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New Day
Clinton Casts Vote in New York; Battle for Arizona Votes; Presidential Race on Election Day. Aired 8:30-9a ET
Aired November 08, 2016 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:31:31] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: What a long, strange trip it has been. And the campaign ends with a whirlwind of events in multiple states, all of which could matter a lot. Just moments ago, Hillary Clinton casting her vote for president in her home of Chappaqua, New York.
We've got CNN's Joe Johns live on the scene.
Joe, we heard a very reserved Hillary Clinton seemingly heavy with the moment addressing after she voted.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Chris. And quite a moment it was. Douglas Grafflin Elementary School here in Chappaqua, New York, showing up with her husband, the former president, just absolutely mobbed by people there. She was greeted by Congresswoman Nita Lowy, who is her congresswoman from this district. And then she went on to vote about 8:00 this morning Eastern Time.
We've been told she was going to show up around 6:30, which would have been quite a stretch given the fact that she landed here at White Plains Airport around 3:30 this morning and was greeted by supporters there as well.
Hillary Clinton speaking briefly to the cameras, to reporters. And as you said, Chris, very reserved. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It is the most humbling feeling, Dan, because, you know, I know how much responsibility goes with this and so many people are counting on the outcome of this election, what it means for our country and I'll do the very best I can if I'm fortunate enough to win today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Hillary Clinton getting started so early today sends a couple of messages, I think. Number one, they've been sending a message all across the country to their supporters, encouraging them to get out there despite any odds to vote, to stand in line if they have to. There's a sense that there will be record turnout here across the country, so they very much want people to get out and she is getting out, as you can see, quite early after a long night that ended in North Carolina last night, Chris.
CAMEROTA: All right, Joe, I'll take it. Thanks so much for showing us that.
We want to go to Arizona. Voters there also casting their ballots now. Could Hillary Clinton possibly turn that Republican state blue? CNN's Dan Simon is live in Phoenix with more. What are you seeing, Dan?
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.
A little bit of a line here at this church in central Phoenix. Arizona is an early voting state, and more than 60 percent of the ballots have already been cast. So we'll see how that manifests itself here at the polls today.
Arizona has been a reliably red state. A Democrat has only carried Arizona once in the past 64 years. In case you're wondering, that was Bill Clinton back in 1996. But they think they have a good chance again with Hillary Clinton, thanks in large part due to the Hispanic vote. If large numbers of Latinos get out and vote, they think that they can carry the state. And following the national trend, they did see a surge of Latinos voting early. About double in terms of what they saw in 2012.
But, Donald Trump, a lot of people think that this is a must-win state for him. He's been to this state seven times. But in the last week, we have seen the Hillary Clinton campaign dump a ton of resources into the state. There is a reason why Tim Kaine was here last week speaking to a group of voters in Spanish. So this is a true battleground.
Chris and Alisyn, we'll send it back to you.
CUOMO: All right, thank you very much.
CAMEROTA: Dan, thank you.
CUOMO: We'll be watching them all. This is a race that began a year and a half ago and it ends tonight, we hope.
[08:35:04] So, what is our new president going to do to heal a divided nation? Let's discuss with Carl Bernstein, the author of "A Woman in Charge," he is a CNN political commentator and, of course, an excellent journalist, and David Gregory, a CNN political analyst and also an excellent journalist. I knew you wouldn't forgive me if I didn't say that.
Carl, we may see record turnout. That's good. However, what is motivating that turnout may be bad. How do you assess?
CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think what's motivating the turnout is that people feel very strongly that they want change in this country. And that comes from Sanders. It comes from Trump's followers. And it even comes from reluctant people who are voting for Hillary Clinton. And I think that's the most important thing to take away from this election, that there is anger at the political class. That if Hillary Clinton, as expected, wins tonight, that she's going to have to address in a really serious and empathic way the desire for change, the dissatisfaction with elites in this country and the dissatisfaction, indeed, with Democrats and Republicans.
CAMEROTA: Well, I mean, if anger and change are the motivating factors, doesn't that suggest that Donald Trump would win?
DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, if he were a different kind of candidate. I mean if he didn't turn off so many people. You know, non-white voters, college-educated voters, he certainly had that opportunity. I think Carl is right. And I think there's another element. There's anger. A lot of it is betrayal. You look at the exit polls from the primaries, Republicans felt betrayed by their own leaders. A lot of progressives feel betrayed by the Democratic establishment.
So there are people who feel like the economy's rigged against them, the political process is rigged against them. The media can't be believed. You can't trust the big companies, big institutions. There's a lot of that energy right now and in a kind of bizarre series of circumstances, Donald Trump really captured that energy on the right, Bernie Sanders captured a lot of that energy on the left, and that is a big part of the challenge moving forward. We know we've been polarized as a country. We know we're in a country that is transforming demographically and how it interacts with government and how these political parties orient themselves towards those changes (INAUDIBLE).
BERNSTEIN: But it's more than polarization. The people of this country - I think we're learning in this election how smart the people of the country are because they understood before the political class and before the media class that the institutions of this country are not working and are fundamentally broken. You get outside of tech and the entertainment business, you tell me what institutions in this country, from medical care to education, are working well in our culture. That's partly what this election is about. This election has a deeper meaning in terms of the antenna of the people of the country. That's what we're feeling here. There's - there's -
GREGORY: There more might be more institutions (INAUDIBLE) than you say, but some of it is access. Higher education, to use an example, it's the envy of the world.
BERNSTEIN: Well, that's about elites.
CUOMO: But either way you look at it -
BERNSTEIN: But not public education from -
GREGORY: Right. Right.
BERNSTEIN: From K to 12.
CUOMO: But either way you look at it, what you saw was an opportunity for a real battle of ideas. There are different ways to change the status quo in this country. But you didn't get that. BERNSTEIN: No.
CUOMO: And the reason that I would even suggest that turnout could be a bad thing is because it's motivated by negative factors. There's no one who can convince me that this is not a proposition for voters of who's less bad.
BERNSTEIN: No. Absolutely.
CUOMO: I hear it all over the country.
BERNSTEIN: No. No question.
CUOMO: And it seems like whoever wins tonight is going to be the one who's rejected less. And what does that do for you in terms of mandate?
BERNSTEIN: Well, still, a new president of the United States gets a certain amount of goodwill, even if it were Donald Trump, which I don't expect there will be a certain amount of goodwill extended him.
But let's look at the opportunity. Let's assume Hillary Clinton wins, and she is disdained as we know by tens of millions of people in this country. But if she uses words well, think of the inaugural address. Think of what she says tonight and how important that is to convey to the people of the country that she hears a message in what this year and a half has been and what all of this negative feeling has been about.
You know, also there's the question of practical politics. Assuming she wins, I think we're going to see her try to embrace Republicans in her cabinet. I think she's going to - you know, she's got to get a Supreme Court justice through very quickly. She has a record of working with Republicans, though not on big national issues. It was more on aide to New York.
But she also is going to have to indicate that she hears the message that propelled Bernie Sanders. And the underlying message, not the bigotry, not the negativism, we need an immigration bill, but she understands what propelled Donald Trump's followers.
GREGORY: But -
[08:40:04] CAMEROTA: Go ahead, David.
GREGORY: She's got to listen to the left. I think we will all be looking, if she's president, for the impact of progressives in the Democratic Party, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders' impact on particularly when it comes to economic policy. But she has to have a partner. And Republicans have to decide what kind of party they want to be. It was Lindsey Graham from South Carolina who said they were in a demographic death spiral. That was in 2012. If they lose Hispanic votes huge tonight, it may be irrevocable for them. They've got a lot of deciding about what they want to be as a party if they're going to win this presidency again.
CAMEROTA: David, Carl, thank you. Great to talk to you both.
BERNSTEIN: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: We'll talk to you tomorrow.
Meanwhile, no matter who wins today, this country is forever changed. Up next, we'll look back at this wild and unprecedented race. This is a retrospective you don't want to miss.
CUOMO: Is that true?
CAMEROTA: Oh, yes.
CUOMO: Or is it going to hurt my feelings?
CAMEROTA: No.
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[08:45:08] CUOMO: It's pretty likely that this presidential race will go down in history as one of the most wild, most negative, and probably most memorable. Here is a look at some of the high and some of the low lights.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEB BUSH (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm a candidate -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For president -
BERNIE SANDERS (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am proud -
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: To announce -
BOBBY JINDAL (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am running -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For president -
BEN CARSON (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm a candidate -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For president -
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Of the United States.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Of the United States.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Donald Trump just announced he is running for president.
TRUMP: They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists.
BERMAN: We all might look back and say, we remember where we were when it happened.
TRUMP: We will build a wall. And you know who's going to pay for the wall? Mexico. They're going to pay for it.
Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.
I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The Justice Department asked to open an investigation into Hillary Clinton's e-mails on her private server.
CLINTON: I - I'm - I'm - you know, I don't - I have no idea. That's why we turned it over. We -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You were in charge of it. You were the official in charge of it. Did you wipe the server?
CLINTON: What, like with a cloth or something?
Before there was something called Obamacare, there was something called Hillarycare.
I take a back seat to no one in taking on income inequality.
CUOMO: Republicans kicked off their first presidential debate.
MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: You've called women you don't like fat pigs, dogs, slobs.
TRUMP: Only Rosie O'Donnell.
You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.
CARLY FIORINA (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said.
TRUMP: I think she's got a beautiful face and I think she's a beautiful woman.
BUSH: You're never going to be president of the United States by insulting your way to the presidency.
TRUMP: You're real tough, Jeb. Yes. Well, let's see, I'm at 42 and you're at three. So, so far I'm doing better.
BUSH: It doesn't matter.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Have you seen his hands? They're like this. And you know what they say about men with small hands?
TRUMP: He referred to my hands. If they're small, something else must be small. I guarantee you, there's no problem.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The theme of the first Democratic presidential debate. ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Just for the record, are you a progressive or are you a moderate?
CLINTON: I'm a progressive, but I'm a progressive who likes to get things done.
SANDERS: The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails.
CLINTON: Thank you. Me too. Me too.
He is becoming ISIS' best recruiter.
I am not a natural politician, in case you haven't noticed, like my husband or President Obama.
BERMAN: Dr. Ben Carson has risen to national front-runner status.
CUOMO: A big night for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
CAMEROTA: Senator Ted Cruz dealt a blow to Donald Trump.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald, you're a sniveling coward and leave Heidi the hell alone.
TRUMP: He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, OK?
CARSON: Many people know the story when I was 14 and I tried to stab someone.
TRUMP: He went after a friend and he lunged, but low and behold he hit the belt.
CLINTON: If fighting for women's health care and paid family leave and equal play is playing the woman card, then deal me in.
BERMAN: Hillary Clinton is the presumptive Democratic nominee.
TRUMP: We are going to make America great again, but we're going to do it the old-fashioned way.
COOPER: Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee.
TRUMP: The next vice president of the United States, Governor Mike Pence.
CLINTON: The next vice president, my friend, Senator Tim Kaine.
CAMEROTA: A lot of excitement as the RNC kicks off.
RUDY GIULIANI (R), FORMER MAYOR OF NEW YORK: What happened to, there's no black America, there's no white America?
SANDERS: Hillary Clinton must become the next president.
KHIZR KHAN, FATHER OF KILLED MUSLIM-AMERICAN SOLDIER: Have you even read the United States Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy.
MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY: You work hard for what you want in life.
MELANIA TRUMP, WIFE OF DONALD TRUMP: That you work hard for what you want in life.
OBAMA: That your word is your bond. That you do what you say you're going to do.
M. TRUMP: That your word is your bond and you do what you say.
CUOMO: Who takes the fall for cribbing Michelle Obama's speech in 2008?
PAUL MANAFORT, FORMER DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: To think that she would be cribbing Michelle Obama's words is crazy.
M. OBAMA: Our motto is, when they go low, we go high.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: She is still the best darn change maker I have ever known.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There has never been a man or a woman, not me, not Bill, nobody more qualified than Hillary Clinton.
IVANKA TRUMP, DAUGHTER OF DONALD TRUMP: When you have my father in your corner, you will never again have to worry about being let down.
TRUMP: I am with you.
CLINTON: I will be a president for Democrats, Republicans.
TRUMP: I will fight for you and I will win for you.
CLINTON: For all Americans together!
[08:50:02] Donald Trump simply does not have the temperament.
TRUMP: If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks.
CLINTON: You can put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables.
TRUMP: She calls the patriotic Americans deplorable and irredeemable.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton, we've just learned in the last hour, diagnosed with pneumonia. It appears that the candidate fainted.
TRUMP: You think Hillary would be able to stand up here for an hour and do this?
KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Why all the furtiveness? Why the concealment?
CLINTON: I thought that there wasn't really any reason to make a big fuss about it.
CAMEROTA: Trump's surprise trip to Mexico today.
TRUMP: We did discuss the wall. We didn't discuss payment of the wall. That will be for a later date.
CUOMO: Clinton and Trump one on one. People are saying this could be the most consequential debate in modern political history.
TRUMP: I have much better judgment than she does. There's no question about that. I also have a much better temperament than she has.
CLINTON: I think Donald just criticized me for preparing for this debate. And, yes, I did.
He called this woman "Miss Piggy," then he called her "Miss Housekeeping" because she was Latina.
TRUMP: Where did you find this -
CLINTON: Her name is Alicia Machado.
One down, two to go.
TRUMP: Look, what do you have to lose? You're living in poverty. Your schools are no good. You have no jobs. What the hell do you have to lose?
B. OBAMA: Donald Trump's closing argument is, what do you have to lose? The answer is everything.
BERMAN: Donald Trump caught on tape in his own words, vulgar words.
TRUMP: And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever you want.
TRUMP: Grab them by the pussy.
I'm very embarrassed by it. I hate it. But it's locker room talk.
CLINTON: He has said that the video doesn't represent who he is. I think it's clear to anyone who heard it that it represents exactly who he is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A ninth woman now has stepped forward accusing Trump of sexual assault.
TRUMP: These vicious claims about me of inappropriate conduct with women are totally and absolutely false.
CLINTON: It's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country.
TRUMP: Because you'd be in jail. The press has created a rigged system and poisoned the minds of the
voters.
B. OBAMA: Donald Trump's already talking about how the game's rigged. That means he's losing.
CHRIS WALLACE, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Are you saying you're not prepared now to commit to that principle?
TRUMP: What I'm saying is that I will tell you at the time. I'll keep you in suspense.
CLINTON: Every time Donald thinks things are not going in his direction, he claims whatever it is, is rigged against him.
BERMAN: News from the FBI, new information pertinent to the Hillary Clinton server investigation.
CLINTON: I am sure they will reach the same conclusion. There is no case here.
COOPER: The FBI director, James Comey, weighing in yet again saying in so many words the investigation is over.
TRUMP: You can't review 650,000 new e-mails in eight days.
M. OBAMA: Declare with one voice, we are always stronger together.
B. OBAMA: (INAUDIBLE) this fighter, this patriot, our next president of the United States of America.
TRUMP: Today is our independence day.
CLINTON: You can vote for a hopeful, inclusive, big-hearted America.
TRUMP: Today the American working class is going to strike back.
CLINTON: Let's make history together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh, I feel like I've just woken from a long fevered dream. Wow. I can't tell if this feels longer than 18 months or shorter than 18 months, or if it really happened.
CUOMO: Childbirth had nothing on this Safe assumption?
CAMEROTA: Yes, I mean, really, it's much shorter, actually.
CUOMO: Well, I'll tell you what, I think that one thing that we learned is that we know what the problems are now. It would have been nice if this election had been about the solutions to those problems, but sometimes you've got to tear down to build back up. That's the hope that there will be some silver lining coming out of this.
Let's get some perspective from somebody who knows politics, knows journalism and knows this country, our friend and former boss, long- time ABC News great, Ted Koppel, who anchored "Nightline" for 25 years and is the author of a really prescient piece of literature, "Lights Out" about cyber-attacks just like what we just dealt with, with WikiLeaks.
CAMEROTA: Ted, how are you?
TED KOPPEL, FORMER ANCHOR, ABC "NIGHTLINE": I'm all right. I feel the way you do. It's kind of like we've been sucking on an aching tooth for 18 months and it's finally time to yank it.
CAMEROTA: That is a good metaphor.
Ted, what do you think, I mean, of this whole surreal campaign and where we find ourselves today? Is there any way to kind of sum it up?
KOPPEL: Well, what troubles me most about it, Alisyn, is, it's not over. The election is over today, but the nastiness that pervaded that election I think is going to be with us for many, many months if not years to come.
[08:55:07] What we've learned is not just that these are two of the least liked candidates in recent history. But the fact of the matter is, none of us is liked. None of the - the various parts of the establishment are liked or believed, which I think is an even more important point. The media is hated. Politicians are hated. The candidates were hated. The establishment as a whole is hated and mistrusted.
And what Donald Trump learned is that he no longer needs the establishment media to become what he has become, which is the leader of one of the parties, albeit a party that doesn't seem to want him as its leader. And he's done it by using social media. I think he will continue using social media. And much of the pain that has been inflicted on this country over the past 18 months I fear is going to continue.
CUOMO: Ever seen anything like it? And what is your best guess as to what makes anything better coming out of it?
KOPPEL: Well, parts of it I've seen before, Chris. In other words, you know, the first election I ever covered was Barry Goldwater and Lyndon Johnson in 1964 and I was on the Goldwater campaign. And one of the things I keep remembering as Mr. Trump talks about these great crowds that come out to sport him is how huge and enthusiastic the crowds were for Barry Goldwater. And he, too, was racing all around the country during the final days of the campaign and then got defeated in one of the most overwhelming landslides in American history. I can't say that that's going to happen today, but it wouldn't surprise me if it did.
Everything that's been happening over these past few months has been filtered through social media. And it's not a step in the right direction. We've lost a lot in terms of the American public's confidence in and faith in real journalism. And I don't see how a democracy survives if people cannot trust the objectivity of their journalists.
CAMEROTA: Absolutely, Ted.
As long as we're time traveling, let's do that a little bit more and go back to 1993. Your friend, Tom Brokaw, was interviewing Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton in the first hundred days. It was right after he had won. And they talked about the possibility of the first female president. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: What I'm hoping is that I'm able to make my contribution and then any spouse after me, women and men, will feel as free as they can to do what is right for them, and that includes as little or as much of a role as is appropriate.
TOM BROKAW: How long do you think it will be, Mr. President, before there's a first husband?
BILL CLINTON (D), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Not long. Not long. I think there will be a - a woman will be elected president probably in my lifetime. I certainly hope that one will have a chance to run.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: Self-fulfilling prophecy, Ted.
KOPPEL: Yes, and I - I don't think for a moment that when Bill Clinton said that he wasn't thinking of the woman standing by his side. And, you know, it's - it's an extraordinary moment in American history if, indeed, she is elected.
CUOMO: If he had had as good foresight about what was going to - the future would bring, he may have saved himself a lot of trouble.
CAMEROTA: (INAUDIBLE).
CUOMO: So, something that we just saw here, Ted, with WikiLeaks and where they source their information from, the U.S. government believes there were hacks by Russian hackers, perhaps orchestrated by Russian government. You wrote a book about this called "Lights Out." It came out in 2015. Prescient at the minimum. What do you believe the future holds in terms of what we're seeing already with WikiLeaks?
KOPPEL: Well, let me just put it very, very quickly. You heard Donald Trump talking at one point during the campaign about keeping all Muslims out. Much has been made of the building of the wall. We live in an age in which walls and keeping people out physically doesn't mean anything anymore. Cyber-attacks go right past walls. Cyber- attacks are - they can be enabled no matter where in the world you are.
CAMEROTA: I mean, Ted, it's chilling. The book, everyone should read it, it's "Lights Out." It just paints the picture of, as you say, it's not how it's going to happen, it is when it is going to happen. And it is not pretty. But, Ted, it's so great to see you. Thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.
KOPPEL: Thank you.
CAMEROTA: It's wonderful to see you after all these years.
KOPPEL: Thank you very much.
CUOMO: All right, we've got a lot of coverage for you here on CNN. The polls are opening all over the country. Millions are getting ready to exercise the franchise and decide our course forward.
[09:00:04] Time now for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello.
Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, it's such an exciting day. Thanks so much.
NEWSROOM starts now.
