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Bernie Sanders Presidential Bid; Amputee Continues Motocross; Colorado Dad Wins Long Custody Battle. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired May 06, 2015 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:31:13] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: A couple of headlines for you in the race. Hillary Clinton taking a bold stance on immigration reform. Her headline is that she's saying she supports a path to full and equal citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Bernie Sanders is one on the few on the left saying Hillary is not a shoo-in. He is challenging her for the nomination. And he's doing his first morning interview here on NEW DAY to make the case.

Senator Sanders, welcome to the race. Good luck to you. The big question is, why you, not Hillary?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I think, for the last 30 years, since I was mayor and a congressman in the Senate, what I have been focusing on is the needs of working families and the middle class. And right now, Chris, we have a situation where, for the last 40 years, the middle class of this country has been disappearing, people are working longer hours for low wages and yet almost all of the new income, all of the new wealth is going to the top 1 percent. Ninety-nine percent of all new income, in terms of wealth, the distribution of wealth, it's absolutely obscene. The top .1 percent owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent. I am prepared to take on the billionaire class, and I think that's what has to happen if we're going to see a middle class in this country expand rather than continue to shrink.

CUOMO: Amen say families all across the country, senator, but Hillary says the same thing, that she's for everyday Americans. Why Bernie Sanders and not Hillary Clinton?

SANDERS: Well, I think people have got to - first of all, let me tell you this, Chris. I've known Hillary Clinton for 25 years. I like her and I respect her. And I am running for working families in the middle class, not against Hillary Clinton. But I think people have got to look at the record.

I have voted against every disastrous trade agreement coming down the pike and helping to lead the effort against this Trans Pacific Partnership, which will mean the outsourcing of more good paying jobs to low wage countries. People have got to look at Secretary Clinton's record. Later today I'm going to continue my effort to call for a breakup of the largest financial institutions on Wall Street, who, in my view, if they're too big to fail, they're too big to exist. They have simply too much power.

I am calling for and will introduce legislation that will provide a free college university education, public colleges and universities in this country. No tuition. We have introduced legislation that says to the wealthiest people and the largest corporations, you know what, you're going to have to start paying your fair share of taxes. You can't stash your money in the Cayman Islands and other tax havens. I've been a leader in terms of climate change, introduced legislation for the first time that would have a carbon tax and say, this is a globe crisis. America has got to move away from fossil fuel and carbon. Those are my views and people have to judge Secretary Clinton's views.

CUOMO: Testing it, it would be, tax and spend, senator. That's what you're saying. More typical lefty rhetoric. You're going to tax the rich, punish them for doing well and just dump it into programs that never work.

SANDERS: Well, Chris, the truth is, that for the last 25 years there has been a huge transfer of wealth in this country from the middle class and working families. I'm talking about trillions of dollars. So the slice of the pie for the middle class has gotten smaller and all of that money has gone to the top 0.1 percent. And you compound that with this disastrous Citizens United decision in which billionaires are now able literally to control the political process in this country. I am very proud - I've got to tell you this - we announced five days ago on berniesanders.com. We sent out hundreds of thousands of messages. And on our first day we received $1.5 million in campaign contributions. Do you know what the average contribution was, Chris?

CUOMO: What was it?

SANDERS: $43. How's that?

[08:35:00] CUOMO: So you're saying you're not going to be about the big money, but you have that big Supreme Court case, Citizens United. I mean that - that says that money is speech and they can play the game and it seems like everybody takes money in politics these days. You'll never change it.

SANDERS: No, Chris, we - look, Chris, let's be very clear. When you have a handful of billionaires able to spend as much money as they want, supporting their candidates, so people like the Koch who are extreme right wing, what you are looking - and let's be clear - is the undermining of American democracy and moving our nation to an oligarchic form of society - and I mean that very seriously - where a handful of billionaires will determine who are elected officials are. We're not going to do that. I'm not going to take - establish a super PAC. We're getting small contributions from working people. I think we can raise the kinds of money we need, not to outspend our opponents, that won't happen, but to run a credible and, in fact, winning campaign.

CUOMO: Do you think that you can match Hillary's position on immigration? She says full path to citizenship for the undocumented. It will be unpopular with the right. It will be unpopular with some in the middle. What do you say?

SANDERS: Well, I have - I haven't seen her position in detail, but what I believe is, you know, we have 11 billion undocumented people in this country. I voted for a comprehensive immigration reform. I support comprehensive immigration reform. And that's what we should do.

CUOMO: Full path to citizenship or qualified?

SANDERS: Over a period of years, a full path of citizenship.

CUOMO: So over a period of years and then you make the adjustments within it?

SANDERS: Right.

CUOMO: Now, Hillary Clinton says, I'm going to take on the big banks. I'm against this super wealthy class. I'm every day Americans. I'm going to do the same stuff Bernie does, I just sound different than he does. What do you say?

SANDERS: Well, again, you know, Chris, that's for the American people to decide. I think you have to look at my record. There is, in my lifetime, political life, no special interests that we have not taken on.

I was the first member of the United States Congress when I was in the House to take on the pharmaceutical industry and tell people in my state and around the country, you know what, let's go to Canada and we can buy prescription drugs at a significantly lower price than we can in the United States. I have introduced legislation which says, not only are we not going to cut Social Security.

You know what we have to do? We have so many low income seniors, we have to expand Social Security. You know what we have to do? We have to tell, in terms of the individual taxpayers, that these hedge fund guys are going to have to start paying their fair share. So I think if you look detail by detail at my record, I think you'll find it is a very strong record and standing up for people who are kind of voiceless today, who have given up on the political process, who don't have much power. That's my view.

CUOMO: How do you get them out on the polls?

SANDERS: Ah.

CUOMO: Because when you say things about expanding entitlements and giving more to the have nots, that's unpopular. It sounds like it's expensive. And the people who vote may not like it.

SANDERS: I disagree with you, Chris. First of all, it is not expensive in the sense that if you say to people all over this country, should large profitable multinational corporations, who today are not paying a nickel in federal taxes because they're stashing their money in Cayman Islands and other tax havens, start paying their fair share? The American people, across the political spectrum, say, yes, they should.

We're losing well over $100 billion every single year because of those taxes. I've introduced legislation that would end that. Talk to Warren Buffett, one of the richest guys in the world. He says, you know, it's absurd. My effective tax rate is lower than my secretaries. The American people understand that. So what we have got to do is spend money intelligently.

We have got to make college affordable for our young people if we're going to compete in the global economy. I'll tell you what else we need to do. Real unemployment in this country is not 5.5 percent, it's 11 percent. We need to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. And when we do that, in terms of roads, bridges, water systems, rail, airports, we can put some 13 million people back to work. And that's the kind of agenda that I'm going to be fighting for.

CUOMO: Bernie Sanders, you're in the race. Senator, there are a lot of issues to cover, certainly foreign (ph) as well, but this is a start. Thank you for joining us on NEW DAY. Good luck going forward.

SANDERS: Chris, thank you very much.

CUOMO: All right, Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Chris, here's an amazing story. They were sent to Argentina despite their father's demands that they be kept here and or returned. Now two girls are back after a five-year legal ordeal. That story, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:43:35] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, here we go with the five things you need to know for your NEW DAY.

At number one, we start with this. The co-pilot who crashed Germanwings Flight 9525 rehearsed for his suicide mission earlier in the day. According to a preliminary report from French investigators, Andreas Lubitz took the auto pilot down to 100 feet five times on a flight hours before that deadly crash.

One of the men who opened fire outside a Mohammad cartoon contest in Texas communicated online with two known terrorists. Intelligence officials are combing through evidence from the Phoenix home of the two gunmen.

The State Department is now offering up to $20 million for information about four high level ISIS targets. A $10 million bounty is already in place for the terror group's top leader.

Hillary Clinton telling Hispanic students in Las Vegas she supports a full path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and she is challenging Republicans to debate her on that issue.

In his first interview since Freddie Gray's death, Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts says the community lacks trust in law enforcement. He admits that police are part of the problem.

For more on the five things, be sure to go to newdaycnn.com for the very latest. Chris.

CUOMO: Ready for some inspiration? Here's a good story for you. Motocross racer never called it quits, even after a bad wipeout costs him his leg. CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta shows us how determination helped Max Gomez (ph) get back on the bike in this edition of the "Human Factor."

[08:45:02] (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nothing can stop Max Gomez from motocross racing, even when the sport cost him part of his right leg. Max was a high school senior in 2012, competing in a national race.

MAX GOMEZ, AMPUTEE MOTOCROSS RACER: I was coming up to one of these jump and I came up a little short and it kicked me forward and off the bike. It was a 30-foot drop and then the impact just exploded my ankle.

GUPTA (voice-over): Five operations later, doctors gave Max a choice.

GOMEZ: They said you can either keep this foot and you will not be able to do anything with it, or you can amputate it and live the rest of your life.

GUPTA (voice-over): After losing his leg, Max thought he would never ride again and his dad even sold his bikes. But he was inspired by another amputee who was still racing.

GOMEZ: If said if he could do it, I should be able to do it, too.

GUPTA (voice-over): With some adjustments to his bike, like moving the brake to the handlebars and a specifically-designed prosthetic foot, Max was back on the track, just six months after his accident. He took home gold at the Extremity Games, a competition for athletes with physical disabilities, and he just missed the bronze in an adaptive moto at the 2013 X Games. The 21-year-old nursing student also recently qualified for a regional race with able-bodied racers.

GOMEZ: I lost my leg but I did not lose my drive. If there is a will, there is a way.

GUPTA (voice-over): Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:50:29] CAMEROTA: An update now on a story we have been following on NEW DAY for nearly two years. A Colorado dad desperate to get his two daughters back from Argentina after more than 4 1/2 years and he scores a huge win.

CNN's Ana Cabrera joins us live with the latest from Denver. Good morning, Ana.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. Finally, a reunion for Dennis Burns and his two young daughters. He had been fighting for this moment for several years, making cross-country trips, meeting with lawmakers, working with the State Department, even reaching out to international powers who he hoped would apply pressure on Argentina to return his children, and now that time has come, but it was not exactly the fairytale ending he had envisioned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA (voice-over): Dennis Burns has been desperate for this moment with his daughters for nearly five years. But he never imagined this. Attacked in the Buenos Aires Airport by his ex wife's brother, the uncle of six-year-old Sophia and eight-year-old Victoria, who were abducted from Colorado to Argentina by their mother, Ana Alianelli.

DENNIS BURNS, BROUGHT DAUGHTERS HOME AFTER 4 1/2 YEARS: I think the girls are right now very confused, and in time they are going to see that having a mother and a father in their lives is the most important thing.

CABRERA (voice-over): The children caught in the middle of an international tug-of-war Alianelli took the girls in September 2010 against a Colorado judge's custody order that declared Burns the primary residential parent.

Argentina is a member of the Hague Convention Abduction Treaty, meant to return children to their home countries quickly in cases like Burns. But instead of taking weeks, Burns' battle with the Argintine court system turned into years amid a litany of appeals and other tactics by Alianelli to slow the process down.

BURNS: I have been to Argentina, I think, seven times. The first time it took me over 17 months to go see my daughters.

CABRERA (voice-over): We first met Burns in the summer of 2013, frustrated with the long legal process, but hopeful that the finish line was near. But it would be another year and a half before Burns was told to travel to Buenos Aires in late March for an Argentine judge to sign the final return order.

ANA ALIANELLI, TOOK DAUGHTERS TO BUENOS AIRES IN 2010: (Speaking foreign language).

CABRERA (voice-over): Alianelli, who had denied previous requests to talk to CNN, was on Argentine TV constantly, as the deadline to hand over the girls loomed. Then, on April 13th, the order was issued. Burns picks up his daughters at the U.S. Embassy.

BURNS: Thanks, guys.

CABRERA (voice-over): It was agreed that in the best interest of the children, Alianelli would join Burns and the girls in their return to the United States.

BURNS: I want your hands, you guys. Give me your hands, guys.

CABRERA (voice-over): Finally after 4 1/2 years, it seemed the ordeal was over. Burns could bring home his girls. But at the airport, the family tension boiled over. A traumatizing scene for Victoria and Sophia.

14 hours later, we were prepared for their arrival in Aspen, Colorado, but only Alianelli got off the plane.

CABRERA (on camera): Miss Alianelli, I'm Ana Cabrera with CNN. May I speak with you?

ALIANELLI: This is the thing, the story is not only one side.

CABRERA: Will you talk to us to give you your side?

ALIANELLI: Not today, but the girls are missing right now.

CABRERA: The girls, we learned, stayed with Dennis in Texas, where they first landed back in the United States. Dennis says after they arrived, he needed medical treatment for his neck after that scuffle at the airport in Argentina.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Welcome home!

CABRERA (voice-over): Burns' dream of bringing his girls home finally realized, but the legal battle not over yet.

MATT PEARSON, DENNIS BURNS' ATTORNEY: There are original orders issued by this court here that would still be in place and enforceable but with what happened over in Argentina, I think we need to figure out how that all comes together.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: The central focus now is figuring out how to move forward in the best interest of the children and a Colorado court is still deciding that. For now, at this point, the old court order from 2010, before the abduction, is being enforced so Dennis Burns remains the primary residential parent. Alianelli has twice daily phone calls and supervised visits.

And Burns tells me they've been working with some therapists who were referred by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children who specialize in kidnappings reunification. So he says he and the girls are bonding, he believes his nightmare is over. But certainly, a new journey is just beginning.

[08:55:11] Chris.

CUOMO: Alright. We'll stay on it, Ana. Thank you very much for bringing us that.

Coming up, the power of bare feet. What until you hear what the owners of these feet are doing for kids in need. It's "The Good Stuff."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

PEREIRA: (Laughing.) You're feeling musical today.

CUOMO: It's time for "The Good Stuff," and you would be amazed what can get done by bare feet. Hold your thoughts.

PEREIRA: Tell us more.

CUOMO: From now until the 21st of May, if you post a picture of your tootsies on Instagram with the #withoutshoes, guess what? Shoemaker Toms will give one pair of shoes who needs them, completely free. Toms says millions of kids around the world go without shoes, leading to health problems, diminished opportunities and of course, a lot of shame. School uniforms often require shoes and that winds up being a catch. So they're going to give up at a million pairs. Take a picture of your feet, post it on Instagram with the #withoutshoes. Help Toms help kids.

[09:00:02] PEREIRA: You know what I say?

CAMEROTA: What?

PEREIRA: Take thee to a pedicurist first.

CAMEROTA: If you could do that first, that would be great.

CUOMO: I'm not going to lie, I would like a nice pedicure and this is a great idea by Toms.

CAMEROTA: Time now for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello.