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New Day

Father Of Muslim-American Killed In Combat Interview; Interview With Trump Campaign Co-Chair Sam Clovis; Interview With Joel Benenson. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired August 01, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: A major turning point in the race for the White House.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A show of solidarity, 11 other gold star families are now questioning Donald Trump, calling his comments anti- American. High ranking members of the Republican Party now denouncing Trump. Will he apologize? CNN's Phil Mattingly joins us now with more.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. It has been five days since Khizr Khan took to the stage at the Democratic National convention. Not even a primetime speaker, yet has become the dominant discussion point, a discussion that is not only escalating between the Khan family and Donald Trump, but one that is almost playing out in real time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KHIZR KHAN, FATHER OF FALLEN MUSLIM-AMERICAN SOLDIER: You solve the problems with empathy.

MATTINGLY: This morning, Khizr Khan talking directly to Donald Trump, imploring empathy as a path to peace.

KHAN: There are bad people among us. But there are good people among us as well. You gather good people to get rid of bad people. But you do not malign the whole religion, the whole culture. We are the solution to dealing with the terrorism in the United States.

MATTINGLY: Trump, live tweeting during the interview with New Day, saying, quote, "Mr. Kahn, who does not know me, viscously attacked me from the stage of the DNC and is now all over TV doing the same. Nice." Khan directly responding to the tweet.

KHAN: I really want to maintain mine and my family's dignity. I spoke what was appropriate, and if he is watching, just imagine, there was no need to comment the way he commented. That initiated this conversation.

MATTINGLY: The Muslim mother and father of a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq now center stage in the presidential election after their scathing speech at the Democratic National Convention.

KHAN: Have you even read the United States constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy. You have sacrificed nothing and no one.

MATTINGLY: Trump, criticizing Ghazala for remaining silent.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I saw him. He was very emotional and probably looked like a nice guy to me. His wife, if you look at his wife, she was standing there, she had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. You tell me.

MATTINGLY: And this morning, she is speaking out in response.

GHAZALA KHAN, MOTHER OF MUSLIM-AMERICAN SOLDIER: My religion or my family or my culture never stopped me saying whatever I want to say. And my husband is very supportive of me in these things that I have all the rights as a wife, as a mother, as a daughter. I have done very well saying my mind out, but that time was different.

MATTINGLY: Khizr telling NEW DAY.

G. KHAN: I'm very glad that I have been in this country, and I got all the happiness and that comes from, yes, somebody have to pay the price for this freedom that we have. I feel very protected. We feel very happy, and our futures are our children are in a safe place.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: John, this back and forth has really extended throughout the Republican and Democratic Party. Hillary Clinton has attacked Donald Trump for this back and forth, but also top Republican officials have done the same, condemning the remarks across the board, but nobody pulling their support just yet. I spoke to one Senate Republican campaign official asked what the reaction is. He said just weather the storm, hope he moves on. At least at this point, John, that has not occurred.

BERMAN: All right, Phil Mattingly, thanks so much. Joining me now to discuss is Trump national campaign co-chair and policy adviser Sam Clovis. Sam, thanks so much for being with us again this morning and continuing this discussion.

SAM CLOVIS, CO-CHAIR, TRUMP NATIONAL CAMPAIGN: Good to see you, John.

BERMAN: Sam, you're military dad. Your son is in the Air Force. I just want to get your reaction to what you saw from the Khans this morning.

CLOVIS: Well, I thought it was a compelling and powerful interview. I don't take anything away from that at all. I think the Khan family and being a parent of a military member, the brother of a veteran, the son of a veteran, a veteran myself, I fully understand their pain and I understand what they've gone through.

I don't think until someone, you know, has had the opportunity, or I shouldn't say the opportunity, but had the duty of having to go talk to a family who has lost someone, and I've had to do that, I will tell you, there is nothing heavier on your heart than that. [08:05:04] And I really do understand where they're coming from and a

lot of this view.

I do want to make something pretty clear here, John. One of the issues that has bothered me, and I watched the Democrat convention. And one of the things that bothered me from the start is we would identify a person who put on the uniform of the United States with some qualifier other than American soldier. And I think this is one of the issues that raised my eyebrows a little bit when I first heard the speech, which I thought was powerful. Again, it was very compelling.

But the issue is that when people put on the uniform of the United States to defend this country, defend the constitution, we swear an oath to the constitution, not to the president, not to the Congress, not even to the people but to the constitution, that you put aside all other qualifiers.

We don't go into the military, the enemy doesn't shoot a Muslim- American. The enemy doesn't shoot an African-American. The enemy doesn't shoot an Asian-American. The enemy shoots at an American. And so there are no qualifiers once you put on the uniform. And I think this is one of the base issues that we probably need to not forget.

BERMAN: It's an interesting point.

Sam, your answer, at the beginning, though, is qualitatively different than we heard from Donald Trump. I suppose, again, I'm asking this as a military father and someone who has had to deliver this news, which I can't imagine being in that position, is there a responsibility that a commander in chief has in engaging in a dialogue with grieving parents or military family, is there a way that he or she needs to talk or needs to express empathy?

CLOVIS: Well, I think there is, but I also think that the circumstance was brought about through an action -- I will tell you, I really believe that the Khans had absolutely no idea of the consequences of the speech, when they politicized this issue. And I really, I'm sorry. We have to call it what it is. This became a political issue the moment they took the stage. And I think that that really is one of the parts that's missing here. There are consequences to those issues.

BERMAN: Even so, Sam --

CLOVIS: John, just one other point I wanted to make. The question oftentimes asked of me is how do you come, you know, I work for Mr. Trump, I've worked for him for a year now. I wouldn't be here if I didn't believe in his integrity and the loyalty that he has. I've seen him around veterans. I am a veteran. People who know me know that I do have a high level of integrity myself and I wouldn't work for the individual if I didn't think he was a worthy individual to be the president of the United States. The one thing I that I do know, and the one thing I trust about Donald Trump is I know Donald Trump would never have left me on the battlefield. BERMAN: Sam --

CLOVIS: And the choices we have to make in this election is whether or not a commander in chief will leave people on the battlefield or whether they will abandon them. And we already have evidence on the other side that we now how that action will take place.

BERMAN: Well, OK. I don't want to get into a discussion about Benghazi right now, Sam. We're talking the response --

CLOVIS: John, we're talking about the temperament of the commander in chief. You brought it up.

BERMAN: George W. Bush, when he was president, Cindy Sheehan, another gold star member, highly critical of him. I think you were critical too of Iraq policy.

CLOVIS: Absolutely. And I still am.

BERMAN: Right. But I never heard George W. Bush respond the way that Donald Trump did or with anything other than great delicacy when was responding to these very passionate, very critical people like Cindy Sheehan.

CLOVIS: Well, Cindy Sheehan camped out in Crawford, Texas. I think we all remember that issue. There have been other gold star families. I understand that their grief and pain. I really do. You know, having to confront that, I'll tell you, John, there is nothing, nothing more heavier on your heart than having to go tell someone that their loved one is not coming home.

BERMAN: You say this -- let me ask you this question. How does that jive with then saying why was the mother silent? How does that, those seem incongruous to me?

CLOVIS: I don't think so. I think that we have to remember the context. And again, I really don't believe that the Khan family really felt that what they were doing was anything other than going out and expressing their grief to the American people.

But that, when they took the stage, that became a political issue, and it became a political issue in this campaign. And it is being dealt with as a political issue. And look at the media coverage that we've had on this on both sides. Look at the discussions that we've had.

And John, you said earlier in the program, I was watching very intently, I thought something was very important. And the fact of the matter is, we are probably bringing up issues to be discussed here that haven't been talked about.

[08:10:00] One other factor that I haven't heard, and I haven't heard any -- we really need to hear more on this, is that Captain Khan was killed by people who adhere to radical Islam. And all Americans who died, 6,000 of those families of Americans that have died in this war, were killed by people adhering to radical Islam. I think we need to hear more of a dialogue about what we're going to do about fighting this very pernicious, very destructive, and very insidious threat that we have around the world.

BERMAN: It was interesting --

CLOVIS: And this is not just ISIS. This is all over the world.

BERMAN: And it was interesting to hear Captain Khan's father, Khizr Khan, talk to me about how concerned he is about the battle against terrorism and how he thinks Muslim-Americans are the key to that battle here in this country. So I know he agrees with you that it is a serious concern.

Sam, I also want to talk about some other issues because this was a remarkable weekend. It wasn't just this issue. It was also Donald Trump talking about Ukraine, Donald Trump talking about debates. I want to ask about Ukraine for a second. Is Russia in Ukraine right now, is Vladimir Putin operating in Ukraine right now, Sam?

CLOVIS: Certainly, the Donbass area, certainly the annexation of Crimea, the Russian area of Ukraine, I understand the geography and I know it extremely well. You have to remember, John, I'm an old Russia hand. So I haven't lost that touch. I follow them very carefully and I know exactly where they are and what they're doing.

BERMAN: So an unequivocal yes from Sam Clovis. When Donald Trump was asked about it, it wasn't really an unequivocal yes. Does he have the same understanding that you do?

CLOVIS: I think oftentimes and I think when a candidate, I've been there, John, as you know. I've run for office myself, and I can tell you that sometimes your mind is, you hear the question, but your mind is on something is else, and oftentimes, you don't always give the best answer until you have chance to go back and reflects on it and say I sure could have done a better job of answering that question.

I don't think that that -- know, I think the circumstances with Mr. Trump, because I've been around him a lot and I know he knows these issues. I know he knows them inside out. But I also think there are oftentimes we get distracted, and because of the fact that he is so willing to go in front of the press so often, I think sometimes that there are distractions and sometimes I think that we aren't always as artful in the answers as we could be.

BERMAN: All right, Sam Clovis, you are always artful. Thank you for being with us. I appreciate your time.

(LAUGHTER)

CLOVIS: Thanks, John. It's great to talk to you.

BERMAN: Poppy --

HARLOW: You just heard it. That is the Trump campaign's response there from Sam Clovis. What does Hillary Clinton's team have to say about the interview we just heard with Sam Clovis, also the interview John did with the parent of Khan. We'll ask them. We'll ask Clinton's chief strategist straight ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:16:24] CLOVIS: I really believe that the Khans had absolutely no idea of the consequences of the speech when they politicized this issue. And I really again, I'm sorry, that's we have to call what is. This became a political issue the moment they took the stage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right, moments ago, you heard Trump's campaign co-chair, Sam Clovis right there, explaining the Republican candidate's attacks on the parents of a fallen U.S. Muslim soldier after they questioned his understanding of the U.S. constitution.

Now, let's hear from the other side. Let's hear from the Clinton camp. Joining us now is the Chief Strategist for Hillary for America, Joel Benenson. Nice to have you on, especially on the morning with so much news so let's begin with that.

Sam Clovis there, obviously a military father himself as well, honoring the sacrifice this young man-made, but also saying this was political the moment the Humayun Khan's parents took the stage. Your reaction.

JOEL BENENSON, CHIEF STRATEGIST, HILLARY FOR AMERICA: Well, I think in fairness to the Khans', I think they wanted to speak out. I think they've heard Donald Trump throughout his campaign, he said two centerpieces to his campaign. One is building a wall across Mexico and the other is banning all Muslims from coming into this country. Their son was not born in this country. He came to this country, grew up in this country, served this country, gave his life for this country.

And I think for people of the Muslim faith, who have heard Mr. Trump's attacks on Muslims throughout the campaign, I think it is not surprising that some of them want to speak out and I think they did so eloquently and personally and from Mr. Trump or Mr. Clovis to try to turn themselves into victims and say the Khans' are politicizing this. I think that's unfair. I think what's been going on here been a kind of divisive thing that is made people quite repelled by Mr. Trump. Donald Trump.

HARLOW: So let's push back and ask why it is unfair to call it politics at all, right? They did take the stage at the DNC.

BENENSON: Yes.

HARLOW: And they did speak out very forcefully against Donald Trump. You're saying not politics at all?

BENENSON: Well, I think they're giving a response to what has been one of the central political issues that Donald Trump has made throughout his campaign and painting with a broad brush all Muslims. Now, I learned over the weekend that Mr. Khan said he is not a registered Democrat but not a registered Republican. He is an Independent. And I think he was speaking out as the Muslim father, and his wife over the weekend, speaking out as Muslim parents of the slain hero, who has been painted as every Muslim in America is by Donald Trump as someone who doesn't belong in America.

HARLOW: And I think the unfortunate thing amid all of this, is that, you know, most Americans now don't know much about Humayun Khan, who gave his life that the man who died 12 years ago. But --

BENENSON: Yeah, I think they do, actually. I think there has been a lot of coverage over the weekend since the Khans spoke about his story, about what he did --

HARLOW: But there has been much more coverage about the fight.

BENENSON: No, but Poppy in fairness, I think there's been a lot of coverage. If this was a captain and what he did when he saw a truck in front of them --

HARLOW: He went out to save others.

BENESON: He told his troops to stay back and he went towards that truck. We'll never know for sure, but he probably knew that this thing had a reasonable chance of being booby trapped, and he gave his life to protect all of his troops.

HARLOW: Going forward, the question now is how much of a role, if any, will the Khan family play in the Clinton campaign?

BENESON: No one -- I think Mr. Khan and his wife will play whatever role they choose to play. I don't think the Clinton campaign is asking them to do anything.

[08:20:03] I think they reached out to us about speaking at the convention. He wrote his own speech entirely. He had his, what he wanted to say. And he said it very powerfully and I think for Donald Trump over the week end to then attack them and claimed he is being viciously attack and playing this victim. I think this is a man who is not only tone-deaf but temperamentally and completely unfit to be commander-in-chief. When you attack parents of a gold star hero, I think you have no understanding at all about what it takes to serve in the military.

HARLOW: So what Donald Trump says what Mike Pence his running mate does and what Corey Lewandowski for campaign manager said this morning is that this young never would have loss his life if Donald Trump would have been president because he would not gotten into the Iraq War.

Now we can (inaudible) about that, yes he told Howard Stern in an interview years ago that he would have gone into Iraq and has said differently sense. But my question is when it comes being commander- in-chief what is your response to them on that saying that he will make sure if he's president that no more lives are lost in a war like this?

BENENSON: Well, let's talk about this. You said, oh, there is some evidence. No, there's clear evidence he supported the war in Iraq.

HARLOW: I said he said it on the "Howard Stern Radio show."

BENENSON: This isn't just Monday morning quarterbacking. This is Donald Trump trying to do Thursday afternoon quarterbacking. This is a man over the weekend exposed his complete lack of knowledge of the world again by not even aware that Russia had enough --

HARLOW: They're turning it into a policy issue. They're saying --

BENENSON: If you want a policy issue, we're talking about a man who wants to be commander-in-chief and over the week end was not even aware that Russia had invaded the Ukraine and next Crimea.

HARLOW: In his interview with George Stephanopoulos.

BENENSON: Totally, he is completely unaware, unprepared and unfit to be commander-in-chief.

HARLOW: And yet the polling still shows in American belief he is better than your candidate specifically in defeating ISIS.

BENENSON: I don't think -- I actually don't think they're polling all shows that. I think you're seeing a movement in polling as we sit here now. And I think we'll see it over the weeks to come. Everyday he is out there, he exposes himself as unprepared, unknowledgeable, and really, insensitive and lacking an empathy for the people who put on that uniform and serve in America.

And I think that's why Americans are recoiling from Donald Trump. He's got the -- he's got his own party running away from him in this election. Let's not forget that. You have Republican national security experts saying that he is unqualified to be commander-in-chief. That's unprecedented.

HARLOW: Before I let you go, I do want to ask about the e-mail exchange between Hillary Clinton and Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday. I want to play this clip. Part of this is testimony of Comey on July 7th and then part of it is Clinton this week and in that interview. Let's roll it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TREY GOWDY, (R-SC) CHAIR, BENGHAZI COMMITTEE: Secretary Clinton said there was nothing marked classified on her e-mails either sent or received. Was that true?

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: That's not true.

GOWDY: Secretary Clinton said I did not e-mail any classified material to anyone on my e-mail. There is no classified material. Was that true?

COMEY: No, there was classified material e-mailed.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PREISDNETIAL NOMINEE: Director Comey said that my answers were truthful and what I've said is consistent with what I've told the American people that there were decisions discussed and made to classify retroactively certain of the e-mails.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: OK, so the "Washington post" looked at this, they gave it four Pinocchio's, and they said that your candidate Clinton is cherry picking statements to preserve her narrative.

BENENSON: Well, I think, if you go back and look at the testimony, he was asked specifically by Congress on Friday, the day after he held his press conference, Mr. Comey did. Were these materials marked classified and he said no, they weren't. In fact, because the state department corrected that whatever markings were there, they weren't the proper markings for classified material, some of them were marked in arrow with what was human error, that none of those materials were actually classified.

HARLOW: So you don't believe she is cherry picking?

BENENSON: I don't believe they were mark classified when they were sent or received. And I think the state department confirmed that after his initial press conference, and he confirmed that when the Congress asked him about it the next day.

HARLOW: Joel Benenson, thank you for being with us on morning in "New Day."

BENENSON: Thank you.

HARLOW: John.

BERMAN: All right, Donald Trump and something of a political feud now with the parents of a gold star soldier mourning a loss of their son.

[08:24:16] There's been a lot going on, on "New Day." we've heard from the parents, Donald Trump has been on Twitter. And just moments ago, a remarkable statement from Senator John McCain. You'll hear that and get reaction, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

K. KHAN: You solved the problems with empathy. Putting people together. There are bad people among us. But there are good people among us as well. You gather good people to get rid of bad people. But you do not malign the whole religion, the whole culture. We are the solution to dealing with the terrorism in the United States. Join hands with good Muslims.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: Just moments ago, right here on "New Day," Khizr and Ghazala Khan speaking to us about the back and forth they've had with Donald Trump since last Thursday, when they first spoke at the Democratic National Convention.

Now, just moments ago, we got a statement on paper from Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona. It's lengthy. But I want to read it to you in full right now, because it is very interesting. John McCain says, "The Republican Party I know and love is the party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan."

"I wear a bracelet bearing the name of a fallen hero, Matthew Stanley, which his mother, Lynn, gave me in 2007, at a town hall meeting in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. His memory and the memory of our great leaders deserve better from me."

"In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldier's parents. He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States -- to say nothing of entering its service. I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump's statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates."

[08:30:01] "Make no mistake. I do not valorize our military out of some unfamiliar instinct. I grew up in a military family and had my own record of service and I stay closely engaged with our Arm Forces around my public career. In the American system, the military has value only in --