Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Florence Henderson Dead at 82; Bargain Hunters Get Jump on Black Friday Deals; Trump Team Appears Split on Secretary of State. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired November 25, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[07:00:10] BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But even before she became a Brady, Henderson seemed destined for show business.

FLORENCE HENDERSON, ACTRESS: I don't ever remember not singing, and I would sing and pass the hat, and I'd sing for groceries.

SANCHEZ: Henderson's career took off at the age of 19 on Broadway when she landed a leading role in "Oklahoma" in 1951.

SANCHEZ: Becoming a bona fide star on stage, her TV career progressed, as she became NBC's "Today" girl in 1959, and she broke barriers as the first woman to guest host "The Tonight Show" for Johnny Carson in 1962.

Henderson earned her star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in 1996. And recently danced her way back into the spotlight on "Dancing with the Stars."

Henderson is survived by her four children. She will be remembered most as America's favorite mom.

HENDERSON (singing): I want to be loved by you, just you and nobody else but you. I want to be loved by you alone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: "Variety" is reporting that she was actually at "Dancing with the Stars" on Monday night, supporting Maureen McCormick, her co- star on "The Brady Bunch" as Marcia. She later tweeted out this picture, saying, "You're in my heart forever, Florence." Also tweeting out, "Florence Henderson was a dear friend for so very many years and in my heart forever. Love and hugs to her family. I'll miss you dearly."

Tom Bergeron also sending out a tweet in condolence, writing, "Heartbroken. I'll miss you, my friend."

One of the things that really stands out about Florence Henderson is that, over time, as she took on this role of being Carol Brady, she also was kind of self-depreciating about it. She embraced it fully, even making fun of herself as that, you know, icon in the American lexicon. BERMAN: She just seemed so wonderful and so open to that and so many

other things. Boris, thanks so much for being with us this morning.

Joining us by phone right tonight, CNN contributor, "Entertainment Tonight" host Nischelle Turner. And Nischelle, you know, we heard in that piece Florida Henderson saying that everyone wanted to hug her, so she just hugged everyone.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Can you imagine seeing her walking down the street?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And you told us last hour you actually got a chance not so long ago to hug Florence Henderson.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (via phone): Yes. I interviewed her just a couple months ago. She was at the Robert Shapiro Foundation. Bob Shapiro has a foundation in honor of his son, and he has a big party every year. And so I was at that, and she was there. And when she came up to me I gave her a hug before I interviewed her.

And she is that woman, she was that woman who you did just want to hug her. Because she had that smile, No. 1, that would -- that lit up a room and that was infectious. And she always had a kind word when she saw you and always flashed that big smile at you. So it did just make you want to hug her. So I did.

I know one of the things I spoke to her about and Boris spoke to it when he was talking about Maureen McCormick, who was sending her condolences out. She came to the ballroom at "Dancing with the Stars" to support Maureen. And the first time Maureen danced, after she got done, they both had a moment. Florence stood up, and everyone was clapping; and Florence was crying, because she thought what Maureen was doing was so brave and beautiful. And I asked her why she got so emotional and she said, "Because I feel like she's my daughter."

And you know, Maureen had a lot of struggles throughout the years, and I know Maureen told me that Florence was always there, holding her hand. cheering her and pushing her to do better and to be better and to really get through on the other side. So you know, it was a special relationship that the two of them had.

And, you know, when I talk to people about Florence, everyone seems to have that relationship with her. Because she was someone that was very easy to love.

BALDWIN: You know, she came a long way from her small town roots. Vail (ph), Indiana, where she was born back in 1934. We've talked about not just, of course, her role on the iconic "Brady Bunch" but also her role onstage. But I think it's also important to mention, you know, once Jack Paar war out over at "The Tonight Show," before Johnny Carson moved in, she was the first female to host that show.

TURNER: Very important to mention, Brooke. Yes, that was breaking a barrier there, 1962. She guest hosted for Johnny Carson and was the first female to do that, you know, kind of setting the stage for others, you know, the Joan Rivers of the world, to come after her and be able to host that show.

One of the things that stood out to me and you were talking about the fact that she had this long storied career on the stage and the screen. In the piece that Boris did, she said herself, "I never can remember a time I didn't sing." And she sang for groceries. She sang for money. She was not a child born privileged. She said she was kind of America's mother, because she always wanted that kind of mother and didn't have that in her childhood.

[07:05:11] So, when we saw this very sunny person, you know, in a lot of ways she battled from dark places to become this really lovely, sunny woman. So that also speaks to who she was just as a person, not just her career.

But yes, she had a storied career, a long career. And we often smile when we hear the clips. We were just talking about it last hour. that it is a very sad day because she has passed on. But when we see her on the screen, it does make us smile a little bit. And I think she probably would be very happy to hear that we're all smiling when we remember her.

BERMAN: You know, she made it look so easy. Even raising Jan, which as we all know, was never easy. Let's just watch a quick clip of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EVE PLUMB, ACTRESS: See what I mean? She wants to be editor, boom, she's editor.

HENDERSON: Jan, you're really not being fair. You know that Marcia's been working on that for months. Look, honey, if you really feel you're in your sister's shadow, do something about it. Get out and develop your own talent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Jan really wasn't being fair there.

BALDWIN: Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.

TURNER: Marcia, exactly.

BALDWIN: Right. Nischelle, thank you so much for calling in as we're remembering and we're celebrating this iconic TV mom in Carol Brady.

BERMAN: She was so pitch perfect. I mean, you know, every little clip you see from "The Brady Bunch," she's just perfect.

BALDWIN: She's so sweet. So sweet, so sweet.

BERMAN: All right.

BALDWIN: So also today, day after Thanksgiving. You're still maybe hurting a little bit after all the servings of turkey. Today is also the day you can get out and shop until you drop. Black Friday is here. Bargain hunters hitting the stores last night into the wee hours this morning to try to grab those best deals.

We begin with Alison Kosik, our holiday shopping coverage live there inside of a Target store. Are you seeing people or did they rush in last night?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know what, I think they rushed in last night, but it doesn't mean that they're not going to rush in today either.

I want to give you an idea of just how much they rushed in. I'm in the electronics department. I want you to check out this line. Yes, it's empty right here. But this black rope, it shows just how far the line went.

And you know what this year's got-to-get gift is? It's TVs. It's 4K TVs. Heck, it's any kind of TV.

Target is saying that, at its stores last night when it opened its doors at 6 p.m., when you saw those hundreds and hundreds of people waiting outside, they sold 3,200 TVs per minute every minute for the first hour that they were open.

So, although we're seeing Black Friday kind of bleed into Thursday, it's still a very significant shopping event.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOSIK (voice-over): This year's Black Friday frenzy kicking off with hundreds jamming the streets outside Macy's flagship store in New York City. Early bird shoppers taking over entire departments in search of steep discounts. It's that time of year when all-out chaos ensues over jumbo-sized TVs and shoppers battle it out over who gets the biggest deals.

This excited crowd caught clamoring over electronics at a Wal-Mart in Columbus, Mississippi, even though Wal-Mart is trying to reduce the brawls by handing out wristbands to a limited number of customers for hot items and increasing staffing.

Still, across the country, retailers are welcoming the long lines, ushering in eager bargain hunters. And customers are braving inclement weather. Shoppers at this Best Buy in Portland standing in the rain for hours.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm soaking wet, and I'm still here.

KOSIK: Forgoing Thanksgiving dinner to flood the aisles in search of big-ticket items, ready with cash in hand.

The National Retail Federation says holiday sales this year are expected to top $650 billion, a 3.6 percent increase from 2015. And on Cyber Monday, at least 36 percent of consumers plan to nab their deals online.

(END VIDEOTAPE) KOSIK: OK. Just to show you a TV purchase in action, we've got a 55- inch going out the door right here, a 4K. Come and get them before they're gone.

Back to you.

BERMAN: This is it. This is live television, folks. We're seeing a TV go right there. A Black Friday sale. All right, Alison Kosik, thanks so much. Great to see you this morning.

Joining us now, consumer spending analyst for H-Squared Research, Hitha Herzog, and CNN chief business correspondent and star of "EARLY START," Christine Romans is here, as well.

We saw that TV flying off the shelves right before our very eyes. Really? Are we talking about electronics, again, that are going to be the hot item this year?

HITHA HERZOG, CONSUMER SPENDING ANALYST: Yes, definitely. Like I was saying, I was in Wal-Mart earlier today, actually a couple hours ago, and electronics is one of the biggest sellers that was selling out over at Wal-Mart, including Target, as well.

Those televisions, you would think that, you know, especially with this new millennial generation, people aren't watching TV as much, but it's actually quite the contrary. They're buying these gigantic televisions.

BERMAN: Thank goodness.

HERZOG: Thank goodness. We're also -- exactly.

[07:10:09] CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: A hundred bucks cheaper now than they were even a month ago.

HERZOG: Right. So you're getting gigantic televisions for $250 that are super souped up, you know, 4K smart TVs. but also iPads. Technology, as well. You know, just Apple is having their first Black Friday sale. It's one of the first times that they ever put their products on sale. So, some of the older items are less -- are more discounted than some of the newer ones.

BALDWIN: Can we just be real for a minute, though? I mean, so many people shop online. There are -- I'm getting inundated all the time in my inbox of this deal or that deal. I mean, is today truly the Black Friday that we used to always talk about?

ROMANS: It isn't the Black Friday we used to always talk about, because now you've got Cyber Monday, which actually is starting on Saturday this year, which is online only deals. You've got -- they call it Brown Thursday now, because you have all these retailers that are open in the evening on Thursday of Thanksgiving. So, you leave the dishes and, you know, and leave the trimmings; and you go and you go shopping instead.

And even this year, Amazon started its Black Friday online deals the first week in November.

But Nerd Wall (ph), I did an analysis of all the ads for today and found that these are good deals for today.

BALDWIN: They are?

ROMANS: They are good. These deals today are better in many cases than they were earlier.

HERZOG: I want to take it one step further, too. I think, really, the good deals are really more specific to product, as well.

BALDWIN: Like what?

HERZOG: Electronics, as I was saying, that's -- they actually go on the best discount now. But as we go through later into -- as we get closer to holiday and in through December...

BALDWIN: Yes.

HERZOG: ... you'll see better discounts and more lower discounts on things like clothing.

BALDWIN: Yes. So hold off on that.

HERZOG: On travel, yes. RetailMeNot came out with a study just recently that said event travel, discounts on travel are up to 60 percent, I mean, just this weekend. And clothing, as well. And as well -- electronics. I have it right here.

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: ... too. I would say later in the year closer to -- closer to Christmas, jewelry, apparel, that kind of stuff.

And if you're shopping for yourself, you know, then you wait until after Christmas, honestly, because those are the best deals altogether.

BERMAN: What's a good deal, though? How much should I be looking to save?

ROMANS: Sixty-five percent are the best deals. We've been analyzing this all morning, our producers, and 65 percent seem to be the best deals. I would not accept anything less than 40 percent. I mean, you can walk to a Banana Republic...

BERMAN: I gave you 35 percent every morning on "EARLY START." You know?

ROMANS: Walk into a Banana Republic every day and get 40 percent off, right? There are coupon codes for 20 percent off all -- all the time. So really be -- also be careful about retailers that put the price higher and then give you a really deep discount. Just be careful of that, too. HERZOG: There's also -- there's also this price differentiation.

We're talking a little bit about Amazon prior to going on air. And -- but Amazon is really interesting, because what they do is that they sometimes figure out -- they switch the price up a little bit. So you'll see a product that was once discounted earlier in the year and is now back up, again. So you really have to watch those prices.

So even if you're getting -- it says you're getting a 40 percent discount, that price actually may have been lower in August. So, what you want to do is download these apps that are out there that will tell you exactly when Amazon is dropping that price or other retailers, online retailers.

ROMANS: They're not doing this to be nice to you. They're not doing this to give you a deal.

BALDWIN: They're not? What?

ROMANS: No, no, no. This is not about you or us. It's about them making money. It's called Black Friday, because this is when they started being in the black for the year. That's what it's called -- that's why it's called Black Friday.

They're here to make you spend -- convince you to spend more money than you wanted to. You're going to see $19.99 shoe and boot -- women's shoe and boot door busters, but they're hoping you're going to get the $19.99 great deal and go in and spend more anyway. You are hunting for a bargain; they're hunting for you to pad their bottom line.

HERZOG: I have to say, though, charitable donations are up. PayPal came out with a study that said 52 percent of Americans are giving more this year than ever before.

BERMAN: All right, guys. Stick around. A lot more to discuss, including what do you get for the former Massachusetts governor who has everything? Do you get him, say, the State Department? Well, Donald Trump considering that right now, and there is huge dissension in the ranks. A campaign like I have never seen before, including a negative campaign over the State Department. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:17:55] BALDWIN: Welcome back to NEW DAY.

With President-elect Donald Trump taking no holiday from cabinet building, there appears to be a great divide among transition team members, a public divide, over who should serve as secretary of state, with top aide Kellyanne Conway stirring the pot over social media.

So Jason Carroll is down at Mar-a-Lago, the sort of winter White House there in Palm Beach. Jason, I mean, it's sort of extraordinary how this is playing out so publicly.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's incredible. Usually this is something, Brooke, as you know that is done privately. But it's been extraordinary to watch this play out publicly.

A number of folks still have not forgiven not -- Mitt Romney for being so very critical of Donald Trump during the campaign, and that's why they are now supporting Rudy Giuliani behind the scenes and in public for secretary of state.

Kellyanne Conway weighing into the debate publicly. She tweeted about it yesterday, saying, "Receiving deluge of social media and private communication regarding Romney. Some Trump loyalists warn against Romney as secretary of state." Conway, for her part, Brooke, saying, look, all she was doing is saying publicly what she's been advising both President-elect Trump and Mike Pence about privately -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right, Jason, thank you.

Let's start there with CNN political commentator Matt Lewis and politics editor for TheRoot.com, Jason Johnson.

Good morning.

MATT LEWIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

JASON JOHNSON, POLITICS EDITOR, THEROOT.COM: Good morning.

BALDWIN: Matt, let's start with you. You know, when you look through some of these Kellyanne tweets, the word "loyalist" jumps out at me, the word "betrayal." This is all playing out...

BERMAN: Subtle, very, very subtle.

BALDWIN: Very cool, very subtle.

LEWIS: Yes.

BALDWIN: What's happening here?

LEWIS: Well, I think there are two possibilities. One possibility is that she's freelancing. That this is -- that this is her doing something that, in itself, is remarkable.

In politics there's always been this distinction between who the principles are and who the staffers are. So principles are people like presidents and secretaries of state. They are seen as at a different level than the staffers. Staffers are sort of hired help that are to be seen and not heard.

[07:20:05] And, so, if Kellyanne Conway is doing this on her own, to sort of, you know, advise President-elect Trump through the media, that is something that would have been, in years past, really frowned upon. You can't imagine, like, Dana Perino dissing, you know, Bolton during the George W. Bush administration publicly.

There's also the chance that this is actually coordinated. That Donald Trump is trolling Mitt Romney and toying with him, and that Conway is actually doing this, you know, with Trump's imprimatur. I don't know. BERMAN: And Jason, this does represent, I mean, there is a clear

divide here when you're talking about Trump world. I mean, Mitt Romney would represent something significant. Mitt Romney would represent Donald Trump going way, way beyond his circle of support, the people supported him during the campaign, and bringing in people from way far afield to help with this administration.

JONSON: Right. Well, yes. And that's why he'd be sending him out of the country. Right?

There's an element to this that you sometimes see when someone is like the president of the United States. They may choose some of their most vocal critics, who are still within their party, and give them prominent positions that will take them out of Washington.

What did President-elect Barack Obama do? He took Hillary Clinton, who had been one of his biggest critics, made her secretary of state and told her to get out of the country. So that may be one of the ideas behind the Trump administration.

But I also think this. I think that what Kellyanne Conway is doing is very disorganized. It's very unprofessional, and it sets a very bad precedent for how this administration is going to work. We can't necessarily know what's happening in a Trump administration, if everyone is tweeting their own opinion and we don't have one solidified voice.

BALDWIN: It's not even just Kellyanne Conway. It's folks like Newt Gingrich or Mike Huckabee, who are taken to talking almost to Trump from television to try to get their message across.

JOHNSON: Right.

BALDWIN: Let's move on, though, and talk about all the potential picks within the cabinet and how much they're worth together. So, you have, you know, Betsy Devos, 5.1 billion; Harold Hamm, 15.3 billion; Wilbur Ross, 2.9 billion. I'm wondering, you know, these are people who Trump would, of course, know. That would be his network, you know. Do you think that they would have the chops, Matt?

LEWIS: Well, look, I mean, I think you know, there's an optics problem with that. And it's something that we can talk about now.

Ultimately, though, I think Donald Trump is going to be judged by whether or not his administration is a success. And somebody like, you know, Betsy Devos, who's going to focus, you know, likely on something like school choice, which could give, you know, poor inner city kids a chance to get a better education, that's going to, in the long run, I think, overcome how much -- the fact that she's a billionaire or whatever.

BALDWIN: Jason, why are you shaking your head?

JOHNSON: Yes, because that's not true. Look, a $5,000 voucher is not going to help me if public school -- if private school education is going to cost me $25,000 a year. LEWIS: There's also charter schools. It's not just vouchers.

Vouchers is one of many things she could do.

JOHNSON: Here's the issue -- here's the issue. What we're actually talking about is the fact that Donald Trump said that he was going to put together an administration of the forgotten man, and he's putting in a bunch of billionaires. Now, whether or not they do a good job or not, we don't know, because he hasn't been put into office. But I can tell you right now, this is not what he campaigned on.

LEWIS: And all the poor people that Barack Obama picked.

(CROSSTALK)

JOHNSON: ... problematic for the men and women out there who are working. And, actually, I'm not concerned about what Barack Obama picked, because he's not president any more. Donald Trump is.

BERMAN: I'm not so sure...

LEWIS: My only point is that all of these people that we picked...

JOHNSON: Your point is that Devos seems like a good candidate. And maybe she is; maybe she isn't. But at this point, she's a millionaire for a candidate who said, "I'm going to make this administration look like the forgotten Americans." And right now I don't think there's many Americans who are worth $26 million a year who are forgotten.

LEWIS: Sadly, not on this side of the camera. I wish.

BERMAN: Go ahead, Matt.

LEWIS: The point is that we're talking -- we're talking by definition about elites. You are not going to name somebody your secretary of state or even secretary of education who's making minimum wage.

JOHNSON: I didn't think he would.

LEWIS: Whether you're Bill Clinton, or Barack Obama or Donald Trump.

JOHNSON: Doesn't matter.

LEWIS: Does it matter that they're worth $20 million instead of $10 million? Like, is that a big difference? I don't think so. They're not like me. They don't, you know...

JOHNSON: No, no, no. That's not -- that's not the issue. The issue at its core, like I said, we will see what this administration ends up doing. But if you spend your time saying, "Look, they're forgotten people." You're trying to tell me that there's not a local secretary of state? You're trying to tell me that there isn't somebody who's a state director of the Republican Party who is not a millionaire who actually knows about education? There are tons of conservative activists out there and men and women who are concerned about making this country great again, which is what Donald Trump ran on, who aren't some of his billionaire crony friends. That's really simple. America is full of talent. We should see those people. He's good at

finding them. He had a show all about it.

BALDWIN: All right. Appreciate the disagreement, gentlemen. Matt and Jason, thank you so much for joining. To be fair, when I was looking at previous appointments, even President Obama, he selected a billionaire entrepreneur as secretary of commerce.

[07:25:00] BERMAN: And Penny Pritzker. There's a lot of rich people who end up serving in government right now. I'm not sure it's so uncharacteristic what Donald Trump told us (ph) this year. I mean, these are people who -- you know, who made their fortunes, and he said he would rely on them.

BALDWIN: I don't know if America cares or not. They just don't...

BERMAN: They don't?

BALDWIN: I don't know. We'll see. We'll see.

By the way, the effort to clean up that presidential election not taking a holiday. Former Green Party candidate, Jill Stein, joins us next to tell us why she is pushing for a recount in three battleground states.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Breaking news out of France this morning. Authorities there have arrested five men who prosecutors say were planning an imminent attack under orders from ISIS. French authorities say the terror suspects' intentions were made clear in encrypted messages coming from ISIS members in Iraq and Syria. The arrests were made on Sunday in two different cities in France. Investigators say documents were recovered detailing some of the plans. Police also say they found firearms and ammunition -- John.

BERMAN: Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein wants a recount in three battleground states: Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. She's raised more than $4 million to make this happen. This comes after computer experts have raised questions about the possible hacking of voting machines.

Dr. Jill Stein joins us this morning to talk about this all. Dr. Stein, thanks so much for being with us. Do you think this election was stolen?