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Clinton Cancels Events After Health Scare; Clinton Jabs at "Deplorable" Voters Backing Trump. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired September 12, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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


[10:00:00]

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DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: just last week I took a physical and I'll be releasing when the numbers come in, hopefully they are going to be good. I think they're going to be good. I feel great. But when the numbers come in, I'll be releasing very, very specific numbers.

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CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Trump underscoring new questions about Clinton's health, after she abruptly left a 9/11 memorial service, and appeared wobbly and stumbly as she was led into a van. Last night, Clinton's doctor revealed she was diagnosed with pneumonia two full days earlier but the public was never told. This is at a pivotal point in the campaign, the election now looming just 57 days away. And a mere 11 days until the first states open early voting. Let's begin our coverage this morning with Jeff Zeleny, he is live near the Clinton home in Chappaqua, New York. Good morning Jeff.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Carol. Donald Trump has been talking about Hillary Clinton's health for months now. He says it in interviews that she does not have stamina. He says it at campaign rallies that she's not feeling well. But this morning, uncharacteristically of Donald Trump, he is not seizing on this health episode of the Clinton campaign at all. In fact, much the opposite, let's listen to what he said a short time ago on CNBC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It was interesting because they say pneumonia on Friday but she was coughing very very badly a week ago and even before that, if you remember. This wasn't the first time. So it's very interesting to see what is going on. I want her to get better. I want her to get out there. I look forward to seeing her in the debate.

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ZELENY: Now, some people inside the Clinton campaign may be wondering where this sort of kindness from Donald Trump is coming from. But they have enough of their own challenges to work through today Carol. Let's just take a step back here and walk through really what's happened over the last couple days or so. We've put together a bit of a timeline here. Now, on Friday, she was diagnosed with pneumonia and dehydration. It was a diagnosis from her doctor in the afternoon but we did not know about that until yesterday evening. But after her diagnosis, she went through several events on Friday. She had two fund-raisers over the weekend. She had that big national security briefing, the partisan meeting of democrats and Republicans in New York. She held a press conference, made a statement. She gave an interview to CNN and some other media outlets. She also then on Sunday of course went to that 9/11 memorial. That's where she felt faint, fell ill and was taken away. But Carol, we did not know the extent of that until we saw that video that the onlooker posted on social media. And then some five hours later, the Clinton campaign released that statement from the doctor saying she had pneumonia. Now, a lot of Democrats I'm talking to this morning, some very supportive of the Clinton campaign, are sort of shaking their heads wondering why the Clinton campaign reacted to this. In fact, there has been an interesting back and forth going on this morning between David Axelrod, our -- long-time advisor to Barack Obama and our CNN analyst here, and Jennifer Palmieri, the communications director of the Clinton campaign. She acknowledged just a short time ago on Twitter that yes, they could have done better yesterday and I think that's an understatement here in terms of explaining what happened here in terms of transparency. But going forward, Hillary Clinton right now at this hour I'm told is at her home in Chappaqua preparing for her debate which is in two weeks from now. She also is off the road canceling that West Coast fund-raising swing. She will be doing something else tonight for donors in San Francisco. Take a look at this e-mail her campaign sent out to donors. She said, "As you may have heard today, Secretary Clinton was diagnosed with pneumonia and her doctor has advised her to a rest. As a result, she won't be able to join us in person but she will be participating via teleconference." So she will basically be doing as much campaigning as she normally does, she will just be doing it remotely, I'm told. She will talk to advisors and aides, doing some debate prep as well. Carol, the reason this is a big deal, it's two weeks from tonight that first debate between Clinton and Trump, arguably the most important moment of the campaign up until now. They want her to be healthy, rested and fully hydrated for that big moment that comes two weeks from tonight.-

COSTELLO: I bet they do. Jeff Zeleny reporting live from Chappaqua, New York this morning. Clinton's health scare clearly putting the spotlight on both candidates' medical records. So let's talk about that. I want to bring in CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. So you heard what Jeff just said, that her camp -- wants her to be fully ready for the debate two weeks from now. -

SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Recovered and rehydrated -

COSTELLO: But she's conducting this teleconference from bed in her Chappaqua home. Is that the best avenue for her to take?

GUPTA: I don't know if she's going to be in bed while she's doing this teleconference.

COSTELLO: That's going to be kind of creepy. GUPTA: I think the idea that -- she's not going to travel. I mean, this notion that she was told to get rest and sort of recover because she has this diagnosis of pneumonia. That advice was given on Friday as we all know now. We didn't hear about it until yesterday. But I think the idea of flying probably across the country is not necessarily make the pneumonia worse but it could make the symptoms worse. - And obviously that's what I think they are trying to avoid for her health and also for her going forward.

COSTELLO: So how serious is this? -- Does pneumonia affect things like your mental capacity or --

[10:05:16] GUPTA: I don't think pneumonia would affect her mental capacity. And I do want to point out as well, as much as we now know, we still don't know a lot. I mean, we don't know, for example, what is the specific cause of the pneumonia. We don't know exactly how it was diagnosed, did she have a chest x-ray or CT scan. We don't know what antibiotic she was on. We don't know how much of her lung was involved. These may sound like inside baseball sort of questions but the point is that unless you know the answers to some of these questions, you really can't make any sort of idea how long it's going to take to recover, exactly what kind of shape she's going to be in over time. Usually typically, it's about a week to recover from something like this. Bed rest but really not having an active schedule either.

COSTELLO: Well, you heard what -- Jeff Zeleny reported that Jennifer Palmieri tweeted out. You know she responded to David Axelrod's criticism. She said we could have done better yesterday as far as telling people that Hillary Clinton actually had pneumonia like -- and they knew last Friday, but she goes on to say but it is a fact that the public knows more about HRC than any nominee in history. Now, they have released some medical records for Hillary Clinton. -- I want to put that graphic up again if we have it. -- It seems detailed but is it?

GUPTA: -- Essentially this is a timeline of what came from a two-page letter. It is more detailed than I think from what we saw from Mr. Trump, for example. But I will tell you it's not, by any means, the most detailed of any nominee in history as I think that tweet just said. I myself was a reporter who covered Senator McCain back in 2008 and at that time, he gave access to all of his medical records. I mean, and they were significant, dating back to Vietnam, even. So we had full access for a period of time. They didn't want us photographing them, putting them on social media, but they gave us access. So I wouldn't say we have more access or more knowledge, if she's referring to medical stuff, than any other candidate in history. That's not true.

COSTELLO: So let's talk about Donald Trump. He says he's going to - he's undergone this physical and he is going to release the details very, very soon and he hopes the numbers are great. So what does a physical entail?

GUPTA: Well, a physical exam typically is you are obviously doing a physical exam at the time, listen to the heart and lungs, typically doing EKG, some basic blood work as well. But you also look at the past medical history. You need to look at all the medical history ahead of time to try and put a picture together of what -

COSTELLO: But a physical wouldn't cover that. -- Unless he chooses to release that. -

GUPTA: Right. So when he's talking about the fact he is going to release his lab results and maybe some of these particulars of the examination, that's a snapshot in time, which you know, can be an important snapshot. But what we are really trying to figure out is what is the status of someone's health overall. And a single sort of day of examination may not tell you much in that regard. That's what's really important. I should point out as well that former President Clinton, you know addressed this issue himself at some point, -- even when he was a candidate saying that he thought there was a public's right to know about the health of the candidates and certainly the health of the president. So again, I don't think we know more about Hillary Clinton than any other nominee in history, by any means. I'm not sure where that tweet came from. There's data on this. But also the public's right to know has been something that has been discussed even by former President Clinton.

COSTELLO: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Today, Clinton is following doctors' orders, she's resting at home and she is going to conduct that teleconference, we know now. While Donald Trump is revealing he did have a physical last week and that he is planning to release the results when, "the numbers come in." Let's talk about that some more. CNN chief political analyst Gloria Borger is here, CNN chief national correspondent John King joins me and senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar is also with me. Welcome to all of you. So John, Donald Trump says -- he had a physical, he's going to release the numbers. Will that settle questions about his health?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I don't think so. In the conversation you just had should be instructive for anybody watching at home. The good doctor just laid out the case here that as he said a physical great, let's have more records, Mr. Trump has released only a four paragraph letter from his doctor, that really has nothing except adjectives saying he's amazing and awesome, will be the most fit president in history. It says nothing. Well look, as Jeff Zeleny said, take a step back. Either one of these candidates will be older than Ronald Reagan on the day they took office. Ronald Reagan was the oldest elected president in United States history. There is a public right to know. It's good that Donald Trump says he's going to release things. He also said back in 2011 if the president released his birth certificate he would release his taxes. He plays this game, it's great that he's now on the record saying he will release some of this, but why don't both campaigns invite Dr. Gupta in to see their doctor, invite some other medical experts in to see their doctor? Do you this publicly Carol, you know what happens. -- The stunt dummies show up and ask crazy questions. -

COSTELLO: Let's ask Sanjay. -- Sanjay, would you be willing to do that? He's still here. Sanjay, would you be willing to do that?

GUPTA: Yes absolutely.

COSTELLO: Absolutely? He did it before in 2008. So he has practiced that Gloria. -

KING: -- We went through this in 2008 because of John McCain, number one, because of his age, number two, because of his treatment in Vietnam. There were questions. And John McCain did the right thing. He said here they are. Ask the questions. This is not hard. You don't have to do a full-blown public news conference for this stunt dummies show up

[10:10:16] and ask stupid questions. But you can get the medical correspondents who -- speak the language, have the doctor there. Show them the records. Some of those conversations might actually have to be off the record to respect the candidates' privacy. -

COSTELLO: -- Here's the other thing. Here's the other thing. These candidates are 68 years old and 70 years old. They are going to have problems because when you arrive at that age, you got problems. It's just natural. Why not just release this stuff?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: I agree. And here's where I think we fell down on the job, actually, we in the media, which was Barack Obama, who was obviously vigorous and you know, healthy and a jogger, he didn't release complete medical records and that was fine. Mitt Romney, by the way, did not either, OK? And so there has been a period of time where it kind of -- it kind of fell by the wayside. Now as you are all pointing out, we have candidates who are older and in Hillary Clinton's case, serious pre-existing health issues. We don't know anything about -- Donald Trump's health. And I think that disclosure is really warranted here. I also believe that disclosure is warranted in the same way on your tax returns and I think that these are questions that the public needs to know the answers to. We let it go by the boards for a little bit and that was wrong as well. --

COSTELLO: The thing is, Brianna, I think, -- I don't know, perhaps Hillary Clinton would feel more pressure in releasing her medical records because she's sick now with pneumonia, right? Donald Trump can say yes, had a physical, hope the numbers will be good, but does he really - I mean, does he really have that need as much as Hillary Clinton does to release his medical records?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think they definitely both have their need but because Hillary Clinton is in the middle of this basically what's become this you know, campaign crisis for her over her health, because she was not forthcoming when she found out on Friday that she had pneumonia, and also, I think -- there's going to have to be something that she does or the campaign does to try to be more transparent and to try to repair some of that trust. She spent all last week having reporters on her plane, talking to them every day, trying to put out this sense of being more connected, more accessible, and then this happens. Friday she's diagnosed with pneumonia and it doesn't come out until Sunday when basically they had no choice but to explain what had happened because of this video. And you hear Carol, the campaign saying, you hear Jen Palmieri saying we could have done a better job. What's also clear is that there are many people in the campaign who did not know that she was ill. They can only do their job with the facts. And so it's unclear even with some of the people who would be most equipped to handle a situation like this if they even knew the specifics of where Hillary Clinton was with her health. And that's sort of the bigger issue here for her and her campaign. -

BORGER: Here's what leaves me scratching my head, though. It's like if you know you have a problem and there are all these kinds of conspiracy theories out there, about your health, and you discover that finally, she has pneumonia which is -- explains everything, right, the coughing and everything else, then why wouldn't you disclose that as a way to shut down all of that speculation that you really don't want, either from your competitor or from out there in the ether? -

COSTELLO: But couldn't you look at it the other way, too, that if your opponent calls you lacking in stamina and you can't take the campaign trail and you can't take the presidency, doesn't it work the other way, too, that you wouldn't want to tell people that you got tired on the campaign trail and came down with pneumonia?

BORGER: I think people catch pneumonia all the time on the campaign trail.

KING: Right.

KEILAR: There are many reporters, I will tell you, just people who have been keeping pace on the campaign trail -- who have been catching pneumonia. It has been happening. I think that -- I think that she was dealt a set of cards which was she had pneumonia so how do you deal with that, and had she leaned in towards being more transparent, I think that is something that would have worked out obviously much better for her than what we are seeing now. -- Could they have foreseen what happened yesterday? No, but by trying to manage it themselves and being forthcoming about it on Friday, at least they maintain some control of the situation which they completely lost yesterday.

KING: Carol, can I give you two examples? On the issue of taxes, that noted champion of open and transparent government, Richard Nixon, is the one who set the standard. I mean Richard Nixon set the standard. Really, do you want to be judged and Hillary Clinton in that regard has put her taxes out there. Donald Trump should be held accountable to that standard. That the American people, especially, we live in the Internet age. We live in the transparent age. Again, if he has to call in some tax experts, financial reporters to talk to his people if he's really being audited and they have to talk about some of that, bring people in and explain it to them in a private secure setting and then have the major news organizations say

[10:15:16] we couldn't learn about some of this because they proved to us it's sensitive, whatever. Call them in. Richard Nixon on taxes, pretty good precedent's been set for a long time. -- This is a copy of the letter Ronald Reagan released to the American people in November 1994. He was a former president at the time. When he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, he said upon learning the news, Nancy and I had to decide whether as private citizens we would keep this as a private matter or whether we would make this news known in a public way. In the past, Nancy suffered from breast cancer and I had cancer surgeries. We found through our open disclosures we were able to raise public awareness. We were happy that as a result, many more people underwent testing. That's called leading by example. Why can't we have it? Be transparent.

COSTELLO: We'll see - we'll see if the candidates become more transparent. As they say, only time will tell. I have to leave it there. Gloria, John, Brianna, thanks to all of you. So to come in the "Newsroom," Hillary Clinton feeling the heat after calling some of Donald Trump's supporters deplorable. We hear Donald Trump is going to use that line when he speaks to National Guardsmen in Baltimore today. We'll talk about that next.

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COSTELLO: As Hillary Clinton takes time off from the campaign trail in the wake of pneumonia diagnosis, her campaign is facing a new controversy over this.

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CLINTON: You know to be just grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables, right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islam phobic, you name it. But that other basket of people are people feel the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they're just desperate for change. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK. So Hillary Clinton is being criticized for the first part of what she said that night. In a statement, in a new statement, Clinton said she regretted using the word half but doubled down on her vow to call out what she says is Donald Trump's campaign of "prejudice and paranoia." For his part, Donald Trump has seized on the comments and released a new ad and some scathing criticism.

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TRUMP: Personally, when I heard it, I thought that it was not something that was within the realm of possible that she would have said it, and I said to my people I don't believe she said it, I think you have to check it because there's no way that she said this. And she actually did. She even really doubled up because it was said with such anger and such unbelievable anger, and I think this is the biggest mistake of the political season. I really do. When I -- saw this in its full form, and I saw the anger with which she said it, the way she spoke, I think it's the single biggest mistake of the political season.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So let's talk about that. Here to discuss, Maria Cardona CNN political commentator, Democratic strategist and Hillary Clinton supporter and Boris Epshteyn, senior advisor to the Trump campaign. Thanks for being here.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST AND HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: Good morning Carol.

BORIS EPSHTEYN, SENIOR ADVISOR TO THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN: Good morning Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So Maria, calling out Donald Trump is one thing. Calling out his supporters is quite another. Will independents and Trump Republicans make Clinton pay?

CARDONA: Well, we'll see about that Carol. But I think what we have to do is underscore at what was at the heart of her comments. And I'm really glad that you played her whole comments because they have been taken out of context. I'm also glad that she walked back the half. But when you look at what she actually said in terms of some of his supporters, it is not incorrect at all. She gave a whole speech not too long ago about how the Trump campaign and folks within the Trump campaign even represent all of -- the pieces of what she was talking about were deplorable and what those are, are those who believe in xenophobia, those who support and have actually constituted part of the white supremacist movement, people who are racist, people who have gone to Trump and supported him because of the xenophobic, racist comments that he has made from the very beginning from the first day that he announced his campaign. So I think in that context, she is absolutely correct and what she is focusing on is that we as a country have to lift up American values of inclusiveness, of making sure that we talk about how great our diversity is instead of using it as a wedge issue which is what the Trump campaign has done. And I think in that context, most Americans will agree with her, especially those huge swathes of voters that Donald Trump has insulted from the very beginning.-

COSTELLO: Well, I think, Boris, that Democrats like Maria, would probably cite things like this to prove their point. Donald Trump Jr., for example, he put this image on his Instagram account. It's a meme of Pepe and for those of you who don't know, Pepe is a white nationalist symbol. David Duke, the former KKK leader, also tweeted a similar meme but photo shopped his face into the image. But you get the drift here. This is why Democrats say what Hillary Clinton said is fair.--

EPSHTEYN: Carol, did you read what Donald Trump Jr. actually said in that context there you said - that I made it as one of the deplorables. He was pointing out that that's what the left is saying about all of us now. Maria just said that people in the Trump campaign are deplorable. I'm a Jewish immigrant. I'm sorry

[10:25:16] that you think I'm deplorable Maria. - CARDONA: I didn't say all. I didn't say you. -

EPSHTEYN: Listen, I let you talk. Now let me talk. Look at the bottom line here. Hillary Clinton called farmers, coal miners, military, soldiers, nurses, doctors, she called everyday people out there deplorable and said the other half are desperate. So what's left? She means that all of Donald Trump's supporters are either deplorable and irredeemable or desperate. And that is not how you win an election. You know Maria they are talking about inclusiveness. Yes, inclusiveness is great but how can you be inclusive when you're saying that -- half of America, at least half of America is either irredeemable -

COSTELLO: Well, she has said half of the supporter. She didn't say half of America. - But that said -- hold on, hold on -- that said, Hillary Clinton did say something that probably was a political mistake and that comment is going to be replayed and replayed and replayed. And you can bet that Donald Trump, Maria, is going to use it at his campaign event in Baltimore later today. And his supporters would say he ought to.

CARDONA: Of course he's going to use this, but he has frankly used every single thing that -- he can to try to bring down Hillary Clinton. Look, this is the nature of the campaign. But again, what Hillary Clinton said is that the kind of hate and vitriol that Trump and his campaign have trafficked in from the very beginning of this campaign is not something that should be accepted as normal. -- She was focused on the fact that the Trump campaign has normalized this trafficking of hate and this kind of violent,

EPSHTEYN: Maria, you are mischaracterizing what she said -

CARDON: -- violent rhetoric when you talk about punching people at his rallies because they are protesting him, when you talk about calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals, when you talk about banning a whole religion, when you talk about women as pigs and ugly. That's the kind of rhetoric and those are the kinds of feelings that Hillary Clinton was talking about we cannot normalize and that the Trump campaign has actually lifted up.-

COSTELLO: Boris last words.

EPSHTEYN: -- you're talking about. But that's not what Hillary Clinton said. -

CARDONA: That's what she said. -

EPSHTEYN: Hillary Clinton did not attack Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton attacked Donald Trump's supporters. She attacked the voters. Something that Barack Obama in 2012 said shouldn't happen. So it's Democrats out there who are saying this is a mistake. Some of the other Democratic strategists - you know, really are in tune enough to say hey, it was a mistake and just move on. But for some reason, others try to spin it and say -

COSTELLO: Let's have Boris say the last words then I got to end this. -

EPSHTEYN: -- Actually what she meant was that we should be inclusive. No, that's not what she meant.

CARDONA: That's what she meant. --

EPSHTEYN: What else has she said of these private fund-raisers with Wall Street? -- This is how she actually feels about the American people and it's disgusting.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. Boris Epshteyn, Maria Cardona, thanks to both of you. And be sure to join Wolf Blitzer as he interviews Mike Pence live in "The Situation Room" today 5:00 p.m. Eastern. And still to come in the "Newsroom" a ceasefire is set to take effect in about an hour in war-torn Syria, that are defiant words from the country's president threatening the truce?

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