Return to Transcripts main page

NEW DAY

New Details on Manafort and Cohen; November Jobs Report; Hart Steps Down as Oscars Host; Concession Withdrawn in North Carolina Race. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired December 7, 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] ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: The president saying, I'm here to work with you.

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D), NEW YORK: Well, I think the American people inherently want us to work together in a divided government context. They don't want us to fight from day one, and we can't have the perpetual 24 hour, 7 day a week, 365 day a year campaign. There has to be room to govern. And if we are going to govern, we're going to have to work together if we can get things done for working families and middle class folks, for everyone else.

HILL: There's a lot going on today, so we're going to do a little bit of a lightening round approach on this Friday morning.

As you know, we're waiting on these filings from the Mueller team. One involving Paul Manafort. Prosecutors expected to say widely believe he lied and then why they ultimately asked to end that plea agreement. And then, of course, sentencing documents for Michael Cohen. What do you expect to learn in those filings? What are you looking for?

JEFFRIES: Well, it's likely that there will be further evidence that there was some sort of conspiracy between Russian operatives and high level members of the Trump campaign to sell out our democracy in order to artificially place someone at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

We'll see what the facts present. And today may be an additional piece to that puzzle. At the end of the day, I think we all have to allow Bob Mueller to do his job. He's doing it in a very thorough, fair and comprehensive fashion. We want to see that continue. And ultimately he'll have to present the facts and the evidence to the American people, to the Congress, and then we can go from there.

HILL: In just about an hour and a half from now, 90 minutes, James Comey going to be sitting down behind closed doors, as we know, with House Judiciary. Ninety minutes is not enough time for you to get to Washington, so I'm guessing you are not going to be sitting in on that.

JEFFRIES: That is correct. And this is a total and complete waste of time. At the end of the day, we know that perhaps the most significant thing that James Comey did in the 2016 election was with 11 days parachute into that campaign, detonate a grenade on Hillary Clinton's candidacy by re-opening an investigation where there was no evidence justifying that to happen and perhaps costing her the election.

Now, the past is the past. But there's no reason for us to revisit what may or may not have happened in 2016 when it's a fact that's hiding in plain sight.

HILL: So you believe this is all just a waste of time and so that's why you don't see a need to sit in on it today?

JEFFRIES: This is a witch hunt, a kangaroo court and a three-ring circus wrapped into one. And it is a tremendous waste of taxpayer dollars. We should be trying to find common ground as it relates to solving the pending shout down fight that may occur in the next few weeks and funding our government in a way that allows for us to bring the hopes and aspirations of the American people to life.

HILL: Hakeem Jeffries, great to have you with us this morning. Thanks.

JEFFRIES: Thank you very much.

HILL: John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, the November jobs report is out. Christine Romans breaks down the numbers, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:36:45] BERMAN: The Labor Department just released the November jobs report. It happened moments ago.

Our chief business correspondent Christine Romans here with the numbers.

Romans.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know, the overall job reaction was not quite as robust as we had thought, 200,000 net new jobs was the forecast. It came in at 155,000. So you can see slowing a little bit from the pace in October and some of those good months earlier this summer. So 155,000 net new jobs. So a slightly cooler pace of hiring from companies than we've seen this year.

On average, if you average that out before this month, it's about 215,000 net new jobs a month. So put 155 in that context.

Here's the unemployment rate, though. It stays at this near generational low of 3.7 percent. This is nearing what you would call full employment. And if, in fact, that is the case where everyone who wants a job has a job in this country, you will see the pace of job reaction slow simply because companies won't be able to find the workers to hire.

Where were they hiring? They were hiring in business information services. These tend to be higher-paid jobs. These are office jobs, accountants, these are lawyers. Health care, 32,000 jobs there. This has been for years. We have seen health care as a driver in the American economy, and that continues. And in manufacturing, 27,000 net new jobs there. That's something clearly the White House will be happy about.

What's happening in the markets? They're coming off of their lows. Remember we had seen earlier this morning I told you how the futures were lower. It felt kind of ugly out there. Concerns about the trade war. This would suggest these softer than expected job numbers on the job creation would suggest the Fed, if it wants to slow the pace of interest rate hikes, it would have -- it would have the ammunition to do so, and that's something the markets like to see.

Guys, we'll have the opening bell here in about 51 minutes.

BERMAN: All right, very interesting. Some economic numbers. Maybe the first signs of things slowing down just a little bit.

Romans, appreciate it.

HILL: It is quite the day on this Friday. All right, John, thank you.

Kevin Hart stepping down as host of the Oscars just two days after being tapped because of intense criticism for comments he's made in the past, anti-gay comments and tweets. The Academy Awards demanding Hart apologize. Instead, though, he dug in until finally bowing out late last night.

Joining me now, Sarah Kate Ellis, the CEO and president of GLADD, the gay Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

Good to have you with us.

As I understand it, there was a lot going on. You were working the phones, you were talking to a lot of people last night. You go to bed fairly late and you wake up this morning and you were surprised. Why?

SARAH KATE ELLIS, CEO AND PRESIDENT, GLADD: We were hoping that this was going to turn into a teachable moment, that Kevin Hart would still be hosting the Oscars and he would be using this moment, not only to show his evolution around the LBGTQ community, but also to then use the Oscar stage, one of the biggest stages in the world, to help build unity and awareness around the LBGTQ community and how we are marginalized in this country.

HILL: Is that something that GLADD was actively pursuing in terms of a message with Kevin Hart, talking to him and his team about, hey, let's work together on this?

ELLIS: Absolutely. Whenever there are missteps like this or opportunities like this, we see this as an opportunity to get a message out about acceptance for LBGTQ people. And this was a perfect opportunity for that. And Kevin Hart has such a large following and is beloved by so many Americans that his evolution -- I mean, in the end, he did apologize. It would have been so much better had he faced it and said, you know what, this wasn't good, and I have evolved from here and I am an ally to the community, and I'm going to, you know, move forward and lead. And so it really -- it just got -- it moved very quickly, as you can see. It's only two days ago, I think, that the Academy announced him. And it wasn't the conclusion that I think everybody would have liked.

[08:40:30] HILL: I just want to pin you down really quickly on it, because when he did finally issue that apology, he did ultimately, specifically, although maybe not initially, ultimately said, I sincerely apologize to the LBGTQ community for my insensitive words in the past. He talked about the fact that he's evolving. But just to be clear here, was he not interested in making this a teachable moment? Did he want to do it on his own terms?

ELLIS: You know, I think -- from his actions it seems that he did want to do it on his own terms.

HILL: OK.

ELLIS: I was not in direct contact with him, but through his people. And so that moved very quickly as well.

HILL: Right.

When we look at what happened here, as you point out, it was only two days ago that he was announced. These statements, and he was saying initially, look, I've addressed this in the past. I don't want to rehash it again. He had addressed some of those comments in an interview with "Rolling Stone" in 2015. These comments were not difficult to find despite the fact that they may have been said years ago, they were out there. Does it surprise you at all that the Academy seemed to have been taken by surprise here?

ELLIS: I am surprised by that. And I think they were from a while ago, though, so I do think you had to do some due diligence in that respect. And it wasn't really --

HILL: Isn't that pretty exactly, though, and expected these days, I mean, of anyone? A quick Google search, you find a lot. Social media, we certainly find a lot on there. Perhaps it's stuff that people wish they hadn't said in the past. That's an opportunity to address it. But to your point, there's due diligence that needs to be done.

ELLIS: It was an oversight in the end, yes, obviously. But I think, you know -- I applaud the Academy because over the past few years they have absolutely taken diversity and inclusion much more seriously. And it's sad to see how this ended up and resulted. But you do need to do your due diligence.

HILL: Can Kevin Hart clean this up?

ELLIS: You know what, America is always forgiving. And so I do. I think his last statement was actually a step in the right direction. But there needs to be more to that because it was so convoluted prior, so you didn't really know where he stood on this and you didn't see the path forward. But there's -- it's never too late. And I do think Americans are very forgiving. And they want to believe the good in people.

HILL: Sarah Kate Ellis, great to have you with us this morning. Appreciate it. Thank you.

ELLIS: Thank you.

HILL: John.

BERMAN: So, for many, this time of year is about giving back. But the 12th Annual CNN Heroes: All-Star Tribute salutes ten people who put others first all year long. The star-studded gala airs live this Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're humans helping humans, and they need our help.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are truly giving the gift of mobility.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're the best the world has to offer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're building something that matters a lot more than we do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're heroes today and every day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is nice. (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) skills how to program. It's all about solving problems.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We serve anybody who has ever raised their hand to defend our Constitution.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My vision was to have a home where women could find safety and find themselves.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our first goal was just to create this hospital- based intervention.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wart each and every one of them to feel special.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Join Anderson Cooper and Kelly Ripa live as they name the 2018 CNN Hero of the Year.

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "CNN HEROES: AN ALL-STAR TRIBUTE": Here once again celebrating the best of humanity.

KELLY RIPA, HOST, "CNN HEROES: AN ALL-STAR TRIBUTE": Don't we need this tonight more than ever?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute," Sunday at 8:00 Eastern.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: It is going to be a great show. You will not want to miss it. So gather up the family, grab your tissues, get ready to be inspired. I am so excited. It is one of my favorite nights of the year.

HILL: I am right there with you.

BERMAN: I'm picking out my outfit already. Gold lama (ph).

HILL: You know, you showed me that outfit earlier. I think we're going to work on another one, but you don't want to be the focus. It's about the heroes.

BERMAN: As long as it's bedazzling.

HILL: He thought he lost his House race by a razor thin margin. Now his opponent is accused of election fraud. The Democratic candidate, the center of the nation's most heated race talks to us about taking back his concession, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:49:10] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN MCCREADY (D), NORTH CAROLINA CANDIDATE DISTRICT 9: I served overseas in the Marine Corps just to come back home and watch politicians and career criminals attack our democracy. And I call on Mark Harris to tell us exactly what he knew and when he knew it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That is Dan McCready, the Democratic candidate in the North Carolina race for House District Nine. Now, he had conceded the race shortly after Election Day, but yesterday, in the face of mounting evidence of election fraud, fraud that may have helped his opponent, he took that concession back.

Dan McCready joins me now.

Thank you so much for being with us. Obviously so much has happened in the weeks since your election. Based on your last statement there, are you suggesting that your opponent, Mark Harris, knew about this election fraud?

DAN MCCREADY (D), CANDIDATE FOR HOUSE FROM NORTH CAROLINA: Well, it certainly looks that way. He hired a criminal who was under investigation for absentee ballot fraud to do his absentee ballot work and apparently he got what he paid for. He liked to serve so much that he actually recommended this criminal services to other politicians.

[08:50:13] BERMAN: So my understanding, and not to get overly technical here, he hired one firm, Red Dome (ph), which then subcontracted out to McCray Dallas (ph), who is the one alleged to have been involved in this ballot harboring. So the campaign didn't hire this man directly, did they?

MCCREADY: Well, the campaign hid his services through this subcontractor. But this evidence, you know, this just unbelievable, shameful criminal activity and election fraud, the evidence has been rolling out, not just day by day, but actually hour by hour. BERMAN: Yes.

MCCREADY: Just last night or this morning, "The New York Times" reported, and my opponent Mark Harris' FEC report, a $34,000 payment related to Bladen County absentee ballots.

BERMAN: Yes. And, again, that went to the firm which then hired this man who was alleged to have committed the election fraud.

And, again, the evidence of election fraud is just crystal clear here. The question is, did Mark Harris and his campaign have direct knowledge of it?

Let me just read you the statement. This is now a statement from a lawyer for Mark Harris. I want to emphasize again that the campaign was not aware of any illegal conduct in connection with the ninth district race. However, the campaign intends to cooperate with all the lawful investigations of the conduct of election and, like everyone else, is awaiting the outcome of the election.

One aspect of this that I'm not sure people fully appreciate, outside of North Carolina, is one of the things alleged to have happened now is ballots may have been destroyed, absentee ballots collected from particularly minority voters, believed to likely vote Democratic, may have been destroyed here. Do you have any direct evidence that that happened?

MCCREADY: Well, I'll leave that to the many agencies that are investigating my opponent Mark Harris and his campaign. But the affidavits do not paint a pretty picture. I mean this is just incredible, shameful criminal activity. Folks showing up at people's doors, maybe throwing their ballots in the trash, helping them -- altering their ballots, altering their ballot choices, misleading them.

It was reported in the affidavit that early voting information may have been leaked to people that weren't supposed to see it, which is strategic information used to conduct a campaign.

So, you know, this goes to the top of Mark Harris' campaign. And there's only one person that knows the extent of this criminal activity. That's Mark Harris. And it's absolutely unacceptable to the people in North Carolina who had their voices stolen from them. I mean your vote is your voice. That's what I -- this is -- you know, I served overseas in the Marine Corps. I never expected to come back home and see our very right to vote, what our democracy depends -- is based on under attack here at home.

People deserve Mark Harris to tell us what he knew and when. He's the only person that knows the extent of this activity, and it's not acceptable for him just to remain silent and hide behind a lawyer.

BERMAN: And, again, just to reiterate once again what his lawyer said is the campaign had no direct knowledge. But, as you say, we would like to hear from Harris about that.

We have invited him on the show, just to be clear about that.

I want to play some sound from Dallas Woodhouse, who is the executive director of the Republican Party in North Carolina, who says, under certain circumstances, he'd welcome a recount based on the evidence he's seen, some of our reporting about the election fraud that seems to have taken place. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DALLAS WOODHOUSE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NORTH CAROLINA REPUBLICAN PARTY: I was watching it. And I immediately went in and threw up. I was very ill. I mean this has shaken us to the core. And we are as horrified by it as anybody.

Clearly, if what you reported is verified by the state board of elections, there has to be a new election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That's the executive director of the Republican Party in the state saying there has to be a new election if this is verified by the state board.

I guess my question to you is, based on what I'm hearing from you this morning is you think that the Republican candidate, Mark Harris, is culpable here. If he's culpable, do you even think there should be a new election or should you just be declared the winner?

MCCREADY: Well, first of all, I think Mark Harris owes it to the American people and the people of North Carolina to come clean and tell us what he knew and when he knew it. But I fully trust the state board of elections. I think we need to -- it was -- it took a lot of courage for a bipartisan board, with Republicans, Democrats and an independent all to vote together 9-0 in an unprecedented decision to refuse to certify this election. That took a lot of courage to the Republicans on that board.

I fully trust the process. And I fully believe that if this election is tainted, then the board will call a new election.

[08:55:00] BERMAN: And you support the idea of a new election, yes?

MCCREADY: If this election is tainted, there absolutely needs to be a new election because there's people in North Carolina who have had their voices silenced and their very rights to vote taken from them.

BERMAN: Dan McCready, thank you for being with us. Look forward to speaking to you again in the future. This appears to be a story that will not go away, on the contrary, anytime soon. Appreciate it.

MCCREADY: Great to be on with you. Thanks.

BERMAN: All right, now here's what to watch this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ON SCREEN TEXT: 10:00 a.m. ET, Comey testifies before House Judiciary Committee.

1:00 p.m. ET, Trump gives speech in Kansas City, Missouri.

1:00 p.m. ET, Huawei executive has bail hearing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Chief of Staff John Kelly expected to resign soon. Robert Mueller, meantime, expected to reveal perhaps some new details today.

CNN "NEWSROOM" has it all covered for you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: All right, good Friday morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Sciutto. It's 9:00 in the morning in the east. Make that only 9:00 in the morning. Already the news is coming fast and furious.

[09:00:03] Emphasis on furious.