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New Day

Hillary Clinton Opens Up in New Memoir Excerpt; Sam Kiss Torches Social Media; Inmarsat Has Big Offer

Aired May 12, 2014 - 06:30   ET

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

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: In the meantime, over the weekend, Hagel addressed the deadly delays at veterans hospitals in the U.S., which CNN has been reporting on extensively. He even defended the embattled V.A. secretary and said the backlog problem for veterans began years before from Eric Shinseki took the job, but the government officials missed it.

Those are your headlines this hour -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, a new side of Hillary Clinton and family, in a first glimpse at the former secretary of state's new memoir "Hard Choices." A revealing excerpt first released by "Vogue" magazine on Sunday focuses not on her personal life but more on her professional life, detailing her mother's traumatic past, and, of course, many are saying it's all about 2016.

Here's senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's the first look inside Hillary Clinton's highly anticipated memoir, a revealing tribute to her mother Dorothy Rodham, in an audio excerpt released on "Vogue's" website on Mother's Day.

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: No one had a bigger influence on my life or did more to shape the person I became.

KEILAR: Clinton says her mother stressed social justice as she raised the future first lady and secretary of state. She describes her mother's hard scrabbled childhood, sent to live with severe grandparents who locked her in the room for a year as punishment for trick or treating, leaving at 14 striking out on her own.

Clinton asked her how she survived.

CLINTON: I'll never forget how she replied. "At critical points in my life, somebody showed me a kindness," she said.

KEILAR: By contrast, Clinton says her mother always gave her unconditional love and support, including after she lost her campaign for president. CLINTON: Having her so close became a source of great comfort to me, especially in the difficult period after the end of the 2008 campaign. I'd come home from a long day at the Senate or State Department slide in next to her at the small table at the breakfast nook and let everything just pour out.

KEILAR: And when her mother died in 2011, Clinton said she long for one more conversation, one more hug. But she also says she felt newly moved to take the advice she's sure her mother would give.

CLINTON: Never rest on your laurels. Never quit. Never stop working to make the world a better place. That's our unfinished business.

KEILAR: Clinton doesn't say if that unfinished business includes another try for the White House.

Brianna Keilar, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: Brianna, thanks so much.

For more on this, let's bring in Amy Chozick, national political reporter for "The New York Times." And Maggie Haberman, CNN political analyst and senior political writer for "Politico."

Good morning.

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.

BOLDUAN: So, why release this first. Everyone, a lot of them talk pre-any release of excerpts of the book was about for her time as secretary of state. Why release this well-timed to Mother's Day excerpt, do you think, Maggie?

HABERMAN: Exactly the way you just said it. This is very human, relatable story. Her relationship with her mother was very deep. Dorothy Rodham was a very interesting woman. She was really known when Hillary Clinton was the first lady, and I think that the Clinton folks are very concerned about the main factor that she didn't have in her 2008 campaign, or a main factor -- connectability, relatability.

This is what this is designed to do in that audio excerpt is also a piece of that. It's supposed to let people relate to her, understand who she is and connect. Whether that works is a different issue, but that is what the goal is here.

BOLDUAN: Is it a good first step, do you think? I mean, do you think it actually will have an impact?

HABERMAN: Without seeing what the rest of the book is, I think it is a good first step. I think talking about anyone's mother is very human and very relatable. Her mother had an interesting life. Her mother had a very difficult life. We don't know how deeply she gets into other issues. What people want know is about Hillary Clinton herself. Not just her relationship with family members. How deeply she delves into that is a big question.

CUOMO: But isn't that kind of the problem that, you know, of course, you're not going to criticize someone's love of their mom, not even you, Chozick. You're not even go after her for that. But it is this idea, especially among those of you who are doing the coverage of contrivance that everything is planned out.

So, is there a risk by doing something as wholesome as loving your mom is seen her as part of the act?

AMY CHOZICK, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Right.

Well, I immediately thought in 2008 there was so much wrestling to whether to show her the commander in chief or the soft maternal side of her. And, obviously, the commander in chief side won out and that was not effective.

So, of course, the political reporters when they read that, they were like, oh, this is a sign that says I'm a mother, I'm a daughter -- excited to be a grandmother, and she's showing that softer side of herself. So, it's impossible not to view that in term of political lens, softening her image.

BOLDUAN: Let's talk about -- I mean, in one bit, let's talk about -- and Brianna had this in her piece, on the unfinished business. She says mom measured her life by how much she was able to help us and serve others. I knew if she was still with us, she would be urging me, for to do the same, never rest on our laurels, never quit, never stop working to make the world a better place. That's our unfinished business.

People, of course, are going to read deeply into that line "unfinished business.", Amy, should they?

CHOZICK: Yes, I mean, yes, absolutely. I think it's like TBD, and that they sort of want to us to believe --

BOLDUAN: Right, on the Twitter page, right?

CHOZICK: Yes. I mean, the other thing about her mother, I thought was interesting was that the Clintons occupy this very rarefied world now. They live in New York. They go to the Hamptons. She gets paid to talks to Wall Street.

And I thought this very much rooted her, you know, I come from Midwestern roots. My mother struggle. I'm just one generation removed from her. She was a nanny, she worked hard, you know, solid Midwestern stock that would play well in the campaign.

CUOMO: Why does it get her? Let's try and demystified for people. Why does Hillary avoid the obvious? She's running for president, until she tells us otherwise, she's running, she's doing all the other things you're supposed to do. Why do this game? Is this just for us, like a layer of anticipation that we get to cover before the actual anticipation?

HABERMAN: As fun as it is, I think it's for everybody. I think it's for herself. I think for the polls. I think that here numbers -- everyone knows this -- her numbers are worse when she's seen as political. So, the longer she can drag out the process why which she is not viewed in that context, the better it is. Her numbers have already gone from last year. The Benghazi focus has taken a hit on them. To the extent she can delay that point and that starting gate, she's going to.

BOLDUAN: Let's talk about the political and that Benghazi focus. Marco Rubio was asked about Hillary Clinton on ABC "This Week", and here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: I'm sure she's going to brag about her time in the State Department. She's also going to have to be held accountable for its failures. Whether it's the failed reset with Russia or the failure in Benghazi that actually cost lives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, what grade do you give her as secretary of state?

RUBIO: I don't think she has a passing grade. In fact --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think she's an "F"?

RUBIO: Yes, because if you look at the diplomacy that was pursued at her time in the State Department, it's failed everywhere in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: They knew this is coming at them, a Hillary campaign. What is -- one, what is Marco Rubio trying to get out of this? And, two, is the book going to answer any of those questions?

HABERMAN: I don't think the book is ever going to answer those questions to the satisfaction of people who opposed her and her critics. I don't know whether -- even if you're objective, it's going to end up answering those questions and that's what's remained to be seen.

For Marco Rubio, this is very easy. This is a clear hit to the Republican base. He also was trying to stand out a bit on foreign policy himself. This is not something he has deep chops on.

Yes, it's worked very well for Rand Paul, right? So, he's walking a pretty well ready trodden path.

CHOZICK: I think it speaks to a broader dilemma and that the book really has to define her tenure in the State Department, even if she doesn't get into the weeds of a lot. I think Maggie and I were both said (ph) in a couple months ago in which she really struggled just to name one accomplishment. She said you can read the details in the book.

So, I think there's a lot of anticipation finding what Republicans call it odometer diplomacy, beyond just miles traveled.

CUOMO: I think Rubio gave her an opportunity. Because the easier criticism to counter is you're terrible at everything. If you're saying you're terrible at everything, you're giving -- yes, because you're giving up an opportunity to offer up generality and response. Well, actually, I traveled more than any secretary of state, ever. I guess I'm not terrible. There goes your criticism. You know, I think it's a little amateurish, his criticism --

HABERMAN: Well, I think to Amy's point, though, I think she needs to come up with something other than just I traveled the world a lot because the odometer diplomacy has been mocked pretty widely --

CUOMO: Who got those miles, Maggie Haberman?

HABERMAN: It was not me, Chris.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: I do wonder -- I'm starting to wonder, though, if too much anticipation is put on the book. Everyone is waiting for that answer, waiting for that definition of what happened at State. And when you read it --

CUOMO: Must be terrible for sales.

BOLDUAN: Then there's that side of it, Chris, right?

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: Maggie, Amy, great to see you guys. Thank you.]

CUOMO: What's going to be in this book? I can't wait to see it. Where's that money go?

All right. Coming up on NEW DAY, the NFL -- are they really ready for an openly gay player. We thought they were. Did you see what happened when there was a moment of affection between Michael Sam and his boyfriend? And wait until you hear how other NFL players react to it. We'll take you through it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Welcome back to NEW DAY.

So this was the moment Michael Sam had worked his whole life for. The first openly gay professional football player just drafted by the St. Louis Rams, he kisses his boyfriend on national TV in celebration. And then what happens?

Well, several of his new colleagues wind up going into tirades on social media, including Miami Dolphins defensive back Don Jones who tweeted "horrible" and "OMG" in reaction to the kiss. He was slapped with a fine.

Meanwhile, former player Derrick Ward, he had his own tweets there. He said, "Sam shouldn't have kissed his boyfriend because children were watching."

So is this a real reflection of the league? Are these guys just -- you know, people who are dealing with this and the discomfort it? But what does it mean going forward?

Let's bring in former NFL wide receiver Donte Stallworth.

So, Donte, no reason to read the tweets. Just in general, they were negative. They were showing this type of affection by someone who is gay is wrong. Now, do you believe these two guys are reflective of a lot of fellows that Sam is going to have to deal with in the league?

DONTE STALLWORTH, FORMER NFL WIDE RECEIVER: I think they are reflective of a small number of guys in the NFL. It's a community where, you know, guys have their own opinions, and they should.

But I don't foresee Michael Sam having any issues when he gets to St. Louis. It's right in his backyard right where he went to school at. And obviously, the Rams knew, going into this, what they were getting into. So, I think that Jeff Fisher and the rest of the organization have a great handle on what's going to happen.

I think his teammates will fully accept him. I think that there's a small number of guys, whether it's on his team or whether if it's in the whole NFL that are probably not in the same mind frame that will be accepting. But I don't foresee any issues for Michael once he gets to St. Louis.

CUOMO: Well, we hope you're right, right? And again, not to exaggerate it, it was just these couple of guys who came out and did it. So that does suggest that most of the guys would be OK with it.

But, look, you know yourself. When you came in as a young guy had a ton of athletic potential but hadn't worked on other parts of yourself yet as much. You know, you had your own issues about who was the same as you and who was different and why. He gets on the team, is that something that can really just go away?

STALLWORTH: I think it can. And I think it will. And that's, you know, like I said, from the very beginning, back in February, when I first heard that Michael Sam was -- that came out as gay and to the NFL draft, it has to be a strong organization that can hold him down and make sure that he's able to be in a workplace environment that's suitable for a professional environment.

And I think that Jeff Fisher is capable of doing that. I've -- during my free agency period, I've had a chance to meet with him, and I've known guys that have played for him. And he won't stand for any intolerance.

CUOMO: That's the point. So what do you do? Jones is slapped with a fine. Derrick Ward is out of the league, who care what is he says. What do you do with an organization, do you tell guys if you say anything to Sam, not only may he -- because he's a strong guy, but I'm going to do this and this as an organization, how do you deal with it?

STALLWORTH: I think, initially, once you draft him, I think honestly it's off limits. Once you're on a team that drafts Michael Sam. Because you've seen what's happened with guys that were not on the St. Louis Rams. So, from that issue, I think that -- I think his teammates will be accepting. And the ones that won't be, I think they'll be hush.

Once they get to know the kid. Once they see how much of a hard worker he is. He's just here to play football and not worry about that other stuff that people are trying to bring into the situation, he just wants to play football, so once they see what kind of a kid he is and hard worker, I think it will dissolve over time.

CUOMO: You make an analogy that's powerful and may be bothersome to people, but it may be the right way to look at this. You say what bothers me about them talking about him being gay is that it smacks as the same type of intolerance as racism. It is very interesting. When you look at what's has been going on in the NBA with Donald Sterling and whether acceptable to the league, what do you think of that situation? When you look at what's going on in the NBA, and this man says, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said it. I was duped into it by this woman. Do you think it's something that can stand anymore? Or does he just have to go?

STALLWORTH: I think the NBA made the correct decision. And a lot of the other players and even the owners here in Miami, Mickey Erickson, he stated the same, that there should be zero tolerance for that kind of behavior. No acceptance for that type of behavior in professional sports. And really, obviously, in any other workplace. But especially in professional sports where so many people look up to us as role models. And you have kids that are watching and young people. I think the NBA did a great job. In comparison with Donald Sterling and this situation. It's a very real comparison.

And a good friend of mine, Jamele Hill, tweeted yesterday something to the fact, the same people speaking out on Michael Sam and how is he going to incorporate in the NFL, some of those same people with the similar thought processes that, back in the Jim Crow days where they thought that -- people black people drinking from the same fountain as white people would contaminate the water.

Or, you know, it's just that same type of thinking, so it really bother please as an African-American man to hear other people, especially African-Americans to speak out against Michael Sam. We had Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X fight for our rights. It's the same issue, if you look at it, it's the same exact issue. It bothers me to hear people talk about that.

CUOMO: It's about tolerance and how intolerance is dealt with. In the NBA, they're trying to kick this owner out for it. We're not seeing as much evolution, we'll see what happens. Jones is still on an active roster. He said things that were inarguably anti-gay, and he didn't get kicked off the team. But he did get fined. So it will be interesting to see how intolerance is dealt with from this league going forward. Donte Stallworth, as always appreciate the talk.

BOLDUAN: Coming up next on NEW DAY, the company with the data behind the flight 370 pings has not release it yet. We are going to talk to that company live. Will they release it? Any plans for it? This as they announce a new program that they hope could prevent another flight disaster in the future.

Plus, we'll have much more with the Anderson Cooper's exclusive interview with Donald Sterling, the Clippers owner says, the controversy around him is a terrible nightmare. And that he's sorry. But what does he say about the woman who recorded them? that's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: It is money time. Chief business correspondent Christine Romans is in the money center with what you need to know this morning. Christine

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Dow futures pointing to a higher opening on Wall Street. We could see a record high for the Dow. Never been in territory this high for the Dow Jones industrial average. It hit a record high on Friday. Last year, the Dow hit 52 records. But most of you care about your paycheck. A new survey say Americans could make more money this year. USA today surveyed 40 top economists, most of them say they expect wages to grow about 3 percent this year. Wages have only grown about 2 percent in the recovery, that is in line with inflation.

This is the buzziest non-deal I've ever heard of. Still no confirmation, Apple is buying Beats by Dre for $3.2 billion . If true, and again not confirmed yet, if true It will be Apples biggest buy yet, and make Dr. Dre hip hops first billionaire. Something he celebrated with actor Tyrese in a widely publicized Internet video that has since been taken down.. Stay tuned will Apple buy Beats? We will know today.

CUOMO: All right Christine , thank you very much. So today there's a very big meeting to make plane tracking a priority after the disappearance of flight 370, of course. New technology, new policies, and a big new offer from Inmarsat, the company at the center of the search for the plane. The satellite service provider has a big offer to make and also a big question to answer. Lets get to both. We have Inmarsat senior vice president, Mr. Chris McLaughlin. Thank you very much for joining us. What's the offer you're making?

CHRIS MCLAUGHLIN, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, INMARSAT: Very simply, an offer to have free tracking of commercial airliners, utilizing the equipment that's already on board some 90 percent of the wide-body jets that are flying over the transoceanic areas.

CUOMO: You're a business, why would you offer something this valuable for free?

MCLAUGHLIN: Well we've actually been doing it 34 years, since our foundation, the global maritime distress service. We've been doing safety services for Aero for 24 years now. We've looked at the situation with MH 370, we came to the conclusion we should offer to help, we would do something and we would do something because it was the right thing to do.

CUOMO: How doable is this? Obviously a very interesting and intriguing offer, a free service that's so valuable. But is this something that could be easily implemented or would it be very costly?

MCLAUGHLIN: Well, actually, it's very easy to implement. Some 90 percent of the world's wide-body jets are already installed with Inmarsat equipment. It's only a simple matter of taking a basic handshake between the network and the aircraft and adding in data that's already been generated by the aircraft position, speed, location, and come off the aircraft itself. It's really like imbedding a text message into each of the aircraft. It's not high- tech and it can be done. And we'd love to do it for the industry.

CUOMO: Question is, one more basic question about it, what will we be able to do now, once this were to happen with finding airplanes that we can't do now? how would it make it better?

MCLAUGHLIN: Well, if you can imagine if every handshake between our network and every aircraft had the basic location, the speed, the altitude, just in there as a text, should anything like 370 happen again, instead of looking in an area the size of Europe for a lost aircraft, you would know what the location data was in, say, the previous 15 minutes when the aircraft went missing. So you would narrow the search area immediately and hope to also direct -- also director rescue searches in the right place.

CUOMO: Mr. McLaughlin, while you and your company are in a generous mood, I ask for another request. Why won't you release the data and basis for analysis that you used in finding flight 370 to the general public so that other experts can weigh in on the data points and maybe help advance the analysis?

MCLAUGHLIN: Chris, I think you're thinking of crowd data. The truth is, it's not our data, the data belongs to the Malaysian authorities and it belongs to them for the air accidents investigation work that's going on at the moment. We have shared what little data we have. Remember, it was only seven data points and we have shared a model which has then been validated by four other independent groups. All of those groups are content with the model that we put forward. But it's a matter for the authorities to decide what they're going to do with their data. It's not something Inmarsat can release.

CUOMO: But you know not all groups are not content. There are many who feel you do have data and points of analysis that could be very helpful in shaping our understanding. And for some reason, you won't release it?

MCLAUGHLIN: Well, as I've said, the data belongs to the investigation, it doesn't belong to Inmarsat. We're very happy to share a model which has been validated by at least four other parties and we're happy that they're working with that. And those parties are confident with what the model guides. We don't have a huge data pool that's available. It just doesn't exist. CUOMO: Who are these experts that are reviewed the model?

MCLAUGHLIN: As you would expect, aviation specialists, obviously, Boeing, hard way manufacturer that had equipment on board the aircraft. Obviously in the U.K. and the investigation board as well. Highly qualified, highly competent groups. We've looked at what we have. But have also included information that's come from other neighbors countries. Other nationals with assets such as satellite tracking. Such as ships and submarines and aircraft in and around the area.

So it's a contribution that we made which has been added to by the appears as well. And this is a unique thing that's happened. And it's something that we hope we've helped with. We hope that today's offer cuts through this unfortunate situation where aircraft can currently still disappear. It's quite extraordinary.

CUOMO: What does Malaysia have that you don't have access to in terms of releasing things to the public and allowing the best minds we have to get in the business of finding this plane?

MCLAUGHLIN: Well, as you appreciate, Malaysia is the country where the aircraft was registered and, therefore, Malaysia is the center of the investigation. And they have data from the neighbors countries. From radar. They'll have data from satellites all fed into them that we don't have sight to. We just contributed what little bit we have which is the handshake things between the satellite and aircraft that enabled us to know the aircraft was in the air for a number of hours after it was lost. I think that was our primary insight. At Inmarsat we don't perverse desire to hold back data, we just don't have it.