support Hillary Clinton, as well. This is a coordinated campaign like I haven't seen one in many a year and in the end it is going to pay off. In electing people, they're going to work together to try to address many of the problems people want to see addressed in this country.

CUOMO: All right, let's talk about one of those, Congressman. How are you coordinating your message and your campaign on the premiums going up on Obamacare once again? And this seems to be the next iteration of you can keep your doctor. The promise was premiums will go down $2,500 over time for families, and it seems to be going the wrong way.

DINGELL: OK. So, am I happy about the latest news? No, none of us are. And it's really hard to understand those numbers because we're using averages and there are 50 sets of different numbers because each state is different. But --

CUOMO: Cost is going up. How complicated is that?

DINGELL: Well, not in every state. But I want to go straightforwardly with you. No law is perfect. John Dingell used to say the last perfect law was the 10 Commandments and in today's day and age we probably wouldn't approve that. But I don't believe Republicans want to repeal it, really, because they don't want to go back to the day of preexisting conditions and insurances being canceled as soon as you get a diagnosis of cancer or diabetes or --

CUOMO: That's why they say repeal and replace. As you know, Congresswoman, they want to repeal that thing like they want their next breath. They want the political score. They want to undo what they see as Obama's legacy. And they want to do what they believe is the right thing, which is to make it more competitive across state lines and the creative cost structure that works more in favor of people and less in favor of the companies.

[07:35:10] DINGELL: Well, we need to create something that's going to work more in favor of the people, but Hillary Clinton, herself, has said we need to tweak the law. We need to go in and look at making changes but we need to do it together, Chris.

I think one of the worst things that happened under the Affordable Care Act is that it was all Democrats. Republicans and Democrats have got to start working together. That's one of the reasons we see what we see out there this year. American people are tired of the partisan bickering. And the millennials, who aren't sure what they want to vote at all, are just tired and fed up. They want to see us work together.

So I do believe that Hillary Clinton -- I've known her a long time and you know I've known her for a long time -- will reach out and work with everybody, and it's something we've got to do. CUOMO: Are you guys running four corners offense? You know sports, Congressman. You know how like at the end of the game you can spread it out and you play the delay game -- spread it out. Is that what Hillary Clinton is doing on this issue because she has not aggressively been arguing -- to my understanding and, obviously, I pay a lot of attention to this -- of saying here's what's wrong with the ACA and I'm going to fix it this way. Here's what wrong with it and I'm going to do this.

You don't really hear a lot of that. You hear more people have insurance now. This was a good thing. There was Hillarycare before Obamacare. But she doesn't really dive into what everyone else sees as a big problem. You've got 50 percent of voters that say this matters to them in a big way.

DINGELL: It does matter to them in a big way. These -- what we're talking about today has just come out in the last couple of days. I've heard her say we need to tweak it, we need to make changes. But, by the way, I think she's smart to go -- this is one of the things I'd predict and I've had no conversations with her so I have no inside knowledge.

But knowing her as I have, watching her work with John Dingell when they were doing health care back then and now, one of the first things she'll do is start calling some of the Republicans and saying where can we find common ground? How can we fix this? And I think that's what the American people want to see us do.

Premiums are going up for working people and that worries me. I hear it every day when I'm out there. But also, 20 more million people have insurance, Chris. In my state, where this is a Republican governor who did expand to Medicaid, we have 500,000 more people covered. That's part of the goal. OK, let's tweak it and fix it.

CUOMO: Also, because I have you and you do represent Michigan, Flint has not gone away. It's flat to, even, negative for communities there. We're not going to forget about it and when this election is over we're going to hold government accountable at the local and federal level to see why it isn't better yet. We have not forgotten, Congresswoman. Don't worry about that.

DINGELL: I thank you. You know how I feel about that and I do believe it was a failure at every level -- federal, state, and local.

CUOMO: Well, it's not fixed yet.

DINGELL: We've got to get this fixed.

CUOMO: So we got to -- so we got to --

DINGELL: No it is not.

CUOMO: -- get after it. It's been ignored in the campaign and it won't be ignored after it. Take care -- Alisyn.

DINGELL: Thank you, Chris. ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Chris. You first heard this story on NEW DAY yesterday and it's causing a lot of outrage. National Guard troops ordered to repay their reenlistment bonuses after an investigation discovered that many of them were ineligible years later. Well, up next, we speak to a sergeant who is desperately trying to make ends meet for her family while trying to repay the government. We'll tell you her story, next.

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[07:41:31] CAMEROTA: You first heard this story on NEW DAY yesterday and it has gotten a huge response. National Guard veterans forced to repay millions of dollar in reenlistment bonuses.

Master Sergeant Susan Haley is one of those soldiers who was given a bonus years ago to reenlist. Today, she is struggling mightily to pay it back. Sergeant Haley served in Afghanistan and retired after 24 years of service. She joins us now. Master Sergeant Haley, thanks so much for being here.

SUSAN HALEY, ARMY MASTER SERGEANT (RET.), AFGHANISTAN WAR VETERAN: Well, thank you for having me.

CAMEROTA: Just to recap, as Iunderstand it, in 2006 you took a $15,000 bonus from the Army to reenlist. Why did you want to do that?

HALEY: Because they needed me, for one thing, and I felt a duty to my country. We had been in a -- in an interview room with a bunch of other soldiers that were getting ready to retire or get out and they told us all the things that we were going to lose out on if we didn't reenlist. And they had very compelling and compassionate arguments for how our country needed us and everything, so -- and they were offering a bonus, in addition, so I took that, in addition to a bonus that I had been promised in 2003 but never received.

CAMEROTA: Well, that makes perfect sense. And just so that everyone understands your personal story, let me give them a few points of interest. You served for 24 years in the Army.

HALEY: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Your husband served for 26 years.

HALEY: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Your son served for five years, including a tour in Afghanistan during which he lost his leg.

HALEY: That's correct.

CAMEROTA: You are a military family through and through. You and your whole family walked the walk. You believe in serving your country. So when you got the letter or however you found out that, in fact, you somehow were not owed that $15,000 reenlistment bonus and you were going to have to pay it back, what did you think?

HALEY: I was completely and totally in shock. I couldn't believe they were doing this to me. They were the one --

CAMEROTA: How did they explain it?

HALEY: They said that I had received these monies in violation of federal law. They were very accusatory and very demanding and aggressive.

CAMEROTA: And did you think that you had any recourse? I mean, obviously, you must have thought this is not possible. I served my country. They asked me to reenlist. I did so. They gave me $15,000. Did you take it up with anyone?

HALEY: I did. I did everything I could through the legal aid office in California. I contacted my congressman at the time, but I didn't get much of a response. And then I did all the appeals process that I was required to do or allowed to do and it was still denied. And in 2013, they sent me a letter saying my request for relief had been denied and I was going to have to start paying it back and interest was going to be assessed from that point on.

CAMEROTA: And, in fact --

HALEY: And they started taking -- go ahead.

CAMEROTA: You have had to pay. In addition to the payment to pay it back, you've also had to pay interest. And as I understand it, you have to pay the Pentagon $650 per month. Can you give us some sense, Susan, of what that means to your family? What are you going without? How much of a hardship is that payment every month?

HALEY: Well, it's nearly one-quarter of our income -- of our monthly income. Six hundred and fifty dollars is one-quarter of our monthly income and you just can't, all of a sudden, come up with that money. We have depleted our savings. We're having problems making our house payments. I was late this month -- don't tell my husband -- and Ihaven't even paid my bill for the Army yet because we just don't have the money.

[07:45:15] We're sacrificing -- making sacrifices for our children and cutting back on just everything and we already had a tight budget to being with.

CAMEROTA: Susan, we are so, so sorry to hear that and, particularly, your house payment and that you're late on it.

I want to read to you what one of your Congress people says. This is Mark Takano. He just tweeted, "I'm appalled by this effort to claw back money paid to service members 10 years ago. Congress must fix this now." Of course, he's in Congress. He just tweeted this yesterday.Do you have any hope that Congress will take this up as soon as possible?

HALEY: I do believe that Congress will take this up as soon as possible. I'm not exactly confident that anything can or will be done, but I do believe that they will do their best effort to fix this. CAMEROTA: Well, Master Sergeant Susan Haley, thank you for your service. Thank you for sharing your very personal story. I will tweet it out, as well, so that people can figure out how to gain awareness for this and how to get you some help, OK? We're really pulling for you and we will follow your story and pray that Congress does do the right thing here. Thank you for coming on.

HALEY: Thank you. Thank you, I appreciate your time.

CAMEROTA: Let's get to Chris.

CUOMO: All right, and Congressman Takano is going to be on the show. And remember, you may be learning about this for the first time. This ain't new. This has been going on for years. There's been plenty of chance to fix it and it hasn't been done, so you'll want to watch that interview.

Also coming up, we've got Jay Carney on the show. You remember him, President Obama's former press secretary. How does he deal with the political impact of what we're learning about Obamacare's cost structure going up? Is this the key to a Trump victory going ahead? That and the impact of the Obamas. You'll get some special insight, next.

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[07:50:50] CUOMO: All right, here is what the government says. Premiums, on the average, for Obamacare are going to rise by an average of 22 percent next year. Some states will see their carrier options decreased to just one. That's not going to help pricing.

Donald Trump is already pouncing on this news. Could it be something that changes the state of play in the race?

Let's discuss that and more with former White House press secretary for President Obama, Jay Carney. Jay, good to see you, brother.

This sounds like a problem. Obamacare is complicated. That doesn't play well in politics. The simple reality is for many in this country, certainly those who are questionable or against Hillary Clinton, is it ain't working. This is another 'you can keep your doctor' moment. We were supposed to get $2,500 back and instead, our cost structure is getting worse. How big a deal is this?

JAY CARNEY, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Well, Chris, look, Obamacare remains not as popular as I think President Obama would like it to be. There's a whole bunch of reasons for that. But is it something that's going to change this news, something that's going to change the election? No, it's not.

Remember, the opportunity Republicans had to use Obamacare against the Democrats and win the White House was in 2012. Mitt Romney, a far more credible candidate for President of the United States from the Republican Party, beat us hard over the head with Obamacare. And guess what? The American people reelected President Obama. He's now as popular as he's almost ever been except for right after he was elected in 2008.

And I don't think this is a big problem for Sec. Clinton. What I think is correct is what Sec. Clinton has said, which is that she needs, when she becomes president, both parties to help her to make adjustments to the law so that it can be improved. There's never been a major piece of domestic policy legislation in the history of our country that has been perfect as written and passed, initially.

It needs to be tweaked, it needs to be improved. And hopefully, Congress -- both parties -- at least some members of the Republican Party will be willing to do that to make it work better for the American people.

CUOMO: But the political proposition is whether or not, as a voter, I am willing to reward Hillary Clinton for something that's not working on the basis of her promise that she'll try to fix it, right? So, to the voter out there who says boy, I hate both of these people. I hate this whole process. I hate everybody and everything, but I'm going to vote because I'm better than the rest of them and I'm going to vote my pocketbook and my family's interest.

This looms large, and why would Hillary Clinton get the vote of the change agent when she's part of what created the problem?

CARNEY: Well, because look, Chris, the fact is when you ask the American people who they trust more on issues of health care they're going to say the Democrats and Hillary Clinton. They don't believe, and they didn't believe in 2012, that Republicans meant it when they said they would replace Obamacare with something better. They've never put something forward that's credible.

What the American people understand is that if you were to repeal Obamacare you would throw thousands -- tens of thousands of people off of insurance across the country. You would see prices for insurance skyrocket and you would not see anything from the Republican Party that was credible as a replacement. That's -- repeal and replace has been their mantra but they haven't actually shown anything credible as a replacement for Obamacare.

Across the country the uninsured -- the rolls of the uninsured have gone down dramatically. Even with this increase in premiums the average American will not see a significant change in what they pay because of the subsidies going up, as well. So this is not --

(Crosstalk)

CARNEY: This is not great news for the Democrats but it is only marginal in terms of its impact on the election. And I think it points out the fact that we need to, as a country, move forward and improve this legislation because Obamacare is here to stay and it has made vast improvements in health care delivery in our country.

CUOMO: Now, one of the things that works in favor of your argument is that the reality that President Obama is popular all of the sudden. He's over 50 percent. Now, is that because of respect for what he's done with something like Obamacare, and getting rid of Osama bin Laden, and whatever else you want to tick off or is it because of this just stink of negativity and toxic disregard for each other that is going on in this election? And by that I mean he looks good by comparison to Clinton and, certainly, Trump?

[07:55:15] CARNEY: Well, I think everyone looks good by comparison to Trump, and I think Sec. Clinton has run an excellent campaign that Barack Obama has been out supporting and endorsing in every way he can.

Look, President Obama is as popular at the end of his second term as anyone in our lifetimes has been at the end of two terms. I think that is a reflection of two things. One, the success he's had, the steady job creation, the success in passing major legislation and keeping the promises he made when he ran for president.

And it's also a reflection of the fact that he has run a White House and an administration with great integrity. He is a role model as a family man and as a man of decency and integrity leading our country and leading the world from the United States and from Washington, D.C.

You know, I'm enormously proud to have worked for this White House and this administration because of that role model -- the role model that he has been and the agenda that he's set in the past.

CUOMO: Except that Obama -- President Obama seems to be getting his lunch eaten by his wife in terms of success as a surrogate. You know, Michelle Obama's had her detractors in the past but you don't usually see the first lady, you know, like picking up the ball and making gains to try to extend the administration, right, into a third term here for the party. Why has Michelle Obama been so successful? Arguably, more so than her husband?

CARNEY: Well look, she is an enormously talented speaker. You know, that's first off. We used to kid the president that he might be the second-best speaker in the family. And, of course, President Obama is a masterful orator.

Look, I think what has been so successful about the first lady's speeches at the convention and on the campaign trail is that she's speaking from the heart. She's not speaking as a politician, she's speaking as a wife, and a mother, and a woman. And when you have a candidate like Donald Trump with his misogyny and racism, I think that the power of her words is even greater than you might expect. She is -- she's terrific.

Now, you hear folks -- oh God, she's so wonderful. She should run for office, herself.

CUOMO: Don't wish that on anybody.

CARNEY: I wouldn't predict -- I wouldn't predict that. I think she's doing a fantastic job. She's been just a terrific first lady and I'm proud to have worked with her, as well.

CUOMO: Suck the virtue right of her. So, we always try to -- you know, usually I try to avoid the things that I see as being silly when there's so much that's so important. But in this election you really have needed moments of levity just to kind of create some balance with that laugh-cry ratio. So the mean tweets with "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" last night with the president really, really ticked me. It's funny to see someone have to deal with the negativity that's out there the way he did. Here's a little taste.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My mom bought new conditioner and it sucks. It isn't even conditioning my hair. I blame Obama -- Barack Obama.

Bro, do you even lift? Well, I lifted the ban on Cuban cigars. That's worth something.

President Obama will go down as perhaps the worst president in the history of the United States!@realDonaldTrump. Well, @realDonaldTrump, at least I will go down as a president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: You know, and I just saw -- I love that. I love the phone drop. That's been getting me and Alisyn all morning. But I also love -- I just noticed on the wall behind the president there were these two little birds dropping what birds drop on the vector that hits the president.

It's good to be able to make fun of himself when he's no longer going to have to account for the negativity going forward. You think he's going out the way he wanted?

CARNEY: I do, and I -- you know, I tell you, I've been gone for a couple of years and I -- you know, I had a great run. But when I see him out there on the campaign trail I do miss it. I do know that he's enjoying himself. I do know that he's proud of Hillary Clinton and is incredibly hopeful that she's going to win, and win big, on Election Day. But he's -- you know, he's running through the tape, which I love to see.

CUOMO: Well, and that tape, in many ways, will be what happens in this election. It's, obviously, important to them. Jay Carney, thank you for the perspective. Appreciate it, as always.

CARNEY: Thank you, Chris.

CUOMO: All right, we have new developments in the race to talk to you about, so you can tweet us about that, facebook.com. Get into all that stuff but then, get ready for the news. Let's get after it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The system is corrupt, and it's rigged, and it's broken.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Get this, Donald. Nasty women are tough, nasty women are smart, and nasty women vote. TRUMP: Affordable health care is no longer affordable. It's only getting worse.

OBAMA: The brand of politics Hillary represents, it's not something that goes into 140 characters.

TRUMP: They're losing our jobs like a bunch of babies.

CLINTON: He shouldn't be a role model for our kids or for anybody else.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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