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New Day

Perry To Obama: Visit The Border; Rand Paul Makes Civil Rights Claim; Romney Backers Tease '16 Interest; Arthur Is Now A Hurricane

Aired July 03, 2014 - 07:30   ET

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


MAGGIE HABERMAN, "POLITICO": There's a very strong chance of that. The White House seems very uncertain about exactly what to do about this. It's a massive, massive problem. Rick Perry, as you know, is running for president so this is a very easy thing for him to get in front of. I think a lot of what you hear today is going to have very little bearing on what actually ends up happening.

KING: If the president, Molly, if he's largely in agreement with his Republican critics on so many other parts of the immigration debate, the president, thinks, you don't know. You can't get to the border. He's going to send them back. Why can't they agree on this one, maybe appropriate some more money if that's what they need and maybe set new rules, and you have a lot of communities now where they are overwhelmed at the border so you have protests in communities.

Don't bring them into our community, to put them in some temporary facility. Why can't they at least figure this part out, take care of the kids, if you decide to send them home, send them home and then debate the other issues.

MOLLY BALL, "THE ATLANTIC": This is an issue where there have always been a lot of other paradoxes and things that don't make sense. There's a majority in the House of Representatives that has wanted immigration reform to pass and yet it can't happen just because of the dynamics within the House Republican caucus.

This is another issue where, you know, the president is under a lot of pressure from both his right and his left, people like Rick Perry saying, you know, see this shows that he hasn't been effective, and on the other side, immigration advocates really feeling like the administration is being too tough on these kids as they come in and that Obama hasn't gone far enough in terms of the executive actions that he could be taking.

He's going to announce more executive actions, he has said. He'll go to Texas, but hasn't announced whether he's going to go to the bothered. A lot yet to be seen on this issue.

KING: Rick Perry trying to get ahead of his rivals and get the president to come down to the border, I'd like to see those pictures. The president and Rick Perry together, we'll see.

Let's move on. It's the 50th anniversary of the landmark civil rights act. A lot of statements coming in in recent days. Listen to Rand Paul here, he is the freshman senator from Kentucky. He is home yesterday and he says he stands out among Republicans when it comes to civil rights issues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: I think you'll find nobody in Congress doing more for minority rights than me right now, Republican or Democrat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Now we have in recent months watched Senator Paul do a lot of outreach, he says all the time Republicans cannot be the white party or they will lose, but Democrats say, wait a minute. How does this new Rand Paul mesh with this Rand Paul?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: I think it's a bad business decision to ever exclude anybody from your restaurant, but at the same time, I do believe in private ownership.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: That, Molly, is four years ago when Rand Paul is essentially saying if you're the private owner of a restaurant, he might disagree with you, but he thinks maybe you should have the right to be able to turn somebody away.

BALL: Well, obviously the fact that it's still being played on television shows he's yet to live it down and yet to explicitly repudiate that position, even though obviously he's saying very favorable things about civil rights and about the civil rights act now. So this sort of illustrates the tough spot he's in trying to run as a libertarian while simultaneously appealing to a community that's generally very favorable to government in general.

So he definitely feels that he can go to the black community and show up and get some credit for that, but a lot of critics are then going to say, well, what about the policies we care about. What about something like voter I.D., which he first said he was against and then sort of walked back and so there is a lot of these pressure points where people are going to say what are you doing for us specifically, not just -- besides just being here.

KING: So he's got some navigation to do within his own party.

HABERMAN: This is something as Molly said, exactly right. He's sort of laying dual tracks. He's dealing with the libertarian base and then he is dealing with some fix work in terms of dealing with the black community. He has been having to do a lot of this. I don't think he's where he needs to be. I think that he hopes that by the time that if he is a nominee or we're in the thick of a presidential campaign or a primary he will be closer to that.

He is, his statement about being the only person right now in Congress doing as much for minority rights is maybe a bit of an overstatement, but certainly is the only person you're seeing on the Republican side who is doing this much of an effort. The last time we saw something approaching this was Christie, who did make some effort running in the gubernatorial election in 2013. He's been completely subsumed by events since then.

KING: Completely subsumed by events since then. Chris Christie would not disagree with that statement. Here's what we hear. Mitt Romney, you might remember him. He popped up yesterday in New Hampshire. He says this is just a simple endorsement of a good friend, Scott Brown. Listen, Mitt Romney endorsing his former Massachusetts colleague, now a New Hampshire resident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Well, I know that the president is not on the ballot this November, but the people of New Hampshire have a chance to vote about what they think about the president's agenda and they will do that by saying what they will say about the president's number one supporter, Jeanne Shaheen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Mitt Romney looked rested and ready, right? He says this is simple. Scott Brown is a good friend from Massachusetts, served in the legislature when he was governor and running for senator in New Hampshire, Romney is very popular in New Hampshire, trying to help him out. A new poll out that says some people have buyers' remorse. I think some of the donors don't want to say no for an answer, want Romney to run for a third time. When his own people are saying on the record, maybe he should do this again the governor says no, no, no. Who are we to believe?

HABERMAN: I believe the governor. The second that the governor started saying maybe, maybe, maybe, a lot of donors would say, no, not so much. I think there's some level of post-2012 therapy.

KING: Therapy.

HABERMAN: People who supported him. I think that there are a lot of Romney -- actual Romney people who love him, believe in him and think he should have won, but I do not think there is a big cry from donors overall to have him fill what is ultimately a void in the establishment side.

KING: And how about voters?

BALL: There is a bit of that among voters, a poll that said we'd be better off if Romney had won the election. Your ex always looks back after the break-up, and I think, you know, what a difference a couple of years makes, right? Obviously things not going very well for Obama right now so people think about what might have been, but I think Romney is smart enough to realize that that's a dynamic.

He's even used the dating metaphor, and he also -- but I think it's also a sign of how successfully Romney has rehabilitated himself. He's been very careful about the way he's re-emerged, becoming an elder statesman for the party. His endorsements in the Republican primaries this year have been very successful, within all their primaries, done a very good job of positioning himself after a loss where a lot of people blamed him in very personal terms. He's really come back within the Republican Party.

KING: And let's close. You have a piece in "The Atlantic" about the fall-off from the Hobby Lobby decision. The Supreme Court said that Obamacare had to carve out for a Christian-run business, if the owners of that business don't want to provide certain contraceptive service and there's a question on gay rights. Explain.

BALL: Not coming from the religious right but the religious left, groups that are friendly with the White House and have worked with Obama and they have said now what the court said what they said about the carve out for Hobby Lobby. The president will issue an executive order banning discrimination against gays and lesbians and religious groups say there needs to be a religious exemption in this order when it comes out so places like religious social service organizations can follow their beliefs. They are saying Hobby Lobby shows that the administration needs to be a little bit more sensitive to the prerogatives of religious groups.

KING: The first piece of the fallout this will continue. Maggie, Molly, thanks for coming in this morning. As we get you back to you guys in New York, just tweeted it out. Find us on Twitter. Ladies back to you on this day. How is the weather?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: So far so good here.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: In this studio, it's a perfect 70 something degrees, but when we leave that's a whole different story. Hunker down, John King.

KING: My city moved up its fireworks. I guess they are worried.

PEREIRA: Yes. They are concerned here, too. We are trying to figure out if we'll see anything from the sky tomorrow night.

BOLDUAN: Stay tuned, as we like to say. Thanks, John.

Coming up next on NEW DAY, Arthur is now a hurricane and has its sights set on North Carolina. North Carolina's governor is joining us to talk about what's ahead. Is his state prepared?

PEREIRA: Also, we'll show you some absolutely shocking pictures out of a Texas gas station. A driver runs down two men and then speeds away. Police have this surveillance video. Hopefully it's going to lead them to the suspect. We'll find out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: And welcome back. We are following breaking news this morning, Arthur now a hurricane and heading for North Carolina. It's expected to hit tonight. The governor has declared a state of emergency and some mandatory evacuations are already in place. North Carolina's coast is among those -- is among one of the hardest hit areas. That's what's to be expect the.

The governor of North Carolina, Pat McCrory is joining us now from Raleigh. Governor, thank you for your time. Obviously a very busy day for you.

GOVERNOR PAT MCCRORY (R), NORTH CAROLINA: It is. It is. This is a very serious time. We're asking for mandatory evacuation in one of our counties and then voluntary evacuation south of the outer banks. This is a very serious time. We don't want people to mess around with this hurricane, and for those who are a little further north, we want them to, you know, stay out of the water. This is no time to put your stupid hat on.

Don't get brave just because you see some good waves out there. Stay out of the water and hatchet down and -- and make sure we don't have to come rescue you and put our emergency workers at jeopardy.

BOLDUAN: Governor, you offered that warning yesterday. So far what's your sense? Are people heeding your warning and not putting their stupid hats on?

MCCRORY: At this point in time we feel pretty very good. We've got a ferry going 24 hours right now. Getting people off the island, and we have other people who are hatcheting down, and, you know, all we can do is trust, but we're not going to put our emergency workers at risk that do not listen to our warnings at this point in time.

BOLDUAN: As you mentioned, you have mandatory evacuations in some places specifically, Hatteras Island, and then have you voluntary evacuations in other places. With that in mind, are you nervous that folks aren't going to take a Cat 1 hurricane like this seriously?

MCCRORY: We are nervous because we do have examples of the past of hurricanes where people right before the hurricane comes decides to get into the ocean or don't take the warning to leave the islands, and -- and, again, they are putting other people's lives at jeopardy in not following the orders and directives of the local and state officials so we want everyone to be very careful.

Don't put other people's lives in jeopardy, and for those islands that do not have either mandatory or voluntary evacuation, we encourage them to stay out of water and also once the hurricane leaves, stay away from any downed power lines and potential flooded roads on the sound side.

We're also concerned a little bit inland, if the storm stalls, which we hope it doesn't, we want people to be extremely careful because usually where we have casualties is either right before a storm or right after a storm when people still feel too comfortable and are not listening to the warnings of the public safety officials.

BOLDUAN: What's your guidance? At what point today is it going to be no longer safe to be on the roads? What are you hearing?

MCCRORY: Well, right now we are -- we've begun evacuation of Dare County, the Hatteras area. Mandatory evacuations started at 5:00 a.m. this morning, and so we asked those people to leave that very tip of the outer banks at this point in time. Do not risk your lives. Get off that island. And in the Okrakoke Island area is voluntary evacuation.

And so we're asking those people to please -- the ferries are moving right now and then you can gain access to roads that will get you to main land, but even on the main land, stay away from flooded areas that could possibly occur. We are hoping this is a very fast- moving storm and doesn't stall over the North Carolina area, which has happened in the past. So take nothing for granted at this point in time and hopefully we'll have a safe 4th of July.

BOLDUAN: The problem is, as you know, you just don't know until it happens if it's going to stall or not. That's the problem, and that's why you have to plan and prepare. I mean, this is early for a hurricane in the season, Governor. What are you expecting for the rest of the season?

MCCRORY: This is a very early hurricane. You know, you never know. We've not had a major hurricane -- did not have one last year so this is a very early hurricane for us, so, you know, we're ready. We're prepared for everything. We've got search and rescue boats ready to go. We've got stations ready to inland, to help people throughout the eastern part of our state.

And the main concern we actually have during this is potential flooding inland is another major issue, and then we just want people to stay out of the water because the rip tides are very, very dangerous and some people don't recognize that until it's too late. Do not put other people's lives in jeopardy, especially the emergency operations workers.

BOLDUAN: Unfortunately, you are and do have to say that over and over again to get that message out. Governor, good luck today and through the weekend and hopefully you have a happy and safe 4th of July.

MCCRORY: Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

BOLDUAN: Of course.

PEREIRA: Yes, folks will say he's being glib by using the stupid hat, but people think it won't happen to me.

BOLDUAN: He's trying to break through the noise and get into their heads.

PEREIRA: He broke through the noise and hopefully people will heed the warnings, for sure. All right, we're going to take a short break.

Next up on NEW DAY, this is crazy video. Two men are sent flying into the air and crashing on to the pavement. Police are searching for that hit-and-run driver. That story is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Welcome back to NEW DAY. Really some shocking and upsetting video, a hit-and-run occurred in Houston at a gas station. Surveillance cameras caught this driver ramming into two men at the gas station and then sped off into the night. Poppy Harlow is here with more. I don't know how anybody could explain what happened there.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I don't think you can explain it. It's unbelievable. We'll show you more of it. Right now police are searching for the driver and hoping that this surveillance video that we're going to show you will help lead them to the culprit.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW (voice-over): A simple stop to get gas, an exchange of words, then this, a disturbing hit-and-run caught on video. Surveillance camera at this Houston gas station captured the stunning moment when this driver plows into these men, knocking them to the ground, then takes off. Police now on the hunt for the woman behind the wheel.

MARCUS CHUKUWUU, VICTIM IN HIT AND RUN: When I turned around it was a lady coming full speed.

HARLOW: It all started when Marcus Chukuwuu and his boss stopped to fill up after work. The two were standing a gas pump when a woman driving this Buick backed into the space next to theirs, coming so close they thought she might hit them. They warned her to be careful. He's like "don't kill me." Then she was like "If I want to kill you, I'll shoot you, I won't run you over."

HARLOW: Frightened by her comment and angry demeanor, the 21-year-old says he walked away going inside the store to get change. He returned moments later when suddenly the same woman slams into them and flees the scene.

CHUKUWUU: She took off, like hit us both and kept going.

HARLOW: The two were rushed to the hospital, Chukuwuu suffered a bad back injury and his boss hit his head, but both are expected to recover. They're hoping police will find the woman in the driver seat so she can be brought to justice.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: You can't believe it until you see it. Police say that the woman is driving a silver or gray older model Buick with a broken out back driver's side window. It appears from the surveillance video that she may have had a passenger with her in the front seat and you've got to think they could probably pause it and zoom in to get the license plate. Why do that and then why flee?

PEREIRA: They may have other angles from other places nearby, businesses, too, can see the license.

BOLDUAN: Please don't be dumb enough to think there aren't surveillance cameras everywhere, especially gas stations. Hopefully your motivation would be to stop just to help the human, if you've got yourself into that situation.

PEREIRA: Upsetting to see that.

HARLOW: But they are going to be OK.

BOLDUAN: Thanks for that, hopefully she'll be caught. Thanks, Poppy.

Coming up next on NEW DAY, Hurricane Arthur getting ready to crash the 4th of July for a whole lot of people. Millions of people along the east coast are bracing for impact. We'll show you where the storm is right now, where it could be headed. You need to be prepared.

PEREIRA: A lot of people wondering what would drive an American teen to join up with a terror group currently causing chaos in Iraq and Syria. Would you believe love? We'll explore, up ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCRORY: If it's mandatory evacuation, move, get out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Breaking this morning, Arthur now a hurricane, taking aim at the Carolinas, set to hit tonight. Thousands are evacuating. Others hunkering down. How bad will it be? We're tracking it all.

PEREIRA: Breaking overnight, the vicious storm system tears through the northeast, lightning striking high-rises, flights canceled. There's more coming today. Arthur is making for a nightmare day of travel one day before the 4th of July.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: One town at the center of the immigration debate, angry residents lashing out at officials, a day after protests forced busloads of immigrants to turn back. We have the latest.

BOLDUAN: Your NEW DAY continues right now.

Good morning and welcome once again to NEW DAY. It is Thursday, July 3rd, 8:00 in the east. Chris is off today. Thanks for joining us. Breaking news this morning, Arthur is now a hurricane. Look at this powerful storm, now packing 75-mile-an-hour winds, expected to get even stronger. North Carolina's outer banks is going to be hit.

Now bracing for its arrival tonight, a mandatory evacuation order is in place for Hatteras Island, a popular 4th of July vacation spot of course. Local officials urging people to leave before conditions deteriorate through the evening.

Let's beginning with meteorologist, Indra Petersons, who is on Kill Devil Hills for us on the outer banks. Good morning again, Indra.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Kate. It's amazing how quickly things can change from this morning. We didn't see any winds at all. Now good 20-mile-per-hour winds and gusts higher, starting to feel the difference out here.