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"Washington Post" Journalist Convicted in Iranian Court; New Democratic Presidential Candidates' Poll Numbers Examined; Democratic Presidential Candidates Prepare for Upcoming Debate; U.S. Arms Vetted Rebel Groups in Northern Syria; Clinton Tops Polls, But How Will She Do in the Debate? Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired October 12, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who wants Vice President Joe Biden to get in?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Washington Post" journalist Jason Rezaian has been convicted.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There has been talk of the sentence possibly between 10 to 20 years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The victims' families are owed the truth. Hillary Clinton has a lot of explaining to do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's an explosive charge, sure to resonate on the campaign trail.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This has been a witch hunt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hillary Clinton decided a few months before an election they were going to lie about what happened at Benghazi.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, and Michaela Pereira.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Sun is still not up in Las Vegas. Good morning everyone. Welcome back to your NEW DAY. It is Monday, October 12th, 8:00 in the east, 5:00 where John Berman is in Las Vegas.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: And you are soon to be.

CAMEROTA: I know. I'm looking forward to it. I'm so excited because just about 36 hours from now, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and the rest will square off in the first Democratic debate. It is of course hosted by CNN and Facebook as we count down to the showdown. We do have some impressive and interesting new numbers to show you in two key states.

PEREIRA: Let's jump in and take a look. Our brand-new CNN/ORC poll giving the former secretary of state a 16 point cushion over Sanders in Nevada. With Joe Biden out of the race, her lead then expands to 22 points. Meanwhile, here's South Carolina. Clinton tops Biden by 25 points and Sanders by 31. Without Biden, Clinton's margin over Sanders widens to a whopping 50 points.

So much to discuss as preparations are under way for the final few touches in Las Vegas ahead of the Democratic debate, John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks so much, Michaela. So how does Hillary Clinton handle possible attacks? Will Bernie Sanders attack at all? They are making their last second preparations. But sometimes when you take that stage, all the plans you make, they go right out the window. This is the very first time the democratic candidates will face off on the same stage just one day away now. Let's go inside the debate hall, directly behind me. Let's bring in senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta on stage at the Wynn hotel. Hey, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Good morning, John. I'm starting to feel very comfortable here with these podiums behind me. The stage is almost set. They've even put seats into the audience. The podiums behind me, the one in the middle obviously for Hillary Clinton. She's the front runner at this point so she gets to be the one in the middle. Bernie Sanders will be to her right. Then the other candidates will also be on the stage with her, as well, Jim Webb, Lincoln Chafee, Martin O'Malley.

But it's interesting because the new polls from CNN/ORC indicate that this is kind of a wide open race at this point. Yes, Hillary Clinton is the frontrunner. And according to our new CNN/ORC poll, people here in the state of Nevada believe she has the best chance to win, 59 percent for her. Joe Biden, 18 percent should he jump in. And Bernie Sanders, 17 percent.

But have people made up their minds? Have they definitively decided? No, that is not the case. And 30 percent say definitely, but 58 percent say they're still deciding, so plenty of room if Joe Biden, the vice president, wants to jump into this race. And just in case if he decides to jump into the race over the next 24 hours, the debate rules are such that he can do that, and CNN is prepared in the event of a Joe Biden candidacy and a debate appearance, there it is, a podium number six, we have it waiting in the wings just in case Vice President Joe Biden decides to join us, he fires up Air Force II and points the plane in the direction of McCarran International Airport here in Las Vegas.

But as for the five candidates who will definitely be on the stage on Tuesday night, Michaela, there is potential for some fireworks. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders may be going after each other on the issue of Iraq war. Bernie Sanders over the weekend was forecasting this. He was saying that he was against the war in 2002. Hillary Clinton was in favor of it in 2002. Those are echoes of the battle royal between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in 2008. That hurt Clinton, and it seems Bernie Sanders is trying to use that playbook once again on Tuesday night. Michaela?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: It will be interesting to see what other things will come up during the debate tomorrow night. Jim, thank you so much for that.

On the eve of the Democratic debate, a former investigator for the House Benghazi committee accuses the Republican-led panel of targeting former secretary of state Clinton. Bradley Podliska spoke exclusively to Jake Tapper. He says what began as a search for truth turned out to be more of a smear campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: In your view, your insider view, did the House majority staff on the House Benghazi committee use this committee for political gain?

BRAD PODLISKA, FIRED BENGHAZI COMMITTEE STAFFER: I would state that this has become a partisan investigation. I do not know the reason for that. I do not know the reason for the hyper focus on Clinton.

TAPPER: Republicans are going to listen to you and think, oh, this is some liberal trying to get Hillary Clinton off the hook. Liberals are going to hear your and say, look, see, he's exonerating Hillary Clinton. This committee is all political and Hillary has nothing to explain. What's your message to these partisans?

[08:05:09] PODLISKA: Hillary Clinton has a lot of explaining to do. We, however, did not need to shift resources to hyper focus on Clinton. He didn't need to deemphasize and in some cases drop investigations on different agencies, different organizations, and different individuals.

TAPPER: Do you think the results of the committee, based on what you saw, will be fair, comprehensive, thorough, professional, honest?

PODLISKA: No. It's not possible. The victim's families are not going to get the truth. And that's the most unfortunate thing about this. And I know this because the nine months of research I have done is now lost. I have no idea where it is. I know that I could give the victim's families an explanation, a pretty thorough explanation of why they were told that this attack was due to a video.

TAPPER: Why are you coming forward?

PODLISKA: I'll be honest with you, Jake. I'm scared. I'm nervous. I know that this is, you know, I'm going up against powerful people in Washington. But at the end of the day, I need to live with myself.

TAPPER: What do you say to any viewers out there who think that you might have an ax to grind, that you're only talking because you were fired?

PODLISKA: I have a conscience. There's wrongdoing here, and I think it needs to stop. And I do not want the investigation to end. I want the investigation to be refocused back to its original purpose. The victim's families are owed the truth. As it stands now, they're not going to get the truth. (END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: For its part, the House committee denies the allegations made by Podliska. And in this statement committee chairman Trey Gowdy says, quote, "Because I do not know him and cannot recall ever speaking to him, I can say for certain he was never instructed by me to focus on Clinton, nor would he be a credible person to speak on my behalf. I'm equally confident his supervisor did not direct him to focus on Clinton.

CAMEROTA: All right, so much to talk about, so let's bring in our CNN political commentators. We have Paul Begala. He's a Democratic strategist and senior adviser to a pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC, also Maria Cardona. She's a Democratic strategist, and Kevin Madden, Republican strategist. Great to see all of you out early in Vegas there. Kevin, let me start with you. Now that --

PAUL BEGALA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: We're up late. We're not out early.

CAMEROTA: That's right, you make a great point. It's actually still nighttime for you guys. So that's very Vegas of you. But, Kevin, let me start with you. So now that this basically whistleblower, I think he would identify himself, has come forward, this former investigator, to say the investigation into Benghazi began pure but it morphed into a partisan project, what does this do now to Benghazi and the issue moving forward?

KEVIN MADDEN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think the genesis of Jake Tapper's question I think got to the heart of that, which is that some partisans are going to see different things out of this whistleblower. I think the chargers should be explored, but I think the chargers would be more troubling to me if -- and the American public if Trey Gowdy did not have an evidentiary trail of what he did and the focus of the panel with regards to searching for the truth.

And I think as you saw on Trey Gowdy's response, and I think as you'll see continually, Trey Gowdy and members of the Benghazi will make the case, and I think they'll make a convincing one, that they were focused on the truth, focused on trying to find out what happened inside the administration during decisions during the Benghazi attack, and that the truth will come out. Ultimately, we have seen Hillary Clinton has come under scrutiny because a lot of what she said was not true. And so that is where, I think, they'll continue to focus their efforts, is on the truth.

CAMEROTA: OK, Maria, we have already heard from Trey Gowdy who said this investigator is a flawed source. In fact, he was fired. And what Trey Gowdy has claimed to FOX News, at least, is that he was looking for payment of some kind from the committee. So what do you think this does to the issue?

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I think that whatever actually happened with the whistleblower is going to be investigated. But I think that from a credibility standpoint it is incredibly damning. I think because of two things that have already happened. It comes on the heels of McCarthy's comments that essentially he blurted out the truth on FOX News, that this was a partisan endeavor just focused on trying to bring down Hillary Clinton's poll numbers. And on the heels of -- well, not on the heels of. We've had more than a year and a half on almost 10 different partisan, bipartisan committees, that have already found there was absolutely no wrongdoing on behalf of the State Department and on behalf of Secretary Clinton.

And so in terms of what the American people will look at this as, I think it will be very tough moving forward for the American people to look at this committee and believe that they are really focused on the truth. It's going to be tough for them to think of this committee with a straight face. And I think that is going to be incredibly difficult for them to move forward saying that they're seeking the truth.

[08:10:03] CAMEROTA: So Paul, if this issue comes up in the debate, and it is likely to, what should Hillary Clinton's response, what should her tone about Benghazi be now?

BEGALA: Well, Hillary is a very good counterpuncher, and now she's got a punching bag, frankly to counterpunch against. Not only the points that Maria makes, I think this is what she's likely to say. There's three data points here, all from Republicans. that prove that this is a partisan attack on me. First, the chairman of the committee himself, Trey Gowdy, was asked by Chris Wallace of FOX News, what does all this e-mail stuff have to do with finding the truth about Benghazi? And Chairman Gowdy himself said, not very much, number one.

Then number two, Kevin McCarthy, the House majority leader said, bragged that there was a partisan effect to this, that it dropped her poll numbers, as if that were the goal. He was bragging about that, again, on FOX News. And now this Air Force major, who himself said he's going to vote Republican in the presidential election but was part of the investigation himself, very, very rare. I can't think of a time when someone inside an investigation has stepped forward and said, look, this has become a partisan witch hunt.

So I think Democrats are going to rally to Clinton, as they should on this, and I think the Republicans should shut the thing down. The worst thing for the Republicans is to continue this and to allow Hillary to continue counterpunching and move back up in the polls.

CAMEROTA: Well, let's look at the polls, because they are interesting this morning. They are fresh out this morning. And interesting to look at what's going on in Nevada. Here are the Democrat's choices with Biden in the race Hillary Clinton gets 50 percent. Bernie Sanders gets 34 percent. Joe Biden gets 12 percent. If you take Biden out of the equation, the next one shows that Hillary Clinton gets 58 percent, Sanders gets 36 percent. In South Carolina, the numbers are even more dramatic. Hillary Clinton there, if Biden does not run, gets 70 percent. Bernie Sanders gets 20 percent. So, Maria, I mean, what has she been doing right in South Carolina that she has not been doing right in New Hampshire? CARDONA: I think there's a couple things here. First of all,

Nevada and South Carolina are much more representative of what this country looks like today demographically speaking. And it's not what she's been doing lately in Nevada or South Carolina. It's her relationship with the demographic groups that are actually going to be an important part of the election in Nevada and South Carolina.

Here in Nevada, for example, the Latino vote is a quarter of the vote. And she has had more than three decades of experience and having a nurturing relationship with the Hispanic vote. In the '70s, she was out in Texas registering voters before it was cool to register voters. And so the Latino vote here, Latinos, frankly, across the country, see that she is going to be the one fighting for them. She announced this past week a terrific initiative called Latinos for Hillary where she's going to be focusing on that relationship, focusing on the policy proposals she is putting forward to help Latinos and, frankly, everyone here in Nevada and in South Carolina and across the country live a better life and have a better future.

So I think it's all indicative of what her campaign has been all about from the beginning, being the fighter for the middle class that I think people are looking for her to do.

CAMEROTA: So Kevin, very quickly, as the Republican on the panel, what are you looking for Hillary Clinton to say or do tomorrow night?

MADDEN: Well, look, I think the -- one of the big problems she has is that she is getting polled to the left by other members of the primary field right now. One of the things I'm going to be watching for is to see if she tries to out Bernie Sanders Bernie Sanders on things like the economy or national security because I think that will make it more problematic for to appeal to a bigger swath of the big middle of the American electorate in a general election.

So Democrats always say Republicans get pulled too far to the right in their primary and therefore they're unelectable in the general election. I think with the presence of Bernie Sanders, somebody who is making a very authentic, progressive, liberal argument to voters, Hillary Clinton runs the risk of getting polled to the left of Bernie Sanders and I think that would be a good thing for Republicans.

CAMEROTA: Kevin, Maria, Paul, stick around, if you would. I know that in a few minutes John Berman has some questions for you. So we'll see you in a minute.

Also, reminder, tomorrow night is the big event. Watch the Democratic debate hosted by CNN and Facebook. It all begins at 8:30 p.m. eastern.

PEREIRA: All right, we have some breaking news. Iranian TV reports that "Washington Post" journalist Jason Rezaian has been convicted by a Iranian Revolutionary court. He was arrested back in 2014 on vague charges of spying and crimes against the establishment. CNN's senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen joins us live from London with all the breaking details. Fred?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Michaela, there really isn't very much in the way of details that we're getting. That's because these revolutionary courts, they do everything behind closed doors, everything in secret. There usually isn't information that trickles out at all.

[08:15:00] However, there have been some things the Iranians have been putting out. It was on Sunday when they said that there was, in fact, a ruling in this case. And now today, we have found out that Jason Rezaian has been found guilty.

Of course, some of the charges we've been hearing about over the past more than 450 days he's been in Iranian custody was apparently espionage. The other was, quote, "conspiring with the hostile government", of course, meaning the government of the United States.

Now, there's been widespread criticism of these whole proceedings. The U.S. government criticized them.

Also, the employer of Jason Rezaian, "The Washington Post," and its managing editor, put out a statement. He said, quote, "The only thing that has ever been clear about this case is Jason's innocence. Any fair and just review would quickly overturn this unfounded verdict." So, some very heavy criticism coming there.

One thing that we do have to say is there is an appeals process that is one piece of information that the Iranians have given us. That is an appeals process of 20 days. We don't even know whether or not Jason himself knows that this verdict has actually been handed down, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Fred. Thanks for all of that background. Please keep us posted on all the developments.

We have more news from Iran. State-run media reports that the first successful test firing of a new precision-guided, long-range, surface to surface missile happened on Sunday. This was designed by Iranian experts and named the Imad missile. It's their first missile capable of reaching Israel. U.S. State Department officials say they're looking into whether this test violates U.N. resolutions.

PEREIRA: New this morning, the U.S. airdropping ammunition to rebel groups in Syria.

Let's get the latest from Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr, live with the latest.

What do we know, Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela.

We now know that the U.S. overnight dropped 50 tons of ammunition supplies to rebels in northern Syria, from C-17 aircraft flying overhead with fighter escort over northern Syria. This ammunition key to the administration's new strategy for trying to urgently help the rebels in northern Syria in their fight against ISIS.

President Obama in an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes," talking about the intentions in Syria of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We knew that he was planning to provide the military assistance that Assad was needing because they were nervous about a potential imminent collapse of the regime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Interesting words there that, I believe, we're hearing really for the first time, that the Russians may have thought imminent collapse of the regime.

And the Russian pounding targets in Syria continues. Have a look at what this list of what they were hitting over the weekend. All of this as also over the weekend, the U.S. and Russia sat down for a second round of technical talks about air safety. No results, no agreement yet -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right. Barbara, thanks so much for that background.

Well, Hillary Clinton riding high in the latest polls before tomorrow's debate. Is she in for a blistering attack from her rivals? We'll ask our insiders. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:22:02] BERMAN: That is the Wynn Las Vegas Hotel. Inside that building just one day from now, you will see something you have not seen before in this entire election cycle. The very first Democratic presidential debate, hosted by CNN and Facebook. This is a crucial moment in this race. How will Hillary Clinton handle her rivals? How will Bernie Sanders approach Hillary Clinton? Will there been contrast or more?

Let's bring back our CNN political commentators, Paul Begala, Democratic strategist, senior adviser to the pro-Hillary super PAC. Also with us, Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist, and Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist, as well.

Paul, we have new polls out this morning from South Carolina and Nevada which I think are revealing. They show Hillary Clinton way out in front in both states. And when you drill down in the numbers, there's even more data of note. Number one, in South Carolina, without Joe Biden running, you see Hillary Clinton at 70 percent, Bernie Sanders at 20 percent.

I want to look at just African-American voters in the state. Without Joe Biden in the race, Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders, 84 percent to 7 percent -- 84 to 7 without Joe Biden in South Carolina among African-American voters. That's not a problem. That's not not registering with African-American voters for Bernie Sanders. That's just not even in the race at all.

So, how does he change that in this debate behind us?

BEGALA: He makes his case.

I have to say, I'm not thrilled by that, as a Hillary strategist, because this is the lame stream media setting her up for a fall. She's not going to get 70 percent in South Carolina. You're going to save that tape, and you're like, well, she's collapsed. No, she's going to win.

SANDERS: But forget about Hillary. What about Bernie? How does Bernie make a dent? Because he needs to with African-American voters.

BEGALA: He does. He's going to have to make a case for his record. You know, Maria in the last segment talked about Hillary having spent decades building relationships. And, frankly, and her political life has been dependent on a multi-racial coalitions. You can't be a U.S. senator from New York twice without putting together Anglo-Americans, African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans. So, she's very used to that. It's in her political DNA.

Bernie, successful in Vermont but, I mean, you get Ben, Jerry, you have the whole state.

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Ninety-five percent white.

BERMAN: He's polling well with Ben and Jerry, by the way.

BEGALA: It's all vanilla in Vermont. We love Vermont, but he hasn't had the experience of putting together these multi-racial, multi-ethnic coalitions, which is a key for any Democrat.

BERMAN: That's what he'll be focused on I think a little bit in this stage.

Maria, there's another aspect to this which fascinates me, which is what does Joe Biden think about these poll numbers right now, showing Clinton with a healthy lead over him in both states. In addition to the Benghazi reporting, Kevin McCarthy indicating there are political advantages for Republicans. You have this whistleblower, in quotations, saying the committee is out to get Clinton.

Does he now take a moment and say, hey, you know what? This isn't lining up the way I thought.

[08:25:02] Maybe Hillary isn't in as big of trouble as I thought she was, and maybe not jumping? We have the podium ready for him at this stage.

CARDONA: Clearly.

BERMAN: Maybe he never steps up.

CARDONA: Well, I think that anybody that says they know what Joe Biden is thinking is lying, because no one really knows what he's thinking.

Absolutely. I think he and his strategists are looking at these polls very carefully, every single one that comes out, every single day, and are trying to make a -- some kind of prognostication in terms of what that means, should he jump into the race. But at the end of the day, Joe Biden needs to answer one question. Does he have it in him to do this?

He better than anybody knows what it takes to run for president. He's done it twice. He better than anybody knows the strategy he has gone through with his son, has affected his family. Will this presidential run help? Will it hurt? That's the only question he needs to answer.

Then he has to look at the path. That's the "and then". Those polls are the "and then".

BERMAN: Yes, but the "and then' may be and now. It may be time to look.

CARDONA: Well, that's the other thing. Time may make the decision for him.

BERMAN: Kevin, over the last week, if you're watching closely, if you're listening carefully, you're starting to hear people say, Mr. Vice President, we understand everything that's going into this decision and we feel for you and the tragedy your family has suffered here. But you have to make up your mind. It's got to be soon.

It seems like there might be some pressure on him quickly to get this over with.

MADDEN: Yes, that's right. I think nobody wants to see the process draw out in a way that continues to distract away from Democrat's ability to make a case directly to the American people on the issues.

I also think, I've always believed the idea of a Biden candidacy is much more interesting than the actual reality. So, I think all the focus we see on polls, the second Joe Biden gets in, it could be his best day of the campaign. Then, all of a sudden, when he's exposed to the scrutiny of the campaign, he begins to go down.

But, yes, I think Democrats are wanting to see a decision from Joe Biden rather than see the drama. And ultimately, he'd have to have a very clear answer from the very get go. Here's why I'm running for president. Right now, we haven't seen that yet, other than related to Hillary Clinton's weaknesses. That's not enough.

BERMAN: You see the idea is interesting. So, interesting, we have an electorate inside the building behind us, just in case he decides.

MADDEN: That's what I mean by drama.

BERMAN: Waiting for him.

Paul, also interesting the state of Nevada right here.

BEGALA: Yes.

BERMAN: This is the third voting state in the Democratic race. It's very, very important, and we've been talking to people here over the last 24 hours who say the only candidate who has set up an operation here that can make a difference is Hillary Clinton.

BEGALA: Right, this is one of the few caucus states where Hillary Clinton beat Barack Obama, who had the greatest organization I've ever seen in the 2008. Hillary won Nevada because she out- organized him.

By the way, the guy who organized for Clinton, Robby Mook. So, she knows what she's doing. This is a critical, critical state in the caucuses, first, but then also in the general election. Nevada is a swing state.

MADDEN: And it's an underrated one. Folks are always obsessing over Iowa. They're always obsessing over New Hampshire. Quickly and under the radar, organizing in Nevada does help candidacy.

BERMAN: Speak for yourself. I don't underrate it at all. I've been here 24 hours and it's a phenomenal place. Who are the important voters here?

CARDONA: The important voters are Latinos, like I just mentioned. One quarter of the vote.

But, clearly, the whole demographic coalition that represents what Democrats need to gain to when I know the White House is here in Nevada. So, I think hat's indicative of how well Hillary Clinton is looking from a national standpoint.

But I do want to mention something Paul said earlier. She's going to look at the polls and feel good. The campaign is going to feel very good, which is great.

She needs to wake up every single day, and her campaign needs to wake up every single day and act like she is the underdog. That's when she is best. That is when she focuses on how she'll be a fighter for the American people. So, I hope that this does not go to her head.

BERMAN: We will see how that plays out on the stage behind us. Paul Begala, Maria Cardona, and Kevin Madden, thanks so much.

We want to know what you think. Tweet us, #NewDayCNN or post your comment on Facebook.com/NewDay.

Do not forget the debate is tomorrow night, 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time. It is the first Democratic debate only on CNN. A joint operation between CNN and Facebook. Less than -- well, one day away now.

Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: I have marked down my calendar. Thank you for that reminder, John.

Meanwhile, what is Bernie sanders' plan to take on Clinton during tomorrow night's debate? We'll talk with his campaign manager next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)