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Comey: ISIS Bigger Threat to U.S. Than Al Qaeda; Report: Trump Threatens Third Party Run. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired July 23, 2015 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:33:09] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: ISIS is not your parents' al Qaeda. That from FBI Director James Comey, in a revealing and rare interview with our Wolf Blitzer, at the annual Aspen security forum. Comey discussing threats within the U.S., in particular, the growing influence of ISIS terrorists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: What keeps you up at night?

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: What keeps me up at night is probably these days, the ISIL threat in the homeland. And I worry very much about what I can't see.

If you imagine a nationwide haystack, we are trying to find needles in the haystack. And a lot of those needles are invisible to us either because of the way in which they are communicating, or just because they haven't communicated or touched a place where we could see them. And knowing that there are needles out there that you can't see is very worrisome.

BLITZER: Is that now a bigger threat to the U.S. homeland than al Qaeda?

COMEY: Yes. The threat that ISIL presents and poses to the United States is very different in kind, in type and degree than al Qaeda. ISIL is not your parent's al Qaeda. It's a very different model. And by virtue of that model, it's currently the threat that we are worrying about in the homeland most of all.

BLITZER: Why is ISIS so powerful?

COMEY: Well, they have adopted a model that takes advantage of social media in a way to crowdsource terrorism. They have invested about the last year in pushing a message of poison, primarily through Twitter, but other parts of social media that is a siren song with two dimensions. They are preaching through social media to troubled souls, urging them to join their so-called caliphate in Syria and Iraq. Or if you can't join, kill where you are.

And Twitter is a valuable enterprise because it works to sell shoes or ideas. [06:35:00] It works to sell this message to doubled souls. If you

wanted to consume their propaganda, you had to go find it somewhere on the web, you'd read their magazine, if you wanted to talk to a terrorist, you might send an e-mail in to their magazine and hope that somebody answers you.

ISIL has changed that model entirely because ISIL is buzzing on your hip, right? That message is being pushed all day long, and if you want to talk to a terrorist, they are right there on Twitter direct messaging for you to communicate with.

BLITZER: The Khorasan Group, they get the guy -- they said killed Mushin al Fadhli in a U.S. airstrike, he was the one who was apparently plotting attacks not against people in the Mideast but against people here in the United States. That was the main mission of the Khorasan Group.

I think back in September, you thought some sort of attack would be imminent. That was the word you used, right?

COMEY: They're very -- they were a very serious threat to the United States. More in sort of the classic al Qaeda model, airplane-based, sophisticated long-tailed, long planning and surveillance type operation.

BLITZER: Is that threat from the group in the United States in the American homeland still imminent or have they been diminished in their capabilities?

COMEY: They have been diminished by the virtue of the work done by our great military.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: You can catch more of Wolf's interview with Director Comey at 5:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: The Donald Trump show is heading to the Mexico/Texas border today. He's under fire about comments from immigrants. He says it wasn't about him. It's just about Mexico. He's also under fire for what he said about Senator McCain. He says that was understood. And also about his faith, which he says is misunderstood.

So, does Donald Trump think he needs to ask for forgiveness? Anderson Cooper has a serious conversation with him about the role of faith in his life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: The idea of repentance, is that something that's important to you?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think repenting is terrific. I think it's great.

COOPER: But do you feel the need to?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:56] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: New information this morning in the Sandra Bland death investigation. A preliminary autopsy shows bland had marijuana in her system and cutting scars on her arm. Texas police say Bland hanged herself in the jail cell three days after her arrest.

A jail intake form seems to indicate she attempted suicide before. Bland's family disputes that rejecting suggestions she was depressed. The results of an independent autopsy are expected today.

PEREIRA: Weeks after his divisive comments on Mexican immigrants, Donald Trump is expected to tour one of the most active parts of the U.S.-Mexico border today. There is a report emerging that local border patrol agents in Laredo, Texas, may no longer participate in that tour, because part of the union canceled their involvement. Trump is expected to go ahead with or without them.

CUOMO: New details this morning about the deadly shootings in Chattanooga last week. The FBI now says the heavily armed gunman moved methodically through the reserve center, hunting down victims for three to five minutes. The military officials say some of the five service members killed sacrificed their own lives trying to stop the carnage.

CAMEROTA: Well, here's a different shark story for you. Most people would swim the other way when a shark approaches. Not these two brothers. They saved a hammerhead shark. The whole thing was caught on a GoPro camera.

Marcus and Logan Lakos were at a Florida beach when a shark was heading for their mom and their friend. And that's when they noticed that the shark was injured and had fishing hooks lodged in its body. So, they brought the shark to shore. They pulled out the hooks and they sent it back out to sea.

PEREIRA: They sent a message, though, because that's what I used to do with wasps in the swimming pool. I would save them because they would go and send a message to the other wasps that this is a friendly sort.

CAMEROTA: I like that.

PEREIRA: But hammerheads, they aren't usually predators. I mean, sharks generally don't go after humans. But this kind of shark, does it come after humans? Do we hear --

CUOMO: It is not known as one of the more human aggressive ones like bull sharks or something.

PEREIRA: I'm asking a fishing expert. CUOMO: I had a very bad experience with a shark that was recently

posted on my Instagram. Wasps are the opposite. I kill a wasp and I leave it there to send a message to the other ones.

PEREIRA: How about that? How about this guy?

OK, we have to talk about weather, because there are some extreme stuff going on here. Folks in Northern Rockies, into the Northern Plains, they are bracing for severe storms. Heat advisories are taking effect from Louisiana to Georgia.

So, let's get to our meteorologist Chad Myers. Extreme is kind of the word, isn't it, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right in the middle of the dog days of summer, 115 is what some heat indexes will feel like today in Oklahoma, 88 will be the high in Atlanta today, but it will feel much warmer.

My air conditioner will be fixed on Monday. That's the good news. My dog is saying to me, you rescued me and are making me sit here in this 100-degree house. Why don't you take me back to the shelter where it's cool?

Eighty-five in New York, 88 in D.C. today, and it warms up in D.C. But the cold front is coming. It will be better. Obviously, this is the hottest part of year, July 21st on average somewhere right at the hottest part. The waters are the warmest, the humidity is the highest, so if you're hot and I know most of you are out there, it gets better from here.

The Great Lakes and Northern Plains still doing very well, a couple showers. The storms could get all the way down to North Texas and northern parts of Florida today. Some of those storms could be partly severe, at least possibly severe.

I'll take the showers because they cool off the atmosphere, guys. Take that.

PEREIRA: Some of us need some rain, too.

CUOMO: You can always take a shower. Always take a shower.

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: That's the message we take from that.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Thanks, Chad.

Well, Donald Trump has rocked the Republican race and we are sitting down with some of his biggest supporters to find out what they love. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK. Show of hands, how many people on election day plan to vote for Donald Trump?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: All right. We will take the pulse of Trump's people, next. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:49:00] CAMEROTA: We do have some breaking political news now. "The Hill", a political newspaper, is reporting that Donald Trump is threatening a third party run for president, especially if, he says, the RNC does not support him, he will consider running in a third party.

So, what is it about Donald Trump that is striking such a core with voters that's leading him in the polls?

Well, we went to the historic Palace Theater in Stanford, Connecticut, and we sat down with a group of his supporters to find out what it is that is so inspiring about Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Sean, what do you like about Donald Trump?

SEAN VAN ANGLEN, REPUBLICAN: Well, I like that he gets results and isn't just talk.

CAMEROTA: Paula?

PAUL JOHNSON, REPUBLICAN: I like that he's not a politician. I am tired of politicians. I'm tired of sugar coating that they tell us they are going to fix this economy. I believe Mr. Trump really wants to make America great again.

CAMEROTA: Susan?

SUSAN DELEMUS, REPUBLICAN: He says what he means. I honestly believe he's telling the truth.

CAMEROTA: Jerry, what do you like?

JERRY DELEMUS, REPUBLICAN: Our country is in terrible economic condition. And middle class Americans have been decimated really over the last 30 years.

[06:50:02] Donald Trump has taken failed companies and businesses and turned them around to make a profit. And he has the complete ability to be able to do that.

CAMEROTA: Ryan, what do you like?

RYAN GIRDUSKY, REPUBLICAN: His immigration policy. I think immigration is the most important issue facing our country today.

CAMEROTA: What do you think is Donald Trump's immigration policy? GIRDUSKY: Certainly to crack down on sanctuary cities. I don't think

that Katherine Steinle's death would not have gotten the coverage it did had Donald Trump not speaking about those.

CAMEROTA: Were you all comfortable with what he said about Mexicans? That's the controversial thing, where he said, they're not sending their best and their brightest, they're sending criminals, they're sending rapists?

J. DELEMUS: He didn't say Mexican, he said Mexico. And his point was that Mexico is outmaneuvering us. And they are outmaneuvering us. I mean, what other country in the world doesn't allow that immigration to come across the border?

CAMEROTA: Jeff, what do you like about Donald Trump?

JEFF GOOLSBY, REPUBLICAN: The fact that he's a businessman. The fact that he's a developer. The fact that he's a straight shooter. The fact when he goes into the boardroom, he has to make something happen.

CAMEROTA: So, you call him a straight shooter. Some people say he shoots from the hip. He just this week called Senator Lindsey Graham an idiot.

J. DELEMUS: It's true, it's true. He's an idiot.

CAMEROTA: Is it presidential?

JOHNSON: Well, what is presidential anymore? I mean, we have a president sitting in the White House right now. He's taken so many vacations that's costing the taxpayers dollars. What has he done for America?

Donald Trump will take us above and that make America the way we once were. We'll be great again.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about where some people believe he's flip- flopped. He previously was in support of universal health care. Today he says Obamacare is a total disaster. Does that bother anybody?

J. DELEMUS: I think it's right.

JOHNSON: He is.

J. DELEMUS: But Obamacare is a disaster. There are a lot of doctors being pushed out of the market place because they cannot afford it.

CAMEROTA: Does it bother you he previously was for universal health care?

J. DELEMUS: We all have the ability. Our minds are a great thing. We have the ability to learn and to change and to adjust. Certainly, Donald Trump has got that ability down to a science.

CAMEROTA: So, you see it as adaptability, not flip-flop. J. DELEMUS: Exactly right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right.

CAMEROTA: I want to ask you about the comments Donald Trump made about John McCain and about his POW status. Some took offense and said when Donald Trump said, "I prefer people who don't get captured", that he issued a slight unintentionally offensive remark to all POWs.

How do you feel about those comments?

VAN ANGLEN: I think that's taking it a little bit too far. Firs of all, Mr. Trump did say four times that McCain was a war hero. And again, he was a war hero, yes, he said what he said, but I think that the media and everyone is only playing that one clip.

CAMEROTA: Jerry, you are a veteran. You are a marine. What did you think about the POW comment?

J. DELEMUS: I think his lack of respect for McCain is actually sitting more as a sitting senator, more so than as a veteran. And as a marine, we like guys that don't get captured, too. I don't think he meant that as an insult to POWs or the military at all.

S. DELEMUS: But don't forget, McCain insulting the crazies.

JOHNSON: That's right.

J. DELEMUS: Which was --

S. DELEMUS: Which was a blanket insult for people who would support Trump.

CAMEROTA: Who are people who are those going to the Trump route.

(CROSSTALK)

JOHNSON: Exactly. And how do you know how many military people -- my husband is a Vietnam vet. And after I told my husband what Mr. Trump said, my husband said, I love him.

CAMEROTA: So, you took more offense at John McCain calling the Trump supporters crazies because there may have been some veterans.

J. DELEMUS: There are definitely would have been veterans in there.

CAMEROTA: OK. Show of hands, how many people on election day plan to vote for Donald Trump?

Undecided?

GIRDUSKY: I'm undecided. You know, I could see myself voting for him and then if somebody else comes along to care about my issues and my positions, then I can see myself voting for them, too.

Donald Trump has to bring to the table now actual policies. GOOLSBY: I'm like Ryan, I want to see the policies, I want to know what they're about. I want to see that it is fairness for people that -- you know, I understand that a lot of what Trump is saying is a little bombastic, it's a little put on, it's for entertainment, it's a lot of show person in there.

So, I'm waiting to see what the real policies are going to look like and what he's going to say moving forward.

CAMEROTA: We had hoped on this panel to have it be more ethnically and racially diverse. We tried very hard to reach out to African- Americans and to Hispanics, and though Connecticut where we are is 14 percent Hispanic, we couldn't find anyone who wanted to come on and support Donald Trump.

Do you imagine Hispanics coming around to support Donald Trump?

J. DELEMUS: Trump is playing to America, not playing to a minority of one group to another. He's just saying it as he sees it. He's not saying, well, I better speak this way because there are more Hispanics in this crowd.

GOOLSBY: It's a huge problem that everyone is tip-toeing around and he brought the conversation back.

[06:55:02] I think, again, he's brought it back and brought it back on himself to where Americans can talk about -- Republicans, you know, if all these candidates are just pandering and hoping to get these Hispanic votes, I think it doesn't do them or anyone in this country, I think it does them a disservice.

CAMEROTA: Well, what do you think of the theatrics in the race that Trump has brought to the table?

S. DELEMUS: Politics is theatrics. You have to tell people who you are.

GOOLSBY: And whether you like him or hate him or whether you agree with him, or disagree with him, he puts on one hell of a show.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: That's what it comes down to for a lot of people, right? Show.

CAMEROTA: Well, for them. I mean, they all had something different as you heard that you like about Donald Trump. But the common denominator was they like his passion, and they believe that he will make America great again. And that is what he is talking about.

PEREIRA: You also said something you were talking about before the show, the notion of we're tired of the old way. And he's really grasping onto that thing that a lot of American voters are feeling. Like that's not working, let's try something else.

CUOMO: He's certainly capturing a movement, whether he is the right messenger for it or not, as the one young man said what the policies are. But I think what he's benefiting for the most, I was talking notes to it, well-done -- is that they are so angry that politicians and so angry at the lack of movement on big issues that Trump is benefited from talk about what they are angry about.

The irony is they are mad at politicians, saying what people want to hear, and yet Trump is doing that more than anybody else. He's telling people exactly what they want to hear. This stinks, that stinks, they think, but we are really great. And that's what they want to hear. The question will be, like the young man said, how will he get it done?

CAMEROTA: Yes, sure, exactly. There are two undecided and waiting for more specifics. You might hear some today.

What is your take? Please tweet us using #CNNNewDay, or post your comment on Facebook.com/NewDay. I would love to hear your feedback.

We are following a lot of news this morning. Let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: New details in the Sandra Bland death investigation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have an initial report that she did have quantity of marijuana in her system.

POLICE OFFICER: Get out of the car!

SANDRA BLAND: And you --

POLICE OFFICER: I will let you up. Get out!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police released another version of the dashcam video of Bland's arrest attempting to clear up the visible anomalies.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm infuriated.

TRUMP: I just saw polls in Iowa saying I'm doing really well.

COOPER: The Quinnipiac poll is showing voters --

TRUMP: I don't know. You keep bringing up negative polling. All I know is every poll I'm leading in.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: It's a choice between good deal and a terrible deal.

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: I would make the world safer. Absence of ay viable of any alternative absolutely underscores that fact.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: We are going to do everything possible to stop it.

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

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: And good morning, everyone. Welcome back to your NEW DAY.

We have a bit of breaking political news this morning. The political newspaper "The Hill" reporting that Donald Trump is considering and threatening a third party run if the RNC is not, quote, "fair" to him during the primary season. This move would seriously threaten the GOP's chances of winning the White House in 2016.

CUOMO: Announcement comes as Trump is expected to tour the U.S./Mexico border today following the firestorm he ignited with divisive remarks about Mexican immigrants.

Chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash tracking trump live from Laredo, Texas.

Dana, this is meaningful about the third party because polls show he takes a much bigger bite out of Jeb Bush as a considered GOP favorite than he would out of Hillary Clinton as the Democrat favorite in a three-way race.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. For weeks Republicans I have been talking to privately say they are very concerned about the Ross Perot scenario, which is exactly like you described, when Ross Perot ran in 1992, he took enough votes away from the Republican president that the Democrat Bill Clinton won.

Now Donald Trump said many times including to our own Anderson Cooper that he is not ruling out a third party run, but in this article he takes it a little further and is more specific saying that he won't rule it out. The Republican national committee continues to be unfair to him.

And you remember we reported that the RNC on Monday or over the weekend put out a statement very harshly critical of Donald Trump. And it's noteworthy that it is a pretty rare thing for the Republican national Committee, which is supposed to be and is neutral in any primary race to come out to criticize a candidate for comments.

So that, I think, these comments are on the heels of that statement from the Republican national committee. Now, all of this is on the backdrop of where I am and where Donald Trump is going to come later today. It is the border between the United States and Mexico of Laredo being a place quite active. That's part of the reason he's coming here.

Another reason is because the head of the local border patrol union has been pretty active about asking politicians to come down.