Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Bush Team Shake-Up As 2016 Kickoff Nears; Rumsfeld Says Iraq Democracy Was "Unrealistic"; Obama Critical Of Supreme Court's Healthcare Action; Protesters Call For Firing Of Texas Cop; Will A Cleveland Sports Team Finally Win A Title? Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired June 09, 2015 - 07:30   ET

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


SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Dave Kutchel (ph) didn't really make sense as a campaign manager. He's a bigger thinker. He's a chief strategist. He is from Iowa. He did a lot there in the state for Romney.

Diaz is a really a task master. He is a guy who sleeps five hours a night, reads everything when he gets up in the morning and makes sure everyone knows what they are going to.

He also knows how to drive a message and sort of work the facts moving media cycles we are in right now. None of these were Dave's strong points.

JOHN KING, CNN HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": But does this change anything? Jeb Bush is still out of step with the Republican base on immigration. Jeb Bush is still out of step with the Republican base on education. Jeb Bush is the candidate and for all the shake ups in the world, candidates --

JONATHAN MARTIN, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": The larger issue is campaigns are going well don't have staff shake ups before they even launch. The fact is, there is obviously a need to make a change in the pre- campaign season here because the first six months of Jeb Bush's de facto campaign have been mixed and the fact is --

KING: Mixed? He was supposed to be the front-runner. You are being kind this morning, I appreciate that, morning kindness is good, but everyone assumes --

MARTIN: On one hand, he's going to raise $100 million, which is serious money, but there is no question. He's got real problems with actual voters. That is going to be his challenge. The larger issue here is why was this needed in the first place?

It was needed because Jeb Bush who was supposed to be forced in the race. Financially, he is a force, but otherwise, has some real challenges.

KING: Do either of you believe, this is the hard part for me, in terms of the structure of a campaign. Mike Murphy is Jeb Bush's long- time strategist. He's a whisper to his candidates. He's always in touch, texting and e-mailing his candidates. He is talking to them all the time. He's going to go over to the super PAC and run the super PAC, which by law means he's not supposed to talk to the campaign including the candidate about strategy.

I'm sorry, I have a hard time believing that Mike Murphy is going to stay over here and when Jeb Bush does something right or wrong out there. He is not going to be in touch with him.

MARTIN: Right. He has to have the handcuffs on and not grab his phone and call or text Jeb. They have him there because they want somebody who knows the candidate well, who is perusing a lot of the ads that are sort driving the message of the campaign on the super PAC side.

There's no question, it is going to be very difficult for Jeb not to have his top strategist when it comes to his political approach on the other side of a wall.

And so the question to me is, if things don't improve on the campaign here and if Jeb does not show, you know, real strength in the months to come, if these debates don't go well, is there going to be a temptation to pull Murphy back on the other side?

KING: Well, watch this one plays out. Campaigns do have shakeups. I remember it was later, but I remember Bill Clinton's whole campaign got shaken up. Hillary Clinton orchestrated that one.

MARTIN: And John McCain this time in '07.

KING: John McCain did this in '07 as well. The official announcement from Jeb Bush next week, he's taking a European trip this week.

I want this one to be under the headline of revision is history. Award of the day goes to Donald Rumsfeld. In an interview with the "Times of London," Donald Rumsfeld is now saying he was skeptical when George W. Bush was invading Iraq and saying that we would have a democracy.

That we would kick out Saddam Hussein and put a democracy in place. Rumsfeld telling the "Times of London," I'm not one who thinks that our particular template of democracy is appropriate for other countries at every moment of their histories.

The idea that we could fashion a democracy in Iraq seemed to me unrealistic. I was concerned about it when I first heard those words.

MURRAY: Yes, I think he could have fooled me on that one because this is not something that we were hearing from Donald Rumsfeld at the time we invaded Iraq. But I do think you are seeing more people sort of taper revision as history approach the Iraq war.

This is a discussion we have been having in the Republican Party as all of these candidates are forced to answer, what would you have done in Iraq. It's a lot easier to say, wow, this is harder than we thought it would be. We should have done something different. KING: Yes, like maybe send in more troops if you're going to do it or if you really believe, Jonathan, that this was unrealistic, wouldn't you ask your friend the vice president to dial it back when he was on every Sunday?

Wouldn't you ask the top deputy to dial it back? What he said, you know, this is a great civil society, ready in Iraq, as soon as Saddam is gone, back up and running and everything is going to be great.

MARTIN: Hindsight is certainly 20/20.

KING: Why give these interviews?

MARTIN: It's fascinating. To me, John, it sort of shows the fact that the Republican Party has an impulse, certainly, the projection on the American force. There's also this distaste for nation building, too.

I think the latter is what you see in the interview. It's not really in their DNA. In hindsight, Rumsfeld and other folks would say it tilted more toward that. It's not really who they are.

KING: He's harshly critical of President Obama's current strategy in that interview. We have to have a big debate in the country about the strategy against ISIS. I'm not sure I want to listen to somebody, who was there in the Iraq war saying, I was concerned all along.

[07:35:10] We'll see how that one goes. President Obama overseas at the G7 Summit yesterday talking about a big Supreme Court case we are waiting to hear.

A challenge to the subsidies part of Obamacare, if the Supreme Court rules the subsidies structure unconstitutional, well, either a big piece of Obamacare gets pulled out and gutter, or the president says Congress could fix this in a nanosecond.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: This should be an easy case and probably shouldn't have been taken up. It's a bad idea. It shouldn't be done based on a twisted interpretation of four words in, as we were reminded repeatedly, a couple thousand page piece of legislation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The president laughing about it there because the big debate during Obamacare was how can we pass this big piece of legislation and now the case is about four or five words. He said twice on health care and immigration, Congress can fix it in a minute. This Congress is not going to fix it if the Supreme Court does that whether it's the issue on Obamacare or immigration.

MURRAY: Yes, and I think that's a huge challenge that everyone is looking at. The reality is, if the Supreme Court decides they are unconstitutional, it is huge for President Obama, but for the Republican Party. They have the controlled Congress right now. We have a lot of Republicans who are running for president.

They have to come up with something to replace it with. It is a difficult position to be in. It's a lot easier to run against something than to say here is a plan that we are in favor of instead of it.

MARTIN: Yes, it's fascinating. I have no doubt President Obama and Democrats broadly, don't want to see this case win out. But, I got an e-mail yesterday from a Democratic operative who is very much interested in those who would lose their health care if this case does win out. They want to know exactly who the votes are, where they live, their voting history so there is a political story to this decision coming out.

KING: We are waiting, Alisyn, as the month of June kicks on. We'll get some big decisions from the Supreme Court and as Jonathan notes, big legal decisions, very likely to immediately spill over into campaign 2016 and keep us busy here early in the morning.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: It often works that way. Legal leads to political in that way. John, thanks so much. See you tomorrow.

All right, demonstrators demanding a Dallas area police officer be fired for slamming a teenage girl to the ground and pulling his gun on other unarmed teenagers at the pool party. We will speak to one of the critics, the head of the NAACP. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:41:40]

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Anger and frustration spilling into the streets of McKinney, Texas. Protesters are demanding that Officer Eric Casebolt be fired. He was caught on camera throwing a 14-year- old girl in a bikini to the ground and drawing his gun and pointing it at others, well, drawing it at least at a pool party in a neighborhood. The officer in question is now on administrative leave.

Joining us this morning is the president and the CEO of the NAACP, Cornell Williams Brooks. Mr. Brooks, thanks so much for meeting with us.

I understand you have had the opportunity now to meet with the chief of police of McKinney yesterday. I understand that you've had ongoing conversations with some of the people involved. At least with the police chief yesterday, was that conversation fruitful? Can you tell us a bit about what you spoke of?

CORNELL WILLIAMS BROOKS, PRESIDENT/CEO, NAACP: Sure. Our Texas state conference and local branch leadership had an opportunity to meet with the chief of police yesterday. I think the conversation was fruitful.

Our NAACP met and impressed upon the chief the need to do a thorough and complete investigation, to look not merely at this officer, but to look at the whole of the police department and to assure accountability. Because the fact of the matter is, we have parents who watch this video, Americans all across the country watch this video and who have seen a child treated like property, thrown to the ground, grabbed by her hair, having a full grown man clad in a uniform, badge and gun put his knee into her back like a jockey, putting his knee into the side of a horse.

This is extraordinarily offensive. Based upon that, we are calling for a thorough investigation, not just of the officer, but the police department itself.

PEREIRA: So we are hearing varied accounts of what precipitated all of this to begin with. I want to play this a little bit of sound for you very quickly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He deserves a medal for what he did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This guy was out of control. He should be (inaudible) and then fired.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: I'm curious what your reaction is to it and how do you think civil leaders can cut through the noise because there's a lot of emotion in McKinney, Texas. Cut through the noise, then proceed forward to figure out what needs to be done.

BROOKS: Precisely, well, here is what we know. It is our intent, based on the facts thus far. There was some kind of incident or fight among adults. We then have a second set of adults show up clad in guns, badges and uniforms, mainly police officers.

We have a police officer brutalizing a group of teenagers. We need to be clear on the essence of this. It is the police officer's conduct that is at the heart of this legal and moral narrative.

So in terms of cutting through the noise, what we have to do here is follow what we have laid out in the NAACP's report called born suspect. That is to say we have to look at racial profiling.

Where we see a group of teenagers of color directed to sit on the ground, being mishandled, curse, being mistreated and their white counter parts not getting the same treatment. We see what appears to be racial profiling by assumption if not by policy. We have to address that.

[07:45:03] PEREIRA: Well, it's interesting. We spent a little bit of time looking into this. Apparently, this officer had done some cultural diversity training in racial profiling back in 2009. Clearly, it needs to go beyond that.

If you will allow me to, I want to go to the Tamir Rice case. Because we know there has been an unusual kind of step that has happened. We understand that the community leaders are not going to wait for the prosecution to decide whether to file charges against the officers involved.

Instead they are going to go directly to the judge themselves and request that the officer be charged with murder, really unusual. What are your thoughts on this? Why bypass the prosecution?

BROOKS: Sure. This may be unusual as a matter of law, it is a statement of the normalcy, I should say, of the distrust, the common place distrust in this country of prosecutors in general and the criminal justice system, in particular, when it comes to police misconduct.

Where we see the president's police and task force has indicated, prosecutors that are not independent, that do not have the critical distance necessary from the police in order to prosecute them or investigate them in cases like this.

We have the citizens who want to go directly to a judge in order to assure some accountability. It's a rational process. It is a thoughtful move based upon the tools people believe that they have available to them.

PEREIRA: Cornell Williams Brooks, always a pleasure to have you with us. Thanks so much for joining us today on NEW DAY.

BROOKS: Thank you.

PEREIRA: All right, Chris over to you.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we have Apple's next big thing. You know, what it is, it's a streaming music service. Will Apple music be music to your ears? Facts ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:50:50]

CAMEROTA: Time for CNN Money now, chief business correspondent, Christine Romans, is in our money center. Apple is about to change the world of music, you say?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's sure going to try. Apple Music will take on the business of music streaming. Apple's not the first, of course, but it wants to be the best with suggestions based on user habits, integration with Siri, stations run by real deejays. It will be available starting in June 30th for $9.99 a month. For a family of six, you can pay $15 a month.

Drowning in student loan debt from Corinthian College, listen up. The government will forgive those federal student loans. Some 350,000 students took out loans adding up to $3.5 billion to attend this for profit college. The Department of Education forced Corinthian to close or sell its 100 campuses across the country. The government says they were just preying on low income people.

CUOMO: They had amazing leather couches. All right, so tonight is arguably the biggest game in the NBA finals. I will argue the point on Twitter, but to be sure, game three is heavy with expectation. You've got Lebron driving to be the greatest ever, arguably, especially if he pulls this off. Golden State is looking for its first title ever.

Andy Scholes in Cleveland has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report."

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS: Good morning, Chris. No one's had it worse over the years than these fans here in Cleveland. They haven't won a championship, professional sports championship in this city in 51 years.

And they have all those famous names for all the bad things that have happened to them, from the shot, the fumble, the drive. You'd think they expect the worst when they get in these championship-type situations.

But when we got on the ground here in Cleveland, that's not what we found. We talked to fans and they were actually optimistic about this NBA finals because of one man, Lebron James.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People are hopelessly optimistic and loving of their teams and fiercely loyal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You always fear the worst, but you hope for the best.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cleveland, it's now. It's our time. Not just as a team but as a city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: That optimism probably stems from the Cavs winning game two in Oakland. The cue going to be rocking tonight for game three, tip off between the Cavs and the Warriors set for 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

The Stanley Cup final, meanwhile, continuing with game three in Chicago, last night, the Black Hawks grab the lead with a goal earlier in the third period. But just 13 seconds later off the face off Lightning scored to tie the game back up. Tampa Bay would score again to shock the Black Hawks 3-2 to take a 2-1 lead in this series.

U.S. women national team is playing Australia in their World Cup opening match last night. Hope Solo, despite dealing with her domestic violence arrest, was on her game, coming up with some big time saves. Team USA wins 3-1.

They're looking for their first World Cup since 1999. They'll play Friday against Sweden. They were swept by the Spurs. So they've never actually seen a win in the NBA finals here in Cleveland. Everyone very excited hoping to get to see that tonight.

PEREIRA: Golden State is all I'm going to say. All right, Andy, thanks so much. There are a lot of questions about our top story, the escape of two convicted killers from a maximum security prison in upstate New York. Was it an inside job? A woman who works in the prison may hold the answer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:58:59]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he deserved a medal for what he did.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He hit me in the face when I tried helping the girl. When two guys tried helping the girl, he pulled his firearm.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Major developments in two other police involved shootings.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An indictment for murder against former Officer Michael Slager in the death of Walter Scott.

CAMEROTA: Community activists are taking the Tamir Rice case into their own hands, bypass prosecutors and go straight to a judge.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are killers on the loose. Officials questioning a female prison employee.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They had to have the assistance of someone.

CAMEROTA: Comedian Joan Rivers would have been 82 years old this week. Melissa Rivers is going to join us live.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Tuesday, June 9th, 8:00 in the east. We do have breaking news for you this morning. Overnight, hundreds of protesters demanding a police officer in Texas be fired. Why, because he did this. He was a pulling a gun on some teens, slamming a 14-year-old girl to the ground.