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Kavanaugh and Accuser to Testify; Tornadoes Strike Virginia; Trump's Red Wave Boasts. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired September 18, 2018 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:30:37] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Professor Christine Blasey Ford, who says she was attacked, sexually assaulted by Kavanaugh 36 years ago, they will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday. Now, four of the committee's ten Democrats are women. On the Republican side, all 11 are white men.

Joining me now, two conservatives, two Republicans, Amanda Carpenter, former communications director for Senator Ted Cruz, and Amy Kremer, the co-chair of Women Vote Trump.

I am joined by two Republican women. That is two more Republican women that sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Amanda, so how and why is that a problem, if at all?

AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's a problem. I do think it's more generational than anything. But the subject matter trumps all. I don't know how anyone gets out of this hearing looking good. Whether you're a Republican senator who wants to ask I think would be fair and legitimate questions about the who, what, why and when of these events and particularly maybe why you can't place the where, but also for the accuser.

Listen, Brett Kavanaugh had lots of prep before he went through his confirmation hearings. He's a lifetime political player. He knows this game. She has never been in front of a spotlight like this and is going to have to answer very personal questions that could even get into, well, why were you seeing a therapist. And under those lights, I think anybody could crack. I think this is a tough situation for everyone all around and there's no good outcome guaranteed for anyone.

BERMAN: Amy, is there an image problem for the Republicans to have these 11 men questioning this one woman?

AMY KREMER, CO-CHAIR, WOMEN VOTE TRUMP: Well, I'm not -- I have never worked in the Senate, and I'm not familiar with all of their rules, but -- and I would ask Amanda, because she has worked in the Senate, maybe Grassley can bring in two female senators and let them do some questioning. I don't know if there would be a problem with it. Maybe they have to change the committee rules. But I do agree with Amanda, it's a generational thing. And, you know,

it's -- it is what it is. The Senate Judiciary Committee is made up of men, and I imagine it will change over time, but it's a slow process. Everything in the Senate is slow.

I think that the bigger issue is that Dianne Feinstein sat on this for so long and instead of bringing it to her committee members, as she should have, she withheld it. And they could have asked Judge Kavanaugh all these questions behind closed doors. I know she was trying to protect her anonymity and I respect that and I understand that, but she didn't have to bring it public, but she withheld it and now I think that what the Democrats want is a public spectacle and they want it for political purposes. And I think that's unfortunate for all involved, John.

BERMAN: Amanda.

CARPENTER: Listen, the timing is problematic for everyone. The lack of firm details is problematic for everyone. But that's all to the wind right now because we're going forward with the public hearings.

BERMAN: Right.

CARPENTER: And I would encourage all senators, Republican and Democratic, if you want this to be professional and serious, consider surrendering your time to professional questionnaires who will not make themselves the story.

And, you know, there is so many corollaries that go back to Anita Hill and I really hope people go review those tapes and look at the political outcomes. I mean even if you're convinced this is a good idea and Republicans want to go through and put her on the spotlight, look at what happened, Republicans got their judge in 1991 and then Democrats got their president in 1992 and a whole slew of female Democratic candidates, including Dianne Feinstein, who knows this game very well.

And so, just proceed carefully. Seriously, don't try to score points. Just get the record straight and get as much information as you can and let the chips fall where they may.

BERMAN: Get the facts. Get the facts.

KREMER: That --

BERMAN: Jeffrey Toobin was talking about that, get the facts if you can. That might be the best goal for everyone involved here.

And, Amy, I just want to make clear one thing here because, as you said, you brought up the issue of timing, which has been a talking point from the White House and particularly among Republicans lately. Dianne Feinstein says she kept the identity a secret and did not go public because she wanted to respect the anonymity. We heard from the lawyer yesterday who said the same thing.

You can dispute that. I just want to lay out what they said. And as Amanda said, that may be moot at this point because we have this hearing scheduled now for Monday and we are going to hear their stories.

Amy, what do you want to hear from Professor Ford?

[08:35:07] KREMER: I mean, John, honestly, I think this should be done behind closed doors. They're doing it in public. It is what it is. And I do think she has a right to be heard and I think Judge Kavanaugh has a right to be heard.

But, at the end of the day, I don't think you're going to prove it or disprove it. I think we're going to walk away from there and we're going to have the same facts. And, quite honestly, I don't think it's going to change the vote on this confirmation. I think --

BERMAN: Well, that may be. That may be, but you say you want her to be heard, but clearly not by us. You only want her to be heard by -- by the members of the committee.

KREMER: Well, I just -- you know, I -- no, I -- let me say, I mean, it's like what Amanda just said about going through something this personal. If it was so traumatic, and I understand that it is for many assault victims, and to go through and sit in a public hearing that is that intense and be questioned about the actual event, to be questioned about why you were in therapy, about your relationship with your husband, that is intense. And I don't know how that helps anyone. And that's why I have said I would think that I thought that it should be done behind closed doors. And then if the Senate Judiciary Committee wanted to bring Ford and have a public hearing, that's fine. But I don't want to see anybody go through that. But if she is willing to go through that, and they're going to have this public hearing, then, you know, we're going to do it.

I --

BERMAN: What does it tell you -- what does it tell you, Amanda, that Professor Ford is willing to go through that? Amy's right, this is very difficult. I think the fact that she's chosen to go on the record and come forward with her identity and say she wants to testify in public speaks about her.

CARPENTER: Yes, it shows she's very serious. I mean, listen, she got a lawyer. She voluntarily conducted a polygraph test. She's volunteering to testify in public. That's serious.

The only thing that's going to change the outcome of -- in terms of the vote is the fact that Judge Kavanaugh is on record giving firm assurances to senators that he never did anything like that. If there is a crack in that story, if there's a who, what, where, when, verifiable fact that cracks that story, then the nomination will be tanked. But if he survives this with his integrity intact and there is not more facts that come to light, then he's going to -- he's going to be confirmed.

BERMAN: That's a Susan Collins standard. Susan Collins says that if Judge Kavanaugh is proved to be lying --

CARPENTER: Yes.

BERMAN: Then she would oppose the nomination.

Amy, does that make sense to you?

KREMER: It does. And -- but I fully expect him to deny it. He has hired an attorney. He has adamantly denied it. Said not only did it happen with her, it's never happened with any other woman.

And, John, usually when people display these types of character flaws, it happens over and over again. And this man is a pillar in his community. Not only in his work, in his -- in his community, in his church. And so we've seen nothing else like it. Two of his former girlfriends last night were on another network talking about how -- the type of man he is and all the years that they've known him. So I don't expect him to crack because I truly don't believe anything is there. And I think that he will be confirmed.

BERMAN: I will only note Professor Ford, we started to hear from her friends. She, too, we are told, is a pillar in her community, which ultimately is what is going to make this so difficult and fought with peril, maybe, as Amanda points out, for the senates who sit on this committee and for the entire Senate that will vote on this nomination.

Amy Kremer, Amanda Carpenter, great to have you with us. I really appreciate it.

KREMER: Thank you, John.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, now to the aftermath of Hurricane Florence. It's causing more flooding, even spawning tornadoes. We have a live report for you, next.

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[08:42:36] CAMEROTA: At least 32 deaths now blamed on Hurricane Florence. The remnants of that storm have spawned tornados in Virginia, as you can see how scary it looks on your screen. One person was killed when a building collapsed in Chesterfield County. Major roadways in North Carolina are still unpassable because of these rising waters as people grow very anxious to return to their homes.

CNN's Kaylee Hartung is live in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. That's where the storm first made landfall.

What's the situation this morning, Kaylee?

KAYLEE HARTUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, there is a tremendous sense of relief here on Wrightsville Beach as residents return to their homes for the first time since that storm made landfall here.

Gloria and Kenneth Spuns' (ph) dock here is just about the worst of the damage we can see here. But it's incredible the difference that just a couple of feet can make as the docks to my right all seem to be intact. Very little structural damage here. A couple of shingles off of roofs and whatnot. But otherwise this island was flooded by two feet of water and people here really feel like they dodged a bullet.

And now we know that flooding threat, it moves inland. Road remain impassable. The city of Wilmington essentially remains cut off. And the mayor of Wilmington telling me he believes that eastern North Carolina has not yet seen the worst of this. The rivers in this area are expected to crest today. They won't be below flood stage again until late tomorrow or into the next day. And what that could bring is still unknown. It is a bit of a wait and see game as so many people are in a dangerous path as these flood waters continue to rise and continue to move in very suspects ways.

The mayor described this storm as a different phenomenon. Something they have never experienced before.

Alisyn and John.

BERMAN: All right, Kaylee Hartung down in North Carolina.

Kaylee, thanks so much.

The residents down there still very much dealing with the floods there.

Here is something new that Republicans are worried about. Republican strategists tell us they are worries about the fact the president is saying there will be a red wave in the election. Is the president's optimism going to cost Republicans in the midterms? Stay with us.

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[08:48:55] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If the Democrats get in, they're going to raise your taxes. You're going to have crime all over the place. You're going to have people pouring across the border. So why would that be a blue wave. I think it could be a red wave.

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CAMEROTA: All right, that was President Trump predicting there will be a red wave for the midterm elections, but some Republicans worry that kind of confidence could have the opposite effect come Election Day.

"Bloomberg BusinessWeek's" national correspondent and CNN political analyst Josh Green got his hands on some internal RNC polling and he's here with "The Bottom Line."

Josh, great to see you.

JOSH GREEN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to be here.

CAMEROTA: So what does this internal RNC polling reveal?

GREEN: Well, this internal poll is really stunning. I mean what it says in essence is that Republican voters are listening to Donald Trump when he talks about a red wave in November, contrary to conventional wisdom the Democrats are going to make big gains, and these Republican voters, both because they trust what the president says and because they don't trust traditional polling are looking like they might not show up to vote in November as a result. And, of course, if that happens, there's going to be a Democratic landslide.

[08:50:00] BERMAN: And, of course, and again, you've seen these magical numbers. You've seen the inside baseball figures, which, of course, is a dream for any political reporter.

GREEN: Yes.

BERMAN: What the Republican strategists are seeing is the same national environment that the rest of us are seeing the public polling, that Republicans have an uphill climb, correct?

GREEN: That's exactly right. And, by the way, anybody can see this stuff because I posted it all at bloomberg.com, including scans from the internal polls.

But what's striking about this, I think, is that this is -- this is not some outside pollster. This isn't a Democratic pollster. This isn't a campaign. This is the Republican National Committee's own internal poll saying not only are Democrats ahead nine points on the generic ballot, which is a pretty good precursor of election results historically. But the biggest problem that the party has is its own president and what he's telling Republican voters.

If Republicans don't feel like there's anything at stake in November, and this poll makes explicit that many of them don't believe there's anything at stake, then they're not going to turn out to vote. And if your voters don't turn out in a midterm election, you know, that's real problematic if you're trying to hold on to your congressional majority.

CAMEROTA: So is it your reporting that people inside the White House are saying to President Trump, isnay (ph) on the red wave a?

BERMAN: I think it would be ed wave -- ray.

CAMEROTA: Ed ray wave a.

GREEN: I could not get any comment on that on or off the record, but certainly one would assume that the White House is aware of these numbers and are doing anything they can to control the president and get him to stop saying these sorts of things.

BERMAN: For what it's worth, some of the Republicans I've been speaking to saying that in a race by race basis, some of the polling doesn't look as bad as the overall generic numbers, but we're 49 days away. We'll see on that.

Josh, we want to get your expert take on the atmospherics of the Supreme Court hearing that may take place on Monday in the Senate Judiciary Committee for Brett Kavanaugh and Professor Ford if they both testify there.

This will be -- I don't know if it was you or some other esteemed thinker --

CAMEROTA: Genius.

BERMAN: A genius, exactly, who called it a high wire act. I mean this will be a high wire act for everyone who says something out loud in that room.

GREEN: This is going to be the kind of thing that we haven't seen since the Anita Hill hearings. I mean, if you step back, what's happened over the last three or four days is remarkable. Democrats have been trying to put up a fight and stop Kavanaugh's confirmation from moving forward. Didn't seem like those efforts were going to yield anything. And then all of a sudden we heard first rumors and now on the record in "The Washington Post" the doctor's charges that the nominee sexually assaulted her.

And now, if this hearing goes through, which as of now it's going to on Monday, we're going to see the two of these, face to face, you know, accuser and defendant, on live television hashing this out, doing so about 50 days before a midterm elections. So a lot is going to be at stake on Monday.

Enough so that, you know, in talking to some Republican strategists, not everybody is convinced that this is actually going to happen. Kavanaugh may decide to step down. There may be pressure on Republicans to find an alternative. And, of course, the big wild card is the president himself, who has been surprisingly quiet and circumspect about the news going on. All it would take is one tweet or one presidential eruption to send this story careening in another direction. So we'll have to wait and see what happens.

CAMEROTA: Josh, your -- those predictions are more dramatic than any that we've heard before. It doesn't seem at all like Brett Kavanaugh is interested in stepping down. I mean he has dug in. he say this never happened. Not -- he doesn't say, I don't remember this from the early '80s. He says this never happened.

GREEN: No, Kavanaugh himself has showed no signs of backing down. But you talk to Republicans behind the scenes, there is concern, and there was at the outset of this nomination, that he might not be the strongest candidate. Mitch McConnell, as has been widely reported, was not a big fan of Kavanaugh, had suggested that the president go in a different direction. He didn't.

For now, everybody on the Republican side seems to be lined up behind Kavanaugh. There's no sign that they're going to back away. You know, but if these hearings go badly or if other information emerges between now or Monday, it's not impossible to think that the Kavanaugh nomination may not go forward.

BERMAN: The reporting, generally speaking, is once the president picked Kavanaugh, the White House was firmly behind him 100 percent. And I think if the hearing doesn't happen it's -- look, you're the first person who has raised the possibility that Kavanaugh will withdraw. The other issue is if somehow Democrats try to delay it, if Professor Ford says she won't go on Monday, if there's something between now and then that pushes this offer back.

GREEN: Sure. I mean, look, traditionally when a nominee gets bogged down or delayed, that doesn't bode well for his eventual confirmation. That has not happened yet with Brett Kavanaugh. It may still not happen. But if there is a delay, if Democrats insist on some kind of an FBI investigation, you know, Republicans may choose to go in a different direction.

CAMEROTA: Josh Green, thanks for sharing all of your reporting for us.

BERMAN: We want to check out your polls as soon as we can.

CAMEROTA: Indeed we are.

Bye.

GREEN: Thank you.

[08:54:58] CAMEROTA: All right, "The Good Stuff," next.

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CAMEROTA: OK, time now for "The Good Stuff."

People around the globe are pitching in to help a New Jersey high school principal prevent bullying. Akbar Cook (ph) says a lot of his Newark students miss class because they have been bullied for not having clean clothes. So he came up with an idea.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So I said what better way for me to install the washer and driers here and just -- and take that off their plate. They don't have to worry about that. They've just got to come and be educated.

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CAMEROTA: Once people go word of what Principle Cook was doing, donations started pouring in. Everything from detergent to new clothes. Cook says his students are extremely grateful.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To feel like you smell good, you look good, I think that goes a long way. And we never thought about how confidence, you know, makes you perform better.

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CAMEROTA: This is an incredible story. I mean, obviously, it's not just grades that principals have to worry about.

BERMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: They have so much more on their plate now.

BERMAN: Look, I love the fact that the principal was thinking about ways to make these kids' lives better.

I will say, you know, shame on anyone who bullies a kid for not having clean clothes.

CAMEROTA: That is a great way to end "Good Stuff."

BERMAN: All right, time now for CNN "NEWSROOM" with Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto.

[09:00:11] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Good morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York.