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President Makes Historic Visit to Ethiopia; NATO to Meet with Turkey on ISIS Border Threat; 2016 Presidential Politics. Aired 10:30- 11a ET
Aired July 27, 2015 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:29:38] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.
President Obama returns to Washington tomorrow after a historic trip in Africa. He's in Ethiopia today where he met this morning with the nation's prime minister. They talked about improving trade, the war on terror, and civil rights in Ethiopia.
Afterwards they appeared in a joint news conference.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm proud to be first U.S. President to visit Ethiopia and tomorrow the first U.S. President to address the African Union. So my visit reflects the importance the United States places on our relationship with Ethiopia and all the nations and peoples of Africa.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski is traveling with the President. She joins us with more. Good morning, Michelle.
MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Yes, and some of this was somewhat unexpected. I mean here he is in a press conference talking about trade and countering terror but then President Obama was asked about the Iran nuclear deal.
And that opened up this opportunity for him to level a major slam against Republican rhetoric lately on that subject and others, especially those highly controversial comments from Mike Huckabee that President Obama was leading Israelis, quote, to the door of the oven. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: The particular comments of Mr. Huckabee are, I think, part of just a general pattern that we've seen that is -- would be considered ridiculous if it weren't so sad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSINSKI: President Obama called some of these comments outrageous, including Donald Trump's criticism of Republican Senator John McCain. The President said that Americans deserve better, that the presidential debate deserves better, and he called for honesty, decorum, and seriousness in this presidential race -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Michelle Kosinski, reporting live from Ethiopia this morning.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Senator Ted Cruz gets a reminder on etiquette from the United States Senate. But was this attack more about winning votes than hurting the majority leader? We'll talk about that next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:31:06] COSTELLO: More tough talk from Republican front- runner Donald Trump -- the billionaire candidate now accusing Hillary Clinton of being a criminal. On Sunday Trump compared her use of personal e-mail while she was secretary of state to General David Petraeus who resigned after allowing his mistress to access classified information.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The fact is that what she had done is criminal. I mean what she has done is criminal. I don't see how she can run because if the prosecutors who are all Democrats by the way, and that's part of the problem with fairness here, they're all Democrats so they're protecting her. But if you had an impartial prosecutor and they were honorable and maybe they are, we're going to find out, but what she's done is criminal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What exactly are you saying is criminal?
TRUMP: And frankly, what she did is far worse than what General Petraeus did and he's gone down in disgrace. I mean what he did is not as bad as what Hillary Clinton did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Trump is still leading in the polls. A new CNN/ORC poll shows the real estate mogul is maintaining an edge over the former Florida Governor Jeb Bush -- you can see the numbers there.
Senator Ted Cruz, he's also running for president, he's ripping a page from Trump's handbook by ripping his Republican colleagues on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Cruz, calling majority leader Mitch McConnell a liar over the export/import bank.
Senator Orrin Hatch was in charge of the smack down accusing Cruz of misuse of the Senate floor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R), UTAH: We are not here on some frolic or to pursue personal ambitions. We serve the people, not our own egos.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Oh, Senator Hatch, try convincing voters of that. Let's talk about that and more. With me now CNN political commentators S.E. Cupp and Sally Kohn -- welcome to you both.
S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hello.
SALLY KOHN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Nice to be here.
COSTELLO: Hello. So what was Senator Cruz trying to do, S.E.?
CUPP: Right. Well, there are very few platforms on which Donald Trump does not have access, and one is the senate floor. And so Ted Cruz I think was trying to get a share of both the attention that Trump is getting and also with a specific group of voters that Donald Trump seems to be getting some support amongst.
So ripping McConnell on the senate floor is something that I think he thinks Trump voters will probably find appealing, although I don't know. I think to this Republican it looked pretty unseemly to be doing it, but it's very hard if you're not Donald Trump to get attention running for president.
I just have to think between the Ex/Im Bank stuff and Hillary Clinton's quarterly capitalism voters must be at home just saying, "Hey guys, start talking about things we actually care about."
COSTELLO: I don't think they are sitting at home saying that exactly. The latest poll, the CNN/ORC, shows Trump holds a large lead with voters who say their views are not represented by those in Washington.
CUPP: That's what I mean. That's why Trump is --
COSTELLO: That's what -- got you.
CUPP: -- Trump is doing well because he's not talking about the Ex/Im Bank or quarterly capitalism. He's talking the way real people talk and sometimes that means you make mistakes and you exaggerate and you are fact immune. That's just how normal people are sometimes.
KOHN: Yes, but not everybody gets to be president, and I think --
CUPP: Agree.
KOHN: S.E. and I both agree Ted Cruz, that was inappropriate behavior, the way that Ted Cruz has conducted himself -- the way that Donald Trump has conducted himself.
Let's not forget Governor Huckabee who also in trying to out- Trump Trump just compared the Iran deal to the Holocaust. This is not becoming of anyone who wants to be president of the United States of America. Period, end of discussion, full stop -- you don't get to be president. COSTELLO: Yes but right now it seems that you might though. So
maybe like calling your competitors "idiots" is the gateway to the presidency at the moment, S.E.
CUPP: Yes. I mean look, I have been saying all along that I think voters are responding -- let's not forget, it's 18 percent of Republican voters, OK. You know, it's not a ton of people.
[10:40:10] But voters are responding to Trump's style. I don't think they're in love with his substance because he hasn't really given us any sort of policy yet. But it is sort of a warning to the rest of the Republican field and Bernie Sanders, by the way, gives the same warning to the rest of the Democratic field to talk like a normal person. Talk not like a politician. You know, talk like, you know, you hear people talking at the dinner table.
Now, Sally is right, you don't get to be president just because you want to. You don't get to be president just because you know a guy in China and that's your foreign policy. And I'm hopeful that voters have some more requirements than just, you know, calling someone an idiot. But it is I think a reflection of how disaffected most voters feel by politicians.
KOHN: And I agree with S.E. to a point. I think you're being a little generous with why voters are supporting Trump because it's not just that he's being candid, it's what he's saying, and he's saying certain deeply anti-immigrant, deeply racially loaded things --
COSTELLO: But that's not why -- according to our poll, his immigration stance isn't what's resonating the most with voters who support him.
CUPP: Right.
KOHN: We can't unpack all that.
COSTELLO: It's anti-establishment talk.
KOHN: Right. But, look, we know that bias in all of its forms can take subtle -- can look very, very subtle. He's speaking out against Mexico and Mexicans and I'm going to call that anti- establishment because it makes me feel more comfortable. Look, the point is it's disturbing that 18 percent of anyone supports this guy with the stuff he's been saying -- period.
CUPP: But Sally let me just point out, no conservative likes the idea of someone questioning the heroism of a POW. I think they don't care what Trump is saying --
KOHN: He's still at 18 percent. He's still at 18 percent.
CUPP: I don't think they care what he's saying. They care about -- they like how he's saying it because there's so many things that he said that I think most conservatives actually would find repellent. I really do think it's more style than substance, and that's why the debate next week is going to be so important. (CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Look, the favorability ratings among our lawmakers -- right. Nobody likes the U.S. Senate, no one likes Congress.
KOHN: Yes. But -- again, I don't just think it's on style points alone. Look, the broader thing here that I think we both agree is a disturbing trend is the sound you hear is the Trumping down of politics, right? Everybody racing to race to the bottom to try and be heard over the din. Again, if that -- you want to call it style, you want to call it substance, it's hard for me to uncouple the two when you have a sitting member of the senate calling another senator a liar.
He also said the President is the leading state sponsor of terrorism when you have a candidate for the presidency saying that the President his deal is akin to the holocaust. Do you want to call that style, do you want to call that substance? I think it's pretty hard to untangle.
CUPP: I don't know, Sally. Democrats made a cottage industry of comparing Bush to Hitler, so let's put -- enough with the vapors. Like let's stop pretending we're shocked by this.
KOHN: I don't recall presidential candidates comparing Bush to Hitler but I might be wrong. Feel free to point one out to me.
CUPP: Yes. And not to mention that had nothing to do with Israel. Huckabee is actually talking about an actual player who was a part of the Holocaust.
KOHN: You're defending the substance. Come on, S.E. Come on.
CUPP: 100 percent.
KOHN: The Iran deal to denuclearize Iran is -- so you're siding with the statement that the Iran deal to denuclearize Iran supported by the majority of the developing world and our U.N. partners is marching Jews -- marching Jews to the gas chamber -- you're siding with that statement.
CUPP: 100 percent an accurate statement if you believe --
KOHN: It's not just style. This is substance.
COSTELLO: OK. I got to end it there.
CUPP: Let me just finish -- you got to let me finish. If you believe that we just gave Iran a boat load of cash to go fund state sponsored terrorism against Israel, which they want to wipe off the map, yes, that's an accurate statement. And let's stop pretending we're offended just because it implicates the President who we'd like to protect. It's absolutely true.
KOHN: We should be able to disagree without dragging people into such insults. COSTELLO: I have to agree. That was -- come on. It's like come
on.
[10:44:45] S.E. Cupp, Sally Kohn. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. I'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Turkey has grown so alarmed by ISIS attacks along its southern border that it's asked for an urgent meeting with NATO. NATO says the consultations will begin tomorrow. The hastily-called meeting follows a string of deadly attacks that Turkey blames on ISIS and it wants help in establishing a buffer zone between Turkey and the terror group.
Let's bring in Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr to tell us more.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning -- Carol.
The U.S. will be at the table tomorrow in Brussels when all of the NATO nations sit down to talk about this. Turkey making its case that ISIS now presents a security threat to that country, which is a NATO ally.
Right now what U.S. Officials say is now that they have access to air bases in southern Turkey, closer to the Syrian border, they will start talking to the Turks about some sort of cooperation, some sort of arrangement not very specific yet about establishing some sort of ISIS-free zone along the Turkish/Syrian border.
[10:50:05] Not clear that this is going to be an official no-fly zone with U.S. military patrolling the skies all the time. And, of course, the U.S. has really pressed Turkey in recent months to crack down on its own border, to stop fighters and weapons from flowing across into Syria.
By all accounts the recent ISIS attacks have unnerved the Turks, but they are also going after Kurdish forces. These are units that the Turks believe are terrorists and separatists. The U.S. believes that some of them are very effective fighters against ISIS.
So it's becoming a complicated battlefield but the bottom line is it looks like the U.S. involvement, the U.S. military involvement is set to increase -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right.
Barbara Starr, reporting live for us this morning, thank you.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Chrysler is finding out screwing up recalls is dangerous and very, very expensive -- a record fine for the automaker.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [10:55:20] COSTELLO: Riding the roller coaster on Wall Street
today. The financial markets have been up and down and up and down thanks to China. CNN Money digital correspondent Paul LaMonica is here. It seems to be coming back -- right?
PAUL LAMONICA, CNN MONEY DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're off the lows, which is encouraging, but people have to pay attention to what's going on in China. If this is a sign that the Chinese economy is really slowing more than we thought, that's going to be a problem for companies like Apple that are doing big business in China. The company that makes Enfamil, the baby formula, they get 30 percent of their revenue from China. Companies like Starbucks, Walmart at least 10 percent. Other sales from China. So this matters. It could be a big problem if that economy is really plunging.
COSTELLO: What is China doing about its economy?
LAMONICA: China is trying with the stock market in particular to really prop things up. They have taken many measures to try and stop this big slide, but a lot of people think that maybe these markets just went up way too much, too quickly. Kind of like what happened in the U.S. back in 2007, and you might have just this inevitable crash and there's nothing that can be done.
COSTELLO: Well, I hope you're wrong about that because that would be --
LAMONICA: It would not be pretty.
COSTELLO: It would not be pretty.
Paul LaMonica -- thanks so much. I appreciate it.
LAMONICA: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Let's talk about Chrysler because it has been slapped with a record fine of $105 million. Federal safety regulators say the massive payment stems from 23 botched recalls involving some 11 million vehicles. Chrysler also has to hire an independent monitor to oversee recalls for the next few years and if they don't meet certain terms under the settlement they could face another $15 million in penalties.
In one giant leap for crowd funding, the Smithsonian's kick starter campaign to conserve Neil Armstrong's historic Apollo 11 space suit met its half million dollar goal but the mission continues. Now they're hoping to raise $700,000 to work on the space suit Alan Shepard wore during the first American space flight back in 1961.
Love him or hate him, Donald Trump makes no apologies for his opinions. And yet amid the controversy he's still topping the polls. But perhaps it's how Trump incorporates manners into his edgy comments that makes him capable of crushing interviews and his opponents. Here's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He may be a guy who portrays
himself as more manly than mannerly.
TRUMP: How stupid are our leaders?
MOOS: But Donald Trump has taken a page.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CHARACTER: Excuse me.
MOOS: Out of the etiquette books.
TRUMP: Excuse me. Excuse me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stronger background check.
TRUMP: Excuse me.
MOOS: The Donald has taken the childhood lesson.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said excuse me. You used good manners.
MOOS: And Trump has weaponized it.
TRUMP: Excuse me. I raised a lot of money.
MOOS: To verbally beat back his interviewers.
TRUMP: Excuse me, you raised it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you want to interrupt you have to say the words "excuse me".
TRUMP: Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me.
MOOS: Sometimes it's punctuated by a finger.
TRUMP: Excuse me.
MOOS: Or two hands.
TRUMP: Excuse me.
MOOS: The number of excuse me escalates.
TRUMP: Excuse me. Excuse me.
MOOS: As tempers rise.
TRUMP: Excuse me, excuse me --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are a billionaire, though, why would you not move it here just to have in America?
TRUMP: Excuse me, because I'm a businessman.
MOOS: Donald Trump hasn't just discovered the tactical use of manners. He has been excusing himself for years.
Back in 2011, Chris Matthews counted a record breaking number of excuse mes in a single interview.
TRUMP: Excuse me. Excuse me. I have very -- excuse me.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: Eighteen excuse mes.
MOOS: But there is one guy who trumps even Trump when it comes to excusing himself.
No, not Homer Simpson.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, excuse me.
MOOS: Steve Martin.
STEVE MARTIN: Excuse me.
MOOS: It's almost a badge of honor to be asked by name to excuse Donald Trump.
TRUMP: Excuse me, Matt.
Excuse me, Katy.
Excuse me, Savannah.
MOOS: The guy famous for these two words --
TRUMP: You're fired.
MOOS: Fires off these two words.
TRUMP: Excuse me.
MOOS: Way more often.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When an adult is talking. They'll stop talk --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excuse me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It works. It works. I said excuse me and you stopped talking.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN --
TRUMP: Excuse me.
MOOS: New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.
"AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts now.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: President Obama naming names, lashing out at Republican presidential candidates including Donald Trump and Mike Huckabee. Hear what the President has to say as Trump surges in the polls.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Lost at sea. Two teenage boys go missing during a trip. Their boat has been found, but the search right now is under way. Why NFL legend Joe Namath is now involved.
[11:00:08] BOLDUAN: And just a short time from now, families and friends saying goodbye to the women shot inside the Louisiana movie theater. This as --
[10:29:38] CARO>
