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New Day
Cubs Stay Alive, Winning Game 5 Of World Series; FBI Email Probe Dominates Last Week of Campaign; Biden Sounds Off on Clinton Aide's Emails. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired October 31, 2016 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:00] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: The Cubs beat the Indians 3-2 Sunday night in game five at Wrigley Field. Now, the series goes back to Cleveland for game six. Cubs nation hoping their team can win another and force a seventh and deciding game on Wednesday. This is why we watch -- drama.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Very exciting, as well as the presidential race. The Clinton campaign on the offensive trying to overcome yet another email bombshell. We take a closer look at all the details you need to know, ahead on NEW DAY.
[05:30:35] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:34:40] CUOMO: The FBI director, James Comey, has made himself politically relevant in an election in a way we have not seen, really, in our lifetimes. The Bureau now says that it will review newly- discovered emails from a top Clinton aide.
But when did this happen? Why did this have to happen now? What's in these emails? A lot of these are unknowns but, boy, did it all blow up the T.V.'s on Friday. There are questions about why this investigation was kept under wraps and why it was made public now.
[05:35:15] CAMEROTA: Both.
CUOMO: Right? Joining us, CNN political commentator and talk radio host, John Phillips -- Donald Trump supporter. CNN political commentator and former national press secretary for Bernie 2016, Symone Sanders, now a Clinton supporter.
John, we'll start with you. Politics loves the unknown because it yells for spin and, boy, has your man, Mr. Trump, taken this horse by the reins, saying it's worse than Watergate, that it shows it's really bad, that this is the big deal in the election when, simply, we don't know what it is and even the FBI says that. How do you play this to advantage?
JOHN PHILLIPS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, TALK RADIO HOST, KABC, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Well, politically, it's breaking for him at the last minute. If she gets elected she will be the first president-elect ever under investigation from the FBI, so talk about breaking a lot of glass ceilings.
And I don't know how this is playing in other parts of the country but here in California people are following this election very closely. However, there is a fatigue that's involved. People can't wait for Election Day to come so that way we can start arguing with each other about something else.
If Hillary Clinton is elected this investigation is not going away. The cloud that is over her campaign will be over her administration and people, I think, are -- that it's weighing on their minds where they're thinking OK, how long do we want this hangover to last? Is it enough to sway the election, I don't know. But I know right now it's breaking against her.
CAMEROTA: Symone, that's it, right there, what John just said is the problem. Is it -- the FBI might wrap up their investigation very quickly. Maybe there's nothing on these emails that implicates Hillary Clinton or Huma Abedin. However, the Republicans in Congress have promised that this will never go away. They've promised that they'll have investigations and committee hearings, and that there's talk of impeachment -- that they'll hang onto it. Is that a fatigue that even loyal Democrats say I can't take more years of this?
SYMONE SANDERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER NATIONAL PRESS SECRETARY, BERNIE 2016, CLINTON SUPPORTER: You know what? I just wish Republicans in Congress would do their jobs instead of thinking of ways to obstruct Hillary Clinton before she even gets elected as president. There are pressing issues that are facing the nation that they need to take care.
Look, I think the facts are that we don't know the facts and we don't know because Director Comey's letter was, actually, very irresponsible in its brevity and how vague it was. So we need, actually, the FBI and Director Comey to come out and tell us what the facts are.
I think it's important to note that when this news broke there were lots of stories coming out saying that they had reopened their investigation -- the FBI had -- and that's just not true. They hadn't even see the emails yet. According to news reports they just got a warrant. So we really need Director Comey to come out, give us the facts, and put this to bed. This is irresponsible and dangerous nine -- eight days before the election.
CUOMO: But it's not going to happen, Symone, because they're not going to know. You know, 650,000 emails -- that's misleading. They don't know how many are hers, how many aren't. We know that these emails bear some relevance on the investigation. That's not true. They have no idea whether they're significant or not. There are a lot of politics at play here by Comey's breach of protocol early on.
But John, what's interesting to me is you have the same face on that you had the first time we talked about Comey and he said I can't bring a case. Then he says I don't have evidence and you say boy, is this rigged. Now he says I don't know what I have and you say boy, is this legit. Don't you think people are going to see through that obvious artifice?
PHILLIPS: Well look, there was a lot of internal dissent without his own organization the last time when he decided not to recommend filing charges or taking it to the next step against Hillary Clinton. This time around --
CUOMO: Well, hold on. John, John, just so --
PHILLIPS: Yes.
CUOMO: Just so do a --
PHILLIPS: Sure.
CUOMO: -- little bit of spin control here, there is not a lot of dissent. Just because you guys keep saying that, it's not true. For those of us who report on it, were there people in-house on the field side who said hey, I think I could've made a case? Yes. Is that almost always the case in every investigationI've looked at with the FBI? Yes. These are dogged people. They often push their concern. So, is there a lot of dissent? Not that you can prove, so let's be careful on that -- continue.
PHILLIPS: All right. Well, there's dissent coming from the organization that we definitely heard from. And look, I think that Trump also -- and I was a critic of Trump coming out and talking about the rigged election. I thought that he should focus on the issues and not talk about that.
However, looking at it in retrospect that might have been a very smart play on Trump's part because if James Comey thought you know what, I may have to open up an investigation. There is a smoking gun here. There is a bombshell, as Carl Bernstein described on CNN. I can't wait until the election is over to start this thing because if I do, Trump is going to come out and say see, I told you so. This thing was rigged. They knew about it before the election.
[05:40:10] CAMEROTA: Yes.
PHILLIPS: I think Trump's rigged election talk --
SANDERS: John --
PHILLIPS: -- may have forced Comey to come forward sooner rather than later.
SANDERS: John, come on. There is nothing smart or interesting, or even right about questioning the legitimacy of our democracy here. What Donald Trump did questioning --
PHILLIPS: Do you think it was a factor, though?
SANDERS: No. Look, I think what a factor is, is that Republicans in Congress have pressured and, basically, dragged Director Comey from the rooter to the tooter about this issue of the emails and Director Comey felt pressured, himself. I mean, you saw that letter that he sent internally to his -- to people that worked at the FBI -- basically explaining why he felt he had to do this. He felt enormous pressure.
And look, as a press person myself, I think that Director Comey really felt like he needed to come and tell it like it is and be up front. He should've just held a press conference and not took questions. But it is irresponsible to say that it was smart of Donald Trump to question the legitimacy of our election. That's just not what we do in America.
CAMEROTA: All right. Symone, John, thank you. We'll leave it there. We appreciate both of you coming on.
SANDERS: Thank you.
CUOMO: What do you think? Tweet us @NewDay or post your comment on facebook.com/NewDay.
CAMEROTA: I like that you're taunting them to do it. What do you think?
Vice President Biden offering up his take on Hillary Clinton's latest email issues and a presidential race that now involves Anthony Weiner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Oh, my God. Anthony Weiner -- um, I should not comment on Anthony Weiner.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: But he will, next.
[05:41:40] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:45:45] CUOMO: Vice President Joe Biden sounding off on the FBI's review of emails belonging to longtime Clinton aide, Huma Abedin. The president's right-hand man also lets loose on disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner and those fighting words he made against Donald Trump.
CNN's Michael Smerconish spoke on all this one-on-one with Biden. Here's a little bit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BIDEN: Hillary, if she said what I'm told she said, is correct. That she released the emails for the whole world to see -- the whole world to see. They can continue their investigation. It won't -- to the best of knowledge it won't prejudice the investigation. But that's sort of the stilted language the agency always uses and it doesn't mean anything and so, it's unfortunate.
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, HOST, CNN "SMERCONISH": I'd be remiss if I didn't note that if she had released all the emails from the get-go we wouldn't be having this conversation.
BIDEN: Well, that's true, but I don't know where this email -- where these emails came from.
SMERCONISH: Apparently, Anthony Weiner. BIDEN: Well -- oh, God. Anthony Weiner -- um, I should not comment on Anthony Weiner. I'm not a big fan, and Iwasn't before he got in trouble so I shouldn't comment on Anthony Weiner.
SMERCONISH: Is this the kind of story that makes Joe Biden say dammit, I should have run?
BIDEN: Michael, the only reason I didn't run -- it had nothing to do with -- I thought I could beat Hillary. I thought I could beat anybody that ran. No one should run for president unless they think they can do that. I didn't run for one simple, overarching reason. My son was dying, and he died. That's the total reason.
I mean, I have great respect for Hillary. I have great respect for other people who have run, but you don't make a decision based on the other person. I thought that, at the time, I was this -- the issues where the country's facing were right in my wheelhouse. I didn't run -- not run because Hillary was running. I didn't run because my son's not here, period.
SMERCONISH: You don't want to be her Secretary of State, I'm told. This was a big issue earlier today. It came up and --
BIDEN: No, look,I will do anything that she wants, if she's elected president, to help her. But I'm not looking to be in administration. It's time for me to move on.
SMERCONISH: Your folks are -- your family is from -- you were there until the third grade -- Scranton.
BIDEN: Yes.
SMERCONISH: Both my parents are from Hazelton so we're --
BIDEN: I know Hazelton well.
SMERCONISH: We're both of Coal Cracker Pennsylvania stock, right?
BIDEN: That's right.
SMERCONISH: It's Trump country. It would be Biden country if you were in this. So, you're not united in policy with Donald Trump --
BIDEN: No.
SMERCONISH: -- so what's the commonality and why can't she win --
BIDEN: I think what's happening is that --
SMERCONISH: -- with those folks?
BIDEN: I think she's going to end up -- I think we're going to win Scranton and Wilkes-Barre -- she's going to win. And the reason is that -- look, people are upset and angry. They hate the dysfunction of Washington. Trump comes along and talks about how he is going to change all that. He's this new breath of fresh air. And then -- and then people started to see who he is and they started
to see -- look, in Scranton and Hazelton, if anybody in your household or your neighborhood talked about I'm famous, I can go grab a woman anywhere I want when I want it, you'd get the living stuffing knocked out of them. Your parents would have the end of it. That'd be the end of it.
People are beginning to figure out -- those same people are the same people who have basic decent values. And I think that's going to Trump, no pun intended, their concern about Hillary.
SMERCONISH: You called him out. It got a lot of attention. The Vegas oddsmakers want to know what happens if you really do get him behind the gym. Do you regret it?
BIDEN: I was making a point that I think it's insulting to say to the guys I grew up with -- the athletes who spend, like I did, a lot of time in locker rooms -- that we talk like that. This is not locker room talk. And you know as well as I do, Michael, the neighborhood you grew up in in Bucks County, if somebody in the locker room talked that way and your sister's outside, and her friends, you know what you'd do. You know what you'd do. You would not let it go on.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAMEROTA: All right, let's discuss everything we've just heard. We want to bring back our CNN political commentators John Phillips and Symone Sanders. Symone supports Hillary Clinton, John supports Donald Trump.
[05:50:05] Symone, do you think that Joe Biden, had he gotten in, would have won the presidency?
SANDERS: You know, I don't know, I was working for Bernie Sanders. So, clearly, I love Vice President Biden but I was also rooting for Bernie to win. I think it was anybody's game. But as the vice president has said and will say again I'm sure, if he's asked, the reason he wasn't in this race had nothing to do with anybody else other than himself and his personal family situation.
CUOMO: Look, it would have been an interesting dynamic, especially for Bernie, because what Joe Biden's strong point is grabbing MiddleAmerican with both hands.
CAMEROTA: And authenticity, you know, that is so craved right now.
CUOMO: Yes, that's true. It would have been interesting to see if Bernie had had the same following, but that's all for the past and for another time. We have urgency here on our side.
John, this idea that the vice president's putting forward, which is kind of helpful to you -- which is we should hear more from the FBI right now. We should hear more about what they have. Is that what you want? Ostensibly, the Trump people say yes, yes, we want to know more. Do you? Do you really want the FBI to come out right now with what they know or don't know in these emails or do you prefer the unknown?
PHILLIPS: I do. I'd like to know all the information that they have. Now, that being said, James Comey is not going to be watching CNN right now and saying you know, John Phillips wants to see these documents so let me go ahead and release them.
But I want to go back to a point that was made in an earlier segment on NEW DAY today by Matt Lewis where he said -- and I thought it was a very important one -- if the focus of this election is on Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton wins. If the focus of this election is on Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump wins.
And the fact that the focus in the eleventh hour, as we're marching towards Election Day -- we're eight days away -- is about Hillary Clinton, is something that politically is very bad for her, particularly when you look at these new numbers that are out. The ABC poll -- there was a double-digit swing in that poll, Chris.
And what's interesting about this election -- what separates it from 2008 and 2012 -- is that Donald Trump is doing much worse in a lot of these red states that he's, ultimately, going to win. He's not going to lose Texas, he's not going to lose Utah, even if those numbers don't look great. But he is polling much better in those purple states the Democrats had traditionally done well in. Places like Iowa, Ohio, Florida. And if this story can move the needle just a little bit in many of those states you could really change the electoral math here.
CAMEROTA: Do you agree, Symone? I mean, what do you think about -- are people just fed up, as Bernie Sanders once said, with Hillary Clinton's damn emails and, particularly, now that if they hear there's no smoking gun yet? Nobody knows what's in this new Huma Abedin cache. Do you think that this moves the needle?
SANDERS: You know, I think -- I agree with Sen. Sanders that people are tired of hearing about the damn emails, but I also think that this was dangerous. And it's dangerous because there are people out there that do have questions about Sec. Clinton's trustworthiness or authenticity, if you will. And, I mean, that's -- I'm not telling anybody anything they don't know. Those are just facts.
But because that is out there it is incumbent upon the FBI and Director Comey not to look like they're tipping the scales or, you know, getting in the middle of this election, and giving the people facts so folks can make really informed decisions. Right now, all the American people are hearing is emails, FBI, and Hillary Clinton. They're not hearing any of the details that they need to make real decisions.
Look, I was in Nevada this past weekend and folks were energized. They were knocking on doors. The numbers in Nevada for Democrats look really good. But I did get some questions about the emails and folks said -- they were like this just seems odd. This timing seems very odd. So the American people -- look, I think they're ready for this election. I think there are still -- there are a lot of people that know who
they're voting for but still people -- I don't know how -- but there are some folks out there that do not know who they're voting for and are still questioning if they're going to vote. And this plays to those folks and it's dangerous for that.
CAMEROTA: Symone, John --
PHILLIPS: And you know, Alisyn --
CAMEROTA: Guys, sorry, we're --
PHILLIPS: -- that was a fatal --
CAMEROTA: Yes.
PHILLIPS: That was a fatal error on Bernie Sanders' part in that debate when he said nobody cares about your damn emails.
CUOMO: Yes.
PHILLIPS: If he cared about the damn emails he would have known that she was colluding with the DNC to put the fix on him in the primary.
SANDERS: Well, you know what? When they go low, we go high. When they go low, we go high.
CAMEROTA: Just when we were about to wrap this segment you drop that one, John. Thank you both for your take on this.
CUOMO: All right. So, for all the spin that's going on here right now, the reality is this is a close race. So these last few days could decide it all. How will Clinton deal with this? Their objective is clear. Make it not about Hillary, make it about the FBI director, James Comey. Their plan, ahead.
[05:54:50] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:58:55] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary has nobody to blame but herself for her mounting legal troubles.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're not going to get distracted. We're not going to get knocked off course.
TRUMP: She deleted 33,000 emails. I have a feeling they've just found a lot of them, don't you think?
CLINTON: Donald Trump is already making up lies about this.
TRUMP: We're leading all over the place. We're going to win.
CLINTON: For as long as he has been rich and famous, he has wanted people to believe he is generous.
KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: He's been incredibly generous with his time and his money.
CLINTON: He abuses his power, games the system, and he doesn't care who's left holding the bag.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.
CUOMO: Boy, oh boy, this takes trick or treat to a whole new level. Good morning, welcome to your new day. It is Monday, October 31st -- Halloween, of course -- 6:00 in the East.
Up first, the FBI obtaining a warrant to examine thousands of newly- discovered emails from a top aide to Hillary Clinton, still needing to determine if there's any link to this investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server. FBI Director James Comey has made himself politically relevant in a way that we have not seen ever.
