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Clinton Slams Benghazi Committee; Hillary Clinton Appears on 'SNL' Season Premiere. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired October 5, 2015 - 08:30   ET

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


[08:30:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: I mean how do we move forward thinking that we can send our kids to school and that this won't happen?

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, the fact is, sending your kids to school today is much safer than sending my kids to school 30 years ago when they went. It's a safer place. I know it doesn't sound like it because now we have 24-hour cable news that gives us the reports non-stop of the crimes. So parents are scared to death thinking their kids, when they're in school, are sitting ducks. And that's really not the case. They are safer now.

Seven hundred people a year get killed because somebody beats them up with their fist. We don't make a big deal out of that. But the fact is, there's a lot of people who get killed in a lot of ways. But a gun crime gets most of the attention. But it's not that our kids are just absolutely vulnerable every day they go to school. That's simply statistically not true.

CAMEROTA: Governor Mike Huckabee, thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.

HUCKABEE: Thank you, Alisyn.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, the latest rounds of polling from Iowa and New Hampshire are in, and the news isn't all good for either of the current front runners. Who's more vulnerable, Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton? Find out what our experts think. Stay with NEW DAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:35:08] PEREIRA: All right, here we go with the five things to know for your NEW DAY.

At number one, search and rescue operations resumed this morning for those trapped by South Carolina's record shattering rainfall and flooding. Six people so far have died.

A possible break in the search for that missing cargo ship, El Faro. A 225 square mile field of floating debris was discovered. It might provide clues to the fate of the 33 missing passengers. That number includes 28 Americans.

A young woman who survived the Oregon college massacre is speaking out exclusively to CNN. She said the gunman seemed happy and calm and showed no mercy, not even toward a woman in a wheelchair.

Doctors Without Borders demanding an independent investigation after a bombing killed 23 people in its hospital in Kunduz. The Pentagon says a strike was meant for the Taliban. It may have accidentally hit that hospital.

Israeli police restricting access to Jerusalem's old city after a weekend of violence that included the killing of two Israelis by a Palestinian. They're also barring Muslim men under 50 from attending prayers at the holy site.

You can always get more on the five things to know by visiting newdaycnn.com for the latest.

Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. So, the big Benghazi commission is going to happen. And you know what, Hillary Clinton says she's not afraid of it. She's angry about it. Watch what she's saying when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:40:30] CAMEROTA: New political news this morning. Democratic front runner Hillary Clinton fired up and responding to claims that a House committee's investigation into the Benghazi attacks is responsible for her dipping poll numbers. Let's show it and talk about all of it with our CNN political commentator and former White House political director for Ronald Reagan, Jeffrey Lord, and CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist Paul Begala. Paul is also senior advisor to a pro-Hillary super PAC?

Gentlemen -

CUOMO: What?

CAMEROTA: He is. Yes.

CUOMO: Oh.

CAMEROTA: Gentlemen, it's great to see you. Thanks so much for being here.

OK, so Hillary Clinton is at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire right now and she is responding to those claims that it is the Benghazi committee hearings that have brought down her poll numbers. So listen to what she's just said.

CUOMO: Fire it up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look at the situation they chose to exploit, to go after me for political reasons. The death of four Americans in Benghazi. I knew the ambassador. I identified him. I asked him to go there. This committee was set up, as they have admitted, for the purpose of making a partisan, political issue out of the deaths of four Americans. I would have never done that. And if I were president, and there were Republicans or Democrats who were thinking about that, I would have done everything to shut it down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So, Paul, I'll start with you. I mean, Kevin McCarthy didn't say exactly that the Benghazi committee was set up to bring down Hillary Clinton. He said that that was the result of the Benghazi committee hearings.

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, he said - we can parse it. I've got a column on this, by the way, if I can plug it, at cnn.com, which basically says, it's not a committee. It's a super PAC. It's a taxpayer financed super PAC. Their investigation - it's, by the way, the eighth - the eighth separate, different investigation into Benghazi. The chairman of that committee - set aside Congressman McCarthy, who may well be the next speaker, bragging about the political impact that their super PAC has had. The chairman of the committee was asked, what does all this stuff about e-mails have to do with Benghazi? Trey Gowdy, the chairman of that committee, a Republican congressman from South Carolina, he said, not much of anything. This has been a partisan witch hunt from day one and - of course, I love Hillary, but I especially love seeing her fight like that. That's what Democrats want to see. They want to see a leader like Hillary who will stand up and fight.

CUOMO: Jeffrey Lord, balance this with perspective. The eight committees that have put - been put together, the sum and substance of what's come about at it, how do you see it, how much of it is political, how much of it is practical?

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, first of all, let me just say right off about Congressman McCarthy, I think this disqualifies him from being speaker of the House. I mean I think he's absolutely, totally wrong. Congressman Gowdy has done a remarkable job putting together this investigation, and I think that will unfold as we go along here.

But, secondly, let's just be candid here. This is the old Clinton M.O. This is the now version of the vast right-wing conspiracy. This is aggressive. You know, we're going to attack the attacker. We're going to damage Ken Starr. This is the same game all over again, except this time it's Benghazi. So, frankly, I think we've seen this movie before.

CAMEROTA: But, Jeffrey, I mean what more is there to learn about Benghazi? I mean we've - they've been eight different committees and the hearing coming up in a couple of weeks. What - what hasn't been answered by her?

LORD: Well, I think that they need to spend some time, some real time with her and go through exactly what - what she did. She was secretary of state. She ran for president in 2008 talking about the 3:00 in the morning phone call and all this. The 3:00 in the morning phone call came, and she botched it. So I think we need to go through this detail by detail by detail, and I think, frankly, we have to do this out of respect for the families of the people who died over there. For heaven's sake, this is not rocket science and shouldn't be.

CUOMO: Paul?

BEGALA: She has testified under oath already for seven hours. She set up - actually the best report about this was completely independent. It was set up by her at the State Department. It's called "The Accountability and Review Board." It was co-chaired by Tom Pickering, a really - a legendary career diplomat, and Mike Mullen, a four-star admiral. They did an independent review.

LORD: They didn't interview her, did they, Paul?

BEGALA: They did - they did an independent review, 29 recommendations, all of which the State Department adopted. Then, the House Intelligence Committee, then the Senate Intelligence Committee, then the House Foreign Affairs Committee, then the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, then the House Armed Services Committee, then the Senate Armed Services Committee. There have been eight investigations.

This committee, this Benghazi super PAC committee, has now investigated this longer than Congress investigated Watergate or Iran- Contra. It is a political witch hunt and it is going to down (ph) to the Republican's detriment. Hillary's going to win this fight. I can't wait for the testimony. I hope they don't cancel it because she's going to kick their booties.

[08:45:05] CAMEROTA: Well, let's look at the poll numbers in New Hampshire because maybe - maybe Kevin McCarthy is right, that it has affected her poll numbers. Bernie Sanders is leading Hillary Clinton. He has 48 percent now, she has 39 percent.

Jeffrey, what do you think that's about? Is it Benghazi related?

LORD: Well, I think some of it is just related to Bernie Sanders striking a cord with the left side of his party. He's also from Vermont. But I really do think that this is more like a Eugene McCarthy kind of situation, and she is, if you will, LBJ in this scenario. She's the frontrunner. So I think Bernie Sanders is striking a cord here, and I think it's going to go beyond New Hampshire.

CUOMO: Jeffrey, what else can you point to as an analogy to what's gone on with Benghazi? Paul just pointed out Whitewater, Iran-Contra, you could add 9/11. What have you ever seen investigated this much by this many different committees?

LORD: Oh my goodness --

CUOMO: Eight different committees.

LORD: Watergate is a perfect example. I was in the White House when the Iran-Contra situation was going on. And believe me, there were --

CUOMO: Not eight committees.

LORD: -- people on my side of the line that said that was a political investigation --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: But not eight committees. Not as much as this. That's why I'm asking you. Have we ever seen more attention paid to something than this?

LORD: Sure. Sure. Of course. Watergate. Absolutely.

CUOMO: But it didn't have eight committees.

LORD: It wound up impeaching the president. Of course I've seen something more than this.

CUOMO: But it didn't have eight committees. I'm not saying the import of it. I'm saying the protocol.

LORD: I just think that's a distraction here. This is a House Select Committee that is designed specifically to do this. The other committees had other responsibilities. This is a committee that is designed specifically to get into the weeds here on Benghazi and put it to rest. There is a difference.

CUOMO: It's part of the point that they even had to design a committee specifically for this, like they didn't have enough tools already, is what fuels a little bit of the suspicion about it.

LORD: That's the way Congress works, alas.

CAMEROTA: All right. Jeffrey, Paul, thanks so much for being on, and we predict that this may come up at the first Democratic debate. See I'm hedging.

CUOMO: What did he call me? What did he say? Alas?

CAMEROTA: Alas. Yes. You are.

CUOMO: I thought he said something else there for a second. I was going to have to hunt him down in that secret room he has.

CAMEROTA: October 13th, 9:00 p.m. Tuesday.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: It's our culture of violence -

PEREIRA: Hm, is that what it is? All right.

Well we just saw Hillary Clinton's fiery side. What about her lighter side? She was on the season premiere of "SNL." We'll discuss her appearance, how she did, what might be in store for the rest of the candidates ahead on late night.

(PREVIEW OF "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE" CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:51:07] KATE MCKINNON, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE" (as Hillary Clinton): Oh Val, I'm just so darn bummed. All anyone wants to talk about is Donald Trump.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (as Val the bartender): Donald Trump? Isn't he the one that's like, oh, you're all losers?

(AUDIENCE LAUGHTER & APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: That was Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton making a guest appearance on the season premiere of "Saturday Night Live." How did she do? What can viewers expect as the late night comedy shows focus their attention on politics?

Here to talk about it is CNN contributor and author of "The War for Late Night," Bill Carter. Former managing editor for "People" magazine, Larry Hackett. Gentlemen, got some giggles out of "Saturday Night." So give us you're -- both of you go. What kind of grade do you give her? How did she do? How did "Val" or Hillary Clinton do on "Saturday Night?"

LARRY HACKETT, FMR. MANAGING EDITOR, PEOPLE MAGAZINE: I'd give her a B minus.

PEREIRA: B minus?

BILL CARTER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I'd give her a much higher grade.

HACKETT: Yeah, he does.

CARTER: I thought she was really good because politicians run that show all the time but they don't play characters. She was in a sketch playing a character.

PEREIRA: She wasn't just playing herself.

CARTER: No. She was playing - and she did the imitation. I think that was pretty out there and kind of nervy and she could have flopped and she didn't.

PEREIRA: What was your beef with it (ph)?

HACKETT: I hate to seem ungenerous on a Monday morning. I just thought it was OK. I think the days of showing up on these things and being there and people going, oh my gosh, a politician came, are over. They're all on late night all the time and there's lots of different skits and lots of different appearances. Media is everywhere. I just thought she was OK.

PEREIRA: Did it humanize her a little bit, though? I mean, it seemed a little more -- That's what you liked about it? CARTER: That's really the point and I think that was why she did it

and I think people knew that's why she did it. But then she actually performed. I think people enjoyed it. I don't think they felt like, oh, it's a stunt. I thought they enjoyed the idea that she could also make fun of herself because they were kind of picking on her, too.

(CROSSTALK)

HACKETT: It was amusing, but she didn't play herself. The whole offensive is the Trump offensive about her, but she played a character. So I'm not sure it really worked out.

PEREIRA: It's risky proposition for any of them to do, I suppose, because it can go really well --

CARTER: I can. You know, you could be embarrassed. You could be really embarrassed.

PEREIRA: (INAUDIBLE) be really embarrassed. OK, so Donald Trump also, we saw, the actor that will now do the spoof of Donald Trump, we know he is going to be fantastic because he's got the facial expressions down. Taran Killam. How do you think he did? Was he spot on to you, Bill?

CARTER: Well, I've seen a lot of imitations, I think he was fine. I think the material wasn't fantastic for him. I think he's -- I love Taran, I think he's a tremendous talent. I think he'll be really good in it. They really exaggerated the hair, which was good.

PEREIRA: Effective. Did they really exaggerate it though?

HACKETT: Well, I was going to say, the difference between Taran and the real Trump is a very narrow one.

CARTER: Well maybe that's true. Yeah.

PEREIRA: So what did you think of it?

HACKETT: I thought it was very good. But again, I think honestly, the mimicry was wonderful, the writer was OK. But it's not that far - and I'm not entirely joking -- from what Trump really says. That's the trick here.

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: It's not easy to spoof him.

CARTER: That's why it's funny though. That's why it's effective. Yeah.

HACKETT: Five years ago or six years ago when Tina Fey did the Sarah Palin imitation, said I can see Russia from my house. Everyone cracked up. What a ridiculous thing to say. She -

(CROSSTALK)

CARTER: (INAUDIBLE) said that.

HACKETT: Exactly.

CARTER: That was exactly what she said.

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: Well that is the problem when you have these -

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: -- sort of ludicrous, audacious characters, it's kind of hard to --

HACKETT: How over-the-top can you go?

PEREIRA: Yeah. You can't be funnier than they are oftentimes.

HACKETT: Right.

PEREIRA: Well then away from the funny. We've also seen how on late night, several comedians or late show hosts are delving into these topics that are plaguing the nation. In fact, why don't we -- I think we can play a little sound from Stephen Colbert real quickly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, LAST NIGHT TALK SHOW host: And in the face of the killings in Oregon yesterday, I honestly don't know what to do or say, other than that our hearts are broken for the people struck by this senseless tragedy. These things happen over and over again, and we're naturally horrified and shocked when we hear about them. But then we change nothing and we pretend that it won't happen again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: That's the challenge. We don't want to ignore, especially late night doesn't want to ignore it, but how do you address it?

CARTER: Well, they have to comment on what's going on. That's part of what they do. They do jokes every night. So it's become a thing to sort of comment on these terrible news events and I think Stephen was sensitive and felt it. I think most of these guys -- A lot of guys just sort of said there was bad news today but we need to tell jokes. He kind of addressed it.

HACKETT: I agree. But the error windows (ph) because of comments are extraordinary when a talk show host steps out of the usual routine and does that. Unfortunately, just like these events, is over. This itself, these comments, are becoming more commonplace.

(CROSSTALK)

[08:55:06] PEREIRA: More commonplace. And that's the part that we're struggling with.

(CROSSTALK)

CARTER: The events are common and so are the feelings about it (ph).

(CROSSTALK)

HACKETT: Indeed.

PEREIRA: They are.

HACKETT: And so their effectiveness is being a way to change minds -- I wonder about it.

PEREIRA: Larry, Bill, always a pleasure to have you. Thanks for joining us so briefly. We'll have "The Good Stuff" for you next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: "Good Stuff" speedy style. Kansas City couple books their wedding in Charleston months ago. Had no idea a thousand-year event would force it into the drain. The officiant groomsman photographer, even the license, all trapped outside of the city.

PEREIRA: Oh, no.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If anyone in the area can actually marry us, that would be greatly appreciated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Bride's plea answered by a city councilman touring the flood. Photographer? No problem. College kid volunteers on social media, missing groomsmen brought in by the National Guard and Humvee. So in the end it all goes off without a hitch. Testament to people coming together, especially facing this type of adversity (ph).

PEREIRA: Way to go, team.

CAMEROTA: Yeah.

PEREIRA: And what a great story to tell for the rest of their lives together.

CAMEROTA: Your speed reading actually saved us ten seconds.

CUOMO: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: But I couldn't understand anything you were saying.

CUOMO: They all came together and helped these people get to the wedding even though they're dealing with all that and that's why South Carolina will rise again.

CAMEROTA: There you go. Time now for "NEWSROOM" with Ana Cabrera, in for Carol Costello.