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AT THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA

Obama Campaign Remarks Examined; A Look at Current Campaign Ads. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired November 3, 2016 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00] ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: ... but it was quite the party.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Oh my God, I'm sure their eyes were scaled (ph) but it looks like so much fun. Andy Scholes thanks for sharing, we love it. Thank you for joining today, I'm Carol Costello. "At This Hour" with Berman and Bolduan starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Hello everyone I'm John Berman.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: Hello everyone I'm Kate Bolduan. The fate of the world is teetering and it's up to you to save it. No John, this isn't the tag line from the next Avengers movie it's actually what President Obama is saying on the campaign trail right now. Essentially we're all going down and only you can save it.

We're here -- we're waiting right now to hear much more from the President. He will be speaking any minute. You're going take a look right now live pictures of where he should be speaking. He'll be taking the stage in Miami rallying for Hillary Clinton of course. He'll be at Florida International University, that's where you are looking at right now. We're going to bring you the President's remarks when they begin.

BERMAN: The President also has an event in Jacksonville later where he may bump into Donald Trump who's about to speak there as well. You're looking a live pictures of the Donald Trump event in Jacksonville. But there's another Trump event today that's getting a lot of talk, Melania Trump with her first solo rally in Pennsylvania, we just got an advance look at excerpts of the speech we'll give you those in just a moment.

And in another first, Ted Cruz out on the trail today for the Republican ticket or should we say lying Ted Cruz because that's what Donald Trump called him. Of course, Cruz called Trump a sniveling coward. Unlikely to come up today ...

BOLDUAN: Remember that?

BERMAN: ... when Ted Cruz appears with Mike Pence that happens shortly in Iowa. We have a lot to cover today. Let's begin with CNN White House correspond Michelle Kosinski in Miami with the President. Michelle.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you know, in this age of social media, who knew the good old-fashioned political speech could still be so important and generate so many headlines? And we expect more from the President what we heard yesterday and that was pretty surprising. And that was the most energized we've heard him yet.

When you look back to the things he would say at the beginning of the race, I mean starting out with at a private event saying he didn't really like -- he didn't feel like talking about Donald Trump anymore. He didn't feel like he had to make a case against him because every time Donald Trump said something he felt like he was making the case against himself. Then the President would say things to crowds like "Well, there's really no choice, is there? I mean come on, people, really? Is there really a choice here?" He would sort of present it as a comedy routine.

Well, all of that has changed. Now the President is deadly serious in these rallies. He's not just urging people to vote especially in a place here like Florida where it's always close, right, we know all that. But it's about as close as it can be right now, and he's saying things like don't let your chance slip away, don't let anybody take away your power. The fate of the republic lies on your shoulders.

It almost gets to the point where you think how much more could he really put into it. How much more could he really say to try to generate that enthusiasm and that excitement, where there really is a lag between excitement for him and excitement for Hillary Clinton and then at the next event he finds a way to step that up somehow even more?

So, it will be interesting to see what he tries to pull out at this one. But we expect more of that and obviously he's appealing to those areas where Hillary Clinton needs the most support among young people and among African-Americans. Back to you guys.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Michelle thank you so much, we're waiting for the President to take the stage along with Michelle, we'll bring the two as soon as we see him do that.

Let's discuss right now everything in the state of this race. With us today, New York City councilman and Donald Trump supporter Joseph Borelli; the editor of the Weekly Standard, Bill Kristol; CNN's political commentator and former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus Angela Rye; and author of "First Woman; The Grace And Power of America's Modern First Ladies" Kate Anderson Brower.

Thanks for all -- thank you all for being here. Let's talk about Obama in just one second but speaking of the state of the race, John Berman loves polls, I love polls. I'm at a point -- I can't speak for John on this, where I'm almost a little bit confused. We have been inundated with poll numbers right now and analysis, there seems to be something for each campaign to pick that they like and don't like.

Bill Kristol, from your view what is the state of the race? Where are we at 11:00 eastern right now?

BILL KRISTOL, WEEKLY STANDARD EDITOR: Hillary Clinton is more likely to win but she is less more likely to win than she was a couple weeks ago I guess the way I might say ...

BOLDUAN: That's perfect.

KRISTOL: Yeah, a couple of weeks ago I think it would -- Donald Trump winning would be like drawing an inside straight in poker which I believe is in a card draw, which I believe is about an 11 to 1 odds. Now it's more like a regular straight when you have 5, 6, 7, 8, if you can either get the 4 to 9 and I guess that's 5 to 1 I think as I vaguely recall, not that I would gamble. Not that I know really know much about this.

[11:05:07] BOLDUAN: Humble brag.

(Crosstalk)

KRISTOL: ... sometimes get or another way to think about it is how many times teams comes from behind 3-1 in the World Series to win, you know, that's probably 5 to 1 odds against but I guess it happens occasionally, right?

BERMAN: Every once in a while, I understand.

BOLDUAN: Every 100 years it happens ...

BERMAN: Well it just happened very recently. But the point is, his point is, is that these comebacks are happening, they're happening in sports, could they happen here? Do you -- anyone else see the race differently than Bill Kristol? Joe, Angela, Kate?

JOSEPH BORELLI, COUNCILMAN, NEW YORK CITY: Well, I certainly see a much more competitive race than I did a few weeks ago. As a matter of fact I think Hillary Clinton saw a much more -- she's a much more competitive race than we saw a few weeks ago.

She was the one talking about what life would be like under a President Clinton. She was putting the Trump campaign in the rear view mirror, and the people out there don't have to take my words for it, go on real clear politics, go on Nate Silver's 538, look at every chart you can possibly look at to gauge the race and you will see a huge upswing in momentum for the Trump campaign. That is causing them to go back to their "firewall states" and really do some heavy damage control there.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, and one of the reason -- oh, go ahead Angela, I'm sorry.

ANGELA RYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, it's interesting to hear Joe bring up the 538 numbers because I leave you with, one, 71 percent. That is the chances that Hillary has to walk herself into 1600 Pennsylvania in January based on those current numbers. So while there may be a huge upswing, he's still got some swinging to do and I think you're right, he has really made a comeback, thankfully to the FBI and Director Comey, he certainly had a huge help last Friday.

But I think we still have a race to go, we still have a race to win, she's got a lot of work to do, she's got all of the very best surrogates, some of the most notable elected officials in the country, some great celebrities like Farrell like who would want Farrell campaigning for them. So, there's some things that they're doing that I think are major and through Election Day.

BOLDUAN: One of the things I wanted to get to just playing off of what you were saying Joseph and that he's trending up. One of the reasons people say that he is and he's been disciplined, he's been -- that Donald trump himself has been staying on message. You look now further than his twitter feed, nothing wild there in the last 24 hours but wait we've still have an hour to go in the show.

And also, he's -- look no further than Donald Trump himself on the campaign trail last night kind of let his inner monologue out, listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESEDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are going to win the White House, going to win it. It's feeling like it already isn't it, just we've going to be nice and cool, nice and cool, right? Stay on point, Donald, stay on point. No sidetracks, Donald, nice and easy, nice because I've been watching Hillary the last few days, she's totally unhinged, we don't want any of that. She has become unhinged.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: John put it perfectly he thinks he's actually reading his stage directions. I'm thinking this is the inner Donald coming out. Joseph, what's going on?

BORELLI: Look, I think he realizes that when your opponent is self- imploding whether it be -- as Angela pointed out that the FBI has opened up these new investigations and so on and so forth ..

RYE: No, that's not true.

BORELLI: The Obamacare numbers are hitting people hard. Whatever it is from the conversations about Hillary Clinton and her sort of sordid world, let it go, don't do anything that could possibly get in the way from that.

BERMAN: It is, well, first of all, it's not a new investigation, right, we don't ...

RYE: Thank you.

BERMAN: ... reviewing the e-mail, they're reviewing the e-mail number one ...

RYE: No, no.

BERMAN: Conversation.

BERMAN: Reviewing the e-mails, number 2, imploding -- look , if we look at the ABC News Washington Post poll she's three points better off than she was a few days ago. So, you could argue more ups that's not happening ...

BORELLI: She's 12 points...

BERMAN: I understand, I am saying it depends of where you look -- everyone can find something they want to find in the trend lines here, I just want to say ...

BOLDUAN: What did I say at the top of this segment?

BERMAN: Exactly. Kate, I want to bring you in this conversation because we're talking about Donald Trump. Donald is not the only Trump on the trail today, Melania Trump giving her first solo event for Donald today, going to Philadelphia and hot-off the presses. We just got some excerpts of the speech. Let me just read you a few lines of it, "I come here today to talk about my husband Donald and his deep love and respect for this country and all of its people. I have come to talk about this man I've known for 18 years and I have come here today to talk about our partnership, our family and what I know for sure in my heart about this man who will make America great again."

KATE ANDERSEN BROWER, AUTHOR: I think it's really interesting that Donald Trump that -- I mean, typically, you have a first lady out on the campaign trail to soften your image like she's doing but also to brag about you in a way that you can't and we see that Donald Trump has got no trouble in that department talking about himself. So, I think her best you know role right now is to soften him. She's a very traditional first lady -- she would be a very traditional first lady, almost like a Mamie Eisenhower, I mean, she talks about not nagging her husband, her sole priority is their child.

[11:10:02] And so, it's fascinating to me and surprising that this is her first solo campaign trip because even reluctant first ladies like Jackie Kennedy at the beginning in 1960. She was pregnant, she did not want to campaign, she would said she was not -- she knew she wasn't an asset because, you know, the press said she spent too much money, and kind of similar to some of the criticism of Melania Trump that we see today.

So I think Melania Trump is kind of harkening back to an earlier era of non-activist, very traditional first ladies. And I think her best you know asset to him right now is just talking about him as a father, really.

RYE: The only thing missing from her speech is growing up as a little black girl in Chicago. So hopefully she doesn't borrow from Michelle Obama today. I'm just saying.

BERMAN: Too easy.

BOLDUAN: Too easy, Angela. OK, let it go and Joe Borelli would like to say.

BORELLI: Yes.

BOLDUAN: But, speaking of surrogates and speaking of -- thank you Kate for teeing me up. Harkening back to an earlier era like the primary, Ted Cruz hitting the campaign trail with Mike Pence today stumping for Pence and Trump, yes, this Ted Cruz, watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TED CRUZ, (R) TEXAS: I don't get angry often but you mess with my wife, you mess with my kids, that I will do it every time. Donald, you're a sniveling coward leave Heidi the hell alone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The date stamp is correct, that was just March 24th. What the heck?

KRISTOL: Like a sniveling coward, presented again, I don't know, it's a -- look, politics is politics, there's a lot of party loyalty, I have no problem with Republicans who say I don't care for Trump, I don't think he's great but, you know, at the end of the day I think he'd would be a better president from a conservative point of view. I can agree with this, I understand why people say that. The question -- it would be interesting to see what Cruz says today.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

KRISTOL: I mean if you can keep your dignity and say look, this is not a man I personally care for, this is a man I really deplore some of the things he said but still it's the choice of two people and I make the case for the Supreme Court or whatever they want. Because I don't think he'd get out there and that the Pence has fallen into this trap and I guess maybe he has to since he's the vice presidential nominee. He's a good man and I really admire, really, you know, there's a way in which you can keep your dignity and do something you don't much like doing.

BOLDUAN: Well, if Pence doesn't believe Trump's a good man then we've got a big problem.

BERMAN: I think it'll be interesting, Cruz talking about Pence, Cruz will talk about the issues. I would be surprised if he vouches for Donald Trump, you know, in what he considers to be character issues that Trump has, that would be surprising.

Angela Rye, in the last 24 hours on the stump and we talked about this, and Michelle Kosinski brought this up also. A new line from the President basically saying the entire fate of the planet rests, you know, on you and to get out and vote him. And Hillary Clinton did it as well in Arizona late last night. She basically says imagine what the world would be with Donald Trump, listen quickly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Imagine with me what it would be like to have Donald Trump sitting in the oval office come next January.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hell no. CLINTON: Someone who demeans women, mocks the disabled, insults Latinos and African-Americans, what would it be like to have that person in the most powerful office in the world?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So that's fear, right, I mean, that's how I would describe this type of campaigning, scaring people. Why is that effective now Angela?

RYE: You know what John? I don't know that I would call this like a campaign of fear as much as I would call it a campaign of truth. You all regularly talk about Hillary Clinton struggling with trustworthiness because that's what it says in the polls. Well this is a very honest moment. One of her most effective add this campaign season was using Donald Trump's words against him in an add called mirrors.

Today, the campaign released an add that says at the end we are not him. And I think it's tremendously effective and I'll tell you why, John, in all honesty, I'm afraid, I'm woefully afraid of what would happen with a Donald Trump in the White House, I am not kidding. You're all are my friends and I love you all so let me tell you this, I have had nightmares for the last three days and -- I mean, we can laugh about it but I'm so serious. I'm so concerned about what a Donald Trump presidency would not only means for Americans who look like me, who are brown people, who are young people, who are women but also for the world and what it tells the world about American as a global citizen. I am terribly afraid of what that looks like.

So I think it's very, very effective for her and it also shifts the attention off of an e-mail issue that she can't get ahead of even when it's not her own. So I think that's -- I think it was really effective.

BOLDUAN: So, just -- everyone keep a watch, we are waiting to hear from President Obama, he'll be stumping for Hillary Clinton in Florida any minute now, we're keeping an eye right there on that lectern as John Berman would make sure is said accurately. We'll be getting into that in just a second in Miami. But to the point that Angela is making about the effectiveness of the adds and the effectiveness of kind of -- President Obama has done it himself.

[11:15:03] He's used Donald Trump's words against him on the stump, we have seen that. Hillary Clinton does that in adds as well as from the stump as well. How did -- it has been effective. They clearly have seen evidence in their polling or they wouldn't continue to do it.

RYE: Right.

BOLDUAN: She's going back to it now because she needs it. How do you counter it?

BORELLI: Using his words against his is a fair game in politics but what you're really seeing is the President and sort of the Democratic Party leaders in full court press battle mode and in panic mode in the last quarter. They see the race sort of slipping away and right now it's the coach on the sidelines scribbling the plays to try and salvage the game in the last moment.

They see what's happening nationally where the trend is not going stronger or into Mrs. Clinton's favor and it's going against Trump. Paul Ryan said the same thing. You know painting the world -- how the world would look with a Clinton presidency. On one of the morning talk shows early in this week, he said look, all these scandals that are now coming to light again about Hillary Clinton, this is what life is like under a Clinton administration. So people can have their views of what the next presidency could look like but the Republicans are going to do the same as the Democrats.

RYE: Can I say this quickly? Sorry.

BERMAN: Go ahead Angel.

RYE: Really quick, I promise. So just one more number for you since we're playing this numbers game today. 75, that's the number of lawsuits that Donald Trump will be dealing with if he were elected and sitting in 1600. He would be combatting 75 lawsuits. You want to talk to me about scandal? I think not my friend Joseph.

BORELLI: But none of them are criminal ...

KRISTOL: As a political matter, look, they're both trying to disqualify the other one. There's never been a more negative campaign. But I think it's a mistake, just personally, it's a kind of not -- someone not supporting either. Hillary Clinton didn't do more to make the case for her presidency and I think the risk -- I think she's likely to win but the risk is it's a change election.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: She was going to this last week but then the whole e-mail thing came up.

KRISTOL: Yeah, but maybe she still should have because the problem is we have a change presidency ...

BERMAN: All right guys, hang on one second. You're seeing him now, President Obama in Miami at Florida International University. We should tell you, this is a college, I think a 60 percent Hispanic student body right now. So that could be one of the target audiences that he is addressing here as he walks up to that microphone and speaks on behalf of Hillary Clinton.

UNINDETIFIED MALE: ... forty years law under his leadership but guess what, we have a better idea for him.

BARACK OBAMA, (D) U.S. PRESIDENT: Hello, Miami. Yeah.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Well, it is good to be back at Florida International University.

There's a good-looking crowd here. Can everybody please give Gabby a huge round of applause for her great work?

I want to thank -- who's screaming here?

I want to thank the Mayor Philip Levine, who's here. I want to thank Senator Bill Nelson. I want to thank Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. I want to thank your next state Senator, Debbie Mucarsel- Powell. Your next Congressman Joe Garcia. And your next United States senator, Patrick Murphy.

Florida, we got five more days. Five more days.

AUDIENCE: We love you.

OBAMA I love you, too. But I've got some business to do here today. So, five more days to decide the future of this country that we love. Now, the good news is, you don't have to wait until Election Day to vote. What does that say up there?

AUDIENCE: Vote early.

OBAMA: I'm sorry, I can't hear you. What does it say up there?

AUDIENCE: Vote early.

OBAMA: You know, I'm still not hearing it. What?

AUDIENCE: Vote early.

OBAMA: Vote early. If you are registered, you can vote right now at any early voting location. In fact, there's one just ten minutes away at the International Mall Branch Library.

[11:20:05] Go ahead and plug this into your phones if you haven't voted. It is at 10315 Northwest 12th Street, in Doral. I mean, we're making this really simple for you. I am telling you right now where you can go vote after this rally.

Now, if you are just watching on television, or you're not from around here and you're trying to figure out, well, where else could I vote. Then you go to IWillVote.com, and it will give you additional locations. IWillVote.com. If you're voting by mail, don't let that thing just sit on your coffee table or your kitchen counter, and then you forget about it, it gets mixed up with some other stuff. Send in your ballot right now so, it makes it by Election Day. The point is, we've got work to do to finish what we started eight years ago.

Now, I have to say that I've been going to some college campuses and I realize that eight years ago, some of you were 10. She's all like, "Yeah." Now, that makes me feel a little old. But she says I look good. OK. All right. Michelle agrees.

But I want -- for those of you who maybe were a little older and might remember, in 2008, we were living through two long wars, and we're about to enter into the worst economic crisis in the last 80 years. But you know what, because of some hard work, we turned the page. America has now battled back. Last year, incomes rose faster than any time at least since 1968. Poverty fell at the fastest rate at least since 1968. We've created 15 million new jobs. 20 million people have health insurance that didn't have it. We've kicked our addiction to foreign oil.

You know, can I just say, I was driving through North Carolina yesterday -- North Carolina in the house -- and we passed by a gas station. And I don't have to stop usually at the gas station, because, you know, the Beast, the motorcade, they're always full. Service is taking care of that. But I noticed gas at $1.99. The reason I make this point is, because I think in 2008 they were predicting that if Obama got elected, gas would be $6. So sometimes it's useful -- sometimes it's useful to check the tape, see what they said before. It turns out what they said was wrong. So what that means is what they're saying now is probably also wrong. Anyway, I just wanted to do that little detour.

But in addition to ...

AUDIENCE: Thanks, Obama.

OBAMA: That's right. Thanks, Obama.

So, kicked our addiction on foreign oil, doubled our production of clean energy, have done more to battle climate change than any time in our history. We're world leaders on that. We brought home more of our men and women in uniform. Took out Osama bin Laden. Are systematically rolling up ISIL in Iraq. And, by the way, back home we've made sure that in all 50 states people have the freedom to marry who they love.

[11:25:04] So there's a reason that I have got gray hair, because I have been busy. And most of all, across these 50 states that I've traveled, what I've seen is the thing that really makes America great.

AUDIENCE: You.

OBAMA: No, it's you. You.

I've seen the American people, people of every party, every faith, every race, every region, people who know we 're stronger together. Young and old folks, men and women, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, folks with disabilities, gay, straight folks, it doesn't matter, all of us pledging allegiance to the red, white and blue. That's the America I know. That's the America we love. And there's only one candidate in this race who has devoted her life to building up that America, and that is the next president of the United States of America, Hillary Clinton.

Now, make no mistake Florida, all the progress we've made goes out the window if we don't win this election. So we got to work our hearts out this week. We got to work like our future depends on it because it actually depends on it. And listen, especially for the young people out there, I know for some of you this is your first election where you have been paying attention. And you're out there and looking at it, and you're saying, man, this is really nasty.

You know, generally, D.C. is not so much of a battleground but down here, it's just like every ad is just depressing. And there's negative ads and there's noise and there's distractions. And sometimes the temptation is to tune it out and you want to just focus on the Cubs winning the World Service. Which, by the way, even for a White Sox fan, is a pretty big deal.

AUDIENCE: South Side.

Obama: South Side. Because they Cubs have been waiting like 108 years. I was watching something on television, and they explained that the last time the Cubs had won, Thomas Edison was alive and they hadn't invented sliced bread yet. So you know the expression, "This is the greatest thing since sliced bread"? This is actually, for Cubs fans, the greatest thing since sliced bread. And I want to congratulate the Chicago Cubs for an amazing season.

But, it's tempting to want to not really focus on our government and our politics but this election is critical. And the good news is, once you get past all the noise and all the distractions, and all the okie-doke, the choice could not be clearer, because Donald Trump ...

AUDIENCE: Boo.

OBAMA: Don't boo.

AUDIENCE: Vote.

OBAMA: Don't boo.

AUDIENCE: Vote.

OBAMA: Don't boo.

AUDIENCE: Vote.

OBAMA: Come on, you guys know that. You already knew that. You can't boo. He can't hear you boo, but he can hear you vote. Don't boo, vote.

Donald Trump is uniquely unqualified to be president. No, I'm not joking. You laugh. I'm not joking. He is temperamentally unfit to be commander-in-chief.

Here's a guy who says he's a great businessman. But it seems like a lot of his business is built around stiffing small businesses and workers out of what he owes them, work they've done. He thinks he's cute, or smart, or funny to basically not pay somebody who's done work for him and say go ahead and sue me because I got more money than you, and you can't do anything about it.

AUDIENCE: It's not fair.

OBAMA: It's not fair. Here's somebody who for decades has refused to release any tax returns and maybe it's because he's not as rich as he says he is, but he has admitted he does not pay federal income taxes for years, not a dime. So he's not helping to support our troops or our veterans. He's not helping to build roads or build schools or help young people finance their college education because he's not putting anything in. He's taken a lot out but hasn't put anything in.