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CNN NEWSROOM

Florida Voters Not Swayed From Clinton; Guests Discuss Trump And Clinton's Positions, Likely Campaign, Debate Strategies; Russian, Turkish Presidents Having Face-to-Face Talks; New Roger Ailes Scandal as Another Employee Alleges Sexual Harassment. Past, Present Employees Say They've Long Feared Their Communications Are Monitored; U.S. Olympic Teams See More Glory in Rio. Aired 10:30-11:00a ET

Aired August 9, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

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RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): -- through the swing state of Florida where she's leading her opponent by six points.

UNKNOWN WOMAN: This is history in the making.

KAYE (voice-over): History, perhaps. But what about Hillary Clinton's own history? Benghazi, her private email server, false claims about landing under sniper fire in Bosnia. It's all part of the same narrative. And why many voters don't trust her.

The latest CBS poll shows just 34 percent of registered voters say Clinton is honest and trustworthy. Compared to 36 percent for Donald Trump. Even among her supporters at this rally in St. Petersburg there were lingering questions about her emails.

GLENDA WILLIAMS, FLORIDA VOTER: Of course we have concerns. We would like to know definitively. We may never know definitively.

KAYE (voice-over): Voter Denise Fowler lost trust in Mrs. Clinton after the attacks in Benghazi.

DENISE FOWLER, FLORIDA VOTER: I thought that was a cover-up. So that's when my distrust really started to step up.

KAYE (voice-over): Still both of these women say they will vote for Hillary Clinton. Even despite her repeated false claims that the FBI Director had said she told the truth about her emails to the public.

KAYE: The FBI Director never actually said she had spoken the truth to the public. Which is what she was repeating. So is that OK with you?

WILLIAMS: That's OK with me. Because you know something, the only other alternative is -- and that is not an alternative to me.

KAYE (voice-over): Clinton later walked back her comments. Saying she had short circuited her brain in her answer. A comment her critics immediately jumped on. But voters here accepted that explanation.

FOWLER: She compacted the story to make it quicker to talk about. But I think she did give the answers and I think that's been beaten to a pulp.

BARBARA SOMMA, VOTING FOR HILLARY CLINTON: It's a misspoken word. I mean, if you've ever done public speaking -- I have and sometimes words just flow out. I don't think she was any attempt to lie to us.

CHERYL TOOKER, FLORIDA VOTER: In her heart she knew there was no ill will on her part. And that was her perception. And I accept that.

KAYE (voice-over): Voters we met seemed to be OK with a few untruths here and there.

DEREK HAYNES, FLORIDA VOTER: Politics, you have to fudge a little bit. But I think on balance she is truthful, she is honest.

KAYE (voice-over): And while voter Derek Haynes didn't call Trump a liar, he did call him a few other things.

HAYNES: I think he's a racist, a misogynist, a xenophobe, and a homophobe.

KAYE (voice-over): Most here say Clinton wins the honesty contest against Trump all day long.

AVIVA TIEGER, FLORIDA VOTER: I don't trust him with my children. I don't trust him to lead this country. I don't trust a word he's saying.

KAYE (voice-over): Trump's latest suggestion that Clinton isn't fit to be president if her brain "short circuits," was lost on these voters.

RICHARD ACKERMAN, VOTING FOR HILLARY CLINTON: I don't make too much of anything Trump says. Because if there's anyone that's not fit to be president, it's Trump.

KAYE: Randi Kaye, CNN St. Petersburg, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN HOST, "NEWSROOM": And Clinton will have another chance to soothe concerns about honesty and trustworthiness when she takes the debate stage against Donald Trump. And team Clinton is taking aim at Trump, who claims the debates are rigged.

Her campaign chairman, John Podesta, releasing a statement that reads in part, "Secretary Clinton looks forward to participating in all three presidential debates. The only issue now is whether Donald Trump is going to show up."

So let's talk about that and more. Ellis Henican is a political analyst and co-author of "The Party's over: How I became a Democrat." And Jeffrey Lord is a Trump supporter and CNN contributor. Welcome to both of you.

JEFFREY LORD, CNN CONTRIBUTOR, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So Ellis, Hillary Clinton has mocked Trump in the past. Saying he can be baited with a tweet. Will he take the bait when he -- when it comes to these debates?

ELLIS HENICAN, POLITICAL ANALYST: She will mock him again, I promise you that. It depends where he is at this point. If he's still 10, or 12, or more points down in the polls, I mean he's got to say a sign of the cross and a hail mary pass. And that's basically what he's got. People who are way behind have to take chances in political campaigns. And sitting home will not be a smart strategy for Donald ...

COSTELLO: So you think Donald Trump -- I mean part of his strategy, if he's losing in the polls big time, will be to skip the debate?

HENICAN: No, no, the opposite. I think he's got to go and roll the dice at the debate. Because not going, he misses really, one of the key opportunities to present himself to the American people. What choice does he have at this point?

COSTELLO: Jeffrey, is it possible that Donald Trump was -- like, what do you make of all of this? I'll just ask it that way.

LORD: Well I don't think he's going to skip the debates, no. And I think he'll do very well. I mean, he is not Hillary Clinton, quite obviously. He's not part of the establishment, she is. I mean she gets all the press for being the first woman candidate but really she's the umpteenth establishment candidate.

She just happens to be a woman. But she is establishment to her core. That is a pretty bad place to be this year ...

COSTELLO: OK so ...

LORD: ... this is why Donald Trump is the nominee. In essence, she's the stand up person for the Democratic Party.

COSTELLO: So if, Donald Trump is not afraid -- if Donald Trump is not afraid and she's an establishment candidate and he's -- he finds strength in debates, why does he keep saying that the debate system is rigged?

LORD: Well let's be clear, the people who have put together these debates, just about all of them, have made plain that they're not friends of Donald Trump. Or that they are friends, in fact, of Hillary Clinton.

COSTELLO: Who, specifically?

LORD: So -- I'm sorry?

COSTELLO: Who specifically, because I'd like to call that person up and ask them. LORD: Well sure. Well Mike McCurry is, I believe, the Chairman of

the Debate Commission. He is a former Press Secretary to President Clinton. You've got others on there, Dick Morris ran a wonderful column (ph) ...

COSTELLO: But it's a bipartisan commission, it's Democrats and Republicans who are making these decisions ...

LORD: I understand ...

COSTELLO: ... They would -- the debate schedule was set a year ago and nobody complained until now.

LORD: I understand, Carol. Dick Morris ran a column at Newsmax the other day and went through these people one by one, and their views and statements on Donald Trump or their ties to Hillary Clinton. I mean, it was a pretty extensive list. Frankly I was amazed, I didn't realize some of these people were involved with this. So I can understand immediately why there would be concern.

[10:36:05]

COSTELLO: Ellis, are you concerned?

HENICAN: I am not concerned. I mean, this is desperation, right? I mean, the two of them are going to be out on the stage together ...

COSTELLO: But Jeffrey just said the deck is stacked against Donald Trump on account of who's on the commission.

HENICAN: Well, no. The deck is not remotely stacked against Donald (ph). This is the kind of thing you say to set expectations in advance in case you don't do well. You say, "look, I showed you, I told you it was rigged!"

I mean listen, this is a traditional presidential debate. Maybe two candidates, maybe three, depending on how the third party folks do in the pre-debate polling. But it's going to be, you know, frankly, often these are a little boring and a little staged. But you know what? It's the best thing we've got. With the two of them up there, to some degree unscripted.

COSTELLO: But well, Jeffrey, it will be quite different from the primary, right? Because let's put up a picture of what that looked like. Donald Trump was on stage with an awful lot of people. This time around he's on stage with only one other person. And that would be Hillary Clinton. And a lot of people say she's a very experienced debater and she does know the issues. Whether you agree with her or not ...

LORD: Look her up (ph) ...

COSTELLO: ... she knows the issues.

LORD: Carol, I mean, we do have a little history to go on. I was talking just this morning with a friend who had just gone back and taken a look at the Bush-Gore debates. And Al Gore was getting all the points for being the debater, but it turned on little things. Al Gore's sighs, which were interpreted as arrogance. At one point he had, in a town hall meeting, he takes a few steps towards Bush, and Bush turns around and stares him down.

They're little things like that. The famous Kennedy-Nixon debates. The experienced debater there without question was Richard Nixon. And classically it was JFK who was the up and comer ...

COSTELLO: Oh, I'm not ...

LORD: it was a different guy, it was Kennedy (ph).

COSTELLO: I'm not saying that it's a given that Hillary Clinton will win or anything. I'm just saying that some Democrats are saying, "look, Donald Trump was up there with like a dozen other candidates ...

LORD: Right.

COSTELLO: ... there really wasn't much time for him to actually debate or even talk that much. It was a cinch. He just doesn't have the experience debating only one other person.

LORD: Well it's -- experience, as JFK used to say when he was running against Nixon, isn't all it's cracked up to be. And I think that she's got to be very, very careful here of not appearing as Al Gore did. As arrogant, out of touch, and supremely self-confident, looking down her nose at Donald Trump. Because a lot of people out there have voted for Donald Trump ...

HENICAN: There is plenty of arrogance to go around on this stage, I assure you, Jeffrey. One thing I do notice though is that only one side is backpedalling and complaining about the conflict with NFL games, and trying to lower expectations about how inexperienced they are. And I'm not hearing any of that out of the Hillary camp.

COSTELLO: All right I have to leave it there, Jeffrey ...

LORD: Yeah, no wonder (ph) ...

COSTELLO: Jeffrey Lord, Ellis Henican, thanks to both of you, always appreciated.

HENICAN: Good to see you.

LORD: Thanks, Carol, thanks, Ellis.

COSTELLO: Nice to see you both. Just ahead in the Newsroom, Russia and Turkey's leaders come face-to-face. It is their first meeting since Turkey downed a Russian warplane in the skies over Syria. What this could mean for the United States, next.

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[10:43:25] COSTELLO: The U.S. is closely watching a meeting today between the leaders of Russia and Turkey. The Turkish President has been holding face-to-face talks with the Russian President, Vladimir Putin. Relations between Turkey and Russia soured after Turkey shot down a Russian bomber on the Syrian border back in November. But now the relationship seems to be on the end -- seems to be on the mend. CNN's Senior International Correspondent Matthew Chance live in Moscow to tell us more. Hi, Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey Carol, that's right. It's more than just on the mend. I mean it is really, they are good friends again. I've been watching a press conference between President Erdo?an of Turkey, and President Putin of Russia. And they were heaping praise upon another. I counted four or five times that President Erdo?an called his Kremlin counterpart, "my dear friend."

Now that's fine because they've been having this very rocky relationship ever since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane on the border -- near the border between Syria and Turkey. The war plane had been carrying out airstrikes against rebels inside Syria. But what's really concerning about this meeting, concerning the U.S. and concerning NATO allies as well, is that Turkey, which is a key NATO ally, may be siding (ph) up a little too close to the Kremlin.

To hear this kind of language, to hear this kind of positivity coming out of a key NATO ally when it comes to Russia, is something that many in the West are going to be very disturbed about.

COSTELLO: This is confusing to a lot of people. I -- what might this mean to the United States and the fight against ISIS, that Russia and Turkey are joining forces. Is this a good thing? Because the U.S. is at odds with Russia over what it's doing in Syria.

CHANCE: Yeah it is a bit confusing. But I -- look, I don't think that Russia and Turkey are going to be joining forces to fight in Syria together against ISIS. I mean, first of all, they back different horses in the race. They back, they back two different sides of the Syrian conflict. Russia is very strongly against -- is very strongly in favor of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian President. Erdo?an and the Turks are it's biggest rival, his biggest rivals in the region.

And so that's the one issue, one of the biggest issues. Where Russia and Turkey still have the possibility of falling out. And of course it's over that issue they fell out in the first place. Now they've got a whole range of other issues they can cooperate on. About trade, about security, and other areas as well.

And I think from the Kremlin point of view, they're looking at Turkey as a possible friend inside the NATO alliance. And that's something that bothers other allies. The idea that one key player in NATO could also be very close to Russia.

COSTELLO: All right, Matthew Chance reporting live for us from Russia this morning, from St. Petersburg. Thanks so much. Coming up in the Newsroom, another anchor speaking out on Fox. And accusing Roger Ailes of sexual harassment.

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[10:50:10]

COSTELLO: Former Fox News Chairman and CEO, Roger Ailes is in the center of yet another sexual harassment claim. Fox News anchor, Andrea Tantaros says that she was taken off the air in retaliation for complaining about Ailes' sexual advances. But that's not all we're hearing. One employee telling CNN that they believe Ailes tapped their phones and monitored his workers. CNN Money's Dylan Byers joins me now from Los Angeles with more on this. Hi, Dylan.

DYLAN BYERS, CNN SENIOR MEDIA REPORTER: Hi, Carol. So what we're hearing is that, actually now from as many as six employees, current and former employees, is that there was a widespread fear within the organization that Roger Ailes and senior executives at Fox News were monitoring their conversations.

Now I want to be very clear about this, none of the sources we spoke to had hard evidence that their phones had been tapped, that their emails were being read. But this was a fear that pervaded the entire network.

And we spoke to talent at Fox News, producers at Fox News, people from throughout the organization, as well as people who have since left the organization. And all of them spoke to this same fear, that their emails were being read, that their phones were being monitored.

And what it mean is that whenever a media reporter like myself, or my colleagues, or anyone else wanted to try and get in touch with people at the network, they always wanted to either meet in person, talk on private lines, or correspond by their own personal email accounts.

And this goes to the sort of culture of secrecy that Roger Ailes had created at the network over the 20-year period that he was there.

COSTELLO: Well what I find most interesting about this is the Fox PR machine has been silent. Has it responded lately to any of these allegations?

BYERS: No, and what's very interesting about how Fox is handling this, they -- when these new allegations come up, particularly the sexual harassment allegations, they're very quiet. And they sort of stand back. Now in regard to this latest sexual harassment allegation from Andrea Tantaros, there are sort of competing claims about exactly what happened there. Of course Bill Shine, one of the top executives there now, saying that Andrea Tantaros had never made any claims of sexual harassment to him.

So look, each of these sexual harassment claims is different and we have to deal with each one on a case-by-case basis. And it's not clear how many of the claims that are being made here are true. But certainly Fox News PR, whereas it was very aggressive throughout the 20 years that Roger Ailes was at the helm, in terms of pushing back on its critics -- we know now there are reports that Roger Ailes even had a sort of inside shop to monitor his critics in the press, and other critics.

Now they've sort of backed off and are being much more quiet. And I think that reflects some of the concerns going on among parent company, 21st Century Fox, as this investigation into Roger Ailes and his behavior, and indeed into the culture at the company, continues.

COSTELLO: All right, Dylan Byers reporting live for us from Los Angeles, thank you. Coming up in the Newsroom, another big day today for the U.S. swim team. CNN's Coy Wire in Rio with more. Hi, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. We had a Rocky Balboa-Ivan Drago style American versus Russian, heated match-up in the pool. Olympic records falling, and wait until you see the prank we play on a five-time olympian. All coming up on Newsroom.

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[10:57:40]

COSTELLO: The battle of the pool is heating up between the United States and Russia. And tonight Michael Phelps could extend his record medal count. He's looking to take home his 20th gold medal in the men's 200-meter butterfly final.

But Phelps isn't the only one vying for gold. We have the women's gymnastics team competing, too. CNN's Coy Wire live in Rio. Hi, Coy.

WIRE: Hi, Carol. We'll get you all caught up what's coming tonight. But last night it was all about America versus Russia. The buildup to the women's 100-meter breaststroke was intense. A palpable pernicious with -- excuse me, perniciousness between American, Lily King, and Russian Yulia Efimova.

King called Efimova out. She's been busted twice for doping in her career but still allowed to compete here, despite the state-backed Russian doping scandal. Lily King goes on, reigns supreme, wins gold medal, throws salt in the Russian's wound in the form of an olympic rancourt (ph). It was a wonderful moment for Lily King.

How about Ryan Murphy taking both, setting an olympic record of his own in the 100-meter backstroke. That's the sixth straight gold in this event for the USA. Now, when Ryan was 8 years-old, Carol, he wrote a letter to his mom. A self-portrait along with it saying, "I hope my swimming life continues and I become an olympian when I grow up. I hope I will break the world record. I want to be the best swimmer in the world." And today, 13 years later, Ryan Murphy wakes up one of the best swimmers in the world.

How about the death stare heard round the galaxy? Michael Phelps rival, Chad le Clos of South Africa, air punching towards Phelps ahead of the race. And Phelps does not like it, look at that stare. It's going to be an intense finals tonight. They finished second and third in the semi-finals. Remember, le Clos actually beat Phelps in the last olympics in this event.

Let's move on to tonight. Women's gymnastics going for team gold. Led by Simone Biles. Many call her the greatest gymnast ever, she's only 19. And finally, Carol, there's a reason why teammates gave her the name ninja prankster. I interviewed five-time olympian, USA Water Polo Team Captain, Tony Azevedo, and we got him good.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN MAN: Oh, dang, oops.

TONY AZAVEDO, USA WATER TEAM POLO CAPTAIN: Are you kidding me? Shut up!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: The old ketchup packet fake blood. And he's a great play along. Born in Rio, actually pronounced dead at the age of four for a full minute. But he overcomes adversity. A five-time olympian. He says his team is going to --

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