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New Polls Indicate Shrinking Lead for Hillary Clinton in Iowa and New Hampshire; Refugee Crisis Continues in Hungary; Volunteers & Coast Guard Rescue 20 Migrants at Sea; Palmer: Hunt was Legal, Unaware Lion was Known; Interview with George Mitchell. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired September 07, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Alisyn. I mean, Hillary Clinton is starting the Labor Day push of her campaign in a much different place than she ever expected.

[08:00:05] She's now the underdog, as you said, in New Hampshire, and Bernie Sanders is gaining on her here in Iowa.

Let's take a look at some of those new numbers. In New Hampshire now Senator Sanders has a nine-point lead over Secretary Hillary Clinton. In Iowa she has an 11-point lead, but it's important to note that is down from 24 points in July some six weeks ago. So Bernie Sanders is gaining ground in both states.

And one other thing we're keeping an eye on is Vice President Joe Biden as he makes his decision whether to jump into this race or not. He is viewed favorably by seven in 10 democratic Doters and overall by registered voters including Republicans and independents, he has a much higher favorability rating than she does. So going into this next stretch of the campaign it's a tough road for her. She knows it. That's why she said this last night in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's going to be a hard election. The other side has said they will spend, say, and do anything to win back the White House. I have a little experience with that. And I am absolutely confident that whatever they throw at me I can throw it right back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: And, of course, we have seen that before. Hillary Clinton perhaps at her best when she's in fighting mode, when she has a competitive race on her hands. We saw that in the 2008 campaign. So, Chris, as the campaign develops, she's going to show herself in more presidential settings. She's giving an Iran speech on Wednesday. She's going to do more interviews. She's on "The Ellen Show" this week. So we'll see a lot more of Hillary Clinton. But, boy, this race is on with five months to go before those Iowa caucuses. Chris?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: I liked your line that it is more unsettled than we ever thought it would be at this point. Jeff Zeleny, thank you very much.

So on the GOP side, Donald Trump is still on top, but the headlines are about who is behind him. Carson catching up. Bush in the weeds, and a new name ascends in New Hampshire. How do I know? CNN's Sunlen Serfaty told me. She is live in Milford, New Hampshire, with the numbers. What do you see?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Chris, there is a lot of momentum for Donald Trump and big trouble for Jeb Bush. Here in New Hampshire Donald Trump keeps his hold with a commanding lead at 28 percent. He has gained seven percentage points in just the last month.

But at the number two spot, look at John Kasich there with 12 percent, followed by Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina who have been rising in the polls. But those are bad numbers here in New Hampshire for Jeb Bush. He's now only at eight percent. So certainly it's been a sharp dive in the last month.

Now on to Iowa where Donald Trump still is in the lead, but Ben Carson is right on his tails. And again here in Iowa like in New Hampshire, Jeb Bush really is seeing a decline in his numbers. He's only at six percent in Iowa. Scott Walker, too, only at five percent. Just last month he was leading in the polls here in New Hampshire. Yesterday, though, I caught up with Scott Walker while he was launching a motorcycle tour through the state, and here is how he responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. SCOTT WALKER (R-WI), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The person who won the primary four years ago was about at the same point at this point. So we have every confidence that, like I said, there are going to be ups and downs in the polling along the way, but our team needs to stay true to who we are and get our message out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: Many candidates will use the Labor Day holiday to set the reset button on their campaign. One person who does need it is Jeb Bush. He will try to do it this week. He's investing half a million dollars into new TV ad campaign here in New Hampshire. So certainly, Alisyn and Chris, he's wanting to get a new start this Labor Day.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: It sure sounds like it, Sunlen. Thanks so much for that.

OK, joining us now to fight about this is CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona and CNN political commentator and for Reagan White House political director Jeffrey Lord. Happy Labor Day to both of you.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Great to see you.

CAMEROTA: OK, great to see you both. Jeffrey, let me start with you. Let's see how New Hampshire Democrats are feeling today in the new NBC poll, because what's interesting, of course, is Hillary Clinton has gone down by 10 points since July, Bernie Sanders has gone up by 10 points since July. Now, is this only because he is the senator from the next door state Vermont or is something else going on?

LORD: No, definitely not. There is something else going on here. I mean, the problem is Hillary Clinton. She's been on the stage for what 20 or 30 years. The problem she's having with her e-mails is really not so much about the e-mails, although, obviously, that's a problem. But it's about her political character and the way people view her.

We talked, I think, the other week about the words that people free associated with her, and at the top was "liar." This is her problem. AND it is a real problem. And this has nothing do with Bernie Sanders being from Vermont. He's making real progress here.

CUOMO: It's hard to say it has nothing to do with him being from Vermont. But, Maria, you had an interesting smile on your face as Captain Lord was making his case there. How do you see it?

(LAUGHTER)

[08:05:04] CARDONA: Well, I had an interesting smile because, of course, this is going to be what Republicans say about her and what they have been saying about her day in and day out since this campaign started. Look, this is not a surprise. It is not a surprise to Hillary. It is not a surprise to the Clinton campaign. It does have a lot to do with the fact that that Bernie Sanders is from a neighboring state. He is the closing that New Hampshire has to a native son. No Democrat has won New Hampshire or Iowa, frankly, with more than 50 percent unless they from the state.

So this is exactly what the Clinton campaign was predicting. People have thought that the Clinton campaign and Hillary herself came into this expecting a coronation. And, in fact, it has been absolutely the opposite. It has been the media and the Republicans talked about how Hillary wanted or expected a coronation. History is against this, Chris, as you know, going into this and expecting for voters to hand over a third Democratic term. That is not something that history has seen has been easy. So Hillary knew from the get go this was going to be a very hard fought proposition. They have baked this into their strategy.

CAMEROTA: But Maria, I want to stick with you for one second, because you were her senior advisor during the 2008 campaign. And this time around was going to be different. We heard how Hillary Clinton was going to be more open and she was going to be more assessable. And at least when it comes to the media, we haven't seen that yet. And the "The Ellen Show" doesn't count. I mean, it really doesn't.

(LAUGHTER)

CUOMO: Now you're going to catch a beating.

CAMEROTA: I mean, I love Ellen as much as the next person. CUOMO: Too late. She's going to --

CAMEROTA: But, Maria, don't you think if Hillary Clinton were as ubiquitous on the media, as we've give her an opportunity to be, wouldn't that be helping?

CARDONA: But who is going to make the decision, Alisyn, on the Election Day? Is it the media or is it voters? What Hillary Clinton has done from day one is focus her conversation to voters. And again, this has always been part of Hillary Clinton's campaign strategy, to focus on small gatherings, to focus on one-on-one conversations, when, in 2008, as you'll remember, it was all about the rallies. It was all about showing she had these big crowds.

And this time around she wanted to focus on the one-on-one conversations with voters and these early states. And, yes, they also understood they have to have conversations with the media. And guess what. Part of the strategy has been it's not a change, that she would do that starting after Labor Day when everybody was paying more attention to the races.

CUOMO: She has been roundly criticized as ducking being tested the way candidates have to be tested along the way.

CARDONA: There's more than a year left, Chris. So it's not like the election is next week.

CUOMO: I know, but that sends the message that you will decide when you have to answer for your positions. That's all I'm saying.

CARDONA: The voters will decide.

And here is another huge point to this, when she's out on the campaign trail, no voter has asked her about this e-mail issue.

CUOMO: I know. I've heard that before. How do we vet that?

CARDONA: So they are asking her about the issues that can, because they want to know what are you doing for me? What are you going to do for my family so we can live a better life?

CUOMO: Let me ask you something, Jeffrey, the opposite media strategy is what we see with your man Donald Trump. Do you think it is right for Donald Trump to play victim and say gotcha to be asked the questions that he was by the conservative radio host?

LORD: I actually do think it was a gotcha.

CUOMO: Define "gotcha" for us.

LORD: What?

CUOMO: What is a gotcha so we know the definition we're playing with?

LORD: The definitely of a gotcha is to ask something the chances are the respondent is not going to know. And you know that going in. I mean, Chris, I have a column on this coming out in "Conservative Review" on this that will probably be run today. I've gone back and looked. The implication here is that Donald Trump was, you know, somehow uninformed or not up to snuff. They said this all through eight years of the Reagan administration about President Reagan himself, not when he was a candidate but when he was the president, that he didn't know anything about arms control, that he didn't know this, that he didn't know that. A "Times" correspondent wrote this whole book in 1984 basically saying he was an ignoramus. So this kind of thing goes on and on and on and on. And, frankly, the American get the deal and they don't respond to it.

CAMEROTA: Jeffrey Lord and Maria Cardona, thanks you so much for diving into all of these issues today. It will be fascinating to see what happens.

CARDONA: Happy Labor Day.

CUOMO: Happy Labor Day. And Ellen Degeneres, I love you. I love your show, and I love your fans. Not everybody shares that opinion.

CAMEROTA: I love you as well.

CUOMO: Be sure to watch the next Republican debate. It is hosted by CNN. That means it will be the best debate. It starts September 16th starting at 9:00 p.m. eastern. Michaela?

[08:10:01] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, a very somber day planned today. Thousands of people are expected to pay final respects today to the Illinois police officer shot and killed last week in the line of duty. You're looking at a live image from Antioch, Illinois. We understand that the casket holding Lieutenant Joe Gliniewicz's body is arriving now. A public viewing is set to begin in about two hours from now. Ryan Young joins us now from Antioch, Illinois. Ryan?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, people are taking this so personally and throughout this community you can see those blue ribbons throughout the city. In fact they have signs out that say "Lieutenant Joe Gliniewicz We'll Remember You."

And people have started walking down here because they wanted to see this casket as well. We'll show you the pictures obviously. What we do know is this community is taking this very personally. As this search and man hunt continues, this man served 32 years in his community. He's known as "G. I. Joe." And we were there at a memorial service for him where more than 1,000 people showed up. A lot of people are taking this personally. Right now police have not been able to capture whoever was involved in this. We know three men who they're looking for in terms two white men and one black man. This community is taking this so personally. In fact with it raining people are still coming out to view that casket. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: All right, thanks you so much for showing us that somber scene, Ryan.

Meanwhile breaking news this morning. France announcing it will take 24,000 refugees to ease the escalating migrant crisis in Europe. This as more migrants arrive on the Serbia-Hungary border looking for shelter. And that's where we begin our team coverage. And we find CNN's Senior International Correspondent Arwa Damon. Arwa, tell us what the scene is behind you.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's pretty tense right now. There was fairly big scuffle that broke out between the police force here and the refugees who are sick and tired of waiting in these miserable conditions. A number of them lined up over here also waiting to get on the bus. Many of them have been waiting out here in this field that was meant to just be a temporary holding area, but they have been finding themselves waiting out here for days. And at night it does get fairly cold. That has been especially difficult for the children.

And if we move over here, we can show you the train tracks that people are following. That is their path from Serbia into Hungary. And just come over here. I mean, you can see people are still coming. The flow is absolutely endless, because even though people have been moved along, even though Austria and Germany have opened their borders, there is a massive influx that keeps making its way into Hungary. But what we're seeing is a clear indication that the Hungarians are incapable, as they pretty much have been all along, of handling this massive influx of people, keeping them, as so many are telling us, in these very inhumane situations. This so called transit camp is basically a handful of tents with no proper shelter, not enough food or water being distributed, and no real medical aid for the children.

So right now what we're also seeing is not just people coming in, but some of them so fed up with the situation here they're going back, and, in some cases, they're going to try to smuggle themselves over, which, of course, lends itself to a whole new series of problems because they are vulnerable when it comes to the smugglers. They are being exploited. And these smugglers most certainly, Chris, do not have their best interests at heart.

CUOMO: So many have come with so little and the need is so great. Arwa, thank you for continuing to show the situation because that will pressure change.

Overnight crews franticly rescued a group of migrants off the coast of Turkey. This comes just days after that body of a Syrian refugee toddler washed ashore on a beach nearby kind of resonating throughout the world as this desperation --- the face of desperation. CNN International Correspondent Ivan Watson saw the whole thing and joins us live from Turkey. What is the movement and the situation from where you are, Ivan?

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Chris, what we saw last night was volunteers from Turkish search and rescue teams working alongside the coast guard to rescue some of these incredibly dangerous little rafts, basically a blow up rubber boat that people are using to try to get across the channel from this Turkish resort community to the nearby Greek island. So I saw a little raft with about 23 people on board that could have easily been swamped by a small wave. It had five children packed inside this little raft. [08:15:02] And the Turkish coast guard rescued them after their motor

failed just half way to Greece. We saw a second boat that was also rescued by the Turkish coast guard. If you can believe it, that boat had about 10 people on board including a child. And they were paddling with oars trying to get miles to the Greek coast.

And what's even more astounding about this, is that these people were trying to make the dangerous journey just four days after those photographs emerged of the tragic Syrian refugee toddler washed up lifeless on the beach here in Turkey. These people, last night, were trying to take the same perilous journey that the family of this little boy tried to take. A family that was doomed. A little 2-year- old, his 4-year-old brother and mother drowned at sea.

The Turkish government said they rescued some 50,000 people in the past nine months trying to make this journey. They do not have statistics for the number of people who have died at sea. The rescue workers, they tell me they've seen at least a dozens children die in these waters in just the last couple of 6 months -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: It gives you their sense of their desperation to flee the war-ravaged area of their homeland.

Ivan, thank you so much for that. We appreciate it.

President Obama is going to spend part of his Labor Day in Boston, announcing his new executive order. It will require federal contractors to offer employees up to seven paid sick days per year. The White House says this could help more than 300,000 workers. The president is also expected to talk about new rules to help federal contract employees negotiate equal pay.

CAMEROTA: An investigation is underway into how a cheetah escaped this enclosure at the Indianapolis zoo. The ordeal prompted an hour long lockdown Sunday until the animal was found and tranquilized. Officials say the cheetah named Pounce was found lying in a landscaped area outside the exhibit, but behind a barrier keeping it away from the public.

CUOMO: A man actually caught it on foot. He ran it down.

No. They go 70 miles per hour.

The Minnesota dentist who killed Cecil the Lion earlier in summer in Zimbabwe is talking to the media about what did and did not happen. Walter Palmer is emerging saying he plans to go back to work tomorrow and talking about the hunt that made him the most reviled hunter on social media.

CNN's Boris Sanchez has that story for us. He's been reluctant to talk but now, he believes he has to.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He's finally opening up, but he says that this is the only interview he's going to do.

He sat down with "The Associated Press" and "The Minneapolis Star Tribune" for 25 minutes over the weekend, essentially asking for privacy for him and his family. He also did not allow any cameras in the interview to take pictures or film him during the sit down.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ (voice-over): Breaking his silence in his first interview, the Minnesota dentist who sparked an international firestorm after killing Cecil the Lion on an African safari.

Walter Palmer was kept out of the public eye since killing the 13- year-old beloved big cat in July, telling "The Star Tribune" and "Associated Press" that he will be resuming work at his suburban Minneapolis practice this Tuesday. He said he's, quote, "heartbroken at the toll this has taken on his dental staff and family". Saying about his wife and daughter, quote, "They've been threatened in the social media and, again, I don't understand that level of humanity to come after people not involved at all."

Since facing worldwide backlash after the hunt, including a clamoring cry for his extradition by Zimbabwean officials, Palmer has not been charged with a crime. In previous statement, he said he relied on the expertise of his guides. In his interview, he expressed regret but insisted the controversial hunt was legal, saying, quote, "If I had known the lion had a name and it was important to the country or a study, obviously, I wouldn't have taken it."

Palmer didn't address whether he would return to Zimbabwe for questioning, only saying, quote, "Zimbabwe has been a wonderful country for me to hunt it and I have always followed the laws."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Doctor Palmer is supposed to return to work tomorrow. You can expect protests there as we've been discussing this morning. The police department in Bloomington, however, said they will not dedicate resources to his office unless things get out of hand.

CAMEROTA: And, of course, it is unfortunate his children and wife have been brought into this. But it helps to finally hear from him that he acknowledges that he made a mistake.

SANCHEZ: And certainly I think one of the things we hoped for is to see him express that regret on camera. He hasn't done that. So, you can expect there will be more anger toward him in the coming days.

CUOMO: But, yes, at the end of the day, either what he did was illegal or legal and if they can't make a case against him and he said he wasn't trying to target this favorite lion, then at a certain time -- don't you have to leave him alone?

[08:20:01] SANCHEZ: So far, his attorneys have said that they do not expect any charges to be brought up against him. We'll just have to wait to see.

Two others are facing --

CUOMO: The guides have charges.

PERIERA: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Right.

PEREIRA: All right. Thanks, Boris.

CAMEROTA: Boris, thank you.

SANCHEZ: Thanks.

CAMEROTA: All right. Well, Congress could vote this week on the Iran nuclear deal, President Obama getting some key support for the controversial agreement. George Mitchell is here to talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN POWELL (R), FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I think they'll find over time, if it unfolds the way it is designed to unfold, they'll see they have been made more secure by derailing this Iranian nuclear program.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Former Secretary of State Colin Powell adding his voice to the chorus of support for the Iran nuclear deal. The president has enough votes to secure the deal, but opponents still say this agreement will put Americans in harm's way. The question is, are they right?

We have a former U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, former Senate majority leader, George Mitchell. He, too, is saying this deal should be supported.

We were discussing before we started the segment that you believe that those in Congress who are actually now reading and considering this deal outside of the political vacuum are seeing it as something that is better to do than not do?

GEORGE MITCHELL, FORMER U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY TO THE MIDDLE EAST: I think what they're seeing is that there isn't a better alternative. That this represents the best path available to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions and to prevent Iran from achieving a nuclear weapon.

CUOMO: Colin Powell says the resistance to the deal assumes that Iran wasn't already on a superhighway, as he put it, to creating a nuclear weapon. Do you believe that is the true preface?

MITCHELL: The widely accepted version is that Iran's break out time, that is the time it would take them to get a weapon if they dropped all pretense and made a dash to do so is now about two to three months. As a result of this agreement, it will be more than a year.

So, the assuming the worst, if nothing else, this agreement extends dramatically the period of time within which the United States and its allies would have to act to prevent Iran from getting a weapon if they tried to break out forward.

CUOMO: Do they get too much in this deal? Do they get too much money? Too much time? Too much freedom? And did they out negotiate those at the table for the U.S.?

MITCHELL: Not at all. Look, in a negotiation between adversaries, each side gives up something.

Now, the Iranians didn't want to reduce their enriched uranium by 98 percent. They didn't want to reduce their operating centrifuges by two-thirds. They didn't want to limit themselves to enriching only the 3.67 percent far below weapons grade. They didn't want to disable the heavy water plant that could produce plutonium that is one path to a nuclear weapon.

They wanted -- the ayatollah said many times: their single most important objective was to have sanctions end on the day the agreement was signed. They didn't get that. The sanctions end only after they verifiably take all of the actions required in the agreement. So, they didn't get all they want and we didn't get all we want.

And I think if there's an argument against the agreement, it's that it's not permanent. It doesn't exist in perpetuity. There are time limits. They vary from 10 to 25 years. So, that has to be acknowledged as something less than desirable from our standpoint.

But when you weigh it against the alternatives, opponents say they could have gotten a better deal.

CUOMO: Yes.

MITCHELL: That has been said about every agreement I've ever been involved in in private or public life. Well, if you just stayed at it, you would have gotten a better deal. It's clear this is the best deal possible.

Keep in mind this, Chris -- this is not just the United States and Iran. On our side of the table, are China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany.

CUOMO: All of whom want to do trade in some form or another with Iran, and did not have the resolve for sanctions that we are presupposing in the American dialogue.

MITCHELL: Well, that's exactly right. They will not agree to further sanctions or increasing sanctions. So the principle argument by the opponents -- we walk away, increase the sanctions and Iran will come falling back.

That's not the case. The sanctions are going to erode in any event. If the agreement is rejected and the sanctions erode, Iran will get their principle objective and end of sanctions without having had to do anything.

CUOMO: What about the Israeli calls saying, you're giving the ability of our biggest enemy to kill us?

MITCHELL: That's a serious concern. Iran does pose a direct threat to Israel, but keep in mind that even within Israel there is a substantial body of opinion that favors the agreement in just the last few weeks on American national television the two former heads of the Mossad, Efraim Halevy and Meir Dagan. Dagan is a respected and iconic figure in Israeli intelligence have come out in favor of the agreement, as have many military people.

So, while everybody in Israel is very deeply concerned about Iran and hostile to Iran, as they should be, there's a body of opinion that supports the agreement.

And there's another opinion that doesn't ever appear on American television and that's world opinion -- all 15 countries of the U.N. Security Council support the agreement, and almost all countries in the world who have taken a position on the agreement support it. This has broad-based support around the world.

CUOMO: Let me ask you something else that seems to be a clarion call everywhere else in the world, except here right now. The absence of outrage about the refugee/migrant crisis. I don't understand what we've been drawing a distinction. I get the legal distinction. I get the distinction for the U.N. high commissioner.

But when you leave with just a hefty bag with all your belongings, whatever the motivation is, it's not good. They need help. There has been an arguably cliche but true deafening silence from U.S. leadership on this. Why?

MITCHELL: Well, the problem is so overwhelming, there is no apparent immediate end to it because it is so heartbreaking to people to see these images on television. It has a powerful impact as we know on public opinion here and around the world.

I think you have to separate it into two categories. The immediate crisis, people have to be cared for.