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FBI Obtains Warrant to Search Clinton Aide's Emails; Thomas Friedman Questions Trump's American Values; ISIS Aggressively Targeting U.S. Trained Iraqi Forces. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 31, 2016 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Yes.

REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), MARYLAND: -- and no reasonable prosecutor would do it.

CAMEROTA: And so, Senator Harry Reid --

CUMMINGS: But on the other hand --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CUMMINGS: But on the other hand, we have not gotten one shred -- not one syllable about what's going on with regard to Mr. Trump. Give me a break.

CAMEROTA: Senator Harry Reid, Congressman, says that Comey broke the law in doing this. Do you agree?

CUMMINGS: That is a question that must be left up to the special counsel and I would hope that the special counsel would rule on that. But that's not -- the bigger question is this, is one of fairness. If anything I know and I believe in, it's fairness. You can't have a double standard on one end, where you come after Hillary Clinton and try to -- I mean, basically, put here in a position where she can't even defend herself.

But on the other hand, you've got Mr. Trump out here making all these wild accusations and not -- nothing, nothing -- no information is coming out about him. And I would ask, right now, for Speaker Ryan and Chaffetz, our chairman of the Oversight Committee, to join me in asking the director to number one, give us more information about the Hillary Clinton letter that he sent out the other day.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CUMMINGS: But also join us in making sure that we find out what's going on with Mr. Trump, Mr. Manafort, and others with regard to the FBI. I want to know because Ithink that's the only way -- now that the director has stepped down this road of revealing everything that the FBI has done -- and, by the way, that's pretty much unprecedented, almost.

CAMEROTA: Yes. CUMMINGS: But since he's walked down this path, then the way to even that out is to at least let us know if anything -- there may not be anything.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CUMMINGS: But, again, think about what Mr. Reid said in that letter that you talked about.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CUMMINGS: He said that he has found out through his conversations with the intelligence folks and others that there is explosive information about Mr. Trump and his associates being investigated, and he's asking that it be put out there. That's all I ask.

CAMEROTA: OK.

CUMMINGS: Put it out there so the American people can see it.

CAMEROTA: All right. Let us know if you hear from your Republican colleagues in terms of your request on that.

CUMMINGS: I promise you.

CAMEROTA: Thank you.

CUMMINS: And to your -- to the folks out there who haven't voted, please vote today.

CAMEROTA: OK, Congressman Elijah Cummings, thank you very much for being on NEW DAY. Great to talk to you.

Well, a "New York Times" columnist referring to Donald Trump as a "legal alien". What does that mean? Thomas Friedman joins us live, next.

[07:32:35] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:36:30] CAMEROTA: Well, FBI Director James Comey is under fire this morning after delivering the latest October surprise in this race. On Friday, the FBI chief made this announcement that agents have discovered new emails that may or may not be relevant to the now- closed investigation into Hillary Clinton's private server.

Let's discuss this with "New York Times" columnist Thomas Friedman. He's the author of a new book out soon called "Thank You for Being Late". Tom, great to see you.

THOMAS FRIEDMAN, COLUMNIST,"THE NEW YORK TIMES", AUTHOR, "THANK YOU FOR BEING LATE": It's great to be here.

CAMEROTA: What do you make of Director Comey's decision to alert Congress that there was this new wrinkle in terms of this laptop of Anthony Weiner's that may or may not have relevant emails to the Clinton's server investigation? FRIEDMAN: Well, Alisyn, I've been working Washington for over 20 years now and done -- one of the things that has always been obvious to me is you rarely hear the FBI director speak about anything in the time I've been here. And, you know, so much of this strikes me as a product of the age of Twitter -- life imitating Twitter.

When the FBI director came out in July and gave his long commentary -- explanation of what he did -- that struck me as a guy who was reading his Twitter feed too closely. The FBI director's got to be really tough-minded. We did this, we're not talking about this, we never do. This was my decision, too bad. If you want comment, ask the Justice Secretary, but not me.

And I feel like from the very beginning this is a man who has been way too concerned about what is being said about him and not tough-minded enough to take the decisions, whatever they are, whichever way they go, and don't comment on them, which has been the tradition of the FBI.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: The problem is he did it.

FRIEDMAN: Yes.

CUOMO: And once he did it, you have to cover it because the FBI investigating somebody is relevant. And they don't really close cases, as we both know, but he did say something definitive so now you have this problem. This is unusual but he did it, so you cover it and then you get criticized, of course -- which is nothing unusual -- that well, you're not talking about Trump's negatives enough. But an FBI investigation, Tom, carries more weight, doesn't it?

FRIEDMAN: Well, Chris, there's no question about it. I don't blame you for covering it or "The New York Times" for covering it. It's all over our front page. There's nothing we can do. I mean -- you know, you've alluded to this I think, rightly, this morning, you know.

My God, can you imagine if we were reading Trump's emails from the last, you know two years -- their internal communications? Can you imagine if we, you know, really could talk about regularly where the email hacking from the Democratic Party is coming from? It's coming from the KG -- the Russian intelligence services.

So, the whole election's been polluted. And, Chris, you know, this is -- this is a really important point. I have a Zimbabwe friend who has immigrated to America and she once said to me you Americans kick this country around like it's a football. But it's actually not a football, it's a Faberge egg. You can break it, you can crack it.

And what she's talking about are what makes America so unique. That we have these institutions that are truly nonpartisan, like the FBI, and we are playing with such fire here. It is terrifying to me.

CAMEROTA: And so, what do you think about what Congressman Elijah Cummings just said, which is that he thinks that Director Comey has been much more aggressive, to your point, in investigating Clinton rather than investigating, say, any link between the Trump Foundation -- Trump campaign and Russia, and he thinks that that's because Comey is sensitive to Republican criticism?

[07:40:10] FRIEDMAN: Alisyn, I'm in no position to judge that, you know. The fact is -- and Chris alluded to this earlier, you know. These Clinton emails -- there's the emails -- the emails, OK? Has anyone found any definitive proof that any foreign government has obtained these emails? Have they found any definitive proof that there's anything in it that imperils national security, you know? So, you know, I think the whole thing has been exaggerated from the start.

But let me say this. Hillary Clinton has no one else to blame but herself. Why in the world did she do this incredibly stupid thing?

CUOMO: Yes. Look, I mean, somebody explained it to me very clearly this weekend. Clinton gave you the bat. You then took the bat and went running around the house breaking everything in it. You know, if not for the bat. But you have two different types of causation in the law, at least. You've got but for, which is I gave you the bat. You also have proximate causation.

Now, don't the Clinton people have a legitimate case to say yes, yes, we screwed up with the server, Tom? But now, you've got our opponent saying there's proof that we intended to break the law, that this is worse than Watergate. They're all running around saying it's all but decided and all of that is untrue and the media says it like it could be true.

FRIEDMAN: Well, Chris, absolutely. I mean, you're dealing with Donald Trump, who has been shown to be a serial liar. He lies as he breathes. It's been true from the very beginning of this campaign.

Unfortunately, two things have really, to me, dominated this campaign from the very beginning. Two true -- there's two things that Trump has said that's true. One is that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and none of his supporters would care, and that's a horrifying thought that his hold on these people -- by the way, that's kind of an expression of deep contempt for his followers.

And the other is an Internet meme that was around last week that when you listen to Trump talk about policy, you -- it feels like you're hearing a fifth-grader give a book report on a book he's never read. That from the beginning, this man has been running for president without any preparation in any serious way of the issues he's going to have to deal with.

And that is, to me, the most horrifying thing I could possibly imagine if he should lead this country because we are at such a critical juncture on issues like climate change, on issues like education, to work -- what's going on.

Chris, I was the IBM Watson convention last week, OK? IBM Watson has co-written, with a songwriter, a pop song. It was like number four on iTunes. Machines now are dividing more and more work. We are at a critical time. To have someone who assumes the presidency who has not spent five minutes preparing himself for the job is horrifying.

CAMEROTA: Tom, your new book is called "Thank You for Being Late". I like that motto as someone who is chronically late, but what do you mean by that?

FRIEDMAN: The book really is about the fact, Alisyn, that we're now in the middle of three accelerations at the same time. We're in exponential accelerations. One's in climate change, one's in acceleration in globalization, and one's in acceleration in technology, generally. We're in the middle of three radical accelerations and they are reshaping the workplace, politics, geopolitics, ethics, and community, all at the same time.

We're going to have to rethink all of these realms. Whoever is our next president -- and you want someone in that job who can -- who can rise to that challenge. How do we provide work in a world where we have computers that can not only win at chess anymore, they can write rock songs. They can write my column, all right?

We are at the cusp of an incredible technological and environmental inflection point. You need someone really serious in this job. The book is about what this inflection is all about and how we manage it.

CUOMO: So, get the book out and come back on the show so we can discuss it. Love to have you, Tom Friedman. You're one of those voices that says look, there's a light at the end of the tunnel, and then you ask the question, is it the train? So come back -- so come back and talk to us about it, please.

CAMEROTA: Thanks, Tom.

FRIEDMAN: Really appreciate you. Thanks so much.

CUOMO: All right. So, the FBI director, James Comey, front and center, and you know why? Because he put himself there. Was this the right thing to do, from the beginning how he handled this case against Hillary Clinton? We're going to speak with former president George W. Bush's chief ethics lawyer who filed the complaint against Comey. Why'd he do that, next.

[07:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:48:55] CUOMO: There is an election going on but there's a war going on as well. The battle for Mosul is intensifying. Iraqi and coalition troops are making progress. They're advancing, we're told, toward the eastern part of that city. But ISIS remains armed and ready to fight and, often, in horrible ways.

CNN's senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh live in Irbil with more. What do you know?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Chris, Iraqi forces saying they're advancing hard on the east now. In fact, some accounts suggesting they may be within hundreds of yards of actual city limits of Mosul, itself. We'll see if these reports continue as they press forwards. But as we've seen ourselves, the resistance they're facing from ISIS is often fierce.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) WALSH: The last phase of lifting ISIS' dark curse from Iraq begins here, trying to hit a spectral, fleeting enemy lit only by the glow of Mosul's city limits barely two kilometers away. Iraqi special forces trained by the U.S. are targets with a tank here where they are attacked from during the day.

[07:50:10] Telling us to use Humvees as cover when they move. Their commander, Major Salim, has fought ISIS in Fallujah, Ramadi, and now the end is near.

MAJOR SALIM (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

WALSH: Where did the artillery land, he asks, just visible in the distant lights of Mosul. This is the global tip of the spear in the war on ISIS. Surging forwards on a thin strip of land into ISIS territory, and as we see in the same area in daylight, facing constant counterattacks. Here, they can see ISIS just beyond the berms. The incoming is from behind it. A truck that pops up, opens fire, and vanishes.

ISIS is less than a kilometer away firing at Iraqi special forces' position. This is a constant day in, day out. Where's it moving, he asks. As fast as it emerged, the truck vanishes. But here, there are yet tougher hours ahead. Dark has just fallen and the sky is alight with ferocious firepower. ISIS have attacked berms. Suicide bombers, rocket-propelled grenades. It is constant, exhausting, closer and closer to the roof we are on. We simply do not know where in the town around us ISIS may have broken through.

This is the most intense attack we've seen so far towards this Iraqi special forces position. Now, as we move forwards it seems to try and stop them from coming down the road. ISIS, despite being in their end days, still able to conjure the terror of omnipotence that began their savage rule.

The wounded start coming back but we cannot film them. A steady stream. The units we were with earlier on the roof have been hit. Rockets struck, many of them asleep, tightly packed in a room. The blast killed 14 soldiers, many limbs torn clean off.

Major Salim is shown the weapons of the dead. He pauses in emotion.

MAJOR SALIM (FOREIGN LANGUAGE SPOKEN)

WALSH: You guys are heroes, he says, and none of you should be affected by this. Those suicide bombers are nothing. Two kilometers from Mosul city and seven left to the center to go.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALSH: Now, those 14 dead, one of the largest casualty incidents we've been aware of since this offensive began in Iraqi forces. The coalition had, days ago, been talking about the need to perhaps slow down, pause, consolidate the territory behind Iraqi forces. Well, it's unclear, really, if that had any impact on Iraqi strategy here. They are forcing their way towards that urban sprawl now where the

fight will be bloodier and more difficult and where, potentially, many of these 1.2 million civilians -- who many are deeply concerned -- will be caught in the crossfire or used as human shields, actually, now. Difficult times ahead -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh, Nick. What incredible reporting. Your piece shows us the Herculean task ahead for those troops. Thank you very much.

Well, FBI director James Comey under fire after sending a letter to Congress about the FBI investigating emails from Huma Abedin on a computer that may be connected to the private server investigation of Hillary Clinton. Comey broke with protocol by only sharing vague details, a move that's drawing intense criticism just days before the election.

And joining us now to debate this is former chief White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush, Richard Painter. And former deputy attorney general under President George H.W. Bush, Donald Ayer. Gentlemen, thank you very much for being here with us.

Mr. Painter, I want to start with you. On Saturday, you filed a complaint with the Office of Government Ethics against what James Comey did. Why did you feel compelled to do that?

RICHARD PAINTER, S. WALTER RICHEY PROF. OF CORPORATE LAW, UNIV. OF MINNESOTA: Well, the United States is a country with a rule of law and we do not allow anybody -- the president or members of Congress -- to use the FBI to go after their political opponent.

[07:55:00] And members of Congress are not entitled to periodic updates on election eve of FBI investigations concerning their political opponents. The FBI should not allow itself to be used that way and that's clearly what happened here. We have a situation where there is no case against Hillary Clinton. That investigation was closed concerning an email server that the State Department allowed her to use.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Wait -- but what is this is new information and what if these are -- sorry to interrupt, Mr. Painter, but what if this is a new development? What if these are new emails that hadn't previously been disclosed?

PAINTER: Well, we -- these are emails in someone else's computer. These are not on Hillary Clinton's computer, that we know of. And the FBI, of course, is free to continue to conduct whatever investigations it thinks appropriate.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

PAINTER: They ought to be investigating who's helping the Russians hack American's computers. But they should not be making statements about candidates for political office on the eve of an election while Americans are still voting.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

PAINTER: That is a clear violation of the Hatch Act.

CAMEROTA: OK. Mr. Ayer, do you agree that James Comey violated a law by doing this and is just being used by the Republicans?

DONALD AYER, FORMER DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, what I -- what I think is entirely clear is that he violated the most basic principles of prosecutorial ethics and propriety. Anybody who has ever been a prosecutor knows that your job is to either develop a case and prosecute it and take it to the jury or take it to a plea, or to decide you don't have the evidence with which to do that.

And what Mr. Comey did -- I think somewhat tragically because I think he was trying to do the right thing -- was decide that the public needed more than just the word that the investigation hadn't developed evidence to bring a prosecution. He decided he was going to tell the country, back in July, about the specifics of what he had found and a little bit about what he thought about it.

And the key point is if you think about an ordinary case where the government investigates, the idea that they would take the evidence in their file when they decide to close the file and share it with the country, it's a complete outrage.

And I think he must've thought that he -- being as he is, an upstanding and respected person -- he's, really, quite an admirable person given his record -- that somehow it was important and useful for him to share his views on those facts. But, in fact, it was a complete abuse of his power. The government doesn't have the power to editorialize about citizens' conduct when they're not ready to prosecute.

CAMEROTA: So, Mr. Painter, if what you say -- if your premise is true that he somehow violated the Hatch Act, does that mean he broke the law, and then, what should happen to Director Comey?

PAINTER: Well, I think -- I think the Hatch Act was violated and I think this was done under pressure from members of Congress. That does not justify it. It makes it even more serious because this is not an ordinary Hatch Act violation, such as someone using their government official title at a political campaign event -- much more serious.

We have a politician who is trying to use the FBI to go after their political opponents to manipulate an election, and that's just not done in this country and we're not going to allow it. And we have to find out what happened and make sure this never happens again that a congressional committee can hold the FBI under its thumb and extract information simply (audio gap).

CAMEROTA: Mr. Ayer, you know what James Comey said in his letter to members of Congress -- what his rationale was -- he said I told you in July that the investigation is complete. I now have some new information and I want to amend the status of that. We are going to be looking into this. Why don't you take him at his word that they deserve that update?

AYER: Well, I think -- I think this is kind of a tar baby situation where Mr. Comey --I think with probably quite good intentions back in July -- decided he was going to tell us far more than he has any business telling us as the official who was deciding not to prosecute. And having done that and having tried to be forthcoming he used the word transparency a number of times, including in his letter to FBI employees on September 7th.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

AYER: He's a transparent guy and we all admire transparency. Isn't it a great thing? The problem with transparency here is that it takes him beyond what he has any power to do. And the sad thing about this is he's not only been unfair to Sec. Clinton, he's been terribly unfair to the whole country. He's put us in a position where our election is in danger of being jeopardized by a bunch of squirrely, unclear, ambiguous information. And he did it, I think, with the best of intentions.