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Poll: 2016 Race Tightens in Iowa for Both Parties; Execution- Style Killing of Texas Deputy at Gas Station; Thai Shrine Bombing: Police Raid Second Apartment; ISIS on a Rampage Destroying Antiquities. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired August 31, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: -- favorability numbers.

[08:00:01] And on Democratic side, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders now within striking distance of Hillary Clinton.

Let's begin our coverage with CNN's Athena Jones live in Washington on -- let's start with GOP field -- Athena.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

Well, this poll is showing the outsider candidates, folks who have never held elected office are gaining ground. Trump at 23 percent, Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon right behind him.

Who is in third? It's Scott Walker, the Wisconsin governor. They're gaining ground at the expense of politicians like him.

I think we have another graph we can put up on the screen that shows that Scott Walker was in the lead in Iowa. It's a neighboring state, after all for months. He has sagged as Trump and Carson have surged.

Other so-called top-tier candidates not looking so good in Iowa right now are Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio of Florida.

I should mention a lot of Trump's strength is coming from Tea Party activists and also first-time caucus-goers. And this is interesting because as echoes of 2008 Barack Obama drew a lot of new folks into the caucus system back in 2008 and was able to score a big win there in Iowa.

Trump is hoping he can do the same thing and those new favorability numbers, much better than in may could help him do that. You see there now 61 percent of caucus-goers have a favorable view of him versus 35 percent unfavorable. That is a huge shift from May, and this after all the controversial comments that he's made. He's clearly striking a chord with voters -- Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, essentially flipping those favorability numbers. Really interesting to watch that, Athena. Thank you.

Meanwhile, the latest polling shows Bernie Sanders cutting Hillary Clinton's once commanding lead in Iowa to single digits. Should the Clinton camp be concerned? Could it spur Vice President Biden to jump into the economic race?

Michelle Kosinski looking at this for us from the White House.

Good morning, Michelle.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Michaela. Right. These polls just keep getting interestinger (ph) and interestinger (ph), right? I mean, this latest one shows Sanders only 7 percentage points away from Hillary Clinton. It's a poll in Iowa likely Democratic voters. Clinton with 37 percent. Sanders now 30. And Vice President Joe Biden, the guy not in the race yet, 14 percent.

So, what this means is that Clinton has seen about a third of her supporters go away just in the last couple of months. Biden's though, have nearly doubled. And Sanders meanwhile keeps trying to distance himself from Clinton policy-wise. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe we should expand Social Security by lifting the cap on taxable income. That's not Hillary Clinton's position. I believe that we've got to raise the minimum wage over a period of several years to 15 bucks an hour. Not Hillary Clinton's position. I voted against the war in Iraq. Hillary Clinton voted for it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSINSKI: So, who has the highest favorability rating right now? It looks like Biden. And also, if he were to jump into the race, he's going to be pulling votes from both Clinton and sanders about equally -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right. Michelle, thanks for all of that.

Let's get back to Donald Trump. He's dominating the field in Iowa. But the biggest headline, of course, is that remarkable reversal on the favorability rate in Iowa. Let's look at the difference between May and now. In just three months, his favorability turning around from 27 percent to 61 percent.

So, joining me to discuss all things Trump is executive vice president for the Trump organization and special counsel to Donald Trump, Michael Cohen.

Michael, great to see you.

MICHAEL COHEN, SPECIAL COUNSEL TO DONALD TRUMP: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: You must be happy to look at the favorability ratings.

COHEN: I'm sure Mr. Trump is very happy.

CAMEROTA: I'm sure he is. So, isn't it time given that he's at the top of every Republican poll, isn't it time for Mr. Trump to rule out a third party run? Obviously, he's winning among Republicans.

COHEN: Yes, I don't know why they keep talking about it. Right now --

CAMEROTA: Because he hasn't ruled it out.

COHEN: He's leading in every poll that's come out. There's not as one turns around and says, well, somebody else, then he and somebody -- he's lead in every single poll that's out there. He will be the Republican nominee.

So, there's no point of even talking about it. All he's asking for, and all he's ever talked about is if they treat him fairly, which they are. He's talked about it over the course of the past weekend. If they treat him fairly, he will rule out.

CAMEROTA: OK. As of today, has he ruled out any third party run?

COHEN: That you're going to have to ask Mr. Trump. Only he can sign the oath. But he's made it clear if they treat him fairly, he has no intention of doing anything to damage the Republican Party.

CAMEROTA: I mean, he has to definitively say one way or another soon, yes?

COHEN: According to the Republican Party.

CAMEROTA: So you believe today there will be no third party run?

COHEN: I do believe that.

CAMEROTA: OK. There's a CNN.com article that is interesting about how some GOP strategists are not comfortable with what they believe Trump is doing to the party. In fact, they are looking for ways to perhaps put chinks in the armor. They say that they might even start anti-Trump PACs to have some anti-Trump TV ads.

[08:05:05] COHEN: What a shocker.

CAMEROTA: So --

COHEN: What a shocker. They've been attacking Mr. Trump since the first day that he announced. Whether it was the fake Mexican comment, which was Mexico whether, whether it was anti-veteran as a result with John McCain. They even attacked him based upon his religious conviction. When he was saying, oh, I have a little wine with my cracker.

A person's belief in how they deal with their god is their position and it's their right to worship any way they want. They attack him on every thing they do.

Let me tell you why they're losing. Mr. Trump's mantra, he'll do what's good for the United States and what's good for every American. That's the sentiment that he takes into Iowa. That's the sentiment he takes into New Hampshire. And everywhere he goes and that's why he's appealing.

CAMEROTA: Is there concerned in the campaign that they will dig up some sort of dirt and it will get harder if they do?

COHEN: Mr. Trump has been in the spotlight for over 30 some odd years. There's no dirt. There's no dirt that hasn't been already talked about ad nauseam.

CAMEROTA: Interesting disclaimer. So there is dirt but obviously he's a public figure.

COHEN: There's a lot of dirt. The guy has built over 30 million feet of space in New York alone. Yes, there's quite a bit of dirt.

CAMEROTA: I like that play of words.

Speaking of dirt, let's talk about something that Mr. Trump has tweeted just this morning. It appears to be an attack on Hillary Clinton, but he's attacking her by one of her chief aides, Huma Abedin, who is married to Anthony Wiener -- obviously, we all know a former congressman here.

So, let me read to you what he says, just within the past hour I think, "Huma Abedin, the top aide to Hillary Clinton and the wife of perv sleazebag Anthony, was a major security risk as a collector of info."

Is this fair, Michael? Is this fair to go after a candidate's aide and a candidate's aide's spouse?

COHEN: OK. What Mr. Trump is talking about is clearly Servergate, and Hillary -- it's very interesting that they keep focusing on Donald Trump in terms of third party. Why are they not focusing on what happened to the deleted e-mails?

CAMEROTA: A lot of people are asking about that. The press is talking about her server.

COHEN: They need to. They need to talk about it. They need to actually -- they need to release the information.

You know, we're talking about classified information for national -- potential national security. That's out there in the hands of the Russians, the Chinese, the Iraqis. All right?

If they can hack into the Pentagon, believe me, they can hack into a server that is in somebody's bathroom.

CAMEROTA: Sure. Look, the people are obviously looking into what is on the server and there are investigations. But are family members fair game?

COHEN: Family members should be off limits. Let's not forget about week ago they started to attack Mr. Trump's children, as well, which I thought what was somewhat despicable.

CAMEROTA: Who is they?

COHEN: Well, the media as well as some of the other candidates started to the attack Mr. Trump's children. But putting all that aside.

CAMEROTA: But Mr. Trump is the one here who's going after a family member of Hillary's aides. I mean, you're saying it should be off limits.

COHEN: You're talking about Anthony Weiner?

CAMEROTA: I'm talking about Huma Abedin. Is she responsible? I mean, she's not a sleazebag.

COHEN: We don't know. By the way you don't know what her responsibility was. It's almost like a gag order that has been placed on all of Servergate as it relates to Hillary.

CAMEROTA: Yes, again, is going through Huma and bringing up the checkered past of her husband, is that OK? Is that fair game?

COHEN: This is politics. All is fair in love and war. It appears every time they want to attack Mr. Trump, then it's fair game. When he takes a little shot back then, all of a sudden, it's you've crossed the boundaries.

Donald Trump has been a counter punch throughout the process since June. It is interesting is they -- what they do is they look to the one word and try to create an entire story out of it. So here, again, he puts out a tweet. We don't know what caused him to put out the tweet. Actually, I'll ask him when I get to the office and call you later.

CAMEROTA: But, obviously, you don't Hillary Clinton going after your wife. The spouse of an aide --

COHEN: My wife is a very good lady.

CAMEROTA: Thank you. And I'm sure that Huma Abedin, you know, feels maybe it's below the belt, no pun intended, to go after her spouse.

COHEN: Maybe, maybe.

CAMEROTA: Let's look at another poll. This is one on which Donald Trump is not on top. This is the favorability among Hispanic voters. At the moment, he gets 14 percent favorable, as you see on your screen, 65 percent unfavorable. All sorts of pundits crunched the numbers believe he cannot win without winning over a large portion of the Hispanic voters.

COHEN: I don't agree with that poll at all.

[08:10:00] And actually, we've seen other polling information that has Mr. Trump significantly leading in the Latino communities.

CAMEROTA: What polls are those?

COHEN: Including in Nevada, where he's over 40 some odd percent. We do our own sort of internal investigation as well. What I believe, again, going back to his mantra, "Making America great again," legal -- this is something that the liberal media takes completely out of proportion.

We're not talking about immigrants. Mr. Trump's wife is an immigrant. Basically his son is a, you know, first generation. He's not anti-immigrant. He's anti-illegal immigrant. And the cost to the United States for this illegal immigrant problem is enormous. That's just one issue that Mr. Trump talks about.

CAMEROTA: When you say the cost to the United States is enormous. Lots of strategists say that illegal immigrants often pay taxes, they pay property taxes, they pay federal taxes, they pay state taxes. In fact, they pay more into the country than the services that they take from the country.

COHEN: And I would say that's probably a self-serving document and I don't agree with it at all. What we do also know that illegal immigrants cost more money for health care than what we give to our veterans, another issue that Mr. Trump brought to the forefront.

Look, let me put it this way -- the guy is who he is. He's this brilliant negotiator, this deal maker, I've had the great fortune of sitting across the desk from him and watching as he made some of the greatest deals.

What he wants to do is he wants to do that for this country. He wants to do it for all Americans. If he's given the chance, which I believe he will, I think you're going to see a totally different United States of America.

CAMEROTA: Michael Cohen, great to have you on NEW DAY.

And just a reminder. the next Republican debate is just a little more than two weeks away. Be sure to watch it here on CNN. This is Wednesday, September 16th. Set your dials now.

John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, you bet I have already! Thanks, Alisyn.

The sheriff calls it a cold-blooded execution. Harris County, Texas Deputy Darren Goforth shot in the back and killed Friday as he filled his patrol car with gas. Thirty-year-old Shannon Miles is in custody, charged with capital murder and due in court hours from now. The sheriff says he believes the deputy was targeted just because he was wearing a uniform.

CNN's Ed Lavandera live in Houston with the very latest -- Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

While we await the appearance of Shannon Miles in the courtroom here in downtown Houston, even though officials say they believe a lot has to do with anti-police rhetoric, an official motive or specific motive still hasn't been released.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Nearly 1,500 people marched in honor of slain Texas Deputy Darren Goforth Sunday, as the motive behind his execution-style killing remains a mystery this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're also asking for donations of blue ribbon.

LAVANDERA: The Houston suburb community where he worked banding together. It has raised more than $120,000 over the weekend in support of his wife and two young children.

BRIAN MCCULLAR, FUNDRAISER ORGANIZER: I would the family to know and they know he was already a hero even before all of this. He was a person that felt like he could make a difference.

LAVANDERA: The suspect 30-year-old Shannon Miles is scheduled to appear in court today, after gunning down the 47-year-old deputy in what police say was an unprovoked attack. Authorities say the uniform deputy was refueling his patrol car Friday night at this chevron gas station when Miles, caught on surveillance video came up mind him and opened fire.

DEPUTY THOMAS GILLILAND, HARRIS COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: The suspect continued over to him and shot the deputy again multiple times as he lay on the ground.

LAVANDERA: Police say there is currently no evidence they ever crossed paths. The sheriff suggests the killing could be related to the uprising against police brutality.

SHERIFF RON HICKMAN, HARRIS COUNTY, TEXAS: We've heard black lives matter. All lives matter. Well, cops lives matter, too. Why don't we drop the qualifier and say lives matter and take that to the bank?

LAVANDERA: The wife of the 10-year veteran released a statement calling her husband an "intricate blend of toughness and gentility" who was guided by "the right thing to do".

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are a few bad apples in every profession. It doesn't mean there should be open warfare declared on law enforcement. The vast majority of officers are there to do the right thing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: And Shannon Miles has a long criminal history dating back over the course of the last ten years. Nothing that rises to the level of this, capital murder, which here in the state of Texas, Alisyn, as you well know, he could now face the death penalty.

CAMEROTA: OK. Ed, thanks so much for all of that.

Meanwhile, there are new details in the investigation into the Bangkok shrine bombing.

[08:15:00] Thai police say they had discovered bomb-making materials including fertilizer, gun powder, and digital clocks when they raided a second apartment just outside the capital. One man was arrested Saturday and police are looking for more suspects.

CNN's Saima Mohsin joins us with the latest -- Saima.

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, police have identified a young woman just 26 years old. They showed a photograph of her. She's wearing a hijab. They believe her a husband woman who has rented out this apartment. But they say several other people may have lived there.

Now, police tell us that they have been questioning the woman's mother in the south of Thailand and she has told police that this woman, Wanna Suansun, 26 years old fled Thailand two months ago. She left Thailand two months ago and went to be with her husband.

Now, there was a second man identified as well. This time not a photograph it's a police sketch, again. This man is not identified as being a relative it's not her husband. But they are looking for him, too. We don't know where he is.

As you mentioned on Saturday they arrested a man. Initially we thought he was the main suspect, that man seen in the yellow T-shirt and CCTV footage deliberately taking off his backpack and leaving it inside the shrine and then walking out. Well, police say that he is not the main suspect, but he is believed to be involved in the dreadful bombing that has 20 people dead, more than 120 insured -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: Saima with some big developments there -- thank you so much for that.

Meanwhile, there are reports this morning that ISIS has destroyed parts of the most important temple in the Syrian city of Palmyra. ISIS has been going quite a rampage in the city, releasing photos last week of the terror group destroying another ancient temple.

Senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen joins us, following the story for us from London -- Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning.

And this is the Temple of Bel which is from the first century after Christ. This is built around the time that Jesus Christ actually walked in that area of the Middle East. And for about two millennia, it was the sign really in that area of religious tolerance.

And now, it follow, if this is confirmed, it appears as though ISIS will have destroyed most of it. And we have yet to be able to confirm whether or not they have actually destroyed it. We're waiting on satellite images that we're expecting to get in a couple of hours to see whether or not this is all true and whether or not ISIS has destroyed it.

It's interesting because a couple of weeks ago, I was in Damascus and I talked to the head of the archeologist there. He expected something like this, because he says every time ISIS wants attention they go and they destroy something ancient or they commit some sort of a massacre. He said it's their way of getting publicity, because the sad thing is while you and I and us are outrage by something like this. Every time ISIS destroys ancient goods like this, they tend to get new recruits that go to places like Syria and Iraq.

So, again at this point in time, we're waiting to see if this is true. But if in face, ISIS did destroy the Temp of Bel, archaeologists say this was one of the most important archaeological sites not just in Syria but in the entire world -- guys.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: There's so much loss on so many levels. Fred Pleitgen, thank you so much.

A hiker rescued after nine days stranded in California Sierra National Forest is exhausted but in good spirits. Search and rescue teams found 62-year-old Miyuki Harwood over the weekend, not far from where she'd become separated from her companions during what was supposed to be a day hike. She had no food but she had a water filter. And lucky for her, a whistle which helped rescuers locate here.

PEREIRA: Nine days, you know, so often the stories have a different outcome.

BERMAN: A long time.

PEREIRA: A long time.

CAMEROTA: The water filter made all the difference, and she's able to obviously survive.

That's just incredible.

PEREIRA: Quite a story.

CAMEROTA: Doing both those things at all times with you.

PEREIRA: Yes, right.

CAMEROTA: Even here.

All right. Meanwhile, donations are pouring in for the Texas deputy that was ambushed and killed as he gassed up his patrol car. We are talking to the man that trained Deputy Darren Goforth. That's coming right up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:22:48] HICKMAN: The district attorney's office accepted capital murder charges on Shannon J. Miles, a black male, 9/15/84. It gives us some peace knowing that this individual is no longer at large and that he wasn't somebody that would be targeting the rest of the community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: That was Sheriff Ron Hickman of the Harris County Police Department in Texas. The community there shattered over the weekend when a man approached a deputy from behind at a gas station, shooting and killing him at point-blank range. Police are trying to discern a motive for the heinous crime. The murder suspect is set to appear in court hours from now.

Joining us right now is Deputy Sheriff Bob Goeritz. He also the president of the Harris County deputies organization and we should point out, Deputy Goforth's patrol instructor and he joins us this morning from Houston.

First of all, our condolences, sir, on the loss of someone that you knew well. I understand you had a chance to speak with his family. How is his wife bearing up? How are you doing?

DEPUTY SHERIFF BOB GOERITZ, PRESIDENT, HARRIS COUNTY DEPUTIES ORGANIZATION: His wife is doing extremely well. She's devastated, obviously, but she's a very strong woman. Very outspoken.

PEREIRA: I want you to tell us -- I want you to tell us a little bit about Deputy Goforth, because I understand you were his training instructor. I understand he came to law enforcement a little later in life.

GOERITZ: Yes, ma'am, he did come in -- he came in his 30s when he came in. He was -- we don't normally see somebody that age. We normally see them in their 20s. So, he was a little bit above the age time.

PEREIRA: What kind of deputy was he?

GOERITZ: He was very motivated. Very dedicated. He was one of those kind of people he would always strive through things. If he was hurt or injured it didn't matter. He would keep on going. He was a strong-willed individual.

PEREIRA: What is the community saying? I know there was a candle light walk and prayer vigil last night. What are you hearing from the people in the community?

GOERITZ: I was out there at the vigil last night, and it was very amazing and refreshing to see young children, parents, all different parts of the community coming up and they were hugging us, shaking our hands, thanking us for our service.

[08:25:09] And it was quite amazing to us. We just don't normally see that. We don't get to see that side of the community very often.

PEREIRA: Well, normally, let's be honest, your job is to serve and protect and be out there. Oftentimes you have to comfort community members when violence has befallen somebody in their circle. This time it is you.

How is the department bearing up? What is the conversation that is going on with your colleagues?

GOERITZ: The conversation is basically we're telling each other to be more vigil. We were already somewhat on alert ahead of this, but now, we've become -- everybody is kind of on edge, somewhat, anywhere they go in public.

PEREIRA: Which is really a sad statement of the state of things. I want to ask you about that. You've been a deputy a long time, if I'm correct, I think it's been about 25 years. Am I right?

GOERITZ: Yes, ma'am just over 25 years now.

PEREIRA: How have things changed? What have you seen in terms of maybe in the environment in the community? What do you notice has changed in terms of law enforcement?

GOERITZ: The paperwork has certainly increased. Electronic age has caught up with us, but it's a little bit different way of policing than when I first started. There's a lot more scrutiny among every single item you do instead of -- there's no leeway hardly at all anymore with anything. Any error that is made, it instantly comes to light. And it handcuffs a lot of guys because as a new officer when they come out it's difficult for them to do exactly right 100 percent of the time

PEREIRA: Well, it certainly wasn't a case about this. From what we can tell, this officer was merely pumping gas in his patrol car. He was just doing what any person has done a number of times, if you're a car owner. It would appear he's been ambushed.

Can you give us any indication, anymore into the investigation? Are we any closer to understanding what even possible motive there could have been here?

GOERITZ: The investigators themselves in the homicide division are staying very tight-lipped about the investigation because of this -- I'm making sure that nothing leaks out that is not correct.

But it appears on his face it was just -- he was murdered in cold blood just because he was wearing a uniform and badge.

PEREIRA: The sheriff there essentially pinned this -- granted, I can imagine he was speaking a moment of passion. He essentially pinned it on the Black Lives Matter movement.

I'm curious what you think of that. So often we hear law enforcement caution us the media to not quickly jump to conclusions until the course of the investigation played out. What is your reaction to what the sheriff said?

GOERITZ: I support Sheriff Hickman with his point of view, but he's correct. This thing about black lives matter or blue lives matter -- no, he's correct. It's just lives.

That's what we do is we go out there and we protect the citizens of our community and we can careless if they're purple, green, orange we don't care what color they are. That's what we're sworn to do.

PEREIRA: All right. Well, we send our condolences to you and your department.

Deputy Sheriff Bob Goeritz, thank so much you for joining us to remember your friend, you colleague, Darren Goforth. Thanks so much for joining us today.

GOERITZ: Thank you, ma'am.

PEREIRA: Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Well, thanks, Michaela.

E.U. officials holding an emergency meeting on their response to the ongoing migration crisis. Is enough being done to stem this growing humanitarian disaster? Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright joins us next.

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