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New Day

Ron DeSantis and Andrew Gillum win GOP and Democratic Gubernatorial Primaries; Two Moderate Candidates Face Off in Arizona Senate Race. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired August 29, 2018 - 8:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the going got rough, he would always be able to rise to the occasion.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: The void to be filled by John's passing is more than I can say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota on John Berman.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your New Day. It is Wednesday, August 29th, 8:00 in the east.

We begin with a major upset in the Florida Democratic primary for governor and a victory for the leftwing of the party. And this sets up a race between a Bernie Sanders progressive and a vocal President Trump supporter in November. The Tallahassee mayor, Andrew Gillum, was outspent by millions of dollars in the primary, but he pulled off an upset over more establishment candidates. He becomes the state's first black gubernatorial nominee, defeating four other competitive candidates in a very tight race. Gillum will face off against Congressman Ron DeSantis in November whose campaign surged after getting the endorsement of President Trump. Moments ago, Gillum appeared on NEW DAY, and he talked about his opponent and Florida's voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW GILLUM, (D) NOMINEE FOR FLORIDA GOVERNOR: They're going to be looking for a governor who is going to appeal to our higher aspirations as a state, who is going to talk about what it means to build a Florida that makes room for all of us and not just some of us. DeSantis can do the bidding of big business and big lobbyists and Donald Trump in his divisive rhetoric. I'm going to be here to do the business of the people of the state of Florida. That's the job of the governor of this state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: We also invited Congressman DeSantis on the program but he was unable to join us.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: One other big result overnight in Arizona, the Republican race to replace Senator Jeff Flake. Representative Martha McSally fended off a challenge from two hardline conservatives. McSally will now face off against Democratic Representative Kyrsten Sinema. This is a race which really could help decide which party takes control of the Senate. But let's talk about Florida because this was a stunner. Joining us now is Elizabeth Koh, state government reporter for "The Miami Herald" and "Tampa Bay Times." And Elizabeth, you were there while this was going down last night. Describe to me the emotion of that moment.

ELIZABETH KOH, STATE GOVERNMENT REPORTER, "MIAMI HERALD" AND "TAMPA BAY TIMES": Thanks very for having me. I think it's pretty comfortable to say it was an ecstatic mood in that ballroom last night when supporters came in around 7:30 to watch the results come in. It was pretty clear that people were cautiously optimistic that Andrew Gillum would outperform the polls, but it wasn't really until polls closed at 8:00 p.m. in the western part of the state that you saw people seriously consider the possibility that Andrew Gillum was going to win that night. And as the numbers started rolling in, as Broward County, which is the liberal stronghold in south Florida, started reporting their numbers, the mood in the ballroom just got more and more and more excited, and by the time A.P. called the race for mayor Gillum it was just a deafening roar.

BERMAN: What makes this so interesting in Florida politics is Gillum is not the type of Democratic nominee that Democrats usually believe is more electable statewide. Of course they've lost five straight elections for governor there with white candidates running for governor so maybe this is the type of thing that's different, but it's unusual. This is the departure for that. And the reason it's so interesting nationally is because Gillum comes from the Bernie Sanders wing, the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. How do you see that playing out?

KOH: I think it's very definitely going to be the Sanders/Trump matchup that some people might have wanted in 2016. Mayor Gillum is facing Congressman Ron DeSantis who is an endorsee of President Trump's and was not expected to win the Republican nomination until President Trump said that he would support DeSantis in the primary. After that and after President Trump held a rally for Congressman DeSantis in Tampa it was pretty clear he was going to trounce the other primary runner in the GOP race, Adam Putnam.

BERMAN: And as if on cue, President Trump, who may very well be watching this segment on the Florida race, sent out this message about the Florida race. He says, "Not only did Congressman Ron DeSantis easily win the Republican primary, but his opponent in November is his biggest dream, a failed socialist mayor named Andrew Gillum who has allowed crime and many other problem to flourish in his city. This is not what Florida wants or needs." I don't believe that Andrew Gillum is a socialist. I don't have any knowledge of the crime situation in Tallahassee, but I bet you President Trump doesn't, either. The question here, Elizabeth, Donald Trump there Florida, how do you think he will be a factor in this election?

KOH: Donald Trump has remained pretty popular with the Republican base here in Florida, and Florida voted for Donald Trump in 2016. It's important to remember that when we're thinking about the general election race that we're going into. So I think people who might discount that factor are doing that at their peril. Congressman Ron DeSantis showed that just off the strength of the president's endorsement he was able to capture a Republican primary with more than half of the vote, and that's considering that the opponent he was running against was expected to win until President Trump tipped his hand in the race.

[08:05:00] BERMAN: Elizabeth Koh, thanks so much for being with us. Appreciate your insight from the ground there in Florida.

KOH: Thank you very much for having me.

CAMEROTA: OK, thank you very much, Elizabeth. Let's bring in our CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash and CNN politics senior writer and editor Harry Enten. OK, so let's just keep going with Florida for a little bit, because we talked to Jeff Weaver, Bernie Sanders' adviser. He does think that this is a sign, it's a bellwether, Harry, of what is to come in the midterms and beyond in 2020. So how remarkable is it, the upset that we've seen?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN POLITICS SENIOR WRITER AND EDITOR: Look, Gillum came from behind. None of the polls had him winning, and even the last- minute polls that perhaps showed him coming up didn't have him anywhere close to pulling off this kind of performance. But let's also keep in mind he got 34 percent of the vote, right. A majority voted for other candidates. So to take this and say this is definitely a sign of what's going on in the Democratic Party I think is a stretch too far. But it will set up a very interesting general election test, right, whereby we'll see someone from the Bernie Sanders wing of the party faceoff against someone who is definitely a fan of Donald Trump and only won the nomination because of Donald Trump.

BERMAN: Such an interesting race, because I think both sides are owning their positions in a way you don't normally see. We had Andrew Gillum on before, and I was reading him the statement from Ron DeSantis going after him, allegedly going after him. Ron DeSantis says that Andrew Gillum is for abolishing ICE. And Andrew Gillum says, yes, I want to see it replaced with something else. Ron DeSantis says Gillum is for single payer health care. And Gillum says, yes, guilty. Guilty. I think that's something the people of Florida need. You see that split very clearly here, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: As I was watching the interview I was thinking about something, a word, that is authenticity. And that is -- that was a major driver of Donald Trump and the support of Donald Trump, that he said things that were, in his words, politically incorrect. And people liked that.

And you're going to see the same, we already saw it in your interview with Andrew Gillum, him supporting things that are in many places considered fringe, but he's standing by it. That could go further than you would think, particularly with people in the middle, like, OK, this guy is an actual person who will stand by what he believes. And I presume you're going to see the same thing on the right. You're going to see the same thing with Ron DeSantis because it's hard to imagine him abandoning some of his more conservative principles that somebody like Adam Putnam who's a more accomplishment Republican who lost by like 20 points wouldn't have supported.

So that is going to be another test. It's sticking by your ideals, sticking by your fundamental beliefs and principles and being who you are, and how much voters gravitate towards that versus the traditional starting off on the left or right depending on your party and then running towards the middle and then voters are confused about what you believe.

BERMAN: Why don't you meet me in the middle?

BASH: My favorite summer song.

BERMAN: We've been singing it all morning. I don't know that plays in politics anymore. I don't know that that's a thing. It's a thing on the radio but not in politics.

CAMEROTA: I know. That's weird when that doesn't work, when the summer anthem doesn't comport with what's happening in the political season.

Let's move on to Arizona. I don't want to give that short shrift because something interesting happened there as well, Harry. So Martha McSally won in the Arizona seat to replace Jeff Flake in the primary, 51 percent, OK, 52.9 percent now versus her opponents. And what's interesting about this is that she had publicly criticized President Trump when he was a candidate about that vulgar "Access Hollywood" tape. She called it disgusting, and somehow worked her way around to supporting him and him supporting her now.

ENTEN: Look, I think she recognized that in order to win a primary in 2018 it's no longer the time on the Republican side of the aisle to go after the president of the United States, so she took a clear tack to be much more Trump friendly. It clearly paid off. What I would point out, though, is if we're talking about the Florida gubernatorial race pitting the left wing against the right wing, in Arizona Senate race you have the complete opposite of that. You have two moderates, two of the most moderate members of the House of Representatives going against each other. And that's kind of why I'm always a little skeptical of judging primary electorates based on one contest or another because sometimes you get conflicting signals.

BERMAN: Maybe Zedd does apply in Arizona, maybe "Meet Me in the Middle" work there. Right, Dana, you're with me on this?

CAMEROTA: Oh, my God. How great is this, Dana?

BASH: I feel you.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: You can see Martha McSally is already running ads trying to paint Sinema as a liberal. And people should go look at it. It has Sinema at a protest in, as Martha McSally says, a pink tutu, protesting, and that's the race she wants to run, saying Sinema is not the moderate she claims to be.

[08:10:05] BASH: And Harry's exactly right. There's a very different test in Arizona. It is the more traditional, the meet me in the middle test. I also love the fact that you have two women running against one another, so whoever wins is going to be a female senator from Arizona, which is pretty cool. And I think the other thing to look at is although Martha McSally on the Republican side certainly didn't run as a John McCain Republican, she tried as hard as she could in the end to embrace Donald Trump because that's where the Republican base is, that's where the Republican voters are, she is a combat veteran. She's a fighter pilot, so she has a lot of the personal story characteristics of somebody like McCain. And you can bet -- and she already is in that add you referenced, the pink tutu ad, going to continue to play that up in a really big way. And again, the combat veteran sort of bio is something we've seen historically from men and now we see it from a woman.

CAMEROTA: It sounds like, Harry, President Trump is quite nervous actually about what is going to happen in the midterms. And the reason we know this is because behind closed doors, outside of public view where he often acts quick confident, behind closed doors he's warning evangelical this week about what might happen if Democrats win, and he's fearmongering and saying that there could be violence, we would see violence if Democrats win. And the fact that he's resorting to that that tactic I think, behind closed doors, gives you a window into how he's feeling.

ENTEN: I think so. I've never seen a president of the United States more interested in polling numbers than Donald Trump is. So he is obviously getting all of these internal reports, and if you read the excerpts from Republican strategists, they're quite worried as well, and it tends to indicate their numbers are showing what we're seeing publicly as well, and that is that Republicans are well behind on the generic congressional ballot, and if you look at race by race and you look at race ratings, you do see in fact that Democrats, while certainly not an overwhelming favorite, are at least slightly favored to take back the House, and that's why the president is resorting to the tactics that he is.

And in fact it's just like 2016 when the president thought he was going to lose, and he's going, oh, my God, all this voter fraud, I'm not sure the results will actually be real. This is just another example of that in my mind.

BERMAN: Let me draw a line between what he said to that group of evangelicals in the White House when he said there will be violence if Democrats win, to the statement that he just put out about the Florida gubernatorial race where he said that Mayor Gillum allowed crime in the city of Tallahassee. Clearly the president likes to use the language of altercation. He thinks that plays, or at least he thinks it plays with specific voters.

BASH: It does. It does play. He tried to be the law enforcement candidate for a while, and he was, and he was urged to do so in 2016, but he won on a concept and on a sensibility of fear. That's what he knows. That's where he won, and he doesn't see any reason to change that. That's where he's coming from.

CAMEROTA: Harry Enten, Dana Bash, thank you both very much for helping us figure out what this morning looks like.

So is the president talking about firing Attorney General Jeff Sessions again? The answer is yes. But Maggie Haberman has more information.

BERMAN: Because there's air to breathe and water is wet, the answer is always yes.

CAMEROTA: The answer is always yes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:15:00]

BERMAN: So the progressive wing in the Democratic party and the Trump wing of the Republican party, they both won big on primary night in Florida, in the governor's race there which sets up an Election Day showdown that could have far reaching implications for each party in November, and beyond.

Joining us now is New York Times' White House Correspondent and CNN political analyst Maggie Haberman who's broken 12 stories in the last...

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Twelve hours.

BERMAN: ...twelve hours. No, so thanks for being with us...

HABERMAN: Thanks.

BERMAN: ...today. The primary results were fascinating.

HABERMAN: Right.

BERMAN: And you look at Florida, and there is no candidate that President Trump, I think, is prouder...

HABERMAN: Yes.

BERMAN: ...of supporting than Ron DeSantis...

HABERMAN: Yes.

BERMAN: ...who is now the Republican nominee from that state. Kellyanne Conway just spoke about this moments ago, let's listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT: I can't think of a candidate in this country who's leaned in more to the presidential endorsement than Ron DeSantis. He was down 20 points, won by 20 points, a true 40 point swing. But he took that endorsement from the President and he wore it very proudly.

He incorporated it in his paid media campaign, he talked about it. And he - and he's indicating to the people of Florida, he will be a reliable supporter of the Trump agenda, of lower taxes, and fewer regulations, all the while, respecting the state and local communities, and the way that they are administering to the needs of their citizenry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Look, it's obvious that the President's endorsement helps in a Republican primary. It's obvious the President - it helps the President's image of himself that it is successful.

HABERMAN: Yes.

BERMAN: We just don't know what it means in a general election yet.

HABERMAN: Right, look, it was always meant to mean more in a primary. But to be clear, as Trump as done with, sort of, less - now, not so hostile, just, takeover of the Republican party, it is a mark, I think, of pride for him given the pushback that he faced in his own primaries.

And the difficulty that he had leading up to his nomination convention in making sure that he was going to be the nominee. That he can, sort of, wave a magic wand and look at the effect that he - it has, especially because in the case of DeSantis, a lot of his advisors did not want him going in.

They had tried to hold him back for a while. And it was one of those instances where he did what he wanted to do at the end of the day. And hence, as it looks (ph), see, I was right. It - it is definitely a feather in his cap given that he has tried to influence these primaries and remake the party in his image.

However, to your point, there is an equal and opposite effect. And there is such a thing as negative polarization in terms of - in terms of politics. And you can see that he - as many votes as people supporting Trump gain, they risk losing it on the other side.

And you saw that energy, especially on the progressive left in the Democratic primary in Florida. This was a surprise win for Gillum who is, clearly, trending that way, but surpassed expectations. And that does say something about energy heading into the fall in the Democratic side. And that does say something about, again, and equal and opposite force against what Trump can do.

CAMEROTA: And then, behind the scenes, how is President Trump feeling heading into the midterms because, obviously, in public he acts quite bullish? But then, in private, as we've been discussing, there was this leaked audio...

HABERMAN: Yes.

[08:20:00] CAMEROTA: ...of a behind - a closed door meeting with evangelicals,

no cameras, but some participant leaked the audio of President Trump resorting to fear mongering tactics, saying if Democrats win, there'll be violence. And he's warning - suggesting that they, perhaps, spread that message at the pulpit. That tells you somebody who's quite nervous about what's going to happen.

HABERMAN: Remember, we last heard this - or who, at least, is willing to do anything to try to excite his own people, right? We last heard about that potential violence around Donald Trump's nomination...

BERMAN: Yes.

HABERMAN: ...in July of 2016, when some of his supporters, I think it was mostly Roger Stone, but perhaps a couple of others were talking about the threat of violence if Donald Trump was denied the nomination after he had won all of those primaries.

Sure, you are going to have people who are going to be upset. And there are going to be real arguments about fairness of process, that Donald Trump had lost it. But saying there is going to be violence, look at this dangerous for you outcome that you're facing. This is not a new tactic for the President, but it still is really striking to hear a president saying it. This is not candidate Trump anymore.

BERMAN: And you've know it for a long time. He knows what he is saying.

HABERMAN: Yes, he knows exactly what he's saying.

BERMAN: He's choosing these words specifically, and carefully, and for a reason.

HABERMAN: Yes. And look, he has been warned repeatedly that there are problems with that kind of language. He doesn't - he doesn't care. It is where he wants to go. It is what he thinks...

BERMAN: Yes.

HABERMAN: ...is going to have the most impact. He bases a lot of his actions on shock and we've seen this over and over. So, this isn't a surprise, but he doesn't have a whole lot of other bags of tricks because even in a great economy, they are still facing a potential loss of the House.

There are some Democrats who are feeling more bullish about the Senate than they have been. There is a - they are facing - it's not definite. They are facing the risk of a Democratic wave. And so, he doesn't have a whole lot of tricks in his bag to try to move against it. This is always one that he resorts to.

CAMEROTA: OK. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his fate, we've heard that, you know, obviously the President continues to criticize him publically, but we've also heard, now, that he is speaking with his top aides and lawyers - personal lawyers, about firing Jeff Sessions. What do we think his longevity? HABERMAN: So - I'm - he's been doing that for a year. There's really not a change since last July when he actually got a resignation letter from Jeff Sessions. That he, then, got back from Jeff Sessions and undid (ph) because he was warned that this was going to be a disaster.

Firing Jeff Sessions has been a hot stove that he has not wanted to touch, and he has known that he can't do since the last time that he touched a hot stove was firing James Comey, and he got Mueller.

So, in some ways, Mueller has actually (inaudible) job protecting for Jeff Sessions. The firing of Comey has led to job protection for Jeff Sessions. That said, it's a dysfunctional relationship and has been for some time.

And so, you have Republicans who now recognize that this might not be sustainable this way. Maybe we can make a change after November. However, for all the times that Lindsey Graham has said that, I'm not really certain who he has in mind as the replacement because there is still going to be an uphill battle on confirmation.

This has been the issue for the President the whole time, is getting new cabinet members approved. That would be, very much, the case with Jeff Sessions, especially depending on how he left.

We keep hearing that Jeff Sessions is getting tired of it. We've heard that repeatedly, too, as one top - two top Trump advisors have said to me, he wants to fire Jeff Sessions everyday. This has not changed. And so, there are days when he has gotten closer to it than others, but I think that you are just going to see a status quo heading into November.

BERMAN: The one change really is the language that Lindsey Graham and some other senators have chosen to use which opens up a different type of window. I don't know if it's an August-September window, or a November-December window. And those are two very different things.

HABERMAN: Correct.

BERMAN: We'll see.

HABERMAN: I don't think it's a August - an August-September window. I think it is about gracing the skids heading into the fall. I don't think that was about the President's issue trigger finger right now.

BERMAN: Let's talk about someone who has been in the middle of these discussions, or at least was because I don't know how much he is talking with the President these days at all, which is White House Counsel Don McGahn.

HABERMAN: He's not talking to the President very much.

BERMAN: Well that says a little bit. Axios is reporting this morning that it's not a matter of if it's a matter of when...

HABERMAN: That's right. BERMAN: ...Don McGahn leaves the White House which is actually something that CNN and others have been reporting to an extent for a while, too. Axios makes it seem more imminent.

HABERMAN: Yes.

BERMAN: You know, Maggie, you, obviously, and the New York Times had that - that blockbuster reporting. That that McGahn had been talking, at length, with the - with the Special Counsel...

HABERMAN: Yes.

BERMAN: Where is this relationship?

HABERMAN: This relationship is, basically, in the past in terms of being a relationship. They coexist in the White House. We had heard that McGahn was likely slash expected to leave after the Kavanaugh hearing assuming that he does get nominated - or get - does get cleared and Senate approved.

Because then he will feel like he has left his mark. And that will be, really, what he was there for, in part, which is to steer these judicial appointments through. But there is no real relationship. Emmet Flood has been talked about as a replacement. I'm not positive if that's actually going to happen.

[08:25:00]

Emmet Flood is currently handling the Mueller probe. He was the replacement Ty Cobb, internally dealing with that. But - but the two - the President's two favorite punching bags have been Jeff Sessions and Don McGahn. And I think you have seen both of them tire of it. McGahn, certainly, I think believes he has done all he can do at this point.

CAMEROTA: All right. Maggie Haberman, thank you...

HABERMAN: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: ...very much, always great to get your reporting and insight. OK, now to this shocking number out of Puerto Rico. Revised numbers of victims say that Hurricane Maria killed almost as many people as 9/11. We get live reaction from San Juan on why these numbers - the official numbers were so wrong.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Crowds of fans lining up to pay tribute to the queen of soul. Today's second public viewing is part of a week of commemorations for Aretha Franklin who died earlier this month of pancreatic cancer at the age of 76. CNN's Ryan Young live in Detroit with more. What a car behind you there, Ryan.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely John. This has been amazing. People have said this has almost been like a religious experience for some of them. I want to show you this car though. This hearse, right here, actually brought Aretha Franklin's father to his final resting place, Rosa Parks, and now Aretha Franklin.

And today, that gold casket arrived probably about a half hour ago. And people got silent here, once again, as she arrived here. But this has really been the story.