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Biden Decision Expected Within Next Three Days; GOP Establishment Worried About Trump As Nominee?; Darryl Strawberry On Odom's Drug Addiction. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 16, 2015 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: The mystery surrounding Joe Biden could be revealed soon. CNN being told a decision is coming within the next three days. How would a Biden run impact the race on the other side of the aisle?

Let me bring in former RNC chairman, Mel Martinez and former U.S. senator from Florida. Senator, good morning.

MEL MARTINEZ, FORMER RNC CHAIRMAN: Good morning to you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right, so again, we're still playing in a hypothetical game. We're hearing within those three days we should know definitively about the vice president's status for 2016. Knowing that as a Republican, does that make you nervous or does it excite you because that could really divide the Democrats?

MARTINEZ: Look, I think it's an interesting development if he gets in. I've been wondering why he didn't --

BALDWIN: It's more than interesting, sir, isn't it?

MARTINEZ: It's a more complicated field if he gets in, no question about that. I think at the moment, Hillary Clinton looks like the overwhelming favorite. I think he would challenge her significantly. I don't think any of the people on the stage with her the other night were of the caliber of Joe Biden. I think it would be a much more serious competitor if he gets in. There is no question about that.

BALDWIN: So would that worry you?

MARTINEZ: Frankly, I think that's unimportant -- it doesn't worry me, of course not. I think, frankly, either one, Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden would be running to have the third term of the Obama presidency.

I frankly don't think whether you look at the world he would leave behind or the stagnation of an economy at home, that the third term of the Obama presidency is what the American people want in this next election.

So I think either one of them would have a tremendous amount of baggage to carry through this election cycle by being so closely connected to the Obama administration. BALDWIN: I'm sure Jeb Bush would agree with you, sir. We saw some third quarter fundraising coming out yesterday, raising something like $13.8 million. We're also hearing reports of belt tightening within that campaign. He's had all this money, this war chest really of money but has not really punched through in these polls. Should this be concerning for Jeb Bush?

MARTINEZ: No. It really isn't. Let me tell why. First of all, elections are not won in polls. They are won on Election Day and Election Day is still not until February of next year. So there is plenty of time for that.

Look, Governor Bush this quarter raised more money than any other except Ben Carson who had a tremendously high number. In addition to that, Jeb Bush was just a little below what Mitt Romney raised in a comparable quarter in 2011.

When you consider that he was competing against a much smaller field, I think Governor Bush is doing fine. Governor Bush is going to be funded well through the initial primary states, February primaries, but here's something I don't think any other candidate has.

Governor Bush is also going to be funded through the March primaries. He's got the money and super PAC that supports Governor Bush will have the money necessary for him to play through all that time. And one other issue --

BALDWIN: Sure, go ahead.

MARTINEZ: Frankly, this is a blocking on politics. Governor Bush is building a campaign structure that is going to be in each of these early states with field operatives, people working, knocking on doors with the collection of data that's so essential in today's type campaigning.

All of these things are what make a national campaign that's there for the long haul. You can count on Governor Bush being there for the long haul.

BALDWIN: Got to talk about the Trump factor, Senator, we have to go there because listen, he's at the top of the polls, national polls, those states, a couple of key state polls. At what point, you know, if he stays through the holidays, this is what people are saying.

If he hangs in there through the holidays, he really could win those early states. This man could be on the way to the nomination for your party. At that point do you say, OK, I support him?

MARTINEZ: Well, when he wins the nomination then we'll have a Republican nominee. I continue to be very strong with the belief that Donald Trump is not going to be the nominee of the Republican Party.

BALDWIN: Why do you think that?

MARTINEZ: Well, I think that because I don't believe he has the depth of knowledge of the issues. I think when he's on your show or any other show he talks about the polls. He talks about his opponent and how they sweat or they're ugly or whatever and he doesn't --

BALDWIN: American people apparently like that, with all due respect.

MARTINEZ: When people get serious about picking the next president of the United States, when you see the aggression of Russia into Syria, when you see what is happening around the world, when you see about the need for someone to transform Washington, that understands how to get that done that's had executive experience at the governmental level.

When people get ready to pick a president, I don't think Republicans will pick Donald Trump. Someone who frankly was supportive of partial birth abortion and believes the Canadian health system is good. Those are not the kinds of things that the Republican electorate typically votes for.

[07:35:08] Donald Trump reported several million dollars of fundraising for a guy who is funding himself. He only wrote a check for about $100,000 to his campaign. That immense wealth he talks about all the time. Everyone talking about Donald Trump's money, he hasn't shown the willingness so far to invest in his campaign with his own wealth.

BALDWIN: Money --

MARTINEZ: It's rather interesting.

BALDWIN: Money, polls, how Americans are feeling, I know it's just October of '15 but it's -- we'll see, shall we? We'll talk again, Senator. I appreciate it. Have a wonderful Friday. Thank you so much for your time here on NEW DAY. Chris to you.

MARTINEZ: Thanks, Brooke.

CUOMO: Brooke, I will save you the call from Team Trump to add that yes, in this quarter Trump wrote a check for a 100 grand or so, but the campaign will tell you that he is in for almost $2 million of his own personal money so far. Just so you know.

All right, when we come back, the saga of Lamar Odom. We'll take you inside the brothel where he was allegedly found unconscious. We'll talk to former baseball star, Darryl strawberry. He knows about the path that Lamar Odom was on, how you get there and how difficult it is to come back from it, next.

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[07:40:18]

CUOMO: The latest word is that this morning Lamar Odom is continuing to fight for his life in a Las Vegas hospital. The former NBA and reality TV star said to be unresponsive now three days after he was found unconscious in a Nevada brothel.

According to workers, Odom took cocaine and maybe some sexual enhancement supplements. We've seen many athletes and many people deal with addiction. In a moment we'll talk with one of them, huge baseball star, Darryl Strawberry. He knows this path all too well.

But first, we have insight into where this all happened. Randi Kaye gives us a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Love Ranch in Crystal, Nevada, is about a 90-minute drive from Las Vegas. T.J. Moore is the general manager and was one of the people who tried to save Lamar Odom.

(on camera): This is the bedroom where Lamar Odom would have been staying.

T.J. MOORE, GENERAL MANAGER, THE LOVE RANCH: This is the bedroom where he stayed.

KAYE (voice-over): She took us into the VIP Suite, where Odom stayed, the owner suite reserved for special guests. The rate is at least ten grand per night. The ranch said Odom spent about $75,000 here before they found him unconscious.

(on camera): How did he look to you?

MOORE: He was on his back. He had foam coming out of his mouth and a little blood coming out of his nose. I got him rolled over on his right side and he did have a bunch of fluid come out of his mouth. But I knew from previous experience that I had to get him on his side.

KAYE: So was he on this side of the bed or on the far side?

MOORE: On this side of the bed. I was letting him know it was T.J.

KAYE (voice-over): T.J. had driven Odom to the ranch on Saturday.

(on camera): What did you talk about?

MOORE: About everything, about the brothel. We talked. He told me about his life. He told me about a lot of the sadness, losing his mom at an early age, being raised by his grandmother. We talked about baseball because I'm a baseball fan.

KAYE: How was his demeanor?

MOORE: He was relaxed. He was very comfortable. I was really surprised because he was so easy to talk to. It felt like I had known him for a long time.

KAYE (voice-over): T.J. says Odom told her he wanted to have some fun. That fun, she says, included taking sexual enhancement supplements, sold here in this souvenir case.

(on camera): Is this where you would sell the herbal Viagra?

MOORE: Yes. They were actually good until 2016 and '17, but I pulled them from the case. KAYE (voice-over): It turns out CNN has learned it is neither herbal or Viagra. Back in his VIP Suite, Odom picked out the women he wanted.

(on camera): So for most people you don't do the lineup in the actual suite, but for him you did the lineup in here.

MOORE: For him that was his preference.

KAYE: So he requested that?

MOORE: Yes.

KAYE: What he sat on the couch --

MOORE: He sat on the couch and the ladies lined up right here all the way across in front of them. I introduced the ladies. I said this is Lamar, ladies, please introduce yourselves.

KAYE (voice-over): T.J. says Odom hung out in his suite with two women he chose, but also in the Love Ranch's bar where T.J. says he played YouTube videos and talked. And sometime after leaving that bar, Lamar Odom collapsed in his room. Randi Kaye, CNN, Crystal, Nevada.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: The struggle of addiction and recovery, it often can consume a life, can take a lifetime. Darryl Strawberry, former Major League Baseball star, co-founder of The Darryl Strawberry Recovery Center, joins us now.

Darryl, long-time fan of yours, bigger fan for what you've done off the field than on it in terms of dealing with addiction and recovery and now trying to help others so thank you in helping us make sense of this today on NEW DAY.

DARRYL STRAWBERRY, FORMER MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYER: Thank you so much for having me, Chris.

CUOMO: Now often you need a personal connection to understand a situation, but addiction is different. You know what it's like to be a star. You know what it's like to have the attention. Luckily for you, you didn't have to deal with reality TV then. You almost certainly would have had your own show.

What can you tell us about the exposure that Lamar Odom is dealing with and the factor that he had to balance and how addiction can prey on those?

STRAWBERRY: It was a lot of exposures that he had to deal with, of course being on reality TV and being well known and really popular, see, when you're a celebrity, most of the time most people never tell you no. They tell you yes, you can do whatever you want and have whatever you want. I think that's the root issue with celebrities. Not being told

no and allowing themselves to be human and know they have a problem and they can deal with their problem and facing addiction. I think too many times we don't face the fact that we have a serious problem.

[07:45:06] And we are in denial so much about who we really are. We think our wealth will make us well. Money is not going to make you well. Money is not going to heal you. I look behind the community gates, on the golf course. I was toxic inside. I was very sick.

I never dealt with the core issues. I think that's the things we don't deal with. When I look at my treatment center and I see so many young people from the age of 18 to 25 that are in my treatment center for heroin addiction and OD'ing three, four times, we have a serious problem with drug issues.

We need to address these issues, need to get to the place where we get to the White House and deal with these issues. People are losing their lives because of the drugs that are coming in --

CUOMO: Go ahead, please, make your point. Lamar being what?

STRAWBERRY: For Lamar being who he is and everything, of course, people are just going to invite him in and make a big party out of him, big scenery out of him. What happened with Lamar, just like it happened to me, I had everything but I had nothing.

I think what happens is you become broken inside. When you're broken inside, you never heal your issues. The key for him, hopefully I'm praying for him, that he will overcome this and get through this and get well and that he will deal with his issues so he can recover because recovery is possible for a person like him and like myself.

CUOMO: What is the difficulty in understanding the celebrity life and how it can be hard for those around someone like Lamar Odom who had to be very, very aware of his issues to do anything about them?

STRAWBERRY: I think what's difficult for the celebrity life is because you have fame and fortune. I think a lot of times we think nothing will happen to us and that's the case with most celebrities. That's why you see so many celebrities od and overdose because they never think it would happen to them.

Lamar's case is no different. Walking into a place, the girl's excitement, he's probably hurting deep inside from a relationship or something, childhood or something that he's really never dealt with and never really got down to the root issue of what's wrong with me.

It's not the drugs. What it is, it's the behavior of a person, the behavior of myself. It wasn't the drugs or alcohol. The drugs and alcohol allow you to escape and you mask and hide yourself.

So you have to confront the issues that are hurting you, confront the issues that you need to deal with and you'll start to get well. I think what has happened is, it's an emptiness that's missing inside.

It's a wholeness about a person that has to change, the spiritual part of the person that has to change inside. We can look well on the outside, but the inside we're dying.

CUOMO: It's interesting, people see wealth. They see fame. They see his sports prowess. That is all reasons why this would never happen to him. Your point is all of those were reasons it makes it even more likely for certain people depending on what their struggle is.

We'll be watching his situation, hopefully he's able to recover physically and then we'll all watch his journey emotionally to deal with what his problems are.

Let me end this on a good note, now that I have you, Mr. Strawberry. Your Mets, for a Queens boy seeing the Mets go to the big show, usually we'd see your number on the back of the jersey out there. Do you think they have the stuff this year?

STRAWBERRY: Well, to be personal, Chris, I really don't watch baseball that much. I really don't like baseball anymore. I hope they do. And I hope the Cubs -- the Cubs have a good chance, too, of winning. Two young teams, exciting, just glad to see baseball is alive again in Queens. Mets fans deserve it. Mets fans are the greatest of all time. I enjoyed playing in Queens for a long time.

CUOMO: I spent my youth watching you tear it up out there. I had a greater sense of pride watching you deal with your issues and those of others. It's good to see you, Darryl Strawberry. Thank you for your perspective on this. Hopefully we get to have another conversation about how Lamar Odom is finding his way back to a healthier life.

STRAWBERRY: All right, thank you for having me.

CUOMO: All right, you take care -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: The clock is ticking, but how soon will it run out for Vice President Joe Biden said to be closing in on his decision whether he wants to run for the White House. New details, minutes away.

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[07:53:31]

CUOMO: Heard from Joe Biden? Have you? Stay by the phone. He's making calls. He's talking to people who he might need in a race. He's supposedly considering it. An e-mail went out. The timing is imminent. The family is behind him. What will Joe Biden do? We're going to take you to the brink of his decision.

BALDWIN: Also quick important programming note. Tune in this Sunday at 9:00 Eastern for an all-new Anthony Bourdain "PARTS UNKNOWN." This week Tony heads to the Bay Area of San Francisco and Oakland, California and tries to discover if the tech world has changed the area for the good. Here is a sneak peak.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN HOST, "PARTS UNKNOWN": San Francisco. If you don't like this place, if you don't think it's as awesome as I think it is, then there is something hopelessly wrong with you.

The question is how long will it be awesome? Will it be awesome forever? Is San Francisco a city under threat from a torrent of evil tech money and federal yuppies? We will answer that question and actually we don't answer any of those questions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:59:10]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you made your decision yet?

BALDWIN: We are learning new details about what Biden's campaign message would be if he were to run.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there a lane? Yes. Is there a wide lane? Absolutely not.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you made your decision yet?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is almost as if the Clinton campaign doesn't mine talking about Benghazi anymore.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I love being la Hillary.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Money was never an issue for Jeb Bush.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I don't win, I consider it to be a massive failure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Refusing to give me your id in a traffic stop is misdemeanor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do not have to give you it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get your hands you are under arrest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't do that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Sun comes up in New York City and we say good morning to you. Welcome to your NEW DAY. I have Brooke Baldwin by my side. It's good to have you, my friend. Don't leave me hanging. Alisyn and Mich are off on this Friday. So here's the big question. It's not going to be long before Hillary --