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Buttigieg Raises $24.8 Million; Don Junior Deletes Tweet; Brooklyn Forming New Super Team; Democratic Candidates in the Polls; Japan Resumes Whale Hunting. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired July 01, 2019 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[06:31:25] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, breaking just moments ago, an announcer from the campaign of South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, huge fundraising numbers. $25 million in the second quarter.
Joining us now, Bakari Sellers, CNN commentator. He has endorsed Senator Kamala Harris, we should note. Sarah Isgur, CNN political analyst. And Jess McIntosh, CNN political commentator, former director of communications outreach for the Hillary Clinton campaign.
Jess, look, $25 million is a ton of money, period.
JESS MCINTOSH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Huge. Yes.
BERMAN: And then also just $25 million for a guy that no one really had heard of six months ago, even more extraordinary.
MCINTOSH: Well, I mean, I think -- so he had a wonderful debate performance. I was expecting him to bring in a large haul. This is a very large haul. I think it reminds us that most Americans had not tuned in before this debate. Probably still most Americans haven't tuned in. But those who did watch the debate, we saw that Pete Buttigieg, I think, was the second most Googled candidate after Kamala in that -- in that second round. They were just learning who this man was. And he comported himself amazingly. He had that beautiful moment where he called out Republicans very thoughtfully for hypocrisy on Christianity, which I think was something given the deaths that we've seen at the border and the conditions of the detention centers, that people were really looking for that argument to be made. He -- I think the people who tuned in saw somebody that they didn't know, that they would like to get to know more and they -- they said so with their money.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And, Bakari, what does that mean for the other candidates, including, of course, Kamala Harris?
BAKARI SELLERS, CNN COMMENTATOR: Well, I think what he's doing is he solidified himself through this -- going to Mayor Buttigieg, he solidified himself amongst the top tier. That's what these numbers are about. This is a crucial seven-day period for every Democratic candidate. You're coming off the debate, whether or not you won the first night or the second night and then you have to post these numbers. And so you're going to see Pete Buttigieg, you're going to see Senator Harris, you're going to see Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden. That is going to be a very solid top tier.
The questions remain about the money that will be put up by people like Cory Booker or Elizabeth Warren, as well as Julian Castro. I mean that is going to be the question.
Beto O'Rourke once was a part of this conversation. I don't think his -- his debate performance was -- was awesome by any measure and I also don't think he's going to put up a big number in terms of fundraising. And people have to remember that you have to reach that $130,000 donor goal and a polling metric in order to get to the stage for the third debate. And there are a lot of very well-known figures who are falling short of that today.
BERMAN: A couple metrics. Senator Kamala Harris, we were told, raised $2 million just after --
CAMEROTA: In the 24 hours after --
BERMAN: Yes, after the debate. Just after the debate. So she -- her fundraising numbers will probably be - be pretty big as well.
And Pete Buttigieg, Sarah, we understand, has $22 million cash on hand. He's got a lot of money to spend. And, in a way, Sarah, this is just sort of saying -- go ahead, Bakari, you're laughing?
SELLERS: No, I was laughing because I was just going to say that -- that I love Senator Harris, but her number ain't going to be $25 million.
BERMAN: Yes.
SELLERS: I mean Pete Buttigieg put up an awesome number.
BERMAN: Yes.
SELLERS: And it needs to be -- and we need to recognize that.
BERMAN: Yes.
SELLERS: I think the only person who's going to out raise him will probably be Joe Biden. And we all know Bernie Sanders, in the Our Revolution Movement, they just print money over there anyway.
BERMAN: Right. And, Sarah, what I was suggesting is, this is a sign -- he -- he's here to stay. He is here to stay and a force to be reckoned with. He did spend some time raising money. This didn't just happen magically. I mean he put his shoulder into this.
But, again, this is a message, I think, to the other candidates.
SARAH ISGUR, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Absolutely. First of all, you're exactly right, he now is done meeting debate metrics pretty much at this point. He will now be guaranteed a place on the debate stage from this point forward is my guess.
[06:35:01] But what I found stunning is, when you're a senator, a governor, you have a fundraising apparatus that you have built over time, donor lists that you've built over time. You're the mayor of South Bend. You don't have any of that going into this race. It takes money to raise money. It takes an apparatus. It takes time, often. They did it with none of that.
So, if that's a sign of things to come and the sort of smart choices that they're making along the way, I think that's a message to other candidates that -- that they're doing this really fast and really well.
Now, on the flip side, what we saw -- you know, if this were 2008, 2012, the fundraising primary is a thing and it's real. What we saw in 2016 is that it wasn't, that there are other ways to get your message out. So it is important to raise money, but it's also important how you spend that money, whether you spend it smartly and whether someone else can do what you're doing without money.
CAMEROTA: All right, let's move onto what Don Junior had to say about Kamala Harris. This must suggest that the Trump -- yes, the Trump campaign is concerned about Kamala Harris because otherwise why would Don Junior repost this racist tweet. Kamala Harris is not an American black, he claims, she's half Indian and half Jamaican. I'm so sick of people robbing American blacks of our history. It's disgusting. Now using it for debate time at the Dem debate. These are my people, not her people. This is what Ali Alexander first posted. Freaking disgusting.
Don Junior then posted it then deleted it I guess when somebody -- I can't imagine who taps Don Junior on the shoulder and says, like, what are you doing, dude?
MCINTOSH: No --
CAMEROTA: But somebody must have.
MCINTOSH: The idea that he somehow realized he had done something racist and felt shame --
CAMEROTA: Yes.
MCINTOSH: Is pretty out of the question. His family, his father started -- he was the chief birther, the chief person who tried to smear President Obama with a racist lie. And they're obviously continuing that through Kamala Harris.
Aside from -- from Don Junior retweeting it, which I -- is disgusting and appalling and should be must bigger news, but we are living with the Trumps, ergo it seems like a normal thing to hear on a Monday. I wanted to address the actual tweet itself because there is this digital black face that gets performed, it happened in 2016, where a bunch of accounts start up, they purport to be black Americans and then they engage in racist content. We saw that exact message pop up on multiple accounts right after the debate. So this is not a real human being who said this. This is not a real black American who was upset about whatever Kamala did at the debate. This was a coordinated attack. We don't know by who. So I -- I think it's very important, given how blindsided we were in 2016 by this kind of stuff, that we are very on top of it now.
CAMEROTA: Really helpful, Jess. Really helpful context. Thank you for opening everyone's eyes to that.
BERMAN: All right, we've been talking about big fund raising numbers in the Democratic primary.
CAMEROTA: Pete Buttigieg's boost.
BERMAN: Pete Buttigieg has nothing -- nothing compared to some of the money being thrown around in the NBC right now. Two of the league's biggest stars not going to the New York Knicks. All right, the "Bleacher Report," next.
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[06:42:04] BERMAN: Let me Kemba Walker era begin. The NBA saw a seismic shift in power as free agency got underway Sunday night.
Coy Wire has more in the "Bleacher Report."
Coy, you know, they're going everywhere.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: They are. You know, your Celtics certainly got an upgrade there. Looking -- looking good with that one. But this brand new super team forming in the NBA right there in Brooklyn, the Nets landing arguably the biggest prize in the free agent market, Kevin Durant from the Warriors. That's a reported four year, $164 million deal. The 30-year-old's a ten-time all-star, four- time scoring champ and league MVP. He's played 12 seasons in the league. He'll likely miss all of next season, though, healing that ruptured Achilles he suffered in the NBA finals. Brooklyn fans will still get excited for this upcoming season, though. The team also reportedly landing all-star Kyrie Irving from the Celtics. Both he and Durant reportedly taking less money so that they can also bring in former all-star DeAndre Jordan. The Nets, last in the league in the NBA's attendance last season, but there's a new big three in Brooklyn.
Let's go to MLB's first-ever series on European soil. It ends with a bang. The Yankees and Berman's Red Sox combining combing for 50 runs in their two-game series in London. The Yankees were losing in the seventh yesterday until Gary Sanchez's go ahead two-run single started an avalanche. New York scoring nine runs in the seventh. Didi Gregorius then gong yard (ph) in the eigth, extending the Yankees MLB record home run streak to 31 straight games. The Yankees overcome a four run deficit to beat the Red Sox 12-8.
John, your Red Sox scored 21 runs over those two games, lost both of them, but they did present baby Archie a red onesie and a baseball bat. So even Alisyn will tell you that is a win.
CAMEROTA: That is right. BERMAN: Well, that's because Mookie Betts, you know, the Red Sox best player, is apparently a distant relative of Meghan Markle.
CAMEROTA: Is that right?
BERMAN: Yes. So the Red Sox are, in fact royalty, which we've all known.
CAMEROTA: You must be so happy. You must be so happy.
BERMAN: Yes.
Coy, thank you.
WIRE: You're welcome.
CAMEROTA: All right, what can of good debate performance change for a campaign? Our Harry Enten says a lot. He's here next.
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[06:48:04] CAMEROTA: South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg just announced his campaign raised nearly $25 million in the second quarter. That is more than triple his haul last quarter.
There's something about Harry. So let's get our forecast with CNN's senior politics writer and analyst Harry Enten.
It's a Monday morning.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICS WRITER AND ANALYST: It's a Monday morning. Hyper, hyper, hyper, coffee, coffee, coffee, except I don't drink coffee.
So, look, yes, there it is. Look at this, second quarter raise. You knew that they were going to list a big number based upon the preliminary reports that were leaking out through the press. $24.8 million in the second quarter for Mayor Buttigieg. That is up from $7.1 million in the first quarter. That is a big raise, though, as John and I were talking about beforehand. It's not like it's a historic fundraising raise, but, of course --
CAMEROTA: Why, because Hillary Clinton raised more, you're saying, in the second quarter?
ENTEN: He raised -- right. Right. Exactly right. But, of course, he's the mayor of South Bend, Indiana. So, I mean, this is a pretty impressive fundraising haul.
One thing I'd just point out, though, with this is, you know, look, he's raised a lot of money, but in the polls, look, he's up from zero percent when he entered in January, but he's only at 5 percent now just before the debate. So, you know, look, money is money and money helps you build a campaign, but it hasn't necessarily transferred so far.
CAMEROTA: Well, maybe the debate changed that number.
ENTEN: It could. And we have a before debate number here and we'll have a number of post-debate polls that are coming out. But based upon the preliminary signs that I have seen, I'm not sure he's going to go up too much.
BERMAN: Right, but the number means he's around a long time.
ENTEN: He --
BERMAN: The fundraising number means he's here to stay.
Let's talk about the debates because, obviously, coming out of those two nights people have been looking at Senator Kamala Harris. Will she get a bump out of her performance?
ENTEN: Yes, I mean, look at this. And so talk about fundraising as we just were. Look, in the first 24 hours of her campaign, she raised $1.5 million. In the 24 hours after the debate, she reported raising $2 million. This was her best fundraising day of the campaign. So, clearly, there's a lot of enthusiasm going on.
And I think one of the questions is, is how is this going to translate to the polling data, right, because when she entered he was in third place at 11 percent. By June, just before the debate, she was only at around 8 percent, and fourth place in the polls. So she's kind of been stagnant.
[06:50:05] But there are preliminary signs. We mentioned the fundraising. She's got in two endorsements -- two more endorsements from Congressional Black Caucus members just in the last 24 hours. So we think that this number, after the debate, I would not be surprised if she got back up to the 11 percent or even higher. Remember last week we were talking about debate bumps. And you could see a bump, 5 percent, 6 percent. It would not be shocking to me if, in fact, she gets into the double digits. In fact, I'm sort of expecting it.
One other person, you know, we're talking about in terms of debates and whether or not people are going to (INAUDIBLE), I think there's a real question, what's going to happen with Joe Biden's polling, right? I think we can all agree that his debate performance was really meh to poor. It was not particularly strong. But he has been rather strong in the polls so far and rather --
CAMEROTA: Rather? That's huge compared to everybody else.
ENTEN: That is true. It is -- he's been very strong in the polls so far.
CAMEROTA: OK. (INAUDIBLE).
ENTEN: And -- but more than that, he's been -- he's been steady. And I think the one question is, with black voters, African-American voters, will he be able to hold what has been a huge lead? So this is combining our April and May CNN polls. And he was at 49 percent, 49 percent, and that was well ahead of the field. And I think there's a real question, can Kamala Harris jump up from that 6 percent, eat into that Joe Biden base with African-Americans. I think that's part of what we saw with the busing situation going on, and also those congressional black member -- caucus members endorsing her. She's hoping to get up right into that base.
BERMAN: All right, Harry Enten, tomorrow the U.S. soccer team in the World Cup semifinals. You've got some stats for us.
ENTEN: You know what? I've been doing this all along as I keep going through as I've been comparing the women versus the men. This is their eighth consecutive semifinal appearance. That's every single Women's World Cup they've appeared in the semifinals. The U.S. men, since 1934, just zero. So the women are kicking butt, folks. Kicking butt. Doing much better than our men have been doing.
CAMEROTA: And yet the men make more.
ENTEN: I -- I -- that is absolutely correct.
CAMEROTA: Just ending on that note.
ENTEN: It's not based on performance, I'll tell you that much.
CAMEROTA: There you go. Thanks, Harry.
BERMAN: All right, Harry, thank you.
Heart-stopping video. How a routine traffic stop ended with a deputy hanging on for his life. That's coming up.
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[06:50:56] BERMAN: A milestone this morning. For the first time in more than 30 years, Japan has resumed commercial whale hunting in its coastal waters. It is a practice steeped in tradition and controversy.
CNN's Ivan Watson live in Kushiro, Japan, with the very latest.
Ivan.
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, John.
This is a controversy that goes back decades. But Japan, the government, continues to defiantly stand by its practice of hunting the largest animals that live on the planet. And we were here as the hunters brought their catch in today.
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WATSON (voice over): For the hunters, this has been a success. Just hours into Japan's first commercial whaling expedition in more than 30 years, the team harpooned not one but two minke whales. For some in Japan, this is a moment of national pride.
Japan's relationship with whales is controversial. To better understand, we head out to sea with Captain Mitsuhiko Maeda. He and his brother lead whale watches for Japanese tourists.
WATSON (on camera): Oh, it's cold, it's windy, and it's wet, but people are paying money because they want to see these whales out in the wild.
WATSON (voice over): They're delighted when we spot a minke whale.
WATSON (on camera): Here's the thing about the Maeda brothers, more than 30 years ago, they weren't whale watchers, they were whale hunters.
WATSON (voice over): This is Captain Maida back in the 1960s when he worked with a team harpooning whales. That hunt came to an end in 1986 when the International Whaling Commission, of which Japan was a member, imposed a worldwide ban on commercial whaling.
That decision was unacceptable, he tells me, because suddenly we lost our jobs.
But, in fact, some Japanese whalers continued killing hundreds of whales every year, mostly in the Antarctic, under a special permit classifying the hunt as scientific research.
Animal rights grouped and some western governments condemned the practice. Last year, Japan announced its abrupt withdrawal from the international whaling commission declaring it would resume commercial whaling again within its own coastal waters.
KIYOSHI EJIMA, JAPANESE UPPER HOUSE MEMBER: I was waiting for the day for the commercial whaling to restart again.
WATSON: Kiyoshi Ejima, a lawmaker and passionate supporter of the whaling industry, applauds the decision.
EJIMA: I shouldn't say victory. It's a start-off kickoff point.
WATSON (on camera): Do you eat whale meat?
EJIMA: Sure. Of course.
WATSON (voice over): They're also celebrating the new whale hunt here at Telwiji (ph), a Tokyo restaurant that specializes in dishes like whale sashimi (ph), whale steak and fried whale. After World War II, whale meat was a vital source of protein in Japan, but government statistics show these days very few Japanese eat any whale meat at all.
PATRICK RAMAGE, INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR ANIMAL WELFARE: There are fragile whale populations around Japan that cannot sustain commercial hunting, that cannot feed a meaningful Japanese market, even if there were one, for whale meat.
WATSON: Japanese supporters of whaling include Captain Maeda, the whale hunter turned whale watcher.
CAPTAIN MITSUHIKO MAEDA, ABASHIRI NATURE CRUISE (through translator): I will continue whale watching tours, but the whale hunters should catch the whales. I want both to coexist.
WATSON: One wondering how long these two completely contradictory impulses can coexist in the waters around Japan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATSON: Now, the Japanese authorities have announced their quota for the next six months. They plan to harpoon at least 227 whales, include up to 25 sei (ph) whales, which are on the endangered species list.
Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: Ivan, great reports. Much of it hard to watch, but really eye-opening.
[07:00:02] Thank you very much for that report.
All right, back to politics here. A big fundraising haul for one of the 2020 candidates. NEW DAY continues.
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