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Trump Calls For "Extreme Vetting" Of Immigrants; 100+ Top Republicans Urge RNC To Stop Funding Trump; Bahamian Sprinter Dives For The Gold In Rio; Michael Phelps On His Last Olympic Games. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired August 16, 2016 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[07:33:30] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The time is overdue to develop a new screening test for the threats we face today. I call it extreme vetting. Those who do not believe in our Constitution or who support bigotry and hatred will not be admitted for immigration into our country.
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ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: That was Donald Trump outlining his plans to deal with terrorism and extremism around the world and here at home. So, how do his plan stack up and is the current U.S. strategy working? Let's debate that.
Joining us now is retired lieutenant general Joseph Keith Kellogg. He's a foreign policy adviser with the Donald Trump campaign. We also have retired lieutenant general Mark Hertling. He's a CNN military analyst and the former commanding general Europe and Seventh Army. Gentlemen, thank you so much for being here.
Let's dive into what Donald Trump was saying yesterday. General Hertling, I want to start with you. When you heard Donald Trump talk about what he called extreme vetting, which would include an ideological test to make sure that whoever is coming in, their ideology adheres to our U.S. ideology, what was your impression?
LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, my first impression, Alisyn, and good morning, was that we do need immigration reform, but in a smart way. And this just seemed to be a lot more red meat for the base to say extreme vetting. And to use the word extreme three times with emphasis tells me that there wasn't a whole lot of meat behind that.
[07:35:00] And I'd be interested to find out exactly what extreme vetting means because I don't know. And that concerns me by a lot because it considers elements of the Constitution, which I'm sure are going to be violated by these extreme vettings.
CAMEROTA: So, General Kellogg, you're advising Donald Trump. What does extreme vetting mean? LT. GEN. JOSEPH "KEITH" KELLOGG (RET.), FOREIGN POLICY ADVISER, DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN: Well, good morning, Alisyn and good morning, Mark. How are you, sir?
HERTLING: Hi, Keith.
KELLOGG: I think, as Mark said, it needs to be developed going further. When you look at the speech yesterday there was an important verb that we used right at the start and it was the beginning of a new dialogue. And when you talk about a beginning of a new dialogue things have to be developed going forward.
When you look at where we have been in the past 10 years plus, when you look at the thousands of great young Americans killed and wounded in action -- great American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines -- when you look at trillions of dollars spent --
CAMEROTA: Yes.
KELLOGG: when you looked at failed states -- when you look at all of that going on, I think we can do better and we need to look at ways to do better. And I think what Mr. Trump was saying is we need to begin the dialogue. Begin means a start.
CAMEROTA: Yes, yes. And, General Kellogg, I just want to stick with you for one second because --
KELLOGG: Sure.
CAMEROTA: -- the U.S. is already doing much of what Donald Trump had proposed there. Let me just read to you some of the things that the U.S. does. Current U.S. naturalization law "requires adherence to the principles of the U.S. Constitution and it rejects advocates of a variety of ideological positions, as well as those with proclivities in the judgment of immigration officials to commit various crimes."
So, already there is, for lack of a better term, an ideological test to make sure that people adhere to the U.S. Constitution. What's different?
KELLOGG: Well, I think we need to develop that, and Mark is right at that, as we go forward. I think we need a very robust way of looking at people coming into the country. You know, immigration is tough. My daughter-in-law is going through the immigration process as we speak. It's a tough process --
CAMEROTA: Yes.
KELLOGG: -- but I think we need to carry it even further. When you talk about ideological tests that adds to it, as well. But again, it's a developing dialogue and I think instead of grasping at one word --
CAMEROTA: Yes.
KELLOGG: -- I think we need to look at the whole process. And we talk about the speech yesterday. You know, we're focused on this whole concept of the ideology and of the vetting.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
KELLOGG: I think it's much broader than that and I think it needs to be addressed like that. This is a very, very important issue, national security.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
KELLOGG: I happen to believe the commander in chief test, the national security test is the most important test --
CAMEROTA: Yes.
KELLOGG: -- we need to look at going forward.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
KELLOGG: I've got skin in the game, Mark's got skin the game. I've got kids in the military, Mark's got kids in the military.
CAMEROTA: Right, so --
KELLOGG: I've got friends who are in the military. So this is an important test and I don't think you should just narrow it and talk about immigration. It's a very comprehensive --
CAMEROTA: Yes.
KELLOGG: -- view of going forward and I think we need to have that dialogue.
CAMEROTA: Well, sure, and that is what we're trying to do and trying to get to specifics. General Hertling, are you hearing enough specifics.
HERTLING: I am not, Alisyn, and that's what concerns me. Some of the things that were in the speech yesterday, it was somewhat disjointed. And I'm a big fan of Keith Kellogg. We served together on the Joint staff on 9/11. We were both in the Pentagon that day.
And what's interesting is over the last several years I've been in combat, a lot of our Afghan and Iraqi interpreters, the people who fought next to our soldiers, are now trying to find a better life in the United States. They're going through that 18 to 24 month-long process. They are ones coming from the so-called Muslim nations that Mr. Trump is saying we shouldn't admit. We should stop and reevaluate how they're coming in.
These are guys that fought alongside me. They can't get in. We're constantly having conversations with our Congress and our Senate about making sure that these individuals who serve not only their country, but our country, are allowed into the United States for a better life.
You mentioned last hour, Alisyn, the Statue of Liberty. You know, on the base of that Liberty statue it says "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. I lift my light (sic) beside the golden door." I want to make sure that light is still lit for those individuals looking for a better life and I don't think Mr. Trump's extreme vetting process is going to guarantee that.
CAMEROTA: General Kellogg, your response to that?
KELLOGG: Well -- and Mark brings up a wonderful point, but I think we are a nation of laws. Immigration is important. We're a nation of immigrants. I'm a grandson of immigrants coming into this country and I made the comment earlier about my daughter-in-law is going through the immigration process as we speak. But it's important we do it correctly. It's important we do it through laws and effective following of the regulations that's out there. But I think it's --
HERTLING: I'm just not sure what we're not doing correctly now.
KELLOGG: Well, I think what -- but I think, Mark, we're focused right now -- you and I are focused and we're both national security guys -- we're focused on immigration, as we're talking about. I think it's a much broader view and I think we need to talk about that. That speech yesterday was a much, much broader look at the security situation we ever had, going forward. I happen to think my guy has got the temperament to be the commander in chief. I happen to think my guy's got it right.
[07:40:00] CAMEROTA: Yes.
KELLOGG: And if you want to continue to process of the past --
CAMEROTA: Yes.
KELLOGG: -- the past 10 years -- then you've got an option, and take that option. I happen to think my guy is a black swan candidate. He's a changed candidate.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
KELLOGG: He's not a politician, he's been a businessman, and he gives us a change opportunity.
CAMEROTA: Well --
KELLOGG: -- and I think we need to go there. And I don't think we should focus in on one small piece of the speech. It was a very comprehensive speech --
CAMEROTA: Yes.
KELLOGG: -- and it's going to be developed as we go forward, and we need to look at it that way.
CAMEROTA: Well, we are trying to focus in on the specifics just to be able to get our minds around what it is that Donald Trump is calling for. But, Gen. Kellogg, Gen. Hertling, we appreciate you coming on to begin that process and that conversation today. We will get more specifics going forward. Gentlemen, thank you both for your service --
KELLOGG: Thanks, Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: -- and for being here.
KELLOGG: Thanks, Alisyn. Thanks, Mark.
HERTLING: Thanks, Alisyn. Good to see you, Keith.
CAMEROTA: Chris --
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Very helpful to have people so senior, so wise in the ways of these policies giving you their take and we have more of that. There's actually more than 100 influential Republicans sending an open letter to the RNC urging that the party cut off funding to Trump. And we've never seen anything like this in a modern election. Where are they saying they want the money spent? The man who organized the defund Trump effort joins us next to make the case for why what he's proposing is better for his party, next.
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[07:45:25] CUOMO: More than 100 top Republicans urging the RNC to stop spending any money on Donald Trump. They all signed an open letter that argues "Only the immediate shift of all available RNC resources to vulnerable Senate and House races will prevent the GOP from drowning with a Trump-emblazoned anchor around its neck."
Let's bring in Andrew Weinstein -- he is -- Weinstein is circulating the letter. And former Republican congressman of Minnesota (sic), Tom Coleman, who signed this letter. How is this good for your party, Andrew, trying to go after the man at the top?
ANDREW WEINSTEIN, FORMER SPOKESMAN FOR SPEAKER NEWT GINGRICH: Well, we think this is actually not going after the man at the top. This is doing something that's inevitable, regardless of what we do.
It's becoming increasingly clear that Donald Trump cannot win this election so all he is serving as is an impediment to all of the competitive races at the Senate and House level. And every dollar that goes into financing what is inevitably going to be his losing big is preventing those candidates from being able to be successful and win and retain the Senate and the House for the Republican Party.
CUOMO: So, Tom, let's talk about why you signed onto this. What happened to fighting the good fight? The party picked this man, Donald Trump, to be at the head of the ticket. Why sign a letter like this?
FORMER REP. TOM COLEMAN (R), MISSOURI: Well, good morning, Chris. First of all, I'm from the Show Me State, the state of Missouri, not Minnesota. It's a fine state but I am from Missouri. Well, in answer to your question --
CUOMO: Did I say Minnesota? COLEMAN: -- it just got to the point where it's obvious that we have an unusual candidate as our nominee. And I'm concerned about the Senate, the House, the state legislatures, and the governors that are running.
And all the money in Fort Knox is not going to be able to help them out as long as Donald Trump is supported and propped up and is the voice and the brand, if you will, of the Republican Party. So I think we've got to disassociate ourselves from him as much as we can. And what we think is cutting off the money to Trump would be helpful in that case.
CUOMO: So, Andrew, the constructive argument against your move would be that your party has changed and that's why Trump came into power. People want something different out of the party. A different attitude, a different edge, a different point of priorities, and that by running away from Trump you're out of step with your own party and that may lead you to the same type of bad results that you're afraid of.
WEINSTEIN: No, I just don't think that's accurate. A majority of Republican primary voters voted against Donald Trump and his unfavorables, even in the party, are spectacularly high where you have upwards of 40 percent of Republicans saying that they would prefer to have him replaced at the head of the ticket. So I don't think that he's a candidate who actually does speak for the majority of the Republican Party. I think the Republican Party will come together after this election and figure out how to renew and restore the principles that it's always stood for.
But what we're facing now is really an imminent emergency. You're facing a party where we could easily throw tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars into a presidential race where the chance of success is dwindling to next to nothing, rather than protecting a very vulnerable Senate and making sure that our vulnerable House incumbents are protected as well. So at the end of day we see this almost as a family intervention.
And this wasn't just me organizing it, this was a fairly large group of like-minded Republican staffers who came together and said we want to send a very clear message to our party that the best way to ensure that we live to fight another day is to hold onto the Senate, hold onto the House. Make sure that our majorities are large and able to block the legislation that Hillary Clinton is likely to put forward and the nominees she's likely to put forward, and then regroup after this election and figure out how to pull our party back together again.
CUOMO: Tom, did you hear anything in his speech about the plan to defeat ISIS that changed your opinion about Trump?
COLEMAN: No, it only solidified it. I mean, when he talks about extreme vetting and talks about we're not going to allow people in who don't believe in our Constitution, or who are bigots and have hateful, it seems to me that Donald Trump, himself, wouldn't pass his own admissions tests to citizenship. His whole campaign is built upon these kinds of things.
He's a demagogue. And from that standpoint he's already shown his cavalier attitude towards the Constitution. He'd like to put the media people, like you, in the dock because if you disagree with him, why he's going to be able to sue you under his new regime. He just throws out the entire First Amendment. This is not helpful.
[07:50:00] What I have concluded, Chris, is this, and to be very honest, we have a nominee who is emotionally and mentally unfit to be president. There comes a time in everybody's life when you have to draw the line, and in this line I am taking country over party. The nominee is not somebody I want to be associated with. I think we will see destructiveness in the Republican Party. He will lead it down and we're trying to do whatever we can.
It's like, you know, every day Donald Trump pours gasoline on the GOP and lights a match with his incendiary rhetoric. Andrew and I, and the 120 people who signed this letter are simply volunteer firefighters trying to put out the fire.
CUOMO: Andrew Weinstein, former spokesman for Speaker Newt Gingrich, now circulating this letter, thank you very much for being on NEW DAY. And Congressman Tom Coleman, from Missouri, I know that well. It's my age getting the better of me, Congressman. Forgive me and thank you for being on NEW DAY.
COLEMAN: Thanks, Chris.
WEINSTEIN: Thank you so much for having us.
CUOMO: Thank you both -- Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: That is a problem for you.
CUOMO: I know.
CAMEROTA: Let's talk Olympics. The women's 400-meter race ending with a dramatic dive across the finish line. Is that legal? The Olympic controversy, coming up.
CUOMO: All day long.
CAMEROTA: We'll see about that.
CUOMO: Just win.
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[07:55:00] CAMEROTA: All right, this is the photo finish, right there in Rio, that has everyone buzzing this morning. It's a dive by Shaunae Miller at the end on the women's 400-meter race and it robbed American legend Allyson Felix of another gold medal.
Let's discuss this and so much more with CNN sports correspondent Coy Wire, and CNN sports analyst Christine Brennan. Great to see you guys this morning. Christine, when I saw this, this morning, I said is that legal? Can you go over the finish line with your hand and not your feet? And I'm not alone. People on social media have been buzzing about this --
CUOMO: Oh, well.
CAMEROTA: -- as well. Christine, is this OK, how she won?
CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Yes, it's absolutely OK and you can be assured -- everyone can rest assured that if it were not OK that Allyson Felix would be the Olympic gold medalist, so you know that that has been resolved. These things happen every now and then in track and field, especially. I think folks over the first week have seen so much swimming and there's a saneness to swimming. You don't see people falling over the water, obviously.
So track and field presents a whole new issue and it makes it so much more fun. Going back to 1992, there was a woman named Gail Devers, two-time Olympic champ in the 100 meters who fell over the last hurdle. She was actually known as "The Hurdler" and stumbled and basically crawled across the finish line. That time she finished fifth. This time of course, for Miller, it was gold.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I thought this was outstanding. We might look back and say that this was the most valiant effort of these Rio 2016 Games. I've said it before, I'll say it again, the Bahama mama with the finish line drama, Shaunae Miller, laying out, full out. She had the defending world champ clipping at her heels, breathing down the back of her neck, and she lays it on the line.
It was at an event with Michael Phelps -- the U.S. women's soccer team were there. When that happened they were all speechless. They were just waiting to find out who was going to win this thing. It was an incredible moment. Shaunae Miller, congrats to her, bringing the Bahamas their first gold medal of these Rio Games.
CUOMO: One more beat on this. Christine, why is it OK? What is the rule?
BRENNAN: The rule is as long as you've got some part of your body crossing over -- there's a photo finish and maybe folks have seen it. Every one of these races, Chris, there is a photo and it's just a question of what part of your body goes over and as long as you're over, you're fine. I mean, that's as I understand it.
WIRE: You just stay in your lane.
BRENNAN: Yes, she cannot leave the lane, obviously.
CUOMO: I think she had two arguments that makes this great. One, is that she had the presence of mind to make one of the hardest calculations in that sport, which is do I slow down a little bit to dive because you don't just dive full out, right, so there's hesitation --
CAMEROTA: Not purposely.
CUOMO: -- and that's why people don't do it -- or if it was illegal, I fell. You can see that she stubs her toe, the knee goes down, and then she reaches out to brace herself. I think she had it all day long.
WIRE: And real quick, guys, we would be remiss if we didn't mention Allyson Felix.
CUOMO: Sure.
WIRE: Even with the silver she becomes the most decorated female Olympic track and field athlete of all time, beating Jackie Joyner- Kersee, the great, with seven medals in her career.
CAMEROTA: All right, so Coy, we know that you caught up with Michael Phelps and asked him about what his sort of best moment was and what he plans for the future, so let's play a little moment of that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL PHELPS, U.S. GOLD MEDALIST IN SWIMMING: I am definitely very happy I came back for one more but now we're going back into retirement.
WIRE: What's been the most impactful memory from these games, thus far?
PHELPS: Having my son here is the best, you know. Being able to share this moment with him at my last Olympics and you know, I'm looking forward to sharing these memories when he gets old enough. In a couple of years, hopefully, I'll get the chance to take him to Tokyo and watch some events over there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: As Chris has pointed out, his baby will never remember this. However, luckily he has the video. Christine, what was your most goosebump-inducing moment?
BRENNAN: Well, I think of the games so far, probably Katie Ledecky or Phelps in the pool. But going back to Coy's interview, I think it's fascinating because Phelps has said he's done. I'm not so sure about that. I've covered him since 2000. And I certainly take him at his word, I'm not saying he's lying. I just think that in a couple of years he just may miss this again. Keep in mind that Dara Torres went all the way to 40 years old.
WIRE: Yes, five Olympics.
BRENNAN: Yes, right, for Dara Torres at the age of 40 in Beijing in 2008. So -- actually I think she was 41, as I recall. So the bottom line is there is more time for Phelps. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he starts training again.
WIRE: You heard it here first. And Chris, as you mentioned earlier, he still has the seaboard outboard motor or whatever it is to the back and that guy can still fly, so we'll see if Christine's vision comes to fruition.
CAMEROTA: That's great. Coy, Christine, thank you so much. Great to always get your wrap-ups on this. He might not be done. You heard it here first.
CUOMO: I don't buy it although Christine Brennan is so much better at this and so much smarter than I am, maybe she's right.
CAMEROTA: Let us know what you think on Twitter. We're following a lot of news this morning including Donald Trump laying out his plan to defeat ISIS, so let's get right to it.
CUOMO: What if he dives across the line?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We cannot let this evil continue. ISIS is on the loose.
