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Attorney for Handcuffed Children Speaks Out; Why Media Outlets Can't Ignore Donald Trump; Plane Debris to be Analyzed by France Investigators. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired August 05, 2015 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: If he's on video wrestling with the kid, he looks like a monster. If he puts the kid in handcuffs, he looks like a monster. There's no win.

KENYON MEYER, ATTORNEY FOR HANDCUFFED SCHOOL CHILDREN: I think the sheriff needs to read Kentucky law. And Kentucky law has spoken on the issue. It's very clear. You can't use handcuffs. It's not an easy job to work in the school system but it's very easy to not use handcuffs and have 8-year-olds childrens' first experience with law enforcement in their lives be handcuffed because they're misbehaving in school, like every child in the world does.

CUOMO: All right, Mr. Meyer, thank you so much. We look forward to seeing where the suit goes and what it says about the system in general. Appreciate it.

MEYER: Thank you for your time.

CUOMO: So you heard from the attorney representing the children. What do you think about what was done here and whether there's any context in which it would be appropriate? Tweet us, please use the #NEWDAYCNN, or post your comment on Facebook.com/NewDay -- Mick?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, NEW DAY ANCHOR: Well, Chris, when Donald Trump jumped into the 2016 race, many didn't take him seriously. Now he is leading in the polls. What's behind the surge? We're going to dig deeper with our experts, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:35:02] ALYSIN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with the first GOP debate just a day away, media outlets continue to focus on frontrunner, Donald Trump. But after some had branded Trump just an entertainment story, among other things, journalists and media outlets are taking Trump seriously, even apologizing. And that has to hurt some of them.

Let's bring in CNN national political reporter, Maeve Reston; and CNN senior media correspondent and host of "Reliable Sources," Brian Stelter.

Great to have both of you.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT & CNN HOST, RELIABLE SOURCES: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Brian, let's talk about this. Are some doing a mea culpa?

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: -- moved Donald Trump out of their entertainment pages to their news pages.

STELTER: "The Washington Post" has not. They're still covering Donald Trump as entertainment. But I definitely think we've seen a big change, almost a 180, from some columnists, from some opinion leaders when it comes to Trump. Rupert Murdoch two weeks ago was calling Trump embarrassing for the whole country. I reported yesterday, now Trump and Murdoch are talking on the phone. They're starting to make peace. That's important because Murdoch owns FOX News, he owns the "Wall Street Journal." He's an opinion leader.

CAMEROTA: And in fact, he had asked FOX to pull back on some of their coverage.

STELTER: Yeah, maybe tone down Trump coverage. That never happened. But Murdoch is an establishment figure who is now taking Trump more seriously. You see Bill Krystal doing the same thing, Charles Krauthammer. They are having to come to terms with what a Trump candidacy means. I think it's a matter of respect. You can have a lot of confidence that Trump is never going to be president but still respect his candidacy and respect his voters.

CUOMO: Or is it ratings?

(LAUGHTER)

STELTER: Always. Always. I mean, a campaign is a television show. This is The Trump Show. We're all watching The Trump Show right now. And this is what this debate tomorrow night is going to be.

CUOMO: Right. Because at the end of the day, why are you taking it more seriously? Because it's working for you. If your numbers didn't go up every time Trump was on, you'd have possibly a different situation.

Maeve, let me ask you something. This idea that the media is a big reason that Trump is popping, do you buy into that theory and, if so, why or why not?

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: I do. Because, generally, what we know about the polls at this stage of the game is that name recognition drives them and also media coverage. So when a candidate is popping up on your screen at home, you're going to start paying attention to more of what he says.

Obviously, people like Rubio and some of the other lower-tiered candidates are not getting the same kind of attention. We saw the same kind of surge and crash cycle back in 2012. Donald Trump has not crashed as quickly as someone like Herman Cain or Michelle Bachmann. But I think these debates are going to be a real test for him. He's saying that he's not going to do any debate prep to get ready for them. We're going to have to see how he fares when you have to do really short and tight answers and show that he has depth on the policy front.

And I think over the course of four debates, if he does what he's done in interviews, which is to make broad statements without details, then voters are going to have to decide whether that's what they want in their president, and we'll see how long he can stay up in the polls.

CAMEROTA: Here is Trump on Trump about his debate prep, or lack thereof. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP GROUP: Well, I don't know how you can rehearse for a debate. I watched Romney, Mitt Romney. He let us down last time. He rehearsed and, in that third debate, it was really catastrophic. I don't know what happened to him. But I think that you have to be yourself. And I'm not looking to hurt anybody. I'm not looking to embarrass anybody. If I have to bring up deficiencies, I'll bring up deficiencies. But certainly I'm not looking to do that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STELTER: If I have to punch back, I'll punch back, he says. Notice how he likes to give interviews in his own buildings with his fans behind him. He's in these comfortable environments. And at the debate, he's not going to be in a comfortable environment.

CAMEROTA: Maeve, what were you saying?

RESTON: You've got to love like the escalator in the background, right?

(LAUGHTER)

And his "Make America Great Again" hat. It's just perfect television, as Brian was saying. And I think that as he goes forward, we are going to see whether or not he can work himself into sort of the traditional presidential campaign. He made fun of Mitt Romney in his debates. But if you think about Mitt Romney's debate prep, it was binders and binders of information over many weeks.

(CROSSTALK)

RESTON: He had a really solid grasp of policy questions coming out there. I think as anyone would say, you kind of want to prepare for something where you're going to be in front of millions of people. But maybe it's going to work for him not to prepare. And we'll see --

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: I think that you cannot analyze Donald Trump as you do anyone else. And that is empirical. He is Teflon to things that usually would trip up a candidate. He says Carl Icon is the idea to what to do with China. And people say, you know what, I like the freshness. I like the candor of it. You know, if Jeb Bush said that, forget it, you'd be all over him for days about just that. And it makes you wonder, is it a different play book for him? He doesn't prep. Because, I don't know about you, but I've done a lot of debate prep with people, and what you're doing is getting their policy positions down. When they come at you this way, you've got to do it this way. And he doesn't care about that because his policy position is, "You suck --

(LAUGHTER)

-- at what you're doing right now in the government, and I'll do it better because I'm really wealthy and everybody loves me." End of story.

[08:40:16] STELTER: And that is refreshing in some ways, isn't it, at least to a lot of people out there who are sick and tired of all politics.

(CROSSTALK)

STELTER: Yeah, we should never underestimate people's frustration and disappointment with politics as usual. Any alternative is good. I'm amazed about the idea that he hasn't crashed in the polls. The surge happened. But now there's this -- kind of it's holding, and he hasn't crashed.

CAMEROTA: No.

STELTER: I think that's why we've seen the turnaround from talking heads. That's why he's being taken seriously, even begrudgingly. Listen, I never thought he'd run for president. I admitted a month ago I was wrong about that. I've started to be more careful when I try to make predictions about what's going to come next because, so far, a lot of us on television and the media have been proven by Donald Trump.

CAMEROTA: I like what Maeve said about the symbolism of the escalator going up behind him.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: All America will. I like that name.

And, Brian, thanks so much for being here.

Michaela?

PEREIRA: All right, will that grand aviation mystery finally be solved? Investigators are taking a look at that plane part that washed ashore last week. Does it, indeed, belong to MH370?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [08:45:17] PEREIRA: Here we go with the five things to know for your NEW DAY. No. 1, the lineup is set for tomorrow's first Republican presidential debate. Ten candidates making the cut based on an average of recent polling. The seven who missed the cut can participate in a predebate forum.

The FBI is investigating the security used for Hillary Clinton's private e-mail account when she headed up the State Department. Agents already questioning Clinton's lawyer and the firm that managed that server.

President Obama rolls out his campaign to defend the Iran nuclear deal today. He'll do so in a speech at American University later this morning.

Thousands of people fleeing a huge out of control wildfire burning in California. The Rocky fire, burning northwest of Sacramento, has now grown to 67,000 acres.

An emotional tribute held for a nine-year-old bat boy who was part of a Kansas college league. Kaiser Carlile died over the weekend after he was accidentally struck in the head by a batter on the team.

For more on the five things to know, be sure to visit newdaycnn.com for the latest.

Now in today's "New Day, New You," if you are a fan of spicy foods you may be adding years to your life. That's according to a new study out by Harvard Medical School. Researchers found that those who regularly eat spicy dishes can reduce the chance of heading to an early grave by some 14 percent.

They say spicy foods like fresh chili peppers reduce overall death risk from cancer, ischemic heart disease and respiratory disease. Why? Well, spices are high in potent antioxidants that protect against aggressive diseases. So chili for all of my friends.

CUOMO: Well, it's funny you say that. I was a celebrity judge just yesterday in a rum drink making contest -

PEREIRA: I don't think alcohol -

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: -- on the Island of Fire and several of them had peppers in them.

PEREIRA: I would like more research on them.

CUOMO: I feel younger already. Anyway, that wing, is it from MH370? And if so, where's the rest of it? Theories ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:51:01] PEREIRA: Today is the day investigators in France will begin analyzing that piece of debris in the hopes of determining whether it belongs to missing Flight 370. Could we be just hours away from finding out?

With us this morning, Miles O'Brien, CNN aviation analyst and science correspondent for PBS "Newshour." Today's the day, Miles. We should be learning some more information imminently and I'll get to that in a second.

I find it interesting that last night Australia sent an expert to France to take part in all of this examination of the flaperon. Is that standard operating procedure that they would also send someone?

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Yes. These investigations tend to be a collection of experts from all the various interested parties. And Australia, by virtue of the fact that it is widely believed the crash site is in their jurisdiction, is a party to the investigation. So it makes good sense for them to be there because a lot of what they might glean from this might help them refine their search at their end for the underwater wreckage.

PEREIRA: So what all are they going to be looking for? We've talked in the last coming days when they look at this piece of debris, they're obviously going to look at the mollusks and the barnacles that are on the outside of this piece of debris. They're also going to be looking at the paint. But what other kind of testing and examinations will be done?

O'BRIEN: First and foremost, they're going to try to find some sort of serial number. Most every part of an airplane has a serial number associated with it and a long pedigree attached to it and a lot of paperwork that is linked to it. It's all part of the safety regime. So once they find those numbers, they'll be able to, with relative ease going through the paperwork, say once and for all that this is a part of MH370.

Then the second tier of this, Michaela, it gets into the whole idea of how this part became disattached from the aircraft. Did it happen in flight during a rapid descent? Did it happen when it impacted the water? That will take a lot more time.

PEREIRA: So first tier, second tier. First tier, you think whether they will determine if that was MH370, that will happen in fairly short order then. Do you think that we might even hear today or tomorrow?

O'BRIEN: I can't imagine they'd want to sit on that information. Let's not forget, there are a lot of families that are really waiting on tenterhooks for this information. There's no need to hold back. I think it's almost certainly a part of MH370. It's important to get this right and to say with 100 percent certainty that it's part of the airplane.

PEREIRA: You say that we mostly agree that it is from MH370. But I know there's one theory that's been flying around the cybersphere that it could have been a piece from a parts factory in India that had been discarded. Do you put any credence in that or do you think that it's pointing more likely to it being part of MH370? O'BRIEN: Well, that flaperon is produced in Spain. So that would put

it in the Mediterranean if it fell in the water. There's a lot of theories running around the internet and there will be a lot of conspiracy theories no matter what the French release today. I'm going to go with what makes the most sense to me. Looking at that part, the way it failed, the number of barnacles on it, where it ended up and how it ended up in almost exactly the right time at the right place given what we thought about where the aircraft crashed, I think the evidence is pretty strong this is part of MH370.

PEREIRA: The waiting game continues for those families. It's important to always keep the focus on them. 239 families waiting to find out some sort of information. They deserve that dignity and respect to be sure. Miles, thanks for joining us, as always.

O'BRIEN: You're welcome, Michaela.

[08:54:46] PEREIRA: All right. We've got your "Good Stuff" coming at you next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: This is real and it is good. You ready for this? OK. An Ohio police officer pulls over a car with kids in the back and they didn't have proper car seats. So he arrests the mother. And let it be a lesson to all of you. No. You know what happens? This is what happens.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: I followed her up to Meyers (ph) store and had her go in and get two car seats and I just met her at the cash register and took care of it from there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Why?

PEREIRA: Nice work, fella [SIC].

CUOMO: The officer found out that the mom didn't have the car seats because she'd fallen on hard times. She didn't have the money to afford the seats. So he went, bought her the seats and installed them the right way.

CAMEROTA: That's even bigger.

CUOMO: It's almost impossible to do. The driver, who is an aunt, who didn't want to be identified, was shocked the officer would go to such lengths to help. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was so hard for me because I would have had never expected this coming from him. There's no words that could express how grateful I am to this officer. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: That's so wonderful. Police officers surprise us every day. If you watch NEW DAY, we often feature all the good work they do. I love that story.

PEREIRA: Me too. Good job.

CUOMO: Good stuff.

PEREIRA: Really good.

CAMEROTA: All right. Time now for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello. Good morning, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Thanks for that great story.

PEREIRA: Look at the jazz hands there.

COSTELLO: Have a great day. I like that. Have a great day. "NEWSROOM" starts now.