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New Day

Rock Icon David Bowie Dies at 69; Mexico Begins Proceedings to Extradite 'El Chapo'; Trump Intensifies 'Birther' Attacks Against Cruz. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired January 11, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New questions mount over a secret jungle interview with Sean Penn.

[05:58:30] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The meeting, Penn says, was brokered by Mexican actress Kate del Castillo.

RICKY GERVAIS, COMEDIAN: I'm going to do this monologue and then go into hiding. Not even Sean Penn will find me.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The race in Iowa is really tightening. Clinton 48 percent; Sanders, 45 percent.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural-born citizen.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Is he a natural-born citizen? Honestly, we don't know. Who the hell knows?

BERMAN: David Bowie, a true legend, has died of cancer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His newest album, "Blackstar," was released on Friday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He had a very quiet and private life, which is exactly how he wanted it.

(MUSIC: "LET'S DANCE")

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Monday, January 11, 6 a.m. in the East, and we are beginning with this breaking news about David Bowie. It's just going to break the hearts of music fans around the world, the musical genius gone after an 18-month battle with cancer, at the age of 69.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Bowie's death coming just days after he released his latest album and marked his 69th birthday.

Joining us now is CNN senior media correspondent and host of "Reliable Sources," Brian Stelter, with more on Bowie's incredible life.

Brian, his death surprised us. I don't know that many people knew that he'd been struggling with cancer for 18 months.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it was a big surprise, especially because he just released a new album last week, "Blackstar." It came out just a few days ago. It's already been critically acclaimed. We've heard this morning from artists, even from prime ministers, so much praise for David Bowie. If we could sum it up in just one word, sum his life up in one word, it would be "cool."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STELTER (voice-over): Legendary British singer David Bowie, who indelibly influenced generations with his eclectic persona and groundbreaking sound, dead at age 69 after an 18-month battle with cancer.

Bowie's publicist telling CNN the icon "died peacefully, surrounded by his family after a courageous 18-month battle with cancer. While many of you will share in his loss, we ask that you respect the family's privacy during their time of grief."

His son tweeting, "Very sorry and sad to say it's true. I'll be offline for a while. Love to all."

DAVID BOWIE, MUSICIAN (singing): Is there life on Mars?

STELTER: An illustrious career spanning over 40 years. Bowie was born in South London as David Jones.

BOWIE (singing): Ground control to Major Tom.

STELTER: Bursting onto the scene in 1969 with the smash hit "Space Oddity."

BOWIE (singing): ... check ignition and may God's love be with you.

STELTER: And later as his ethereal space alien alter ego, Ziggy Stardust.

BOWIE (singing): Ziggy played guitar, jamming good with Weird and Gilly and the Spiders from Mars.

STELTER: Bowie's flamboyant theatrics and a fashion-forward style becoming a signature hallmark of the genre-defying pop fixture.

BOWIE (singing): There's a starman waiting in the sky.

STELTER: His music a rally cry for misfits everywhere. In 1996, Bowie was inducted into the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame and awarded a Grammy lifetime achievement award ten years later.

His longtime wife, supermodel Iman, a steady fixture by his side, Bowie a master of reinvention, continued working, dipping in and out of the public eye, releasing his latest album, "Blackstar," just days ago on his 69th birthday, much to critical acclaim. The album topping charts in the U.K. and the U.S.

BOWIE (singing): Something happened on the day we met.

STELTER: Highlighting Bowie's unparalleled ability to continue to push the envelope, even after four decades in the industry.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STELTER: Reinvention really the key word about David Bowie's career. He was going to be celebrated at Carnegie Hall in a couple of months. Tickets were to go on sale this morning. I have a feeling that show will go on now, but with other performers celebrating his life.

MICHAEL PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Bowie did things kind of under the radar and then surprised people. Even with this latest album, nobody knew about it. Boom. Even with his illness.

STELTER: And creating different kinds of sounds, experimenting with all different forms of music throughout the decades. He went quiet for a while in the 2000s, didn't release a new album for ten years, but then came back with this new one.

And not only with music. He also acted. He starred on Broadway. He also produced other's hits. It is a -- it is a legacy that many other artists have and will continue to learn from.

CAMEROTA: Yes. In fact it was pointed out in some of these tributes that before Lady Gaga, before Madonna, David Bowie was the original shapeshifter.

STELTER: Absolutely.

CUOMO: For a long time, he was one of the big draws to Max's Kansas City, which was this legendary place, you know, in Chelsea, in Manhattan, where all the stars would hang out, and the salon effect. I used to be in the same building as his wife, and someone was asking -- one of the doorman was asking him, you know, "Hey, how do you keep doing it, man? You look like you're not aging."

And he said, "Doesn't matter what you are, just be authentic in it. Just be authentic."

PEREIRA: And he was to the very end. Brian, thank you so much for that. We'll take a further look at his life throughout the morning.

Meanwhile, another story that has been captivating us over the weekend. Mexico is starting the process of extraditing the drug lord, El Chapo, to the United States. Now the stranger-than-fiction story of actor Sean Penn and Mexican soap star Kate del Castillo secretly meeting with the fugitive before he was captured, providing all sorts of fodder at the Golden Globes last night. Awards show host Ricky Gervais took aim at Sean Penn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GERVAIS: I want to do this monologue and then go this to hiding, OK? Not even Sean Penn will find me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Meanwhile, it may be no laughing matter for Sean Penn. Mexican authorities want to talk to him. CNN's Nick Valencia is live in Mexico City with the latest on all the fallout -- Nick.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela.

The formal paperwork has been filed for extradition by the Mexican government. A senior law-enforcement official tells me that we could expect El Chapo in a U.S. courtroom as early as this summer.

Meanwhile, over the weekend, a day and a half after his capture, we're hearing from the drug kingpin for the first time in his own words. He talks about his life and his role in the world of drug trafficking.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[06:05:09] JOAQUIN "EL CHAPO" GUZMAN, DRUG KINGPIN: (SPEAKING SPANISH)

GRAPHIC: This interview is for the exclusive use of Kate del Castillo and Mister Sean Penn.

VALENCIA (voice-over): In a two-minute clip posted to RollingStone.com over the weekend, notorious drug trafficker Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman gives an exclusive interview to Mexican actress Kate del Castillo and Academy Award winner Sean Penn.

GUZMAN (through translator): It's a reality that drugs destroy. Unfortunately, as I said, where I grew up, there is no other way. There still isn't. A way to survive. Another way to work.

VALENCIA: El Chapo speaking while on the run, follow-up question through a face-to-face meeting he had with Penn in October.

GUZMAN (through translator): All I do 1 defend myself, nothing more. I do not start looking for trouble.

VALENCIA: This photo of the two taken just three months after the drug kingpin escaped out of a maximum security prison in central Mexico.

Now Mexican officials want to question the Hollywood A-lister, along with this famous Mexican actress, Kate del Castillo. She's credited with linking Penn to the heavily-guarded fugitive. Penn writing in "Rolling Stone," "I take no pride in keeping secrets that may be perceived as protecting criminals."

Guzman's desire to talk to the actors about making a biopic about his life could have been the slip-up that led to Friday's capture. Castillo forging a friendship with El Chapo after a 2012 tweet critical of the Mexican government. CNN receiving contradictory information about whether or not the Mexican government knew about the interview before it was published to "Rolling Stone's" website.

A senior Mexican law enforcement official says no. However, a separate source tells CNN they were well aware and that it aided in finally catching the world's most wanted drug lord.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: El Chapo is back in the very same prison that he escaped from, this prison behind me, the Altiplano Penitentiary. It is the most secure in all of Mexico, but El Chapo was still able to escape. Lots of eyebrows being raised here, that he's back in that same prison. The worry, of course, that he could escape again -- Chris.

CUOMO: Hopefully, they closed up that huge tunnel that his people were able to build right under that prison. Nick Valencia, thank you for the great reporting. Appreciate it.

So we have legal problems, ethical problems, P.R. problems for sure, lots of possibilities. Let's discuss what is and isn't real coming out of this situation.

We have Paul Callan, CNN legal analyst, senior trial counsel at Callan Legal; and Mr. Brian Stelter with us again. Brian, thanks for the double duty.

So let's start with the law, because that's the scariest aspect. You have del Castillo -- Castillo, the actress. You have Sean Penn, Say-an Penn, as El Chapo said, and you have the magazine. Is anybody at any point of concern here legally and why?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I don't think so. I looked at the U.S. statute, the federal law, which has do with harboring criminal fugitives. Now, remember, he's under -- El Chapo is under indictment. There's been one indictment issued in the federal court in Brooklyn. So they're trying to extradite him to the United States.

So if you harbored him or you aided and abetted in his travels, in his concealment, that's criminal under New York law.

But Sean Penn is going to say, "Hey, I didn't do any of that. All I did was be secretive about traveling to meet with him, and there's no law that says American citizens don't have the right to be secretive about their travel." So no criminality.

CUOMO: So knowing isn't enough. Helping is. And help is a broad definition. That would apply probably more to the magazine and this actress, depending on her relationship with Penn. But ethically, how do you break it down, this separation between,

well, Penn's not a journalist. He's acting in this capacity of talking to a guy. He may have his own agenda. "Rolling Stone," though, has a different set of responsibilities. What do you see?

STELTER: Yes, "The Rolling Stone" oftentimes doesn't practice traditional journalism in the sense of CNN or "New York Times" or "The Washington Post."

And the big example in this case is source approval. "Rolling Stone" allowed Sean Penn to give the article over to this drug lord ahead of time. El Chapo could read the whole thing and then suggest changes. Now, "Rolling Stone" says there were no changes requested, but that is a highly unusual situation.

CUOMO: Right.

STELTER: And I think if I were to ask to do that, if you were to ask to do that, we would be told, heck no. However, "Rolling Stone" does play by different rules.

CUOMO: Editorial approval, though, is the least of your concerns when you have someone going to interview someone who's on the run, who is the head of the Sinaloa cartel.

STELTER: Yes. But we know in this case Sean Penn did call up Jann Wenner, the publisher of "Rolling Stone," directly. He said, "I've got an opportunity to meet this drug lord. Should I go do it?" Jann Wenner provided a letter kind of confirming the meeting was legit and that Sean Penn was working on behalf of "Rolling Stone."

And then the two men took a picture, in order to prove that the meeting actually happened. So clearly, the magazine was supporting Sean Penn from the very beginning.

CUOMO: Now legally, ethically, one of the big questions floating around about this is you can't interview a guy on the run -- of course you can.

STELTER: Yes.

CUOMO: We do it all the time. Journalists are not policemen.

STELTER: Sure. Sure.

CALLAN: Well, it's very true. Bin Laden was interviewed in a situation like this, and other criminals have, as well.

And I think with respect to "Rolling Stone," you know, we think of the gold standard of ethical journalism, which is an objective journalist asking tough questions.

[06:10:08] In this case, Guzman supposedly kind of set the agenda in terms of what questions would be asked. And we also -- do we have -- who do we have as a journalist? We have Sean Penn, who's really an actor and an activist. But "Rolling Stone" has been moving this line for years. They

hired a guy named Hunter Thompson...

CUOMO: One of the best (ph).

CALLAN: ... to cover the presidential campaign in 1972. He was dropping acid while he was on the bus covering the presidential candidates, and it was a big seller for "Rolling Stone."

So you buy "Rolling Stone," you know what you're buying. And as long as there's full disclosure, I think probably the line has moved a bit.

STELTER: On one level, "Rolling Stone" has done a great service. Sean Penn has done a great service. We now have this man quoted on the record about his crimes, about his drug dealing, defending himself, providing excuses. I have a feeling that Guzman knows he's going to be in this prison for the rest of his life...

CALLAN: Well, you know, there's a second...

STELTER: ... and he wanted on the record saying something before he was...

CALLAN: There's a second irony to it, I think, also. Here you have Sean Penn, who thrives on being anti-establishment and anti- government. And maybe it was Sean Penn who actually led Mexican authorities to El Chapo. Won't that be an irony?

CUOMO: That's a provocative question. Because I'll tell you, this is a tough spot for Sean Penn. I mean, he's certainly a guy who takes on a lot of risk professionally and in his personal life in terms of these types of -- these types of whatever you want to call it, gambit, but if -- one of two things has to be true. He went and interviewed this guy and gave a platform to the head of the Sinaloa cartel and, coincidentally, the guy just got picked up.

Or -- or authorities either knew he was going to do it -- whether or not he knew that, we don't know -- and then they picked him. Either way he's in a tough spot. Because either you've got the Sinaloa cartel pissed off at you because you had something to do with his capture, in their mind...

CALLAN: Right.

CUOMO: ... or you got everybody who wants to see drug dealers put away mad at you because you were talking to a guy who should have been in jail.

STELTER: And I'll add one element to that. They were going to publish the story before El Chapo was recaptured. So this recapturing happened only a few days ago, but this story was already going to the printing press.

CUOMO: We know that? We know that? STELTER: I checked with "Rolling Stone" yesterday. It was the

only thing they would tell me, because they're not commenting on the legal or ethical questions here. The idea that it would have come out and this man would have still been on the run, can you imagine the pressure Sean Penn would have been under at that point to reveal what he knew about the man's whereabouts?

CALLAN: He may still be subpoenaed to a grand jury, by the way, and I think he probably would have to testify, ultimately. You'll see a big court battle.

But I also think, you know, Sean Penn romanticizes El Chapo in parts of this interview, and we do have to come back to the fact that he may be responsible and his cartel for the killing of 125,000 individuals, some who were tortured to death. So we're dealing with a brutal alleged criminal in this case. And I think people have to come back to remember that.

CUOMO: Brian Stelter, Paul Callan, thank you very much.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris.

Turning to politics now, just three weeks until the Iowa caucuses, and new polls show the race is getting even tighter for both parties. On the Democratic side, an NBC/"Wall Street Journal"/Marist poll shows Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in a virtual tie in Iowa as the Vermont senator holds the new lead in New Hampshire.

As for the GOP, the poll shows Senator Ted Cruz and Donald deadlocked in Iowa. The brash billionaire has a commanding lead over his rivals in New Hampshire.

All this as Trump continues to play the birther card. CNN's Athena Jones is live for us in Washington with more. Give us the latest, Athena.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

What a difference a few days make, right? Trump has gone from raising what he said were other people's questions about Cruz's citizenship to out and out declaring Cruz isn't a natural-born citizen. It's a ramp up in the battle for the top prize in Iowa. It's succeeding in raising questions in some voters' minds, and now another candidate is piling on.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: Is he a natural-born citizen? Some people -- I don't know. Honestly, we don't know.

JONES (voice-over): With the first primary just three weeks away, Donald Trump is hammering away at his clothes rival's eligibility to be president. Running neck and neck with Ted Cruz in Iowa, Trump continues to fuel doubts about whether the senator's Canadian birth disqualifies him, saying Republicans could risk losing a lawsuit and White House if he becomes their nominee. TRUMP: If he were lucky enough to win, and he's your candidate,

he's going to be sued by the Democrats.

JONES: Trump stressing his uncertainty on the campaign trail in Iowa...

TRUMP: You can't have a person running for office, even though Ted is very glib and he goes out and he says, "Oh, well, I'm a natural-born citizen." The point is you're not.

JONES: ... and on the Sunday talk shows.

TRUMP: Does "natural-born" mean born to the land, meaning born on the land? In that case he's not. I would want the Supreme Court to rule, because they haven't ruled.

JONES: While keeping his focus on meeting voters in Iowa, Cruz dismissing claims that he does not meet the standards to become president or that a judge needs to decide.

[06:15:06] CRUZ: The substance of the issue is clear and straightforward. As a legal matter, the Constitution and federal law are clear that the child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural- born citizen.

JONES: Cruz's campaign releasing his mother's birth certificate, hoping to quell speculation that she had ever been a Canadian citizen. Fellow Republican contender Rand Paul echoing Trump's concern that questions still linger.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think the Democrats will challenge it at the very least, and I think it will have to be decided by the Supreme Court.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES: So Rand Paul jumping in there now to raise similar concerns about Cruz.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Sunday that the Senate won't intervene on this, even though it passed a resolution back in 2008, declaring John McCain was a natural-born citizen. McCain was born on a military base in Panama -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right. Athena, thank you so much for that.

We turn now to a different race of a different sort, the race for the Golden Globes glory, finally won by Rocky Balboa. Sylvester Stallone marking the high point of last night's awards show by winning his first Golden Globe for playing the iconic boxer. Stallone, who won Best Supporting Actor for "Creed," took a moment to thank Rocky.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SYLVESTER STALLONE, ACTOR/DIRECTOR: And most of all, I'm going to thank my imaginary friend, Rocky Balboa, for being the best friend I ever had.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: I love it. Meantime, "The Revenant" won Best Drama honors, Leonardo Di Caprio named Best Actor, possibly setting the stage for his first Oscar win. "The Martian" winning Best Comedy Film honors while star Matt Damon won best actor in a comedy.

Brie Larson winning Best Actress in a Drama for her riveting turn in "The Room," a terrific book, by the way. Jennifer Lawrence was named Best Actress in a Comedy for "Joy."

Some surprise winners, though, on the TV side, with "Mr. Robot" named Best Drama series; and a favorite of mine, Amazon's "Mozart in the Jungle," Best Comedy Series. Interesting that the Golden Globes, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, going for a show that not a lot of people have seen but likely will now check out.

"The L.A. Times" had a great little tidbit. The hardest working person last night at the Golden Globes? The person running the beeper. It was an awfully blue show last night.

CAMEROTA: Right.

PEREIRA: Oh, yes.

CUOMO: Jonah Hill came out as the bear in "The Revenant."

PEREIRA: Yes.

CUOMO: And he...

PEREIRA: Only heard about half of what he said.

CUOMO: Yes. Bears have very foul mouths.

CAMEROTA: Who knew?

PEREIRA: Dirty, dirty.

CAMEROTA: How was Ricky Gervais?

PEREIRA: He was skewering.

CAMEROTA: He often is...

PEREIRA: He often is.

CUOMO: He went -- he went after the awards more than individuals this time.

PEREIRA: Except for Mel Gibson. Who gave back just as much as he got.

CUOMO: Which was good. But it will be great to see. You teed up a great question. Is this the year that Leonard DiCaprio gets what many people say he's deserved for a long time?

PEREIRA: Yes, a long time.

CUOMO: People say he's the best actor of his generation. Will he get his Oscar this year?

All right. So provocative question coming from politics. Why isn't Hillary Clinton pulling away from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders? New Hampshire, Iowa, both very close. The race is tightening. So is this about what Sanders is doing or what Clinton is not getting done? Answers ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:21:48] CLINTON: You know, these polls go up. They go down. I stay pretty focused, as I think we all should, on what we have to do to build on the progress of the Obama administration, but go even further.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Well, that was Hillary Clinton, making light of the latest primary polls, with just three weeks to go until voting begins in the 2016 race.

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are now neck and neck in the crucial states of Iowa and New Hampshire, despite Clinton's broad advantages coming out of the gate. So what is Clinton's campaign doing now?

Here this morning, strategic communication adviser and senior spokesperson for Hillary for America, Karen Finney.

Karen, great to have you.

KAREN FINNEY, COMMUNICATION ADVISER/SENIOR SPOKESPERSON, HILLARY FOR AMERICA: Great to be here.

CAMEROTA: How do you think this happened? How did Bernie Sanders close the gap with Hillary Clinton?

FINNEY: I think it happened because it is always what happens. And that is that we always knew this was going to be a tight race. I can remember friends of mine in the media sort of laughing at me last spring when I said, "Look, guys, at some point this is going to tighten up." Because that's just what happened. So we're not surprised, and our strategy always accounted for the possibility that this would happen.

And one of the things that I think is important about these polls is, you know, as Secretary Clinton said, they're a snapshot in time. And the most important thing is in a campaign, you can't let that distract you from doing the work, because those polls don't tell but turnout. What tells you about turnout is the infrastructure you built on the ground, the hard work of the people at the grass roots and whether or now you're going to be able to get your people out between -- on a caucus or primary day.

CAMEROTA: So that's your plan: you think you have a better ground game than Bernie Sanders?

FINNEY: I sure hope we do. I believe in our ground game.

And look, it's something that we have focused on very heavily from the beginning of this race. We always said we're not going to take anything for granted. So we have amazing volunteers who have been working very hard over the last few months. So I think they're going to do a great job, come caucus day and election -- primary day.

CAMEROTA: I mean, you say you expected this, but this is unusual. Bernie Sanders was hardly a household name before this race. He was -- he's from Vermont, a self-described Democratic socialist running against arguably the most famous woman in the world, Hillary Clinton.

FINNEY: People want to see a race. They want to see a competition of ideas. They want to see two people get up and make their case. So again, that's part of why we were not surprised that this would tighten up at some point.

You know, certainly in New Hampshire, I believe no border state person who has run for the presidency has ever lost in New Hampshire, with the exception of Howard Dean, who lost to John Kerry. So it's not surprising that Bernie Sanders has done so well in New Hampshire.

And look, in Iowa, he's been working hard. We've been working hard. And the main thing we've got to do is over these next few weeks is to keep making sure, as the secretary said, we are out there making our case about why she is the best person for our party as our nominee and also reminding people what's at stake in this election.

CAMEROTA: Well, Hillary Clinton talks a lot about the electability factor in this. She is more electable than Bernie Sanders.

But the polls suggest something different. There are these -- the latest polls show Clinton against Trump. They are neck and neck, 45-44. Look at what happens when you put Bernie Sanders against Donald Trump. It goes up to 56 percent or 37 percent for Trump. The same is true about Clinton and Cruz, 43. She loses to Ted Cruz, to Ted Cruz's 47. You put Bernie Sanders against him, he wins. So that electability argument doesn't seem to be working.

[06:25:17] FINNEY: Well, I've got to say, when you think about, it's not just about electability, but it is about who is the person who is going to get in there from day one and fight for the things that you care about and that are important to your family.

So when you talk about paid leave or equal pay, and certainly, when we talk about issues like guns, I mean, that is a place where there is a real contrast between Secretary Clinton and Bernie Sanders on this issue of gun manufacturers' liability.

We've made it very clear that Hillary Clinton is standing with the president, who also believes that we should not -- we should not have that liability protection for gun manufacturers.

Bernie Sanders, the best he's been able to do is to say, well, he'll relook at the issue. He hasn't said if he thought his vote was a mistake. He hasn't said if he would take it back. He said, "Well, I'll take a look at it."

So those are some very significant differences between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. And those are the kinds of things we're going to be out on the stump, talking about in the next few weeks.

CAMEROTA: Hillary Clinton is not just fighting Bernie Sanders, of course. She's also fighting Donald Trump. Donald Trump has begun going after Hillary Clinton for the allegations of sexual misconduct in Bill Clinton's past.

Let me play for you what Donald Trump said yesterday on "Meet the Press." Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK TODD, HOST, NBC'S "MEET THE PRESS": Is that a threat to her? Is that essentially what you're saying, is, "Hey, you want me to go down that road? You go down that road, I go down this road"? Is this sort of public pressure...

TRUMP: I don't want to say it's a threat.

TODD: What is it?

TRUMP: It's a threat.

TODD: But it is a threat.

TRUMP: Of course. I mean, I can call it a nicer name. Yes. She was saying he has tendencies toward being sexist.

TODD: Talking about who? You?

TRUMP: Talking about me. And I said, "Wait a minute. She's married to an abuser, a woman claimed rape and all sorts of things." I mean, horrible things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Karen, what is Hillary Clinton's plan to address this line of attacks?

FINNEY: You know, you heard her say it yesterday, and I have to tell you, I couldn't agree with her more. I was there in the '90s when the Republicans tried this the last time, and it did not work.

I think if you remember that Bill Clinton is one of the most popular figures in America, is one of the -- he is, I think, the most admired president.

People on the campaign trail, they do not want to talk about what happened some 20 years ago. They are talking about, "How am I going send my kids to college?" They're talking about, like, "How am I going to get out from under my college debt" in some cases. Increasing the minimum wage. Health care. I mean, those are the issues that people are talking about.

I don't think they want to talk about what happened 15, 20 years ago, because that's not what affects their lives every day.

CAMEROTA: Karen Finney, thanks so much.

FINNEY: Great to be here.

CAMEROTA: Great to have you on NEW DAY.

One quick programming note for everyone: I sit down with Hillary Clinton tomorrow in Iowa. The interview first airs Tuesday night on "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT." Then the full interview will be on our show, NEW DAY, on Wednesday.

And CNN's Gloria Borger sits down with Vice President Joe Biden to talk about the State of the Union and the 2016 race. That interview airs tonight on "AC 360" at 9 p.m. Eastern. Set your alarm clocks for all of these.

CUOMO: All right. We have an exclusive for you right now. North Korea allegedly holding an American citizen prisoner on spying charges. We have the only interview you will see with him. Who is he? What does North Korea hope to achieve by detaining him? We have a live report from North Korea next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)