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NEW DAY

Rubio Facing Scrutiny Over Use Of GOP Credit Card; U.S. Intel Suggests Bomb Took Down Russian Plane; Was Benghazi Hearing Good For Hillary Clinton?; House Democrats Tackle Skyrocketing Drug Costs; GOP Candidates Brunt Of Late Night Jokes. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired November 5, 2015 - 07:30   ET

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


[07:30:00] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: He's been reportedly found alive in Cleveland. Julian Hernandez is now 18. He was recently trying to apply for colleges, but nobody was able to verify his Social Security number. A guidance counselor managed to uncover it in a database, Bobby Hernandez's father, Julian's father is now facing abduction charges in Alabama.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: The most common type of child abduction is some type of -- but still, these stories fascinate me. I'm actually surprised it's not getting more coverage.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Back to politics because as Senator Marco Rubio pushes back against critics like Donald Trump, who questioned Rubio's financial history, he's challenging reports that he misused a Republican Party credit card.

Patricia Mazzei is a political writer for "The Miami Herald," and Adam Smith is a political editor at the "Tampa Bay Times." Both of these reporters have followed Rubio's financial history since he ran for the Senate back in 2010.

It's great to have both of you with us this morning. Adam, I want to start with you, as you say, you've been following Marco Rubio's rise for the past five years. So what is so eyebrow raising about his personal finances and use of this credit card?

ADAM C. SMITH, POLITICAL EDITOR, "TAMPA BAY TIMES": Well, this came up quite a bit when he was running for U.S. Senate against Charlie Crist. He was sort of campaigning as a fresh face and anti- establishment candidate. He was very successful, but he was also a leader in the Republican legislature when the Republican Party was swimming in money.

He was one of a number of legislative leaders that had these, essentially they were sort of state party credit cards. And it turned out there were a lot of questionable expenses, very lavish spending on these cards.

These legislators were supposed to pay the money back. It turned out when "The Herald" and "The Tampa Bay Times" looked into Marco Rubio's. He had not paid all that money. He had those cards for some personal expenses. He had to repay the party. CAMEROTA: OK, but he repaid the party. Patricia, help me understand. I have a company credit card. If I put a personal charge on there, I repay my company. How is this any different than what Marco Rubio did?

PATRICIA MAZZEI, POLITICAL WRITER, "THE MIAMI HERALD": Well, understand that it happened at a time when the Republican Party of Florida was facing one of its worst crises in decades. So it wasn't just Senator Rubio, who had a credit card situation.

I mean, these statements were coming out for several party leaders and what's important now is to clarify that, like Adam said, Rubio wasn't paying back the monthly expenses. There was one period for six months in 2007 where he didn't make any payments for some of his personal expenses.

So it's just a matter of sloppiness. Granted he has said that he's not been great at bookkeeping. But the question is, if voters are going to care about that now. Now, they didn't in the Senate race in 2010.

CAMEROTA: It's not just sloppiness. Adam, he's made this case, I'm a public servant. I don't make much money. I have children in a private school. I'm trying to save for their college. I have a mortgage. He's sort of making the same case that many Americans face.

In terms of what he's now facing, let me play what he told our Dana Bash about these accusations. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's a charge card, it's American Express, every month I would get a bill, something on it that's personal, I would pay it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: All right, in case you couldn't hear that, he says if there was anything personal, he said I would pay it, I'd review my bill. The party didn't have to pay for it. I mean, what jumps out at you that is so wrong with what he's done?

SMITH: Well, I think you're right. I think a lot of people can relate to somebody who struggles to pay their finances. Who doesn't always dot every I or cross every t's when they're doing their household spending.

But in the case of Rubio, some of these others most Americans cannot relate to having a credit card where they can routinely spend $1,000 at Ruth Chris Steakhouse, chock it up to party expense where they can hire limousines.

Where if they get their car at a business function, that they can charge their business to pay for it. And there are quite a few of these records that have not come out. This is one of the things that's new that the Marco Rubio campaign realizes this could be a headache and a fresh face and change from politics in the past.

They're going to release some of these ordinary records that will which have problems on them, they acknowledge that.

CAMEROTA: Patricia, as you know, Donald Trump has been going after Marco Rubio saying he can't manage his own finances. Jeb Bush had an opportunity to go after Marco Rubio. He didn't take the bait. He said that's for you guys.

He's still going after Marco Rubio for his voting record for being absentee in the Senate. Jeb Bush isn't going after it. Is there anything in your reporting that suggests that somehow he has broken the rules?

[07:35:10]What Adam is saying is that, yes, he may have had some lavish expenses, but those are the rules. He was allowed to go to Ruth Chris steakhouse. He was allowed to stay at these hotels so where do the broken rules come in?

MAZZEI: It wasn't until the records that we have come out before that Senate campaign, for example, that we were able to compare, my colleagues were, with his office spending in the Florida House of Representatives. And for example, there had been double-billed flights to the Republican Party of Florida and to the taxpayers of Florida.

And Senator Rubio had to pay those back. He did but we would not have been able to track that without the records. So, it's just a question of waiting for these records to come out.

And frankly, wondering why it took this long for them to be made public considering, you know, he's wanted to run for president for a while. So he probably knew that this was going to come back.

As for Governor Bush, he may have tried to stay away from it, but he did tell reporters that this was fair game. So the Bush allies are certainly interested in trying to land any punch they can't against Senator Rubio, as Rubio is moving up in the polls. This is one of the places they're hoping to do damage. But again, we don't know until we see the records that we don't have.

CAMEROTA: Right. So that will be interesting to see if there are new records. Patricia Mazzei, Adam -- very quickly, Adam, go ahead.

SMITH: I was just going to say, you got your business credit card, one example here is, you know, Marco Rubio, has acknowledged at one time he accidentally used his party card to pay for pavings for his house.

If that's something that you can see yourself easily doing, then you'll excuse that. If you're somebody that has a party credit card or a business card and you can't imagine doing it for house work, then your eyebrows will be raised.

CAMEROTA: OK, there you go, thanks so much for sharing both of your reporting with us and we'll see what the new records reveal. Adam Smith, thank you. Patricia, thank you. Let's get over to Chris.

PEREIRA: Bottom line, she's got a credit card. How many cards?

CUOMO: She admitted tnat she puts personal expenses on it.

PEREIRA: I believe in investigation --

CAMEROTA: I'm paying them back.

CUOMO: That's what you say.

CAMEROTA: But I have not repaved my driveway yet.

CUOMO: That's what you say. Your driveway is like glass, by the way.

All right, another political story this morning, he says the GOP was conspiring to take down Hillary Clinton over Benghazi. Now he's saying there's also a conspiracy behind a thousand fold spike in prescription drug prices. Congressman Elijah Cummings is here on NEW DAY live to make both cases. Stay tuned ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:41:38]

CUOMO: Fresh off the battle against Republicans in the Benghazi Committee, Congressman Elijah Cummings is taking on a new fight against skyrocketing prescription drug prices. The congressman joins us now.

Congressman, it is good to have you on NEW DAY, but it comes at somewhat of a sober moment, this news in the headline about U.S. and English intelligence officials being concerned that ISIS may have planted a bomb on the Russian plane? Does that smell right to you? What is your reaction to this?

REPRESENTATIVE ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), RANKING MEMBER, HOUSE OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM: I think the jury's still out, but assuming that's true, it's a major problem. I think we've got to contain ISIS.

And if they did that, again, that's just another indication that this is a group has no conscience, and they will do anything to bring terror to the world. So I'm hopeful that we'll get to the bottom of it.

CUOMO: All right, respect the wait and see attitude. It's certainly warranted in this situation. We'll stay on that story. Let's go to the matters at hand. You were very vocal on that Benghazi issue there on what you thought were an unfair line of questioning and motivation for this. Were you moved by anything that came out of it that made other members feel vindicated in their efforts?

CUMMINGS: I was moved when Mr. Gowdy said at the end of the hearing that we had not found out anything after we have spent close to $5 million on the investigation. That's just with our committee. And then the $14 million that the State Department has spent answering subpoenas, yes, that's quite a bit of money. By the way, that's taxpayer money. So, you know, that was very interesting.

But the other thing that I was impressed with is Secretary Clinton. I thought she answered the questions forthrightly. And after 11 hours, 11 hours of questioning, I thought she ended up well.

CUOMO: The stamina was certainly commented on. Two big headlines that came out were the access of Sidney Blumenthal and of course, the switching of stories, as it was described. Immediately after the actual tragedy where one thing was then said by the then secretary to friends and family and another said to the American people. Your reckoning of those?

CUMMINGS: Chris, I was completely satisfied with her answers. I was familiar with all of the documents, the many transcripts in our dealings. The information was very fluid during that course of days immediately after this terrorist act.

And, again, she was acting on information that she'd had at the moment. And it's interesting that one of the documents that they pulled was the one where she was talking to her daughter in an e-mail. Again, this was a document that had been marked easily personal.

But she turned it over anyway. And again, she was acting on the information that she had at that moment. The CIA was giving her different scenarios. And so, I thought -- I felt comfortable with her answer and I thought she did a good job.

[07:45:03] CUOMO: On the other topic, prescription drug prices, who is bilking my prescription drug prices and why, in your opinion?

CUMMINGS: You've got some people, some companies that are buying up drugs and these drugs are usually drugs that don't have a lot of competition. And they're buying them up. And then what they do, they get rid of a lot of employees, they don't do any research and development.

Then they jack up the prices, and they do it because they can do it, and it's about greed. A lot of people, when they go to the pharmacist, they think it's the pharmacist's fault or the drugstore chains, well, it's not their fault.

It's people like this fellow, Michael Pearson, of Valiant, who takes a drug that addresses abnormal heart rhythm, and, Chris, overnight, overnight, he raises the price from $215 to $1,346.

Imagine a relative of yours going into a store to buy a prescription and then finds out it's five times the cost, and it's pure greed. By the way, some breaking news for you, I met just yesterday with Chairman Chaffetz of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

He has agreed to now bring in Mr. Cerille so that he can explain to us why he is -- Mr. Cerille and Mr. Pearson, why they are jacking up the prices. Now I mentioned Mr. Pearson, but Mr. Cerelli is even worse. Cerelli jacked up the price of a drug that helps with the immune system, HIV and cancer patients. He jacked that up, Chris, listen from $13.50 to $750 overnight.

CUOMO: Here's why they say they do it. Two points for pushback. One, they charge what the market will bear especially when it comes to what they call orphan drugs and drugs that don't have as wide an application in the populous.

They're very expensive to produce, the research cost, all the marketing cost are all on these companies, and just like everything else, it's supply and demand. That's the first point of pushback.

CUMMINGS: Well, the problem with that is they are buying them from companies, for example, they were selling them for $13.50. They were producing it and making a profit, the company that had it before. So why are you going to move from $13.50 to $750?

Chris, I can hardly wait to have Mr. Cerelli in front of our committee so he can explain to the American people exactly why he's raising the prices like that.

And by the way, the money that is made off of these drugs, under those circumstances, I ask blood money. You know why? Because people cannot afford those drugs and people are literally dying.

CUOMO: Well, we look forward to the hearing. And of course, a lot of these practices, you know, from the consumer field will say this has been going on for a while. It's demanded government attention. Let's see what happens now. Congressman Cummings, appreciate you coming on NEW DAY. We will stay on this story.

CUMMINGS: Thank you, Chris.

CUOMO: All right, we will -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: Well, it appears Donald Trump is at it again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: -- complete and total loser.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: That's leaked NBC footage making the rounds. Ben Carson is now firing back. What he has to say ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:52:37]

CAMEROTA: Well, the presidential candidates continue to pay dividends for late night laughs. Here is what you missed if you are sleeping.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump is hosting "Saturday Night Live" this week and because of equal time rules for television Mr. Trump can only speak for 4 seconds in this promo.

TRUMP: So let me just say this. Ben Carson is a complete and total loser.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: OK, actually what happened there was NBC obviously Donald Trump is about to be on SNL. This was a video they recorded that they recorded that got leaked by accident. You are suspect on that.

CUOMO: Seriously.

PEREIRA: NBC quickly yanked the clip. But likely the damage was already done. Somebody who wasn't laughing?

CUOMO: Ever.

PEREIRA: Ben Carson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I discovered when I was in grade school that those tactics really are for grade school and I've gone far beyond that now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Respected.

PEREIRA: NBC for its part has issued an apology for the mistake. You don't --

CAMEROTA: If you watch SNL and he's not making fun of Carson then you know that's not supposed to be in there.

CUOMO: I don't believe that something like that gets mistakenly put out there. It is just hard to believe. Am I wrong?

CAMEROTA: Meanwhile, as we were saying here is some real late night comedy that was intentionally broadcast. Here is what you missed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No matter how tough it gets don't count Jeb out because as he explained, he is a fighter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Talk about your resilience because some people don't think you know how to fight.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They don't know me. They don't know me. I eat nails when I wake up and then I have breakfast.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Jeb eats nails when he wakes up and I believe him. Am I still running for president?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ben Carson actually admitted to falling asleep several times driving his car in one of his book. He started taking Ubers to be safe, but his drivers kept falling asleep listening to him talk.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: The nail biting that was hilarious.

CUOMO: Colbert won that one.

CAMEROTA: Yes, he did.

CUOMO: That was funny. I think I eat nails for breakfast.

CAMEROTA: But if you do it beforehand you are also macho.

CUOMO: They don't know me.

PEREIRA: That is your tease.

CUOMO: Thank you. The latest on our top story, this is the big head line this morning. You are seeing it on your screen right now. Was it a bomb? And was it planted by ISIS on that Russian jet that took down 224 people? The question is why do we think so? Why are people still unsure? We'll give you the latest when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Likely that a bomb brought down the plane.

CUOMO: ISIS likely is behind it.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Ireland, they are suspending all flights to Sharm el-Sheik.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would be the most significant terror attack since 9/11.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This certainly raises concerns, very significant.

TRUMP: Marco Rubio has a disaster on his finances.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Bottom line people need to understand is this was an American Express card. If there were personal expenses on there I paid them directly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Doing much, much better. What do you say to that?

TRUMP: All I know is I'm number one.

CARSON: I would go out to people that rocks and bricks and baseball bats and hammers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His calm demeanor was carved out of a violent past.