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Marco Rubio Interview; Obama Defends Iran Deal; Trump Steals Spotlight at GOP Debate. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired August 07, 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: Cultural morays in this country. Certainly the opinions of women are not in step with what you're saying right now. You're comfortable with that?

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That the value of life is timeless. The - no, no, no, the value of life is timeless. The idea that a human life is worthy of the protection of our laws is not something that over time anybody should evolve on. I mean you can - you can change your economic policies to justify your economy's (INAUDIBLE) -

CUOMO: Right. But the idea - you're - you're deciding -

RUBIO: You can accept changes - the idea that human life is worthy of protection is a timeless (INAUDIBLE). I don't care how much the world changes.

CUOMO: I know, but you're deciding when it is human life.

Let me ask you something. You - when you're looking at the future -

RUBIO: No, science has decided when it is human life.

CUOMO: Science has not decided it's at conception.

RUBIO: No, let me correct you. Science has - absolutely it has.

CUOMO: Not at conception.

RUBIO: Science has decided that when a - science has concluded - absolutely it has. What else can it be? It cannot turn into an animal. I can't turn into a donkey. That's the law. The only thing that that can become is a human being.

CUOMO: But you - no, but you know that the law has perused this. The fact that - look, of course, I understand the logic but it's a little too simple with -

RUBIO: Every human - human like. It can't be anything else.

CUOMO: Senator, I understand that, but that's oversimplifying it a little bit.

RUBIO: It is simple. It's straightforward. CUOMO: This is not my argument. This is a presented argument of science. It having a DNA map. So does a plant. It's about when it becomes a human being. I'm not saying what I think in answer to that question. That's not my position. But don't you think, if you want to be a leader of the future, that's a question that deserves an answers that is definitive beyond your faith, when does life begin. None of you are calling for any type at panel -

RUBIO: At conception. At conception.

CUOMO: That's your faith. That's your faith. That's not science.

RUBIO: No, it isn't. That's science.

CUOMO: It is not definitive science.

RUBIO: Absolutely it is.

CUOMO: I will have scientists on this show all morning -

RUBIO: It absolutely is.

CUOMO: From all walks of life who will say, we cannot say it is definitely human life at conception.

RUBIO: So we're -

CUOMO: It's more faith than it is science.

RUBIO: Oh, so - they can't say that it will be human life. What would it become then? Could it become a cat?

CUOMO: You're talking about the potential of it.

RUBIO: Could it become a -

CUOMO: When it is an actual human being. I'm not saying what my position is on it. I am also a Catholic. What I'm telling you is -

RUBIO: Well, I can tell you this - no, I can tell you this, that every single one of us started at that same stage, that it can't become anything other than a human being, and that it's neither up to you nor I nor any politicians to decide that we're going to allow this life to move forward and this life not too.

CUOMO: But -

RUBIO: A human being - its heart starts beating within, you know, very early on in that process.

CUOMO: Yes, but not right away.

RUBIO: By the time most people find out they're even pregnant -

CUOMO: But not -

RUBIO: It is well developed.

CUOMO: But not right away. And I'm not arguing for -

RUBIO: Chris, do you want to really have a government in the decision of deciding what a human life is and what's not a human life?

CUOMO: No, I don't. No, I don't.

RUBIO: That's a human life. It can't be anything else.

CUOMO: No, I don't.

RUBIO: Well, that's a radical position that you've taken on.

CUOMO: Well, senator, this is what I'm saying, you're over talking the question, and that's - that's your right of tactic. But I'll tell you this, when it begins should not be a focus of faith or of suggestion, it should be a f science, just like we did with when life ends. We used to have these same arguments 25, 30 years ago. You had scientists come together and talk about brain activity and the end of life and it clarified a lot of positions. I'm saying, if you're going to be a leader of the future, this is something that deserves an answer that goes beyond faith. That's all I'm saying as a suggestion, not as an answer - not as a suggestion to the answer to the question.

RUBIO: And, again, I'm just telling you that - well, first of all, I'm happy that my faith - let me tell you something, I'm happy that my faith influences my political position because my faith teaches me to care for the needy, my faith teaches me to respect and love even my enemies, my faith teaches me to forgive those who slight me. So people should hope that my faith influences my political position. And in this case, yes, I'm proud to say that my faith influences me. It teaches me that God knew us when he formed us in the womb. And it does influence me to believe that all human life is worthy of protection, even human life that doesn't have a birth certificate, even human life that maybe some scientist wants to have a debate about. But I think the science is clear that when a child - when there is conception, that is a human life in the early stages of its total development and it is worthy of the protection of our laws. And I'm not in favor of destroying human life because people decide that somehow they're going to make some obscure scientific argument in the opposite. I hope we are always a country that errors on the side of life.

CUOMO: I think it's that last point, an obscure scientific reference. We don't have scientific consensus. That's the concern. But thank you for laying out your position, senator, on this and these other important issues. We look very much forward to having you on to continue this debate as you go through the election. Good luck to you, senator.

RUBIO: Thank you.

CUOMO: All right, Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you so much, Chris Cuomo. And also this morning, one of President Obama's key allies in the U.S. Senate deflecting from supporting his Iran deal as he defends his controversial comments about the deal itself. The president speaks with CNN in an exclusive interview with Fareed Zakaria. Fareed joins us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:38:20] BALDWIN: Senator Chuck Schumer, who may be the next Democratic leader in the U.S. Senate, announced he will oppose the nuclear deal. And CNN's own Fareed Zakaria just sat down with President Obama for this exclusive wide-ranging interview about the deal. And Fareed Zakaria, host of "Fareed Zakaria GPS," is with us now here.

So, good morning.

This is the first time anyone has seen this interview here. It's airing first on NEW DAY. And let me just get to the first clip of your interview. And this is when you're talking to the president and you're asking him specifically about the comparison with regard to the deal of Iran's hard-liners and some Republicans. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST, CNN'S "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": In your speech at American University, you made a comparison. You said that Iran's hard- liners were making common cause with Republicans. It's come under a lot of criticism. Mitch McConnell says even democrats who oppose the deal should be insulted.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What I said is absolutely true factually. The truth of the matter is, inside of Iran, the people most opposed to the deal are the Revolutionary Guard, the Quds force, hard liners who are implacably opposed to any cooperation with the international community. The reason that Mitch McConnell and the rest of the folks in his caucus who oppose this jumped out and opposed it before they even read it, before it was even posted, is reflective of an ideological commitment not to get a deal done.

ZAKARIA: You know -

OBAMA: And in that sense, they do have a lot in common with hardliners who are much more satisfied with the status quo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I just want your read on his response. And also now we know this morning - we talk about the timing of all of this with Senator Schumer and how he has said he will vote against the deal. I mean he mentioned people who have not really read it. We know Senator Schumer has thoroughly read everything and has said he will vote against it.

[08:40:12] ZAKARIA: I think that's right. Look, the president, on the substance, feels very confident. He feels he has the better of the argument. He feels that the deal is the most intrusive inspection regime and verification regime that's ever been put in place. I think the politics of this is the hard bit. If you look at somebody like Senator Schumer, you know, if you - if you ask yourself, what does he gain by supporting the deal? Not very much. What does he - I'm sorry, what does he gain by opposing the deal? If he were to support President Obama on this, if he were to support this deal, he knows it would create a firestorm of opposition particularly among perhaps, you know, wealthy supporters. He wouldn't be able to raise as much money. That might be -

BALDWIN: So it's money.

ZAKARIA: It's money, it's the - it's the possibility that you'd lose support with a core group of supporters. You know, there is a very strongly organized campaign against the deal. There isn't a particularly strong organized campaign for the deal. So there's an asymmetry (ph) of costs. So if you - if you vote for this deal, you don't get a lot. If you vote - but you get - you get a huge opposition against it. So senators like Cory Booker, like Chuck Schumer are probably looking at it in those terms and asking themselves, look, if I were to support the president on this, I'm going to - I'm going to - you know, funding sources are going to dry up. A lot of the core supporters I have are going to be very upset with me because there is this well-financed campaign against it. I don't get that much, you know, on the upside.

BALDWIN: So, we now know where Senator Schumer stands. We don't know yet where Cory Booker stands. But will the president have the votes?

ZAKARIA: I think that he has a firewall in the House. And I do think it's fair. I - you'll see in the interview, I asked him, is the strategy at this point to rely on the House Democrats? And is that part of the reason why his rhetoric is a little bit more partisan? Because he -

BALDWIN: But is it enough? He needs two-thirds.

ZAKARIA: Right. And - and - well, he needs more than one-third to sustain the veto. And I think he probably has it with the House Democrats.

BALDWIN: OK. Watch so much more of this exclusive interview with President Obama and Fareed Zakaria Sunday, 10:00 a.m. Eastern here on CNN. Thank you, sir, very much.

John Berman, over to you.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We've got some big numbers just in. The July jobs report. What do they tell us? What does it mean on the campaign trail? The big reveal, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:45:59] CUOMO: Braking news. The Labor Department just releasing the July jobs report. Chief business correspondent Christine Romans joins us with the numbers. So, up, down, good, bad? CHRISTINE ROMANS, CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Up -- Another solid

performance in the American economy. And it's steady and solid. Look at this. 215,000 new jobs created in July. And these months, the two prior months are a little better than expected. So you're seeing solid, steady performance in job creation.

When you look at the unemployment rate, incredibly important to watch this here, the unemployment rate, 5.3 percent. That is sitting there right at the lowest levels in about eight years. No change there. When I look at the black unemployment rate, important to note, 9.1 percent. It has fallen from 9.5 percent. So you're seeing steady improvement in the African-American unemployment rate as well.

What about sectors here? Guys, we're seeing predictable job gains in retail and health care. Look at this. Computer jobs, computer systems design, a lot of jobs created there. The financial sector, insurance, jobs created there. We have crossed over into a new phase of the jobs recovery. We are seeing jobs created that are good paying jobs and those are now almost the majority of the new jobs being created. Something to watch in the future.

Speaking of future, futures, stock futures have turned lower. Why would they be going down if the job report was strong? Because a lot of people think this means the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next month. There's nothing in these numbers to prevent the Fed from raising interest rates next month. That means higher cost to buy a house, to buy a car, on your car loans, on your credit card loans. That's something we're watching very, very closely in the markets. So you'll see the stock market likely react here.

Another thing we're watching, wages, because when you hear criticism about the job market, you hear wages haven't been going up, too many people are not enjoying the recovery in the labor market. We saw wages rise 2.1 percent. That's a little bit of an improvement. Want to see that continue to improve.

And when we talk about the politics of this, I'd like to say every jobs report from here on out is going to be incredibly political, because you will see people on the campaign trail really trying to dig into these numbers to find something to criticize about the economy's performance.

The only criticism is that you have too many people who are not in the labor market. A lot of economists are saying a big chunk of that is because of baby boomers and they expect that number to improve a little bit.

BERMAN: Let's hope the wage growth continues for sure.

ROMANS: That's important. Yep.

BERMAN: Christine Romans, thanks so much.

All right. Donald Trump's performance, a lot of things have been said about it. One of them, hm, not so much - it was presidential. We'll discuss, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:51:06] BERMAN: Welcome back to NEW DAY. If you look at the clock from last night's debate, no candidate spoke more than Donald Trump. Is that a good thing? Did it make him look more presidential?

Let's discuss. Joining us, CNN political commentator Carl Bernstein and CNN's chief political analyst Gloria Borger. Thanks so much for being with us.

Carl, let me start with you. Over the last few weeks, look, there's been people who say that Trump's been tapping into anger in America. But very recently, there have been analysts saying there's more than that. Rudy Giuliani said there's maybe a little element of Reagan in Donald Trump. Trump himself last night tried to invoke Ronald Reagan, talking about how his positions have evolved. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't think they like me very much. I'll tell you what. I've evolved on many issues over the years and you know who else has, is Ronald Reagan evolved on many issues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Do you think Donald Trump crossed a barrier last night where people look at him and say he could actually be president or not?

CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No. He didn't and that's the problem. And the Republican Party now has a huge Donald Trump problem, because they can't say to him you're fired. He might run for an independent candidacy. That's why none of the other candidates attacked him. It's amazing. Given what he said, they wouldn't go after him. Jeb Bush remembers what happened to his father with Ross Perot and this is going to play out in a really fascinating way.

BERMAN: Carl, let me ask you this, because you've covered a lot of different presidents and presidential candidates and you've tried to look at their motivation, what drives them. You've followed Trump for a long time. What's driving Donald Trump to do this, do you think?

BERNSTEIN: That's their problem. Donald Trump wants to be the most famous man in the world. And he's now close to it. And he doesn't want to get off the stage and he'll stay on the stage.

BALDWIN: Do you think it's uberious (ph)?

BERNSTEIN: I wouldn't call it uberious. I'd call it Donald Trump. And he's where he wants to be. He's got everybody coming to him. He used the word "leverage" last night. Listen to him. Pay attention. There's a reason the Republican National Chairman acted terrified on our air last night. They're afraid. They don't know what to do. And I've talked to some of the top Republicans this morning. They've got a real problem on their hands. They can't push Donald Trump off. They can't say you're fired. CUOMO: So what do they do, Gloria, because they need that base, they don't want it breaking off and creating 15 percent deficit off the bat against a Democrat? What's the fix?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, look, that's the reason most of them did not go after Trump last night, because when Trump is gone, as they hope he will be, they'd like to pick up his sizable chunk of supporters. The only person who went after him, of course, was Rand Paul, who seemed like, many times like kind of a fly swatting at an elephant, right? I mean, it just - You know, it didn't work for Rand Paul.

But I think when -- To your earlier point, when Donald Trump goes out there and says he's Ronald Reagan, excuse me, he's not Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was a politician who had been a governor, who had run for the presidency a few times, who came to play with an established set of beliefs. Yes, he was flexible and managed to change and negotiate and everything else, Ronald Reagan was also - and importantly, Ronald Reagan was optimistic. He was an optimistic leader who wanted to bring people together. And Trump talks about nothing but gloom and doom unless he is elected president.

BERMAN: But Gloria, you know, if you're angry at the establishment, if you're angry at the party, if you're angry at the press -- Did any of those people run away from Donald Trump last night based on anything he said?

BORGER: No, no. Fine. No, they didn't run away from him at all. It was fine. It was what they anticipated. They probably felt he was being attacked. They like him. And look, I don't think they're going to run away from him at all at this point. I think it's a little bit too early.

[08:54:57] What I did see, though, not from Jeb Bush, by the way, but what I did see was a young candidate like a Marco Rubio go out there and try and make his case for generational change, which is also a way of saying, you know, Donald Trump, you've been on the scene for awhile, more particularly, Jeb Bush, you've been on the scene for awhile. But when you looked at Marco Rubio talking Hillary Clinton -- this about this isn't about resumes --

BALDWIN: We have that. We have that and that's what I wanted to get to. So let's play that. This is Marco Rubio speaking of generations, you know, this is Marco Rubio looking ahead, not behind. Here you go.

BORGER: Right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBIO: But if this election is a resume competition, then Hillary Clinton is going to be the next president because she's been in office and in government longer than anybody else running here tonight. Here is what this election better be about. This election better be about the future, not the past.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BORGER: And, you know, we heard that refrain from Barack Obama, right? And elections are about change. That was the job that Marco Rubio had on that stage. It's also the job that Governor Walker had. I think Rubio did a better job of it last night.

BALDWIN: (INAUDIBLE) questions to you, Carl. You know, we've also talked about the man with the hometown advantage, Governor John Kasich, Governor of Ohio, and especially the massive applause when he was talking about being compassionate, talking about gay marriage. What did you make of that?

BERNSTEIN: He put himself in the race, he's going to be a real contender against Bush, particularly, and he might well be the vice president nominee. You need Ohio to win this. It's going to be -

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: I hear they've said before, no Republican has won the White House without -

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: All right.

BORGER: Kasich-Rubio. Rubio-Kasich. Maybe?

BALDWIN: Hm. You heard it here first.

BERMAN: Gloria, Carl, thanks so much. Really appreciate it.

CUOMO: We're going to have more on the GOP debate when NEWSROOM with Carol Costello picks up right after the break. Stay with CNN

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:59:58] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGYN KELLY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: You've called women you don't like fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals. Your Twitter account --

TRUMP: Only Rosie O'Donnell.

(LAUGHTER)

KELLY: For the record, it was well beyond Rosie O'Donnell.

TRUMP: Yes, I'm sure it was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)