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Clinton Campaign Continues to Address Email Scandal; Syrian Refugees Break Police Line in Hungary; Interview with Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired September 08, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: -- with any information, let alone top secret information.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Clinton's campaign insists, of course, as Chris said, that she did nothing wrong. And they are also trying a new campaign strategy today. This as the Republicans ramp up their attacks. CNN's team coverage begins this morning with senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny. What's the latest, Jeff?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. The drip, drip, drip of this Clinton e-mail controversy continues. A new intelligence agency review confirms a report from earlier this summer that two e-mails she received on her private e- mail account contained top secret information. Now, all this comes as Hillary Clinton is adjusting her strategy for a tougher fight than her campaign ever expected.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: Another Clinton campaign reboot. Aides say she wants to open up, show her heart, and campaign more joyfully. But this morning questions about the findings of the probe about the private e- mail server she used as secretary of state. "The New York Times" reporting a special intelligence review of two e-mails Clinton received in 2009 and 2011 found two were top secret, one relating to North Korea's nuclear program.

This review by two intelligence agencies reinforces a similar conclusion made in July. But the Clinton campaign dispute this is, saying, "She did not send or receive anything marked classified, facts confirmed by the State Department and the inspector general."

Secretary Clinton also told the Associated Press why she won't apologize for using a private e-mail server, saying "What I did was allowed by the State Department." Clinton made the comments over Labor Day weekend was visiting Iowa and vowing to take on Republicans.

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I am a true Democrat. I believe that our values are the right ones for America, and I'm going to fight for them.

ZELENY: But a recent poll shows Clinton's support slipping as Bernie Sanders surges in early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, Sanders suddenly sharing a stage with the frontrunner. BERNIE SANDERS, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're feeling really

good not only about the poll but about the support we're getting here today.

ZELENY: And then there's the wild card of Vice President Joe Biden, who still is officially on the fence.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope you run, man. I hope you run.

ZELENY: But his Labor Day visit to Pittsburgh had the look and feel of a campaign event with residents urging Biden to jump in. Biden striking a passionate, populist tone while addressing union members in a fiery speech.

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm mad. I'm angry. When the middle class does well, the wealthy do very well, and the poor have a way up. So organize, organize, organize.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: Now, Joe Biden was clearly enjoying that moment in the spotlight as he inches closer to make a decision. But until then this race is in something of a holding pattern as Clinton undergoes another campaign reset. She of course is trying to put this email controversy behind her by talking about it and answering more questions about it. And she's about to get a boost on the campaign trail. Bill Clinton expected to make his debut next week at a fundraiser in Chicago, one of the first times we'll see him out since her announcement speech earlier this summer. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Jeff, we'll talk about all of that with Clinton supporter Paul Begala coming up shortly. Meanwhile, the Republicans hoping Labor Day puts an end to the summer of Trump. CNN's Athena Jones with more on the Republican race. Hi, Athena.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. I'm not so sure it's going to put an end to the summer of Trump. But Labor Day has traditionally been the unofficial begin to the kickoff of campaign season. That's why we saw so many Republican candidates in New Hampshire, folks like John Kasich, Lindsey Graham, Scott Walker. Walker even arrived at one of his events on a motorcycle.

Carly Fiorina is also up there. She is one of those outside nonpolitician candidates who has been rising in the polls. And she got some attention for hitting Hillary Clinton about comments Clinton made about Republican who is hold conservative views about women's reproductive rights. She didn't stop there, though. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLY FIORINA, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Boohoo, Mrs. Clinton. I mean, Mrs. Clinton is the same person who compared Republicans to terrorists. For heavens' sakes, I actually wish Mr. Trump would throw a little more heat Mrs. Clinton's way. I feel sometimes as though I'm the only candidate who is consistently been critical of her. (END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And so that was something of a twofer for Fiorina. She's hitting both Hillary Clinton and the GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. And it's true Fiorina has really been hitting Clinton, blasting her from the very beginning of her campaign, and she wants a little help from the other Republican candidates. Trump has occasionally attacked Clinton and we'll see if he steps it up. Michaela?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: We'll be watching. Thanks so much, Athena.

Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis is still in jail this morning as Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee gets set to plan to meet her and take part in a rally in fact in her honor this afternoon outside the jail. Her lawyers are fighting to get her release as soon as possible. Our Martin Savidge is live Kentucky with all the developments for us. Martin?

[08:05:06] MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela. Yes, this is likely to be the biggest rally so far that has been seen for Kim Davis. And of course this is going to be held right outside of the detention facility where she is currently being held in jail.

You can probably see the truck behind me here. That's where Mike Huckabee, the presidential candidate, is going to be -- well, that's his stage. He is going to go inside, we're told, and meet with Kim Davis, and then he'll come out for this rally.

People are already starting to show up here. This rally is not for another, I don't know, eight hours or so. So, you know, seven, sorry. Thanks for the correction. And it's likely to have so many people here that they've decided to close the schools down just to try to alleviate some of the traffic problems here. So clearly this is going to be a major event in town.

But while that is happening, there are the legal efforts underway by Miss Davis's legal team to try and get her out of confinement. They have filed an appeal to the federal court at the same time they are appealing to the governor of the state to do some sort of -- well, to either call back a special session of the legislature or issue some executive order. The governor is not too keen on doing either one of those things. There were protests over the weekend that took place here. Those drew several hundred people. All of this an indication that today is potentially going to be certainly crowded and maybe even potential volatile. We'll just have to keep an eye on things, Chris and Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right, we know you'll be doing that, Martin. Thanks so much.

Meanwhile, let's discuss all of this. Here this morning is CNN political commentator and former Reagan White House political director Jeffrey Lord, and CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist Paul Begala. Paul is also a senior advisor for a pro Hillary Clinton super PAC. Gentlemen, great to have you here. Paul, I want to start with you and the news this morning out of the "New York Times." They say that there is this new report that comes out of the CIA that two of the e-mails that Secretary Clinton received were classified, top secret at the time that she received them. What will Hillary's campaign do in response to these new findings?

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think the best thing to do is rather than make a campaign response, point people to the official government response from the State Department. This is an interagency fight that happens all the time. The State Department spokesman in that same "New York Times" story, Admiral John Kirby, retired naval admiral, not a political hack like me, he points out that these disputes happen all the time in the government. And some people say, well, they look at something after the fact and say, oh, gee, that should be classified. The State Department apparently, according to Admiral Kirby, still thinks no, actually they weren't classified.

I can tell you having worked for the government, the government does classify way, way too much stuff. So it will be one more we'll all churn about it for a day or two, then at some point we'll actually talk about things like jobs and the economy and trying to earn a living in the middle class.

CAMEROTA: OK, so you obviously you think this is not on the top of voters' minds and this is not a big deal. Jeffrey, what do you think?

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I say all this does is just add once again to the sort of overall picture of Hillary Clinton that has been out there for years. And that's what's really weighing her down in the polls. I mean, one of the reasons she's having all this problem with Bernie Sanders is, whatever you think of Bernie Sanders, people think he's honest. They don't think Hillary Clinton is honest. This is her problem, and all this does is just illustrate it again that this problem has been around for decade decades. We've discussed before that famous "New York Times" column from 1996, almost 20 years ago, in which she was called by William Safire, the late William Safire, a congenital liar. That's the problem right there. So all this does is just one more, you know, one more log on the fire here. But I don't know in and of itself it makes that much difference.

C. CUOMO: Well, is it about lying? I mean, you don't have any of the 5,000 agencies that are investigating this pointing the finger at her as having done something wrong. They don't have a criminal reference against her. But I do think the crime winds up being one of a political nature. You're kind of pointing at that, Jeffrey.

And Paul, you know that. You know this situation exists because of how it was basically handled from the jump. And if there was any classified material, I'll give you the point that you ask different agencies and they'll give you different answers about whether or not this stuff was top secret or not. I'll grant you that. We heard it from our own experts. But it does point to why it was problematic to start this in the first place. Isn't that fair criticism?

BEGALA: Chris, that's absolutely fair. You're right. I love Hillary. You pointed out, I actually work for a super PAC that's trying to elect her. I said from the beginning, every government employee should use government e-mail. And she should have. It was a mistake to use private email, period.

It was also a mistake for the Bush White House to use private email. Many of the Bush White House employees used an e-mail server that was at the Republican National Committee. It was wrong for General Powell. Colin Powell was the secretary of state for President Bush. He was on one of the Sunday shows yesterday. He said, while I had two machines on my desk. He wrote about this in his book, a whole chapter in his book about it. He said again yesterday, or Sunday, that he used his private e-mail to communicate with ambassadors and sometimes with foreign leaders. That would be potentially classified. I just think fair is fair. Nobody ever went to Colin Powell and said you should apologize. Nobody ever went to the Bush White House and said should you apologize.

[08:10:15] LORD: Well, I do think that Bush thought it was time to keep political stuff off of a government server. I think that they were instructed to do that.

BEGALA: They used it for official purposes.

LORD: They were trying to obey the law, not evade it.

BEGALA: No, they used that to evade the Presidential Records Act so that the stuff they were doing would not be discovered.

CAMEROTA: Here is what Hillary Clinton said to the Associated Press yesterday about all of this. This was her response. The question was, why haven't you directly apologized for setting up and using a private e-mail server? Here was Hillary's response. "I understand why people have questions and I'm trying to answer as many of those in as many different settings as I can. What I did was allowed by the State Department. I've also tried to not only take responsibility because it was my decision, but to be as transparent as possible."

Jeffrey, if you were advising Hillary Clinton, and I know that we're making everything topsy-turvy here, but would you have her issue a direct apology in the "I'm sorry" vein, or is this good enough?

LORD: For heavens' sakes, do it and get it over with. But I'll tell you, I honestly don't think this is in her makeup, in her character. I just don't think -- she does these things. She keeps getting in trouble.

C. CUOMO: Jeffrey Lord, Jeffrey Lord, Jeffrey Lord, you come on this show consistently and others at CNN and brilliantly defend everything that Donald Trump does. And you consistently say he should never apologize for things that we would all make our children apologize for, let alone our president. And now you say she should apologize. (LAUGHTER)

LORD: Chris, I'm saying that from Hillary Clinton's point of view, not mine, she should just do this and be done with it.

C. CUOMO: Why? How does it help her?

LORD: But I'm saying that she's incapable of it.

C. CUOMO: She says I didn't do anything wrong. I would have done it differently if I could have, but it was allowed. I should have done it differently. If she apologizes she's saying I did something wrong.

LORD: It's all my fault, it's all the fault of my friends. She doesn't do anything and these things happen. That's her attitude.

CAMEROTA: She has said it's a mistake. She's called it a mistake. I think she says that she wishes that she had done it differently. And I too, I don't quite understand what an I'm sorry would do. I'm sorry to whom, to herself, to her campaign?

LORD: If she did it, frankly, you're right, I'm not sure it would have any effect because she's playing against this persona of 20, 30 years in the public mind. While I think she probably should do it, I don't think people care. I don't think it would help her necessarily one way or another. She's in another fix of her own making, and that's what happens.

C. CUOMO: Begala, maybe she should call all the agencies third rate hack agencies.

BEGALA: Why don't we have a standard of fairness? Why doesn't anybody ask Jeb Bush? He used private e-mail, Jeb.org, for some governmental business. Nobody has ever asked him about that. Nobody has ever asked him --

C. CUOMO: Because it's different character and nature.

BEGALA: Exactly, because he's a Bush. That's right, he's a Bush. That's right, we could never criticize the Bush family.

C. CUOMO: He wasn't secretary of state at the time. This is very high level information.

BEGALA: He was stealing the election for his brother. He hasn't issued one e-mail from the greatest theft of our lifetime. He played a critical role in swinging Florida's electoral votes away from the guy who got the most votes and to his brother. He has not released a single e-mail from that. But we don't have him about this because we have this terrible anti-Hillary bias in the media.

CAMEROTA: All right, Paul, Jeffrey, thanks so much.

C. CUOMO: Michaela?

PEREIRA: To our other top story. Tensions are on the rise as the migrant crisis grips Europe and intensifies. Right now hundreds of refugees breaking past a police line at a holding point in Hungary. In fact, we're looking at a live shot right now. We want to turn immediately to senior international correspondent Arwa Damon who's there. What is the scene we're seeing, Arwa?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're running now with these migrants and refugees who just broke out of the holding area right along the border with Serbia. The police are literally right behind them -- CNN. The police are literally right behind them and in front trying to bring them under control.

There are hundreds of them that staged this breakout because they were fed up at the conditions they were being held in. They couldn't take it anymore. Young, old, men, parents with families, all breaking through, and now also being pursued by the police force through this cornfield. This all kicks off about half-an-hour ago. And there are people who have been carrying their children.

[08:15:00] There are some elderly among these crowds. These are people who, at this stage, are literally running for their lives.

They took a risk when they broke out of the camp. They knew that. They were terrified of what the police would do. And now, they are not only afraid of being caught, but of what their potential punishment might be and of being brought into those camps that they did not want to go into, especially not after having had to wait in those fields for so long.

PEREIRA: Arwa, are you able to hear us OK? We want to ask, what is the concern of the police getting them? Are they concerned the police are going to take them elsewhere? Have you seen any incidents of altercation between the police and the people that are fleeing?

DAMON: Not yet. We haven't yet. They did manage to catch a few people who were stuck in the back.

But yes, they don't want to get caught, they don't want to go back in the camp. They don't want to wait to be fingerprinted. They're afraid the police will use force to try to bring them in.

All they really want to do is somehow get out, keep their journey going, which is why so many of them were so frustrated with the wait, because they were being held in these horrific conditions in this one holding area.

But they also are afraid now because they did this that perhaps they will somehow be punished. These are people who are so desperate. They just want to get going. They just want to get to Germany. They just want this epic journey of theirs throughout Europe to actually finally end, that they will go to these lengths if that's what they need to do to try to break out of certain areas.

We've seen this on a number of occasions. We saw that on the big standoff on the train. We saw that people decided to walk for eight, nine hours along the highway just to get to Budapest. These are the actions of a desperate people.

CAMEROTA: Oh.

DAMON: -- being subjected to.

C. CUOMO: The signal is going to come in and out. We should go back to her.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

Arwa, for people who are just joining us right now and watching your live shot, to tell them what's happening, you were at a holding place with hundreds of migrants and refugees and then they had some sort of conflict with the police and they began running and you are now following, chasing the refugees.

Where are they headed? What is the plan?

DAMON: Well, there isn't a plan. This all happened quite suddenly. This holding area is the area they're all brought into right when they cross over from Serbia into Hungary.

They were just fed up with being made to wait there. The buses weren't coming quick enough. The conditions there, fairly abysmal and they decided to take matter into their own hands. They don't want to wait anymore. They don't want to be held back anymore. They can't stake it at this stage.

What they did was even though there was a police cordon around them, they did manage to break through. And this happened very quickly and suddenly. Once people saw that, then the rest jumped up and went and now hundreds of them.

You can see it now as we break through this cornfield. But hundreds of them, they're running at this point walking for their lives. It's been really hard for those who have children too, because they're having to carry them through all of this.

The police is right behind them, it seems trying to coordinate some sort of a cordon. The group has split -- they managed to split the group into two. There's a group that is in front of us and then there's a group that is off to the left.

When we were talking to them before, the police showed up, a lot of them were saying, we don't know where we're going to go. Does anyone have a GPS? How can we figure out which direction we're supposed to be heading in?

I mean, again, a reaction, a byproduct of the frustration and anger the people have been feeling because of the humiliation and everything they have been having to go through throughout the journey but especially once they got into Hungary.

C. CUOMO: But now that they've caused this potential confrontation, you're going to keep an eye on it for us. We know that's why you're hustling, your cameraman as well. Thank them for us. It's not easy to do to shoot and run through a field like that.

Please keep an eye on the situation. Tell us what the police do in response and we'll get back to you if there's something the people need to see.

[08:20:03] All right. Arwa, thank you very much and be safe.

CAMEROTA: I mean, Arwa's reports have just brought all of this into our living rooms. We wouldn't know what this crisis looked like minute by minute but thanks to Arwa's live reports. We'll bring all of that to you as soon as there's development.

Meanwhile, gun violence hitting very close to home for New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. One of his staffers fighting for his life this morning after taking a stray bullet in Brooklyn. We will speak with governor about the prognosis and the gun epidemic.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: An aide to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is in critical condition this morning after he was struck in the head by a stray bullet before New York City's West Indian Day Parade. Police say 43-year-old Carey Gabay was possibly caught in gang crossfire.

Joining us now to give us the latest is New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. And he is joining us from Puerto Rico this morning.

Governor, we'll get to what you're doing in Puerto Rico in a moment. But can you give us a status report on the condition of Carey Gabay?

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: Yes, I can. Good morning, Alisyn. Good to be with you.

It's nothing good, I can tell you that. I spoke to the family last night. I spoke to the family this morning. Carey was shot in the head as you reported. And he's in what's called a very critical condition. But it is not good.

CAMEROTA: From earlier reports, Governor, it sounds as though Carey, your aide, was caught in some sort of gang crossfire.

[08:25:05] He was just an innocent -- not even bystander. He was on his way with his family to go to a celebration and to go to a parade and two gangs were fighting and he was hit in the head with a stray bullet. Is that what you understand?

A. CUOMO: You know, Alisyn, yes, that's exactly what the police are reporting. It was just another act of pure randomness, just the randomness of gun violence of having too many guns on the street and people having guns who shouldn't have guns, which is the real point here.

And, look, I've been to too many funerals. I've seen too many bodies. I've dealt with too parents crying, losing children. This brings it home for me in a personal way.

This -- Carey Gabay was the American dream. He grew up in the public housing projects in the Bronx, worked his way up. He went to Harvard, graduated Harvard University, was a roommate with my commissioner of health at one time. A beautiful, beautiful 43-year- old black man.

And he could have done anything with that education. He chose to be in state service because he wanted to use his skills to help others. He made a fraction of what he could have earned, just a beautiful guy.

And you're right, he was just walking with his brother and a friend and struck down by random gun violence. The point to me is how many incidents do we have to have? How many weeks do we have to have with the same story over and over and over about the insanity that this country is allowing to country with violence and loss of life of innocent people because we have people who have no business having guns having guns?

CAMEROTA: Yes.

A. CUOMO: We passed a law in the state of New York, as you know, Alisyn, that probably the most restrictive law in the nation. And I'm not antigun. I own a gun. But criminals should have guns.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Governor, everyone agrees with that. No criminals should have guns. But what is the answer? I mean, as you yourself just said New York is considered to have strict gun control laws. But I mean -- as you know opponents of more laws say the criminals are the ones who will always have the guns. And this appears to be an illustration of that.

What gun law could have been on the books that would have prevented this tragedy?

A. CUOMO: I understand what they say. That's not what they say. They say it's a slippery slope and the government is trying to take away everyone's guns and this is a conspiracy theory.

As I said, I'm not antigun. I own a gun.

What's happening to me in New York, and to New Yorkers is, yes we have laws on the books that protect people. The guns are coming in from other states. The only way to deal with this is a national gun policy. Doesn't do any good if we have the right laws in place in New York but the guns come in from New Jersey or from Virginia, or from Minnesota, or from any state down south.

We need a national gun control policy that respects the Second Amendment, allows people to have guns, bona fide hunters, God bless.

But if you are mentally ill, you should not have a gun. If you are a criminal, you should not have a gun. And to do that, Alisyn, you have to check everyone before they buy the gun and that's the rub.

People who are law-abiding citizens say don't bother me, don't check me. Only check the criminal. But you can't check the criminal unless you check everyone. And this nation has to have the political courage to step up and the elected officials have to have the political courage to step up and say, this weekly ongoing tragedy of loss of life of innocent victims, school children, young girls, young boys must stop.

CAMEROTA: Former New York City police commissioner sees this differently. He sees a different explanation for the gun violence in New York City. He said this yesterday, "Murders are up. And if you have a propensity to carry a gun and there's a policy to de-emphasize stop and question and frisk, it's only common sense you'll see more people carrying guns and more crime."

Is this because stop and frisk has gone virtually away?

A. CUOMO: The quote is from who? I'm sorry, Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: That's from Ray Kelly, former police commissioner.

A. CUOMO: I have tremendous respect for Ray Kelly, the former police commissioner. I think he raises a different topic, which is the policing tactics in New York. Which may be a bona fide conversation, but that does not change the facts on -- that we need a national gun control policy in this country. One state can't do it alone. And our state has demonstrated that.

CAMEROTA: Governor, quickly tell us--

A. CUOMO: I can't pass a tougher law than we did or a smarter law than we did.