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Hurricane Joaquin Possibly Headed Towards U.S.; Russia Conducts Air Strikes in Syria; Interview with Senator John McCain; Report: Secret Service Official Tried to Smear Congressman; Trump: I'm Going to be Doing a Lot of Cutting. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired October 01, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: So where is Joaquin heading? CNN has complete coverage this morning for you beginning with meteorologist Chad Myers at the CNN Center. What do the models say now?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It appears now that the models are taking it farther off shore, agreeing with yesterday's European model that kept it completely off shore. But the storm right now is over the Bahamas and it is going to stay there 24-48 hours before it even really begins its turn to the north.

Is it toward northwest or is it towards the northeast? Models still disagree. But still, it is going to turn. So 140 miles per hour wind potential here in the Bahamas for 24 hours will do significant damage to that island nation there, even the northern Turks and Caicos.

Look at what this model, the hurricane has actually done. This is why the model can't figure out what it's doing. It's wiggled around back and forth, back and forth in no real significant straight line direction. Finally later on today it will get something. It will begin to turn to the right and the north.

Notice the new model, this is the new Hurricane Center forecast from 5:00 a.m. has it here now just about Atlantic City. But it could be all the way from West Virginia to almost halfway to Bermuda. And now it looks like more of the models are taking it closer and closer to Bermuda.

With landfall or not, guys, this is going to be a flood maker. Five to 10 inches of rainfall from the Virginias to the Carolinas, maybe even many inches, three to five inches, in Atlanta, Georgia, with all of this. Even if it misses, there is so much moisture still coming in, so much tropical moisture, it feels like -- you walk outside here in Atlanta it feels like you are walking outside in Nassau. Or it feels like you are in the Caribbean somewhere. It's just that thick. And that moisture is going to fall out of the sky as rain. And our Victor Blackwell is feeling the rain right now in Virginia Beach. And it is going to rain for days.

CAMEROTA: He sure is, Chad. We'll check in with him because much of the east coast on high alert ahead of hurricane Joaquin. Virginia's governor declaring a state of emergency as the federal government prepares this morning. So let's go to CNN's Victor Blackwell. He's live from Virginia Beach with that part of the story. What is it like where you are, Victor?

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Alisyn, we're in a bit of a loll here in the rain. But let's be clear, this is the exception. There is rain to the south of us across much of Virginia and in North Carolina, rain to the north of us, and there are flood watches across most of this area all up into the mid-Atlantic region, up into Massachusetts and Maine as well as everyone looked ahead to the weekend and what Joaquin could bring if it makes the turn to the coast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: This morning, the east coast drenched and on high alert. Coastal states from Virginia up to Maine soaked by rain ahead of hurricane Joaquin's expected landfall. Virginia already sopping in torrent of down pours caused by moisture rich air coming from the Gulf of Mexico, the governor declaring a the state of emergency.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll be putting sandbags together tomorrow morning, having those ready.

BLACKWELL: Heavy rainfall causing widespread flooding across the coast dropping more than 10 inches of rain in some states. Parts of Maryland passable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looked like a freaking river is what it looks like.

BLACKWELL: Homes damaged in Maine, this daycare center destroyed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In a matter of ten minutes we were completely under water with a couple inches of standing water in the hallways.

BLACKWELL: Massachusetts pounded by record-breaking rainfall.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think there are a lot of water-logged people walking around our city.

BLACKWELL: Flooding so intense that this woman had to be rescued from her flooded car. And the driver of this tractor-trailer dead after it flipped on the highway.

As Joaquin brews in the Atlantic, FEMA at the ready, President Obama briefed about the storm on Wednesday, Joaquin already registering sustained winds of 120 miles per hour. An ominous sign for New England still haunted and recovering from the devastating damage left by another October hurricane, Sandy, just three years ago. Flood weary residents hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is what it is. Can't do nothing about it. If it comes, it comes. And if it don't, it don't.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Now, I just wanted to flip the camera around and show you. I don't know if you can see down here on the boardwalk. There is a woman who just walked out. She is in her wedding dress there with a man in tuxedo. I'm assuming it is her husband there. But just an illustration of people making the best of what's here. Of course we know that the wind has picked up and it's been sustained here. That is causing beach erosion. That natural barrier that typically would protect property here will be gone by the time Joaquin makes that turn if it comes in this direction. But, as we know, people are preparing for whatever comes, hopefully not as bad as it could be if it turns into the coast. Michaela?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: You maybe need to go down and find out if that young woman is getting married this weekend because they may need to come up with an alternate plan, Victor, and maybe you even can get online credential and maybe marry them or something.

[08:05:03] BLACKWELL: You bet I'm going to ask a couple of questions.

PEREIRA: I know you will. The key is stay tuned, stay prepared, and stay alert. We appreciate it, Victor.

Some other news for you. Russia confirming it launched a new round of air strikes in Syria saying they hit ISIS targets. The White House, though, suspects that the Russians are really attacking the enemies of Syrian President Assad, which includes rebel forces backed by the U.S. We get the latest now from CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr. Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela. That is the big concern is the Russians announced a short time ago additional air strikes in Syria. The U.S. remaining very concerned that what the Russians are really doing is striking anti-regime areas so they can prop up Bashar al-Assad, not ISIS. The Russians claim ISIS. They say the new strikes against ISIS target, ammo dumps, other key terrorist targets, perhaps remaining to be seen.

The next step here is what will happen between the Russian military and the U.S. military. We are told those talks could begin as soon as later today for both to sit down in some fashion and talk about how to make sure as pilots fly in the skies over Syria, they are kept safe.

You know, I think we can assume at this point, if it happens today it is going to be a video teleconference between both military forces because nobody is traveling to a third city. But U.S. officials are telling us they feel very confident U.S. pilots can be kept safe, that pilots in the air will know where the Russians are and they can largely stay out of their way. Back to you guys.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Barbara, thanks so much for all of that. Also breaking overnight, the Afghan government says its forces have retaken control over the city of Kunduz from the Taliban, though the fighting continues against pockets of insurgents hiding in residential areas. U.S. forces are providing air support. Now, a Taliban spokesman claimed via tweet that Afghan forces have been pushed back. Chris?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, and when we're looking at Afghanistan it raises the specter of concern of what the future of Syria will be. Are we heading to another war there that involves more U.S. involvement? Certainly one of the men is very concerned about what's happening in Syria, specifically with Russia's new involvement, Senator John McCain. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: This is the inevitable consequence of hollow words, red lines crossed, tarnished moral influence, leading from behind, and a total lack of American leadership.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Joining us now is Republican Senator John McCain. Senator, always good to see you here an NEW DAY. Let's talk to what we think is going on and then we'll get to why you think it is going on. Do you believe that Russia is targeting ISIS targets or not?

MCCAIN: They are not. They may be targeting some, Chris, but it is interesting, their initial strikes were against the individuals and the groups that have been funded and trained by our CIA in an incredible flaunting of -- of any kind of cooperation or effort to conceal what their first -- Putin's priority is, and that is of course to prop up Bashar Assad.

And by the way, I can absolutely confirm to you that they were strikes against our Free Syrian Army or groups that have been armed and trained by the CIA because we have communications with people there. And so now we're going to have a meeting of the military or some kind of communications that seems to be the administration's first priority, and so we can stand by and watch them strike those groups that are fighting against Bashar Assad that we are training and funding? This is an Orwellian experience.

CUOMO: So you are saying that you can confirm not only --

MCCAIN: Yes.

CUOMO: -- are they not primarily targeting ISIS but they are hitting the same people that the U.S. and coalition forces are arming and training. The intent would be obvious, to shore up the Assad regime. So then if that is what's going on, what can the U.S. do about it?

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: The first thing we do is we say to the Russians we're going fly wherever we want to and you better stay the hell out of the way. The second thing we do is we consider serious sanctions. Third of all we develop a strategy pretty much outlined by general David Petraeus before the Senate Armed Services Committee a couple of weeks ago to turn this tide. The slaughter continues, and now we have the Russians playing a major role. We now have them for the first time since 1973 when Anwar Sadat threw the Russians out of Egypt being a major player there.

[08:10:00] And, of course, the slaughter goes on. And the likelihood of a continuation of this is enhanced. And meanwhile, the secretary of state says that he would be, quote, "gravely concerned" if they were striking these Free Syrian Army folks. And of course it is obvious that they are there. Our secretary of defense says, well, this is very unprofessional. Is that the way we react to a naked Russian aggression?

And by the way, whatever happened to all those talks up in New York when the Russians in an incredible act send a general to our embassy in Baghdad to tell us that the strikes are starting in one hour? What does that say about their perception of the United States of America?

CUOMO: But how do you control the Russian perception? You have been an outspoken critic of Putin and his motives for many years. But he is who he is. He does what he does. The question is, what control do you have over it? You seem to believe that he has been fed by the American response instead of discouraged.

MCCAIN: I think he's been very encouraged. Look at the situation from his viewpoint. First thing I would have done a lot time ago the give the Ukrainian weapons with which to defend themselves rather than let him continue to dismember. As far as Iraq -- Syria is concerned, as I said, General Petraeus, stop the barrel bombing. Establish a buffer zone. Go ahead and have a real arm and train and equip program there. There is a whole range of options that we could exercise which would -- which we should have a long time ago. And these failures of the administration, whether it be the red line in Syria or whether it be overruling his national security advisors on training and equipping a free Syrian army, have led to the situation we're in today, which is unbelievable.

CUOMO: The administration says it is not that simple, that these are all complex situations. They have to be very guarded against U.S. involvement because there is no national appetite for it. The crossing the red line in Syria, as you will remember, that was our interview with President Obama when that first happened. They started the administration by saying we don't know what happened there. Be careful about this cross the red line. And then within days they wanted to bomb in Syria and they were told to slow down by many members of the Congress. They say it is complicated. You never know how much you can get it. You have to let people decide their own fate. There's not an appetite for U.S. involvement. What about those concepts in terms of governing how aggressive you are?

MCCAIN: Listen, I am sure that there are those who have a objected to every involvement the United States has been in. But facts are stubborn things, and that is that Russia is now dominate, dismembered a country for the first time in 70 years in the case of Ukraine. The slaughter continues. There are now hundreds of thousands if not millions of the refugees. Surrounding countries are being destabilized, such as Lebanon and Jordan. So there is nothing but abject failure throughout. So while many of us have said we should do -- take certain steps such as I just mentioned General Petraeus described before the committee. It didn't have to happen, Chris. This is a failure of American leadership beginning with a total withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

CUOMO: Do you think that the U.S. should abandon efforts to work with Russia and treat them as an opponent in these situations and act according that that?

MCCAIN: No. I think we should take actions that are in our interest in bringing about a halt to the terrible things that are happening there. And if that means conversations with Vladimir Putin, fine. But recognize Vladimir Putin for who he is and what he is. He's said many times the greatest disaster of the 20th century was the breakup of the Soviet Union. His ambitions are to return the great Russian empire. And now for the first time, instead of the near abroad, he is now asserting himself in the Middle East as a major factor there. And that certainly complicates things. Meanwhile the slaughter goes on, Chris.

CUOMO: I understand it. We hear the human toll all the time. We see what is going on with the refugee situation. It seems to be getting worse. The question is what do you do about it? The response from the administration is it's complicated. We're doing everything that we can. You don't buy it.

MCCAIN: Of course not. As I said, for years we have been saying what needed to be done. And we've seen failure after failure of American leadership. This president believes in, quote, "leading from behind." We believe in leading from in front.

[08:15:04] And, again, that means the residual force there. I'm telling you, you are going to see the same movie in Afghanistan if we continue to pull everybody out of there by 2017. Look at the fall of Kunduz. Even though it's been retaken, that is remarkable success on the part of the Taliban. We are failing everywhere.

CUOMO: And we do hear from military leaders that they want to keep forces in Afghanistan. They are concerned about destabilization. But you have to balance that, Senator, against -- with the American's appetite for involvement.

Thank you for your --

MCCAIN: But Chris --

CUOMO: Yes, sir? Please?

MCCAIN: Can I just say quickly? We have 38,000 troops in Korea. Nobody complains about that because it's peaceful. With American troops, they are a stabilizing force. We don't have to put them in harm's way.

CUOMO: All right. Point taken, Senator. The question is how do you move forward balancing all the interests? We appreciate your part of the conversation here on NEW DAY. Speak to you soon.

MCCAIN: Thank you, Chris.

CUOMO: Alisyn?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, another troubling story to tell you about. A high level Secret Service official coming under fire for urging the agency to dig up dirt about the congressman and then leak it.

CNN senior Washington correspondent Joe Johnson is live with the latest.

What happened, Joe?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, this is a little episode that started out as an embarrassment for a chairman of a congressional committee and now has morphed into another embarrassment for the Secret Service. An inspector generals report says that back in March, through the first days of April, 45 Secret Service employees accessed sensitive personal information of Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz a total of 60 times.

Chaffetz had once apparently applied for a job with the service but was apparently turned down because there were better qualified applicants. What made him such a topic of interest was because he'd been leading an investigation into alleged security lapses involving the service. The report says that one Secret Service official even suggested in writing that some of this information needed to get out just to be fair, and it did get made public in news reports.

Chaffetz on CNN last night reacted to the report. Listen.

BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JASON CHAFFETZ (R), UTAH: It's a little bit scary. Secret Service diving into my background as a sitting member of Congress -- I -- it's not about me, but it is about what are they doing over there? These people are entrusted with guns by the president for goodness sake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: The inspector general's office was not able to determine who actually leaked the information. The privacy act says the government can't release such personal information about individuals without their consent. Government rules also, the Department of Homeland Security and Secret Service policies forbid the release of this information. Just not clear what the repercussions might be -- Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. What a mess. Joe, thank you for that.

Caitlyn Jenner will not face charges in connection with the deadly multicar crash in southern California. Prosecutors declined to charge the 65 year old. They cited insufficient evidence to support a case. You might recall Jenner was toeing a trailer when she crashed into two cars, pushing one into on coming traffic. The driver of that vehicle was killed.

CUOMO: Someone in southwest Michigan is waking up $310 million richer this morning.

PEREIRA: Wait, we're not in Michigan. CUOMO: I know.

Wake up. You haven't turned in your ticket yet. Officials say one winning power ball ticket was sold, just one.

CAMEROTA: Wow.

CUOMO: Where? Gas station in Three Rivers, Michigan. No winner has come forward yet. This is the second biggest jackpot of the year behind February's $564 million prize.

Tweet me @chriscuomo. What would you do with the do for others? Not for you. For others? What would you do?

CAMEROTA: That means we didn't one. We had to Michigan.

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: We had quite a little pool here.

CUOMO: Didn't we win like 12 cents or something.

PEREIRA: Ye, we did.

We won $12 and this one over here was like, we're winners. I was like, well --

CAMEROTA: We won the lottery, $12 worth.

PEREIRA: Yes --

CAMEROTA: There you go.

CUOMO: What would you do with the money? Tell us. Tell us.

CAMEROTA: OK. Donald Trump says he's going to cut your taxes. There is some money for you. But he says it will bring in more money. How does that math work? His answer to CNN's Don Lemon, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:22:41] CUOMO: Much like the candidate himself, Donald Trump's tax plan is bold. It would slash taxes for millions of people, including some of the wealthiest Americans. The Trump plan has been scrutinized and criticized by his Republican rivals and in his interview with CNN's Don Lemon, the Donald answers back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Ben Carson said this morning that your plan is a bad one. He said, everyone, even the poorest American should pay taxes. What are your thoughts on that?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, again, Ben is somebody I have been really getting along with very well. But this is not his wheel house. Jobs is not for Ben. Putting our country back together in terms of jobs and incentives, so people to work, I've created tens of thousands of jobs. That's what I do, Don.

I build this incredible places and this incredible company but I've employed tens of thousands of people. Right now, I have thousands of people working for me.

Ben's strength is not jobs, and -- which worries me because we have to make new trade deals.

LEMON: The question is about -- Don, you're talking about no more death tax. Is that -- should you -- someone like you with as much wealth --

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Well, the death tax, the problem with the death tax I'd say --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: Hey, let me get the question in. Let me get the question.

TRUMP: Go ahead.

LEMON: Someone like you who has so much money, should you be able to leave your entire fortune to your family? Because they say it's un- American, that would create an aristocracy here.

TRUMP: Well, first of all, I'm not. I'm going to give a lot of money to charity and all of that. And many people in my position --

(CROSSTALK)

LEMON: But someone wealthy may not do that.

TRUMP: But let me just explain. There have been so many families where they have a business and it's a business which is in a lot of cash, but there is a lot of assets and it's going to be run in certain way, these families have been devastated because they've been forced to mortgage up, they've been force to do all sorts of things, they've been devastated.

But, maybe almost more importantly than that, it's really a double and even a triple tax. By the time you get to the death tax, it's a double tax. The tax has already been paid.

So, if you think about it, you know, they've been paying taxes over the years and the tax has already been paid. You can make the case it's been paid twice.

LEMON: What people wonder how you're going to pay for these tax cuts you proposed because our experts, host of tax experts say the deficit is going to skyrocket by trillions of dollars by $9 trillion to $10 trillion over a decade if your plan goes into effect. How are you going to pay for that?

TRUMP: Because I have one of the great scalpels in history. Now, it's different from Ben Carson's scalpel who's an excellent doctor. But I have a scalpel for business.

We have costs that are outrageous.

[08:25:02] I'm going to name over the next couple of weeks, I'm putting out some of the most incredible money that was spent for things that should have cost a few dollars where they spent hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The money that we are losing to theft, to incompetence, to everything is tens of billions of dollars.

So, I'm going to be doing a lot of cutting. For instance, Jeb Bush loves Common Core. I don't. I don't think bureaucrats from Washington should be running education in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and every place else, OK? And we're going to cut out huge sections of -- as an example, the Department of Education.

Environmental protection, it's disgusting what they've done. They've stopped work and even a couple of weeks ago, they destroyed a river. They go and they destroyed the river themselves. They opened up the lock.

LEMON: Jeb Bush, to your point, you talk about Jeb Bush. He says his plan will achieve 4 percent growth. But the U.S. annual hasn't been 3 percent since 2005, 4 percent since 2000. So, how do you make it work?

TRUMP: Because we haven't had people that know how to grow. We have a people that a politicians that are running. All talk no action.

We don't have people a guy like -- Jeb, he's not a businessman. The only business Jeb did was he sat on boards after he was and they paid him a lot of money. I mean, he went to Lehman Brothers. Lehman Brothers was the beginning of the crash. Jeb was on the board of Lehman Brothers.

LEMON: Yes.

TRUMP: So, I mean, that's not business. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about a real business -- I'm a real businessman. Whether people like me or don't like me. I'm a real businessman.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: All right. So, here this morning with their reaction to Trump's now plans and so much more, CNN political commentator and former Reagan White House political director, Jeffrey Lord, and CNN political commentator and Jeb Bush supporter Ana Navarro.

Great to have you both.

Let's talk about Donald Trump first what he said about Ben Carson. And basically that Ben Carson doesn't know anything about jobs. He will not be good for jobs.

If that is true, Ben Carson's supporters have not gotten that memo, because his numbers -- his fundraising numbers for the third quarter are impressive. Let's put those up on the board. He went from second quarter of $10.5 million. He doubled it, Ana, to the third quarter, $20 million.

Tell us how significant that is.

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it's very significant. First, it tells you the amount of money that's going to be flowing into the 2016 cycle.

The numbers that we've been hearing about just between last night and today are amazing. Bernie Sanders got $26 million. Hillary Clinton got $28 million. Carson got $20 plus million. So we're going to see an enormous amount of money.

And Bernie Sanders and Carson are interesting because they are small donors that are, you know, being able to do it through the Internet. It is not the way that a Hillary Clinton is doing it with the 2,700 big donors. It is very, very impressive, Alisyn. And it tells you that he's got some staying power.

CUOMO: Jeffrey, people are pushing Donald Trump to change. I guess the best reason to do that would be not to impress the media or just a reflection of what happens around us, but the baked in negative number that he has. But what's your take? Should the Donald stick with what got him here? Or should he become more like what you see around him.

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, the minute you start -- Donald Trump or anybody, the minute your start to veer away from who you are the minute you're going to have a problem. You know, as I think I said before, in the Reagan White House, we used to have a saying, "Let Reagan be Reagan".

And I would say here, "Let Donald Trump be Donald Trump". His strength is being himself. That's what people like about him. Don't veer from that.

CUOMO: But a lot of people don't like him, right? I mean, within his own party he's got a big negative. Overall, he's got the biggest negative.

LORD: You know, Chris, he's turned around his unfavorables in the past and I'm sure he will again. You know, we're only in about the second stage of this. It's kind of a little earlier than usual. I will say that. But we're only about the second stage of this campaign here of the primary season.

So, we have a long way to go here. He has a long way to go. And he's doing quite well.

CAMEROTA: Ana, let's talk about Jeb Bush it. It sounds as that from what Jeb is saying on the campaign trail that between Donald Trump's tax plan, between Marco Rubio's campaign, he's starting to feel as though everyone is copying him. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BUSH: I relied on people like Marco Rubio and many others to follow my leadership. And we -- we moved the needle. We've had a president who came in and said the same kind of thing, new and improved, hope and change. And he didn't have the leadership skills to fix things. In fact, he's been the greatest most divisive president in modern history. What we need is someone with proven leadership to fix things and I believe I have those skills.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Ana, we've heard, Jeb's fundraisers are getting a little skittish about the state of the campaign. What do you think is going on?

NAVARRO: Look, Alisyn, I am one of Jeb's fundraisers. I'm one of the donors. I'm one of his bundlers.

You see this face? This is my panicked face.

Look, effective campaigns don't get panicked. They don't get nervous. What they do is they recalibrate to meet the conditions of a changing terrain and I think that's what Jeb has to do, any effective campaign has to do.