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Former Red Sox Player David Ortiz Shot in Dominican Republic; Democratic Candidates Not Including Joe Biden Campaign in Iowa. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired June 10, 2019 - 08:00   ET

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm running for president to beat Donald Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nineteen of the 23 candidates making a five- minute pitch to voters in Iowa. We did not see the frontrunner, Joe Biden.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, (D-MA) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Who does this government work for? I'm in this fight to make it work for the rest of America.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The president negotiated with the Mexican delegation. We are breathing a sigh of relief.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (D-VT) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What the president has done is tout what Mexico has agreed to do many months ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They need to move faster. That's where I think the president got this right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Monday, June 10th. It's 8:00 in the east.

And breaking overnight, Red Sox great and baseball legend David Ortiz was shot in a bar in the Dominican Republic. One of CNN's affiliates on the island reports that this video you're looking at right here capturing the shooting. You see Ortiz fall to the ground as people around him scramble.

Now, David Ortiz is more than just a ballplayer. He is a touring figure in Boston who helped bring that city together after tragedy. He is beloved by fans and players alike. The encouraging news this morning, police and Big Papi's family say he is out of surgery and out of danger.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We'll have much more details on that story. BERMAN: Meanwhile, a lot happening in the 2020 race. The majority of

Democratic hopefuls making their cases to Iowa voters last night. Joe Biden was not there. He had a family commitment. And that allowed the other candidates to talk about him.

And a new CNN poll captures the state of the race in Iowa. So let's begin with CNN's Alexandra Field on our breaking news on David Ortiz.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, Alisyn, good morning. A long night but a better morning for David Ortiz, for his friends, for his family, for his fans. He is a giant of Boston, a giant of baseball, shot in the back. The shooter apparently approaching on a motorcycle. David Ortiz then collapsing. That bullet that went through his back went into his stomach. He was rushed to a hospital for surgery. His father overnight updated reporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEO ORTIZ, FATHER OF DAVID ORTIZ (through translator): The operation is over and he is stable. We're just waiting for the doctors to take him out of the surgery room. He's resting right now. Now, there are no other damages we know of. He is stable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD: The investigation continuing right now. Several people with suspected ties to that shooting taken into custody one of those people in a hospital injured after the bystanders who witnessed the shooting attacked some of those who they believed had been involved. A lot of thoughts and prayers being sent to Big Papi, the legend himself this morning, some from Pedro Martinez, his former teammate on the Boston Red Sox, who posted a picture of the two of the together, talked about his friend, a strong man, and reflected on the fact that he was relieved to know that Big Papi is out of danger.

And Alisyn and John, I only got to live in Boston for a brief while, but I can personally attest to the fact that that city's sports team has a profound way of bringing people together. I know people in Boston were up all night pulling for Big Papi. John, I know you were right there with him.

BERMAN: Yes, look, all the Red Sox nation. I saw the news cross. I was already in bed. And then I had to read more, because who would shoot David Ortiz? More than a ballplayer. Yes, he helped the Red Sox win three World Series and of course beat the Yankees, and that was huge. And I could go on that for a long time. But don't forget, after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 it was David Ortiz who played a crucial role after the city had been shut down. The Red Sox game was the first big public event back, and he spoke. And listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID ORTIZ, FORMER RED SOX PLAYER: We want to thank you Mayor Menino, Governor Patrick, the whole police department for the great job they did this past week. (APPLAUSE)

This is our -- city.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: It was that very Boston-like statement of defiance and pride that really set everything right. And he is just be loved. You saw Pedro Martinez -- you can't get your arms around David Ortiz because he's such a giant, physically a giant there. And everyone just loves him. I brought my David Ortiz action figure which I have in my office all the time.

CAMEROTA: Do you cherish it?

BERMAN: I do. I won't take it out of the case because I don't want it to lose its value here. But I know there are so many people pulling for him, and a lot of people just shaking their heads, like how could this happen.

CAMEROTA: That video was very scary to see the moment it happened, because it's hard for me to actually see David Ortiz. But I see the people scattering around him, how terrified everybody was all around him as soon as they heard the gunshot. And you can see him falling to the ground. In other words, just brazen, a brazen attempt on his life. And it feels targeted. So we do need to know --

BERMAN: It does feel targeted. Someone seemed to go in there just to shoot him. Why?

[08:05:00] All right, we have big news in the Democratic race for president -- 19 of the candidates, they were all in Iowa for the biggest, really, joint event yet. And this comes as this brand new CNN "Des Moines Register" poll shows the race tightening in many ways.

We want to bring in Josh Green, national correspondent for "Bloomberg Business Week" and a CNN political analyst, Rachel Stassen-Berger, politics editor for "The Des Moines Register," and Jonathan Martin, national political correspondent for "The New York Times" and a CNN political analyst. Guys, let me just put up the poll so people get a sense of where this race is and was the backdrop in many ways for this event in Iowa over the weekend. The poll shows Joe Biden out in front with 24 percent, Bernie Sanders eight points back at 16. But look how close it is in second. Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Pete Buttigieg all basically neck and neck. And those are big gains for Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg there.

Rachel, let me just start with you, because "The Des Moines Register" was our partner in this poll. What's the status right now insofar as you can tell, looking at the numbers, looking at that event yesterday, of where the race stands in Iowa?

RACHEL STASSEN-BERGER, POLITICS EDITOR, "THE DES MOINES REGISTER": We're seeing in the poll, and some of what we saw yesterday at the 19- candidate event is really the race is defining itself into tiers. There's your top tier, and then there's a whole lot of people, and we saw some of them speak yesterday, who just are not making an impact on the race in Iowa yet. There were a significant number of the 23 candidates we polled who had zero percent or didn't get any responses at all. And we saw some of those folks on stage yesterday, and you saw the crowd not quite reacting. Their speeches weren't quite as punchy. And so we'll have to see if they can do anything to move them up into this massive field and join those first tier people.

CAMEROTA: Obviously, the debates coming up could obviously move the field around, but I think that's really interesting, Rachel, to hear how the crowd was reacting. If we can put up the big poll that shows that some people are at zero. Obviously, look at this, Josh, a huge field as we know. But it's interesting to see how the majority are at two percent or less, Josh.

JOSHUA GREEN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think that's partly a function of the fact that you have such a large field. Support is split among 23 different candidates. And I think the other reason is a lot of these candidates probably don't have any realistic expectation of winning the democratic nomination. They're in the race for other reasons and either don't have the name recognition or the resources to compete in a way that would get them to register in the polls. I think what you really have are seven or eight candidates at the top who are serious, maybe a small group of others who have the potential to move up, some of the senators, and then a group of also-rans who are in it for other reasons.

BERMAN: I've got to say, we keep saying it's a 23-candidate field. When you look at a poll like this, the voters don't look at it this way. They're looking at it, as Rachel was saying, in two defined tiers there. And you see from Harris on up, that seems to be where the voters say the energy is. And I want to play some sound, Jonathan, from the top three trailers of Joe Biden that gives you a sense of how they are now trying to define the race. This is from yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG, (D-IN) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're not going to win by playing it safe or promising a return to normal. We are where we are because normal broke.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN, (D-MA) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There are people who are ready for big structural change in this country.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (D-VT) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I understand that there are some well-intentioned Democrats and candidates who believe that the best way forward is a middle ground strategy that antagonizes no one, that stands up to nobody, and that changes nothing. In my view, that approach is not just bad public policy, but it is a failed political strategy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Failed political strategy, Jonathan. They are taking on Joe Biden on the issue of electability, which is fascinating.

JONATHAN MARTIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think it's safe to say that those barbs were aimed at Joe Biden, John. You're very observant there, to point that out. A shrewd analysis. There's no question that all of them are targeting Joe Biden. They don't want to say his name explicitly right now because it's too early in the game and they don't want the mud to splash back on them.

But if you look at the cross-tabs of this Iowa poll and you look at the so-called self-described liberal voter in Iowa, you see Buttigieg, Sanders, Warren and Biden all bunched up. And they're all trying to cut that same piece of the pie. If you look at moderate to conservative Democrats, Biden leads with a pretty healthy margin. So I think what you're seeing there play in those sound bites, John, is an effort to break out with the kind of liberal base of the party, which historically is a pretty good chunk of the Iowa caucus electorate.

[08:10:02] The challenge is that there's so many candidates in the race sliced in that same part of the pie, it can get sliced pretty thinly. And I think that's the challenge forward Warren and Sanders is they're both in the race, and they're targeting very similar voters, talking about big structural change, no half-measures, no middle ground. And that could lead somebody else to try to take more of the moderate side of the party if at some point Biden does come down, and his numbers have fallen already.

CAMEROTA: Rachel, it's interesting also to look at the issues that Democratic voters say are most important to them. So the right to abortion, preserving women's rights to abortion was number one at 79 percent. Climate change is a great threat. They want their candidates to be able to feel and channel that, 75 percent. Restore the assault-style weapons ban, 57 percent. Being on the ground there, Rachel, what do you think Iowans want?

STASSEN-BERGER: I think that's right. I think the poll is a good reflection of what Iowans want. And what you'll see in the list are some of the things that have been making a lot of news, that we've written about, that you've aired about, like the Green New Deal are not necessarily the thing that Iowans are saying this is what we are desperate for. Yes, they're saying climate change is a threat, yes, we want our candidates to acknowledge that. But they're not necessarily wedded to something like the Green New Deal.

I thought the abortion numbers were really interesting. And that's something that not only comes from the federal government, but obviously there has been a lot of action in states including Iowa to restrict abortions. We've seen that in some southern states recently. And that's very much on voters' minds. And we saw within the last week Joe Biden changing his position on the Hyde Amendment, which I think gives some people some pause. And so there were in these polls, as Jonathan just talked about, looking in those cross-tabs, digging in a little deeper, a little bit of weakness for Biden. And we'll have to see how that plays out.

BERMAN: Josh, we're just about out of time here, but I want to get your take on tariffs, mostly because I think you agree with me in an argument I've had with Alisyn all morning --

CAMEROTA: I see how you're playing this.

BERMAN: -- about whether or not the president got much out of this so-called deal with Mexico on Friday. You've been doing a lot of reporting on this. What's your take?

GREEN: When you look behind the tweets, it doesn't seem there's much there. Trump tweeted that Mexico had agreed to buy billions in new agricultural dollars. Bloomberg talked to Mexican officials. They didn't have any idea what Trump was talking about. So unless the White House comes forward with some concrete proof of some elements of the deal that we're not aware of, it seems like he just tweeted that he won the showdown, and now we're going to move on to something else without any real accomplishments.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: Josh, Jonathan, Rachel, thank you very much.

CAMEROTA: I see you stockpiling evidence on your side. It is quite compelling, I must say.

BERMAN: If you agree, you get an extra question. That's how the rules work.

Democrats will hold a series of hearings related to the findings of the Mueller report. Coming up on NEW DAY, we're going to speak with a lawmaker who is involved in these proceedings. And today's key witness, former Watergate figure John Dean, he joins us ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: House Democrats are hoping to put the Mueller report back in the spotlight this week beginning today with testimony from a key Watergate witness in just hours.

Former Nixon White House Counsel John Dean will testify before the Judiciary Committee and on Wednesday, the Intelligence Committee will hold a hearing on counterintelligence, the counterintelligence implications of the Mueller report.

Joining me now is a member of the House Intel Committee, Democratic Congressman, Jim Himes from Connecticut. Congressman, thank you very much for being with us.

John Dean is a terrific legal I'll analyst for us here on CNN and provides a lot of insight about Watergate. I know you're not on the Judiciary Committee today though. What kind of insight can he provide for the Mueller report? Why bring a figure from 40 years ago to testify about something that's going on right now?

REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): Yes, it's a good question John and I guess I would say two things. Number one, John Dean is one of the few people around and still sort of actively politically who remembers what it was like back in the early 1970s when the Nixon administration went through something like this and I think that's really valuable, John, because there's a lot of misunderstanding out there about exactly what impeachment is.

So if nothing else, you know, having John Dean talk about the fact that --- you know, what an impeachment looks like and then of course talk about what happens next. There's a lot of Americans for example who think that if the House impeaches, that's it for the President. Of course that's not true.

The Senate would need to convict. The Senate has never convicted in American history any President after impeachment, neither Bill Clinton nor Andrew Johnson back a hundred plus years ago, so I think just talking about what this means; and then secondarily I would say John, you know what's really ugly -- well, I should say in the Mueller report, the Russia stuff is really ugly.

The extent to which the Trump administration welcomed the help and were passed the notion that there was a crime committed, Mueller said there wasn't, but Volume 2 which talks about the President's efforts to get rid of the investigation, to get rid of Jim Comey basically to stop that investigation, the President's lies. It will be very interesting to hear John Dean compare that behavior to the behavior that Richard Nixon engaged in that actually got impeachment proceedings going in the House back in the early 70s.

BERMAN: And I guess I get the historical impact and context of this and sort of the color it provides, but Jeffrey Toobinwho is on our show a lot says maybe it's time for some of these House investigations to investigate and by that, he means bring people before the committees that can add insight to what is inside the Mueller report. And John Dean isn't in the Mueller report.

And these two former FBI officials who you will hear from on Wednesday, not on the Mueller report either and your Committee is talking about the counterintelligence implications. What does that mean?

[08:20:06] HIMES: Well, a lot of what was redacted in the Mueller report, John had to do with intelligence matters and it's redacted because it makes references to sources, to methods for gathering information and that is part of this story that has not yet fully been told.

What do we know about what the Russians exactly did to prepare the many, many approaches to the Trump campaign? Who was involved? What methods did they use? Did they use companies other than Twitter and Facebook?

A lot of that information is not yet public. A lot of the redactions in the Mueller report of course pertain to that, but it's really important that at a minimum, Congress knows the full extent of the Russian attack and ultimately, the American people do.

I mean one of the really good things that comes out of this report is that it has sensitized the American people to how they were manipulated in the 2016 election and one of the best ways to make sure it doesn't happen again is to make sure that Americans are on their guard when they're on social media or when they're looking at a protest that comes out of nowhere. That may not be an authentic thing.

BERMAN: So the President says he reached a deal with Mexico Friday night for how the Mexicans beef up their immigration security particularly on their southern border which would include 6,000 Mexican National Guard troops patrolling their southern border with Guatemala.

If in fact the Mexicans do increase security and crackdown on illegal immigration more, does that mean that the President's tariff threat was worth it?

HIMES: Well, I think that's a pretty easy question to answer. You know, you have to imagine -- remember, Mexico and Canada are our biggest trading partners. The President has been brutalizing them since he got into office. Does it make sense to treat your allies, your biggest trading partners, the people for whom the economy and its growth is critical, does it make sense to conduct foreign policy by saying, you know I'm going to hold a gun to your head. I'm going to threaten you with tariffs.

Over time that will begin to wear very thin with all of our allies and I don't just mean Canada and Mexico, I mean Europe. I mean our allies all over the world. So, no, I don't think that's a good way to conduct foreign policy.

And look time will tell, John, you know it appears that a lot of what the Mexicans agreed to they had agreed to beforehand, well before this deal was struck and the other thing is I heard that the former Mexican Foreign Minister on the media yesterday saying, "Hey, you know in Mexico, it's always about say yes to everything, just don't say when."

So look the numbers will tell the tale. We're not yet at a point where we can say that whatever this deal involved that that necessarily slowed the approach of people to our southern border. It's going to take a while to see whether that is in fact the case.

BERMAN: If I can ask you one question on democratic politics, you haven't endorsed yet in the Democratic race for President, have you?

HIMES: No. I have not.

BERMAN: Ana Navarro who is a Republican, but is considering Joe Biden told us earlier in the show that she has Jeb Bush acid reflux which is to say, she's not sure that the current Democratic frontrunner, Joe Biden is working hard enough. She wants to see him out there on the trail more taking it perhaps more seriously. Do you see any element of that? Do you think Joe Biden is out there as much as he needs to be?

HIMES: I do. I do. You know, I understand he is getting a little bit of press because he didn't show up at this Iowa thing over the weekend. For God's sakes, the guy was at his granddaughter's graduation, you know and no, look I'm deliberately trying not to watch moment by moment second by second the Presidential primary race 18 months out. I've got other stuff to do.

But look, it would appear that we've got -- if anything, too many people in the primary race working very, very hard. So no, I don't think there's anything to this notion that Joe Biden is not working hard enough. He is out there an awful lot.

And look a lot of people know Joe Biden in contrast to some of the candidates. He probably has less of a need to get known out there than a lot of the other candidates, but nonetheless, he is out there working just as hard as the rest of them.

BERMAN: All right, Congressman Jim Himes from Connecticut who will be watching the race very closely along with all of us for the next 18 months. Thanks so much for being with us this morning.

HIMES: Thank you, John.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Okay, John, former White House counsel John Dean was a key witness in the Watergate hearings and today, 45 years later, he will testify again about the Mueller report this time.

Dean's testimony has caught the attention of President Trump and he joins us next to talk about what he plans to say.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN DEAN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: The Watergate matter was an inevitable outgrowth of a climate of excessive concern over the political impact of demonstrators, excessive concern over leaks, an insatiable appetite for political intelligence, all coupled with a do- it-yourself White House staff regardless of the law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: That was former Nixon White House counsel, John Dean in his 19 -- I think 74 testimony, 73 or 74? I am going to ask him.

He played a pivotal role in the Watergate hearings and President Richard Nixon's resignation. In just hours, John Dean will be back on Capitol Hill to testify before the House Judiciary Committee about the Mueller report this time and CNN contributor, John Dean joins us now.

John it's great to see you. What's it like for you to watch that old videotape.

DEAN: Well, it's odd. I was actually trying to summarize my testimony at that point and they stopped me very shortly after that and said, "No, Mr. Dean, you must read that testimony," which was 60,000 words, it would take eight hours. Had I known that in advance, I assure you, it wouldn't have been 60,000 words, it would be closer to six.

CAMEROTA: So I think that that date that you were there that we just saw the video was July 11, 1974. DEAN: No, it wasn't. June 25, 1973.

CAMEROTA: Oh that's interesting because you appear before the before the Judiciary Committee on the date that I'm saying, right?

DEAN: That's right. That's when I appeared before the Judiciary Committee in the House.

CAMEROTA: And today, you'll be back there. All these years later.

DEAN: I'll be back with the House.

CAMEROTA: So tell us, I mean, we have your prepared --

[08:30:09]