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Trump, Clinton Trade Barbs at Charity Dinner; Trump Defiant at Post-Debate Rally. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired October 21, 2016 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I will totally accept the results, if I win.
[05:58:29] BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That is dangerous. That undermines our democracy.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: It's amazing I'm up here after Donald. I didn't think he'd be OK with a peaceful transition of power.
TRUMP: We want fairness in the election.
MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: He is threatening the very idea of America itself.
TRUMP: This is the first time ever that Hillary is speaking to major corporate leaders and not getting paid for it.
CLINTON: Donald, after listening to your speech, I will also enjoy listening to Mike Pence deny that you ever gave it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Friday, October 21, 6 a.m. in the east. Chris is off this morning. John Berman is here. We have a funny show.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We just barely made it, too.
CAMEROTA: They don't need to know that.
Up first, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton trading barbs at this charity dinner just hours after their last debate. The political rivals got big laughs, but Trump also got booed repeatedly for abandoning decades of tradition with some blistering attacks on Clinton.
BERMAN: Yes. Folk who have been to this dinner say they have never seen a reception like this before. And it comes on the heels of Trump's continued refusal to say he will honor the results of the election. Now he says he will do it if -- if -- he wins. We're just 18 days now until election day. We're covering this for
you from all angles. We're going to begin with CNN's Brianna Keilar on the event last night -- Brianna.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: You can see ahead of the remarks here at this dinner maybe how the night was going to go. Hillary Clinton, it was definitely more her crowd. She had more visitors coming up to her than Donald Trump.
Donald Trump ended up with more boos as both candidates abandoned some of the usual decorum for a tone that reflected what they've taken in this bruising election battle.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: Hillary is so corrupt, she got kicked off the Watergate Commission.
KEILAR: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were supposed to play nice.
CLINTON: It's amazing I'm up here after Donald. I didn't think he'd be OK with a peaceful transition of power.
KEILAR: Casting aside the night's traditional good-humored joking, both candidates delivering brutal takedowns of each other.
TRUMP: This is the first time ever that Hillary is sitting down and speaking to major corporate leaders and not getting paid for it.
CLINTON: People look at the Statue of Liberty, and they see a proud symbol of our history. Donald looks at the Statue of Liberty and sees a four, maybe a five if she loses the torch and tablet and changes her hair.
KEILAR: Trump starting his speech strong.
TRUMP: The media is even more biased this year than ever before. Ever. Michelle Obama gives a speech, and everyone loves it. It's fantastic. My wife Melania gives the exact same speech, and people get on her case.
KEILAR: But losing the room after changing his tone.
TRUMP: Hillary accidentally bumped into me, and she very civilly said, "Pardon me." And I very politely replied, "Let me talk to you about that after I get into office."
KEILAR: Trump even booed at times for crossing the line.
TRUMP: Hillary believes that it's vital to deceive the people by having one public policy and a totally different policy in private. That's OK. I don't know who they're angry at, Hillary, you or I. Here she is tonight in public, pretending not to hate Catholics.
KEILAR: Clinton landing her own sharp barbs right back at Trump.
CLINTON: Donald, after listening to your speech, I will also enjoy listening to Mike Pence deny that you ever gave it.
Donald really is as healthy as a horse. You know, the one Vladimir Putin rides around on.
KEILAR: And poking fun at herself.
CLINTON: This is such a special event that I took a break from my rigorous nap schedule to be here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: The candidates did end up shaking hands, but they also avoided each other when they could. Ahead of the event, they were both in photo receiving lines, and they seemed to go to lengths to not shake hands. And I have spoken to a top Hillary Clinton aide on the plane coming back from Las Vegas. We saw real animosity there, that aide saying, "Enough is enough. At a certain point, you draw the line" -- John and Christine [SIC].
CAMEROTA: Thank you very much, Brianna.
Very interesting juxtaposition of what happened last night with all the tension. So let's discuss it with CNN political commentator and political anchor of Time Warner Cable News, Errol Louis; CNN Politics executive editor Mark Preston; and CNN political analyst and Washington bureau chief for "The Daily Beast," Jackie Kucinich.
BERMAN: Yes, we all shook hands before the segment, just so you know.
CAMEROTA: But it's going to get nasty now.
BERMAN: It is.
CAMEROTA: Errol, I don't know. This is such an interesting night. You know, it's comforting that they could come in and laugh and have this levity for three hours, but there's also something strange about why can't they do this on the campaign trail? Why can they -- why can they do it there last night and then it's so vitriolic and hateful on the campaign trail?
ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, let's keep in mind, they didn't quite do it last night. I mean, there was a little bit of humor. But they also had something that doesn't normally happen, which was the booing and the digs and the sort of vicious, caustic jokes, as opposed to jokes that sort of gently poke fun at each other but sort of keep the overall tone of this is the elite, all showing the country that we all come together.
CAMEROTA: It was more harsh last night.
LOUIS: It was. And that's not, you know -- look, the reality is, you don't want to just put on a show. You don't want to put on a complete illusion, but I think this does demonstrate that there are deeper divisions than we've seen in previous races.
BERMAN: Look, I've been to one of these dinners before, and the idea, for the most part, is to have self-deprecating humor. But this was less self and more just flat-out deprecating humor. You take the case of Donald Trump here making a joke about WikiLeaks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I wasn't really sure if Hillary was going to be here tonight, because I guess you didn't send her invitation by e-mail. Or maybe you did, and she just found out about it through the wonder of WikiLeaks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[06:05:16] BERMAN: So Mark Preston, you were watching this in real time, and it did feel at a certain point Donald Trump lost the room.
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Right.
BERMAN: And crossed a line.
PRESTON: From the beginning. Almost that he didn't have a delivery. In fact, if you would compare to Hillary Clinton, how she delivered it to how he did, he read; his head was straight down the whole time. He read off the cue cards, as she was, but at least she was looking up. She was laughing. She was kind of looking around the room. He was straight down line for line. I mean, this is the only time, quite frankly, he might have ever worked directly off a script. Right? I mean, like, we all laugh about how he goes off script oftentimes. But he was straight on script.
The thing with her, though, her speech was very politically infused. I mean, the way that they wrote her speech and her jokes, everything had a little weave of politics and a dig at him. And I don't think that she has much criticism, because it was so crafty and well done. Donald Trump was not as well done.
CAMEROTA: Do we know who wrote them? Who wrote the jokes?
PRESTON: No. Look, we'll find out today, but oftentimes, and John and I know this. I think Errol does, as well. There's a handful of Democratic speech writers who are in their, like, 40s and 50s that are fantastic.
BERMAN: A lot of times actual comedians, they will write in single jokes.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
BERMAN: They will mail them in. Sometimes former speech writers like Jon Favreau. I don't know if he was involved last night, President Obama speechwriter. But he'll send joke ideas, and it's a group effort.
CAMEROTA: OK. So Jackie, let's -- let's play one of Hillary Clinton's jokes that seemed to go over well. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CLINTON: I am so flattered that Donald thought I used some sort of performance enhancer. Now, actually, I did. It's called preparation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: What did you think -- what did you think of the tone of the night, Jackie?
KUCINICH: Little of a burn, wasn't it? You know, these are two people that don't like each other. And I think that came through. It's not just -- these aren't just competitors. Obviously, she was referencing there Trump's comment that she -- they should do a drug test for the last debate, because she might -- she may have taken performance-enhancing drugs.
You know, there was an interview with Cardinal Dolan after the event, and he said that they sort of-- they were chatting; and they were more pleasant to each other when they were sitting around him. But it's very clear that this is a nasty race and it's taken its toll on both of these candidates.
BERMAN: You know, Errol, I'm a little sensitive to criticism over, you know, bad jokes. Right? I mean, bad, bad jokes -- it shouldn't be disqualifying at a certain point. So I do wonder if we're making a lot out of this. It's a weird night, though. Right? We've got 18 days left.
Last night was the last break. I mean, there is nothing left now between, you know, now and election day to inject moments of levity here. This is going to be all-out sprint until November 8.
LOUIS: That's right. I mean, look, when it works, it really works well. If you go back and read a lot of the transcripts that are online and you read what, you know, John McCain said in 2000, or you read -- or 2008. You read what Mitt Romney said just four years ago, it's really quite nice. Where he says, "Look, I respect the 44th president of the United States. I respect his family. I'm glad we live in a democracy where we can do this and move forward together. There's life outside of politics. The values that bind us together are more important than the politics who divide us."
Somebody has to say that, and this is an elaborate stage during which you sort of just demonstrate that. Elsewhere on that -- on the dais, there were bitter political rivals who were sitting together. The governor and mayor of New York, who have not been getting along. Rudy Giuliani and David Dinkins, who both beat each other at least once in the 1990s, sitting there together sort of chatting together. It's nice for the rest of us to see that.
CAMEROTA: Right. I agree with you. And I mean, and I don't want to have rose-colored glasses on, but there is something comforting about that night when it's done right that, OK, we can put this aside. And humor still prevails, and we can all come together. But I don't know if last night captured that.
Let's play one more moment where Hillary Clinton did a little bit of self-deprecation about her "basket of deplorables" comment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: I have to say there are a lot of friendly faces here in this room. People that I have been privileged to know and to work with. I just want to put you all in a basket of adorables.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: I liked the basket of adorables.
PRESTON: Smart.
CAMEROTA: You're not defying (ph).
PRESTON: NO, no, no. Look, I think it was smart. If you compare both speeches, again, like her speech was so well done, so well- crafted and fairly well-delivered. She did bomb a few times, though. I mean, certainly towards the end, she did bomb a few times.
But her -- but her jokes were clever. They were tight. They were spot on, and when they went after Donald Trump, they were stinging to him, as well. She played it right, I mean, the whole basket of deplorables/adorables was a smart, smart thing to do.
[06:10:03] BERMAN: Preston hasn't laughed since the Reagan administration, right?
CAMEROTA: He is not amused.
BERMAN: So if you're expecting -- if you're expecting more than that, you know, you're going to be...
CAMEROTA: That was him laughing.
BERMAN: Jackie, the thing about this is that neither of these candidates are known for their biting wit. You know, Hillary Clinton and she made a joke of it. She's seen as someone who's very serious. She said she was the life of every party she's been to, all three. That was the joke.
CAMEROTA: Right
BERMAN: And it was funny, because it was true. You know, but Donald Trump not known for being self-deprecating, too. So there are different types of candidates than we've seen who have been known for their sense of humor.
KUCINICH: Well, sure. You know, one of the things about Mitt Romney's speech is that he did have the sort of, you saw it once in a while the deadpan. President Obama throughout, I just think of all the White House correspondents dinners that he's done, and he's always very funny. So this is a moment where you can sort of see, maybe in glimmers a softer side of them.
But I also wanted to mention that this event did achieve something that even the debates, that the last debate didn't. And that is they actually shook hands. So, little victories, I guess. To Alisyn's point, it is sort of comforting to see them not at each other's throats for once.
CAMEROTA: Right. I mean, the handshake. They can do it at this charity dinner, but they can't do it on the national stage.
BERMAN: It was ridiculous.
PRESTON: It was hard to do for them.
CAMEROTA: OK. Let me see, let me see. Wait, hold on. Watch this. Is it about to happen?
KUCINICH: It just happened.
CAMEROTA: Can we rerack that and slow-mo it?
LOUIS: You know, they did -- they did chat. It was up before the event started.
CAMEROTA: There you go.
LOUIS: You can see them talking.
PRESTON: It took them, basically, the head of the Catholic church in the United States to make them chat and to have that hand shake.
CAMEROTA: And did they wipe their hands afterward, like, "Oh, cooties?"
PRESTON: Right. I think they went and did a couple "Hail Marys" and maybe an "Our Father."
CAMEROTA: There we go.
BERMAN: Handshake by papal decree. They should have done it on the debate stage. That's my thinking.
CAMEROTA: Errol, thank you.
BERMAN: Up next, Donald Trump hearing it from both sides after refusing to say he will accept the election results at the last debate. That was when that happened. We have his new extraordinary condition that he's laying on this, and critics aren't liking that either.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAMEROTA: OK. So, Donald Trump changed his position on whether or not he would accept the outcome of the election. He now, yesterday, at first was telling his supporters that, yes, he looks at the election results, if he wins. And he then went further than that, as well. President Obama and the first lady, though, blasting Donald Trump on the trail.
CNN's Chris Frates has it all live in Washington with more. What's the latest, Chris?
CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Alisyn.
Well, look, Donald Trump's continued refusal to say whether he supports the bedrock of American democracy, the peaceful transfer of power, has drawn criticisms from all corners, including from GOP leaders themselves and vulnerable Republicans in tough races.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRATES (voice-over): Donald Trump is defiant, mocking critics who rebuked him for refusing to say whether he'll concede if he loses in November.
TRUMP: I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election, if I win.
FRATES: The Republican nominee is doubling down on his unsubstantiated claims that the election is rigged against him and leaving the door open to contest the vote.
TRUMP: I would also reserve my right to contest or file a legal challenge in the case of a questionable result.
FRATES: Trump's unprecedented remarks are drawing backlash from both sides and rattling an already fractured Republican Party. Senator John McCain, who lost the presidential race back in 2008, saying a concession is, quote, "an act of respect for the will of the American people. A respect that is every American leader's first responsibility."
Hillary Clinton's trifecta of surrogates is nailing Trump on the trail, starting with Vice President Joe Biden in New Hampshire.
BIDEN: He's questioning not the legitimacy of our elections but the legitimacy of our democracy.
FRATES: First lady Michelle Obama tearing into Trump in Arizona.
M. OBAMA: He is threatening the very idea of America itself. And we cannot stand for that. You do not keep American democracy in suspense.
FRATES: And in Florida President Obama condemning Trump's dangerous talk as no joking matter.
B. OBAMA: When you try to sow the seeds of doubt in people's minds about the legitimacy of our elections, that undermines our democracy. Then you're doing the work of our adversaries for them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FRATES: Now, Trump has provided no evidence to support this charge that the election is somehow rigged. And, look, the facts really don't bear that out. A 2012 investigative reporting project looked at over a decade of data and found just ten, ten cases of voter impersonations at the polls on election day. That's ten cases over ten years.
While the report does say fraud occurs sometimes, the number of cases they found are exceedingly small. John, Alisyn, back to you guys, my friends.
BERMAN: There's no proof there's enough fraud to sway the election results. Chris Frates, thanks so much.
Want to bring back our political panel: Errol Louis, Mark Preston, Jackie Kucinich. You know, it is interesting. Donald Trump, he did mock the whole idea that he might contest the election last night. He had that joke that looks at the results, if I win.
But he also did provide some, I think, important clarity here. He sort of expanded the context. Let's listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election, if I win. Of course, I would accept a clear election result, but I would also reserve my right to contest or file a legal challenge in the case of a questionable result.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: So, does that clear it up? First of all, he's down 8 percent in the polls. So by all accounts, if the election was held today, it would be a pretty clear result.
[06:20:01] LOUIS: That's right. I mean, look, he's sort of stating the obvious, and it was good that he clarified this, that he's like Al Gore in 2000. He's not going to simply concede if he's clear or if he believes that, there is some kind of a problem that he's going to take through a legal challenge. So yes, there's that.
I think, though, this is him being Donald Trump, the businessman. You tell him that you need something from him, he's going to say, "OK, let's talk about it. There's going to be a price for that. I've got some leverage. I'm not going to just give it up." I think that's really all he's sort of doing in this entire process.
CAMEROTA: But is it possible to know where he stands on this? Since he so vociferously at the debate said, "I'm going to keep you in suspense. I don't know if I'm going to accept the results." And now he says, it sounded like Kelly -- he was channeling Kellyanne Conway there, who said, "Of course, I would accept them, unless there's some reason not to and there is some challenge."
So do we know where -- does that put it to bed what he said?
PRESTON: For me, no. He's the conflicted politician in the sense that he's a showman. He's a businessman, as Errol said, and now he's a politician, right? And you put these all three together, and they can be confusing. For someone like Donald Trump, though, to say on national television, in excess of 60 million people watching him, refusing to answer the question outright, having his surrogates go out and basically run away from interviews from our own Dana Bash as she tries to get answers. Because they don't know how to clarify.
The next morning, basically, go through, in our iteration now, several news cycle until you get to tomorrow afternoon; and then he kind of clears it up.
Listen, his supporters are all on board for this. They want to see a revolution. And he's leaving enough there to start one, if possible.
BERMAN: All right. Two and a half problems here. No. 1, as far as the Al Gore comparison goes, Al Gore, you know, he never contested the election three weeks before it ever happened.
You know, No. 2, the recount happened because of Florida state law.
And No. 3, Jackie, even though I think Donald Trump has now explained this more and added an important condition here, he's opened the door for Democrats to use this as a very potent issue. An animating issue. Listen to Michelle Obama talk about this in Arizona yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
M. OBAMA: The voters decide who wins and loses, period, end of story. When a presidential candidate threatens to ignore our voices and reject the outcome of this election, he is threatening the very idea of America itself. And we cannot stand for that. You do not keep American democracy in suspense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: I mean, Michelle Obama is mocking it there. And sure, Mark Preston is right: Donald Trump supporters might like this, but for Democrats, there's a hanging curveball that they're knocking out of the park.
KUCINICH: Oh, yes. The damage here is done, and it's not just Democrats. You mentioned John McCain coming out, because Arizona has sort of become a swing state. Who would think that would have happened.
So, yes, even though they're trying, he's more online with the surrogates, which is kind of the opposite of how it usually happens, the Democrats are already taking this, and they're running with it. And I don't think you can put the genie back in this bottle even if you do say, look what Al Gore did, because it's not a very good comparison. But, you know, the ad are already cut, and it's happening.
CAMEROTA: Errol, I want to ask you about another possible scenario for November 9, the day after the election. And that is what happens to Speaker Paul Ryan? There is now a movement afoot from the House Freedom Caucus to have him replaced and removed, because he hasn't embraced Donald Trump.
So, what's going to happen?
LOUIS: Well, it will depend on what happens. Meaning, if Trump somehow wins, well, then, yes, Paul Ryan is going to have to start looking for a new job.
If Donald Trump loses and loses badly, and loses badly in places where the RNC kind of gave up on him, then the fight continues.
I think this ongoing war within the Republican Party, obviously, it would be better if it happened the day after the election and not two weeks before, but it's really already starting, and people are already kind of laying down their marks.
BERMAN: And Preston, you know when there are election waves. And say the Republicans lose 20; maybe not lose the House but 20, 25 seats. The seats that go are the middle-of-the-road seats. The people who lose are the moderates in contested districts. They're not, you know, in either party, the fire breathers, whether they be liberals or conservatives. So in some sense, his caucus could get harder to deal with after, just by the fact of who's in there.
PRESTON: Could be even more conservative. That's because of gerrymandering. I mean, basically for the viewers, that's when, like, you're looking at districts with congressmen who have been there for years and years and years that are never going to lose. They tend to be very conservative or very liberal. I mean, that's how politics have gone.
Yes, look, Paul Ryan's got a lot of problems on his hand, a lot of troubles on his hand, and in some ways it's -- it's sad, because we've gotten to the point now where if you don't agree with a minority within your conference or your caucus, then there's problems.
[06:25:03] CAMEROTA: Panel, thank you. Sorry, Jackie, to cut you off.
KUCINICH: No worries.
CAMEROTA: We're out of time. Have a great weekend.
Up next, where this thing's going. That thing is what I mean. What is that, John Berman? I know you don't need roads. Our first look at a driverless flying taxi. And it could be in the air with passengers sooner than you think. John is going to test this out in our next hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAMEROTA: Time now for the five things to know for your new day, John. No. 1, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton trading jokes and insults at a normally good-natured charity dinner in New York. Trump got booed for some of his attacks. It was a big departure from decades of the roast's tradition.
BERMAN: Donald Trump doubling down a little bit on his claims of a rigged election. He mocked his critics, who are outraged by his refusal to concede if he loses. Trump told supporters he will totally accept the election results, if he wins.
CAMEROTA: WikiLeaks releasing e-mails from President Obama's private e-mail address. That's before he took office. The correspondents providing insights into the transition from George W. Bush's presidency to Mr. Obama's. The e-mails surfaced as part of that hack on Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta.
BERMAN: Damage control after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's announcement of a military and economic separation from the United States. His spokesperson now says the Philippines does not intend to renege on treaties and agreements with established allies.
CAMEROTA: Airbus giving us a sneak peek at his new flying taxi. We're told Vahana, as it's called, does not need a runway. It is self-piloted. It is able to detect and avoid obstacles and other aircraft. That seems important.
