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Trump Dominates GOP Field in New National Poll; Chicago Police Chief Fired Amid Outcry Over Teen's Death; U.S. Troops Will Conduct Raids in Iraq, Syria; Interview with Rep. Luis Gutierrez. Aired 7- 7:30a ET

Aired December 02, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: So you understand the concerns, deputy secretary and you're confident you can get it done in the safest way possible. Appreciate you for being here on NEW DAY.

[07:00:07] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much for having me.

CUOMO: Absolutely. There's a lot of news to tell you about. Let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO (voice-over): Trump, more on top than ever.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They say that I have the most loyal people.

CUOMO: Now with a double-digit lead at the top the Republican field.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is the contest between Rubio and Senator Ted Cruz that is the one to watch here in the coming months.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Illinois attorney general asking the Department of Justice to investigate the Chicago Police Department.

MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL, CHICAGO: A police officer is only as effective as when he has the trust of those he serves.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: U.S. troops going to war.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Going after high-value targets, leaders of ISIS. They're going be going on hostage rescue missions.

ASH CARTER, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: It puts everybody on notice in Syria. You don't know at night who's going to be coming in the window.

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to your NEW DAY. Up first, Donald Trump again proving he can say controversial things and still climb in the polls. A new national poll out this morning shows Trump with a commanding double-digit lead. Trump now ten points ahead of Marco Rubio, who has taken second place, with Jeb Bush far back in the pack at just 5 percent.

CUOMO: And that big number for Trump and that small number for Bush is really the whole story on the GOP side.

On the Democratic side, no contest right now. Hillary Clinton running away with the race, 2-1 lead over Senator Bernie Sanders.

So what does it mean, especially on the GOP side, about how big Trump is right now despite all the controversy? We have senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, out on the hustings. What's the word?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

You guys are absolutely right. Donald Trump remains squarely in the lead here in this new Quinnipiac poll released just this morning.

Let's take a deeper look at these numbers here. He is at 27 percent in the polls, ten points above Marco Rubio, as you said. But look at this number.

As Ben Carson's slide continues, it's the race between Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz that's the one to watch here going forward. They're both tied at 16 percent. And of course, Jeb Bush is in the top five but only at 5 percent. And the rest of the field is below that.

Now here in New Hampshire last night, Donald Trump barely talked about any of his Republican rivals, but he did spend a lot of time bragging about how he's stronger than Hillary Clinton. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Very importantly, I'm killing -- we are just destroying Hillary. We're beating Hillary. Badly. We're beating her badly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: But a Quinnipiac poll shows just the opposite, in fact. Look at these numbers. Hillary Clinton at 47 percent in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup. Donald Trump at 41 percent.

Now, speaking of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, they do share one similarity. It's one that is not necessarily a good one. Six in ten Americans, nearly six in ten Americans say that they are not honest or trustworthy. Sixty percent for Hillary Clinton and 59 percent for Donald Trump. So both potential trouble spots if they would happen to become the party's nominees and go forward in the general election.

But as this race enters a new phase here, two months from this morning, we will know the winner of the Iowa caucuses. We will know how this race is shaping up going forward into the New Hampshire primary -- Chris and Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Jeff, thanks for previewing all that for us.

Let's break down these numbers with Michael Smerconish. He's our CNN political commentator and the host of CNN's "SMERCONISH."

Michael, great to see you this morning. Jeff just put up the big headline numbers that they bear repeating. So let's put up again how far ahead Donald Trump is from his closest competitor. He has a ten- point lead over Marco Rubio, who has now got him into second place.

Donald Trump is at 27 percent. That is up from the last time Quinnipiac did this poll at the beginning of November. And then, as you see, the other headline is that Jeb Bush is far down in the pack at 5 percent. How big of a deal is all of this, Michael?

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it's a very big deal, because as Jeff points out, we're now at T-minus two months.

And Alisyn, what I do is I tabulate the maverick vote, and I tabulate the establishment vote. In other words, let's add up Donald Trump and Ben Carson and throw Ted Cruz into that mix. You'll get 59 percent of the GOP.

And then conversely, do a total of the establishment types. That would be Kasich; that would be Jeb. That would be Rubio. That would be Chris Christie. You only get 26 percent.

So this core of support for the maverick candidates -- and I put Cruz in that category despite the fact that he's in the U.S. Senate -- continues to dominate the field. So that even if Donald Trump should drop, and it's looking unlikely that he will, you're still going to see a dominant figure from that wing of the party and not the establishment wing. That's what I think is most significant.

[07:05:15] CUOMO: All right. So when we're talking about what's significant, though, you can't avoid -- look, Trump's on top. Nobody has taken him out yet. We know that he's resonating with people. And any -- any pretension that this isn't real is just silly at this point.

But what I think is real at this point is that Jeb Bush's number doesn't change. He stays in the basement of that top pack, no matter what he seems to do. Almost 90 million he has spent or someone has spent in his name. How do you explain any enthusiasm for him, even 60 days out?

SMERCONISH: Chris, that's another of the findings that I find most significant. Twenty-six percent of the voters in this Quinnipiac poll say -- these are Republicans -- that they would never vote for Donald Trump. Twenty-six percent. And I get that because of the statements that he's made.

But to your point, 21 percent say, "No way I'm voting for Jeb Bush." And that's really inexplicable, because he's not said anything like Donald Trump has said out on the stump. It has to be fatigue from the family that some, even Republicans are feeling about Jeb Bush. And that's the real challenge for him is to how to turn that around, especially when the maverick candidates are so domineering.

CAMEROTA: Hey, Michael, we all know, obviously, that Donald Trump gets the most media coverage, and perhaps that some -- plays into some factor of how well he's doing.

SMERCONISH: Yes.

CAMEROTA: But we have never seen the numbers in this stark release that we have right here in this graphic for you. The media mentions among presidential candidates, he's had 18 -- more than 18 million. Hillary Clinton has had a fraction of that at 5. This is through October. This is how many media mentions. Look at Donald Trump getting, I mean, beyond the lion's share of how much...

CUOMO: So where's the "perhaps"? Him getting a lot of attention has to be helping him, right?

CAMEROTA: Yes, but I'm saying that you can't -- it's a factor. You can't say that it's only because the media is focusing on Donald Trump that he's popular.

CUOMO: No, no, it isn't. But it helps. It helps. And that's why he does so much media.

CAMEROTA: Sure. But when you talk to his -- the panel of his supporters, they never say, "I like him because I saw him on television." They say, "I like him because he speaks the truth. I like him because he speaks my language. I like him because..."

CUOMO: They knows what he says, Michael, because we have him on a lot. He gets more at-bats than other people, too. It's got to be part of it. He's got to make the most of them. But they go hand in hand, right?

SMERCONISH: His worst critic would have to say that he's great copy. And he's great copy because you never know what will next come out of his mouth.

Look, I've got to get over the point of saying that this faux pas is going to take him down or that misstatement is going to take him down. I've come full circle. I'm now convinced that the reason that he draws somewhere in the range of a third of Republicans is because of the type of things that he's tending to say.

I mean, mimicking the disability of that "New York Times" reporter was disgusting, in my opinion. And yet, there's a mentality out there of people that seem to resonate with these sort of atrocious comments that he makes. Perhaps it's because of what he says that he's drawing this kind of support, as scary as that sounds, at least to me.

CAMEROTA: Well, hold on a second. It's not that any of his supporters like mocking somebody with a disability. It's that they believe him when he says, "No, I wasn't."

SMERCONISH: Alisyn, I believe that it's the ultimate "'F' you" to the system that is attracting people to him. He is -- he is enabling this constituency that is so fed up with Washington and so fed up with elected officials that there's, frankly, nothing that is too outrageous for the support that he's drawing. Let's also keep in mind that when you're talking about 26, 27, 28

percent of Republicans, you're really talking about 7 or 8 percent of the overall public. So, less anyone take a look at these numbers and say, "My God, that's the way that the country is going when they look at Donald Trump," that would be misleading

CUOMO: And by "F.U.," Michael means "formerly unknown."

CAMEROTA: Thank you.

CUOMO: Which is what will it be that galvanizes the base. Now we know because it's found itself in the person of Donald Trump.

The question for you, therefore, Michael, is what is the GOP going to do? Now, Sara Murray rightly backed me off this one. I asked her about it, said it's too early, it's too early. I would submit it's not too early. I would submit that the party is thinking about this 24/7.

If they get to the convention and Donald Trump is not gone, and we have no reason to think that he'd be gone, unless he absents himself, what do they do, come convention time, if he doesn't like the deal and he takes him with his near third, as you just said, with him?

SMERCONISH: The net/net of these numbers is something that we've not yet discussed, at least to me. Bernie Sanders runs as well as Hillary and sometimes better against the GOP fold.

With no disrespect to Senator Sanders, he appeals, you would think to a more narrow base than Secretary Clinton.

The fact that Bernie Sanders is beating the GOP fold in the same way that Hillary is doesn't speak well for the party. And it talks, I think, about the split between running well in primary and caucus season, a la Donald Trump, a la Ben Carson, a la Ted Cruz, and the need to win a general election.

Let's not lose sight of the fact that Marco Rubio is the one who runs the best, among these candidates, against the Democrats.

So Chris, to your question, will the Republicans say, "Wait a minute. We've got to be practical. We don't want to just be angry. We want to win this thing. I don't know. I think that the anger may overtake the practicality.

CAMEROTA: Michael Smerconish, we always love getting your take. Thanks so much.

CUOMO: You know, look, absolutely, my man. Now, we can go from the theoretical to the practical. Because we're going to have House Majority leader Kevin McCarthy on. He's going to talk about what he thinks of this poll. He is a GOP leader.

CAMEROTA: Also, the CNN Republican debate less than two weeks away now. Wolf Blitzer will moderate the last GOP debate of the year. It is Tuesday, December 15, 9 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN -- Mick. MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Turning to our other top stories. The

city of Chicago looking for a new police chief. The superintendent was fired amid anger over that department's mishandling of the shooting death of a teenager. The Justice Department is now considering a request from the state attorney general to investigate the police department.

CNN's Ryan Young is live in Chicago with more for us -- Ryan.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela.

A lot of people are still upset about this. And look, they say one down and two more to go. They want changes at the top.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hands up!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't shoot!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't shoot!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't shoot!

YOUNG (voice-over): Days of protests in Chicago leading to one official calling for a federal investigation into the Chicago Police Department.

Illinois's attorney general sending a request to the U.S. Department of Justice civil rights division. This as a Chicago police board is set to begin a nationwide search for a new superintendent.

EMANUEL: He has become an issue rather than dealing with the issue. And a distraction.

YOUNG: The firing of Chicago Police Superintendent Gary McCarthy continued fallout over the city's handling of the shooting of Laquan McDonald by Officer Jason Van Dyke. Video of the teen, who died in a hail of 16 bullets, igniting days of outrage and growing distrust.

EMANUEL: Now is the time for fresh eyes and new leadership.

YOUNG: Reacting to the pressure Tuesday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a new task force to review how the city trains its officers. But many now wonder if the mayor and Cook County prosecutor's jobs could also be in jeopardy, accusations swirling that the city tried to keep the shooting under wraps during re-election season, shelling out a $5 million settlement to the McDonald family before a lawsuit was ever filed.

EMANUEL: I think I'm doing my job, and I try to do it every day and do it in a professional way.

YOUNG: A second dash cam video shows McDonald running across a Burger King parking lot, moments before the shooting. Also fueling suspicions of a cover-up, allegations that Chicago police deleted footage from that Burger King surveillance camera that may have captured moments leading up to the shooting.

MICHAEL ROBBINS, ATTORNEY FOR MCDONALD FAMILY: There was -- I think it's 83 minutes of video that was missing.

YOUNG: The prosecutor insisting that the tape was not tampered with.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNG: So there's been a lot of talk about that video at the Burger King. So far, what they're telling us: they've analyzed it and believe that none of the files have been deleted that would have shown anything and that the cameras weren't actually pointed toward the shooting.

But a lot of conversation in this community about what's next and whether or not there was a cover-up -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Still so many questions today, Ryan. Thank you for all that.

Now to a major shift for the Obama administration in its strategy for fighting ISIS. Defense Secretary Ash Carter telling Congress more U.S. Special Forces will be deployed to conduct raids in Iraq and Syria.

CNN's Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon. She has all the latest for us -- Barbara.

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

A couple of dozen Special Forces, backed up with helicopters and other support units, a total of about 200 U.S. troops. This now goes far beyond the traditional advise and assist role that U.S. troops have been largely playing. This puts a hunter/killer force of the United States right on the front lines in Iraq, possibly even going into Syria.

Listen to how Defense Secretary Ash Carter described it to Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASH CARTER, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: These special operators will, over time, be able to conduct raids, free hostages, gather intelligence and capture ISIL leaders. This force will also be in a position to conduct unilateral operations in Syria.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: But still, a lot of criticism coming from that congressional panel. Republicans asking is the U.S. winning against ISIS? The secretary simply answering that the U.S. will win against ISIS -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right, it's a long way from here, whatever the result. Barbara Starr, thank you very much. A $600 million plan to close Guantanamo Bay and replace it with a

prison in the United States shot down by the White House? Why? Well, according to "The Wall Street Journal," the Obama administration considers that $60 million too much from the Defense Department proposal. It calls for 350 million to construct a new prison in America, 300 million more in operating costs. The White House says it wants a new plan to close the base but with a lower price tag.

[07:15:19] PEREIRA: Opening statements could begin as early as today in the trial of a Baltimore police officer, William Porter. He is the first of six Baltimore cops to be tried in the death of Freddie Gray. Freddie Gray suffered a fatal spinal injury in police custody back in April.

Roughly 125 potential jurors were questioned over the past two days. The judge expects a final jury to be seated today.

CAMEROTA: More than a year after Cleveland police shot and killed Tamir Rice the officer who pulled the trigger is now speaking out. In a statement to investigators, Officer Timothy Loman said he and his partner repeatedly yelled, "Show me your hands" before Loma opened fire. He claims Rice did not comply. The boy was actually carrying a non-lethal pellet gun. Surveillance video shows the confrontation taking just seconds. A grand jury will decide if Loman should face criminal charges.

As we've been telling you, Chicago's top cop is out. But now there are calls for more. A federal investigation. Get rid of the mayor. What's going on? We're going to talk to a Chicago congressman about what he thinks could and should happen in the aftermath of the Laquan McDonald shooting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Chicago has a problem with gun violence. Everybody knows it. The question is what do you do about it? The Chicago mayor, Rahm Emanuel, just fired the top cop. Seems like it's not enough for the people looking into the situation.

[07:20:27] Who's going to be next? Will it be him? Let's ask Congressman Luis Gutierrez from Chicago; serves on the Judiciary Committee and the Intelligence Committee, as well.

Representative, thank you for being with us.

REP. LUIS GUTIERREZ (D), ILLINOIS: It's good to be with you, Chris.

CUOMO: Is the answer to get rid of the mayor, Mr. Representative?

GUTIERREZ: Look, I think the answer is that anybody who has seen this videotape, it just filled the well of my eyes with tears to see it and to not let those who committed the act go unpunished.

So I think the fact that the police officer has been indicted is a step in the right direction. A step in the right direction for this, Chris, because too many times a few Chicago police officers just get away, literally with murder. And in this case, it will not happen.

So here's what I think. I think there's an election for state's attorney, for the county of clerks. I won't call for Anita Alvarez's resignation, but what I will say is that this should be a key topic of debate moving forward in terms of what it is our state's attorney.

Look, I want to say something to you, Chris. I'm really proud of the people of the city of Chicago. And I think that the activism on the streets of the city of Chicago should be an example for all of America.

The fact is that they've been out there; they've been protesting. They've been raising their voices in a nonviolent manner. You haven't seen the kind of damage and carnage that we've seen in other cities.

Let's continue to move forward as we seek justice for Laquan McDonald.

CUOMO: But you know the expression. Justice delayed is justice denied. And no matter what happens in this case, because the outcome, many who are protesting feel should be obvious, given the tape itself, it took too long. And why did it take too long? And it is a window into what are -- what people see as a lack of transparency.

My question to you is, you can get rid of the mayor. You can get rid of the police chief. You'll get other people in. If you don't change the system, you can't expect a better outcome.

Is it time for your state to pass a law that, when a cop shoots a citizen, you have someone outside the ordinary chain investigate it?

GUTIERREZ: I think that that is why you have a great panel, a great panel of former federal prosecutors. You also have on the panel that the mayor has put together a public defender, a leading public defender and a great professor. So you have a great group of people.

And look, Duval Patrick was a great -- in my opinion, a great governor with a great reputation, a great governor of Massachusetts. He's a senior adviser.

Yes. I think that that panel should look at how it is. It took 14 months. There is no reason it should have taken 14 months. It has been the tradition, right, in the city of Chicago that, when there is a criminal investigation, the tapes are not released. I think we need to end that kind of tradition in the city of Chicago.

And this should be a tradition that says when there is an action taken and a citizen of my city loses their lives at the hands of a public official, that should be transparent; and we should get that information as quickly as possible in the hands.

So look, I think there's a lot of things that need to be done. There's a broken trust between the people of the city of Chicago, large sections of the people of the city of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department.

I wake up every morning, Chris, trying to figure out how I keep on the intelligence committee and on the judiciary committee, how I keep America safe.

I also want to make sure that, in the city of Chicago, we wake up trying to figure out how we keep our city safe. And if you don't have trust in your police department, you can't keep the people of the city of Chicago safe.

And I will say something. It's not -- it's more than just one or two police officers. There have been hundreds of shootings. There have been $500 million paid out in the last ten years. We need to end the vicious cycle of violence that occurs against the people of the city of Chicago.

CUOMO: So...

GUTIERREZ: I believe that the vast majority of Chicago police officers are good men and women. But we also need to make sure that, when they cross the line, repercussions are quick, and repercussions are severe.

CUOMO: And obviously, what you need right now is action and change. The question is what form will it take? Will you propose a law for your state that you have an independent prosecutor when these cases happen so transparency is obvious?

GUTIERREZ: I think that it's an excellent idea. And I believe that Duval Patrick, the group that's put together, I'm going to talk to them. Don't think there's going to be a panel.

And I think that every elected official who cares and has mourned the death of Laquan McDonald should say, "I want a hearing with that." And I want -- I think this is a time to have that kind of conversation, not just -- look, I hope to come back with you in three months, in six months and tell you what I've done and where the city of Chicago is at. We cannot sweep this one.

Let this be the last death of a Chicago citizen that occurs without complete transparency and without -- look, the people of the city of Chicago have to believe that everybody, that there is justice and equality and justice for everybody. And I don't think that that's the case in the city of Chicago.

In this case it's very troubling to many of us in a demonstration of a long held -- about four years ago, there was $4.1 million paid out when an African-American male was shot and killed by the Chicago police. And one of the things that the federal judge said is that there's a code of silence. We need to break the code of silence.

I love the Chicago police that are out there working each and every day. And I want to make sure that all the men and women are deemed that they are fit to be Chicago police officers. I want them to do the job. I want my people to be safe. I don't want to simply just bash the Chicago Police Department. The vast majority of them are doing a great job. But we need to structurally change how it is they see their job and how it is they act and interact with the people of the city of Chicago.

For the safety of the people of the city of Chicago, it is necessary.

CUOMO: Look, you're saying things that a lot of those people want to hear. The question is what will be done about it? We'll follow the story on that. Congressman, you can be sure. Take care.

GUTIERREZ: Thank you, Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris. A new poll out this morning has Donald Trump cementing and even building on his front-runner status. And now the GOP establishment is starting to panic. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy will be here next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)