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Why Did FBI Director Ignore Justice Department Tradition And Advice?; Eric Holder: Comey Is A Good Man, But Made A Serious Mistake; Attack Ads Fill The Airwaves In Florida; 18.6 Million Votes Cast So Far In 38 States; Washington Post Investigates Trump Foundation. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired October 31, 2016 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:31:05] HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's pretty strange to put something like that out with such little information right before an election. In fact, in fact, it's not just strange, it's unprecedented and it's deeply troubling.

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ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: That was Hillary Clinton questioning James Comey's motives. On Friday, Comey notified Congress that the FBI is reviewing e-mails from a top Clinton aide. Why did the FBI director ignore the Justice Department's tradition and advice days before an election?

Here to discuss is Congressman Mike Rogers, a former chair of the House Intelligence Committee. He is currently volunteer adviser to the Trump transition team, and Matthew Miller, a former aide to Attorney General Eric Holder and spokesperson for the Justice Department.

Gentlemen, it's great to have you both here. I want to get your perspective on this. Mike, should James Comey have sent that letter to Congress?

MIKE ROGERS (R), FORMER CHAIRMAN, HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Well, I mean, I think he was in a very difficult spot. He had testified to Congress that if there were any new developments he would, in fact, come back. Now, he's obligated under oath. He can't lie to Congress, just like you can't lie to an FBI agent.

So he felt that was, clearly, he felt he was under some pressure. Remember, the whole reason we're here is because Hillary Clinton used a private e-mail server outside of what the rules, regulations and probably the law allowed her to do.

So, I don't think it's fair to blame the FBI director for being put in a bad spot to begin with. Secondly on this, which is the other part that I think is very, very important. Those investigators -- so what happened was they found some metadata that's the "to and from." Think of an envelope that you would put in a mailbox in those e-mails that said, hey, this is connected to another investigation, the private e-mail server.

They brought someone in from Washington, D.C., that was on that case, looked over the thing and said, oops, Houston, we have a problem here. I think that is related to this other case. I don't know if he had any options.

None of them are good. You know, I didn't agree the first time he came out. I don't understand why he did it this time. But it's the content of the e-mails that we should be concerned about.

CUOMO: OK, So, Matthew, do you agree that basically Director Comey had no choice, but to go back to Congress after he told them he would keep them apprised of the investigation?

MATTHEW MILLER, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Absolutely, I don't agree. You know, you look at what Director Comey has done here. He's made a series of mistakes starting with his extraordinary press conference where he broke the department rules about what investigators and prosecutors are supposed to discuss carrying on to his testimony before Congress where he went into way too much detail and the way to correct a series of mistakes is not to keep making mistakes.

And for him to come out and violate department rules that says you will do nothing that can appear to put your thumb on the scale before an election. That's usually interpreted to be 60 days before an election. To do it 11 days before an election is a really gross violation.

CUOMO: So why did he do it, Matthew? Why do you think he did it?

MILLER: You know, there are a number of reasons. I think the biggest one, he has been bullied and pushed. Republicans in Congress have made this investigation political from the beginning. They haven't liked the outcome. They don't like the fact that Secretary Clinton did not violate the law.

They don't like the fact that there were no charges, even though that is clearly where the facts and the law led and so they bullied him into doing this. Unfortunately, he hasn't been strong enough to stand up and tell them no.

CAMEROTA: Matthew, I want to read an op-ed that was posted last night. This is from former Attorney General Eric Holder, your former boss, where he talks about this decision by James Comey.

He says, "I served with Jim Comey and I know him well. This is a very difficult piece for me to write. He is a man of integrity and honor. I respect him, but good men make mistakes. In this instance, he has committed a serious error with potentially severe implications.

It is incumbent upon him or the leadership of the department to dispel the uncertainty he has created before Election Day." I want to get your take on that. Must James Comey come out in the next eight days with more information or conclusion to help voters make that decision next Tuesday?

[06:35:04]ROGERS: Well, if they haven't, I would not ask the FBI to rush an investigation along the way. I think what happened here is it's clear to me by finding that they found these other e-mails on a laptop that was likely in the custody of the family of one of the aides under investigation tells me they probably weren't as thorough as they should have been.

I think it's almost more important. Remember, the FBI has a huge responsibility. They can take someone's freedom. They're going to charge you with a crime. We just had a very distinguished general officer in the United States Marines plead guilty to allowing classified information to places where it shouldn't go.

He's probably going to go to jail. We better get this right. If you want the institutions of the FBI, of the rest of the government, of the national security infrastructure to believe in and have confidence that an FBI investigation is real and thorough and competent, he better get that piece right.

I'm not sure the eight days should even factor into his decision at this point. Mistakes in the past have been made and now they better get this piece right.

CAMEROTA: Matthew, they now they have a warrant to look at that laptop. Do you think they have the time and the inclination in knowing what you do about the bureau, will they come out with some sort of information in the next few days?

MILLER: I think they need to make the time. There is no perfect solution to un-ring the bell that Comey rang on Thursday. He should have been quiet about this until after the election. He certainly could have done so.

There is no information we have to suggest that these e-mails are anything other than duplicates. They may not even involve Secretary Clinton. We just don't know.

Now that he's raised this possibility and given Republicans the ability to hurl innuendo based on nothing but speculation, the FBI needs to bend over backwards and do everything they can to look through these e-mails and find out what exactly they have so they can clear the waters.

CAMEROTA: Matthew Miller, Mike Rogers, thank you very much for all your expertise -- Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We're talking a lot about the politics, but the policy decisions will ultimately be what will shape your life. Our next president has a big task on their table, Supreme Court justice appointments. The high court has been shorthanded, as you know.

There are eight people instead of nine since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia this February. But with the Republican-controlled Senate refusing to hold hearings for President Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland, the next president is probably going to determine the balance of the court.

CAMEROTA: All right, so let's look at what each of the candidates have said about the types of nominees they would consider. Some of you want to vote on this issue of the Supreme Court.

Donald Trump has taken the unprecedented step of releasing a list of 21 possible candidates on the trail. He has repeatedly said that he wants to appoint a judge with the same conservative principles as Scalia and his prospect largely followed that mode.

CUOMO: Trump discussed the qualifications he was looking for at the third presidential debate. Here's a sample.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The justices that I'm going to appoint will be pro-life. They will have a conservative vent. They will be protecting the second amendment. They are great scholars in all cases and they're people of tremendous respect. They will interpret the Constitution the way the founders wanted it interpreted.

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CUOMO: Trump also indicated that he supports nominating a justice that would overturn Roe v. Wade even suggested that that would be a test for any of his nominees. Unusual. Clinton on the other hand said she would nominate a candidate who will uphold Roe V. Wade.

CAMEROTA: And of course, she has praised Merrick Garland and called for his confirmation before his nomination expires in December, but it is unclear if she would submit Garland's name again for re-nomination or consider other options if she would be elected. Here's what she said recently about the type of nominee she's looking for on the high court.

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CLINTON: I want to appoint Supreme Court justices who understand the way the world really works, who have real-life experience and not just been in a big law firm and clerked for a judge, and then gotten on the bench. We need a Supreme Court that will stand up on behalf of women's rights, on behalf of the rights of the LGBT community that will stand up and say no to Citizens United.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: It's interesting how both of them are applying these political tests to appointments who are not supposed to be influenced by politics. Unlike Trump, Clinton is not naming names, but it's obvious that the presidential candidate would take the Supreme Court in very, very different directions, and that's a big part of motivation for a lot of voters.

CAMEROTA: OK, meanwhile, both candidates have their eyes on must-win state of Florida. Each campaign unleashing a barrage of ads in that swing state. Is it pushing voters closer or away from the polls? We have a live report for you ahead.

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[06:43:53]

CUOMO: Battlegrounds matter. Florida may matter most of all. Trump certainly has to win it in order to have a real path to 270. Some voters in the must-win state say they're exhausted by all the attack ads from both sides.

Literally sometimes five, six in a row. The latest two polls in Florida show what? This, a tight race. A "New York Times"/CNN poll has Trump with a lead of four points. An NBC/"Wall Street Journal" poll gives Clinton a one-point edge. Both nominees and their surrogates focusing a lot of time and a lot of money there.

Let's bring in CNN's Boris Sanchez live in Orlando with more. Boy, it's hard to watch the TV these days.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is, Chris. Voters here tell me they can't wait for this election to be over so they can stop watching political ads. It's not just the presidential candidates who've spent a crazy amount of money in the sunshine state, specifically here in Central Florida.

It's also a hotly contested Senate race, competitive House races and then local elections, as well, that are dominating the air waves. People here tell me they have been bombarded and actively now tuning these ads out.

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[06:45:05]SANCHEZ (voice-over): They are unavoidable. Whether in your home, in your car, on your cell phone or even a night out on the town. The near constant stream of political ads on TV has some families in Central Florida counting down the minutes until November 9th.

JAMES BAKER, REGISTERED REPUBLICAN: Every newscast, every football game you'll have a hilly ad followed by a Trump ad, potentially rebutting what was said before and vice versa. I sent my vote in about a week or so ago. I just wanted to get it over with.

JENN CORDDRY, VOTING FOR CLINTON: I have three children and the way this influences them and the whole democratic process, it's not a good example for them and for our country looking forward, and for them when they become young adults.

SANCHEZ: Spend just a short while in the Orlando home of James Baker and Jennifer Corddry and you're inundated. Both parties have sent nearly $100 million on presidential campaign ads in the sunshine state. Most of that here along the I-4 corridor. In fact, no other TV market in the country has seen more spending than Orlando with $25 million on pro-Clinton ads and $7.7 million for Trump.

CORDDRY: Definitely makes you just tune out. You definitely just start to tune out to all the messages because they're conflicting, they're negative and you don't even want to pay attention any more.

SANCHEZ: Jennifer and James worry that so much negativity and so much mudslinging will shape their kids.

BAKER: It's OK to argue and it's OK to debate but the personal attacks and all that, the focus should be more on what are the solutions and policy aspects and not I'm calling you this name or this person is calling someone else a different name. No ads during Team Titans.

SANCHEZ: This family has found one animated way to dodge the ads and political rhetoric, others have turned to America's favorite pastime.

STEPHANIE WRIGHT, APOPKA, FLORIDA RESIDENT: I would rather watch the Cubs play all night long than listen to any more political crap.

SANCHEZ (on camera): How does it feel to see so many?

TODD DIEKMANN, DEBARY, FLORIDA RESIDENT: I think this year is undoubtedly the worse.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): It's still about a week before the election, but for the Floridians who have been packing into the friendly confines, a Chicago-themed bar on the outskirts of Orlando, the only victory they cared about has nothing to do with either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.

(on camera): What is a bigger story to you, the World Series.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The World Series.

SANCHEZ: Do you totally tune them out?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't think you can because they're everywhere.

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SANCHEZ: And those fans, fortunate, that the Cubs won last night. They get to at least tune out to perhaps tomorrow, maybe even Wednesday for a game seven but then it's back to regularly scheduled programming -- Chris and Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: I can't really imagine what that looks like any more, Boris. Thank you very much for all that.

At least 18 million voters have already cast their ballots in 38 different states. So who has the advantage today? Let's bring in CNN Politics executive editor, Mark Preston.

So, Mark, let's just go through the numbers for one second, 18.5 million votes cast so far. Here's what we know a little bit is that 4.7 million votes have been from registered Democrats and 4 million votes from registered Republicans. What more are you seeing?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Well, specifically, let's look at eight different states. When we're talking about where the Democratic advantages might be or where the Republican advantage might be. They are split across four states each.

For Democrats right now, they lead in the states of Colorado and Iowa and Nevada and in North Carolina. These are all critical battleground states. Meanwhile, Republicans lead in Arizona, Ohio, Florida and Utah.

Now, while Republicans are leading in those four states right now, these are states in many ways that Donald Trump should be leading or should be winning. That is good news for Hillary Clinton.

When you look at specifically the state of Florida, you would expect the Republicans have a bigger lead than when they are right now. Given the news in the past 72 hours, where people have already cast their votes, that is even better news right now for Hillary Clinton -- Alisyn.

CUOMO: Now in terms of who is voting for whom, all we have is really registration data. How does that play into your typical/historical understanding of the ebb and flow of partisan support of pre-voting?

PRESTON: Right. So you know, I would like to say that this election is following historical trends from previous elections, but we just don't know. We don't know some of these Democrats who we can ascertain that they had voted and they had voted Democratic in the past that they will stay with the party.

But Trump, we have seen, has been able to pull over some Democrats into his camp. Vice versa with Republicans who are not enamored with Donald Trump and don't think that he is a Republican.

[06:50:08]So, we just kind of have to look at it in a broad swath and say right now that this is the best data that we can look at based upon this party affiliation and people voting and, quite frankly, in states where we get this information.

CAMEROTA: Hey, Mark, if you've already cast your vote, if you're one of these 18 million people and you are affected by any sort of new information that has come out on either side. Can you uncast your vote and change your vote now?

PRESTON: No. Once you mail it in or pull the lever that is it, you can't go back and ask for a do over which perhaps some people are wishing that is the case, but, unfortunately, no.

CUOMO: All right, Mark, appreciate it. Thank you very much. Always good to have you on the show. See you about eight more times today.

The timing of the latest development in the Hillary Clinton e-mail saga is raising a lot of questions and rightly so. Donald Trump is likening the scandal to Watergate. Carl Bernstein, who did the reporting on it, laughs off that suggestion.

Let's get more insight and bring Brian Stelter, CNN senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES," and Bill Carter, CNN media analyst.

And Alisyn and I love to agonize over what of Trump's misstatements do we bring out and giving them more exposure versus which do you dismiss?

The Watergate one was worth putting in. Carl Bernsteen is not quick to dismiss things in general. He's a journalist. He couldn't speak quickly enough about this, Bill, saying it's nothing like Watergate.

CAMEROTA: Should we play it?

CUOMO: Yes. Let's play Carl's sound.

CAMEROTA: Trump sound.

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TRUMP: This is the biggest political scandal since Watergate. It's everybody's deepest hope that justice at last can be properly delivered. Hillary has nobody to blame but herself for her mounting legal troubles. Her criminal action was willful, deliberate, intentional, and purposeful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not Watergate. Watergate was about a criminal president of the United States who presided over a criminal administration from the day he took office until the day he left.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Why does this matter? Bill, it's hyperbole. It's opinion. Arguably it's wrong, but how does that make it new?

BILL CARTER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: I think he only know Watergate as a big scandal and the specifics of it are sort of in the murky path, but the Republicans have come back to this repeatedly because it was a scandal that brought down a Republican administration.

So you often hear this is worse than Watergate. That reached in every corner of the United States government. That was an incredibly pervasive scandal, and this is obviously a murky situation. Not a clear cut scandal.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: When you watch that sound bite of Donald Trump, what's the most interesting to me is the audience's reaction. You hear a man in the crowd yell this is bigger than Watergate. So Donald Trump is egging on his supporters, giving them reason to believe he is going to win and Clinton is a crook who should be in prison.

And when he's doing that, he's unleashing something in the crowd even greater than himself. I don't know if anybody is reckoned with that part of the story. That he is causing his supporters to believe that the opposition should be in jail.

CAMEROTA: And we will get to some of the things that we've seen in the past few days at the Trump rallies because they are really shocking. And we do want to show the viewers. But, first, on the Watergate scale. If that's our scale that we use --

CARTER: Yes.

CAMEROTA: It's impossible to actually know what number you'd rank this on the Watergate scale in terms of the e-mails because we don't have any information.

CARTER: We don't know what it is yet.

CUOMO: Watergate was a crime. It was a felony. It was proven as such on several different levels. No crime here.

STELTER: If I had hair, I would be tearing it out. The lack of information is befuddling and frustrating, and I think it's frustrating for everybody involved. No matter what side you're on and no matter what team you're playing for right now.

CARTER: It really puts tremendous pressure on the media. This is all about context. Everything here has to be explained because this statement came out without any context at all. We don't know whether this is real or not. And it's causing and all the people know that e- mail and scandal put together as two words. I don't know -- what is that legitimate or not?

STELTER: I was talking to Clinton's chief strategist over the weekend and he was saying that voters take these e-mail stories together as a pot. The Wikileaks e-mails and the Clinton Foundation and the e-mails from her private server that everything e-mail related is sort of taken together in a stew. It's very confusing for the voters.

CUOMO: Time and attention, though. Today what are they not hearing about? Fahrenthold from "Washington Post" made over 400 inquiries to try to figure out what charitable giving Donald Trump basically came out with the inside of a doughnut hole that the guy has been showing up at things, pretending to be a donor and he wasn't. You won't hear about it and many people say, why should I? It doesn't matter compared to these e-mail stuff, fair analysis.

[06:55:09]STELTER: I think both stories matter and I'm glad that Fahrenthold has been on this case leading the way on it and thankfully it did come up on the Sunday shows, at least briefly yesterday. It is been getting a lot less attention.

CARTER: To be fair, Trump managed to do extreme things on Clinton stories in the past, too. There's always what is the big lead and you're going to get massive coverage of that.

CAMEROTA: OK, so let's talk about what's going on at Trump rallies.

CARTER: It's unprecedented, really.

CAMEROTA: Well, I was those left-wing agitators. No, this is not anybody who was provoked. These are people who are his supporters who are being ginned up by what is happening at the podium. Sometimes it's the pre-speaker and sometimes it's Donald Trump himself. And then the supporters come over and say disgusting vitriolic ethnic slurs to the reporters. So, watch this moment.

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CAMEROTA: So, that guy was saying "Jew-S-A' instead of USA to the press corps.

CARTER: Obviously, we've heard a lot about Trump supporters who are in the white supremacist camp and anti-Semitic forces there and they're being spoken to without being sort of put down. This needs to be addressed rather than just sort of say, that's one crazy in the crowd. This needs to be addressed and it's not being addressed.

STELTER: At least Kellyanne Conway, the campaign manager, did call this deplorable yesterday. He said he was happy to see that. It was a positive step forward. But the groups would like to see Trump address this more directly. These are isolated cases. We see one and then one and then one.

There is enough of these isolated incidents than it does seem to be an issue for the Trump campaign. And I think, again, it goes back to what dominates the news on any given day. If it were not for other stories right now, maybe more focus on this issue.

CUOMO: Look, there's no real good that can come out of even the analysis. You know, is there a risk to be in a demagogue? Yes. You stoke everybody's anger and the irony and the sad part is that that all right movement is real. It's real within his own campaign. That's true.

But much bigger are all these middle class and working class families who need a voice, who feel so desperately underrepresented that they will forgive Trump's obvious failures because they're desperate for a voice in a system they believe has forgotten them long ago. That's the tragedy.

STELTER: That's the big story of this election. That's why some journalists, including myself, missed the Trump phenomenon. We are too late to see. Did not see it coming earlier on. That disconnect between maybe it is the New York, D.C., media class and some parts of the rest of the country that have been hurting is one of the predominant themes of this election. I hope that after this election, those same stories, those same issues are not forgotten again.

CAMEROTA: Maybe that will be the silver lining --

STELTER: I hope so.

CAMEROTA: -- of this long road. You started with hair at the beginning of this election and look what happened, Brian. Brian, Bill, thank you very much.

CUOMO: All right, there is a lot of news and analysis needed. Let's get to it.

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TRUMP: They are reopening the case into her criminal and illegal conduct.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Comey wrote a letter that was light on facts, heavy on innuendo.

TRUMP: I'll bet you there was a revolt in the FBI.

CLINTON: It is pretty strange to put something like that out with such little information.

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't know where this e-mail and where these e-mails.

TRUMP: By the way, we're leading in so many polls. I can tell you, I wouldn't be voting for her.

CLINTON: No matter what they throw at us in these last days, we're not going to back down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. Happy Halloween. The FBI now has a warrant to begin examining thousands of newly discovered e-mails from Hillary Clinton's long-time aide, Huma Abedin. FBI agents stumbled upon these e-mails weeks ago, but FBI Director James Comey did not reveal the discovery until Friday in that letter to Congress.

CUOMO: Talk about a real trick or treat depending on your political persuasion. Right now you have dozens of former federal prosecutors blasting the FBI chief's decision in the final days of this election. Both campaigns calling for full transparency. There's so much at stake. There's just eight days until this election.

Let's begin our coverage with CNN's justice correspondent, Evan Perez. What a weekend you had, my friend.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: I tell you, Chris. Good morning. FBI investigators armed with a new search warrant are beginning the work of reviewing thousands of newly discovered e-mails belonging to Huma Abedin.

Now Abedin is one of Hillary Clinton's closest advisors and investigators think that at least some of these e-mails found from an account that was on Clinton's private server. Perhaps ones that were not previously seen by the FBI.