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Poll: Five Leaders Among GOP 2016'ers; GOP Rivals Pile on Paul's ISIS Comments; Why Did Missing British Schoolgirls Turn to ISIS?; Study: Degree First, Then Marriage for Healthy Weight. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired May 28, 2015 - 07:30   ET

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

JOHN KING, CNN HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Let's put up the top 10 in the Republican field. Brand new Quinnipiac poll out this morning. Look at the top ten. Bush, Carson, Hucakbee, Rubio, Walker at 10 percent each across the board.

Then you've got Governor -- I'm sorry, Senator Paul, Senator Cruz, Donald Trump, Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina.

[07:30:03] Drop to the bottom six, if you want. You got Governor Kasich, Senator Graham, Governor Jindal, Governor Perry and Governor Pataki and Senator Santorum at the moment just getting a little blips there up.

When they make debate decisions, it will maybe be the top ten, but forget about that for a minute. Just look at this race. You could say there are five leaders, but I think the point is there is no leader.

JULIE PACE, "ASSOCIATED PRESS": I think it's going to stay this way for a while too. When you talk to voters in New Hampshire, in Iowa, you don't get the sense people are actually ready to make a decision right now. They like this field.

They think there are more qualified candidates in this field than perhaps in previous years and they want to take time and hear these candidates out. The problem for someone like a Jeb Bush is that he is seen as a front runner regardless of what the polls say.

So at a certain point, he's going to need to back that up with a bump in the polls before donors and some supporters that might be on the edge start getting really nervous.

KING: Are they happy with the field -- let alone who you want, you have to decide who you are as a parody before you can decide who's going to lead you. If you're Jeb Bush going into a meeting you're raising more money than anybody else.

But going into these meetings with people who are going to raise 200 grand for you, 300 grand for you, maybe millions of dollars and they could say, you're at 10 and Donald Trump's at 5?

RON FOURNIER, "NATIONAL JOURNAL": Can you imagine Donald Trump on the debate stage? I know you don't want to go there, but that's a scary thing for Republicans. Yes, you know, the party right now is kind of in a search for what its soul is.

There are a lot of Republicans who really hate the establishment, really tired of Washington. There are a lot of folks in that field, mainly Jeb Bush, who represents that. You have Rand Paul, who is doing his thing. You got the governors doing their thing.

It's going to take a long time for this to sort out. You and I are old enough to remember when this was reversed when Democrats had this kind of field and Republicans had somebody they're about to anoint.

KING: Well, it used to be your turn. Your Bob Dole, Ronald Reagan, Mitt Romney, John McCain, you've run before. It's your turn. Let's look at that point. Let's switch to the Democrats in this race.

If you're Hillary Clinton, you're not nervous here. You've gone from 60 down to 57. I do think it's interesting that Bernie Sanders has nearly doubled his numbers.

Now again he's been getting a lot of media attention. He just officially got in the race last month, had his big rally this past week. I'm not worried if I'm Hillary Clinton, but I'm going to watch that a little bit. He is moving.

PACE: Yes, and the thing about Bernie Sanders is that he has a very loyal following and he does fill a space in the Democratic Party that has been looking for a candidate. They have been pushing for Warren.

He's not exactly a Warren, but he can appeal to that group. The challenge for Hillary Clinton will be how does she fight against it? Does she just ignore it if his numbers continue to go up? Does she push hard against it?

I think that's risky for her as well and if you're a Martin O'Malley, where is your space? Will he be pulling from Hillary Clinton's numbers or stay in the bottom and pull from Bernie? I think Clinton is safe, but you do have to watch the people below her.

KING: When he gets in on Saturday, the former governor of Maryland, the former mayor of Baltimore, does he have to be more aggressive now that Bernie Sanders has emerged again 57 to 15 there's no sweat in Camp Clinton. But at the moment he's the quote/unquote "alternative," Bernie Sanders is.

FOURNIER: Yes. Martin O'Malley has to decide whether or not he wants to be in the cabinet or possibly be president. If he wants to have a shot of taking on Hillary Clinton, he's got to take her on. He can't play this game he's playing now.

She is sweating or at least she should be sweating. You look inside that poll, 53 percent of Americans don't trust her. Now, with that kind of number either you're not going to get elected, or even if you do get elected you're not going to be able to lead and then of course, all these scandals.

KING: That's going to be a real hard slogan. That's a compilation of Bill Clinton legacy, private e-mail server, and other issues. FOURNIER: She hasn't been answering the American public.

KING: Right. We'll come back to the Republican race because there are -- one of the reasons they don't have a leader a number of issues on which the party isn't quite sure where it is. It used to be the Republicans were the hawkish party.

You know, muscular on defense, John McCain, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, but Rand Paul was talking yesterday on MSNBC and he said the reason ISIS is so strong is because the hawks in the Republican Party sent so many weapons haphazardly into Iraq and then ISIS snatched them up.

That provoked a pretty strong reaction. Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana, said this is a perfect example of why Senator Paul is unsuited to be commander-in-chief.

We have men and women in the military, who are in the field trying to fight ISIS right now and Senator Paul is taking the weakest most liberal Democrat position. Rick Santorum, the former senator from Pennsylvania, he ran in 2012. He officially announced yesterday, echoed the same theme.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I would expect to hear that from maybe Bernie Sanders. I don't expect to hear that from someone running for the Republican nomination.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: If you're Rand Paul, does this mean that you're losing steam or does this mean in a crowded field, you want to be the guy who's different? Everyone else says you're weak, but in an odd way does it help him?

PACE: I think there's a big question about Rand Paul right now. If you look at this comment in isolation it does look like a very Rand Paul comment. This is where he's been on foreign policy. He tends to be more of an isolationist. He tends to be just separate from the rest of the pack.

But if you look at other things he's said about foreign policy over the last couple of months, other things he's said on other issues, he looks like he's joining more the rest of the crowd.

[07:35:08] I think that he is still wrestling with this question. Does he need to separate himself from the field or does he need to appeal to the Republican base?

KING: As you come into the conversation, let's also bring in Chris Christie, and who didn't make the specific point about, he didn't say a liberal Democrat, Chris Christie said I'm a former prosecutor. Remember Rand Paul is also leading the fight against the NSA surveillance program saying the government has way too much power. Christie says again, Senator, you're wrong. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: Misguided means they're wrong and there's nobody engaging in this national conversation other than me who's used these tools. I've used them for seven years as a prosecutor and what they talk about is theoretical. What I talk about is actual.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: So, again, you know, there are some others who aren't necessarily completely with Rand Paul on this subject, who are sympathetic to him, though, including Ted Cruz.

FOURNIER: First of all on the policy, Rand Paul is right. The hawks do own this. He's wrong in the sense that hawks aren't the only ones who own this. A lot of people bear responsibility for what's happened in ISIS on the left and the right.

Politically I think it's interesting what he's doing. This is part of a bigger play Rand Paul is trying to make to first of all take on the establishment wing of the Republican Party. There's a lot of need for that.

There's a lot of hunger for that on all these issues and to show some distinction as you said from the rest of the field. And in particular this really appeals to younger voters and younger Republicans these kinds of issues.

And I give them credit for nothing else at least he's having a conversation about something as important as foreign policy and not just talking points out of Hillary Clinton and the rest of the Republican field. He's trying to shake things up a little bit. I give him credit for that.

KING: If he wants to expand his base, he's going to a lot of meetings with donors. You're right about young people and changing the conversation. He's going to meetings with donor who is have supported in the past people like Mitt Romney and saying I'm not sure about this.

PACE: Yes. And he's going to face the same question that people who are on the other side of this issue is which is what is your specific plan then and donors want to hear that. Eventually voters will want to hear that.

And he may say that the hawks in the Republican Party own ISIS, but the next president is probably going to own ISIS and it's going to have to figure out what their strategy is.

KING: Julie and Ron, ISIS conversation will continue. Alisyn, as we get back to New York, Governor Pataki, the former governor of New York getting in today. A lot of people say why, again, look back at that poll, when the top guns are at 10 percent, why would that discourage anybody from getting in? It's wide open. Have some fun.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely. We'll see what the polls say tomorrow. It could be completely different. Thanks, John.

All right, well, remember those three British teenagers who were caught on camera back in February believed to have been heading to Syria via Turkey to join ISIS? We have an update on what's happened to them. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:41:42]

CAMEROTA: Now to that mystery we've been following. How are three British schoolgirls lured to Syria by ISIS back in February, you remember that story.

Well, CNN's Atika Shubert tracked one of the girl's online footprints to see what was so appealing about the terror group as new research suggests that many women who join ISIS are not looking for marriage or glory, they are looking for sisterhood.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The tweets of 15-year- old Amira Abassi read like any typical London teenager, shoes to buy, tweets on her favorite football club, Chelsea, but by January a steady trickle of posts on Syria.

By following her online footprint, Melanie Smith of the Institute of Strategic Dialogue mapped how Amira Abassi turned to ISIS.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can actually see the process of her becoming more politically engaged, becoming more concerned with Syria and finally making that decision to leave.

SHUBERT: Smith says the trigger for Amira may have come in December last year when a classmate left for Syria.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So this is when we see her thought to become more engaged with Syria.

SHUBERT: Shortly after, Amira's concern for Syrian refugees increased with frequent mentions of her close friends, (inaudible) and Shamima Bagum. Then in February, Amira posted this picture with them, sisters.

Four days after posting her sister's picture, the girls were caught on camera at airport security leaving for Istanbul according to authorities. And then video of them meeting what police described as a people smuggler to take them into Syria.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Baby, please come home.

SHUBERT: The families made tearful appeals for their return, no response. Then in April one photo appeared on Twitter with the caption, take away in the state of ISIS. The families say they're too distraught to comment, but have authorized their lawyer to speak on their behalf. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were obviously rather upset because it appeared that Amira's phone had been used to tweet something of a normalized picture where she hadn't been in contact with the family. So she seemed to be happy to tweet to the world, but no phone call home really.

SHUBERT: All three are believed to be in the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa, though none have been in direct contract with their families. But could the girls have been stopped and what is the responsibility of parents?

Amira's father came under scrutiny for attending a 2012 protest Islamist preacher on (inaudible), who since declared his support for ISIS. But Abesse's lawyer maintains his client is not an extremist.

He acknowledges the need for more scrutiny by parents and cooperation with the police and Muslim community.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the lesson to be learned there really is that we need to be able to as parents monitor our influences effect our children on a much urgent basis than maybe in the past.

And the problem we is that if government looks at an entire community and says this is a community that we are going to investigate, they're an enemy community, well, it's going to be very difficult, very impossible to get that community's help in terms of solving the problem.

SHUBERT: The girls are all minors, just 15 and 16, and that may be the critical factor.

[07:45:00] At the time they left the U.K., British police had indicated the girls may not be prosecuted if they choose to and are able to return home. Atika Shubert, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: A fascinating look. Thanks, Atika.

CUOMO: All right, check out this video. This was supposed to be a safety demonstration. So what went wrong and why didn't these guys get out of the way?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, a new study out this morning and a surprising finding for keeping a healthy weight. We turn to our chief business correspondent, Christine Romans, for today's "NEW DAY, New You."

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Good morning. Yet another reason to focus on your education first, folks, a new study in the "Journal Of Health and Social Behavior" says the order of major life events is important.

If you get your college degree before getting married, you have a significantly lower chance of becoming obese. The statement is true for becoming a parent. If you wait to have kids until you already have your college diploma, your weight is more likely to remain at a healthy level.

People with college degrees have more resources perhaps to pursue healthy lifestyles, and you have to use the degree to get a good job before taking on major responsibilities in life to reap this.

Of course, it's impossible to know the full reason for the linkage here, but college, of course, the best investment you can make in your future. Get that degree first and most and maybe you'll be rewarded with a smaller waistline.

[07:50:11] That's what happens if you listen to this and look at this really incredible study this morning, guys.

CUOMO: Thank you very much, Christine.

All right, here is the video we have been talking about. It's terrible to look at. We have to understand it. It's a Volvo hitting onlookers, as a dealer was testing the car's safety features.

The question is, where those features ever installed in that car in the first place? That's where Jeanne Moos picks it up.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNIE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is how not to train your car dealership staff about a safety system meant to protect pedestrians. It's OK, nobody was badly hurt, and nobody even went to the hospital.

Staff at this Volvo dealership in the Dominican Republic will probably be a little less trusting of technology even it wasn't the vehicle's fault.

This was no evil car with its own mind like in the movie "Christine," mowing down people on purpose. Volvo is still look into it, but tells CNN that the dealership apparently thought the car was equipped with a radar and camera system that scans for pedestrians.

ANNOUNCER: And then automatically activated the car's full braking power if the driver fails to respond in time.

MOOS (on camera): So what happened with the driver behind the wheel at the dealership? The good news is, according to Volvo the pedestrian detection system did not malfunction, and the bad news is the car was not equipped with a pedestrian protection system.

(voice-over): And for thinking it was when it wasn't and letting staff stand there, Volvo blames the mishap on human error, and once during a demonstration for the press, a Volvo's automatic brake system failed.

Volvo attributed that to a battery problem. Others have challenged the pedestrian detection system for laughs. Even using humans dressed as dummies, but that was nothing compared to the crash course these guys got. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: I can't barely watch that.

CAMEROTA: You hear something crunching like bone.

CUOMO: The next time somebody ask you, just stand in front of this, everything is going to be fine. That's why you don't it. You don't want to be this guy.

PEREIRA: The guy in the pink.

CUOMO: The guy standing behind him. He was waiting something, and he was reading the invoice.

CAMEROTA: We learned a valuable lesson this morning.

CUOMO: Never stand in front of a car even if your boss tells you to.

CAMEROTA: All right, meanwhile, the Pentagon, listen to this, accidentally sending live anthrax to nine states and in a military base in South Korea. How did this happen? We have the very latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "AC360": The U.S. military mistakenly shipped live anthrax samples to research labs.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Shipments were made to nine states.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST, "THE LEAD": This is one of the deadliest pathogens in existence. How did this happen?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Individuals that are sympathetic and radicalizing.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": The growing threat posed by ISIS sympathizers right here inside the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Calling publicly for attacks in the west.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pamela Geller announcing she has submitted that winning cartoon from her contest to be displayed on buses and train stations in Washington.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People need to wake up and we need to take a firm stand to freedom of speech.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: More troubles for the Duggar family.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The show certainly can't continue without some sort of acknowledgement. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the end, they are responsible for the death of their own brand.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome back to your NEW DAY. It is Thursday, May 28th, 8:00 in the east.

Live anthrax shipped to nine states and a military base in South Korea, all handled by commercial carrier. Now that these questions swirling about how the Defense Department allowed it to happen because they are the ones that sent it out of a lab in Utah.

CAMEROTA: Now more than two dozen people getting emergency medical treatment as officials scramble to see if any other live samples were accidentally shipped elsewhere.

CNN's Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, has more on this story. Barbara, what do we know?

STARR: Good morning, Alisyn. Well, from Osan Air Base in South Korea where it's now nighttime to nine states across the country, a lot of questions about how they got potentially live anthrax agent and why it took the Pentagon days to reveal the problem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STARR (voice-over): This morning, fear that up to 22 Air Force personnel may have been exposed to anthrax at an air base in South Korea. An investigation now underway, as officials said Osan Air Base say an army lab in Utah inadvertently shipped live anthrax samples to them and facilities in nine states over the past few days.

Twenty two people now being monitored in South Korea join four workers in the U.S., who have received preventative post-exposure treatment. A lab in Maryland was the first to report receiving the live bacteria last Friday after handling the samples. The question now, how could this have happened?

COLONEL RONALD FIZER, U.S. ARMY DUGWAY PROVING GROUND: That's exactly why we brought in the Center for Disease Control and their investigators.

STARR: The Centers for Disease Control now investigating as officials revealed the samples were shipped under less rigorous conditions since it was believed the bacteria was dead. NBC News reporting FedEx transported the samples. FedEx tells CNN they are working with officials to gather information.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No known risk to general public and there is no suspected or confirmed cases of anthrax infection.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[08:00:07] STARR: Now this comes less than a year after the Centers for Disease Control had a similar problem. They shipped what they thought was dead anthrax; it turned out to be live. So a lot of questions how this could ever have been repeated. Alisyn?