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New Day
Iraqi Troops On The Verge Of Entering Mosul; One Dead In Explosion Along Alabama Gas Pipeline; Obamas Celebrate Last Halloween Bash At White House; Trump Vs. Clinton Controversies. Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired November 01, 2016 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:31:05] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Iraq's prime minister promising to chop the head off the snake of ISIS as Iraqi forces reach the outskirts of Mosul. The Pentagon says the fight against ISIS is on track and moving forward. Donald Trump claims the fight is a "total disaster".
CNN senior international correspondent Arwa Damon is live near Mosul with the facts from the front line.
ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, you can see the town of Gogjali right behind us and this is the closest that Iraqi forces have been to the city of Mosul ever since ISIS took over. We are with the country's elite U.S.-trained counterterrorism unit and they have been pushing through. You can actually see some of the damage done to this Humvee right behind me. Some of that is old from battles past, some of that from the most recent advance into Gogjali itself.
Unclear how many ISIS fighters are there because according to the commander ISIS keeps moving its fighters in and out of the town, moving them from the town towards Mosul. You see it is a bit hazy, yes, but also a lot of fire beings burnt by ISIS oil being set ablaze by ISIS on the outskirts of Mosul, itself. This all, of course, an attempt to try to obscure visibility from the skies.
But these troops fairly confident that it is pretty imminent that they will be on the outskirts and inside Mosul very soon, Chris.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Arwa, thank you very much. Please -- thank you for the reporting and stay safe.
At least one worker is dead and five others wounded in an explosion and fire along the Colonial gas line pipeline in Alabama. Officials say the pipeline was undergoing maintenance when a crew hit it with a track hoe. It's the second time in two months the crucial East Coast supply line had to be shut down. Gas prices in the southeast and mid- Atlantic are now expected to rise.
The Pentagon sending a message to China and North Korea by sending a Navy submarine carrying nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles to Guam. Military tensions are high in the region because of North Korea's nuclear tests and China's activities in the South China Sea. The USS Pennsylvania will take part in military drills with Japan.
President Obama and the first lady taking part in their last Halloween bash at the White House. They gave out candy and were even spotted breaking out the moves to Michael Jackson's "Thriller". There was one costume, though, that caught the President's eye. There he is posing and chatting with a child dressed as a lame duck. You get the reference?
CAMEROTA: I get it but doesn't he need like crutches or something?
CUOMO: No, not P.C.
CAMEROTA: Does he need an arm sling?
CUOMO: Not P.C. What did you -- did you see the "Thriller" moves?
CAMEROTA: Yes, I did.
CUOMO: And did his jeans, once again, offend the Mason-Dixon Line for mom jeans on a man?
CAMEROTA: I think so. They are a little high.
CUOMO: He did have the wherewithal to put the sweater over them this time --
CAMEROTA: Thank goodness.
CUOMO: -- which also may be a man law violation.
CAMEROTA: By the way, if the sweater were tucked into jeans, I mean, that would be impeachment.
CUOMO: That's a problem, but I think the sweater over -- I don't know, but we're being told to move on so I guess it's not that interesting.
CAMEROTA: Oh, contraire.
CUOMO: Let's filibuster.
CAMEROTA: For Hillary Clinton, it's the emails. For Donald Trump, it's his taxes and the "ACCESS HOLLYWOOD" tape. Which candidate is dealing with the worst controversies and what will decide the outcome on November 8th? We discuss all of that ahead on NEW DAY.
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[05:38:45] CUOMO: All right, just seven days until the election and, still, for too many you're framing your choice in terms of who is less bad. You've got Trump with everything that comes out of his mouth that seems to offend far too many, and the taxes, and the Russian allegations, and the temper. And with Clinton you've got the email, you've got the Foundation, and you've got this whole basket of what Trump likes to call corruption. So, whose problems are worse? Joining us now to make the case, CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona. She's a Hillary Clinton supporter. And, CNN political commentator and former Reagan White House political director Jeffrey Lord. He's a Donald Trump supporter. And both you have smiles on your face that belie your disgust at how I'm framing this segment, but that's just too damn bad now, isn't it?
So, Maria Cardona, you go first. Make the case for why Hillary Clinton should be seen as less bad than Donald Trump.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: How about the fact that she is the best candidate in this race with more experience, more talent, more expertise, more qualifications than any other candidate in recent history, Chris? And I think that that underscores the reason, frankly, why she is still ahead in most of the national polls and in most of the battleground polls.
[05:40:07] You know, what she is offering the country is her experience. Her 30 years of fighting for children and families. Her 30 years of putting America's middle-class workers first. And that is what I think voters are looking at.
And you compare her problems with emails and the issues with the Clinton Foundation where nobody has been able to prove anything. And the FBI has even said that she has not put -- there's no evidence that she has put national security at risk, which is the big criticism with the -- that she has had on her emails versus Donald Trump, which --
CUOMO: Hold on. I wanted you to make the case just for one side --
CARDONA: OK.
CUOMO: -- and I'm going to let Jeffrey now make the case --
CARDONA: OK, fair enough.
CUOMO: -- for his side. Same question, sir. Why is Donald Trump less bad?
JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, precisely because Hillary Clinton has all this experience and she hasn't managed to avoid being investigated by the FBI. I mean, this is a career-long problem with Hillary Clinton beginning with her time as first lady of Arkansas when she managed, mysteriously, to turn $1,000 into a $100,000 in cattle futures.
You go on all the way through her tenure in the White House as first lady. You get to be Secretary of State and whether it's Benghazi or emails, et cetera, the same thing recurs over and over and over again, which is to say bad judgment. And it is this bad judgment which has landed her in the middle of an FBI investigation. That's the problem.
CUOMO: Pushback for each? First, for you, Jeffrey. Imagine what would have happened to Donald Trump if he did have the scrutiny of being in public service. As a private citizen with every advantage -- he doesn't even have a public company and we've seen what that's allowed him to do. Hide his taxes, hide his business alliances, you know, at his own discretion, which has been to give us nothing.
Imagine what would have happened -- this is a man who's being sued for having a fugazi university. Who has people with allegations going all the way up --
LORD: A what?
CUOMO: You know what it means. You've learned what it means in this election.
LORD: I was just --
CUOMO: I've used it with you all the time. Fugazi means fake. It means bogus. Trump University as the New York A.G. is litigating right now. And there is a list of problems
LORD: The New York A.G. is not fugazi.
CUOMO: Well, you know, look, if you want to undermine democracy you do it on a different show today. I believe that when somebody's put in office we keep them there until we have a good reason to take them out.
LORD: Chris, to be very serious here --
CUOMO: Yes.
LORD: -- this shows exactly what I think is one of the problems here.
CUOMO: Is?
LORD: Is that give automatic benefit to somebody because they hold public office as opposed to private citizens. The way this country is supposed to work is that private citizens go into public office, they serve, then they leave and go home to till the farm, as it were, as George Washington did.
What we -- what we now have, in fact, are people who make a career --
CUOMO: Right.
LORD: -- out of public service as Hinkley (ph) has done. They never go home.
CUOMO: That's a legitimate -- that's a legitimate criticism except I think it's also a distraction. What I'm saying is Hillary Clinton has been under the white-hot spotlight for many, many years and Donald Trump has not, except when his own mouth has brought him up into it.
LORD: Through one scandal after another --
CUOMO: And so has he, to be honest. He's weathered one scandal after another also and he hasn't even condoned his scrutiny.
LORD: -- that don't involve public office. CUOMO: Right, and that's my point. And now to you, Cardona. Yes, from jump, Hillary Clinton has been dogged about questions that, you're right, have never been proven to trigger illegality. But that, for some, is far too high a standard. If you are seen as being sneaky or being convenient to the disadvantage of the public or others that may be enough. And has she shown that she can escape that allegation, basically, in a very tight race with a guy like Donald Trump?
CARDONA: Yes, I think she has. And here's the ironic thing about your premise, Chris, because you're right, a lot of people do see that she has the penchant for secrecy which I think has landed her in hot water -- and she's the first one to admit it in terms of the email server -- but look at the reality. While she has this penchant for secrecy we know more about her than we probably know about any public servant in history, at least in recent history.
We know everything that there is to know about her taxes because she has been forthright, versus Donald Trump who has not. We know about her health. Because Donald Trump has not been forthright we don't know about his. We know about all of her businesses and Bill Clinton's businesses --
CUOMO: OK.
CARDONA: -- because they have been forthright. We don't know about Donald Trump's. We know everything having to do with the Clinton Foundation because they actually do have transparency rules. And we know every -- you know, all of the donors. And yes, that has come with some scrutiny but, again, we know it because they have offered it up.
CUOMO: Right, plus --
CARDONA: And we know nothing about what is going on with Donald Trump.
CUOMO: Well, it's the difference between public and --
LORD: Based on --
CUOMO: Go ahead, quick one. I've got to go.
[05:45:00] LORD: Based on Maria's analysis, Richard Nixon should not only have resigned, he should have gotten a third term.
CARDONA: That's your argument? If that's your argument I think Hillary Clinton won right there.
CUOMO: We're going to leave it there. We'll leave it to the audience. You tweet us and let us know. And you can get both Cardona and Lord on Twitter, so knock yourselves out going at them instead of at me.
CARDONA: Thanks, Chris.
CUOMO: To both of you, thank you for being with us, as always. LORD: Thank you, Chris.
CARDONA: You, too. Thank you.
CUOMO: Alisyn --
CAMEROTA: Are Hillary Clinton's email troubles -- what has been revealed in the past, say, 72 hours -- are these a game changer? Hear what diehard Trump and diehard Clinton --
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CAMEROTA: FBI Director James Comey's decision announcing that he's investigating emails from Hillary Clinton's longtime aide, Huma Abedin, right before the election is drawing very different reactions on the campaign trail. For the Trump campaign and its supporters the announcement breathed new life into his campaign.
[05:50:00] CNN's Randi Kaye has more from them.
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RALLYGOERS: Lock her up, lock her up, lock her up.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A familiar chant outside Donald Trump's rally in Warren, Michigan.
JULE HOGAN, TRUMP SUPPORTER: It's not an election, it's a revolution.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is. It's a movement.
KAYE: Like Donald Trump, himself, some supporters are suggesting the case against Hillary Clinton is being reopened even though FBI Director James Comey never used that language. He told Congress investigators should review the newly-discovered emails.
SCOTT BENJAMIN, TRUMP SUPPORTER: So I guess I'm most encouraged that they're reopening it and they're going to look at it more thoroughly.
KAYE: They're not actually reopening it, they're going to take another look at what might be there.
BENJAMIN: And there's a difference between they're going to take another look and reopening?
KAYE: The director never said reopening. He said there may be something significant and they're going to look at some of these emails.
BENJAMIN: Is this a hair we're going to split?
KAYE: I'm just being -- I'm just sticking to the facts that he didn't use the words reopening.
BENJAMIN: That's your interpretation of the facts.
KAYE: And supporters here believe the FBI director knows more than he's letting on.
STEVE COOLEY, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I think they already know that there's some very damaging emails in there and she's in a lot of trouble.
KAYE: But the FBI director hasn't seen the emails yet, so how would he know?
COOLEY: Well, they -- his underlings below him -- they have to know. They're not going to bring that to the attention unless there's some serious information in there that's very damaging for Hillary Clinton.
HOGAN: How do you know that he don't know?
KAYE: That's why they had to get the warrant to take another look at them.
HOGAN: He wouldn't have done that to Hillary if he hadn't already seen or heard something.
KAYE: And despite the fact that the FBI has not released a single detail about what the emails say, supporters here make it sound like they already know.
What do you think could be big that's on those emails?
KATHY BUTLER, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I think there's probably emails that she forwarded to a laptop at her house that maybe, perhaps, implicates the Clinton Foundation.
HOGAN: The emails are there and the 33,000 are there. And I think -- I think there's been talk with probably the President of the United States to her on the emails. Who knows?
KAYE: But you don't know any of that for a fact?
HOGAN: Sure, no, but neither do you and neither does anybody else.
KAYE: And if the emails damage Clinton's campaign voters here say there is only one person to blame.
BENJAMIN: This is a huge mess but you have to come back to the start of this mess. It was the Secretary of State who chose to have a private email server.
KAYE: Randi Kaye, CNN, Warren, Michigan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CUOMO: So, on the other side of the ball you have Hillary Clinton supporters and they say they've heard more than enough about emails. But, they concede the FBI director's decision to investigate new emails from Clinton's longtime aide makes them a little nervous.
CNN's Gary Tuchman has more from Ohio.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) GARY TUCHMAN, CNN REPORTER: Rallygoers here in Cincinnati have different reasons for voting for Hillary Clinton but everyone we talked to feels the same about her emails. They are tired of hearing about them and that's why FBI Director James Comey's action last Friday has upset so many here.
How concerned are you that it could affect the election?
BRIAN EVERSOLE, CLINTON SUPPORTER: About -- on a scale of one to 10, about a five.
TUCHMAN: So it means you're somewhat worried.
EVERSOLE: I'm somewhat worried, yes. If some of the people didn't want to vote for her before because of it, it could tip them to Trump.
JOSH BUCKMAN, CLINTON SUPPORTER: I'm a little concerned but I feel like people have mostly made up their mind they know who they're voting for and this won't change it.
TUCHMAN: But in the back of your mind are you having sleepless nights about it?
BUCKMAN: (Laughs) It does weigh on my mind sometimes, yes.
TUCHMAN: There is concern among some here that there is more to the FBI director's action.
JACKIE FISHER, CLINTON SUPPORTER: Well, I think that the Republicans -- they ganged up on her. That's what I believe.
TUCHMAN: And do you think the FBI director is involved in that effort to gang up on her?
FISHER: He has something to do with it. He's being real quiet, but I believe he has something to do with it.
MARDIA SHANDS, CLINTON SUPPORTER: I am disappointed in him. I am not angry at him. I think he has a job to do. But I am disappointed that he did not put forth more information.
TUCHMAN: Derek Daniel arrived nine and one-half hours early for this rally. He's enthusiastic and diplomatic.
Are you surprised that there's still so much suspense in this race with all the things that Donald Trump has said that have been controversial? Does that show a weakness in your candidate?
DEREK DANIEL, CLINTON SUPPORTER: No, not necessarily. I think it shows there's a clear divide in the American people.
TUCHMAN: But as this race winds down many Hillary Clinton supporters have lost interest in being diplomatic about Donald Trump or those who admire Donald Trump.
MARK JESSEE, CLINTON SUPPORTER: Well, I just think the Trump supporters are voting for him for one reason -- that they don't want any other tax dollars going to benefit any minorities. I think that's the overlying reason that he has so much support in his campaign.
TUCHMAN: That's kind of cynical.
JESSEE: Well, that's what I believe.
TUCHMAN: And something else many here believe, that the writing is on the wall.
Does it concern you that Hillary Clinton is not running away with this?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hmm, I'm not so sure she's not running away with it.
TUCHMAN: Gary Tuchman, CNN, Cincinnati.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[05:55:00] CUOMO: First, I thought that that woman was just going to stare down Gary Tuchman. One of the best reporters in the business, by the way. But you know what I noticed?
CAMEROTA: What?
CUOMO: The similarities. The near-paranoia of contempt for what's going on around them and in the other campaign. The disbelief in any fact that does not confirm their own beliefs. Same on both sides.
CAMEROTA: I mean, that's very telling that there is the symmetry. And also, in this election both sides are so dug in. As we've discussed, we have controversies that seem to crop up every 24 hours but at some point you just have -- they just dispel of both of them because they're dug in. So let us know what you think about all of this. You can find us on Twitter.
Meanwhile, between Hillary Clinton's emails and Donald Trump's taxes, how big of an impact will these have on the outcome one week from today?
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[06:00:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A lot of you may be asking what this new email story is about.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you, Huma. Thank you, Anthony Weiner.
CLINTON: There is no case.
ROBBY MOOK, CLINTON CAMPAIGN MANAGER: These are not the hallmarks of a responsible investigation.
