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New Day

Biden Hears "Run Joe, Run" At PA Rally; Does Same-Sex Marriage Splinter The GOP?; Man Faces Prison Despite Changing Mind About ISIS. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired September 08, 2015 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Scores of migrants clash with police at a holding point in Hungary before storming through a crowd of armed officers at the Serbian border. All of this happening as the Obama administration weighs options to help those that are displaced. The White House National Security Council saying it is open to allowing more Syrian refugees here in the United States.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Italy's highest courts slamming prosecutors in the Amanda Knox murder case. The five-judge panel citing stunning flaws and glaring errors in her conviction for the 2007 death of Meredith Kircher, that conviction was thrown out in March. They justices calling the prosecution's case a hit and miss hunt for a scapegoat, very strong language. Knox posting a statement on her web site, thanking the court for forcefully declaring her innocence.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: North and South Korea agreeing to allow 100 citizens in each country to reunite with family members separated by politics and war. The reunion is the first in 18 months. They are scheduled for the week of October 20th. Since 1988, 130,000 South Koreans have registered to visit lost family members in North Korea. Half of them have died without ever getting to see their relatives.

PEREIRA: You got to see this, a mysterious fire ball streaking down from the sky over Bangkok. Strong reaction on social media in Thailand and in fact all over the world, an expert on astronomical phenomenon says he believes it's an asteroid entering earth's atmosphere and burning up. Others say it could be a burning balloon or space junk. There was concern it might have been an airplane crashing to the ground because it happened close to an airport.

CAMEROTA: Happy to hear it wasn't that.

Time to go "Inside Politics, the campaign trail heating up with growing speculation over whether Vice President Joe Biden will enter the race. Plus GOP candidates disagreeing over that Kentucky clerk jailed for failing to issue same-sex marriage licenses.

Let's bring in our guests, columnist for "The Daily Beast," Patricia Murphy and CNN senior political analyst and editorial director of the "National Journal," Ron Brownstein. Great to see you guys.

Good morning. Patricia, let me start with you. I know that you were on the campaign trail last week with Joe Biden. Let me show you what Joe Biden did on the campaign -- well, not on the campaign trail, actually. Just out in public yesterday that led some to believe that he was sort of campaigning. Watch his mood here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sounds like you have a rational for running.

VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I'm going to run part of this parade.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll vote for you, Joe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beat Hillary.

BIDEN: Let's you and I walk together. Come on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: You can hear people are saying run Joe run. They are saying beat Hillary. He said I'm going to run part of this. What do you see here, Patricia?

PATRICIA MURPHY, COLUMNIST, "THE DAILY BEAST": I see kind of the old Joe Biden. I see somebody who loves being a candidate, loves being among people and on the campaign trail. I saw a different Joe Biden a couple days before in Atlanta, giving a speech on foreign policy.

He was asked by someone who wants him to run. Joe Biden, what do you want to do? What are you thinking about 2016? He was very morose. He was still grieving, still struggling with the situation with his son, Beau, who died earlier this summer.

He was a man who was very conflicted. I think we are seeing a couple different sides of Joe Biden. He was speaking so quietly at the first part of the speech. Somebody had to ask him to speak up. We see somebody who is struggling, but interested in running for president, being encouraged to run for president and is thinking about it.

I think it's very clear that he's interested. He is considering it, but he has a very real family situation he has to deal with as well. I think people understand that.

[07:35:03] CAMEROTA: Ron, let me put the polls up. This is the Iowa match up. This is how he's doing in New Hampshire. I will read it to you. He beats trump in New Hampshire, 50 percent to 41 percent. Here he is in Iowa. He beats Trump, 49 percent to 45 percent. Jeb Bush beats Joe Biden in Iowa, but within the margin of error. What do you think Joe Biden is going to do?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: There is a tremendous amount of affection and respect for Biden in the Democratic Party going back decades. I covered his first presidential race in 1988. You look at the polling, within the Democratic Party over the past year.

There has not been a vast ground swell for him to enter the race against Hillary Clinton. In that way, I think he is somewhat of a dependent variable. By that, I mean this is less about interest in him than it is about concern over her.

When you look at that polling in Iowa and New Hampshire and the fact that she is looking at 60 percent unfavorable ratings at this point in both, I think that is what is really fueling the talk about Joe Biden.

And the question for him, really, is whether he believes he can right the ship or if there's increasing concern among Democrats that she can't and thus more interest in an alternative of the kind that he could provide.

CAMEROTA: Let's move on to what's happening in Kentucky. GOP presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee is going to visit Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who doesn't want to issue same-sex marriage licenses. He tweeted, #imwithkim, Liberty rally on Tuesday, September 8th at the center in Grayson, Kentucky.

Patricia, has former Governor Mike Huckabee found sort of a hook to hang his hat on for this campaign?

MURPHY: Yes. I don't know if it's for the whole campaign, but for a couple days of press coverage and God knows any one of Republican needs press coverage they can get their hands on. When we see a lot of these issues come forward, the question of religious liberty is popping with conservatives.

Somebody like Mike Huckabee needs religious conservatives to come out for them. A lot of those religious conservatives right now are really a lot more interested in Ben Carson, if you look at the polling. Even more interested in Donald Trump, if you look at the polling.

This is a way for Mike Huckabee to get in front of those Evangelicals and remind them why they are Evangelicals and why it is important to have an Evangelical in the White House. I don't know that it's going to get him in the polls, but it's a way for him to get attention today.

CAMEROTA: Ron, we have seen a little division within the GOP ranks in terms of the candidates, John Kasich saying that he believes that Kim Davis should issue the marriage licenses.

BROWNSTEIN: It goes to the broader division about whether or not to contest the Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage. This is the challenge Republicans face on a number of issues. The country is changing. It is diversifying demographically. It is changing culturally.

And yet a big portion of their base whether we are talking immigration or same-sex marriage is uneasy about the change. Evangelicals are almost half the total Republican primary electorate both in 2012 and 2008.

The problem is the majority of opinion in the country is on the other side. There is a clear, consistent majority in support of same-sex marriage. You see Republican candidates on different points of the spectrum trying to navigate the tension of appealing to a base that is uneasy about what's happening while reflecting the reality that most Americans accept the changes that we are living through.

In many ways, look across the board, this is, in some ways the core issue that I think is animating politics in the 2016 race. How do we deal with our accelerating cultural and demographic change?

CAMEROTA: Very quickly, let's end with a kicker in our time machine and go back to 1992. There was a moment that was seen as changing the direction of Bill Clinton's presidential campaign. That is when he went on Arsenio Hall and played the saxophone.

So, tonight, there is an opportunity because Jeb Bush is going on Stephen Colbert's premier show. Do you think, Patricia, that this will re-energize, re-ignite and change somehow the course for Jeb Bush?

MURPHY: No. But it couldn't hurt. He needs to unleash the inner Jeb, whoever that is. Is there an inner Jeb? Who knows? We could find out tonight. This is not going to turn it around for him, but it couldn't hurt.

CAMEROTA: Ron, does he need to play an instrument of some kind?

BROWNSTEIN: Something to show a little life. The Clinton Project was called the Manhattan Project in 1992 by the staff internally. It was designed to rebuild his image after he came out of the primaries bruised and battered and bloodied.

[07:40:01] And it showed that there's a lot of room between now and the general election. That was probably the greatest reformation of a candidate's image post-primary that we've seen in modern times.

CAMEROTA: There we go. Patricia Murphy and Ron Brownstein, thanks so much for being on "Inside Politics."

MURPHY: Thank you so much.

CAMEROTA: Great to see you, guys. Let's go to Chris.

CUOMO: A Houston area man charged with trying to join ISIS even though he decided against it when he arrived in Turkey. So, should he face serious prison time nonetheless?

His attorney says no because ultimately he did the right thing and came back. What do you think? Hear from the attorney.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: A 20-year-old is facing jail time this morning for trying to join ISIS except his family and his lawyer says that he changed his mind and returned home instead. Facts, in February 2014, Asher Abid Khan was headed to Syria when he reached Turkey's Istanbul airport, he chose to fly back to his Houston area home. Fifteen months later, Khan was charged with conspiracy and attempting to provide material support to ISIS. The 20-year-old now faces up to 15 years in prison and is currently awaiting the start of his trial under house arrest.

[07:45:08] Joining us now is Khan's attorney, Tom Berg. Counsel, thank you for joining us. Make your case, why is this wrong?

TOM BERG, ATTORNEY FOR ASHER ABID KHAN: He changed his mind. He talked to his family. They were concerned about what he was doing. He had cold feet along the way any way. Rather than go on to an uncertain future in Syria, he came home to Syria and resumed life as a student. It was a number of months afterward before he was charged.

CUOMO: The FBI says, you know, as part of the complaint or background, you know all this. I'm doing this for the benefit of the audience. It wasn't just about the plan to go over there that other support was offered and there was a lot of intentionality expressed by the defendant in his communications with terrorist types and that it is enough to prosecute.

BERG: Well, of course, that's their position and they claimed that he tried to help another fellow get over there. I'm dubious about that based on my independent investigation, but that's the position that they take and that's the basis for one of their charges.

CUOMO: That's right. Khan's friend allegedly made it to Syria and ISIS with the assistance of Khan and the foreign terrorist fighter facilitator. If he decided himself not to join ISIS, but he said he wanted to help them and he had sympathies and he had a role in getting someone else there, isn't that enough to be prosecuted?

BERG: Well, it's enough to get charged. I don't think it's enough to convict. The government has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he intended to provide material support. There are a number of legal issues involved in the charges anyway.

CUOMO: No, I understand that. There's no question that the burden is on the prosecution, as it always is. But what I'm saying is that under these, not facts, because we haven't proved them out in a court of law yet, but under these allegations, this is not uncommon behavior for us to see being chased by the federal government.

BERG: Well, there are a number of cases around the country where they have intercepted someone along the way or -- this is a unique case because this person was actually not known about on the way. It was not until many months later, after he came back that they started their investigation.

But the point is he changed his mind. He returned. He resumed a much more moderate life. It appeared that he had lost interest in going. He became a college student, studied business and -- you know, this is really a question of prosecutorial discretion.

Is it the right case to bring under the circumstances or consequence that anybody else who starts on a path and changes their mind is going to be prosecuted?

CUOMO: Do you believe --

BERG: Because I think that's the wrong message.

CUOMO: Certainly, if somebody decides to not do anything wrong and there's no proof that they do anything wrong, then they should not get prosecuted. But, obviously, there's a different case being made here is that while he, himself, may have decided not to become an ISIS fighter, he did other things that were wrong in the eyes of the law. Do you deny that as well?

BERG: I do. If he's not going there to be an ISIS fighter, he's done nothing against the United States or our public interest in that area.

CUOMO: Unless he helped somebody else or pledged support and try to help them in other ways. You're assuming that only his physical existence within the ISIS ranks would make him someone who is an enemy of the United States and we both know that's not true.

BERG: Well, you are assuming that the government's allegations are true with respect to this Garcia fellow who went over because the government's theory is that Asher induced him to go. I think the evidence will show it was rather the other way around.

CUOMO: There are big implications here, the behavior. That's why we are following the case. We will continue to do so and see what gets proved out and what stands as mere allegation of a statement without proof. Counsel, thank you for joining us. Please come back as the case proceeds so we can tell the story start to finish.

BERG: Very well. Take care.

CUOMO: All right, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris, high anticipation ahead of Apple's annual show and tell event. What will the tech giant unveil? We have all the big buzz for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:53:43]

PEREIRA: Time for CNN Money now. CNN Money correspondent, Alison Kosik, in our money center looking at oil prices. How are they looking today?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Oil prices, Michaela, keep falling down, almost 3 percent this morning. It's just one more big swing in oil's downward spiral. Last month oil plummeted below $38 a barrel for the first time since 2009. It's good news for consumers. The national average for a gallon of regular is at $2.39 this morning. That's a dollar cheaper than a year ago.

All right, Apple's big day coming tomorrow. It's expected to unveil a new iPhone, but a long rumored giant iPad could steal the show. It could be a size that fits between the current iPad and the Mac computer.

IPad sales have actually fallen for six straight quarters, mostly because Apple's iPhone screens have gotten bigger, but Apple says there are so many people who want to buy an iPad. Alisyn, I'm just not sure if they want to buy a ginormous iPad.

CAMEROTA: All right, thanks for the preview, Alison.

KOSIK: You got it.

CAMEROTA: The Hillary Clinton e-mail controversy intensifies this morning after a special review finds that there was classified information on at least two e-mails. We'll tell you how her campaign has responded.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:58:56]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am a true Democrat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're feeling really good not only about the poll, but about the support.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone has been playing on Donald Trump's playground.

CLINTON: I actually wish Mr. Trump would throw a little more heat Hillary Clinton's way.

BIDEN: I'm going to run part of this parade.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thousands and thousands of refugees and migrants.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Britain should fulfill its moral responsibility to help those refugees.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Home as they knew it is gone.

CAMEROTA: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in critical condition this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was struck in the head by a stray bullet.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, September 8th, 8:00 in the east.

The Hillary Clinton private e-mails were top secret, at least two of them, but were they marked that way? That is the state of play right now. A big question for Hillary Clinton, her team still insisting she did nothing wrong with any information, let alone top secret information. CAMEROTA: Clinton's campaign insists, of course, that she did nothing wrong and they are also trying a new campaign strategy today. This as the Republicans ramped up their attack.