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Former President George H.W. Bush Hospitalized; Obama Challenges Critics of Iran Deal; Jim Gilmore to Join Crowded 2016 GOP Field; Inside El Chapo's Prison Cell & Escape Tunnel; Should Cosby's Medal of Freedom Be Revoked? Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired July 16, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to your NEW DAY. Michaela is off today.

[07:00:02] We do have breaking news overnight to tell you about. George H.W. Bush hospitalized. The 91-year-old former president broke a bone in his neck after taking a fall in his vacation home in Maine.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: The elder Bush has been a warrior, battling back from health complications. Recently, he made it home after a two-month stay in the hospital for bronchitis and breathing issues. So let's figure out what's going on right now. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is live in Washington with the very latest. What do we know?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Chris, this is a big scare for the former president. Aides say he is in stable condition, but he did spend the night at a hospital in Portland, Maine, and he does remain there this morning.

He took a fall yesterday while at their family home in Kennebunkport, Maine, breaking a vertebrae in his neck. And his spokesman just tweeted out in the last moments that he remains in that hospital and that they will provide updates as necessary.

And while we have seen him over the last few years out and about, skydiving, most recently just last year on his 90th birthday, he is the oldest living former U.S. president. And he's had some pretty significant health problems in the past.

Last year he was hospitalized for shortness of breath. In 2012 he was in the hospital for two months for a bronchitis-related cough. And he uses a wheelchair because he has Parkinson's Disease.

Now just last week in Maine Bush did show up at multiple events with donors for his son's presidential campaign. But he did miss Jeb Bush's big campaign announcement when he declared he was running for president in June. His wife did attend that announcement without him.

And Jenna Bush just tweeted in the last moments, "Always touched by kindness. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers for our dear Gamps" -- Chris, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much for that, Sunlen. We will check back throughout the show. Well, President Obama coming out swinging, delivering a spirited defense of the nuclear deal with Iran. He's blasting opponents in Congress and mixing it up with reporters during a rather unusual press conference. CNN's Michelle Kosinski is following that. She's live at the White House.

Tell us what we saw yesterday.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: So this was different. I mean, often when we're in the midst of a big issue, what we'll hear from the president and the administration are these carefully-crafted phrases over and over. A million times, word for word.

But this is the president getting out there and taking on the tough questions, not from fashion bloggers or comedians, but from the good old White House press corps. And he used direct, plain language to talk about why he feels the preventive aspects of this deal outweigh Iran's terrible behavior. More of the looser approach that we've seen from him lately.

However, when he disapproved, he didn't hold back on that either.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Please have a seat.

KOSINSKI: President Obama openly addressed the proverbial gorillas in the room.

OBAMA: This deal is not contingent on Iran changing its behavior. It's not contingent on Iran suddenly operating like a liberal democracy. It solves one particular problem, which is making sure they don't have a bomb.

KOSINSKI: The president challenged, chastised critics in Congress.

OBAMA: Explain specifically where it is that they think this agreement does not prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And why they're right and people like Ernie Moniz, who's an MIT nuclear physicist and an expert in these issues, is wrong; why the rest of the world is wrong. And then present an alternative.

KOSINSKI: But that's not all he took issue with. His annoyance reaching a head in this exchange.

MAJOR GARRETT, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: There are four Americans in Iran, three held on trumped-up charges and, according to your administration, one whereabouts unknown. Can you tell the country, sir, why you are content, with all the fanfare around this deal, to leave the conscience of this nation, the strength of this nation unaccounted for in relation to these four Americans?

OBAMA: I give you credit, Major, for how you crafted those questions. The notion that I'm content, as I celebrate with American citizens languishing in Iranian jails -- Major, that's nonsense, and you should know better. I've met with some of the families of some of those folks. Nobody is content.

KOSINSKI: He even took one question on Bill Cosby, on whether his Medal of Freedom should be taken back. And he answered it.

OBAMA: I'll say this. If you give a woman, or a man for that matter, without his or knowledge, a drug, and then have sex with that person without consent, that's rape.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSINSKI: It's not just what the president has been saying lately. It's also how he's been saying it. He's been extremely outspoken on race, on criminal justice. And we expect to hear more of that today when he becomes the first sitting president to visit a maximum- security prison, traveling to Oklahoma -- Chris.

[07:05:00] CUOMO: All right, Michelle, thank you very much.

CAMEROTA: Well, the already crowded Republican field for 2016 is about to get more crowded. In the next few weeks, former Ohio governor John Kasich is preparing to join the race, as is our next guest.

James Gilmore is the former governor and attorney general of Virginia. He will be formally declaring his candidacy next month, we hear. And this is his first national interview. Thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.

JAMES GILMORE (R), FORMER GOVERNOR AND ATTORNEY GENERAL OF VIRGINIA: Thank you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Why do you want to dive into this crowded pool?

GILMORE: Because I think, with the background experience I have, that I think I can help the country. I'm really thinking -- I'm going to enter, I think, in August. And the reason is because I'm concerned that we have got wage stagnation. We have to ask ourselves the question: Are we really better off economically than we were eight years ago? We're not.

And in addition to that, the national security of this country is in grave danger. And I have a background in that that the other candidates really are lacking. And I believe I can help.

CAMEROTA: Is that -- there are other governors. So you don't hear any of those other Republican governors saying those things?

GILMORE: I think that there's a thought that the candidates should come out of the governors, the former governors, but I have an experience in foreign policy to add to my background as governor of Virginia that I think will help the country because of what I want to do. It's not what I want to be. It's what I want to do.

I want to run for office in order to help people get back to work again, get wages improving, get people off this part-time gig that they're on, get people off of Food Stamps. Do you know, Alisyn, that there are 47 million people now on Food

Stamps in the United States? That's a sixth of the population. We need to get people employed so they can be more independent.

And the national security of this country, as has been widely discussed in the last couple of days, is in serious jeopardy. I have some experience working with those issues that the other former governors do not have.

CUOMO: Do you think you can raise the money?

GILMORE: I think I can raise the money, but that's hardly the point. The real point here is...

CUOMO: But it's a practical point. Right?

GILMORE: It's a practical point, but we're just getting started on that. The key is getting in there and making the case. The American people don't care who's got the most money, or Jeb Bush will be running away with the race. What people care about is what do the candidates want to do for the country and for the people of the United States.

CUOMO: What do you offer specifically to the people? They're desperate for it. They're hearing about Trump and how much he's worth. They're not hearing what's in it for them, except to stoke their anger. What do you offer?

GILMORE: Well, a couple of things. First of all, we have to build back up the national defense of the United States. We have to take the sequester off the defense budget and begin to rebuild, because we're sending a terrible message across the world of weakness. Which is why we ended up with this agreement with Iraq -- with Iran that we just had.

CAMEROTA: So you do not like this agreement?

GILMORE: No, I don't like the agreement. I think the agreement has sent a serious message of danger into the Middle East.

CAMEROTA: Why, what's your problem? You don't believe that Iran will stick to it?

GILMORE: Well, it's -- no, I don't think they'll stick to it. But that's not so much the key. Even if they do stick to it, we're sending a message to the other people across the Middle East who have been traditionally our allies and are telling them in 15 years, at the very least, Iraq is going to be a legitimate nuclear state.

CUOMO: What was the alternative?

GILMORE: The alternative, it seems to me, is to build a coalition and to make a very strong case that -- build a coalition first. And second, build a very strong case that we're serious about not allowing Iran to be a nuclear power.

CUOMO: Isn't the P5+1 exactly that?

GILMORE: It wasn't, though. We've sent -- in fact, look at the -- look at the agreement that's been reached. It's an agreement that basically legitimizes a nuclear power in Iran in 15 years.

Now everybody says, "Oh, that's 15 years away." The people in the Middle East now have to begin got plan for that. And that is highly dangerous.

The United States needs to be a force for stability in the Middle East. This is an expertise, Alisyn, that I have based upon a lifetime of work in this, including chairing the National Commission on Homeland Security for the United States for five years.

But it isn't the only issue. The main issue, the aid main issue is getting people back to work. Getting more jobs, young people have better careers.

CUOMO: How do you get more jobs in the U.S. from all the companies saying it's too expensive to do business here?

GILMORE: It's exactly right. Which means that the specific plan that I've laid out now for five years needs to be implemented. And one of those plans is to reduce the corporate income tax so that we're competitive in the world and we don't drive people overseas. We can actually reduce that rate down to 15 percent in this country and get as competitive.

You need to reform the personal income tax rates and give people a tax cut. You need to eliminate the death tax. And with a few more tweaks, our economists say that you can absolutely hot charge and supercharge this economy and get people working again.

CAMEROTA: Another reform that the president was talking about yesterday was prison reform. And doing away, basically, with mandatory minimum sentences for drug criminals of the lower bar. What do you think of that?

GILMORE: Well, of course, I was an elected prosecutor. I've been a defense attorney, but I've also been an elected prosecutor in the courtroom. I've also been an attorney general of the state of Virginia, so I've lived a lot on this on my life and have a lot of experience.

CUOMO: And a high incarceration rate in that state.

GILMORE: A high incarceration ratein a lot of places. If people sell drugs they're going to go to prison, and they should.

CUOMO: What about using drugs?

GILMORE: Using drugs is a different issue. I think people are talking about that in terms of treatment. But, you know, using drugs creates the demand for these kinds of criminal cartels. Chris, this is -- that isn't the main point. The president let a lot of people go last week who were selling drugs

or in a conspiracy to sell drugs. I want everybody to know right now, my position is that, if you sell addictive narcotics in the United States of America, that is a violent crime. It is not a non-violent crime.

[07:10:20] CAMEROTA: Right. So what about prison overcrowding? How would you do it? Speaking of reform, if you think that it needs to be?

GILMORE: Look, I have confidence personally in the judicial system and in the rule of law. And I think that the reason that these mandatory sentences came into practice is because people were being too lenient, and as a result, you were getting more drug dealing, more violent crime, more danger on the streets; and we're seeing that rise now.

CUOMO: But are you saying that there's not a problem with the prison system and the overcrowding and the administration of justice?

GILMORE: Well, I think that people need to stop selling drugs so that they don't go to prison. That's what I think.

CUOMO: It's a little -- a little simple, though, in the analysis of the overall problem, though. Isn't it sir?

GILMORE: You know, I think you can overcomplicate this a little bit. I've been in the courtrooms all my life. I've been dealing with the law all my life. And I think that regular folks out there who are living their lives every day and don't want to have their children addicted to drugs are entitled to know that we're going to stand up as a society and stand up for regular people out there.

CAMEROTA: Former Governor Jim Gilmore, thanks so much for being on NEW DAY. Come back next month with your official announcement.

GILMORE: Thank you, Alisyn.

CUOMO: People are invited to come on as issues become relevant. You're always welcome to be put to the test on the show.

GILMORE: Thank you very much.

CUOMO: Good luck to you.

All right. So this morning checkpoints are up all over Mexico. We are fascinated by yet another movie-like escape from a supposed inescapable prison. And now we can see exactly how El Chapo did it, thanks to CNN's sweaty...

CAMEROTA: Hey!

CUOMO: ... Nick Valencia, live from Mexico with incredible pictures.

Nick, you took one for the team, boy, and thank you for doing it.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

It took us hours of waiting in a maze of checkpoints, but we finally got inside Mexico's most maximum security prison. A 30-minute walk from the front door, we were taken into a hallway that housed the country's most ruthless killers and criminals, and that's where we found El Chapo's cell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: This is where he kept his belongings.

(voice-over): For the first time, our cameras are allowed inside Cell No. 20.

(on camera): This is some remnants of what he left behind. The sink that he used to wash himself.

(voice-over): For nearly a year and a half, Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was imprisoned behind these bars.

(on camera): That's the access point that El Chapo used to escape outside of this maximum-security prison. This wall providing a blind spot for that 24-hour surveillance camera.

(voice-over): Just five days ago, that camera captured one of Mexico's most notorious drug lords vanishing below the shower floor.

(on camera): Here we go.

(voice-over): A mile away from Mexico's maximum-security prison, I climbed into the tunnel's exit.

(on camera): There's another ladder leading down to another part, a deeper section of the tunnel.

(voice-over): It's hard to estimate just how long and how many people it took to create this remarkable feat of engineering.

(on camera): You see here electricity lines. It's very difficult to breathe down here. A lot of dirt, dust. This is here for the ventilation system.

This motorcycle is on a track here. This is the bike that El Chapo used to ride out of the prison. It still has gas in it.

(voice-over): The track also affixed with carts, used to carry out thousands of pounds of soil.

[06:10:06] (on camera): Go back and forth. You see that? There's buckets left behind. And look at this: left behind oxygen tanks, as well, in order for them to survive down here.

It is a very tight space. I can't even stand up. I'm about 5-10. I can't stand up all the way.

(voice-over): But the tunnel just right for Mexico's 5-foot-6-inch most wanted fugitive.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: This is the fifth day of El Chapo's escape. Last time he got out of prison -- he broke out of prison, it took them 13 years to find him. If authorities have any leads, they aren't making it public -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Such an interesting look inside there, Nick. Thanks for doing that.

Well, meanwhile, at least 33 people in Nigeria killed by militants believed to be part of Boko Haram. The deadliest took place in the evening Tuesday, when gunmen barricaded a busy highway and killed more than 20 drivers in the Northeast, which has seen a series of violent attacks. Officials say the attacker then stormed a village, setting homes on fire.

CUOMO: A deadly encounter between Las Vegas Police and an armed driver captured on an officer's body camera. Take a look at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step out of the car, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, I'm not going to ask you again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll shoot myself.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop! Stop! No, don't! Five-thirteen, five- thirteen. He's got a gun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: That 54-year-old was shot and killed by police after opening fire and wounding a rookie officer. Todora was pulled over for just a taillight infraction. Police say he threatened his wife days earlier, and she had a protective order against him.

The officer is recovering. He's supposed to be OK.

Body cameras are a big issue right now. Some in the law enforcement community are for them. Some are against them. But it is always a window into what this job entails.

[07:15:05] CAMEROTA: Absolutely. And we talk about it all the time. There's no such thing as a routine traffic stop for police, and you see it there. A taillight infraction, we've seen people pulled over for that. And it can so quickly escalate and turn out...

CUOMO: And you hear in the officer's voice. They're trained. They're different from the rest of us. But in those moments of panic, their fears are the same. This guy is going for a gun. I'm going to get shot, and someone does get shot. CAMEROTA: Meanwhile, let's get to meteorologist Chad Myers. We have

to look at the forecast, because there is some interesting weather around. What are you seeing, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: A couple of big storms headed to Chicago tonight. Decent weather, though, across the Northeast all weekend long. There's your potential for severe weather, southeast of Chicago. This is Peoria. Moving ahead, so we'll take you all the way to about 8 p.m. tonight. That's when the weather starts to approach on Chicago. Some of those storms could make some wind damage.

It's going to be hot in a lot of places. Over 100 degrees, the feel- like temperature in Memphis. In fact, 109.

A really nice weekend in New York City: 85 for Saturday, 87 on Sunday. But you're going to be inside anyway, because this is the second Father's Day of the year, because the Open is on this weekend.

So steak and eggs at Chad's house in Atlanta, 6 a.m. Sunday morning. Christopher Charles, come on down. And you, too, Alisyn. I know how much you like sports, and so...

CAMEROTA: I like eggs.

CUOMO: "I like eggs."

MYERS: When I say it's the open, then my wife, she goes, "What open? Is this tennis? Is it golf? What open are we talking about?"

CAMEROTA: The British Open.

MYERS: This is the British Open.

CAMEROTA: Got it. We'll be there.

CUOMO: He calls me Christopher Charles, because I called him Chad Everett...

CAMEROTA: I know that.

CUOMO: ... which is his middle name.

CAMEROTA: I know that. It's very cute.

Meanwhile, President Obama weighing in on the sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby. Growing calls for Cosby's Presidential Medal of Freedom to be revoked. Is that possible? One of Cosby's accusers leading the charge joins us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:21:01] OBAMA: There's no precedent for revoking a medal. We don't have that mechanism. If you give a woman or a man, for that matter, without his or her

knowledge a drug and then have sex with that person without consent, that's rape.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: That was President Obama, responding to whether Bill Cosby should have his Presidential Medal of Freedom revoked. Calls have been growing to do that, as allegations pile up that the comedian drugged and sexually assaulted dozens of women.

One of his accusers is Barbara Bowman. She is also an ambassador for the group PAVE. That's a nonprofit dedicated to sexual assault education and prevention. And the group has a petition to revoke Cosby's Medal of Freedom.

Barbara, great to see you this morning.

BARBARA BOWMAN, COSBY ACCUSER: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: What was it like to hear the president of the United States address the Bill Cosby issue?

BOWMAN: Well, it was what we had aimed for. And I would like to mention PAVE, who initiated this motion. We've been working real hard to educate and prevent sexual assault to everyone in all interested groups. So we have a lot of work ahead of us. And this was another opportunity to open the door for -- for that work.

CAMEROTA: Barbara, I can only imagine what that moment was like for you yesterday. Because let's remind viewers, you were the person, this past -- basically a year ago, that started the process of talking about Bill Cosby and what you say he did to you. You brought it to light. You wrote an article, an op-ed saying that you were raped by Bill Cosby. And that started a bit of a tidal wave. Other accusers came forward.

Bill Cosby's lawyers have had to respond. And now the president of the United States is talking about it.

BOWMAN: Right.

CAMEROTA: I mean, for you, who have talked about how you suffered in silence for all of these decades, to hear the president talking about it personally, what was it like for you?

BOWMAN: That's right. It was amazing. I have been screaming my story for at least ten years, since 2005. And sooner than that, even. So to hear -- hear now that I don't have to scream my story anymore, that it's possible that the president will revoke the medal, which I personally believe should happen.

The presidential Medal of Freedom is the most prestigious and well- honored and earned degree. And for Cosby to stand alongside those wonderful prestigious people who have made amazing cultural contributions is a disgrace. And it really degrades the medal. CAMEROTA: Yes.

BOWMAN: and to have him stand alongside those people, it shouldn't happen.

CAMEROTA: We hear you. And yet, what the president said yesterday was that there is no precedent or procedure for revoking a medal.

BOWMAN: Well, he did use the word "mechanism." And I don't understand how that can be, since he does have power of executive order.

And please let me say, I am not a politician. I am not qualified or trained in politics at all. But this is not a political issue. This is a humanitarian issue. And I know that the president has -- is a staunch supporter of rape survivors. He has two beautiful teenage daughters himself. And so I'm sure this is touching him on a deep level.

CAMEROTA: There have been a flurry of people coming forward this week to rethink their impression of Bill Cosby, even people who were staunch supporters of his, like fellow and actor comedian Whoopi Goldberg. She has defended him for years.

And then this week on "The View," here's what she said. Let me just play a portion for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:25:08] WHOOPI GOLDBERG, CO-HOST, ABC'S "THE VIEW": You have a serial rapist who's been on the streets for 30 years. I -- I have to say, I thought that, yes, here's all the information. Take the man to jail. I find out that -- from you that that's not possible. If this is to be tried in the court of public opinion, I've got to say, all of the information that's out there kind of points to guilt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Barbara, what's it like to hear a former supporter of his say that?

BOWMAN: Well, I am very happy to hear that, because I remember months ago hearing her say just the opposite and saying she had questions for that lady. And it was, you know, quite difficult during those first few days, when I was trying to empower other women to come forward, to have a public figure basically call me a liar. So now we -- you know, we've turned her around.

CAMEROTA: It does feel as though the tables are turning somehow.

BOWMAN: Yes. Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Barbara Bowman, thanks so much for being on NEW DAY. And please keep us posted as to what happens with your petition on the Medal of Freedom.

BOWMAN: I will. Thank you. Thank you for all your support, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Thanks, Barbara.

Let's get -- we want to tell you one more thing. In our next hour, we will hear from another Cosby accuser. This is one of the Jane Does from the 2005 case whose deposition, you'll remember, was unsealed last week. And you will be surprised to hear where she says the attack happened and what she believes is a bizarre obsession that Bill Cosby has. You won't want to miss that interview -- Chris.

CUOMO: I have to say, legal process or lack thereof aside, Alisyn, I have watched you on this story just from the beginning, and it's amazing how far it's gone, to now you have the president talking about it and not just a lone voice out there.

All right. We're going to take a quick break. Donald Trump says he's worth $10 gazillion, or billions. Well, maybe. How much does he have in his White House war chest? That number may knock you over. John King has it on "Inside Politics." And I hope he has a good lawyer if he's going to dispute it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)