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The Lead with Jake Tapper

The Donald Making Huge Gains In Polls; Trump And Macy's Break Up; Celebrities Tweet Against California Bill Requiring Vaccinations; Seventh Attack In North Carolina In Past Month. Aired 4:30-5p ET

Aired July 01, 2015 - 16:30   ET

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

[16:33:09]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

It's time now for the politics lead, and the set has that new poll smell today. Fresh numbers out of our CNN/ORC survey show a dramatic reshuffling of the Republican field, the Donald making huge gains with voters, number two with a bullet behind only Jeb.

Let's bring in Athena Jones.

Athena, apparently what's bad for Donald Trump's bottom line, these feuds with Macy's and Univision and NBC, might be good for his political brand.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It seems like that's the case, at least right at this moment, Jake.

But one of Trump's big selling points, he says, is that he's rich and successful and beholden to no one, not donors, not lobbyists, so he isn't afraid to say what he thinks. He think he's right on this illegal immigration issue, and he's surging in the polls despite the controversy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONES (voice-over): More bad news on the business front for Donald Trump today. After facing pressure to dump Trump, Macy's announcing it's ending its partnership with the billionaire businessman.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And you're ready for business. The Donald J. Trump Signature Collection only at Macy's.

JONES: And taking his merchandise off the shelves, saying his disparages remarks about Mexican immigrants are inconsistent with Macy's values.

Trump says he's the one who ended the relationship, because he has -- quote -- "never been happy about the fact that the ties and shirts are made in China."

The latest fallout from those incendiary comments...

TRUMP: They're bringing in drugs, they're bringing crime. They're rapists.

JONES: ... comes as Trump's political stock is on the rise.

While a new CNN/ORC poll shows former Florida Governor Jeb Bush leading the pack among Republican voters nationwide at 19 percent, up six points since May, the real estate mogul has surged to second place at 12 percent, quadrupling his share from a month ago.

[16:35:02]

TRUMP: It's hard to believe I'm second to Bush, because Bush is not going to get us to the promised land, folks, I'll tell you. This guy, I don't want to say he's a stiff, because that's too rude.

JONES: The latest Quinnipiac shows Trump in second place in Iowa behind Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

And a CNN/WMUR survey has him at number two in New Hampshire behind Bush. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton has a solid lead at 57 percent nationally. Vice President Joe Biden, who hasn't said whether he's running, is far behind in second place, with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders a distant third.

As for the rest of the Republican field, Trump's gains might be coming at the expense of candidates like Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Walker, both down to 6 percent, and no longer in the top five.

TRUMP: I understand everybody loves what I'm doing in terms of the border, because we have to stop the illegals from coming in.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES: In fact, Trump's comments about immigrants could be a problem for the Republican Party as a whole, as it's trying to win over more Hispanic voters in 2016.

And one more thing about that Macy's deal. In a statement, Trump slammed both Macy's and NBC, saying they support illegal immigration. And on Twitter, he's calling on his supporters to boycott Macy's -- Jake.

TAPPER: Athena Jones, thank you so much.

While Trump and Macy's both try to win the breakup, and who broke up with whom remains just a little bit complicated, Trump's stance today on where his ties are made seems a slight revision from what he told me on Sunday, when he said his hands were more or less tied when it comes to stitching together his clothes overseas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: It's a lovely tie.

TRUMP: Yes.

TAPPER: It's made in China. TRUMP: Correct.

TAPPER: Is it hypocritical at all for you to talk about this...

TRUMP: No, not at all, not at all.

You know, I'm open. I say, my ties, many times, are made in China, not all of them, by the way, but a lot of them are made in China, because they have manipulated their currency to such a point that it's impossible for our companies to compete.

It's very, very hard to have anything in apparel made in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Trump now says he wants to make his clothing in the United States. Trump and Macy's had been together dating together back to 2004.

Let's chew over the last Trump spat, his poll numbers and everything else developing in the run for the White House with political commentator Paul Begala and Republican strategist Katie Packer.

Katie, Donald Trump sits in second place nationally, plus in Iowa, plus in New Hampshire. What's going on here?

KATIE PACKER, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, I think that Donald Trump is an exciting sort of circus act, and is -- not surprisingly he's getting a bump in the polls. He just announced, making a lot of inflammatory statements. And so it's not a surprise. But I think we can expect to see that level out as time goes on.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: And , Paul, I want to talk about Hillary Clinton's e-mails, the State Department releasing 3,000...

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Wow.

TAPPER: ... 3,000 e-mails from when Secretary Clinton ran the State Department, including one from you, a chain from you, in which you asked for talking points from a State Department aide for a segment on April 29, 2009, right here on CNN.

Here is the e-mail. And let's take a little snippet of the segment here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEGALA: You'll be shocked.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Shocked?

BEGALA: I have deep personal affection for them. I'm sure that biases me. Wait, I'm supposed to hold this up higher, Anderson?

COOPER: There we go. That's fine.

DONNA BRAZILE, CNN ANCHOR: I will hold it up for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: That was -- you were holding up I think an A or A-plus for Secretary Clinton. You called that a dopey little CNN segment, but before you went on, you did send an e-mail, which prompted -- you were asking for Clinton's accomplishments.

BEGALA: For a briefing.

TAPPER: For a briefing of her accomplishments.

Prompted this tweet from our curious friend Greg Pollowitz (ph), who wanted to know, "So Paul Begala couldn't name any Hillary Clinton accomplishments from her first 100 days? So he had to ask her staff."

That's an interesting observation. Fair?

BEGALA: Yes. The first 100 days of the Obama administration were consumed with the economic crisis.

TAPPER: Right.

BEGALA: Plus, it's not my beat. It seemed to me the world was doing just fine with Hillary as secretary of state, but I didn't know the specifics. I knew I was going to be asked about them. Who am I supposed to ask? The Koch brothers?

I am glad to see that I disclosed my personal bias. And you know also I have a professional bias. I advise a pro-Hillary super PAC.

TAPPER: Right.

BEGALA: So, I think, as long as our audience knows that, you don't need a congressional subpoena to know that I love Hillary Clinton and think she was a great secretary of state and she will be a great president.

TAPPER: Can you go into a little -- you don't think I'm dopey in my segments?

(CROSSTALK)

BEGALA: No.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: It's degrading, you thought.

BEGALA: Well, let me say I was dopey to put that in an e-mail. And I was feeling a little grumpy.

I was on the set I think with Gergen, these very tall people and I'm short. And so I was feeling like a dwarf. I picked the wrong dwarf. I was Grumpy or Sleepy.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Now you're going to be hit on Twitter for using that word. OK.

BEGALA: No, I -- look, I love CNN, and sometimes I say things that are dopey. But that's part of the gig, I guess.

TAPPER: Katie, I want to talk about these e-mails with you.

A couple things in the e-mails that shine through. And I have to admit I haven't read all 3,000, but I have skimmed them. One, she talked quite a bit to Sid Blumenthal, her adviser who the White House said cannot work for her at the State Department, because he had allegedly spread some stuff about Obama during the primaries.

[16:40:15]

So, it wasn't just a casual relationship. They were talking all the time. And, two, she was very attentive and so were her aides to her image and how she was being perceived. Was she up, she was down? Was this person up above her, Vice President Biden, on Iraq, this and that?

None of that seems incriminating. It's not necessarily the greatest stuff in the world, but it's not like disqualifying. Did you see anything in here that you would tell Republican candidates go after her on this?

PACKER: Well, first of all, I would like to known if Paul can actually mention any Hillary Clinton accomplishments at this point in time, now that we have been through a term? But we can come back to that. The real...

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

BEGALA: I will.

PACKER: I'm sure.

But, you know, I think it's sort of remarkable that the secretary of state, one of top-ranking officials in the Obama administration, basically just ignored the rule that the White House passed down, was that this was somebody that we have not sanctioned somebody that should be an adviser on these complicated issues, and she continued to not only receive his advice, but actively solicit his advice.

I think it's remarkable that she's taking this position that this is no big deal. I think also the fact that, you know, she would, you know, release to the State Department e-mails about apples that had been performed and carpets from China that she was interested in purchasing, and yet sort of ask us to just trust her on all of the things that she refused to disclose. I think it's remarkable that everybody is whistling past the graveyard

on this on the Democrat side. I think this is a big deal.

TAPPER: I only have a minute left, and I do want to turn to Jeb Bush's tax returns, if I can very quickly. He released 33 years of tax returns last night. The documents show the former Florida governor is worth as much as $22 million.

When you look at his returns, Katie, his wealth really shot up after his father was elected president. I'm wondering if you think there's anywhere that might be able to hurt him, cashing in the family name.

PACKER: I don't think that it shot up nearly as much as Hillary Clinton's wealth shot up after her husband was president.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: After they left office? After...

PACKER: Sure.

TAPPER: Right.

PACKER: But the same -- you know, that this was not a conflict of interest for Jeb Bush. He was not in office at the time.

You know, he's been very transparent, something that's been remarkably lacking from Hillary Clinton. And it will be interesting to see if the same pressure that was put on Mitt Romney in 2012 will be put on Hillary Clinton this time around.

TAPPER: Paul, I will give you the last word.

BEGALA: Of course, even today, the thousands and thousands of e-mails coming out.

First, good for Jeb. Good for him for releasing 33 years of taxes. Your old boss Mitt Romney, I beat him like a rented mule, and he wouldn't release his tax returns. So I have an obligation in fairness to say that Jeb has done a good thing here.

But there's a lot there, not just in the taxes, but in the business deals he had. "The Washington Post" yesterday had a piece, or maybe over the weekend, saying that he had -- this is "The Post," not me, saying he was in business with some people. One guy wound up being some international fugitive. Several others went to jail.

People are going to pan for gold in that river. And it's good that Jeb has disclosed the taxes, but there is going to be trouble I think for Jeb in these business deals.

TAPPER: Well, we got a lot of months ahead, and I'm sure we will be chewing over both Clinton and Jeb when it comes to all this stuff.

Thank you so much, Katie Packer and Paul Begala. Appreciate it. The buried lead, comedian Jim Carrey using Twitter to reject the

strict new vaccination rules and keeping the myth alive about links to autism. Just how dangerous is medical advice from Ace Ventura? We will ask a leading doctor.

Also ahead, new fears about what lurks in the water after yet another person is attacked by a shark off the coast of the United States. Will it be wiser to just, you know, stay on the beach?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. Today's Buried Lead, to vaccinate or not? The answer is to vaccinate, but that is the question California Governor Jerry Brown put to rest in his state when he signed a new vaccination law, one of this country's toughest.

Senate Bill 277 bars religious and other personal belief exemptions for school children requiring all public school children in the state of California to be inoculated against ten diseases including diphtheria and measles starting in 2016.

Now the dissent was immediate from the antiscientific, anti-medical community, one of the loudest and most virulent, of course, noted immunization, non-expert, actor, Jim Carry who wrote on Twitter, quote, "California governor says yes to poisoning more children with mercury and aluminum and mandatory vaccines, this corporate fascist must be stopped," close quote.

Well, with a lot of bad information and junk science out there, Carry has 14,685,000 Twitter followers, we thought it might be a good idea to take some of these claims to one of the top doctors in the land, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who is joining me from his office in Bethesda, Maryland.

Dr. Fauci, thank you so much for joining us. Let's get straight to some of these claims, Carey says about mercury, quote, "They say mercury in fish is dangerous forcing all our children to be injected with mercury and thimerasol is no risk. Does that make sense?

So Dr. Fauci, tell us about thimerasol, is it dangerous? Is it in vaccines?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: No, it's not. First of all, it's not dangerous, and it is in very, very few vaccines. The only one that it is in is the influenza multi-dose vial.

We have to keep sticking the needle in in order to prevent there being contamination, but the thing that gets Thimerosol, which does not caught any difficultly.

The mercury and Thimerosol is ethyl mercury, which is very different from the methyl mercury in fish, which when you get an accumulation of it when fish are contaminated can be a problem. It's an entirely different type of mercury. So that's the big misperception that's out there.

[16:50:04] TAPPER: Here is part of a petition from actress, Jenna Elfman from Darma and Greg on Facebook. She wrote, "I strongly disagree with this bill. There is no health crisis unless they care to create one. Wait for it."

Now a key factor, Dr. Fauci, in this bill was the outbreak of measles last December, which started in California and spread relatively quickly affecting 150 people.

What would your response to Elfman's assertion that there's no reason for this immunization requirements because there's no health crisis.

FAUCI: Well, the fact is that if you don't have immunizations, you will have an outbreak, and what happened in Disneyland is an absolute indication of how that can happen.

So I think people don't appreciate that by not vaccinating children, not only do you put the children themselves at risk, but you also have a societal risk because if everybody felt that way and the number of vaccinations went down, that kind of protective umbrella that you have over society will be removed.

There will be a lot of disease. If one just looks historically at measles before vaccinations were available, it was a terrible disease, 2 to 3 million cases a year in the United States, 400 to 500 deaths, thousands and thousands of hospitalizations, things like encephalitis.

Measles is a very serious disease and to just say there's no crisis means that you're going to create a crisis if you don't get vaccinated.

TAPPER: The actress and producer of the movie "Diary Of A Teenage Girl" Miranda Bailey tweeted, quote, "The Hepatitis-B vaccine makes no sense for babies and small children. I've heard this one a lot. It's largely a sexually transmitted disease. What is your response to her? Why would a baby need that vaccine?

FAUCI: Because when you become an adult obviously when you see a baby, the emotional response is why would I want to give a baby a vaccine that would protect them against something that's generally transmitted by injection drug use or by sexual contact?

Well, the fact is you can completely eliminate Hepatitis-B from society, because it's a highly, highly effective vaccine. You can't predict what's going to happen with a child when they grow up by normal innocent sexual contact.

They could wind up getting infected with Hepatitis-B, which is the type of hepatitis that often goes to chronicity and can cause liver failure. You could essentially stop that in its tracks with vaccination.

TAPPER: Dr. Fauci, thank you so much for your expertise. Appreciate it. It has happened again, another person attacked by a shark once again in North Carolina, the latest victim as beach-goers ask, what is going on along the country's east coast?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:56:56]

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. North Carolina is going to need a bigger boat. Today another terrifying shark attack there. Local emergency officials say a shark pulled the victim under water, biting him on the left side near his rib cage, his hip, his lower leg, and on both hands.

This is the seventh shark attack in North Carolina in just a month. Now, to put that in perspective aside from these seven, there have only been 52 shark attacks in North Carolina in the past 178 years.

Discovery Channel's shark week begins on Sunday, giving us a glimpse at these two beasts of the deep. This is not some sick marketing scheme. Tom Foreman is here to explain why sharks are stealing their own spotlight this summer -- Tom.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there are people out here who say they have been vigorously trying to fight these things off, and yet look what's happened, this latest attack on Ocracoke Island, but look at all the other ones up and down the shore here.

May be the work of one shark, some people speculate or similar species. Nonetheless, it sent fear ripping up this coastline.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN (voice-over): Officials say the latest shark attack victim is a 68-year-old man, who is swimming in waist-deep water some 30 feet from shore. Witnesses say the shark may have been seven feet long and bit the man repeatedly on his torso, hip, leg and both hands as he fought back. He was airlifted to a hospital as word quickly spread of the seventh attack on this state's shoreline in just weeks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Once we realized that there was a shark attack, we stayed at the pool up there like I've been taking a water bottle. I'm terrified.

FOREMAN: Last week, not far away, two people were attacked in separate incidents. A 47-year-old man and a teenager both required medical care. Just days before that, an 8 years old suffered minor injuries after a shark came cruising. A 13-year-old girl was bitten while playing just off shore.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it just went after the boogie board.

FOREMAN: And two teenagers each lost an arm during shark attacks less than two miles and two hours apart. It all has biologists speculating that drought conditions have shark hunting areas closer to shore. The authorities are stepping up their warnings. TIM HOLLOMAN, OAK ISLAND TOWN MANAGER: Chances are there could be a predator nearby. Try to avoid fishing boats and anglers offshore who can attract sharks looking for food.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN: There's also been an increase in attacks in South Carolina and in Florida, to a lesser degree. In all of this, not to diminish the human cost, is also coming at this critical time right before the 4th of July holiday, when so many of these beach communities are counting on big crowds coming there.

Obviously they're concerned about the impact. If the scare stays out there are they're still comparatively rare perhaps so many at once, all the people concerned.

TAPPER: That's the thing, even if it's rare worldwide, it is odd to have so many in such a short time in this one state, North Carolina. It's going to be a huge economic effect at the very least.

FOREMAN: And the human idea of people fighting these things off, it's terrifying for a lot of people.

TAPPER: All right, Tom Foreman, thank you so much. Make sure to follow me on Twitter @jaketapper and also @theleadcnn, check out our show page at CNN.com/thelead for videos and extras or you can follow me on Facebook. Whatever you want, I'm here.

That's it for THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper, turning you over to Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM."