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Scott Walker Becomes Newest GOP Candidate; Hillary Clinton's Plan For The Economy; Donald Trump Won't Back Down; Search For Answers In "Baby Doe" Case; Spieth Heads To British Open With Win. Aired 7:30- 8a ET
Aired July 13, 2015 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:30:04] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Scientists say they are building a strong case that nicotine in cigarettes changes the brain, but more studies are needed.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: We have a CNN key race alert. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker making it official he is running for president. Walker tweeting this morning, "I'm in. I'm running for president because Americans deserve a leader who will fight and win for them."
Walker is the 15th Republican to formally enter the 2016 race. Walker has a campaign launch event in Wisconsin later today. Then he plans to tour the early voting states including a three-day tour of Iowa in an RV no less.
Walker's poll numbers have climbed in Iowa, but are slipping back home in Wisconsin. Let's get more on the 2016 race on "Inside Politics" with Mr. John King. Happy Monday, my friend.
JOHN KING, CNN HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Happy Monday to you. Saw an interesting interview with Mr. Cohen, a bit of parallel universe from Trump land, but that was a great try.
CUOMO: Partially, potentially.
KING: Yes. As you mentioned, a very busy Monday, the Walker official announcement, the big event as we go "Inside Politics" this morning. With me to share their reporting and their insight, Molly Ball of the "Atlantic" and Julie Pace of the "Associated Press."
Fifteen or 16, depending on how we count Governor Jim Gilmour, the former governor of Virginia. Scott Walker gets in today. We have known for a long time he has been running. His big mark with the conservative base as I stood up to the labor unions, fighting teacher tenure in the state of Wisconsin.
Just before his announcement, he signed his budget, the Wisconsin state budget. One of the reasons he hasn't announced earlier was he wanted to get some state business done. He wanted to raise a lot of money, like Jeb Bush before he officially jumped in.
He says, look at this video. A lot of nice people running for the Republican nomination, but there is one big difference, Scott Walker says. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. SCOTT WALKER (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Republican field, there are some who are good fighters and won the battles. Others win elections but haven't consistently taken on the big fights. Now I'm running for president to fight and win for the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Essentially, he is going after some of the bigger names. They have won elections, but they haven't taken on the big fights. I assume that means people like Jeb Bush. What is his calling card here? He's interesting that he's being clear. He's going to fight for the Republican base. I'm not going to move to the middle. If I'm the most conservative guy, I can win.
JULIE PACE, "ASSOCIATED PRESS": Absolutely. If you talk to voters, in Iowa in particular and also in New Hampshire, if they know Scott Walker, they know about his recall fight in Wisconsin. He took on the unions and he won, and so his campaign wants to capitalize on that.
They feel like that is something that appeals to Republican voters. Particularly voters who have watched a Republican controlled Congress not be able to push back on Obama on a lot of things and not be able to take back the White House.
KING: Is it enough that he was the winning Republican in the conservative base during the tough Obama years? You had a Democratic president re-elected. There was Scott Walker in a blue state fighting the fight, quote/unquote, "winning the fight."
Well, we've also seen to win Iowa. He's moved to the right and some people will say, wait a minute, you are doing what you said not to do? You are flip-flopping and pandering to the base.
MOLLY BALL, "THE ATLANTIC": Because he is the Iowa front-runner at this point and because he is just now getting in the race. I think there is going to be a lot more scrutiny on some of Scott Walker's shifting positions and also on his foreign policy expertise we have been hearing from his team.
That this is something he's been sort of cramming on, taking a crash course to become more prepared on foreign policy. A lot of people comparing him to Sarah Palin saying he has the potential to sort of, you know, catch fire with a lot of conservatives, but then really destroying himself if he doesn't show he has that expertise.
So this is going to be a real test for Scott Walker. We have seen him not be very available to the media in the last several months. That has to change and that's going to be a real test for him.
KING: We will watch the big announcement. Scott Walker will focus a lot on middle class economics saying he would be a pro-growth president that would help you get a job. That would help your wages go up. We are going to hear a very similar case today, but different policy proposals from Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner laying out her economic plan today.
She's going to lay out the broad, this is what I want to do, not all the specifics, but she says there should be wage equality, meaning battle wage inequality, increase the minimum wage, paid family and medical leave would be a center piece of a Clinton president she says.
Like Bernie Sanders now, another Democrat, she says she's going to raise taxes on the wealthy to bring some of that money in. If you look at this popular with the Democratic base, but also sets up the classic Democrat-Republican argument that the Democrats are trying to use the power of government, the regulation of government, income redistribution of government to help the economy.
PACE: Yes, it's pretty classic Democratic economics. I'm not sure how much we learn about Hillary Clinton from this plan. What I do think is interesting is she's actually taking a page out of the Barack Obama playbook. It worked for him in the 2012 race. It didn't necessarily work for Democrats in 2014 because they didn't really hammer this.
[07:35:04] But this idea of raising taxes on the wealthy, if you look at polling and ask that question, generally, Americans tend to side with Democrats on raising taxes on the wealthy. She has to make it look like she is being tougher on big corporations.
One of the more interesting things in her plan I think is an idea to have tax breaks that would incentivize corporations to share profits with their employees. That something that really speaks to the what is now kind of the Bernie Sanders wing of this party.
KING: You mentioned the Bernie Sanders has been progressive this morning saying, great, we love the proposals, glad to hear more, but what are you going to do about Wall Street? Will you be tougher on Wall Street? You've talked about his before where she says we have to keep an eye on them, but she hasn't really come out there like a Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, who says, we don't just have to keep an eye on them. We have to change the rules.
BALL: No quite the opposite. Hillary is saying that everyone can win under her plan. Businesses can do better and the economy can grow and we can share those gains more broadly. That's certainly a message that resonates with a lot of people.
But to the left, they are saying, no, we need to take away from the people at the top from Wall Street. Redistribution may be a tradeoff with growth. Bernie Sanders says that we may not want to grow the economy so aggressively if all the gains are just going to the top 1 percent. Clinton on the other hand is saying you can have growth and redistribution.
KING: So those two big events today, the Clinton economics speech and the Walker announcement speech over the weekend. Donald Trump was in Nevada, a key presidential battleground, and Arizona, which has been a testing ground, if you will, for the politics of immigration in recent years.
Remember, the Republican Party chairman last week asked Donald Trump, please cool it and stop your rhetoric about illegal immigrants coming to this country. Over the weekend, Donald Trump said, no.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I get along with Putin and China. ISIS will be in such trouble. ISIS, believe me, they will be in such trouble. So, I had an idea, I think it's good. Every time Mexico really intelligently sends people over, we charge Mexico $100,000 for every person they send over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Which is set up some kind of a toll booth, charge Mexico $100,000 for every person they send over. Over the weekend, this is significant. Rupert Murdoch is the owner of Fox News, which has considerable influence over the conservative base.
And the Republican Party tweeting out, "Mexican immigrants, as with all immigrants, have much lower crime rates than native born." Rupert Murdoch is right when it comes to the statistics on that point.
He said, for example, look at El Paso, the safest city in the United States. Trump wrong. That's from Rupert Murdoch. Lindsey Graham, one of the Republicans running for the presidential nomination on "STATE OF THE UNION" this weekend here on CNN says, Donald Trump, in his view, has the ability to destroy the Republicans chances in 2016.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think he's hijacked the debate. I think he's a wrecking ball for the future of the Republican Party with the Hispanic community and we need to push back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Need to push back. Lindsay Graham is getting a higher profile because of this. He's viewed as a very long shot candidate. Trump isn't going to back down. We are three weeks from the first debate on Fox. Where are we?
PACE: Well, I think Trump sees that if he doesn't back down, he gets more attention. He has a segment of the Republican Party that really likes what he is saying. He has a lot of enthusiasm behind him. I think you are going to see the Republican Party start to push back on him, though.
I mean, it's not just Rupert Murdoch, it's the Chamber of Commerce, a lot of big business. They actually want comprehensive immigration reform. They don't want someone saying what Trump is saying.
KING: It's interesting as this plays out. We are going to see Donald Trump at the center. The first Republican debate, much more about him I think than about Hillary Clinton or President Obama. Not exactly what the Republicans wanted, Alisyn, as we get into the key stretch. It is only summer, but as we move from late July to August, about to get really interesting.
CAMEROTA: It sure is. It continues to be interesting I think, John. Thanks so much. We'll see you tomorrow.
All right, still more questions than answers in this horrible story. There is this little girl known as "Baby Doe," her body found stuffed in a trash bag in Boston. We will ask the former Boston police commissioner where the investigation is and his theory on who did this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:43:18]
CAMEROTA: Police are still searching for answers after a little girl's body was found on the Boston Harbor. It's been two and a half weeks since the mystery began. This composite image spreading across the country, more than 50 million people sharing this computer generated picture online, but still little concrete information.
Joining us now is former Boston police commissioner, Ed Davis. Ed, thanks so much for being here. As we said, it's been two and a half weeks since her body was found. The fact that no family member has reported a little girl missing, what does that tell you?
ED DAVIS, FORMER BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER: Good morning, Alisyn. Well, it tells me that there is something going on here that will probably be explained in the future. You know, this is summertime, a lot of families traveling around. Kids are out of school, out of nursery school.
So it's the time the normal safeguards in place or the people paying attention to family members might lose track of someone for a period of time. I'm confident that ultimately, someone will come forward.
This is an exceptional photo or drawing of the victim. It's certainly -- she is a beautiful young lady, young girl. I tell you, this is really raised an enormous amount of attention here in Boston. People are paying close attention to the case.
CAMEROTA: Ed, what is your theory on who is responsible for this girl's death?
DAVIS: Well, tragically, you find in cases like this, it's a case of a dysfunctional family. They panic if a child dies and dispose of the body. A lot of times, there's a tragedy behind the tragedy of the death of the child.
[07:45:04] So, you know, there are a bunch of other possibilities. I'm sure the investigators -- Massachusetts State Police have been doing a great job in being transparent in the case, getting all the information to the public, the District Attorney's Office.
CAMEROTA: You think -- correct me if I'm wrong, you think this was an accidental death?
DAVIS: Well, especially due to the fact that the DA has announced that there are no obvious signs of trauma. It could be the case. It could be a poisoning or drug overdose. The toxicology tests are critical at this juncture.
CAMEROTA: Also the little girl was found with a zebra print blanket and with leggings with black polka dots. There's something about that image that someone wanted her to have her blanket with her, even though she was dead. John Walsh, long time host of "America's Most Wanted" now the host of "THE HUNT" here on CNN. He had a theory behind what happened here. Let me play it for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN WALSH, CNN HOST, "THE HUNT": It may or may not be foul play. A couple cases I did way back, 20 years ago, foul play wasn't involved, but the parents were illegal immigrants. They didn't know what to do with the baby. They didn't want to go to a funeral home. They didn't want to be known. They were afraid of being deported.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: Ed, what do you think about that? That the parents are illegal immigrants or for some reason cannot alert authorities because they are hiding somehow.
DAVIS: Well, I think the latter is exactly what I was referring to. I don't want to -- it's hard to say the immigrant status would cause it to happen. There are a multitude of reasons parents are terrified to go to the authorities.
The presence of the blanket and the clothing shows someone cared for the child. The profile would be very impressed with that information and would tell us clearly there was some care involved in it.
CAMEROTA: I know you say in the summer, sometimes these cases are hard to crack because the child is not in school. You predict, come September, it will be more obvious if a little girl is missing?
DAVIS: It will probably before that. There are always family members, also, that play a role in this. It's not just the caretakers like a school, but, quite frankly, you can't hide a child's disappearance for a long period of time like this.
You might get away with it for a month or so. Eventually, people are going to ask questions. It's so important to go to the public in this case.
CAMEROTA: Yes, 50 million people have shared this. Let's pray that something happens this week. Ed Davis, thank you so much for your time. If you have information on Baby Doe, please call any of the numbers on your screen. If you don't have a pen, call 911 and tell them you have information. They will get you to the right people -- Chris. CUOMO: Every time you see that little girl's face, it makes you wonder how it happened. We are going to take a break. Roger Federer fans hoping Wimbledon would be a swan song for the tennis great. That's not him. That's Novak Djokovic. We have the big moments of the match in our "Bleacher Report" ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:52:40]
CUOMO: Perfect timing. Wimbledon finals Sunday, British Open tees off on Thursday, Jordan Spieth on quite a role. Plenty for Andy Scholes to unpack in this morning's "Bleacher Report." Happy Monday, my brother.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS: Happy Monday to you too, Chris. In the past 75 years just two golfers have won five PGA tour events before turning 22 years old, Tiger Woods and now Jordan Spieth. That's how good a run Spieth is on right now.
Yesterday he needed two playoff holes to outlast Tom Gillis to win the John Deer Classic. He did it. Spieth now heads to the open championship at St. Andrews, the home of golf looking to win his third consecutive major. That tournament is getting started on Thursday.
All right, for the third time Novak Djokovic won the gentleman's final at Wimbledon in London. He beat Roger Federer in four sets on Sunday and a rematch of last year's final. It was Djokovic's ninth career grand slam victory. It was even sweeter because the win came on his first wedding anniversary.
All right, the baseball's power hitters will be swinging for the fences in Cincinnati tonight during the home run derby. It has a new format this year. The derby will be a single e elimination tournament instead of the ten outs. They get 5 minutes to hit as many home runs as they can.
And a cool new wrinkle, you get extra time for home runs that go more than 420 feet. No longer are each homeruns equal. These batters have real incentive to go out there and really swing as hard as they can.
CUOMO: You like the change?
SCHOLES: I do. I like the further the home run you're rewarded for that. I like the 5 minutes because sometimes, as you know, the rounds go on forever and ever. The guys tire themselves out and end up hurting themselves in the final round.
CAMEROTA: I get tired just watching.
CUOMO: Home runs, can't get enough. I love it!
CAMEROTA: Thanks, Andy.
Meanwhile, an Iran nuclear deal could come at any moment. But will it survive scrutiny by Congress? We'll go live to Vienna for the very latest on these talks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:58:43]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAMEROTA: Greece a huge step closer to a deal for a third bailout.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a question of doing what is right for Greece.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Will the Greek parliament approve this agreement?
CAMEROTA: Deadline day again to reach a nuclear deal with Iran.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's almost certain the deal is coming.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Getting with bad deal with Iran is the worst possible outcome.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The world's most powerful and deadly drug trafficking kingpin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A drug empire that reaches at least ten countries.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Broken out of prison in Mexico.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After Osama Bin Laden was killed, El Chapo became the most wanted man in the world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the book, Attica says racist things.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The controversy surrounding Harper Lee's next novel.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This book, I think in this time, brings up the conversations we're having now about structure racism.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Monday, July 13th, 8:00 in the east. Mich is off. We have breaking news. We begin with a major debt deal whose ripple effects are being felt worldwide. Here is the deal. Eurozone leaders have reached a unanimous agreement after marathon talks over a third bailout for Greece.
CAMEROTA: So now the ball is in Greece's court to pass those require reforms. Parliament expected to decide as early as tomorrow. Let's go live to Athens and CNN's Isa Soares with all the latest.