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Trump's Immigration Comments Open Up GOP Rift; Iran Nuclear Deal; Escapee Back Behind Bars; Team USA Wins Women's World Cup. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired July 06, 2015 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:06] ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Hello as we roll into the back half of the hour. I'm Ana Cabrera in for Carol Costello. Thanks for being here.

We now turn to the race for the White House in 2016. It's getting more and more interesting. Donald Trump, the man who everyone is talking about these days especially because of those recent comments on immigration is number two in the recent CNN/ORC poll. This despite what he has said about Mexicans using words like "rapists" and "murderers". And now Jeb Bush, who is leading the pack says Trump does not reflect the views of Republicans.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a guy who was a Democrat for most of the last decade. I don't think he represents the Republican party, and his views are way out of the mainstream of what Republicans think.

No one suggests that we shouldn't control our borders. I mean everybody has a belief that we should control our borders, but to make these extraordinarily ugly kind of comments is not reflective of the Republican Party. Trump is wrong on this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: All right. Let's bring in Sally Cohn, CNN political commentator; and Ron Christie, the former special assistant to President George W. Bush.

Ron, I want to start with you. We have heard from Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum coming to Trump's defense saying he has a point. Then you have Jeb Bush who's speaking strongly against some of those comments that Trump has made. So are we seeing a big rift now happening with the GOP?

RON CHRISTIE, FORMER SPECIAL ASST. TO G.W. BUSH: I don't think so, Ana. I think what you see here is one individual, Trump, who is number two in some of the polls, who represents a certain element of people who are tired of the business as usual politicians. I think what Governor Bush had to say was exactly right -- not all Mexicans are racist (SIC). Not all Mexicans are here illegally. Not all Mexicans are out to do bad things.

And so to suggest, as Trump has, that you can sort of paint an entire wide brush of one people one way I think is wrong. And I think more Republicans should stand up and say that's wrong.

CABRERA: We are starting to see a few more Republicans come out, but it's taken a while, Sally, for people to come out on this issue of immigration and this is at a time when we know minorities are a key voting bloc.

SALLY KOHN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. Look, I mean, while I appreciate Ron's attempts to paint this as a minor position within both the Republican candidates and Republican voters, look, you can see from the poll there's no doubt that this reflects a current within the Republican Party. And it is a dangerous and destructive one vis- a-vis actually trying to engage the majority of the American people as an electorate and also vis-a-vis trying to engage common decency, rationality, and fact.

It's troubling that we have, you know, major parties, major candidates that are resorting to such anti-immigrant bigotry in 2015.

CABRERA: Not just anti-immigrant but in some respects anti-Mexican like the comments that Trump made.

CHRISTIE: But that was Trump. I think what the real problem we have here is that we have an incoherent United States immigration policy. The United States for a dozen years or more we've let a lot of people in from some countries where they can come here legally. We've restricted some from others. I think what the United States needs is a strategic coherent national security immigration policy reform and I think that, Sally, is where a lot of Americans are coming from.

KOHN: That's a great perspective. In fact, we had a very comprehensive bipartisan proposal for immigration reform supported by many of the Republican candidates who then backtracked on it to play to the anti-immigrant, xenophobic wing of the party.

So there was a plan, the President supported it. Before that George W. Bush supported it, and Republicans have walked away from sensible immigration reform which would secure the borders, yes, but also make it safe for immigrants to be part of our economy and also speak up when there is crime.

Right now 47 percent of Latino immigrants report that they're afraid to report possible criminal activity to the police because they fear repercussions for their own immigration status. We had a plan. Republicans backed away from it in order to play to xenophobia on the fringe of their party for votes. That is the problem.

CABRERA: I want to move on to another issue since we have a short segment here because it's not just Republicans who are taking criticism this weekend. Also Hillary Clinton after what she did in New Hampshire, her camp did in setting up this rope to keep the media at a distance from Hillary Clinton, and, of course, this sort of feeds into the dialogue and the reputation that the Clintons have of trying to isolate themselves, not answering questions.

Sally, you're cringing.

KOHN: This is awful. It's just awful. It was like the optics of it. I mean it took press wrangling to a whole new level, right? Like there's a sort of rhetoric in campaigns of you wrangle the press, you corral the press. This just went a step too far. Did no one think in this day and age, in a world that is visual where Snapchat and Instagram and all these things, these things can go immediately -- not to mention these people are actually obviously holding television cameras, that this would be a metaphorical and visual and literal nightmare.

[103503] It is a problem. And look, I'm not a big fan of the Hillary campaign nor Hillary Clinton as a candidate per se. And I think that this is -- but they also are their own worst enemies.

CHRISTIE: Yes.

KOHN: Let yourself -- she is a seasoned politician. She should be able to defend herself to the press.

CABRERA: And to her defense, her camp has come out and said it wasn't against -- it was nothing against the media, it was more to make sure that voters could get in front of Clinton and have interaction.

CHRISTIE: Oh please. Look, this is something my friend and I totally agree on. There is no excuse for this. They clearly weren't thinking. You probably had some press advance aides who are saying let's keep the press away from her.

No, if you want to be open and accessible, this is New Hampshire, mind you, where people are used to retail politicians coming in, shaking hands, interacting. It made her look aloof. It made her look detached. It made her look arrogant. It made her look bad.

CABRERA: And Sally, I want you to have the last word on that. What does she need to do to sort of fix this?

KOHN: You know, start giving interviews. Start being available. You could -- you know, the press are generally well-behaved people I find and respectful and sort of appreciate -- give and take in a dance (ph) to this. Say, all right, for the first 20 minutes, she's available. The press can be around. And then let's respect the ability for her to be around the voters and interact with the voters and whatever.

We see this -- politicians march in parades all the time. We find this balance. I'm sure their campaign if they tried could find it.

CABRERA: There were a lot marching in parades this weekend -- that's for sure.

Sally Kohn, Ron Christie -- thank you both so much.

CHRISTIE: Thanks. CABRERA: Well, is a bad deal with Iran over its nuclear program better than no deal at all. And what if the U.S. can't seal the deal? What's next? We'll talk about it ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:40:48] CABRERA: This morning with the clock ticking toward that deadline for a nuclear deal with Iran, Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iran foreign minister counterpart have been negotiating but some major points of this deal like U.N. Sanctions on Iran's ballistic missile program still haven't been resolved.

Let's bring in CNN military analyst, Major General James "Spider" Marks to talk more about this. General, Kerry is under pressure to conclude this deal this week. In your opinion is any deal better than no deal?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, Ana, good morning.

No, it's not, absolutely not. When we've seen this in the past, let's use North Korea as an example. Back in '94 the Clinton administration struck a deal and it took about two decades, 20 years -- a little less than 20 years and North Korea broke out. They are now a nuclear power and they are aggressively pursuing missile development technology so they can deliver the nukes elsewhere. I mean that's the evidence.

Many proclaim that that was a good deal because it delayed the amount of time it took for North Korea. Well, a nuclear North Korea is not a good deal.

A nuclear Iran under these circumstances where we feel rushed is not a good deal and there are no sanctions relative to their missile technology. So we're kind of in the same boat and we should use that as an example right now and be very cautious.

CABRERA: As you know Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not a fan of the deal -- period. And his latest comment just this morning says, quote, "This deal will pave Iran's path to a nuclear arsenal."

Is that a legitimate worry?

MARKS: Oh, absolutely. There's no reason to believe that what he is saying is not within the realm of possibility. Clearly the only reason any type of a regime, a nuclear regime, works with Iran is if there's total transparency, which means inspections, routine inspections, specific deliverables, and time lines.

Ana, you have to have time lines where you can routinely walk in there, Iran has to deliver the goods, there has to be some inspections. You can't allow to have a deal struck and then have kind of a breakout period that allows Iran to develop in some degree of secrecy its capabilities. That's the concern and there's no reason not to believe that, you know, certainly Israel has the most to lose, but there's certainly no reason not to believe that that's a legitimate concern.

CABRERA: Critics of the negotiations say that Iran just can't be trusted. Do you think that Iran is going to stick to its side of the deal assuming a deal does go through?

MARKS: Well, you know, most nations -- all nations exercise and work in their national interests, so there's not a lot of self-limitation there. So Iran feels like it is in a position where it can expand itself, its influence is great. It's working very aggressively through proxies in the region.

That's the big concern for the Middle East right now. You know, we focus like a demon on the Islamic state and we should, different topic. But behind all of that and all the attention the world is paying to the Islamic state, Iran is working feverishly on trying to create this nuclear capability and there's no reason because we don't have a history of being able to influence those actions that there's going to be anything other than self-interest being maintained from Tehran.

CABRERA: And very quickly, last question, you know, what happens if there is no deal? What's next? Is there going to be military action of some kind?

MARKS: Oh, no. We're at the status quo right now. What that means is we continue to do very, very solid intelligence work with partners in the region, with international partners to ensure that absent a deal that allows us to get that information openly and transparently, we can get it through intelligence means to maintain a very clear picture and in our estimate a very clear picture of what that looks like.

Would that lead to military action? I'm not certain. I mean there could be an inevitability but what we have to do is maintain a very strong intelligence collection posture against Iran.

CABRERA: All right. General James "Spider" Marks, our thanks to you. We appreciate your time.

MARKS: Thanks, Ana.

CABRERA: Well, David Sweat spent more than three weeks evading police in rural New York. Well, in his new home, the escaped killer will only get one hour outside a very small cell.

[10:45:04] We'll talk about where he is now and why police are keeping an extra close eye on him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: One month after he escaped from prison, convicted murderer David Sweat is now out of the hospital and back behind bars. He is on suicide watch at a maximum security facility some 250 miles now from the Clinton Correctional Facility where he escaped. Police shot and wounded Sweat near the Canadian border last Sunday. He spent a whole week in the hospital. Boris Sanchez is joining me with more on what's next for this

convicted killer.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ana. After 22 days on the run, David Sweat was captured last Sunday -- yesterday at about 3:00 a.m. and he was transferred from an Albany hospital to the Five Points Correctional Facility in Romulus, New York.

[10:50:00] As you mentioned, Ana, that's about 250 miles from the Clinton correctional facility. It's also a much newer prison. It was built in 2000. Clinton Correctional was built 170 years ago. It is a maximum security prison housing almost a 1,300 inmates with a staff of about 511 people.

Now, after Sweat passes that suicide watch that you mentioned, he's going to be moved to a special housing unit inside the prison. Solitary confinement essentially where all he will have in his cell is a bed, a toilet, a sink, a table to write on, and a facility controlled shower. He's also going to be under surveillance alone in that cell, confined to that cell for 23 hours a day. Tough to imagine he's going to will plot another escape under those conditions.

CABRERA: And to think the life that he was living before his escape and how better it was.

SANCHEZ: Right. On the honor block where he can cook for himself and go about seemingly almost as he pleased.

CABRERA: And now solitary confinement.

All right. Boris Sanchez -- thank you so much.

Now checking some of our other top stories this morning.

Pope Francis is continuing his tour of Ecuador this morning. He'll be on the move here shortly. It's part of an eight-day tour of South America. And after Ecuador he's expected to visit Bolivia and Paraguay. He's from Argentina but no plans to make a stop there.

Wal-Mart employees in Bristol, Oklahoma are stunned. $75,000 just disappeared before their eyes. The man seen here convinced employees that he was simply there to collect the store's bank deposit and the employees believed him and turned it over. He didn't even threaten them with a weapon or anything like that. The FBI is searching for the suspect.

In England all the attention back on the royal family. Several thousand royal watchers turning out for the christening of Princess Charlotte. Inside the church it was just a small private service attended by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, one-year-old Prince George, and only a handful of close friends and family. Princess Charlotte by the way is now fourth in line to the throne.

And take a look at this, you're looking at images of white humpback whales, some of the rarest whales in the world. They were spotted this weekend off the coast of New Zealand during the conservation department's annual whale survey. This could be a sign that the white humpbacks are finally recovering after nearly being wiped off the planet.

Well, it was no doubt a night to remember for U.S. women's national soccer team, and by the end there was no question about the game's MVP. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: It's official. Team USA is the best in the world. The U.S. women's soccer team is now bringing home the World Cup, capping off last night's historic win back-to-back, record-breaking moments.

For starters no other country in history has ever won three women's world cup titles, and now Team USA can say it has. But the last time it did it was in 1999. So this is also kind of a big deal because it's been so long.

CNN correspondent Coy Wire is in Vancouver. Coy, what a game.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS: What a game, indeed. Good morning -- Ana.

American soccer has a new household name, Carli Lloyd. We can put her name beside the likes of Mia Hamm, Abby Wambach, Brandi Chastain as American soccer legends. Lloyd made history when she scored that elusive hat trick in the women's World Cup final becoming the first ever to do so. Three goals in one game against Japan who only allowed three goals the entire tournament up to that point. A true inspiration, Carli Lloyd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLI LLOYD, WOMEN'S SOCCER: I just put my head down. I've gone to work. I've worked hard. I do all the right things on and off the field and just want to be a good role model to all the young kids and boys out there as well, just to teach them the importance of doing all the right things in order to accomplish your dreams.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Now, the U.S. fans were ecstatic, including President Obama who tweeted a shout out to the World Cup champs. He said "What a win for Team USA. Great game, Carli Lloyd, your country is so proud of all of you. Come visit the White House with the World Cup soon." How about that tweet, Ana?

The U.S. Team also having a blast last night. Check out this tweet from their official Twitter account. They're now lobbying the Federal Reserve it appears. They want Carli Lloyd and Hope Solo's faces on the $10 and $1 bills -- rightfully so Ana because those two were money all tournament long. The passion was palpable.

I tell you, it's going to continue for quite some time. Certainly through Tuesday when Team USA is going to celebrate their championship with fans at a rally in Los Angeles. Truly an incredible time in U.S. sports history -- Ana. CABRERA: Great for U.S. soccer, great for women's sports -- all this attention on such an exciting game.

And Coy, I know the other big headline today is the Williams sisters duking it out again at Wimbledon, and they just wrapped up their match. Who came out on top?

WIRE: Yes, Ana, and you mentioned a great moment in women's sports. We'd be remiss if we didn't mention how incredible the story of these two sisters is. Coming into this match, the Williams' sisters had met 25 times over the course of their illustrious careers and statistically they have been each other's most formidable foes. Venus actually won their last meeting back in August, but it was Serena who reigned victorious in Wimbledon in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3.

She's won both grand slam tournaments this year and she's on her way to attaining that elusive calendar grand slam, Ana.

CABRERA: All right. We hope we don't jinx if for her. Coy Wire, thank you so much for joining us.

And thanks to all of you for being here today on this Monday. I'm Ana Cabrera. Great to have you with us.

[11:00:03] "AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts right now.