Return to Transcripts main page
New Day Saturday
Trump: Disarm Clinton Guards, "See What Happens To Her"; Gates: Trump "Beyond Repair" And "Stubbornly Uninformed"; Bail For Murder- Kidnap Suspect Set At $1 Million; Trump Admits Obama Born In U.S. And Blames Clinton; Trump Shifts On Cuba, Would Reverse Obama's Deal; UNC Facing New Scrutiny Over Sex Assault Cases; Professor: U.S. Election Mirrors Brexit Vote. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired September 17, 2016 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[08:00:03] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that her bodyguards should drop all weapons. Let's see what happens there.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He has led the birther movement to delegitimize our first black president.
TRUMP: Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's lied and he's divided this country enough.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That does not give anybody the right to violate me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nearly 1 in 4 female students will experience some form of unwanted sexual contact.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When it comes to an athlete, it's kind of like people don't talk about it. I chose this school because I thought honestly we were better than this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The woman on the phone keeps her voice quiet as her alleged captor sleeps next to her.
DISPATCHER: Is there any way to get out of the building?
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: I don't know without waking him. I'm scared.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: It's 8:01 straight up right now. Donald Trump trying to put the birther controversy behind him. He may have stumbled into another one now.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, the Republican nominee went off script at a rally in Miami, first falsely telling the crowd that Hillary Clinton wants to take away the second amendment, and then he wondered aloud what would happen to Clinton if her Secret Service detail were disarmed. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: She wants to destroy your second amendment. Guns, guns, guns, right? I think what we should do is she goes around with armed body guards like you have never seen before. I think that her body guards should drop all weapons. They shod disarm. Right? I think they should disarm immediately. What do you think? Yes, yes. Yes. Take their guns away. She doesn't want guns. Let's see what happens to her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: CNN's Chris Frates joining us now with more on this latest comment from Donald Trump. Good morning to you, Chris.
CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christi. As he often does, Donald Trump doubled down on his comments last night on Twitter, asking if guns would be taken away from Hillary Clinton's Secret Service detail, echoing what he said on the campaign trail. It's not the first time Trump has called on Clinton's security detail to disarm. Here is what he told the NRA convention back in May.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Heartless hypocrites, like the Clintons, want to take this and they want to get rid of guns, yet they have body guards that have guns. So I think that in addition to calling for them to name judges, we'll also call them and let their body guards immediately disarm. OK? They should immediately disarm. Let's see how they feel walking around without guns on their body guards. In the meantime, nobody else can have the guns, right?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRATES: That was back in May. Last night Trump went a little further by saying let's see what happens if Clinton's security detail is disarmed. Now, it's important to point some context out here. The fact is Trump is exaggerating Clinton's position.
She's never advocated for getting rid of guns or the second amendment for that matter, but she has called for tightening access to guns. Speaking of Clinton, her campaign pounced on Trump's remarks last night, saying it's just another example that Trump's really unfit to be president.
In a statement, Campaign Manager Robby Mook said "Donald Trump has a pattern of inciting people to violence. It's an unacceptable quality in anyone seeking the job of commander-in-chief. This kind of talk should be out of bounds for a presidential candidate."
That was a message echoed by former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly. They founded a gun violence prevention group after Giffords had been shot.
They said this, they said, "We have even more evidence of just how dangerously unfit Donald Trump is to be president of this great country. He's reckless, irresponsible and unworthy of the office he seeks."
So, just when it seemed that Trump was getting back on message, getting back on track, we saw yesterday the birther controversy consumed his campaign and now we have a new fire storm over guns -- Christi.
PAUL: Chris Frates, thank you so much for walking us through it.
BLACKWELL: Let's bring Michael Smerconish, host of CNN's "SMERCONISH." Michael, good morning to you. I'm having difficulty hearing. Let me try one more time. We got your audio, Michael?
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST, "SMERCONISH": I am here. I certainly hear you.
BLACKWELL: There we go. Let's start with the statement made last night by Donald Trump in Miami now saying that let's see what happens to her if her Secret Service detail is disarmed.
[08:05:04]We know that they were -- these candidates are given security following the '68 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. What do you make of what we're hearing from Donald Trump?
SMERCONISH: I find his comments to be absolutely appalling, as you've been pointing out all morning long, it's not the first time. The statement that I remember is I'm paraphrasing, but if she selects the judges, there's nothing you can do about it folks, except for the second amendment people.
What does that mean? Does he want the second amendment purists to take up arms against a commander-in-chief? But Victor, he is again a practitioner of this idea that there is no such thing as bad publicity.
In the same way at the end of the week we wondered how can Ben Carson say he needs to apologize for the birther statement? How can Rudy Giuliani say we all know that Barack Obama was born in the United States?
How can Kellyanne Conway acknowledge that and the lone holdout was Donald Trump and he prolonged that whole process of the birther issue and you say to yourself, this is terrible for his campaign, right?
Well, maybe not. Because these issues fire up his base. Is it growing the tent? Absolutely not. It's not growing any tent.
BLACKWELL: Yes. He is going to keep that base. He famously or infamously depending on which side of the aisle you're on said that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and keep those voters. I wonder those 32 words he spoke yesterday at the end of that event with those American heroes, who did he expect from your perspective that statement alone would appease? Who would that, I guess, endear to his campaign? SMERCONISH: Well, it was a way I think of making sure that he didn't cause any ruffled feathers within that base that is so dedicated to him. To your point about the Fifth Avenue comment, as long as Hillary Clinton is his opponent, he'll never lose that base.
He has shown time and again that there is no faux pas. There's no missed statement. There's nothing egregious he can do or say that will cause that hardened 40 or so percent who are ready to come out and vote for him.
When you look at the demographics, when you look at the numbers, I just don't see how he can get where he needs to be to actually win the election. How he can get to 270 with this mindset.
He may squeeze every last voter in his constituency out to vote for him, but it won't be enough, unless somehow he builds a bridge or two.
BLACKWELL: All right, Michael Smerconnish, so good to have you this morning.
SMERCONISH: Good to see you.
SMERCONISH: I know you have some prep to do your show, "SMERCONISH" coming up next hour 9:00 a.m. Eastern. We will be watching. Michael, thank you so much.
SMERCONISH: Thank you.
PAUL: All right, so we're going to continue the Donald Trump conversation as we talk about the fact that one controversy seems to lead to another. And now, of course, a former defense secretary not taking sides in the race for the White House but opening up his thoughts on the problems he has, big problems, with both candidates.
BLACKWELL: Also, a suspected serial killer leads police to one of his victims after his kidnapped victim is on the phone with 911.
PAUL: And the University of North Carolina says it takes sexual assault allegations seriously. One student, though, fighting back saying that the school and the police failed her in her case. We're breaking down the university's response and the potential fallout. Stay close.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:12:02]
PAUL: Well, Donald Trump's point about gun rights backfires with a lot of people when he talked about Hillary Clinton's security detail. He is back in yet this other controversy here this morning after suggesting her body guards should leave Clinton essentially to fend for herself. Let's listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think that her body guards should drop all weapons. They should disarm. Right? Right? I think they should disarm immediately. What do you think? Yes? Yes. Yes. Take their guns away. She doesn't want guns. Let's see what happens to her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: Joining me now Jeffrey Lord, CNN political commentator, a former Reagan White House political director and a Donald Trump supporter, and Maria Cardona, CNN political commentator, Democratic strategist and supporter of Hillary Clinton. So good to see both of you this morning.
Jeffrey, I want to start with you. When you hear that comment, let's say Joe Shmoe (ph) out in the audience said something like that. That would be seen most likely as a threat of some sort and he would be hauled away. How is it that Donald Trump gets away with it?
JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Christi, with all due respect, I totally disagree. Hillary Clinton believes in what she told George Stephanopoulos, she called for a quote/unquote "nuanced reading of the second amendment," unquote.
Donald Trump's point here is that once again we've got a bunch of elitists who want to have nuanced readings of what everybody else can do and/or not do with guns. It isn't just guns.
All these people who oppose the wall to keep illegal immigrants out of the country live behind gated communities. I mean, there is a fence around the White House for heaven's sakes. Mrs. Clinton is protected 24/7. That's the point that they reserve under themselves --
PAUL: She was first lady. You're absolutely right in that she has had protection for herself for the majority of her public life, but that comes with the territory of the job that she's in. Donald Trump is also afforded that protection right now as well.
LORD: Right. But he wants to make sure that everybody has the same protection he has. Just because you're a private citizen shouldn't deny you the right to protect yourself or your family.
PAUL: OK. I want to get to you, Maria, because Clinton's campaign says that his remarks could, quote, "provoke protesters at her rally." Do you believe that there's a genuine fear for that?
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Of course, there is. And let's be very clear, Donald Trump knew exactly what he was doing. We've been dancing around calling it a dog whistle. It's not a dog whistle. It's a megaphone now that he is using.
And it's not the first time that he has done this. You have played this before. But when he talked about Supreme Court judges and about how if Hillary gets elected, there's nothing anybody can do except for maybe second amendment people. Come on. We all know what he's trying to do and he is --
LORD: No, we don't. CARDONA: -- he is famous for inciting violence, and these kinds of comments don't have any place in the presidential race. I know that Jeffrey and all of the supporters who are twisting, trying to make right this comment, which is absolutely vile are saying that, oh, the only thing he wants to do is point out her hypocrisy.
There is no hypocrisy. The other thing he did here is once again outright lie about her position. She doesn't want to get rid of the second amendment. She believes in the right of people to be able to bear arms, but she also believes that criminals should not have that right.
That people with mental issues should not have that right and that there should be additional safeguards to protect rightful gun owners and every other citizen in this country.
PAUL: Jeffrey, now, in his defense, as far as I know, he has not incited any violence himself. But his language certainly does seem, Jeffrey, to consistently go to I'm going to punch somebody in the face or it comes back to guns.
I understand the point he's trying to make about the restrictions that Hillary Clinton wants to make around the second amendment, but let's flip it around here.
If Hillary Clinton had got up and said, let's disarm his Secret Service immediately. Let's see what happens to him, take their gun away. It would be very dangerous. If she said that about him, would you not see that as a threat?
LORD: No.
PAUL: You wouldn't?
LORD: No, no. I mean, I just think this is silly. I mean, this is exactly the kind of, you know, with all due respect to all of my peers and myself included chattering class nonsense that people out here in real America think is crazy. They think this kind of thing is crazy to take offense at something like this.
CARDONA: That's absolutely not true, Jeffrey. I've heard from many people from real America who are absolutely offended by this --
LORD: Liberals.
CARDONA: -- many of them are gun owners. No, no, many are NRA members -- let's be very clear, 90 percent of American voters agree with Hillary Clinton's stance and frankly what Obama has been trying to get through and Republicans in Congress as well some of them who believe in sensible, additional --
LORD: Where in the Constitution does it say that?
CARDONA: I'm sorry, gun ownership laws that would protect innocent Americans and make sure that gun ownership is actually something that we can continue to have without all of the gun violence. It's sensible. It's common sense.
But the right, of course, continues to try to distract from that because they don't want any restrictions on any gun ownership whatsoever. And that's not what the second amendment was about.
PAUL: OK. Let's move on here because there's an op-ed out there this morning that has caught a lot of attention. It is from -- it's in "The Wall Street Journal" written by Robert Gates, who served eight presidents over 50-year period, was most recently secretary of defense, of course, under Presidents Obama and George W. Bush and he blasted both of the candidates here.
Let's talk first about what he said about Hillary Clinton. He says, Clinton has time before the election to address forthrightly her trustworthiness to reassure people about her judgment to demonstrate her willingness to stake out one or more positions on national security at odds with her party's conventional wisdom and to speak beyond generalities.
Clinton is still trying to repair trust issues with voters. Obviously that is one of her most vulnerable points. Or one of the most -- one of the most vulnerable elements for her in this campaign -- Maria. Do you see anything that she can do to repair that?
CARDONA: Sure. And I think what she's going to do is continue to talk about her message of lifting people up, of stronger together, of making sure that we put together policies in this country that help everybody, that level the playing field, so that this economy works for everybody, not just the top 1 percent of the country.
And in terms of national security, already the majority of the American people do trust her. I respect Bob Gates' opinion. He is very well respected on both sides of the aisle. We already have hundreds of security experts.
Top officials in the Republican administration of both presidents Bush, who have come out and not just said that Donald Trump is temperamentally unfit to serve and that he would be a danger to national security, but are actually supporting Hillary Clinton.
PAUL: All right. But he still has a lot of questions. He is very open about that this morning in this op-ed.
CARDONA: Sure.
PAUL: About Hillary Clinton, also questions about Donald Trump, calling Donald Trump beyond repair and, quote, "uninformed." Donald Trump tweeting a little while ago, Jeffrey saying I never met former Defense Secretary Robert Gates. He knows nothing about me, but look at the results under his guidance, a total disaster." Your response?
[08:20:03]LORD: Well, you know, I like Bob Gates. I think he is terrific, but I have to say this is very much the establishment view of Donald Trump. I mean, it speaks exactly, exactly to all these foreign policy officials who signed off on these letters opposing Donald Trump. Meanwhile, he's got serious people advising them. General Flynn, who I might add as the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency couldn't imagine to get a meeting with President Obama the entire time he was there.
I mean, these are people who -- some of these people who made seriously bad decisions in foreign policy and they're basically talking to each other. They're out of touch with the American people and what the American people want in a strong foreign policy president.
And I might add he does have the temperament. He's built this enormous enterprise. He is the one with the good temperament. She is the one who in biography after biography is pictured as losing her temper and throwing --
CARDONA: Come on, Jeffrey. That's ridiculous. Again, focused on conspiracy theorist. We don't want to elect a conspiracy theorist in chief.
PAUL: All right, Jeffrey Lord, Maria Cardona, also a spirited conversation. Always grateful to have you here.
CARDONA: Thanks, Christi.
PAUL: Thank you so much.
BLACKWELL: Stay with us. You'll certainly want to listen to this 911 call made by a kidnapped victim. It leads police to her rescue and an even more grim discovery.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAUL: A kidnapped Ohio woman is rescued by police after she made this desperate 911 call, calling authorities as her alleged abductor slept right next to her. And the thing is, if that's not frightening enough and the 911 calls are just riveting, it didn't end there.
[08:25:11]BLACKWELL: Yes. Police later found the remains of three other women. Here is CNN's Jean Casares with the 911 audio.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DISPATCHER: 911 what is the address of your emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Right across from the 4th Street Laundromat.
DISPATCHER: What's the problem?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I've been abducted.
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A chilling 911 call of a woman whispering with fear in her voice.
DISPATCHER: Who abducted you?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Shawn Grate.
CASAREZ: She made the call as she was held in an abandoned home in Ashland, Ohio.
DISPATCHER: Where he's at now?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Asleep.
DISPATCHER: Where's he's sleeping at?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: In the bedroom.
CASAREZ: The woman on the phone keeps her voice quiet as her alleged captor sleeps next to her.
DISPATCHER: Does he have a weapon?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: He's got a taser.
DISPATCHER: Are you injured?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: A little.
CASAREZ: Being held since Sunday the woman told police she was forced to commit sexual acts by her captor.
DISPATCHER: Is there any way you can get out of the building?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I don't know without waking him and I'm scared.
CASAREZ: The woman is afraid to move.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: His bedroom is closed, he made it so it would make noise.
DISPATCHER: He tell you if you had to go to the bathroom, he would he do something to you?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Yes. Because he has me tide up.
DISPATCHER: Are you tied up now?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Well, I am, I kind of freed myself.
CASAREZ: The 911 dispatcher keeps the woman on the phone while police make their way to the abandoned home.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Are you on the way?
DISPATCHER: Yes, we have officers we're sending.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Please send them up -- oh, I woke him up.
DISPATCHER: OK, just set the phone down.
CASAREZ: Three minutes of silence passed and the dispatcher checks if the woman is still there.
DISPATCHER: Are you still there?
CASAREZ: Another minute passes?
DISPATCHER: Are you still there?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: How much longer?
[06:25:01]CASAREZ: She finally responds trembling.
DISPATCHER: Do you hear any officers outside? OK, they're in the area.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: They can come in the side door.
DISPATCHER: Can you get out of the bedroom?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I can't the door doesn't have a knob.
DISPATCHER: Can you hear anybody right now?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I heard the side door open.
CASAREZ: After 20 tense minutes.
POLICE: Come out, come out, hurry up, hurry up. Where is he?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Sleeping.
POLICE: Still sleeping?
DISPATCHER: OK, they have her.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CASAREZ: Shawn Grate has been charged at that point with two counts of murder and one count of kidnapping. There will be another hearing on Monday, more on the complaint. There will also be a competency hearing to see if he is of sound mind to be able to assist his attorney in understanding the charges -- Christi, Victor.
PAUL: I can't get over that. Here is what strikes me about it, now she knows there were bodies there. She probably didn't know that before.
BLACKWELL: Yes, 20 minutes.
PAUL: Can you imagine waking up today and thinking that could have been me.
BLACKWELL: Yes. Turning back to politics, the Congressional Black Caucus not buying Donald Trump's change of heart when it comes to President Obama's citizenship. They call him these are their words, disgusting, hater, bigot. I'll talk live to the former executive director of the caucus about Trump's comments and Hillary Clinton's visit tonight.
PAUL: Also, despite what you see from enthusiastic supporters, lot of Americans are suffering from a lack of excitement over this election. We're going to talk to the Harvard professor who says the problem is, well, it's got an interesting name let's say.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:30:23] PAUL: Well, good morning, 8:31 is the time. I'm Christi Paul.
BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you.
This morning, Hillary Clinton's campaign responding to Donald Trump's birther comments about President Obama, calling it an outrageous lie. Watch his ad that just dropped a few moments ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Did Hillary Clinton question the legitimacy of Barack Obama's birth certificate? No.
TRUMP: I finished it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL: All righty. This as Trump courts controversy again telling his supporters last night Hillary Clinton wants to take away the second amendment and calling for her Secret Service detail to disarm. Just for the record, she has never said she wants to abolish the second amendment.
BLACKWELL: Hillary Clinton is back on the campaign trail for her only event of the day. She and President Obama will speak at the Congressional Black Caucus dinner in Washington tonight and this comes as the caucus is really expressing their outrage after Donald Trump's 32-word dealing with the birther controversy.
I want to bring in Angela Rye now, CNN political commentator and former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus. Angela, good morning.
ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Victor.
BLACKWELL: So let's start with this birtherism treatment from Donald Trump. We know that until his statement or before his statement yesterday the lingering question out there is if Donald Trump would acknowledge that he was wrong and how that could impact him with voters who were not happy with his birtherism claims. Now that he's dealt with it, it seems he's made the problem for himself even worse.
RYE: Yes. I think it's so interesting that you said now that he's dealt with it, right? Dealt with it is an interesting way of phrasing it because I don't think that's what he did at all. I think, in fact, he added fuel to the fire.
Donald Trump can't even apologize for it, Victor. A few days ago -- or a couple days ago as soon as this announcement was brought to our attention, I was like, well, Donald Trump goes to Twitter for everything else.
He should go to Twitter to apologize to our first black president for otherism. There's all the -isms, right? The whole reason that birtherism came into play and had any traction at all whether we're talking about Donald Trump or whomever else.
Whether it's Breitbart or Daily Caller or whomever else, this all came about because people didn't like the fact that he was different. It took 44 presidents to get one Barack Hussein Obama. They used to make fun of the fact that his middle name was Hussein.
They said that he was Muslim, socialist. Donald Trump didn't just go into this birtherism space, he also challenged President Obama's transcripts at Harvard, Victor, otherism is the real problem. That's racism.
[08:35:08]BLACKWELL: So let me ask you about Hillary Clinton and speaking before the CBC tonight. Of course, the key I think her people have acknowledged and anyone who is watching from the outside that the key to winning is keeping together the Obama coalition.
The polls show that she is doing well as it relates to a percentage but still has some ground to make up as it relates to the enthusiasm we saw with many of the groups in 2008 and 2012. How does she, I guess, keep or regain or renew that enthusiasm and how can she start that -- or continue it tonight?
RYE: So just a little bit of context. Congressional Black Caucus Foundation is a 501-C3 organization. She will be speaking tonight as her accepting an award. That award is the Inaugural Trail Blazer Award that Congressional Black Caucus Foundation is awarding with that for of course becoming the first nominee of a major party, who is a woman, on this -- in this critical election.
So she will make remarks in response to receiving that award. Of course, Barack Obama will also be speaking tonight. So, that may overshadow her just a bit. I think tonight we'll hear more of the same from Hillary Clinton. She's been very consistent this election season.
She's been very clear in her praise of black women, of black men. You heard her earlier this week talking about the important role that black women have played in history and making black girl magic happen.
She coined -- she used the hashtag this week which is very important to so many of us. So think you'll hear her tout the president -- the president's record and how she plans to build on that.
I know that my Republican counterparts often call it a third term for Obama, but I think she'll talk about building on his accomplishments as well. BLACKWELL: OK. So that from your history as executive director of that organization, now let me bring you to CNN --
RYE: No, I was the ED of the Congressional Black Caucus, which is the official CMO, not the foundation.
BLACKWELL: Black caucus then the foundation --
RYE: Confusing it.
BLACKWELL: -- they're speaking in their roles as members of the PAC yesterday.
RYE: Yes.
BLACKWELL: These are different views.
RYE: They're all different.
BLACKWELL: Keeping them straight. Let me now get your thought on what we heard from Donald Trump yesterday in Miami as it relates to the relations with Cuba. It seems that there was a back flip here. Let's listen to what he said several months ago and then what he said last night.
RYE: Sure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think of the opening with Cuba? Do you think that was a good policy or do you oppose America's opening with Cuba?
TRUMP (via telephone): I think it's fine. I think it's fine but we should have made a better deal. The concept of opening with Cuba 50 years is enough. The concept of opening with Cuba is fine. I think we should have made a stronger deal.
(on camera): But all of the concessions Barack Obama has granted the Castro regime were done through executive order, which means the next president can reverse them and that I will do unless the Castro regime meets our demands.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Suggesting now that he would reverse this opening as Hillary Clinton tries to keep the coalition together with Latino voters in South Florida, how important could this appear of a flip- flop to be?
RYE: You know, Victor, I wish that flip-flops mattered for Donald Trump this election. But we've seen time and time again, he can back flip, he can front flip, he can, you know, do a water slide -- he can do so much that I've never seen anything like this.
Facts don't matter to him and I think part of it -- this is a key example. You see him in one of the clips that you showed reading from a prompter. Those are someone else's words that someone else's knowledge. That's not in Donald Trump's own mind or head.
Those are words from his advisers. On this call he is probably just speaking off the cuff, just like you heard him speak about Hillary Clinton yesterday and what would happen if she didn't have guards, which are really members of the Secret Service.
So this man does not have a good relationship with facts. I've said he had a treacherous relationship with the truth and unfortunately, it hasn't moved the needle with his supporters.
BLACKWELL: All right, CNN political commentator, Angela Rye, former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus. Hillary Clinton will be receiving an award tonight from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and we heard from the representatives yesterday in their roles as members of the PAC. We got it all straight there.
RYE: Thank you, Victor.
BLACKWELL: Thanks so much.
RYE: You're good. All right.
PAUL: University of North Carolina facing new criticisms for how it handles sexual assault on campus. CNN's Nick Valencia has more for us. Good morning, Nick.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christi. It's something that we talked about a lot this year sexual assault on college campuses, but is assault on the rise or is it just now more in focus. I'm Nick Valencia in Atlanta. We'll have that story for you after the break. You're watching CNN NEW DAY.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:43:17]
BLACKWELL: The University of North Carolina is defending its policies as it faces tough new criticism over how it handled sexual assault cases.
PAUL: The chancellor released this statement, saying, "We're committed to ensuring every step of our policy and procedures is correctly followed. Sometimes to get it right takes longer than anticipated but in the end a respectful, reliable and equitable investigation must be the result."
The chancellor is responding here to allegations from UNC sophomore, Delanie Robinson. She said the university and local police failed her and did not thoroughly investigate her reported rape back in February.
This case still under investigation, but bringing more criticism as to how sexual assault cases are being handled on college campuses.
BLACKWELL: CNN's Nick Valencia is here with more. The more we hear about the questions she faced, there's a lot of people who are questioning the investigation why they focus so much on her.
VALENCIA: Absolutely. It started this broader conversation about sexual assault on campus and we reached out to victim's advocacy group yesterday to figure out if the statistics have changed at all. They have more or less stayed the same over the last few years.
But what this victim's advocacy groups tell us is that women now appeared to be more empowered to come forward and report these alleged sexual assault. It's helping shed the stigma about rape on campus. But as you'll see in this report, sexual assault on college campuses across the country is still a major issue.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VALENCIA (voice-over): It is the fraught reality facing college women in America, nearly one in four female students will experience some form of unwanted sexual contact.
Across the country, we've the headlines all year long. The most high profile cases involve student athletes from the University of Tennessee to the case of Brock Turner at Stanford, to more recent cases this month at the universities of North Carolina and Southern California.
[08:45:08]UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Say it once, say it again no excuse for violent men.
VALENCIA: Conversations about so-called rape culture loom large at college campuses today. We ask students at the University of North Carolina their thoughts on recent rape allegations against UNC football player, Allen Artist.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On some of the posts there were a lot of negative comments about her saying that it wasn't rape and a lot of people went back and defended her and it was really nice to see that she -- while she was attacked she was also defended very much so.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My group of friends, like, we kind of just -- we notice that like when it comes to an athlete, it's kind of like people don't talk about it.
VALENCIA: This week Artist was released on bond after he turned himself in to a magistrate's court. He has not responded to the accusations. His attorney's office told CNN it has no comment.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're used to this, but in a bad way. I wish that I didn't have to be.
VALENCIA: That made us wonder, have attacks increased or are more survivors coming forward to report their attacks. We asked Alison Tom Rose Cormin who works with survivors of sexual assault.
ALISON TOMBROS KORMAN, STUDENT AFFAIRS ADMINISTRATORS IN HIGHER EDUCATION: I think there's just been more of a national spotlight on this issue. We've seen a lot more survivors coming forward, and I think that's brought this nation's focus on to this issue. VALENCIA: In alleged assaults involving student athletes, victim's advocates often blame university administrations and coaches saying they can do more to prevent sexual assaults from happening.
It's something University of Tennessee head football coach, Butch Jones, talked about exclusively to CNN during an investigation involving his program earlier this year.
BUTCH JONES, HEAD FOOTBALL COACH, UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE: Just like a parent, you're trying to educate them on great decisions. And we always know that we call it the one-second rule. In one second your life can change by one decision and that's life. So, as a parent, you try to do all that you can to develop them, grow them and guide them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VALENCIA: The expectation among victims advocacy groups is that that guidance will come from administrators and coaches and captains on those teams. The UNC chancellor adding to the statement saying involving the case of Delanie Robinson the issues involved in sexual assault are challenging and the school takes every allegation extremely seriously -- Guys.
BLACKWELL: Nick, thank you so much.
PAUL: Thank you. So the 2016 race not boring by any stretch, right?
BLACKWELL: No, no.
PAUL: A Harvard professor says the excitement may not translate into voters going to the polls. He has a name for it. I won't say it but Victor will.
BLACKWELL: Electile dysfunction.
PAUL: There's a headline. We're going to talk to him next.
First, though, Jane Goodall, one of the world's top experts on chimpanzees. Her latest mission focuses on the human habitat and both primates are benefitting.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Jane Goodall, a plane ride over Tanzania led to a troubling realization.
DR. JANE GOODALL, ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: When I flew over the Gumby National Park (inaudible) in 1960, I was absolutely shocked.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: She discovered the chimpanzee population was rapidly shrinking and the human population wasn't faring well either.
GOODALL: There were clearly more people living on that land than the land could support. Unless we could do something to help the people live better lives, we couldn't even try to save the chimpanzees. UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: Goodall reached out to local villagers.
GOODALL: We asked them, what do they feel we could do to help them, one was to grow more food, two is to have better health, and three was to have better education for their children.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: The Jane Goodall Institute started providing micro credit loans to villagers to help them grow food and raise livestock.
GOODALL: We've seen a complete cycle improving, education going up affecting women and the start of a downward trend in family size.
UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: Over-farmed fields have recovered. Barren lands that once divided chimps have grown back reconnecting the population.
GOODALL: Animals on the brink of extinction can be given another chance when people care and are determined.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:53:10]
BLACKWELL: A renowned Harvard Law professor says don't watch the polls. Don't pay attention to the pundits or even excited crowds at campaign rallies. Instead, Professor Alan Dershowitz says study the Brexit vote. Remember that?
Because that contest, like this one, could decide -- could be decided by rather who stays home. Dershowitz says the problem is, ready for the term, "Electile Dysfunction." That's the title of his new book. He says this is a guide for unaroused voters. He joins us now. Professor Dershowitz, good morning to you.
ALAN DERSHOWITZ, PROFESSOR EMERITUS, HARVARD LAW SCHOOL: Good morning.
BLACKWELL: I want to start with that Brexit comparison. You write this in the book, 2016 presidential election is more like the Brexit vote than many ways than its prior presidential elections.
Both Brexit and this presidential election involve raw emotion, populism, anger, nationalism, Britain's first America first, class division and other factors that distort accuracy in polling.
Anyone who thinks they know who will be the next president of the United States is deceiving themselves. Talk more about that, if you would.
DERSHOWITZ: I wrote about this in early August when Hillary Clinton was ahead by 20 or 30 points in the polls. I wrote this e-book and wanted to get it out in time for the election and I predicted that the polls would not tell us who is going to win the election. Because when people vote negatively and vote in anger, when populism is running against kind of stability, polls don't tell us very much. All the Brexit polls got it wrong.
Take, for example, that Donald Trump has said in the last couple days. The argument about disarming the Secret Service, it just doesn't pass the stupidity test.
What he is saying is he is comparing the Secret Service to people on the no-fly list, terrorists. I mean, of course, the Secret Service should have guns and of course, terrorists shouldn't have guns.
It's a stupid, stupid argument that any other candidate made it would be disqualifying, but nothing disqualifies a populist.
BLACKWELL: Let me jump in here because we don't have much time. If you're saying set aside the polls, set aside the pundits, this is much like Brexit, what do you make of these as they were made in the Brexit campaign the claims by a camp that a vote for the other would be the end of the world.
DERSHOWITZ: Well, that's the kind of hyperbole that we're hearing on both sides. The point I'm making in my book is that populism favors men. Men can be populist candidates like Donald Trump. He can talk about how big his fingers were. He can talk about his sexual exploits.
When Edwin Edwards who is the populist governor of Louisiana ran against the clan guy, David Duke, he said the only thing we have in common is we're wizards under the sheets. Now can you imagine a woman making that kind of argument?
We expect women who run for office to be dignified and lady like, but boys will be boys when it comes to men, and so populism favors men. That could hurt Hillary Clinton.
That's why this election is unpredictable and that's why so many people are voting negatively rather than positively and others are threatening to stay home, but staying home is not an option.
Democracy by default is what led to Brexit winning. Young people stayed home because the weather wasn't so good and then the next day they complained terribly. The message of my book is vote either for or against a candidate. Don't vote for a third party candidate.
This is between two people. It will determine the Supreme Court. It will determine foreign policy. It will determine whether we have a stable America in a world of growing instability with a right wing and left wing extremism growing on both sides. It may be the most important election of our life time.
BLACKWELL: All right, Professor Alan Dershowitz, the book is "Electile Dysfunction," a guide for the unaroused voter. Thank you so much for being with us this morning.
DERSHOWITZ: Thank you so much. BLACKWELL: All right, we'll be back here at 10:00 a.m. Eastern for an hour of NEWSROOM.
PAUL: Bet that woke you up. "SMERCONISH" is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
