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New Day

Landrieu's Loss Marks the End of An Era; President Makes Unscheduled Doctor Visit; Duke and Duchess in New York City

Aired December 08, 2014 - 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": And the exclamation point to 2014 came over the weekend. That was in Louisiana, in the Senate runoff. Bill Cassidy, the Republican candidate, he's a physician, he's currently a member of the House of Representatives; he will be the new Republican Senator from the state of Louisiana come January, defeating the Democratic incumbent, Mary Landrieu. That means, Julie, Republicans went from 45 -- they will have 54, a huge year for them in the Senate. The House majority is expanding. Southern Democrats are now almost disappearing. It's hard to find.

We'll go through the numbers in just a second but listen to Bill Cassidy yesterday when he was asked the question why Republicans resurgent in the south.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BILL CASSIDY (R), LOUISIANA: There is one party for the working person right now, the Republican Party. Barack Obama continues to impede our jobs with regulations. We are a working family region. The Republican Party is the party of the working family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: It's not that far back. These numbers are from "Politico." In 1962, every senator, the overwhelming majority, next year, Democrats will control 39 of 149 southern congressional seats.

JULIE PACE, "ASSOCIATED PRESS": It's really incredible the shift that we see. We talked about the Senate and the House. Those are perhaps, if not equally influential, more influential. You've seen the problems that Barack Obama has had in trying to implement some of his policies and getting blocked by governors.

So Democrats, when you talk about problems Republicans have in presidential elections as they look at demographics, but Democrats will have real problems in all of these races, perhaps for years to come if they don't figure out a solution here.

KING: Julie, the state legislative seats, which are your future governors, future members of Congress, future senators increasingly red.

JONATHAN MARTIN, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Republicans have a map problem, Democrats have a math problem when it comes to the Senate and the House, essentially, they have become a rock for Republicans. It's tough to win there, I was truck about the popularism and what you see in the south and parts of the west is Republicans have a wedge of their own. They want to stopping, for example.

PACE: Like the new union argument, used to be unions --

KING: That will play out in 2015. Well, speaking of Keystone. Chris Christie was in Canada this past week. He was talking about how pro- energy he is. He says there is no excuse, another sign that Chris Christie is inching towards a presidential run.

His team thinks this is more easy to do, less controversial to do, they are looking into bridgegate. The committee says there are unanswered questions.

They say they couldn't figure out. They found zero evidence Chris Christie was involved is it behind? Completely behind him or are there still things to worry about?

PACE: I mean, it's hugely important, if there had been a direct connection, at the same, this reminds me a little about Benghazi where you have multiple reports and people who want to find something will continue to dig and make this an issue.

KING: The big question is what the U.S. attorney and Democratic appointee, who obviously had significant legal authority. A job Christie, himself, had been done.

MARTIN: That will be telling. This is a step forward. Yes, one more committee, getting this behind him, as long as the swords hang over his next. More of these reports they can get behind him, the better.

KING: It's interesting to see, a guy from New Jersey, grass roots think he's a pod rat, he's more Mitt Romney. All systems seem to be go at the moment for Chris Christie. Julie, Jonathan, thank you for coming in on a Monday.

And as we end, you guys came to me by showing the Kennedy last night. Steven Colbert was there, he is going to interview the president here in Washington this week. He moves over to replace David Letterman.

Listen here, Stephen Colbert, looking up at the president and first lady and making a key wrap up 2014 mid-term election your point.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "COLBERT REPORT": The most powerful and influential person in the world, Michelle Obama, lovely first lady, lovely to see you. Good evening. There she is. Looking radiant on camera next to the president, which I assume means she has no future plans to run for office. Thank you for being here, Ma'am. No, there are a lot of Democrats who don't have that courage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Alisyn, Chris, you know the president at least taking the joke. He got it.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: He seemed to actually be laughing. Sometimes he gives the courtesy nod, but he seems to like that one actually.

KING: The last election of his time is over so I guess, you know, he doesn't like the results of 2014, but at least he can let it go.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Well, also it falls under the category of it's funny because it's true.

KING: Amen to that.

CUOMO: Good to see you, John King. You don't need a nickname with that name.

CAMEROTA: Yes, true. We will start calling you that. Thanks, John.

All right, well, President Obama whisked to the hospital over the weekend after weeks of struggling with sore throat symptoms, he says, what did the doctors find? Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us to talk about that diagnoses.

You hear, the royals are in New York. They are actually in a New York state of mind. They are going to be meeting with all the big shots, like Jay-Z and Beyonce. What else is on the agenda? We'll show you. Five months pregnant, by the way, good luck.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Good to have you back with us here on NEW DAY. President Obama made an unscheduled visit to Walter Reed hospital over the weekend.

According to White House and his doctor, the president had symptoms of a sore throat over the past couple of weeks. Now doctors determine that has been caused by acid reflux.

Let's bring in CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Acid reflux, I've heard of this, it sounds gnarly. But help me understand first of all, A, how serious this is that they would rush him to the hospital and why would it cause a sore throat?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, acid reflux is a fairly common condition. A lot of people describe it as heartburn when they have acid that gurgles up, if you will, into their esophagus and their chest.

Typically you have these sphyncters that sort of prevent acid in your stomach, sometimes acid can get throw up at fight lying flat and they don't have gravity working on their side. People wake up with a particularly sore throat.

That's what sort of prompted this exam as pointed out, Michaela. A couple of weeks now, he's had a sore throat. They were careful to say this wasn't an emergent, rather the president had an opening on his schedule, they'd conduct the exam and the CT which came back as normal, we are told. That is sort of a story the White House is giving us here, Michaela.

PEREIRA: So you talk about the gravity and lying down, those vows, but there are other things involved here, too. I'm assuming from everything I've read, stress, anxiety, can be factors in all of this.

We can imagine the president of the United States has a fair amount of that, but also, smoking, where is the president on his smoking cessation programs? Do you know, Sanjay?

GUPTA: Well, you know, we have asked that question, smoking is a risk factor, current and past smoking. We are told, we asked that question, he has stopped smoking. You see him chewing gum a lot. Nicorette gum, clearly, if he is smoking in anyway, occasionally.

It is absolutely a risk factor for acid reflux. It can make things much worse. The CAT scan, the CT scan done, that is probably not typical. This is the president of the United States we are talking about. So an abundance of caution again is something that comes into play here.

But typically, what happens if someone has acid reflux, you give them treatments or recommend dietary changes, to stop that reflux. If it doesn't go away, you get a CAT scan. In his case, they got a CAT scan right away.

In part because that the president also probably because he does have a history of smoking. If there is a mass there, let's make sure this isn't something some more serious at the same time. Again, they say the CAT scan is normal. Let's be clear about that.

PEREIRA: Right. That I think at first might be a little confounding to people. They kind of rushed him there. They tell us because he had an opening in his schedule. They performed these couple of tests. They want to get a visual on what's going on in the throat and esophagus, right?

GUPTA: That's the first thing they did. I asked about this as well. Sometimes people will get some sedation for that. They say the president did not get sedation for that because that raises a whole host of other concerns about the vice president and everything. The senior staff was all made aware.

They can spray and sort of anesthetize the back of the throat, put a camera down and take a look specifically at what's happening in the throat, in the back of the throat. What they saw there were changes in the back that were consistent they say with acid reflux.

It gets a little enflamed as a result of the acid such touching the back of the throat. Then they got a CAT scan to make sure nothing else was going on as well -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: Again, no reason for them to think that there wasn't anything else going on, this was as you said, precautionary, since you had them, let's double check. GUPTA: Yes, I think that's a fair assessment. These situations, we can go by what the white house is telling us, what the exams they tell us showed. Why did they get a cat scan at this point? You can say, look, he's the president. He is being very cautious.

He has this, as you point out, this remote history of smoking. We are told he stopped. Someone who is a smoker who has changes in the back of their throat, I think you tend to be more aggressive. Make sure nothing else is going on here that can be causing these symptoms.

PEREIRA: Well, we know that dietary changes likely will have to be taken into consideration. Which I wonder if Michelle is wagging a finger at him, our first lady saying, you should have been listening to me before. He is a healthy man otherwise. It's good to know.

Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much for chatting with us, walking through this information. We appreciate it.

GUPTA: You got it, any time, thank you.

PEREIRA: All right, Chris.

CUOMO: Mick, have you heard the royals are here? They are taking Manhattan by storm? They're everywhere, Prince William and Kate landing in New York City, this is their first trip together to the big apple. So what's on tap?

Well, Beyonce and Jay-Z going on here. We will take you through their agenda.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: The royals were here, Prince William and Katherine, the duchess of Cambridge are in the U.S. for their first trip to New York City. Prince William heads to D.C. this morning to meet with President Obama.

In the meantime, Kate, who is five months pregnant, remember, will meet children in Harlem. Tonight, they'll attempt the basketball game in Brooklyn. They have a lot to do. We haven't mentioned Beyonce and Jay-z.

Here to break it all down is our own royal correspondent, Max Foster. Hi, Max.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello.

CAMEROTA: So what are they trying to accomplish here in New York?

FOSTER: They are raising money for their cause, but also we are the financial capital of the world. They are working closely with the British government about bringing trade from the U.S. into the U.K.

It's very intensive. It's over two days and I'll be going to Harlem with the duchess, where she will be going to the child development center, which is one of her key causes. I was at that hotel yesterday benefit they arrived and literally when the motorcade came in, there was this crowd that came across the road. The police were pushing them back. In the U.K., they would have been a lot closer. A lot of frustration.

CUOMO: Tension in the city right now. Not just photo ops and handshakes, though, right? William has a little bit agenda.

FOSTER: Year about tackling illegal trade and wild life. He's got this 20-minute meeting quite long for someone in his position with President Obama today. He's going to discuss how to tackle that. The way he's dealing with that is try to cut out demand rather than dealing with poachers.

It's become a sensitive issue criticizing China so how to get involved without being a politician, without getting involved in politics. He's going to have a speech at the World Bank later on. He's going to try to compliment China instead of criticize.

PEREIRA: It's all in delivery of the message. Another thing we're all excited about and I'm curious how it compares in Britain and state side is the baby bump. She's five months pregnant, the duchess is.

FOSTER: You ladies may be able to tell, more of a bump.

CUOMO: A glow. Go with a glow, Max.

CAMEROTA: She always looks great. How does she do it, Max?

FOSTER: I don't know. She is a beautiful lady. She wears clothes that suit her, some frustration about some of the magazine reporters. She doesn't wear cutting edge designer clothes like Diana did. She's walking in Diana's footsteps in America. That's the hotel Diana used to stay.

CUOMO: They are meeting Beyonce and Jay-Z?

FOSTER: Jay-Z is expected to be there and Beyonce. I'm sure they'll rub shoulders. That's about promoting the tie-up with the NBA about the wild life cause. They're calling for demonstrations at that game. I'm sure they'll wheel them out. There seems to be a demand there.

CAMEROTA: Are they meeting with Hillary Clinton?

FOSTER: Yes. He goes to Washington this morning and goes back to meet with Hillary and Chelsea. They've got the same interest to tackle elephant poaching in particular. They're going to hold speeches here.

CUOMO: A lot of shrieking. Did you hear the shrieking? Are you surprised in the U.S. they're getting --

FOSTER: And it was cold. Poor people were freezing. At the end of the street, they're a long way back from here. Yes, there's a lot of interest in the U.S. in the royals.

PEREIRA: It is their first trip as a couple.

FOSTER: First trip eating -- trip either have made to New York or Washington. William is going up to the Empire State building to see the view. Kate isn't going to do that. She has the bout of morning sickness.

CAMEROTA: All right, Max, thanks so much.

PEREIRA: Busy couple of days ahead.

FOSTER: And a warm coat.

CAMEROTA: Get that -- a scarf.

FOSTER: I put thermals on. I didn't think about before going out.

CUOMO: So one of the reasons that security is tighter around the royals is because there have been a lot of protests on the streets here. Police are on high alert. They're not going to New York City, they're all over the country.

The outrage has an obvious source, the recent cases of Garner and Brown. Police and demonstrators have been intense faceoffs all over the place. In Berkeley it was violent. We're on the ground there to tell you the latest.

CAMEROTA: Plus a U.S. hostage is killed in a rescue attempt. What went wrong to free Luke Somers and what does this mean on the future of paying ransom?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Violent backlash, tear gas fogs the streets of California as clashes with demonstrators escalate. Who's doing the looting and vandalizing? And what will finally quell the violence.

CAMEROTA: The operation to rescue an American hostage leaves two dead and their families blame the U.S. should America negotiate directly with terrorists?

PEREIRA: Police investigating one woman's' claim that Bill Cosby molested her when she was 15. Can Cosby survive the fire storm of allegations?

CUOMO: Your NEW DAY continues right now.