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Did Clinton Defuse Private Email Controversy?; Candidates Differ On Gun Control; Did O'Malley Have A Break Out Moment?; Middle Class At Heart Of Debate. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 14, 2015 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:30:00] SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: -- is right and that is that the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you, me too, me too.

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CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Mr. Brock, maybe in that room, maybe Senator Sanders because he wants to talk about other things other than Hillary Clinton, but outside that room and in any polling even that CNN has done, people care about her e-mail. The Department of Justice cares. The FBI cares. Was that fair?

DAVID BROCK, FOUNDER, CORRECT THE RECORD: You're right. I think it was fair. Democrats do not think this e-mail controversy is a big deal.

CUOMO: The CNN poll had 50 plus percent of Democrats thought it had to be looked into. It could have been a problem.

BROCK: Sure. But it's been looked into and Hillary was very effective in saying that, you know, this is a partisan driven investigation in the Republicans' own words now.

CUOMO: That's the Benghazi part.

BROCK: Benghazi has morphed into e-mail. Just like Whitewater --

CUOMO: Trey Gowdy said it had nothing to do with it.

BROCK: But why are they investigating it?

CUOMO: That's the conflation. That's what I'm trying to get at here. I understand what's going on with Benghazi. Politically they took a blow, McCarthy when he said that.

But on the e-mail stuff, people care. You have the FBI looking at it. Bernie Sanders, that's why I'm calling it a gift, was that fair that you throw it out, nobody wants to talk about this. HILARY ROSEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: This was a win/win. This was good for Bernie Sanders to do, too. Democrats do care that the truth about the e-mails came out. They like it that Hillary Clinton --

CUOMO: Or comes out.

ROSEN: Took responsibility for it and all these e-mails will be public, but Democrats in particular really want these other issues discussed. I think that's the key that Bernie Sanders turned last night when he said let's start talking about the issues that matter. I don't care about listening any more to the media, talking about your e-mails. He spoke for all Democrats last night. That helps him.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Another issue that matters to people, we've been talking about a lot in the past few weeks is gun control. There are distinctions between the candidates. Let's listen to what Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders each said about that.

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SANDERS: This was a large and complicated bill. There were provisions in it that I think made sense, for example, do I think that a gun shop in the state of Vermont that sells legally a gun to somebody and that somebody goes out and does something crazy, that that gun shop owner should be held responsible? I don't.

CLINTON: Senator Sanders did vote five times again the Brady bill. Since it was passed, more than 2 million prohibited purchases have been prevented. He also did vote, as he said, for this immunity provision. I voted against it. I was in the Senate at the same time. It wasn't that complicated to me.

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CAMEROTA: David, what did you think about that moment?

BROCK: So I thought two things. I didn't think it was a great moment for Senator Sanders. I think in some way, his candidacy is predicated on taking on the big special interests. Why not the gun lobby? I think it undermined the rationale for his whole candidacy.

And then two, very early in the debate, Secretary Clinton got in there in a very assertive way, took him on. The dynamic I could feel shifting, she was in command.

CUOMO: She was in command, but is there a question about direction? Why should you be able to sue gun manufacturers in a way you don't sue anybody else?

ROSEN: You know, there were a few points of differentiation here between Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley, those votes on guns or one of them where they are on, you know, the Iraq war vote, another one.

It was clear that this had to be sort of the passion issues of the night. How are these candidates going to create differentiation and Hillary Clinton went on the offense because she knew that in these next segments they were going to come back at her on the Iraq vote.

They were going to come back at her on being late on Keystone or trade. In some respects I think it was a little bit less about the actual piece. Democrats want strict gun control. So you know, you're not hurting yourself by talking about as strict gun control as you can.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's one place she can get left of Bernie Sanders.

ROSEN: That's right.

CAMEROTA: That is an interesting moment. Mike Rogers, David Brock, Hilary Rosen, thanks so much for all of the insight. Great to talk to all of you.

More on the debate ahead because coming up in the next hour, we'll be speaking with Democratic candidate and former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley. How did he think last night went?

There's other news to follow. Let's get back to Michaela in New York for a look at some headlines. Hi, Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, guys. Good to have you out there with us. We'll get back to you in a moment.

Violent clashing in Bethlehem between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters, this follows days of unrest in the region, including a rash of stabbings in Jerusalem and Central Israel Tuesday.

Overnight, Israel announcing the deployment of some 300 soldiers to reinforce police patrols, amid this unrest, Secretary of State John Kerry has announced a trip to the Middle East to try and help calm the situation.

The Taliban is withdrawing completely from the northern Afghan city of Kunduz after taking it over for 15 days. The militants claim they pulled out an order to protect civilians as well as their fighters.

[07:35:06] They also say they have achieved their goals, destroying government offices, taking weapons and releasing imprisoned fighters. The Taliban adds it may try to retake that city at some point.

Sweet home Chicago, the Cubs will play for the National League Pennant after beating their arch rival St. Louis Cardinals 6-4, winning the division series in four games. It is the first time in their storied history that the Cubs clinched a postseason series at home at a Wrigley Field.

Chicago will either meet the New York Mets or the L.A. Dodgers in the N.L. championship series. Sounds like we have probably got a bet we'll have to make on NEW DAY here when the kids get back from Vegas.

All right, speaking of, folks across America are getting their first good look at former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley last night. Ahead, he's beginning to join us to talk about the debate. How does he feel it went? That's next.

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[07:40:00]

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MARTIN O'MALLEY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Leading us into Iraq under false pretenses and telling us, as a people, that there were weapons of mass destruction there was one of the worst blunders in modern American history.

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CAMEROTA: All right. That was one of the compelling moments from last night, the first time the Democratic candidates went head to head in the CNN debate. It was an introduction to some of the candidates, including former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley.

What's his take on how last night went? Let's ask him, Democratic presidential candidate, Martin O'Malley joins us now. Welcome to NEW DAY.

O'MALLEY: Thanks a lot. Good being with you both.

CAMEROTA: So how did it feel up there last night?

O'MALLEY: It felt great to finally have debates for the first time, people viewing from across the country saw there were more than two candidates run for president in the Democratic Party. I thought it was a great debate.

I thought of tone of it was especially striking compared to the Republican debates we've been seeing we had a lot of moments where we disagreed on issues, but at the end of the day, I thought it was a positive vision for where our country could be headed.

CUOMO: Now today going forward, we really love having the candidates come on to make the case on things that matter. This was your introduction to some. You know, but many of us know you. You had a lot of work you got done in Maryland.

You wanted to make a point last night. You made it once. You said if the Democratic Party goes back to the big names of the past we will not be able to lead going into the future. What does that mean to you and why do you represent the future?

O'MALLEY: Well, that's a genuine concern. I've traveled all around the country and the two phrases I hear people say again and again and again are the phrases we need new leadership and we need to get things done again.

Our party in particular has a kind of gravitational pull to the future. So I'm genuinely concerned as a party that we can't -- we can't speak to what America needs right now by resorTing to simply old formulas or thinkings from the past. So in my candidacy, Chris, I'm offering the ideas, ideas to move us to 100 percent clean, electric grid by 2050. Ideas like making national service a universal option so we can cut youth unemployment in half.

Ideas to re-invest in America's cities and the skills of our people so we can have a robust recovery instead of a recovery where only the top 2 percent or 3 percent are doing better.

CAMEROTA: One of the big issues that came up last night is gun control. There are points of distinction between the Democrats. You drew a distinction between yourself and Bernie Sanders and what you've done and your record. Let's watch that moment.

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O'MALLEY: It is not about rural --

SANDERS: It's exactly about rural.

O'MALLEY: Have you ever been to the eastern shore, western Maryland? We were able to pass this and still respect the hunting traditions of people who lived in our rural areas. We did it by leading with principle. Not by pandering to the NRA and --

SANDERS: If somebody had a voting record -- I don't think I'm pandering. You have not been in the United States Congress.

O'MALLEY: Maybe that's a healthy thing.

SANDERS: You ought to check it out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: His point was that you may have done things in your state of Maryland, but that's not like what happens when you get to Congress, and the NRA fights you, the Republican Congress fights you. How can you be so sure that you'll be able to do something with gun control when everyone else has failed?

O'MALLEY: None of this is easy. As I said to Senator Sanders, maybe it's healthy that I haven't been in Congress. Sometimes when you've been there as long as Senator Sanders has, I have a great deal of respect for him.

I think some of the things he says about big money taking over our politics and the other points he makes about Wall Street are very needed. But on this issue we have a deep disagreement.

We didn't get it done in Maryland simply by pressing a button or wishing it so. I had to overcome, often times, big opposition in my own party, sometimes from people in leadership.

CAMEROTA: What did you do in Maryland that you would transfer in the United States? What's the one thing that would change gun control?

O'MALLEY: Well, I think what we did was we kept bringing people back to the table, to the principle, that we need to save lives. We need to acknowledge that we put more of our sons and daughters in coffins from gun violence than any other city in America.

CUOMO: So what's in Maryland now that the federal government needs?

O'MALLEY: We have a comprehensive gun safety legislation that has universal background checks.

CUOMO: Any kind of sale.

O'MALLEY: Yes, licensing, fingerprints. We also have banned combat assault weapons. I believe what our federal government also needs to do is use our buying power as a federal government. We are the largest purchaser of guns, period, in the United States as our federal government.

We should insist that anyone we purchase guns from, that our government does, have the highest and best safety standards, the microstamping of the bullet, serial numbers that cannot be effaced and erased.

These are technologies that are available out there, but they're not technologies that we force gun manufacturers to do. I also think we need to take the blinders and handcuffs off of the federal law enforcement agencies and state police to make trafficking in guns a federal crime. It isn't today.

[07:45:09] CUOMO: Right.

O'MALLEY: We also put blinders or blindfolds on the ATF and make it hard to trace illegal sale and trafficking of guns in New York. If you look at the top ten lists of states guns come from, they're the states with the most lax rules when it comes to purchases.

And Lonnie and Sandy Phillips were there in the audience. They called us and said we want to be there. Our daughter was killed in Aurora. We want to transform this loss of ours into a greater awareness. We need to do something about this as a people.

CAMEROTA: That was a poignant moment.

O'MALLEY: Very good people.

CAMEROTA: Didn't that shooter pass a background check?

O'MALLEY: They didn't even asked, 4,000 rounds of ammunition. The online gun store sold this man 4,000 rounds of ammunition, six of which made their way through the Phillips daughter's body and killed her and without even asking.

CAMEROTA: So you would like to see gun shop owners ask more questions of everyone who comes in to buy ammo and guns.

O'MALLEY: I think it's ridiculous. Look at the things we've done. One guy has a failed shoe bomb attempt and we all have to line up at the airports and take off our shoes. And look at the people that are being murdered in our country by guns, again and again and again. What's our response to that? We should be asking questions and not just making it so easy for people to buy combat assault weapons.

CUOMO: Hillary Clinton also has a robust plan on guns, 2008 you backed her. I thought it was interesting to watch your body language. You knew that Hillary was going to say you back me in 2008. You were not surprised by that.

O'MALLEY: Yes, we were prepared for that.

CUOMO: You also kind of leaned that way also. You said things changed since 2008. You didn't get to follow up on that last night. What changed?

O'MALLEY: I like Hillary Clinton. I was proud to have supported her eight years ago. I have a great amount of respect for her. I did not get into this race to attack Hillary Clinton. I know that sometimes on the jumbo here you want to turn it into a cage fight.

But I'm genuinely concerned about our country's future and the biggest change that's happened in the eight years is this, the recession, the crash that was precipitated by recklessness on Wall Street.

And I believe what the people of our country expect is a president who is independent enough to actually follow through on the promises that were made eight years ago to reign in that recklessness.

To separate the traditional commercial banking functions from the huge gambling type of bets that all of us were put on the hook for and we had to bail out when we allowed the banks to become in a very short period of time, six of them, too big to fail, too big to jail and too big to manage, still so big they can wreck our economy.

That's what I truly believe the people of our country are looking for. They want a president who is independent of those old relationships in the past. I wish I had a dime for every person I've talked to within the Democratic Party, who wants to tell me, do you know how far back I go with the Clintons?

I go back pretty far with the Clintons, too. It's not about the Clintons. It's not about the O'Malley's. It's about our country. That's why I'm running.

CAMEROTA: We just had a voter panel on last hour. One of them is one of your supporters. I asked a question he would like me to ask you this morning. Would you be willing to be Hillary Clinton's running mate? That was his question.

O'MALLEY: He's my supporter.

CAMEROTA: Yes. He happens to think you two are a great team. What do you think about that team or partnership?

O'MALLEY: No one runs for vice president. I'm not running for vice president. I'm running for president of the United States. I believe if you look at the body of work that I have been able to produce over 15 years of executive experience.

Not only passing comprehensive gun safety legislation, marriage equality and the dream act, passing a living wage, I have done other things candidates only talk about doing. That's why I'm running.

I'm not running for any other reason except to win this thing. We have had 30 great staff on the ground in Iowa, a dozen in New Hampshire. And last night was just the opening kickoff. So I'm very, very grateful to CNN for what they've done in hosting this. Hopefully, we have more debates rather than fewer.

CAMEROTA: Governor O'Malley, great to talk to you.

CUOMO: You have to talk to your party about that.

We'll be having open invitations to you guys going forward to come in and talk about specific issues, make the case to the American people. I look forward to you accepting the invitation.

O'MALLEY: I'd love to.

CAMEROTA: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: The Democratic candidates, you just saw former Governor O'Malley made a big introduction for you last night. They say a big thrust is the middle class. We're beginning to break down two of the proposals to see what would actually work. It's going to be the action versus just the talk.

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[07:53:11]

PEREIRA: All right, time for CNN money now. Chief business correspondent, Christine Romans is here taking a look at the conversation centering around how to make life better for middle class America.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Middle class uttered 11 times last listen. Bernie Sanders getting to the heart of the issue. Listen to what he said.

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SANDERS: -- is wrong today in a rigged economy, the 57 percent of all new income is going to the top 1 percent.

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ROMANS: Here is exactly what that looks like, 58 percent of income going to top 1 percent. The middle class certainly doesn't feel like it is reaping the spoils of the economic recovery and the numbers bear it out here.

Family income back to 1995 levels as corporate profits has soared. Worker wages going nowhere for more than 20 years. So what are the Democrats going to do?

[07:55:02] The starting point for the Democratic candidates, most of them on that stage last night raised the minimum wage. Bernie Sanders calling for reorder of the American economy. Break up the big banks, tax high frequency traders, and use that money to pay for free four- year education.

College tuition and fees up 1200 percent since 1978. The other Democrats on the field including Hillary Clinton also have better plans for lower loans for going college. Free or not, still college tuition a big part of the platform for Hillary Clinton too.

PEREIRA: Those are topics that are going really resonate with American voters. Christine, thank you so much for that. Let's head back out to Las Vegas -- Chris and Ali.

CUOMO: What was the gamble? The gamble is do I pretend I'm not eating and I smile and I have like an omelet in my face.

CAMEROTA: That's right. We're going to be talking about Bernie sanders and what happened last night with him? We have Sanders campaign manager next.

Also we want to let you that tomorrow, Ivanka Trump, is opening up to CNN in her first interview of the campaign. This will be tomorrow on NEW DAY. We'll show you that.

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