Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Hillary Clinton Announces Presidential Bid; Marco Rubio to Announce White House Candidacy; Will Second SC Police Officer Be Charged? Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired April 13, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm running for president. Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion.

[05:58:59] MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Hillary Clinton is just not trustworthy.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think she would be an excellent president.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Clintons sort of feeling like they're above the law.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hillary Clinton is going to be the champion for American families.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the name of Walter Scott, we can change this government.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In a 2.7-second time destroyed the life of two families.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pope Francis opening a century-old wound.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He described it as the first genocide of the 21st century.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The pope is not the only one who has called this a genocide.

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Monday, April 13, 6 a.m. in the east. Hillary Clinton is in. And she's also off on a road trip to Iowa. We're going to tell you why her announcement video surprised insiders but wowed the rest of you. It was viewed 3 million times in just the first hour.

So Hillary has the pedigree, the money, the power, but also a ton of critics, and they're sounding off this morning. ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. The GOP already ramping up

their attack ads. The RNC has a particularly ominous one that we'll show you. Ted Cruz characterizing a potential Clinton presidency as a third Obama term. Jeb Bush echoing that message and Rand Paul launching an entirely new portion of his website opposing Clinton positions.

All this as Florida Senator Marco Rubio prepares to declare his candidacy today.

We have this race covered the way only CNN can. So let's begin with senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar. She is live for us from Washington.

Good morning, Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Alisyn.

Hillary Clinton beginning her campaign with some "of the people" outrage. She is road-tripping to Iowa, where she'll give her first campaign appearance selling her candidacy, and already, she's coming under fire.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm getting ready for a lot of things.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're moving just so she can belong to a different school.

KEILAR (voice-over): Hillary Clinton announcing her presidential campaign with a video of middle-class Americans.

CLINTON: I'm getting ready to do something, too. I'm running for president.

KEILAR: Clinton outlined her campaign message, a populist, family-based rationale for her candidacy.

CLINTON: Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion.

KEILAR: Her announcement quite different than her 2007 pitch.

CLINTON: I'm not just starting a campaign, though. I'm beginning a conversation.

KEILAR: This time...

CLINTON: I'm back!

KEILAR: ... she tries to convince voters she's not taking her dominance in the Democratic field for granted.

CLINTON: I'm hitting the road to earn your vote. KEILAR: When she said hitting the road, she was being literal.

In Pennsylvania, she stopped at a gas station. A man who met the new candidate provided CNN these photos. Clinton is on her way to Iowa...

CLINTON: Together we will make history.

KEILAR: ... where she lost big in 2008. Then it's on to another early state: New Hampshire, where she pulled out an unexpected win after this emotional appeal.

CLINTON: I see what's happening. We have to reverse it.

KEILAR: Ultimately, of course, she lost.

CLINTON: Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it.

KEILAR: Republicans want to stop her from shattering that ceiling in 2016. Rand Paul's campaign launching this ad.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hillary Clinton represents the worst of the Washington machine.

KEILAR: Jeb Bush, still undeclared, responding in advance of Clinton's video.

JEB BUSH, FORMER GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA: We must do better than the Obama foreign policy.

KEILAR: But President Obama, who brings a loyal Democratic constituency, along with a potentially damaging foreign policy record, all but endorsed Clinton during his trip to Panama.

OBAMA: She was an outstanding secretary of state. She is my friend. I think she would be an excellent president.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And until yesterday as we understand it, Chris, she was very much involved in the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation. But we've also learned that she has stepped down from the board of directors of the family foundation.

CUOMO: Oh, what could that mean? No, Brianna, thank you very much.

A lot of this is obvious, but we've got to get this step to get to the next one. And another big step is going to be taken in politics. Senator Marco Rubio expected to hop in the presidential race tonight in Miami. That will make him the third Republican to do so.

Now remember, Rubio is the son of Cuban immigrants. He's going to make the announcement from the city's Freedom Tower. That's where the federal government once processed Cuban immigrants fleeing the Castro regime, the image palpable there. CNN's chief congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, joining us live from Miami.

What do you have for us, Dana? Good morning.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris. Well, not only is Marco Rubio going to be the third Republican to officially declare his candidacy, he's going to be the third Republican senator. Not just that, the first-term Republican senator. It kind of gives you a sense of how many people are out there that don't have a lot of experience on the national stage, and certainly, Marco Rubio is one.

But because of what you just mentioned, because since at a very young age, when he was a state politician, he has been pushing this idea that, because of his Cuban refugee roots, he has a different perspective on what should be America.

And he -- they released, his campaign released a video last night of kind of his greatest hits. And when I say his greatest hits, the other thing that they realize that they have as a quality in Marco Rubio is his eloquence. He not only has a story, he can tell it in a way that few others can. So that's what we expect his speech to be about.

As you mentioned, at the Freedom Tower, which is behind me. Very symbolic, because this is a place where Cuban refugees first came, kind of the Ellis Island, if you will, of this area for Cuban refugees.

So it's going to be very interesting to hear him talk about and also what he's been talking about non-stop in the Senate in the past year or so, which is foreign policy, very much staking out his claim as a conservative talk and an expert, if you will, on foreign policy.

[06:05:06] And Alisyn, in fact, he's going to go right back, not on the campaign trail, but right back to the Senate tomorrow for a big Iran hearing in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he sits.

CAMEROTA: OK, Dana, we want to talk all about Marco Rubio's announcement, as well as Hillary Clinton's. So let's turn to our CNN political panel. We have John Avlon. He's our CNN critical analyst and editor in chief of "The Daily Beast." Margaret Hoover, CNN political commentator and Republican consultant. And Maggie Haberman, presidential campaign correspondent for "The New York Times" and a CNN political analyst. We're delighted to have all of you in studio for this momentous day.

Maggie, we know that you have analyzed and parsed every word of Hillary Clinton's announcement. What...

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Sure did.

CAMEROTA: I saw that. For the "New York Times" you were, like, live blogging it.

HABERMAN: We were. We were live G-chatting it. Very close.

CAMEROTA: Got it. OK, so what jumped out at you?

HABERMAN: She's almost not in the video. That's what jumped out at me. It's a two-minute-plus video, in which is it the Democratic coalition. It is everyday Americans, as she put it, but really, it is a gay couple getting married, which was really striking, frankly. You wouldn't have seen that, I think, even four years ago or three years ago in the president's reelection. It is a Hispanic person who is speaking in Spanish. It is somebody else who has just gotten a job. It's people starting a business.

This is very much what she is trying to send the message to, is "I'm a fighter for you. There is not about me." The lens is very much on the voters. It is a total sea change from last time. When she announced in 2008, her slogan was, or her tagline was, "I'm in, and I'm in it to win." That was not, you know, so workable for her. So now she's trying to make it clear that this is about voters. This is not about herself and her ambition.

CUOMO: Experience, often the best teacher.

All right, Hoovalon, give us the up and down on this. Who wants the up? I'm giving the up to Hooves. What do you think, Margaret, what was the upside on this?

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think if Hillary Clinton runs her entire campaign in 2016 only through videos, she will be the next president of the United States.

HABERMAN: It might happen.

HOOVER: Honestly, I mean, this is really her strength. It portrays her very well. It's incredibly, you know, relatable. I even, as a Republican woman who does not want Hillary to be the next president of the United States, thought, "Uh-oh, we're screwed." I mean, this was really effective. This is a really effective video.

CUOMO: At this table, it's OK, Margaret. Let it out.

HOOVER: But -- but, you know, it was interesting. There was absolutely no substance in it. There was nothing about what her campaign is going to be. What is she going to stand for? No policy.

CUOMO: Not unusual in an announcement video.

HOOVER: She needed -- but it's really interesting, because that was what she got hit on. I think she's been so burned. Remember Obama in 2008, her gripe with him was that there were no issues in his campaign.

HABERMAN: Yes. Yes.

HOOVER: That she was the one who was, you know, talking about the Iraq war, talking about energy independence, talking about all these issues, and who was he? He was a back bencher in the Illinois Senate when she was working so hard for New Yorkers.

CUOMO: John, did she learn from her last opponent? Maybe that was the best way to go?

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: She -- this is a total corrective, as Maggie and Margaret have said. This is very much -- the closest parallel in her career is that first Senate campaign, which is the listening tour mode. Now we're on this interminable drive down I-80 to Iowa, which probably is better in concept than execution, as they're probably figuring out right about now.

CAMEROTA: As all road trips are.

AVLON: Exactly. Exactly right.

But what strikes me about this also is, you know, this is a very beautifully done launch. As Maggie and Margaret said, this is all about a very gentle paean to the Democratic base. It is also all about the middle class. That's one thing she's taken directly from her husband's campaign, that laser-like focus on the middle class. You're going to see that consistently.

But absence that, a total absence of policy. Even on the very well-designed website page, that section is basically blank right now, folks. And so she's not shining a light on her core strengths as secretary of state. She's not going to run as a policy wonk right now. This is all heart and humility.

CAMEROTA: So let's talk about Marco Rubio's announcement. Does he steal Hillary Clinton's thunder by announcing today? Or does she steal his thunder by announcing yesterday?

HABERMAN: I think they have parallel split-screen thunders. I think that, look, she had her day yesterday. She's going to be have another day tomorrow when she's actually in Iowa with voters. That's going to be really important to see, is how she engages, how she interacts. This is something she didn't do, basically, throughout 2014. The most she really did was shook hands at book tours and at campaign events for other candidates.

Marco Rubio, I think, is going to get a lot of attention today. I think that his folks have put a lot into this rollout. Remember, Marco Rubio is still sort of getting over some of the perceptions about him at that State of the Union response with reaching for the water and seeming ready.

CUOMO: His numbers are not strong.

HABERMAN: No, this is --look, and he's not really known, so this is his chance to sort of remake himself.

CUOMO: What do you think of what Dana pointed out for us, though, with the they're all first-term senators, no experience, versus Hillary, who you could argue we haven't seen anybody with more experience.

HOOVER: It's not assured (ph), Chris Cuomo, because you know what else? She's been around for a very long time.

CUOMO: She's not new.

HOOVER: She has been in Washington or a vestige of Washington for a quarter of a century.

CUOMO: Not new.

HOOVER: And it's not a fresh face. But I will say, you see a really interesting contrast between how Republicans are responding to Hillary. And actually, Marco ends up, I think, coming out looking better. Because you see everyone else piling up against Hillary.

CUOMO: Piling on.

HOOVER: Especially being anti-Hillary, anti-Hillary, almost 2.0 for the 1990s. But Marco, instead, is about something else. He is offering an alternative that's affirmative rather than "I am just the anti-Hillary" band wagon.

[06:10:06] CAMEROTA: You know, I love that I hear you calling him "Marco," because I'm struggling with this now. Is it sexist for us to all call her "Hillary"? Now that she's announced, is it time for us to call her "Secretary Clinton"?

AVLON: We're just buying into the messaging they desperately want.

CAMEROTA: She's OK -- she's OK with that?

HABERMAN: The campaign is Hillary for America. Once you do that, then I think...

AVLON: Jeb is going to run as Jeb. There's going to be, like Madonna and Oprah. There's going to be no "Bush" anywhere.

CUOMO: Bush is OK for name recognition of your last name. The hundreds of thousands of dollars they'll put into it. For you to have single name recognition.

CAMEROTA: Right. She's like Beyonce.

AVLON: I will say, look, Rubio's buzz is building, because he could very well be everybody's second choice. There's something very attractive about him.

The one challenge about those three first-termers that are running is it undercuts the most credible conservative criticism of President Obama, which was that he wasn't ready to be an executive yet. And all those cats have the exact same problem.

Hillary Clinton comes in with more experience than anyone in recent history running for this office.

CUOMO: Maggie, you have amazing amounts of history in watching the evolution of Hillary. Right now, some would say, "Oh, it's a false premise. She hasn't evolved." But you've watched this process. Jumping on her early the way they are, Dana Bash has become just

a masterful political interviewer. She says to Rand Paul, give me something that Hillary has done well.

He's like, "She blew up Benghazi. She did this. She did that."

And she says, "I asked you what she did well."

"Oh, I can't think of any."

Going that ugly that early, is it a mistake?

HABERMAN: I think so. I mean, I think to Margaret's point, you're not seeing a positive forward-looking vision. This has been a concern a lot of Republican strategists and pollsters have had for many years now, I think since, certainly, before President Obama's re- election, is how do we present what we are for? It can't just be what we're against. Remember, this is what Jeb said he was going to run as. We still don't quite know what he's for. I suspect when he becomes a candidate, he will say that. But when you all just about the anti-, anti- that gives her a lot of running room. And I agree with you about Dana's interview skills. That was very impressive.

CUOMO: She is no joke. You've got to be on your game when you sit across from her. So I guess they're all for at least one of those tires blowing out on the way to Iowa. Other than that it's up in the air.

CAMEROTA: Maggie, James, Margaret, first names all. Thanks very much. Great to see you.

CUOMO: Hoovalon is a big brand.

MICHAEL PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: The Hoovalon. I love that. And I'll go with Michaela, because I know neither of you can spell my last name anyway.

Continuing on with our news now, the actions of a second police officer at the scene of that fatal shooting of Walter Scott now under scrutiny. Should that officer be prosecuted for an attempted cover- up? The National Bar Association believes he should for making false statements and deliberately leaving out facts from the police report.

CNN's Nick Valencia joins us now live from North Charleston, South Carolina.

Good morning to you, Nick.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela.

A day after a vigil was held for Walter Scott at the location where he died. People in this community and beyond continue to question the actions of the other officers seen in that video. And if they did enough to help Walter Scott. No formal charges have been filed against any other officers, except for Officer Slager. Yesterday when I spoke to the mayor. He did not know if those other officers were still on the street or not. But he did have some pretty choice words for Officer Slager.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEITH SUMMEY, MAYOR OF NORTH CHARLESTON: A lady that was eight months pregnant, seeing a future bright spot, you know, in their lives. He basically, in a 2 point 7 second time destroyed the life of two families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Nearly a week after he was arrested, Officer Slager remains in jail held without bond -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Nick, we'll stay on this. Thank you very much for the reporting.

Officials in Turkey are calling back their ambassador to the Vatican after Pope Francis called the mass killing of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire the first genocide of the 20th Century. Turkey's foreign minister calls the pope's statement unacceptable. The country denies a genocide took place 100 years ago. We will have a live report from Rome later this hour.

CAMEROTA: Congress back in session today for the first time since that framework of an Iran nuclear deal was announced. With lawmakers back in Washington, the president is dispatching three cabinet members, including Secretary of State John Kerry, to brief the skeptical members of Congress. Mr. Obama's deputies will brief members of the House today and the Senate tomorrow.

PEREIRA: Not every 21-year-old has a green jacket in his wardrobe, but Jordan Spieth does. He went wire-to-wire to win the Masters this weekend, his first major tournament victory, the second youngest player to win at Augusta. And he did it in record fashion. He finished 18 under par, tying Tiger Woods for the lowest ever Masters score. Is he the heir to the American golf throne? Well, we will ask him, himself, when he appears right here on NEW DAY. Jordan Spieth will join us, still wearing that green jacket.

Do you think he'll wear it? Do the wear it, like, forever?

CUOMO: There is a little of an etiquette of when and where, but I don't know how you take it off at the beginning.

CAMEROTA: He's like a kid. We'll look forward to that.

CUOMO: My reaction also.

CAMEROTA: I heard you say that.

Meanwhile, the last time she ran for president, Hillary Clinton told the American people, "I'm in it to win it." This time around same goal, different approach. What is the new message and strategy?

[06:15:11] CUOMO: And finally, as Michaela was telling you, the important questions being asked about other officers in the South Carolina police shooting of Walter Scott? Was there a cover-up? We'll give you the facts ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: There are new questions for you this morning in the shooting death of Walter Scott. Should other officers on the scene be charged, as well. And there are other cases demanding attention.

In Tulsa, a man was shot and killed by a reserve deputy who allegedly confused his gun for his Taser. In Illinois, a motorist was trying to flee a traffic stop and was shot through the windshield in the face by a police officer.

And in California, I know you've seen this. Local news crews capturing deputies, repeatedly punching and kicking the suspect after a three-hour chase. Is this a trend? Are these one-offs? And how do we deal with them, and are we dealing with them? Important questions to discuss. Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Chief Rick Hite. He was at the White House meeting last week on accountability and policing.

And Chief, these cases do not help.

[06:20:03] Let's pick them off one by one. In South Carolina, we couldn't tell early on if the second officer who comes in was witness to the shooting. We don't know what he saw. But we do know that the allegations about what was done to Walter Scott in terms of CPR and things seemed wildly exaggerated. What do you make of a furthering investigation there?

RICK HITE, INDIANAPOLIS METROPOLITAN POLICE CHIEF: Well, good morning, Chris, I think it's important that we have a fiduciary responsibility to render aid in situations like this. And the video would depict that the officer arrived on the scene and engaged, looked at the subject. But at the same time, we have a responsibility to make sure we render first aid.

CUOMO: It seems like the main thing he did was put on gloves for himself before he did anything. Now we hear they're not trained in CPR. Are all police trained in CPR? And if not, is that an excuse to do nothing?

HITE: It's a standard, industry standard that we have CPR training. And it's important that we again render first-aid and improvise treatment on the scene such as this.

CUOMO: So they should have known what to do. It's not that they did nothing, that they didn't know what to do. Important point. Thank you, Chief.

Now when we're looking in Tulsa, how do you confuse your pistol for a Taser as a trained deputy?

HITE: Well, what we train how to do basically in law enforcement is to have your deadly weapon or your service weapon on one side and your less than lethal, your Taser or other -- chemical spray or what you use on your opposite side so you don't confuse it. That's been basically -- studies have shown that's been effective. CUOMO: Chief, how long have you been on the job?

HITE: Oh, I've been in law enforcement 37 years.

CUOMO: Let me ask you something, Chief. Do you think there's been a change over time about the comfortability with violence and altercation. The tools that officers have at their disposal without using their weapons? Do you think it's changed that cops today aren't as hard and as capable in altercation as they were when you first got on the job, and that's why they go to lethal means of force more quickly today?

HITE: Well, that's a good question. Quite a few trains of thought. And one which deals with the fitness of duty of the officer, both physically and psychologically. The agency also plays a role in it sometimes.

But also I think the policy of the agencies. I think over time, there's been transformational thinking in policing. Back in the old days, I think people thought it was hands on. We've learned in recent times how important it is to engage people in conversation, verbal judo, and diffuse situations.

Now again, every department is different, but I think it's important to understand we do have a technical age, where we have people that basically don't communicate verbally as much as it used to. We text a lot. We e-mail a lot. We don't do the one-one conversation.

So that's, I think, a lot of tolerance in that society. That goes along with that. I love what we're seeing in law enforcement and social, and there are some social needs that we have a good process here. And talking about those issues that really are congruent to the type of crime in our community relative to safety, relative to social needs. But I think it's important to have that -- have entire dialogue nationally, as it relates to police and community interactions.

CUOMO: So then we have the cop in California -- in Illinois who -- he's at a traffic stop. The guy tries to drive away. He says, "I thought he was going to run me over." So he shoots him through the windshield, hits him in the face. Somehow the guy survives.

The instinct to just shoot in that situation, as opposed to just getting out of the way of the car, you know, it seems to speak to, like, a lack of training. What we saw in California seems to speak to a lack of training and maintaining your emotions as an officer, right? These guys go through a three-hour chase with this guy. You know they're angry. You know they feel that he put their lives at risk. And then they beat him to a pulp afterwards.

Is this a window into the fact that we're not getting it done with how we train our officers?

HITE: Well, I think we have two separate issues. One deals with an officer in imminent danger fearing for his safety using deadly force to stop a vehicle. That's something that has to be looked at carefully. I haven't seen that one.

But I think it's important when we have a confrontation. We have someone who we're giving verbal commands to, who is in compliance, who is prone down on the ground. You effect arrest by placing a handcuff. Absent of any other combative nature of that person, there is no need for additional use of force.

CUOMO: But it happens. It happens because guys get heated up, right? They're angry after a three-hour chase. Maybe they know this guy. Maybe they know his history with police. Whatever it is, it seems that they forget that they're professionals in those moments.

HITE: Well, I think you do have your adrenaline flow. You are ramped up a little bit. But you also have the responsibility of your partners and yourself to tamp yourself down and recognize the threat is over. You effect the arrest and you take the subject into custody without further ado.

CUOMO: And what would be good -- would you want to see in that situation is the officers calming down, whoever has heated up, as opposed to becoming a mob.

Chief Rick Hite, thank you very much. I know these aren't the kinds of discussions you want to have in policing, but we have to deal with problems when they come up. That's how we get better, right? So thank you very much for being with us.

[06:25:06] HITE: I thank you. I thank you for this. D I think it's important to have this dialogue nationally. Again, we have to have civility in our communities, but we also have to have engaging conversations with our law enforcement partners.

CUOMO: Thank you very much, Chief -- Mick.

PEREIRA: All right, Chris. Everybody knew it was coming. Hillary Clinton announcing her second bid for the White House. This time, though, no big rally, just a video online. Why the new approach? And is her nomination -- pardon me, inevitable? We'll discuss that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: So I'm hitting the road to earn your vote, because it's your time and I hope you'll join me on this journey.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Look how happy all those people are about Hillary running for president. Of course, it is her announcement video. So she's made it official for 2016. She's already on listening tour 2.0, road tripping it to Iowa, probably halfway through a bag of chips as we're speaking. And early polls show reason for confidence on Team Hillary. She is dominant over even the closest challengers, even to use that word loosely. She seems inevitable. That's good, right? It's also what was said in 2008.