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Trump Skipped Ceremony; Senator Jokes about Public Hanging; Recount in Florida. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired November 12, 2018 - 08:30   ET

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


[08:30:00] IAN BREMMER, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, "TIME" MAGAZINE: Yes, it is.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Happy birthday.

BREMMER: Thank you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: And have a birthday croissant on us. Enjoy Paris.

BREMMER: I shall do that surely.

CAMEROTA: OK. Thanks.

BREMMER: See you guys.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: He looks like he's suffering over there quite a bit, you know. Poor Ian.

CAMEROTA: I know. He really, really is.

BERMAN: Poor Ian.

CAMEROTA: Drew the short straw there.

BERMAN: Swift backlash after a senator's joke about public hanging goes viral. We're going to hear from her African-American opponent live on NEW DAY, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: A U.S. senator from Mississippi is under fire for a comment she made on the campaign trail. Listen to Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, who faces a runoff election against an African-American opponent later this month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CINDY HYDE-SMITH (R), MISSISSIPPI SENATE CANDIDATE: (INAUDIBLE) if he invited me to a public hanging, I'd be in the front row.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: If he invited me to a public hanging, she said, I'd be in the front row.

Her opponent is former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy, who joins us now.

I should note, we did reach out to Senator Hyde-Smith's campaign asking her to come on the program this morning. We did not get a response.

[08:35:00] Secretary Espy, let me read you what the NAACP says about this. Hyde-Smith's decision to joke about hanging when the history of African-Americans is marred by countless incidents of this barbaric act is sick.

Your reaction to what you heard?

MIKE ESPY (D), CANDIDATE FOR U.S. SENATE IN MISSISSIPPI: John, good morning.

Well, those comments that we heard that were published yesterday are very disappointing. They are hurtful and they are harmful. They are hurtful to the millions of Mississippians who are people of goodwill and they're harmful because they tend to reinforce the stereotypes that held back our state for so long and that have cost us jobs and have harmed our economy.

I mean this is 2018. We're going here in Mississippi into the third decade of the 21st century and we just should not have this. We need leaders that would try to unite us and not divide us.

BERMAN: Let me read you her response. He says, in a comment on November 2nd, I referred to accepting an invitation to a speaking engagement. In referencing the one who invited me, I used an exaggerated expression of regard, and any attempt to turn this into a negative connotation is ridiculous.

What do you say to that?

ESPY: Yes, I read that as well. They're trying to, you know, trying to grapple on to something that almost is just as bad because it's tone deaf. I mean here in Mississippi we do not need to reinforce those old stereotypes that have continued to haunt our state and cause (INAUDIBLE). And, you know, and even beyond that, this is a statement that if you look at her actions in the Senate the past few weeks, there was a bill that would deny coverage to Mississippians based on pre-existing conditions and she voted to deny their coverage. So we have here statements that are -- that are negative and we have actions that are -- that are wrong.

BERMAN: You've called the statements negative and I've heard tone deaf. Do you believe the statement was either racial or racist?

ESPY: Look, all I know is we need leaders now here in 2018 that will bring us together. And my campaign is the campaign that tries to reach across the racial chasm, reach across the party chasm and bring us together. It's time (INAUDIBLE) all of this. We need to move forward as a state. And I'm the leader that will do that.

BERMAN: So should this be a campaign issue? Is this a moment that you think should pass and you want to put the focus on other things or do you think that the people of Mississippi should look at this and factor it into their vote?

ESPY: It's already a campaign issue because she made it one. I mean this thing has gone viral. This morning there were about 2.5 million views. I mean these are all things that we're trying to move away from as a state, pointed out to old harbingers of the past that have really continued to haunt us and cost us jobs. And it's already a campaign issue. It's a statement that she made and it's just -- it's awful.

BERMAN: Does that mean you're going to be talking about it or you're going to be focused elsewhere?

ESPY: Well, I'm focused elsewhere. I really am. Others can talk about it. I'm focused on a new Mississippi, a Mississippi of 2018 or a Mississippi that tries to bring everyone together and not a leader that won't divide us. And that's the type of candidate I'm trying to be. I'm trying to move past it and move to talk about education and health care because, again, she already has voted against a bill that would deny coverage for -- to one-third of the state based on pre- existing conditions. And that's -- that's worse.

BERMAN: Now the president of the United States has nearly a 60 percent approval rating in Mississippi. And the president, of course, is divisive in some places. But really not Mississippi, where his approval is quite high.

You're going to need people who approve of the job that President Trump is doing and approve of him personally to vote for you. So how do you reach them?

ESPY: Well, I reach them to talk about promoting education, promoting health care, making sure our rural hospitals will not close because of uncompensated care, to make sure our teachers are paid a great wage and not have to take two or three jobs to make ends meet, to make sure our students don't have inordinate debt. And all these things are things -- everybody's concerned about whether you're black or white, Republican or Democrat. I'm a Democrat, but I'm a small "i" independent Democrat. I'll work with President Trump, you know, if he's right. If he's wrong, I'm not going to work with him. And I'll work with anyone that just really tries to promote Mississippi. I'm a Mississippi first candidate.

BERMAN: All right, former secretary of agriculture, Mike Espy, thanks so much for being with us this morning. Appreciate it.

ESPY: Thank you so much.

BERMAN: Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right, 18 years later, there's a brand new election recount underway right now in Florida. There it is. Look at all that activity. "The Bottom Line" with a key figure from the 2000 presidential race, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:43:47] CAMEROTA: OK, ballots are being recounted in the Florida races for Senate and governor. Florida Governor Rick Scott, he is leading the Senate race. He has sued alleging, without giving any evidence, that his Democratic opponent is trying to somehow committing fraud to win.

Joining us now, someone who's familiar with the election time --

JOE LIEBERMAN (I), FORMER U.S. SENATOR: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Former Senator Joe Lieberman. He was the Democratic nominee for vice president in the 2000 presidential election.

Do you have PTSD when you watch all of this unfolding again in Florida.

LIEBERMAN: Well, it is deja vu all over again. I mean I always say that Al Gore gave me, you know, the opportunity of a lifetime to run for vice president. It was a thrilling, positive experience until election night and then that 36 days after was just horrible. So I do -- I -- that brings back a lot of memories.

BERMAN: When you see that one of the issues might be a ballot in Broward County --

LIEBERMAN: Yes.

BERMAN: There's a huge undercount. A lot of people apparent, at least, didn't vote in the Senate race or their votes were not read.

LIEBERMAN: Yes.

BERMAN: You remember 18 years ago the butterfly ballot in Palm Beach County.

LIEBERMAN: Sure.

BERMAN: If it's true that in 18 years they couldn't get their acts together to make better ballots, how does that make you feel?

[08:45:02] LIEBERMAN: Angry, really. Look, the election of 2000, and this is election in Florida, were close. But they shouldn't be decided by the essentially mistake of an election official in the way the ballot was constructed. Clearly the butterfly ballots had an effect on the outcome because a lot of people of Palm Beach County, who in no way wanted to vote for Pat Buchanan, ended up voting for him instead of I think Gore and me, Al Gore and me. And it looks like that may have been responsible here for the undercount.

What do we do about it? A lot of legislation passed after 2000 to try to encourage a more -- a fairness in voting, but we really have, to the extent we can, and this is state governments, have to professionalize the whole voting system, how the ballots are designed and then, of course, how they're counted.

CAMEROTA: It's very interesting to look at how two different presidents respond to a recount. A recount in which they each had deep, vested personal interests, OK. LIEBERMAN: Right.

CAMEROTA: So listen to how President Clinton experienced it in 2000 versus what President Trump is saying today. So listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT (11/19/2000): We don't know who won but we do know that when people vote, they deserve to have their votes counted, if they can be. And so we ought to just respect the process.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What's going on in Florida is a disgrace. Go down and see what happened over the last period of time, ten years. Take a look at Broward County. Take a look at the total dishonesty of what happened with respect to Broward County.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Your reaction?

LIEBERMAN: Well, in 2000, there was a lot of screaming by politicians in both parties. What the effect of that was, God only knows, but not from President Clinton, to his great credit, even though he deeply wanted Al Gore and me to get elected, in some sense as a vindication of his record as president. And I think that was the right way. I think President Trump would be best to stand back. It's hard for him to do. It's not his nature. But there's enough other people in Florida and elsewhere to be screaming at each other about this vote recount that the president of the United States ought to stay above.

BERMAN: Well, he's not staying above it. And this is a case -- and I understand there are things that are in his nature and not in his nature, but the president of the United States is out there saying that elections aren't honest. Does that have a detrimental effect to our society?

LIEBERMAN: Yes. I mean it makes -- it deepens the skepticism/cynicism, frustration that a lot of people have with government. This is the basis of our system, the right of the governed to choose who governs them. And so far I haven't seen any evidence of fraud.

BERMAN: The secretary of state's office overseeing this says they see no evidence of fraud.

LIEBERMAN: Yes. Right. And so the ballot may have created a problem. It could be that some of the election officials didn't do as well, weren't as competent as they should have been, but so far I haven't -- I actually have seen less evidence of fraud here than I saw in 2000 where there was some evidence of suppression of some voters, particularly minority voters, coming out in parts of Florida.

CAMEROTA: So we talk all the time about the rhetoric and about whether hostile rhetoric leads to hostile actions, about how we can tone down the rhetoric. LIEBERMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: And Joe Biden touched on all of this at an event with George H.W. Bush. So let's listen to what the former vice president had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: As President Bush was my opposition as the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, he was never my enemy. Think how demeaning our politics has become in terms of how we talk about one another, as the opposition, not enemies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Sorry, George W. Bush event.

So what is the answer to tamping down the rhetoric? I mean what -- when I posed this to the White House --

LIEBERMAN: Right.

CAMEROTA: What they have said is, well, the president's a counterpuncher.

LIEBERMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: So any time he perceives somebody in the media or anywhere saying something that he perceives as not being friendly to him or his agenda, he counterpunches with an insult. What do we do with that?

LIEBERMAN: Yes, I mean, we've got to listen to Joe Biden. He's absolutely right. And the times when our government has worked, even at tough partisan times, President Reagan, Speaker O'Neill, President Clinton, Speaker Gingrich, ultimately they got together and they made some big things and good things happen for the country.

Now, there have been some encouraging signs from President Trump over the last couple of weeks, but also some times when I wish he had just quiet down. What's encouraging, you finally acknowledge it, sometimes his tone is not right. Remember, he did that before the election.

[08:50:01] CAMEROTA: Yes, in one St. Claire (ph) interview, yes.

LIEBERMAN: Yes. Then at the beginning of the first post-election press conference, he actually made a pretty good statement about the Democrats coming to him with proposals and he would consider them. He and Nancy Pelosi exchanged some positive comments. But then that whole thing happened with Jim Acosta and, you know.

So, what does it take to change this? It takes people in positions of political leadership to understand and act as if we're not enemies of each other, we're different parties, but we're all Americans, and we've got a job to do. And the job is to get something done for the country. BERMAN: Senator Joe Lieberman, thanks for coming in and helping us

relive the 2000 election recount, which I'm sure is exactly what you wanted to do today and every day.

LIEBERMAN: I'll be going back into therapy.

BERMAN: Thank you, senator. Appreciate it.

CAMEROTA: Thank you so much.

LIEBERMAN: OK, thank you.

BERMAN: So "The Good Stuff" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Time now for "The Good Stuff."

A young Michigan boy got a surprise he will never forget. I want to show you Nate Morfew (ph). He's sitting in school.

[08:55:04] CAMEROTA: Yes.

BERMAN: This is an assembly. Little did the second grader know that this event was all about him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I missed you so much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, that's awesome, but I need a little bit more of the setup.

BERMAN: I will tell you.

CAMEROTA: Go.

BERMAN: That's Nate and his mother, Hope, who serves in the Air Force. They were reunited after more than a month. Hope missed her son's birthday, but is glad to be back to celebrate with him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wanted him to know how special he was. His birthday was yesterday. He turned eight years old.

What are we doing tomorrow, bud?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Celebrating my birthday.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're having your birthday party tomorrow, huh, now that mommy's home.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: That's awesome. I love these pictures.

CAMEROTA: Me too.

BERMAN: I love the fact that we're showing this to you the day after Veterans Day in honor of Dan Crenshaw, the newly elected congressman from Texas, I will say what he wants to say, which is never forget. Never forget the service of those veterans who have been there for us.

CAMEROTA: That is a beautiful message.

Thank you very much.

We are still covering two major breaking stories this morning, the deadliest wildfire in California history and, of course, the race to meet the election recount deadline in Florida.

So CNN "NEWSROOM" with Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)