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How Can Candidates Prepare for CNN Debate This Week?; Former Prison Worker Joyce Mitchell Speaks Out. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired September 14, 2015 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:34:01] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Here's the Monday edition of the five things you need to know for your NEW DAY.

At No. 1, Kentucky clerk Kim Davis back at work today. She just announced she will not issue same-sex marriage licenses, but also indicating that she won't stop her deputies from issuing them. She does not want her name or title on those documents.

Donald Trump sporting a 13-point lead over Ben Carson in a new "Washington Post"/ABC News poll. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, dipping below 50 percent for the first time on the Democratic side.

California's valley fire has now burned 50,000 acres. It's destroyed 400 homes. It is now being blamed for one death. The governor there has declared a state of emergency in two northern California counties.

European Union ministers meeting in Brussels on the migrant issue. Members have agreed to allow military action to intercede ships used by traffickers smuggling migrants across the Mediterranean Sea. This as Germany and Austria implement temporary border controls to stem the flood of migrants and refugees coming into their countries.

[08:35:00] Novak Djokovic winning an epic battle, earning his second U.S. Open title, his tenth major overall. He defeated perhaps the best player of all time, Roger Federer, in four tough sets.

You can get more on the five things to know by visiting newdayCNN.com.

Chris?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Mick. We're counting down to the CNN Republican Debate this Wednesday, the candidates plotting their strategy, who has the most to gain, how do you break into the Carson/Trump bubble? Our panel weighs in next.

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CUOMO: Tick-tock goes the clock. Just two days until CNN's Republican debate. How are the candidates preparing to face-off, and what do these new poll numbers mean for what plays and does not play to the advantage of the GOP specifically? Let's bring in CNN political commentators, S.E. Cupp, Ana Navarro. Ana

is a Jeb supporter and friends with Marco Rubio. S.E. basically just supports herself.

(LAUGHTER)

So it's good to have both of you with us -

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: She has no friends.

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I win every time.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: That's right.

CUOMO: Let's put up the poll numbers, my friends. Trump and Carson get more than 50 percent combined.

[08:40:03] S.E., what does this mean about the complexion of the GOP?

CUPP: Well, look, I think the constituency right now is divided. I think you've got a group of not just Republicans, but voters on both sides of the aisle and in the middle who are frustrated with the establishment, frustrated with the political system and they're looking at anything that doesn't look like a regular politician.

But I think you also have more than half of Republican voters who rightly acknowledge that someone like Donald Trump is just not electable in a general election. That's why they're also saying Donald Trump is the person I would never vote for.

So we've got 14 months to sort of see the conservative electorate make up their minds about whether they want to stand on principle and vote for anyone but Washington, or if they want a Republican in the White House again.

CAMEROTA: OK, but we've got 48 hours, Ana, until Jeb Bush needs to do something to break out of this 10 percent place, third place that he's in. What do you think is going to happen on debate night?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, let me tell you, Alisyn, it is raining behind me. I thought it never rained in southern California. So maybe it's like weddings and it turns out to be good luck. Look I think -- and it's not only Jeb Bush - I think there's a lot of people on that stage who really need to figure out how to break out, how to be memorable, how to have lines that are being spoken about the next day at the water cooler.

You know, we're focusing on Jeb Bush, but let's look at Scott Walker. I just read an article where he's described as uninspired hunk of cheese. He was at that debate last time, and we're not talking about him. He, too, needs to break out, needs to show personality.

This is a very different animal than a normal debate where you might have one or two or three other people and policy really shines, you can out-knowledge somebody, out-policy somebody. When you have a debate with this many people, and so many outside personalities, you have to show more than policy knowledge. You have to show personality, persona, I think whit, humor. And, you know, it's partly theatrics, partly policy. Some of them are more policy-oriented, like my friend Jeb Bush. You know, everybody is going to have to make an effort to make it a little more memorable.

CUOMO: Right, but they're not electing a think tank, right? They're elected a leader and that has a lot of different dimensions. We all know that.

And S.E., that takes us to, who is the party right now? Some poll numbers here. Among Latinos -- Now Jeffrey Lord was on here. He speaks for Trump very often. He was the political director for Ronald Reagan. The numbers I'm about to read to you, he was like, eh, the Republicans win with white voters. We won't care about these Latinos because they can't hurt us where they are.

But look at the numbers, among Latinos, very somewhat negative on Trump, 70 percent. Is he hurting the party? 65 percent say yes, he is. How do you deal with those numbers in terms of what you guys were supposedly doing coming out of the lessons of 2012?

CUPP: Well, we weren't supposedly doing it. We were doing it. We rightly acknowledged and we, being the RNC and conservatives, I think in general, rightly acknowledged that you don't win by subtraction. You win by addition. And Donald Trump clearly isn't interested in growing the Republican Party or any other party. I don't think that he's all that interested in preserving the strength and survival of the conservative movement. He never talks about conservatism. You never hear him talk about how conservatism is empowering on x, y, z policy issues.

So to Ana's point, if I were trying to break out in this debate, I would try to point out -- I'd keep the audience in mind. If you're tuning into a Republican primary debate in September of 2015, chances are, you're a Republican. I would try to instruct the audience and show the audience that Donald Trump doesn't care about growing the party, vis-a-vis his comments on immigration, and doesn't care about the conservative movement. I think most Republicans, even those fed up with Washington, would say that's important in their next presidential nominee.

CAMEROTA: Ana, let's forget about Trump for a second and show that maybe he is actually --

NAVARRO: I'd be happy to.

CAMEROTA: I knew this would be music to your ears. But unfortunately for you and your party, it seems that some of the things that he's saying are having an effect on some of the other Republican candidates, including Jeb Bush who, by all rights, should do well with Latino voters. But here you go. Look at this matchup between Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush among Latino voters. If the election were held today, who would you vote for? Clinton gets twice as much as Jeb Bush. NAVARRO: Look, we are so early into this and I actually think those

numbers look pretty good. There's huge amount of growing room to be done. The campaign for the Hispanic vote really hasn't begun. But I think you've seen people like Marco Rubio, like Jeb Bush, begin campaigning not now, they began 20 years ago, 30 years ago. In Jeb's case, 40-some years ago when he first went to Guanajuato, Mexico, and met his wife and has been basically part of the community. You've got Marco Rubio, who is a member of the community.

[08:45:21] So I think, you know, I think we've got some great candidates this time who aren't doing what a lot of Republicans usually do, which is leave campaigning for the Latino vote for the last ten months of the election. That doesn't work. You can't -- it's not something where -- you can't be Juanito-come-lately and expect to get the Latino vote.

CUOMO: Juanito...

NAVARRO: We've got - Juanito-come-lately - You can't do that. We've got folks this time who, you know, who understand it. Who have been doing it. There's a reason why we've heard reports that Bill Clinton is worried about a Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio candidacy because he knows they will give any Democrat a run for their money with that vote.

CAMEROTA: S.E., Ana, thanks so much. Ana, we will see you out there in rainy southern California soon. Thanks so much.

NAVARRO: It's good for the state.

CAMEROTA: It is.

PEREIRA: They do need the rain -

CAMEROTA: With the drought (INAUDIBLE).

PEREIRA: That's to be sure. That's to be sure.

All right. Joyce Mitchell, you know the prison worker who helped those prison inmates, Richard Matt and David Sweat, escape, well she is now speaking out. She claims she's no monster. Why did she help them? We're going to speak with someone who worked with her at that prison.

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[08:49:58] JOYCE MITCHELL, FORMER PRISON WORKER WHO HELPED INMATES ESCAPE: I did wrong. I deserve to be punished. But, you know, people need to know that I was only trying to save my family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Former prison seamstress there, Joyce Mitchell, speaking out for the first time. She, of course, the prison worker facing up to seven years in jail for helping those two inmates escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility in New York over the summer, sparking that intense 22-day man hunt.

Here to discuss is former Sergeant Jeff Dumas who just retired from that very same prison recently. And I hope you're enjoying your retirement. Looks like you're back to work already with us here.

Let's ask you a couple of questions about what we've just heard. Interesting to hear Joyce Mitchell say she was just trying to save her family, that she was in over her head. You worked at that facility. Did the prison amply protect, train you, make you aware of potential threats, the danger of getting too close to prisoners?

JEFF DUMAS, RET. SERGEANT, CLINTON CORRECTIONAL FACILITY: Oh, absolutely. Everybody that comes into work at the facility is taught about the games that the inmates play. So she's had the training. Yearly, as a matter of fact. So that is -- that's just a story that she's making up to make herself feel better. As far as protecting anybody, if she would have said anything to any of us, those inmates would have been placed in special housing, and they couldn't have gotten to anybody. So I'm not really sure what threat she's talking about.

PEREIRA: She claims that they had power over her and that she was sort of controlled by them. She was also asked why she kept continuing to give these items to the prisoners. Let's listen to that sound.

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MATT LAUER, NBC HOST, "THE TODAY SHOW": Were you afraid you'd get caught doing it?

MITCHELL: I actually was. Because they're supposed to check our bags every morning when we come in, and they're supposed to check them when you go out, but they never did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: So that obviously points to some lapses in security.

DUMAS: Yes, it does. At the front of the facility when they come -- all employees come through the gate. They're supposed to open up their bags, the officers will check as they come in. But don't forget, I mean - Yeah, don't forget, we have close to 1,000 employees going through there every day. So it is monotonous and, sometimes, the guys don't check. From what she says, they didn't check her bags all the time.

But again, her getting caught up in this, I mean, if an inmate -- her relationship went back with Matt for several months. At any point in time, she could have told anybody about the inappropriateness, about them asking for tools, for glasses, for anything. She could have said anything like that, and they would have been taken away. They would have had no contact with her, her husband, anything.

PEREIRA: Shouldn't her behavior have drawn suspicion? I mean, she was told, she said, that she was getting too friendly, but she was acting erratically, it sounds like. DUMAS: There was an investigation done when she was close to inmate

Sweat. That is basically out of the hands of the local facility. That goes to Albany, the special investigations people are the ones that are supposed to investigate that relationship. Apparently at that point, they found nothing. But what the facility did was they took inmate Sweat and moved him away from her, so there could be no contact within the facility. So there's a certain point where it's personal responsibility, and that falls on her.

PEREIRA: One more piece of sound we'll play for you. Let's hear that.

DUMAS: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAUER: Were you ever nervous? Were you afraid you'd get caught doing it?

MITCHELL: I actually was. Because they're supposed to check our bags every morning when we come in, and they're supposed to check them when you go out, but they never did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: I think we might have repeated a piece of sound there. So bottom line, it sounds as though she is, you know, deflecting a fair amount. Do you think that we're going to see a lot of change happening there at the prison and other prisons across the country because of this case?

DUMAS: Oh, absolutely. She is deflecting, and then to your other point, you're going to see changes. I mean, the security levels are heightened as it is. I mean, everybody in the public would be surprised at what we go through on a daily basis.

PEREIRA: Right.

DUMAS: But now that this has happened, it's going to even be heightened.

PEREIRA: Jeff Dumas, always a pleasure to have you with us. Thanks for joining us this morning.

DUMAS: Thanks, Michaela.

[08:55:00] PEREIRA: All right, Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Mick. So what happens when the people who protect and serve need protecting themselves? People step up. That's why it's "The Good Stuff" coming up. Wait till you hear this one.

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CUOMO: All right. Ready for some "Good Stuff?"

PEREIRA: Are you? CAMEROTA: Yes.

CUOMO: Of course I am.

CAMEROTA: You're all stretched out and ready.

CUOMO: And as often happens, the good stuff comes out of the worst stuff. There was threats called into the Aurora, Colorado, police department. You remember that happened. This one had a caller saying he would shoot any police officer on site.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Imagine one of these guys getting up in the morning and hearing that and going, I got to go to work today. That's got to be pretty scary.

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CUOMO: You know who that is? That's a concerned citizen. The community was not taking this lying down. After hearing the news, dozens of people converge on the police department and they create a human shield around it.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh.

PEREIRA: That's really cool.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We appreciate you. So much.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: The Aurora police are investigating the threat, changing procedures. There have been several ambush attacks on officers nationwide. We cover them. I mean, officers often get hurt and killed in the line of duty. But this seems to be specific intent.

CAMEROTA: The people are stepping up. That's so great to see.

PEREIRA: Thanks for that.