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New Day

ISIS Video Shows Beheadings of Christians; Hundreds Feared Dead in Capsized Boat; FBI Nabs 6 in ISIS-Inspired Terror Plot; Hillary Clinton Heads to New Hampshire. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired April 20, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Migrants were trapped inside the sinking ship, because smugglers locked the doors.

[05:58:24] BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As many as 950 people were on board.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: At least six U.S. citizens arrested in an ISIS-inspired plot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The online recruiting is part of it.

CAMEROTA: Chilling new video shows ISIS purportedly beheading Ethiopian Christians.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What this video does is show ISIS's brutality.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton surging in the polls as Republican rivals take aim.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary Clinton will raise $2.5 billion. That's a lot of Chipotle, my friend.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're dragging him, like dead.

BERMAN: The 27-year-old Baltimore man died Sunday, one week after taken into custody by police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want the truth. The people in Baltimore want the truth.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Monday, April 20, 6 a.m. in the East. Mick is off. We've got J.B. With us. And up first, the world is watching the worst migrant disaster ever. Hundreds feared dead, only a handful of survivors in a capsizing. Crews are trying to locate trapped victims in a crowded ship that sank in the Mediterranean Sea. How will the international community respond as these smugglers are driving refugees to their deaths.

CAMEROTA: Also, bone-chilling video appearing to show two groups of Ethiopian Christians executed at the hands of ISIS. A masked man telling Christians they must convert to Islam or pay with their lives.

This as the FBI nabs six men in another ISIS-inspired terror plot here in the U.S. We've got all angles of these stories covered the way only CNN can. Senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is live for us in London -- Nic.

ROBERTSON: This is a multilayered message from ISIS in Libya. What they do here is execute two groups of men they say are Ethiopian Christians. One group, they behead right next to the Mediterranean in the north of Libya. The other group, they shoot, killed that way on the southern borders of Libya, hundreds of miles away. That part of the message, to create the impression that ISIS was grown and has its reach all across Libya. That is not the case, but that's what they're trying to portray.

To make this video, they used the same media group that ISIS in Iraq and Syria uses. That effort, that part of the message to create the impression that ISIS is spread out, is connected all across the Middle East.

This is a 39-minute video. Much of it talks about how Christians can live or be killed under ISIS control. If they don't give up and convert to Islam or pay a non-Muslim tax, then they will be brutally executed and murdered, as we see in this video, Alisyn.

CUOMO: All right. Thank you very much, Nic. We're going to continue watching this situation. Appreciate it.

Now, we want to talk to you more about these migrants here and the rescue efforts that are being done. It is a massive operation. We have Ben Wedeman on the phone from Italy. Ben, what do we know now?

WEDEMAN (via phone): What we know at this point is that this ship, the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) ...

CUOMO: Ben, can you hear us? The connection just dropped off.

WEDEMAN: ... time there, probably in the late afternoon. On board that ship is 28 of the survivors.

Now, the ship also has picked up 24 hour bodies from the sea. They were left at Malta.

As far as the rescue effort goes, at this point it appears that it is winding down. We spoke to the captain of one Italian fishing boat that took part in that initial effort. He said that they were able to rescue only about -- rather, not rescue, but pull four bodies from the sea and that since then they have been called back. That at this point it's only the Italian coast guard and the Maltese navy that are conducting this rescue or search operation. Meanwhile, we know that the European officials are going to be

meeting later today in Lafayette (ph) to discuss this crisis. There's also talk of a crisis summit involving the 28 foreign and interior ministers of the European Union to discuss some way to address this mounting crisis.

CUOMO: Ben, do we still have you?

WEDEMAN: You've got me.

CUOMO: All right, Ben, the numbers are all over the place on this. We keep hearing it characterized as perhaps the largest disaster of its kind. Survivors coming on are giving estimates that go anywhere from about 500 to close to a thousand people that were said to be on this board. Many of them, as we heard from Nic Robertson, locked perhaps on below-deck holding facilities. Have you heard of any numbers that you feel comfortable reporting, or not yet?

WEDEMAN: The numbers, as you said, are all over the place, and you have to keep in mind that these are human traffickers. These are people who don't make passenger lists, so we have no idea. But certainly, we're hearing in anywhere between 650, and according to one Bangladeshi survivor who was questioned by the Italian authorities, as many as 950 on board.

That includes as many as 200 women and up to 50 children, as well. And many of them were apparently, according to this Bangladeshi survivor, were on some of the lower decks, which were locked by the traffickers.

CUOMO: All right. Ben, thank you very much. And again, this wasn't just about people looking for work. This was an escape for what they feared at the hands of ISIS -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Well, the drama unfolds abroad, really multiple dramas, word of more arrests of ISIS sympathizers here in the United States. The FBI nabbed at least six people in Minneapolis and San Diego for their alleged roles in an ISIS-inspired terror plot. CNN justice reporter Evan Perez has that story live for us from Washington this morning.

Good morning, Evan.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

These six men are due in court today to answer charges from a year-long counterterrorism investigation by the FBI. Minnesota U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger is planning a news conference this morning to provide details of these arrests.

Law enforcement officials have been tracking what they believe is a recruitment effort to send fighters to join ISIS in Syria and Iraq. FBI officials are particularly worried about young recruits from parts of the Somali community in Minneapolis.

In February, a 19-year-old from that area, Hamza Ahmed, was arrested as part of a broader investigation into that ISIS recruitment. He was with three other young men, who were stopped by the FBI, allegedly, as they tried to fly from New York's JFK Airport to Turkey with plans to travel to Syria.

Now, in the past we've seen the Somali group, al-Shabaab, find recruits in Minnesota. I should add that the officials there in Minnesota say that there was no immediate threat to the public -- Alisyn.

[06:05:21] CAMEROTA: OK. Thanks, so much for that, Evan.

So here to bring perspective on how all of these crises are related, we're going to bring in Bobby Ghosh. He's our CNN global affairs analyst and the managing editor of "Quartz." And Lieutenant Colonel James Reese. He's a former U.S. Delta Force commander and a CNN global affairs analyst. Gentleman, great to have you with us.

Let's talk about the migrant and refugee crisis that appears to be gripping Europe and the Middle East. Let's talk about everything that was just reported on what happened this weekend.

There was a group, a boat, leaving Libya of migrants heading to Italy. There were maybe 700 people who were killed when the boat capsized. Maybe even more. Humanitarian groups say that just this year alone 900 people have been killed making that same journey.

Bobby, is what we're seeing here, these levels, unprecedented?

BOBBY GHOSH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, they're certainly unprecedented. The numbers are off the charts. I mean, just the 700 on this boat is more than -- ten times more than the same -- than the number of people killed trying to make that crossing, the same sort of time period last year. So this is just off the charts.

And it's a consequence of complete chaos in Libya and not just Libyans being -- but people using, take advantage, these people smugglers, taking advantage of the chaos and bringing people from other parts of the world through Libya and trying to make landfall to the closest landmarks that they can get to. And that's usually the boot of Italy.

CAMEROTA: Colonel Reese, its not just this area. In Yemen, obviously, this is torn by war and unrest. There are an estimate of 250,000 -- 250,000 -- East African refugees in Yemen. When you're in a war-torn situation, what normally happens to these people?

LT. COL. JAMES REESE, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, Alisyn, what happens is they become displaced personnel. And what happens is they just have to keep moving away from the fighting. And it becomes a refugee camp after refugee camp, and it just becomes a complete humanitarian disaster. Because the U.N. -- the U.N. has the higher commission for refugees, and they can't get in to help. And these poor people are just kind of stuck between, right now, three factions. You have the Saudis, the Houthis, actually four. And then you have the Yemeni army and then al Qaeda in the east. So they're kind of like a pinball bouncing all over the place. CAMEROTA: Just this week, just yesterday the pope spoke out

about the refugee and the migrant crisis. Here's what the pope said. "They are men and women like us, our brothers, seeking a better life, starving, persecuted, wounded, exploited, victims of the war. They were looking for a better life. They were looking for happiness."

Bobby, not everyone shares the pope's compassionate view of this. Even Italian politicians were saying that the boat -- they were suggesting that the -- some of them, saying that the Italian navy should sink the ships, because Italy can't subsume the amounts of people.

GHOSH: You have some far-right politicians in Italy who are also talking about creating a naval blockade of Libya along the Mediterranean to prevent people from going across.

Italy for a long time shouldered this burden by itself. They had an operation. Their navy was picking up people from these migrant boats. Earlier this year, that was possibly -- fell to the larger European Union, but it's a much smaller operation now.

Clearly some -- for the European, this is a real problem. There's a little bit of you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. If they launch a bigger operation, if they put more ships out there to try and rescue more boats, there will just be more boats.

That will send a signal to Libya, to people around the world, if you can somehow get on a boat, no matter how bad a shape that is, if you can somehow get on a boat, the Europeans will come save you. And they -- and they're taking this line, many in Europe, saying that "It would be irresponsible for to us do this. Our rescue mission would create an even greater crisis."

That sounds self-serving, but there is -- there is a little bit of logic to that. You don't want to encourage people to, first of all, get into Libya anyway. And then, once they get there, you don't want them to try and make this very dangerous crossing in what are usually very dilapidated old fishing troughs.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. Colonel Reese, E.U. leaders are meeting today about this crisis. What is the solution?

REESE: Well, it's very difficult, Alisyn. The whole displaced personnel from war and from war-torn ravages is -- it's just an epidemic right now. This is definitely where -- something where the U.N. has to get involved. NATO has probably got to get involved here.

I mean, look at Jordan. Jordan alone has 2 million displaced personnel. Twenty percent of their population right now are refugees from the war-torn aspects of Syria and Iraq.

So as you bring all these pieces around in Libya right now, again, it's a mess. I'm not sure we have the right answer right now. But, you know, like Bobby said, sinking people trying to get out in the NED (ph) is not the right answer. CAMEROTA: Absolutely. It will be interesting to see what

solutions, if, any the E.U. can come up with. Bobby, Lt. Col. Reese, great to see you guys. Thanks so much.

Let's get over to Chris.

[06:10:05] CUOMO: All right. Some big political news here, Alisyn. Hillary Clinton has taken the Granite State by storm. That's New Hampshire. And that's not the big news. But there the Democrat has two days of stops to talk small business. Her ears may be ringing, or bleeding, when she gets there after a Republican summit that was held in New Hampshire over the weekend, because the candidates were just attacking Clinton with gusto.

But here's the news: we want to know what the state of play is, given this early push into the race for 2016. And we have it with this CNN/ORC poll. The big headline: Clinton got a big bounce and

So let's bring in CNN senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny. He's live at Clinton's first stop in Keene, New Hampshire. Big numbers coming out.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

They sure are big numbers. She commands the Democratic field, and she out-muscles ever Republican. But she's still coming here to New Hampshire to start at this family-owned business, which has been in business for more than a decade, but for more than a century.

But Republicans spent the weekend trying to distinguish themselves by piling on her. But our poll shows they still have so much work to do.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am so delighted to be here.

ZELENY (voice-over): A week after finally jumping in, Hillary Clinton is dominating the presidential race. She's the first choice of nearly seven in ten Democrats.

RUBIO: Hillary Clinton's going to raise $2.5 billion.

ZELENY: For Republicans, our poll shows a wide-open race.

JEB BUSH, FORMER GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA: Thank you all very much.

ZELENY: Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush sits on top, but far from comfortably. A quarter of all Republicans say Bush has the best chance to win.

But Florida Senator Marco Rubio is closing in.

CLINTON: Hi, how are you all? ZELENY: As Clinton heads to New Hampshire for week two of her

re-introduction tour, 58 percent of Democrats say they're enthusiastic about her candidacy, up from 41 percent last June.

CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She lacks the candor and the transparency that are so necessary to leadership.

ZELENY: But that momentum hasn't stopped Republicans, who spent the weekend here trying to break out of the pack by piling on Hillary Clinton.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Because I could have sworn I saw Hillary Clinton's Scooby Doo van outside.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When Hillary Clinton travels, there's going to need to be two planes: one for her and her entourage and one for her baggage.

ZELENY: But Hillary also knows how early polls can sour, which is why she's coming to New Hampshire, where one of the most vivid moments of her first presidential campaign played out.

CLINTON: I see what's happening. We have to reverse it.

ZELENY: It was a rare sign of raw emotion.

CLINTON: This really kind woman said to me, how are you doing?

ZELENY: The woman who asked that question was Marianne Pernold. We went back to Cafe Espresso in Portsmouth to ask what she thinks of Clinton now.

MARIANNA PERNOLD, VOTER: I think she's a lot friendlier looking. She's smiling more.

ZELENY: She ultimately picked Barack Obama back then, a decision she doesn't regret. But now she says she's ready for Hillary.

PERNOLD: She's not as stressed-out looking. And I don't think she has anything to prove anymore, because she knows she did a great job. I truly wish her luck.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: Now, it was so interesting to talk to Marianne again, just seven years later. She did say she liked what she sees from Clinton the second time around. But when we pressed her if she planned to vote for her for sure, she gave that classic New Hampshire answer. She said, "I'm not sure yet. The campaign is just starting" -- John.

BERMAN: She better hurry up. There's only, like, eight months left. All right, Jeff Zeleny. Thanks so much.

Four UNICEF staff members are dead after an attack on their van in Somalia. The car was taking the U.N. staff members from their guest house to the office in the northeastern part of that country. Four others this morning are injured. A spokesman for al Shabaab claimed responsibility for this attack.

CAMEROTA: A powerful 6.6 magnitude strikes off the coast of Taiwan, killing at least one person. City officials said the quake triggered a transformer fire in Taipei that killed an 84-year-old man and sent a 28-year-old man to the hospital for smoke inhalation. A tsunami warning was issued but withdrawn after a short time. The quake also damaged water pipes, flooding streets, as can you see, and disrupting traffic.

CUOMO: An Ohio police officer is being praised for holding his fire as a double homicide suspect rushed him. The confrontation caught on the officer's body camera. This is what you're watching. That's the man running at him, challenging, some say begging Officer Jesse Kidder to shoot him. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSE KIDDER, OHIO POLICE OFFICER: Get your hands up. Get your hands up, right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shoot me. Shoot me.

KIDDER: Stop, stop right there. I don't want to shoot you, man. I don't want to shoot you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

KIDDER: Stop. Don't do it, man. That's enough. Don't do it, man. I'll (EXPLETIVE DELETED) shoot you. I'll (EXPLETIVE DELETED) shoot you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do what you want. Do what you want. Shoot me.

KIDDER: Get back. Get back. Get your hand out of your pocket now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shoot me.

KIDDER: Get your hand out of your pocket now. No, man, I'm not going to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: I'll tell you, what a situation to be in. The officer says he wanted to be absolutely sure, but remember, this man is suspected of a double homicide, killing his girlfriend and a brother. They don't know if he's armed. They suspect he could be, and he's running at the officer.

[06:15:12] CAMEROTA: And by the way, he also has his hands in his pockets. And the officer, who's showing restraint, is saying, "Get your hands out of your pockets. Get your hands out of your pockets." And later, when he was asked how he was able to, you know, have

such composure, he said he had his eyes trained on the pocket, and he was just waiting to see if a gun was going to be...

BERMAN: And he had had a tip that this guy was going to try to commit suicide by cop. And this guy did have a death wish, maybe not a murder wish, but a death wish. Maybe that caused him to have a little bit of restraint.

CUOMO: Also, except that he was suspected of a double homicide. We're going to talk to the chief of this officer, coming up. Because you know, you have two things: one, hail him as a hero for the restraint; but are officers, all this media coverage about excessive force, could it be having a chilling effect on them in situations like this? Because maybe even worried about "what happens if I pull the trigger?" So, we'll be watching.

Also, another police story that we've been closely following is that of Robert Bates, of course, the reserve deputy out of Arizona that mistakenly shot and killed a suspect when he says he was trying to Tase him. All right? Now, we're going to speak with his attorney again. He's been on NEW DAY before. His name is Scott Wood.

This has become a lot about documents. Was he properly trained or was he kind of pushed on? There's a big paper that's coming after him in the Tulsa area. The attorney says he can beat their case. We'll test it for you.

BERMAN: So you remember the beautiful weekend we just had here in the northeast? Well, forget it.

CUOMO: Oh, come on.

BERMAN: Because we're getting a whole lot of rain, big-time rain about now. Let's get right to meteorologist Jennifer Grey with the forecast. Good morning, Jennifer.

JENNIFER GREY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you're right about that. But at least it was over the weekend, John. You have to enjoy a nice weekend. You do have a lot of rain moving into the northeast. All part of that system that spawned about ten tornadoes across the south over the weekend. Fourteen tornadoes reported over the weekend in all.

We are seeing some strong storms still trying to push through the south, though. Atlanta could get rocked in the next hour or so if those hold together.

We do have a severe threat for today. It's really across the Eastern Seaboard, the mid-Atlantic. North of D.C., we are going to expect damaging winds, large hail, the possibly of an isolated tornado a slight risk for today. We are going to see quite a bit of rain today, all the way through Wednesday into the northeast. So a soggy week. We could see one to two inches in New York City, Boston included. And that's going to push out by mid-week. You should have better

weather by then. But the severe threat does move to the south by Tuesday and Wednesday. And then quickly, I want to tell you that those folks running the Boston Marathon, it is going to be a little wet moving into the afternoon. Temperatures are going to stay in the mid-40s -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. Thanks so much for that preview, Jennifer.

Meanwhile, with Hillary Clinton gearing up for a swing in New Hampshire, what are voters thinking? We have the results of a brand- new CNN poll, just released 17 minutes ago; and they might surprise you.

CUOMO: I'll tell you what, everybody is pushing early to make a name for themselves. Let's see if it's working.

Also, a 27-year-old man arrested by Baltimore police. A week later, he's dead. It is spurring a protest you're watching on your screen right now. But what happened to Freddie Gray? Are the protests justified? We'll take it apart for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:21:54] RUBIO: Hillary Clinton is going to raise $2.5 billion, which -- that's a lot of Chipotle, my friend.

GOV. BOBBY JINDAL (R-LA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We can win. We will win. It is absolutely critical that we beat Hillary Clinton.

PAUL: I'm starting to worry that, when Hillary Clinton travels, there's going to need to be two planes: one for her and her entourage and one for her baggage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Some good lines there. It is clear that the big GOP theme so far is "Vote for me. I'm not Hillary." But what do the numbers show? OK. This is big. We've got brand-new CNN/ORC poll numbers for you, data knowledge. The first since Clinton declared her candidacy, and here's what they show, right in front of your eyes.

She has an almost insurmountable lead on her own side of the aisle, 69 percent. The next is at 11 percent. And remember, that's the vice president right there that you're looking at.

So let's bring in CNN political analyst, editor in chief of "The Daily Beast," Mr. John Avlon; and CNN political commentator and also Sirius XM host, Margaret Hoover. I said it with a pause also, because I know it matters more.

So, look, if you're going to push this story early, right, and everybody wants to get in. Everybody wants to start defining themselves, the numbers are very important. This is a stack of knowledge. What do you see in the numbers that jumps out on you? The Democrat side not that big of a surprise, but Biden is the vice president.

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I mean, let's just reality check Hillary's lead here. There is nothing like it in recorded political history that's not associated with an incumbent president.

BERMAN: It is what it is.

AVLON: I mean, it's like an incumbent presidency's numbers, except without all the damage that's been done over the first-year's mistakes and, you know, wounds that have been created by constant attack. So it's an unprecedented situation Hillary Clinton's in. It's kind of stunning.

CAMEROTA: So why would any other Democrat in that case ever mount a challenge? I mean, she has a lock on it, right, Margaret?

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: She may have a lock on it. But you never know. Anything can happen. Right? Martin O'Malley, you just -- you never know what will happen.

AVLON: From Baltimore.

CAMEROTA: It's a Kamikaze mission, isn't it?

HOOVER: You know what? He's doing it for many reasons. He's elevating his national profile. You get a lot of things out of running for president, other than just losing to Hillary Clinton. If that, indeed, is the case. I mean, certainly, it isn't predictable, but you know, Hillary, I don't think it's taking it for granted either.

BERMAN: He triples -- you know, he triples his role, which isn't bad. Now look, a guy like Martin O'Malley can make a name for himself with how he runs against Hillary Clinton. Four years from now, eight years from now, who knows what people say about him, right?

CUOMO: Sometimes they protect them. We saw that in 1988. We saw a lot of people getting into the race for the Democrats, because they were building for a future.

Let's look at the Republican side. Because there are also some big headlines here, as well. You've got to give it to Marco Rubio. He jumped. He doubles his numbers. Put them up so everybody can see. The Republican numbers are going to loom large here.

Now, this is Hillary vs. the Republicans. Now, she's over 50 percent ahead of all of them. But another headline here is that Rubio does best. I would say to step sideways on that, Margaret. Because even though not only does he have the highest number, but she's pretty much the lowest against him as well, 55-41. All his competitors, they're pretty close to him, right?

[06:25:05] HOOVER: They're all within the margin of error, which means, essentially, the Republican field is still defining itself.

Marco Rubio is relatively unknown outside of Washington and Florida. His numbers doubled. That was largely a function of a very good rollout and an announcement that he was running for presidency. Aside from the guys who, I mean, Jeb Bush hasn't announced. He has his name, and everybody knows his name.

CUOMO: Right. I put those numbers when we can to show the field....

HOOVER: Everybody else that is well-defined is essentially already running for president, with the one exception of Huckabee. What stuck out to be -- to me on this poll is that Ted Cruz is trailing Mike Huckabee in almost every single category. And Ted Cruz is trying to take on Huckabee with his white evangelical Protestants. So that's not good for Ted Cruz.

CAMEROTA: And what does that mean, name recognition? Why is Ted Cruz killing?

AVLON: Huckabee does have a very devoted following within the evangelical community. He's run for president twice before and has had a TV show that a lot of sort of conservative devotees watched.

But you know, what I think is significant is you're starting to see the top-tier candidates emerge.

CUOMO: And Rubio is there.

AVLON: And Rubio is in that circle. Again, early, but Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, in part because Rand Paul has a base that doesn't overlap with anybody else's. There's going to be a lot of movement here.

But the people that do worse against Hillary in a general are the really divisive play-to-the-base folks like Cruz, who haven't really caught fire the way Rubio has in the last month.

BERMAN: You know who's not in that top tier and whose name we saw down, low, low, low at 4 percent, was Chris Christie.

CUOMO: Yes.

BERMAN: The governor of New Jersey. He was actually out there again over the last couple weeks, trying to make a name for himself. But he has really just flip-flopped with some other people.

HOOVER: Yes. You know, he had a really good week last week in New Hampshire. But he doesn't declared yet.

CUOMO: Yes, that's a big point.

HOOVER: And a lot of this is he hasn't declared, and he's waiting to declare because he needs this scandal, the Bridge-gate scandal and the indictment to come down. Once that gets behind him, I think he can announce, and I think he'll probably, if he does, see the same kind of bump you saw with Rubio. Now he might not catapult into the top tier, but he won't be trailing.

CUOMO: How big a deal do you think it is to declare? Because we had Carson here on the show a couple times, Dr. Ben Carson. I was somewhat surprised at the strength of support we had around him that we -- I got to experience here in the wake of those interviews. But he's sagged in the polls. Is that because, you think, he hasn't announced yet, and you will get a boost there like Rubio did?

AVLON: No, I think Carson benefits from high-name I.D. with the base for whom he's been on a speaking circuit for the last four years. But when it comes -- push comes to shove about who's actually going to be president of the United States, it's probably going to be someone who's held elected office in some capacity, not the guy who simply has played to the base fantasy.

CAMEROTA: Well, in that poll, Margaret, I want to show you, is they ask, "Who shares your values?" This is of the GOP nominees. Let me just show you. This is Republicans only answered this. OK? Who shares your values? Bush, 19 percent; Huckabee, 11 percent; Rubio, 10 percent; Cruz, 10 percent; Walker, 9 percent. So how do you read this, Margaret? Are they all dividing up the same pie? Or no, different?

HOOVER: Actually, they're going after different segments of the Republican electorate there. So Huckabee and Cruz are going after the same chunk, the white evangelical Protestants, the religious conservative. And Cruz is trailing Huckabee, who hasn't announced. That's interesting.

Bush is leading. It's a different segment of the electorate. And Rubio, too. So I think you have different factions of the pie that they're all competing for.

CUOMO: All right. So for all the fun that we're having with the numbers, today it actually matters. I know it's 16,090 days until the election. But you want to know the state of play is early on. And now we know with this new CNN/ORC poll.

What do you think? Knowing the data, now that you do, tweet us. And you can use the hashtag "#newday." What do you want to use, "#newday"? That's good enough. Use the hashtag "#newday."

CAMEROTA: I like that.

BERMAN: We'll take a poll.

HOOVER: Only (ph) on CNN.

BERMAN: All right. A 27-year-old Baltimore man ends up dead a week after being arrested by police. Freddie Gray's family is demanding answers. Are police there guilty of a cover-up?

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