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New Day

Longtime Trump Supporters Weigh in On President-Elect; Cowboys Hold Off Vikings 17-15; Trump Rails Against "Dishonest Press" at Rally. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired December 02, 2016 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:32:36] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: During the course of the presidential campaign, we spoke with lots of Donald Trump supporters because we wanted to learn more about why they felt so passionately about him. So, this week we circled back with a group of them and many of you have expressed interest in learning more about these supporters' backgrounds.

So three of them, three of these politics have been around New Hampshire for years. John Hikel on the left and Paula Johnson are former New Hampshire state representative. Susan DeLemus is on the right is one of the 400 members and her term ends Tuesday. Johnson in the middle was also a convention delegate for Trump's campaign. DeLemus was an alternate.

So, I had a chance to speak with them and we start would the Carrier deal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN DELEMUS (R), NEW HAMPSHIRE STATE REPRESENTATIVE: The headline today was that Mr. Trump has made a company that was thinking about going to Mexico able to stay here in the United States, want to stay here in the United States.

CAMEROTA: Carrier. You're referring to Carrier.

DELEMUS: Yes, yes, Carrier, yes.

CAMEROTA: Carrier Air Conditioner are going to keep 1,000 of their jobs here in Indiana. Some will go to Mexico, but 1,000 workers will stay here, that's a coup.

We don't know that much about the deal. What they were offered in order to keep the jobs here.

Do you want to know more about that?

PAUL DIBARTOLO, TRUMP SUPPORTER: You know, from the beginning, Donald Trump had said that he was going to make fantastic deals and he was going to persuade companies to invest in America and invest in the American people, OK? He's proven that early on.

CAMEROTA: So, if they were given some sort of financial inducement to stay here -- let's say they were subsidized somehow, would that bother you?

DIBARTOLO: No, it wouldn't bother me. The key right now and Trump's primary focus is putting the American people first. That's all he cares about. Trump in a lot of ways reminds me about a hero of mine which is General Patton, OK? I think since World War II, there hasn't been a hero for America like Patton was and I think Trump is the new hero for America.

CAMEROTA: But, John, if there were some sort of subsidy given. If there were, I thought the free market didn't pick winners and losers. Remember that?

JOHN HIKEL (R), FORMER NEW HAMPSHIRE STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Yes, I remember that well. I think a lot of businesses and things that we do in this country are subsidized, from petroleum to many companies, government contracts.

[06:35:05] CAMEROTA: Of course. But why did it bother you when the Obama administration chose, say, Solyndra, and electric car companies, but not if there was a subsidy given to keep a company here.

HIKEL: I think they threw that money away with Solyndra. I think it was a bad investment. I think it was a bad deal.

CAMEROTA: So, that's what you didn't like about it. You thought it was a bad investment and not that it was subsidized.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It has proven to be bad --

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: It has proven to be a bad -- but before people knew. Before they went bankrupt. There were lots of conservatives who were upset that they were getting subsidies. What's happened to that feeling?

HIKEL: I think -- they're blocking out the fact that most of the things we have here are subsidized anyway.

CAMEROTA: So, are you as conservatives okay with that? The subsidies?

DIBARTOLO: No subsidizing. I can almost guarantee you he wasn't subsidizing the Carrier company.

HIKEL: Drive throughout these towns throughout the country and there are empty factories everywhere that we should have -- somebody should have taken the initiative to save those companies and have them stay here instead of moving.

CAMEROTA: Conflicts of interest. So, Mr. Trump has something like 144 businesses all around the world. Does anyone have any concern that that will complicate his dealings in the White House?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not at all.

DIBARTOLO: He has a family that, I mean, when you look at these folks. When you look at his kids, talk about raised right. He's going to release the business interest to them, OK, because they're totally capable. So, there's not going to be a conflict of interest because he's not going to be directly involved.

CAMEROTA: OK. But just -- help me understand this, substitute the word Ivanka for Chelsea Clinton. And if Chelsea Clinton were going to be running the Clinton Global Initiative or the Clinton Foundation, why would that have bothered you if Hillary had won? Why would that have been a conflict of interest?

DELEMUS: Because Chelsea is the product of government. She is the product of parents who have done nothing but make money off of the people and in government and in politics.

CAMEROTA: Well, they made money after he left the presidency, and he sold books and he gave speeches. Donald Trump has made money from selling books --

DELEMUS: They're never been in politics, and they've never used -- he's never had political background.

CAMEROTA: Why is it that you're totally comfortable with Donald Trump's family being able to have these other business interests that we deal with in terms of the U.S. policy and that's OK, but it wouldn't be OK for Bill and Chelsea Clinton to have the same deal?

HIKEL: Because Mr. Trump has disclosed hl so-called conflicts around the world.

CAMEROTA: How?

HIKEL: Well, by coming out and saying that he owns some of the best real estate and some of the best businesses in the world.

CAMEROTA: You don't know exactly what the level of connection is to some of these places.

HIKEL: And what's the purpose of releasing his taxes anyway?

CAMEROTA: You can see conflicts of interest.

HIKEL: I don't agree with that. I don't think that shows up.

JOHNSON: I don't care about the tax returns. He wasn't in politics.

Next year, I'd like to see his tax return when he's president. But right now, he's private. I like the to see every member of Congress show us every tax return so they can prove they're paying their taxes because we know some of these hypocrites down in Washington don't pay taxes.

CAMEROTA: OK.

DIBARTOLO: It comes down to trust. People trust Donald Trump, OK? Even if they don't admit to it because, again, their party affiliation, behind closed doors, they trust him. They trust him as a businessman. He had a solid career.

People do not trust Hillary Clinton.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

DIBARTOLO: Generally, they know she's crooked Hillary, even the people who supported her.

(CROSSTALK)

DIBARTOLO: She is, the husband is, the family is.

CAMEROTA: You're willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and if you find out --

HIKEL: That he violated that trust, then we'll feel differently.

CAMEROTA: The country didn't feel there was enough of a firewall Chelsea Clinton and if Hillary Clinton had won. So, I don't know if the country will feel that there is enough of a firewall between Ivanka and Don Jr. and Eric when they talk to their dad multiple times a day and the president.

HIKEL: If there is a firewall and the people don't feel that way, that's their problem.

DIBARTOLO: Donald Trump is not doing this to become rich, like the Clintons and a lot of other corrupt politicians. He's doing this for the sole reason to make America great again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: I think they really support Donald Trump.

Look, there are times when you're in a relationship where you have blind spots towards the ones you love. When I heard them say there that Mr. Trump disclosed everything, nothing could be further from the truth there.

I mean, Donald Trump, he won fair and square. But he disclosed less than any modern presidential candidate in history. The guy never released his tax returns. We don't know any of the details, really, of his vast business relationships. And they have chosen to decide that that's okay. That's their prerogative. But --

CAMEROTA: I mean, they're willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and wait until something pops up that is not OK.

[06:40:02] Also, I should mention that we conducted that interview on Wednesday before some of the deals, the specifics of the Carrier deal were known. So, now, we do know that $7 million worth of tax breaks will be going to Carrier. They didn't know that at the time.

BERMAN: Interesting to see. Again, Donald Trump has incredibly wide latitude obviously among his supporters. It would be interesting to see how he uses it.

The Cowboys and Vikings, they went down to the wire and this morning, fans are talking about the penalty that was not called. The highlights or lowlights if you're a Vikings fan, in the "Bleacher Report", next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: The Dallas Cowboys might never lose again. They've won 11 in a row, beating the Vikings last night.

Andy Scholes with more on this morning's "Bleacher Report".

Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, John.

How about them Cowboys? Dallas further cementing themselves as Super Bowl favorites with the win over the Vikings. Rookie quarterback Dak Prescott getting it done once again.

In the fourth quarter, Dak kind of swing it over to Dez Bryant and he's going to do the rest, taking it in for the touchdown. That puts Cowboys up 14-9.

Now, the Vikings were down eight under a minute to go when they finally find the end zone.

[06:45:02] Sam Bradford, the short pass to Jerick Mackinnon. Now, they need the two-point conversion to tie the game. And on this way, Bradford's pass, it's going to go incomplete but he wanted a flag because he got hit in the face pretty hard. You can see it on the replay. He never got that flag. Cowboys hold on to win 17-15.

All right, terrible and familiar news for Berman and Patriots fans. The season is likely over for Rob Gronkowski. He is having surgery today for a herniated disk in his lower back. The recovery time is eight weeks. That will make him ready to come back just in time for the Super Bowl. But the Patriots say they're going to wait for the results of the operation before making a final decision.

All right. It's championship weekend in college football. It gets started tonight. Number four Washington and number eight Colorado meeting in the Pac-12 championship game. The Huskies needing a win if they hope to make the playoff. I know you'll be watching very closely, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: As always, Andy, John does look despondent. That's right.

SCHOLES: I bet.

CAMEROTA: I know. That's tough news about Gronk as I call him. BERMAN: Gronk, you're on a first-name basis with Gronk.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BERMAN: Just give him a back rub next time. That's what we need.

CAMEROTA: Beg your pardon.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: Donald Trump taking on a familiar target. What he said about the media when he went off-script last night.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:25] BERMAN: Donald Trump held what his campaign or team is calling a "thank you" rally last night in Ohio. The reason I call it a campaign -- well, it looked like a campaign rally and he took on some of his favorite targets from the campaign including us.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT-ELECT: People back there, the extremely dishonest press said we won in a landslide. That was a landslide and we didn't have the press. The press was brutal.

Remember, you cannot get to 270. The dishonest press. There is no road.

Folks, how many times did we hear this? There is no path to 270. There's no path.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. Let's discuss. Joining us now CNN contributor and "New York Post" columnist Salena Zito, and CNN media analyst Bill Carter.

You know, Bill, first of all, you know, he's right about how many times we here, me, included, pointed out how difficult his path to 270 was. Not impossible, difficult to be sure. So, he's right about that. That's on the one hand.

On the other hand, he won. What's the point of continuing to dance in the end zone? What is the point of continuing to take on the media like this? Not take it on, just, you know --

BILL CARTER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: Here's a couple things. One, he enjoys it. It's part of the showmanship and he would rather do that right now I think than be bogged down with all the details of what he has to do in the future. I think he doesn't particularly finds that as much fun. This is also fun.

But I also think he does want to keep making the point that he actually won this, even though there are more people who voted for other people. I think that's important that he keep sending that message out, because it bothers him. I think it does bother him when he reads that 2.5 million more people voted for Hillary Clinton. And so, he's saying he won in an a landslide, which is an unusual term for this --

BERMAN: It's not true.

CARTER: It clearly isn't true. But a lot of things he said are basically meant to get his base fired up and supporting him and that's sort of his good applause line. I won in a landslide.

CAMEROTA: So, Salena, help everyone understand what it means for the next four years. Yes, it's fun and games to poke fun at the media and point them out at his rallies and everybody chants and gets worked up in a lather. But how many data points do we need at this point to understand what this will look like for freedom of the press for the next four years?

SALENA ZITO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, you know, I think it's too early to understand if there's going to be a problem with t press. I'm not as concerned, I think, than a lot of other people are, because, you know, Trump understands that the press is also important to him. He wouldn't have gotten through the primaries and through the early process without all the attention that we gave him.

So, I think what happens when he, you know, points us out at a rally or at an event, it helps connect him and remind his voters and his supporters that we got it wrong. And he's the president now. And, you know, they are sort of, you know, they sort of win in his eyes because, you know, they were right and we were wrong.

BERMAN: On the subject of getting it wrong. Alisyn did a fascinating interview over the course of two days.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: With voters, with Trump voters wide-ranging discussion about a number of things, Bill. And they kept on bringing up things that just aren't true. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Do you think that 3 million people illegal voted?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe in California that there were illegals that voted.

CAMEROTA: How many?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't -- to tell you the truth, nobody really knows that number.

CAMEROTA: But do you think three dozen or 3 million?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think there was a good amount, because the president told people that they could vote and it happened in Nassau. We caught some people that they went in Nassau and they said the president said I could vote. I'm here illegally.

CAMEROTA: Did you hear President Obama say illegal people can vote?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I did hear it.

CAMEROTA: Tell me where. You can find it on Facebook. Right. Hold on. I don't want to waste any more time. But, anyway, I see where it came from and it's Fox Business Network deceptively edited a clip of Barack Obama to argue the president encouraged illegal immigrants to vote when it in fact he had said nothing of the sort when you go back to the transcript.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:55:01] BERMAN: So, Bill, these things are not truth. Another way to say these things are lies. Yet people choose to believe it.

CARTER: Well, it's not -- I don't think they're choosing to believe it. I think there's been a movement to get away from what the media would call straight facts.

And what Trump puts out there and, listen, there's a whole series of media that support him and they're going to back him and they're going to confirm things that he says.

We know he had a million Pinocchios during this race, right? It happened every week and it didn't hurt him. It didn't hurt him at all because this was more of a sentiment election than a fact-based election. There was support for what he was saying on a visceral level. He was surprised that people took me literally when I said -- right? I was actually surprised.

BERMAN: It's actually a good point. What Bill was talking about is that a Carrier plant. Donald Trump went to Carrier. He struck a deal to keep 1,000 jobs there. He went to Carrier and he told them, you know what, I'd forgotten I promised to keep these jobs here. I can't believe you took me seriously.

CARTER: I can't believe you took me seriously, and then Corey Lewandowski said, you know, why are people taking him literally? That's not what it's about. People shouldn't be doing that.

And it's moved out of what we previously expected, which was that you say things and you mean them. You know?

CAMEROTA: And no one knows that better than Salena Zito who spoke to scores and scores of Trump supporters.

So, Salena, how do you see it when, you know, they don't necessarily follow the full thread of a story to its truth-based primary source?

ZITO: Well, I was there yesterday when he candidly admitted in Indianapolis that he didn't remember saying about saving Carrier. You know, voters, I believe them, having talked to them, believe they

have been force fed information that is against their belief system. And they have just sort of hit this point where they don't believe what we say to them because, you know, they'll watch the news and the description of Trump voter has always been, you know, filled with things like racist or bigot or uneducated.

And, you know, to them, those are lies. So, they believe that the media lies not only -- the media is going to lie about them, aren't they lying about everything? And that is what has pushed them away from us and we have broken trust with them.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

ZITO: And, you know, it's going to take a while to build it back.

CAMEROTA: You know, that reminds me. I want to say one more thing. Everybody is busy. Not everybody are journalists. Journalists are tasked with going to the primary source and chasing any statement to figure out if it's true.

But people are busy in their lives. You see something on your Facebook feed and this is true of Democrats, of Republicans.

CARTER: Absolutely.

CAMEROTA: You're like, wow, did you see this, bill? That's incredible.

CARTER: Then they don't bother checking.

CAMEROTA: Of course not, because who has time?

CARTER: Especially if it confirms their own belief. If it confirms their own belief, they're going to really go with it.

BERMAN: I will say this. Liberals and the Democrats have as many, if not more complaints right now with the media than Trump supporters. No monopoly on it. It would be interesting to get them --

CAMEROTA: But we are doing our best to go to the source and find out the truth. That is our job. So, that is what we're trying to still do when we do it at our best.

You guys always do. Bill, Salena, thank you very much.

ZITO: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: We're following a lot of news for you this morning. Let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: We are a very divided nation. But we're not going to be divided for long.

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT: This is just the beginning.

TRUMP: All companies to keep their jobs in America.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is kind of corporate welfare.

TRUMP: We did have a lot of fun fighting Hillary, didn't we?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would rather lose than win the way you guys did.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you think I ran a campaign where white supremacists had a platform, you're going to look me in the face and tell me that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It did.

TRUMP: They say he's the closest thing to General George Patton that we have and it's about time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People who worked for James Mattis said they'd basically follow this guy into any conventions into hell because he'd do the same for them.

TRUMP: Are we doing a good job with our cabinet and our people?

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY.

Chris is off this morning. John Berman joins me.

Great to have you.

BERMAN: Good to be here.

CAMEROTA: OK, up first, President-elect Donald Trump celebrating his historic win at his first rally since the election. Mr. Trump looking and sounding a lot like candidate Trump in Ohio, delivering an American first message and reprising some of his greatest hits from the campaign trail.

BERMAN: And he slipped this in. He told the crowd that he's going to pick former Marine General James Mattis to be his defense secretary. All of this about 49 days away until the inauguration.

We have this all covered for you. Let's begin with Phil Mattingly live in Cincinnati.

Good morning, Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

It was kind of a return to a natural habitat for the president-elect.