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@THISHOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA

Could Democrat Loses Help Hillary?; Jon Stewart Ventures into Films; Key Bomb Maker Reportedly Killed In Air Strike; A-Rod Admitted PED Use to Feds.

Aired November 6, 2014 - 11:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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REINCE PRIEBUS, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: As all of you know, President Obama said very clearly that his policies were on the ballot and voters were very clear in return. They want nothing to do with the policies of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Up and down the ballot, these were the president's candidates, these were the Clinton's candidates, and they lost.

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MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: New questions, new speculation, new opinions about the future for Hillary Clinton. That was, of course, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, hanging Tuesday's massive Democratic losses on not only the president but the Clintons and specifically Hillary Clinton.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: That was a very deliberate statement. So, too, this from Republican stand to the Rand Paul, very deliberate who coined the hash tag "Hillary's losers" with a series of black and white photos of Mrs. Clinton stumping for Democrats who lost. One election barely over and already under attack.

PEREIRA: Here we got with our political commentators, Margaret Hoover and Sally Kohn.

Ladies, good to have you with us.

Does this landslide, Sally, give Hillary something else to run against that isn't part of the resume, namely the president, or does she need to distance herself further from him?

SALLY KOHN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: There's some -- too much is being made of the candidates who didn't do well, that Hillary went and stumped well. They didn't do well for a host of reasons. Blaming on people who showed up and did rallies. Elizabeth warren -- the reality is there were good and bad signs in the election for Hillary. One is, if there's still a referendum on the president, his leadership, foreign policy abroad, Hillary is tied for that. That becomes a challenge for her. On the other hand, Hillary does well with the demographics who did not turn out in this election. Part of the reason Republicans were able to do so well is women stayed home, especially that women stayed home with the case with Hillary and also African-American voters turn out more, they tend to more in Democratic elections. That bodes well for the future. She has to see if Republicans do well in Congress.

BERMAN: Margaret, I have a certain amount of respect when politicians do things that are so blatant and completely without nuance.

(LAUGHTER)

That is what we say with Reince Priebus and Rand Paul. The election is not even minutes over and they're already attacking Hillary Clinton. Like I said, I have a certain amount of respect for something with that nuance. However, are they not in danger of perhaps getting what they ask for there, by going after Hillary, guaranteeing they prop her up even more than she already is?

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You hit the nail on the head. I have a certain amount of respect for commentators who have no nuance in their analysis. I think that's right. I think Republicans would be apt to listen to this criticism. One of the things we've hit in the past historically is an overreach on Clinton criticism which has come back and bit us in the booty. By the way, endorsing candidates, that never makes or breaks any candidate. Charlie Crist lost and that won't turn out to help them when Florida will hang in the balance and it would help to have a Democratic governor there. All that being said, they knew what they were doing. She was being a good soldier, commandeering and trying to prop up her party loyalty.

PEREIRA: Sally, let's say the phone call come in --

(CROSSTALK)

KOHN: I don't think that phone call is coming any time soon.

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: A little role playing here.

What would you say is the strategic move in terms of how to confront all this landscape she's facing?

KOHN: I think Margaret and I agree on this. It would be nice if Democrats could stop running just on the bad stuff Republicans are doing and if Republicans can stop running against Obama and now Hillary and actually put forward their plans, ideas, solutions for the country. Just because I'm fanaticizing here, I'll go a step further, maybe work together on the ones they share in common. In Hillary's case, she'll have plenty of ammunition if the Republicans go back to Congress and they do the same agenda of trying to stomp on reproductive rights and not passing minimum wage and all that, she'll have plenty to complain about there. She also has to find a way to connect with the authentic economic populism that is, in voter's hearts across the country, including red states, as evidenced by the red states that passed minimum wage bills, she has a hard time connecting with that. BERMAN: Margaret, our friend, Paul Begala, yesterday said the

Democrats have no bench when it comes to viable presidential candidates. Do Republicans see it like that?

HOOVER: I think Republicans hope Hillary gets it because we know she can be a flawed candidate, although I think we over estimate how flawed she can be and underestimate what her brought appeal could be and the historic factor of having a first female president potentially. I think Joe Biden has made it plenty clear he doesn't intend for her to waltz into the nomination. There are left wing more progressive candidates, that if we pushed sally's buttons enough, we would find what she thinks might work, if it's not an Elizabeth Warren, is it a Brian Schweitzer or somebody else who can represent the progressive left of the Democratic Party. I don't think she even thinks she'll walk into the nomination which is why she was hitting the trail trying to get loyalty chips.

BERMAN: I sense we'll talk about this again.

PEREIRA: You think so?

BERMAN: Margaret Hoover, Sally Kohn.

Not the last time we'll talk about Hillary, probably not even the last time today.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: Ahead for us @THISHOUR, Jon Stewart, have you heard of him? You know what he does every night. You probably don't know what he is doing next. We will tell you. He said down with Christian Amanpour about a new film he's making. We'll talk about that.

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BERMAN: You might have heard of Jon Stewart. He does comedy. Now he's venturing into a completely new venture. He directed a very serious fill called "Rose Water."

PEREIRA: The true story of a journalist detained in Iran during a protest in 2009. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Can you tell me why journalists meet up with this evil spy.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: He's not a spy.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: He's not a spy.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: No. It's a show.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: It's a show?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: A comedy show. It's stupid. He's a comedian pretending to be a spy.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Can you tell me why American pretended to be a spy have chose tone interview you?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Why would a real spy have a --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: What's even more wonderful about that, our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, is here.

Because you had a conversation with Jon Stewart. It is so interesting to me. We know Jon Stewart as one thing. He is very other in doing this film.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely right. He decided to branch out and make this his first film directorial debut. It is remarkable. It's a deadly serious topic. That clip shows the absurdity, as he said, of so many journalists being arrested in places like Iran or Turkey or Egypt on totally false charges. This journalist was actually taken in for various reasons. They used a skit he did for Jon Stewart where his comedy satire was pretending to be a spy, et cetera, and took it seriously.

Beyond that, I asked Jon Stewart why he did this and what he hoped it would achieve.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: What do you want people to take away?

STEWART: Box of Raisinets and a big soda. I don't know. What I would like them to take away is, oddly enough, optimism and a sense of -- that these types of repressive regimes, is unsustainable. As we learned that colonialism was unsustainable, that imperialism is unsustainable. This idea that you can use treasure and human capital to build these apparatuses to suppress information is far more devastating to a country than whatever piece of information it is.

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AMANPOUR: So in a way, John and Michaela, he in his comedic way holds power accountable and holds establishment accountable. In this film he's doing the same thing on behalf of democratic journalists who are trying to do an honest job. These absurd dictatorships are aggressive. He's trying to hold them accountable.

BERMAN: Do you have a sense that he thought it was even harder than he predicted going into it.

AMANPOUR: I did ask him about it. He is always in character. We got some really good serious stuff, but I think he knew very well it was terribly difficult to do. He couldn't go to Iran. They had to go to Amman, Jordan, in the middle of Ramadan. It was in a prison. It was a difficult shoot done under tight time concentrates. A great actor who plays the journalist, a heart throb.

PEREIRA: A little dreamy.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: You should have been a star.

PEREIRA: Best looking man in the room.

We also know Jon Stewart has been very active in supporting veterans. There was an event last night that you were at --

AMANPOUR: Really close to our hearts. Our former ABC colleague, Bob Woodward, so grievously injured in Iraq, major head wound because of an IED, survived and was put on the world's best fundraiser for veterans, all for veterans to help them and their families. Jon Stewart and many other comedians and Bruce Springsteen give their service free as a stand up for heroes. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff belted out the most beautiful rendition of "New York, New York." It was amazing, the whole house stood up. This is why I asked Jon about why he chooses this, what is it about American combat veterans that has taken his charitable cause?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: I began to see just how their integrity and sacrifice was in the shadows and that when they were useful to the purpose, they were held aloft, but when you're five years out and you've got PTSD and living 50 miles away from a V.A. and you need a new -- you're on your own. That injustice truly upset me.

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AMANPOUR: We're all with him because it's truly upsetting. Frankly, there but for the grace of god go all of us who go into the field. We have a huge responsibility to those veterans who so few sacrifice so much on behalf of so many. It's great that he does it. The film is wonderful. Opens next week.

BERMAN: So is the interview.

Thank you for coming.

AMANPOUR: Thank you, guys. Thank you for having me.

PEREIRA: Ahead @THISHOUR, new anti-terrorism strike in Syria by the U.S., a key bomb maker reportedly killed. We'll have the latest from the Pentagon when we return.

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BERMAN: All right. New developments this morning, word that a key bomb maker was killed in an air strike in Syria. According to U.S. officials, the man a French jihadist belonged to an offshoot group called the Khorasan group.

PEREIRA: Separately, an al Qaeda leader was killed in Yemen.

Talk about the latest developments with our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr. She joins us now.

I know you have been watching the developments. Maybe you can tell us about the first -- about the bomb maker.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Sure. Good morning, Michaela and John. This is a French jihadist named David Drugeon. Part of the core Khorasan group. The U.S. has called that group an imminent threat to the United States because of their ability to potentially make bombs that can get past U.S. airport screening. They are operating in Syria right now. This is separate from ISIS and the ongoing conflict there. These are guys that came from Pakistan, hard- core al Qaeda, very definitely aimed at trying to attack the United States.

They got some good intelligence on them and overnight there were strikes against five targets, Drugeon (ph) being one of them. He's 24 years old. Concern about him not just because of his ability to make bombs, because of his connections. He can run fighters in and out of Europe into Syria, back to Europe, potentially back to the U.S. So from the U.S. point of view, this is really good news. They think they got him this time as he was going down a road in a vehicle, struck as U.S. war planes and U.S. Drones flew overhead.

BERMAN: Barbara, your world has been very, very busy the last few days because it seems like there's been a lot of new activity, drone activity, in Yemen, with a number of strikes this last week?

STARR: In Yemen, as well, you're absolutely right. We have gotten word that, again, they think they killed a top al Qaeda leader in Yemen, a man named Badawi (ph), someone who had been a top operative in the al Qaeda network there conspiring for attacks, they say, against U.S. interests in Yemen, especially the U.S. Embassy.

Why are we seeing all of this? Some people say, oh, it's tied together, the U.S. is making more of an effort. Intelligence officials will tell you, no, they work at this all the time and sometimes they get the information, they get the targeting data that just makes it all come together for them. It's a very tough problem. In order to launch these strikes, they say they really have to know who is in a car going down the road. They have to have the solid intelligence on the ground. And in places like Syria and Yemen, that is very tough to get, but apparently in the last several days, they've gotten some good intel in both places.

BERMAN: Barbara Starr for us. Thank you so much. Interesting reporting.

PEREIRA: Very interesting.

BERMAN: Ahead for us, how low can he go? If you believe the reports, Alex Rodriguez telling lie after lie after lie. Lies on steroids, you might say. The question now is, what are the Yankees going to do about it? (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: We're waiting for a very special ceremony to take place at the White House today. A Medal of Honor, 150 years in the making -- John?

BERMAN: Yes. For a man known as Alonzo Cushing , who fought in the Battle of Gettysburg, and being honored 151 years later. Some first cousins like eight times removed will be there to receive the medal and we'll bring that live.

PEREIRA: The oldest living relative 85 years old, she will be on hand to receive that honor.

Now to something less honorable, the tale of two A-Rods. Alex Rodriguez told you, me and the rest of the world that he didn't take banned substances as a New York Yankees. But reportedly in private, he 'fessed up to the feds.

The "Miami Herald" reports Rodriguez admitted in January to using performance enhancing drugs. He did this in exchange for immunity and he admitted a slew of other things in this entire with federal investigators, despite defying it again and again and again in public.

Let's get to our Andy Scholes.

Andy, here's the thing. He was suspended for 162 games. Let's be honest, everyone pretty much knew he did it. But this news still is remarkable?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS: Yeah. Yeah, it is. I don't know about you guys. It doesn't surprise me whatsoever. Admitted to using steroids in 2009 saying he did it when a member of the Texas Rangers. The one he did hold on to he never took steroids as a member of the New York Yankees. I don't know if you remember the hearing with Major League Baseball, he put on the charade, kicked over a briefcase, went on Mike Francesca's radio show telling everyone he has never taken steroids with the Yankees. The "Miami Herald" says they offered him immunity and he says I took steroids.

The most shocking thing is the details. He had his blood drawn in a Miami night club and that he would inject himself with HGH in the stomach. Those details are pretty shocking to me. The news that A- Rod has admitted to taking steroids not very surprising.

PEREIRA: But it's interesting. About 10 months ago, you might recall, his attorney, he was on "New Day" with Chris and I. Listen to what he had to say, those months ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST, NEW DAY: Why doesn't he just come clean and say, like I said in 2009, yes, I took them? But it's bigger than me. Why doesn't he make a statement like that?

UNIDENTIFIED ATTORNEY FOR ALEX RODRIQUEZ: He doesn't make a statement like that because he doesn't accept it, it's not true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: In light of this new information we asked him to respond today and he wrote us an email. I want to read what he responded. He said, "Grand jury secrecy laws which appear to have been violated prevent me from answering one way or another." Someone has serious problems because the violation is a federal offense from his attorney.

One has to wonder, how all of this mess, how all of the admission, this report, how is it going to affect him returning to the Yankees in 2015.

SCHOLES: As of right now, he's been reinstated, served a 162-game suspension for using performance enhancing drugs. The one thing baseball could go after A-Rod a report that Tony Barb said A-Rod agreed to pay him once the clinic was going under for steroids for 20 of his customers. Then A-Rod will have violated another part of the joint drug agreement where he can't -- of sale and distribution, that on top of using. They can't get him for the using performance enhancing drugs but for sale and distribution if major league baseball wanted to go ahead and investigate that angle. But in terms of the -- he's served his suspension. Right now, he's in line to be the Yankees third baseman next year. On top of his $20 million salary that he's going to receive for the next three years, he's also getting home run bonuses. He's only six home runs behind Willie Mays. If he hits those he gets an extra $6 million. Yankees owe him a ton of money.

BERMAN: Three years, more than $60 million. You can bet they have a fleet of lawyers right now trying to figure out how to get out of this. It may not be that easy. He may be a very rich man.

Andy Scholes, thanks for joining us.

PEREIRA: That wraps it up for you and I @THISHOUR.

She is Michaela Pereira.

PEREIRA: I am.

BERMAN: I am John Berman.

"LEGAL VIEW" with Ashleigh Banfield starts right now.