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Battleground Blitz On Final Day Of Campaigning; Clinton And Trump On Immigration; CNN Team Survives Gun Battle With ISIS. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired November 07, 2016 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:31:23] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump launching battleground blitzes today. So, our correspondents have spread out across the country to take the pulse of the voters.

Let's check in with CNN's Martin Savidge. He is live in Cleveland, Ohio. We also have Boris Sanchez in Miami, Miguel Marquez in Pittsburgh, Jessica Schneider in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Victor Blackwell in Raleigh, North Carolina. Great to see you all of you.

Let me start with you, Martin. Tell us what is going on in Cleveland.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Cleveland saw a real spike in early voting over the weekend. They have been holding early voting in the state since October 12th, but last weekend, the one that (inaudible) yesterday huge numbers here in Cleveland and huge numbers all across the state.

In fact, in a lot of places they broke records. Early voting continues today and it goes until 2:00. They shut down just so they can start the regular voting tomorrow. That would seem to bode well for Hillary Clinton.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, so, let's bounce over to you, Boris. Obviously, early voting specifically with the Latino population is huge there in Florida. It's up over 100 percent from the last cycle and a big question comes down to that Cuban vote, especially down there in South Florida and which way they go and why. What's your feel on the ground?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Chris. Yes, early voting ended just yesterday. There were lines all across Cuban neighborhoods here in South Florida. If you talk about Miami-Dade County, 80 percent of the turnout we had in 2012. It has been explosive.

I would say things are divided generationally between the older Cubans that are much traditionally GOP leaning and the younger Cubans that are a bit more progressive.

The other question is that I-4 Corridor that we have been talking about. More than 1.2 million people have already voted in that area and right now Democrats have a five percentage point advantage. The big question is, though, as we get closer to Election Day, will that advantage last? Remember, President Obama had a 100,000 vote lead in early voting going into Election Day. That went down to 70,000.

Right now, the split between Democrats and Republicans in Florida is at about 30,000 votes.

CAMEROTA: OK. Thanks so much, Boris. Let's check in with Miguel Marquez in Pittsburgh. What are you seeing, Miguel?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are seeing Pennsylvanians ready to vote. There is no early voting here. So, all the action happens tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. here across Pennsylvania.

Both Clinton and Trump have made a huge play for this state. It is a blue leaning state. A Republican hasn't won here since 1988. Clinton was here on Friday. She was then in Philly on Saturday. She will be back in Pittsburgh today and then Philly later tonight to make her closing argument tonight with the president and his wife.

Trump will be here tonight, as well. Do you think they want Pennsylvania? They absolutely do. For the Clintons, it is a firewall against Donald Trump having other options.

For Donald Trump, it is an absolute must. He thinks he can get those rust belts, blue collar, white voters out there in big enough numbers to overcome any Clinton lead that is going to be a very big uphill battle -- Alisyn.

CUOMO: All right, thanks, Miguel. Let's go over to Jessica Schneider in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Very interesting, that's traditionally a Democratic state. Trump thinks he has a shot. You are in Ann Arbor, University of Michigan big campus there. The millennial vote has been a focus for the Clintons. What are you seeing there?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Chris, it has been a folks for the Clintons, especially since Bernie Sanders eked out a win in the primary here by about one point. So the president of the United States will be here on the University of Michigan campus around noon today trying to energize that millennial vote.

They want people to get out to the polls because like Pennsylvania, Michigan does not have an early vote. They need to keep their base energized up until tomorrow and actually get people out there.

[06:35:05]Now Donald Trump is making a play here in Michigan because the polls here have tightened considerably in the past few days. A poll that came out at the end of last week showed Hillary Clinton up four points.

That was a stark difference from the poll that was taken in early October that had her up 11 points. So Donald Trump has been concentrating in the western part of the state in Grand Rapids. Last night, he had a rally in Macomb County. Macomb County, the home of Reagan Democrats. So Donald Trump is thinking that if he could flip Macomb County, which in the past two presidential elections voted for President Obama, if he can flip that and if turnout isn't as great in Detroit, perhaps Donald Trump could take Michigan -- Chris and Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Jessica, thanks so much. All right, Victor Blackwell, to you. Obviously, all eyes on North Carolina. That seems to be the watershed state this time around. What are you seeing?

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is the big battleground county. Wake county here in the battleground state. Of the last six elections, Democrats have won three times and Republicans have won three times and the big story here is also early voting.

Wake County smashed the records of 2012. This cycle with more than 300,000 early votes cast in 2012 about 260,000 votes cast. Let me put that into context. More people here in Wake County have already voted than the total number of registered voters in 97 of North Carolina's 100 counties.

But the candidates will be back to clean up the rest of it here in Wake County and across the state. Donald Trump will be here this afternoon. Former President Clinton will be in Greensboro to the west and Tim Kaine will be in Wilmington on the coast and the Clintons, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton will be back here for a midnight rally in Raleigh tonight.

CUOMO: All right, Victor Blackwell, thank you very much. It may not be watershed because it's not big enough, but it's certainly going to be a bellwether. What happens in North Carolina, people are going to be keeping their eyes on that. Thank you to all of you. We'll be back with you in a little bit. Bells, water, they all go together. All making weird impacts on us.

All right, so, this is your big day tomorrow. What are you going armed with? Hopefully information about the ideas that matter for you. We've been doing this for the last week. All the different issues.

How about immigration? Comprehensive immigration reform is a goal that's alluded Congress for years. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are making big promises, but those promises take the country in vastly different directions. Let's look at each. We'll start with, well, whoever you want.

CAMEROTA: Let's do Trump.

CUOMO: OK.

CAMEROTA: So the cornerstone as you know, Chris, of Trump's campaign to build a massive wall on the U.S./Mexico border that he says Mexico will pay for. Trump's wall has become a rallying cry for his supporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And we're going to build that wall that is going to be a great wall. Let me just tell you, Mexico's going to pay for the wall. We're going to have big, beautiful doors on that wall and people are going to come into our country and they're going to come into our country. People, lots of people are going to come into our country, but they're coming into our country legally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, so Chris, as you know, in addition to the wall Trump also initially called for the mass deportation of all 11 million or 12 million undocumented immigrants that are estimated to be living in the U.S.

But since winning the Republican nomination, he has softened that hard line stance. He now says that he will focus on deporting the criminals and the gang leaders and tripling the number of immigration agents to help handle that job.

CUOMO: Which is essentially the mission right now. It's interesting, even his tone has changed in talking about the wall. Used to be so angry and every time he didn't like something, the wall would get higher, he would say. Now, different Trump.

He's also put forward a number of proposals to strengthen current immigration laws including ending sanctuary cities that's a big one and the so-called catch and release program reversing President Obama's efforts to protect so-called dreamers. Implementing a nationwide e-verify system and stopping birth right citizenship.

CAMEROTA: The final component of Trump's proposal is that ban on immigrants from countries that he now says are compromised by terrorism. That includes Syrian refugees. Trump initially proposed banning all Muslims from entering the country, as you remember, but he has since shifted that stance.

CUOMO: All right, so Hillary Clinton, the centerpiece there is a pathway to full and equal citizenship for undocumented immigrants. She has also said she is going to defend Obama's executive actions to protect dreamers. Here's a sample.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't want to rip families apart. I don't want to be sending parents away from children. I think we are both a nation of immigrants and we are a nation of laws and that we can act accordingly and that's why I'm introducing comprehensive immigration reform within the first 100 days with a path to citizenship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: All right, in that plan, Clinton says she's going to focus resources on deporting only those undocumented immigrants, who, quote, "pose a violent threat to public safety."

CAMEROTA: She also wants to create a national office of Immigrant Affairs to make it easier for immigrants to integrate and she's pledged to welcome as many as 65,000 Syrian refugees into the United States.

[06:40:00]CUOMO: That's still nothing like what European countries are pledging to do. Clinton has not laid out specific border security plans, but she does pledge to protect the U.S. borders and calls Trump's wall a fantasy.

CAMEROTA: So, there you have the difference in their positions on that. We hope it helps you tomorrow.

Meanwhile, a chilling account into the battle to reclaim Mosul. CNN's Arwa Damon and her team survived an attack by ISIS. We're going to show you their incredible video and speak to her about these moments, next.

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CAMEROTA: There's a bloody and dangerous fight ranging in Mosul to take back that city from ISIS. CNN's Arwa Damon has been reporting from the front lines and this weekend, she was trapped in the middle of a fierce gun battle with ISIS.

She joins us live from Irbil, Iraq after surviving a 28-hour siege. Arwa, we know you have had a harrowing past couple of days. Tell us everything that you saw.

[06:45:03]ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was myself and cameraman (inaudible) and I have to say, Alisyn, when it comes to the battle against ISIS in Mosul there is absolutely no room for error.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAMON (voice-over): After three weeks of this offensive, the Iraqi military is at last about to enter Mosul. The men of the elite counterterrorism force are in high spirits. But after the open plains of Northern Iraq, they are about to meet a terrible new reality. This is not a place these soldiers know, but their enemy does.

(on camera): The challenge they're facing right now is that there are snipers on rooftops and they are receiving incoming mortar fire that ISIS is shooting from areas that have civilians in them, which makes it almost impossible for the counterterrorism units to be able to fire back. The three cars have disappeared down the side street.

(voice-over): Already there is a sense that this will be a different battle. Civilians are still waving white flags, but the roads are getting narrower.

We're in ISIS territory, it's clearly marked. The convoy slows down and on the soldiers' faces, nerves begin to show. And then the roads give way to muddy allies. There's nowhere to turn. It's so claustrophobic and every car here, every garbage can, could be a bomb. It's heartbreaking that some families are still here. So is his 19-year-old daughter.

She's crying. She's accepted into the university, but she never went. Her younger brother is paralyzed with fear. Cowering with his mother in the back. Then a car approaches. Frantic shouted warnings.

Clearly, he's not a bomber, but he's critically injured. Minutes later, he is dead. An innocent taxi driver, it would seem in the wrong place at the wrong moment. Now there's more incoming fire.

(on camera): They have been coming across quite a bit of sniper fire, gun fire, mortar rounds, rocket-propelled grenades and, of course, those car bombs.

(voice-over): Even in the midst of battle, moments of humanity, but they're all too fleeting. ISIS fighters are on the rooftops. Three grenades land in the street.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just I look at this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did you get this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Grenade.

DAMON: Bullets ricochet off our vehicle intensifying as we go forward. Then a suicide car bomb right behind us. There was a flash of orange. Ears ringing. Then, another.

(on camera): That was the second massive explosion like that. The first one we heard was a suicide car bomb and it exploded on the vehicles that are just behind us. There are a number of soldiers just running in the street. One was carrying his buddy who seemed to be wounded.

(voice-over): They spot enemy movement. The incoming fire is now intense. The bulldozer is hit. Our vehicle takes more fire.

[06:50:11]Soldiers shoot at a motor bike racing towards us. It's hit. We hear the hiss of a tire losing air. We realize we're trapped. Vehicles, wreckage, everywhere. Takes a direct hit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are we doing?

DAMON (on camera): I don't know. I honestly don't know. We need to go in this house. He's in there.

(voice-over): We take cover. Injured soldiers and a terrified family. Reece, too, has a small head wound. More wounded arrive. Injured himself, Staff Sergeant Ahmed treats hiss head wound. ISIS has systematically targeted and disabled almost every vehicle in our convoy. There are only three working Humvees.

(on camera): It's been hours since they called for backup and none has arrived. They need to evacuate their own wounded. They don't even have enough vehicles to get everyone out and that's assuming that they would even be able to do so because they say there's still ISIS fighters on all sides.

(voice-over): Later, ISIS released its own video of the battle. They had filmed the very house where we were taking shelter from just across the street. It's almost dark. The front line has moved right next to the house where we have sheltered.

We need to move, but every time we try, gunfire drives us back. It's complete chaos and absolutely terrifying. We need to get to a Humvee five steps away. Finally, we make a run for it. Clambering in as quickly as we can.

But there are so many damaged vehicles in our way, our Humvee gets entangled in another. We break free, but go just ten yards. A long and frightening night in hiding follows. We had no idea that ISIS fighters were filming the war they recovered from the regimen's wrecked vehicles just down the street.

It's dawn and we're still alive. We're with more than a dozen wounded soldiers. Only six who are not. Ammunition is running low.

(on camera): It's been almost 20 hours since they first called for backup and sent out the alarm that they were surrounded and we are still waiting.

(voice-over): The soldiers with us are exhausted but determined. They know they're in this fight alone. On the rooftop, they scan for ISIS fighters. The soldiers get ready for the attack they know is coming.

Someone has been shot. The grief of a woman yards away is almost hideous. Where is she, she yells and then it erupts, again. ISIS has the house surrounded. Our only defenders are mostly the walking wounded.

A grenade lands in the courtyard. More wounded are brought in. They tell us it was tossed by an ISIS fighter in the house behind us. An air strike hits the house and brings down the outer wall of the home we're in.

[06:55:03]The family we're with hide under the staircase. One of the boys cries, I don't want to die. Hours later, a moment of utter relief. Our regiment has arrived as backup along with the Humvee to evacuate us.

It's less than a mile to safety. We are lucky, we can leave the combat zone. These men will have to return. The battle for Mosul has only just begun.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Arwa, you made that very powerful point there at the end of it. Amazing piece of the reality of war, which is for those men, this is every day that they have to stay there. How are you doing? How is your photographer? DAMON: We're good, Chris. We're fine. We're very lucky. We're very relieved and I think we've walked away from all of this with a greater level of understanding of what it means to be in the middle of this fight against ISIS.

Hopefully that has also been conveyed to our viewers because it is incredibly important that people understand what the Iraqis and others that are trying to fight an entity like ISIS are up against.

And we also have a much greater degree of empathy and compassion for the civilians that are trapped in all of this. To see them and to feel as frightened as they were in some of these moments hiding helpless, not being able to protect yourself, not being able to protect the people you love.

Hopefully that's been conveyed to the viewers, as well. Because it's just as important that we do understand what it is that these civilian populations are going through. Not just when it comes to what life under ISIS is like, but when it comes to the battle raging around you to try to liberate or be liberated from life under ISIS.

CAMEROTA: Arwa, we can't imagine really a more vivid or gripping depiction of what it's like for people who are trying to live there than what you have just given us. There were so many chilling moments of your video and everything that you just lived through. When you had to wait, why did you have to wait 20 hours for backup to come?

DAMON: Backup couldn't get to the unit to put it very simply. ISIS had very carefully planned this, it would seem. They lured the troops in. There was very little resistance in the first two neighborhoods that we went through.

They waited until they were stuck on these very narrow streets that you cannot retreat from easily and then they launched that complex attacks that you saw unfolding there for around 28 hours.

The backup units, two regiments were actually sent out and both could not arrive because they both got bogged down because of the fighting that they encountered. They encountered against ISIS.

I think the other take away from all this is not just how sophisticated of an enemy ISIS is but intelligence that is known about it. Remember, prior to this, a lot of the reporting and intelligence that we were getting and others were getting from numerous different sources is how ISIS was moving a lot of its fighters and its assets from the east to the west.

Everyone pretty much expected the east to relatively speaking fall very quickly. Obviously, that is not the case. I think in talking to the soldiers, as well, they knew the battle was going to be tough when it came to Mosul.

They all said they did not expect it to be this tough, not in the initial stages.

CUOMO: All right, Arwa, thank you very much. Nobody knows how to do the job any better than you, but, please, stay safe and stay in touch.

Two big takeaways there. You used to seeing journalists like us in harm's way at war, but usually with American troops. Very different deal with these coalition forces.

Arwa has an organization called INARA to take care of those families that get injured during this fight, what happens to them, who is there for them. That foundation is one of the few.

CAMEROTA: I'll tweet it out and put it on Facebook for you.

CUOMO: All right, there's a lot of news. Tomorrow is a big election and you just saw part of the stakes. This is a world at war. Let's get to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: It's time to close the history books on the Clintons.

CLINTON: Are you ready to vote on Tuesday?

TRUMP: You can't review 650,000 new e-mails in eight days. You can't do it, folks.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The FBI clears Hillary Clinton, again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're glad to get that news but not surprised.

TRUMP: This is a marathon. We're not playing games, right?

CLINTON: I'm really ready to get to work.

TRUMP: Don't vote for her. She'll be a lousy president anyway. Believe me.

CLINTON: It is a choice between strong, steady leadership or a loose cannon who could put everything at risk.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. Up first, this 11th hour break for Hillary Clinton, the FBI reaffirming its decision not to charge her with a crime after reviewing thousands of newly discovered emails.