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New Day

CNN/ORC Poll: 69 Percent Of Democrats Support Clinton; ESPN Objects To New Verizon Fios TV Plan; McDonalds Trying All Day Breakfast; Cameras Capture Police Rescue And Restraint; Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired April 20, 2015 - 07:30   ET

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: The ship sent out a distress call off the coast of Libya Saturday. It had been at sea for days. Some say -- these are survivors we're getting reports from -- again, these are smugglers; they don't have good manifests of who was on board -- as many as 950 may have been on board. Some of them, we're told, may have been trapped behind locked doors. So we're monitoring the situation for you.

[07:30:02] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Let's show you how flimsy.

Well, also, a stunning admission from the Justice Department, officials say an elite FBI forensic unit gave flawed testimony in hundreds of trials, from the late '70s to 1999.

Examiners overstated analysis to favor prosecutors in 95 percent of hundreds of trials reviewed by the Innocence Project and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Those cases involved 32 defendants sentenced to death.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: It may not be long before biopsies invoke a blood test for cancer detection. More and more researchers are returning to liquid biopsy detecting cancer in DNA rather than cutting out a piece of the tumor.

A recent study involved 126 patients of lymphoma found the liquid biopsy predicted recurrence of the cancer much earlier than traditional biopsies.

CUOMO: Good news. Got some more for you also. A surprise homecoming in North Carolina, so 8-year-old Joshua Vasquez 3rd grade school picture, one going on in my house, the photographer snaps a shot and he says, look who photo bombed you? Who?

He turns around. It's his dad, Corporeal James Bass. He has been in Kuwait the past year so, look. He has no idea. For a year he's been gone and you see what it is when you see someone you love so much after so long.

CAMEROTA: Why do you do these without tissues at the ready?

BERMAN: I think they're amazing.

CAMEROTA: I do too. It's so beautiful. CUOMO: You can't see those enough.

CAMEROTA: All right, well, on to politics now because the Democrats, if you are headed for a coronation or collapse. If you believe --

BERMAN: You are still crying about the new CNN poll.

CAMEROTA: The new polling out this morning, our CNN-ORC poll shows Hillary Clinton has support from almost 70 percent of Democrats. So are Republicans already taking dead aim at Clinton? Is her nomination inevitable? Who can give her a run for her money? How different will these numbers look when the countdown clock hits zero. Get ready.

CUOMO: How good will we look?

CAMEROTA: A time lapse for us as well. We want to bring if contributing editor for the New York magazine, Jason Zengerie, and CNN's newest political reporter, Sara Murray. Welcome to the team, Sarah. Great to have you.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Great to be here.

CAMEROTA: All right, excellent, so let's get right into it. Jason, I want to start with you. When you look at those numbers, the question would be why would any Democrat take on Hillary? However, you have a different take on it. You think that any other Democrat would be doing the party a favor to take her on.

JASON ZENGERIE, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, NEW YORK MAGAZINE: Yes, I think there is sort of the theory in the party now that Hillary Clinton really needs to have someone to go up against in the primary for a couple of reasons, one, she needs the practice. She has not debated anyone in almost eight years now.

She needs to have someone to go up against before she faces the GOP nominee. Also you know, she is running against herself right now, which is not a good position to be in. She has the press who is her opponent.

So I think there are some people in the Democratic Party right now, who really want someone to challenge her. Not channel her too hard, but to give her someone to go up against.

That's why you have like Martin O'Malley, Jim Webb, people like that who look like they will get in to live Hillary a sparring partner if nothing else.

BERMAN: Yes, test her, almost train her as opposed to beat her as you see a lot of establishment Democrats asking for. Sarah, it's interesting. If you dig deeper into the numbers for Hillary Clinton here, she has other reasons to be satisfied beyond just her staggering margin over other Democratic candidates.

When you look at her personal characteristics, 88 percent of Democrats say she's a strong leader, 88 percent say she has a vision for the future, 82 cares about people like you, which is a very big number for Democrats.

The most interesting one is down there honest and trustworthy. Given all the scandals and the questions we have seen about e-mails and donations to the Clinton fund, the Clinton Global Initiative. The honest and trustworthy numbers are still 75 percent, which is essentially exactly where it was eight years ago.

MURRAY: It's pretty amazing to see how high these numbers are for Hillary Clinton. The one note of caution, it is still early. We just saw these Republicans in New Hampshire start to test out their attack lines against Hillary.

This is just the beginning. You are going to see so many ads that talk about foreign donations, that talk about this private e-mail, this is what Republicans look at. They say, look, 75 percent is really high.

But we can definitely get it lower when we start our negative attacks and when we start our ads and you will see so much of that. You will be so sick of hearing about it.

CUOMO: You know what? You have to file it under sad but true because the negatives work in politics for two reasons. I want to put up the Republican side of the field now.

That's the most use I think in these early numbers because they're trying to establish the pecking order. We see it, changing now. All right, we see what John Avlon was talking about this morning as a new top tier.

So these are probably your primaries, right. So you have those top four there. Then we are seeing there is a little bit of a shift. I think the headline out of this one is one, Rubio doubled, and two Christie at 4 percent.

Mr. Zengerie, 4 percent, he's been out there in New Hampshire. No pop for him like for Marco. Do you think it's just because he hasn't declared?

[07:35:13] ZENGERIE: I think it's because he hasn't declared. He has been only been in New Hampshire. It's not like the rest of the country is paying attention to that. I think what Christie is counting on is that once he declares and people pay attention, at the debates.

If he has a viral moment at one of these town halls, he'll go up. I mean, really he can't go anywhere but up at this point. He's a good politician. I don't know if he's good enough to climb out of the hole that he is in.

But I think he can get a little bit further up in the polls than he is right now. I mean, he really is a very good political performer. He's going to have a great moment at some point. I think that's what he's counting on. He's waiting for this to start in earnest. He can show his chops. He'll go up some. CAMEROTA: Sara, let's look at what Chris touched on and that is the Republican field and how they are doing today versus one month ago. So let's put up the poll just out this morning. It shows where the numbers are.

So you see Bush basically the same. Walker is basically the same. Paul is basically the same. Rubio is the only one as Chris just said that has moved the needle. He's doubled his number from 5 percent last month to 11 percent now. What was it about Rubio's rollout that was better than Rand Paul's?

MURRAY: Well, I think there are a couple things going for Marco Rubio, and one of them is he is just so different from Jeb Bush in a lot of ways. They're both from Florida, but Marco Rubio is young fresh face. He has policy ideas. He is showing up.

He kind of excites people in a way that Jeb Bush does and in a way that Rand Paul doesn't. The other thing is it was a very good tale that Marco Rubio had to tell at his rollout. He is talking in Florida about how his family came over.

People really connected with that and if you are in Marco Rubio's camp, they are saying that is as well as that event could have gone for him. By the way, this is basically the high point of your campaign.

You get to plan everything surrounding it. You get to practice your speech. This is as good as you are ever going to look on the stage of American politics.

BERMAN: You know, Jason, the number of Rubio people love is the head- to-head matchup with Hillary Clinton. Yes, he's still losing, crushed by 13 or 14 points against Hillary Clinton. But he's doing better than any other Republican candidate right now against Hillary. He's down 13. There are others who are down 20. I expect that that will be a part of the message from the Rubio team going forward.

ZENGERIE: That's a big argument that they're going to be making. You know, especially in contrast to Jeb Bush. I think one thing that you know if Jeb Bush is the Republican nominee, one thing he takes off the table for Republicans is Clinton fatigue.

I mean, they want to be able to run against Hillary Clinton as a candidate of the past, someone who you are tired of. If Jeb Bush is their nominee, that's a much more harder argument to make. Marco Rubio can make that argument.

He's a young fresh face. He doesn't have the association. I think that's something that party elites are looking at as well. Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, they are very similar in terms of issue, where they're from. But the age factor and the freshness factor is really something that plays to Rubio's advantage.

CAMEROTA: Alisyn, Rubio is taking a risk early on, coming out with his statement he believes sexual preference is not a choice of Dr. Ben Carson on the other side. CAMEROTA: Absolutely.

CUOMO: So he's trying to show he's not the traditional faced guy.

CAMEROTA: We'll see how that plays out. Thanks so much, Jason, Sara. Great to see both of you. Thanks for that. We want to know what your take is. What do you think of all these candidates and where we are in the race. You can tweet us using the #newdaycnn. You only have 567 days to get that tweet.

Meanwhile, this stunning new body cam video to show you of this police confrontation with a murder suspect in Ohio, he rushes the officer who holds his fire. We have the dramatic pictures on this story to show you.

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[07:42:53]

CUOMO: It is time for CNN Money now, business correspondent, Cristina Alesci in our money center. So Cristina, ESPN and Verizon knuckling up, tell me why I care?

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Chris, you may not want to pay for channels you don't want and this is especially important for people who don't watch ESPN. Fios customers can now get a core package with the major networks and then choose two other kind of specialized programming.

But it doesn't have to be ESPN, which was previously a part of the basic bundle. ESPN shot back saying the new deal violates an agreement with Verizon. No word yet from Verizon but stay tuned.

And two other cable companies, cable providers, have problems of their own, Time Warner Cable and Comcast are trying to merge, but the Justice Department is getting in the way. The agency is worried the companies together will have too much power. In their defense the companies say, this combination is necessary to compete with the likes of Netflix and Apple.

And a big day for fans of McDonald's breakfast, all day breakfast is being rolled out today in a trial basis in San Diego. Nine items are being tested, including Egg McMuffins, hash browns and hotcakes. By the way, no mcgridles or biscuit sandwiches on the all-day breakfast menu. Yes, that's a bummer.

Here's something you don't see every day at Target, a shopping frenzy. It happened yesterday when the retailer launched, it's Lilly Pulitzer line of clothing. Demand for the items left shelves empty and overwhelmed the store's website.

Dresses and handbags have been popping up on eBay sometimes at double the retail price. It's out of control, Chris, maybe Target's got its target back.

BERMAN: Lilly Pulitzer like wicked preppy stuff, right? CAMEROTA: I didn't think there was that much of a demand for lime green items.

CUOMO: Why do you know?

BERMAN: I did a story on the resurgence of the preppy in the story.

CUOMO: Go in the closet. How about the McGridle not being involved? Have you had a McGridle?

CAMEROTA: Yes, it's too sweet for me. How about Egg McMuffins needing more testing. Haven't they proven themselves?

[07:45:12] BERMAN: I alone have tested the Egg McMuffin well outside any possible --

CUOMO: Do you think it's better than the McGridle?

BERMAN: Yes, actually. I don't like the McGridle.

CUOMO: It has pancakes as they -- I ate through my own index finger once. I just ate it right off. It's still tasted good.

CAMEROTA: Wow.

CUOMO: It was my ring finger. Grew back. Cuomo power.

CAMEROTA: Thank goodness.

CUOMO: All right so we have been talking to you about these police cases of excessive force, here's the officer in Ohio has a man running at him, who is accused of a double homicide, saying kill me, shoot me, shoot me. He's showing restraint. He even falls down. What happens and why coming up.

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[07:49:53]

BERMAN: There have been so many headlines about alleged excessive force by police, several of these incidents caught on camera. But in just the last few days we've seen dash cam and body cam video showing the best of what police have to offer.

[07:50:06] These images from Ohio and New Jersey are simply astonishing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN (voice-over): The fire blazing from this crushed overturned vehicle on a New Jersey road almost claimed the life of the 45-year- old woman unconscious inside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Try to unbuckle her. I'm going to pull her out.

BERMAN: Still strapped in her seat belt, officers use a knife to cut her loose. It is a close call, officers pulling her limp body to safety. Moments later the flames consume the vehicle. With several shooting deaths of unarmed civilians raising questions about officers' use of deadly force, lifesaving stories like this show a different picture.

UNIDENTIFIED SUSPECT: Shoot me.

UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Get your hands out of your pocket, now.

UNIDENTIFIED SUSPECT: Shoot me.

UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: No, man, not going to do it.

UNIDENTIFIED SUSPECT: Shoot me. Shoot me.

BERMAN: In this hostile encounter with a double homicide suspect, Ohio Police Officer Jesse Kidder is being praised for not pulling the trigger.

UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Stop! Stop right there. I don't want to shoot you man. I don't want to shoot you.

UNIDENTIFIED SUSPECT: Shoot me.

UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Don't do it, man. Don't do it.

BERMAN: Watch as the suspect, 27-year-old Michael Wilcox, charges forward. He is unarmed but shouting. Officer Kidder holds his fire.

UNIDENTIFIED SUSPECT: Shoot me. Shoot me.

UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Get down now. Back up. Back up.

BERMAN: Seconds later, Wilcox surrenders.

UNIDENTIFIED OFFICER: Law enforcement officers all across the nation deal with split-second decisions that mean life or death. I wanted to be absolutely sure before I used deadly force.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: I want to take a closer look at this encounter with the police chief of the New Richmond Police Department, Randy Harvey. Chief, thanks so much for being with us. Let me ask you right off the bat when you first saw that video, what was your reaction?

CHIEF RANDY HARVEY, NEW RICHMOND POLICE DEPARTMENT: Well, my first reaction was praise for Officer Kidder for using such great restraint. The fact that he was able to stay calm in this situation. The fact that he kept focused on the suspect, and his observations, and was processing that to make the correct decision, was what impressed me most about Officer Kidder in this situation.

BERMAN: You call it the correct decision. Just to be clear, would Officer Kidder have been justified had he pulled the trigger? HARVEY: I believe Officer Kidder would have been justified in this situation to pull the trigger. Any variable that may have been changed in this situation, probably most definitely would have had a different result and we may have been investigating a shooting.

BERMAN: I think everyone at this point is grateful that everyone emerged from this alive, the suspect and Officer Kidder, as well. Let me ask you this, would you show this video in training? Is this the way you want your officers to behave in situations like this?

HARVEY: Well, that's a kind of a difficult question to answer. There is some value in this video, training value. I guess what I look at is all the verbal commands that the officer was giving this individual is certainly worthwhile in training.

We're taught that. This individual just kept ignoring the verbal commands, the fact that Officer Kidder continued to create distance between him and the subject is something that they teach even in the basic academy, to create distance between you and the threat.

Officer Kidder had done that. But really and truly, like I said, in any little thing different that could have occurred in this situation, may have ended up in a different result. So for this to actually be claimed as a model, I don't think I can say that.

Officers out there, they just have to go on their gut instinct, and they have to make these split second decisions without warning. And, so you know, I really don't care how many procedures that you have in place when it comes to it. Officers in the field just have to be wise in their decision making.

BERMAN: And it's great when we can trust the instincts, and when police officers can trust the instincts? Are you concerned? You said you would not make this a model.

Are you concerned with all the stories around the country right now of instances of perhaps excessive force that it is causing a moment of pause among officers, that it's causing them to think too much at a time when they really don't have the time to think too much.

HARVEY: And that's what we're seeing in law enforcement nowadays.

[07:55:04] That Officers are coming across these situations more and more where people are not yielding to the verbal commands of officers. They are without provocation and without warning willing to attack police officers.

And so, officers just do not have the time to really think and process what use of force that they may use and I think we're seeing this more and more, where there's just this violent behavior towards the police, and the officers are caught off guard, and simply are acting on gut instinct.

So, I think in those kinds of situations, that I think 99 percent of the officers act properly, but on occasion I guess there are these incidences where the wrong judgment can be made. BERMAN: Chief Harvey, thank you so much for being with us. Again, thank you for coming in here. We're very happy that the officer is OK and the suspect in this case, as well so thank you.

CAMEROTA: OK, John, we have two developing stories to tell you about. There are two search efforts under way at this hour after two different disasters in the Mediterranean. Both involved boats filled with migrants. Hundreds are feared dead. Fareed Zakaria will be here to explain the scope, next.

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