Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

U.S. Service Member Killed in Iraq by Enemy Fire; President Obama Addresses War on Terror; Interview with DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired May 03, 2016 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:27] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We're following breaking news for you. We've just learned that a U.S. service member has been killed in northern Iraq by enemy fire.

CNN's Jomana Karadsheh is live in Amman, Jordan with the breaking news.

Jomana, what have we learned?

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, a U.S. official telling CNN's Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr that an American service member was killed in action about 20 miles north of the city of Mosul and that this person was an adviser to the Kurdish Peshmerga forces but he was back from the front line, as standard practice dictates.

Now, it says that the enemy broke through the front lines of the Peshmerga and that is how the U.S. service member was killed in the resulting firefight. The U.S. came in with F-15 fighter jets and drones and dropped more than 20 bombs. At the same time, we are hearing from Iraqi security forces in the area north of Mosul that early hours this morning, ISIS launched an offensive, an attack on their front lines, in a town in that area using several suicide bombers, and that coalition air power came in to provide support for them and that clashes are ongoing.

We are now trying to confirm whether these are the same incidents that we're talking about, and this is how that service member was killed.

But this is the latest that we have for now and will bring you more -- Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: A terrible, terrible concern of what it is to be an adviser for U.S. troops there in that war-torn region right now.

Jomana, thank you very much. Check back when you have more information.

The U.S. finding some cooperation from Russian officials pushing for an extended cease-fire in Syria's Aleppo province. This following a fresh round of attacks Monday and violence in reason week leaving hundreds of people dead. Secretary of State John Kerry says he is in touch with Russia's foreign minister and tells us there are several peace proposals on the table.

CAMEROTA: Schoolchildren stay home again this morning in Detroit. The teachers' union telling its members to call out sick for a second day in a row. At least 80 Detroit public schools will be closed today. Ninety-four of the city's 97 schools were shut yesterday after teachers were told there is not enough money to pay them past June. And another crisis there, 20,000 water customers in Detroit will have their service turned off today if they do not pay delinquent bills.

CUOMO: All right. Well, this might be the most improbable upset in sports history. A big statement, but Leicester City captures England's premiere soccer title in the face of -- ready for it -- 5,000-1 odds. Guess how they did it Monday? They never stepped on to the pitch. Clinched the championship because Chelsea tied Tottenham 2-2. The stunning title triggering celebrations in Leicester City two hours north of London, and in an epic Twitter rage from Piers Morgan, who have so many good things to say about this and does say it is one of the biggest, if not the biggest surprise in sports ever.

CAMEROTA: Five thousand to one, those are steep odds.

CUOMO: They never stepped on the pitch to win it.

CAMEROTA: That's amazing. And I love the knee slide of the guy who just went like 50 yards on his knees. I've seen you do that on the dance floor.

CUOMO: Oh, sure.

CAMEROTA: I know.

Up next, President Obama opening up on CNN about the war on terror. Does he think the tactics are working? And what does the next president have to do to finish the job?

This is a CNN exclusive when NEW DAY continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:38:04] CUOMO: We have a CNN exclusive for you: President Obama speaking out candidly, defending his approach to fighting the war on terror. The president reflecting on what he says he has accomplished and what the next commander in chief needs to be ready for.

Here are some of what the excerpts are from CNN's Peter Bergen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: What keeps you up at night now, and what should the next president be most concerned about?

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think that we have built an incredible structure of cooperation between intelligence, military, law enforcement that has hardened the American homeland. And the capacity of an organization like an ISIL or an al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to carry out a big catastrophic attack is much lower, but as we have seen, you now have a proliferation of groups, because of the power of social media, there is a mechanism to recruit volunteers that are already located in the West that are much more difficult precisely because they don't engage in the same kind of planning.

And what that means is that we've got to continue to be vigilant. It means that we've got to go after ISIL in its core where it allows itself to maintain the illusion that somehow, it's on the march.

It's going to be important for us ultimately to take them out of Mosul, take them out of Raqqa, make sure that they don't have safe havens where they can pretend that they are a state in some fashion.

[06:40:05] That will diminish their appeal.

But we're going to have small groups, lone actors, who for some time will continue to find this perverted ideology appealing. And we have to be prepared for that, we have to be resilient, and not react in ways that makes the problem worse rather than better. We have to understand that the kinds of special forces and intelligence gathering that we saw in the bin Laden raid is going to be more often than not the tool of choice for our president in dealing with that kind of threat, that sending the 100,000 troops to invade every country where an organization like this appears is going to be counterproductive, and in some ways feeds the kind of ideology that we're fighting.

Most importantly, we have to stay true to the values during this process. We have to make sure that we're not engaged in the kind of knee-jerk anti-Muslim sentiment that we've heard from some politicians. We've got to make sure that the legal structures around our intelligence gathering and our use of predators is subject to oversight.

It's not always going to be easy. It's not always going to be perfectly smooth. There are going to be times where, as president, you make a decision knowing that there are going to be critics, and knowing that there's some gray areas, and ambiguities that you have to deal with given the realities of the situation.

But overall, I think that we can draw a lesson from the bin Laden raid that we've got really effective people and a government that knows how to do this. And as long as we operate from the position of confidence and strength and are true to who we are, groups like this or the individuals like this can't defeat us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Interesting to hear his insights there, and his tone. You know, that was subdued. That was a very subdued President Obama. He wasn't -- that wasn't sort of a fiery President Obama. Here's what we're going to do taking the fight to them. It was, what did you think of that tone? What do you make of it? CUOMO: Real. Poetry versus prose. If he was running for election

right now, he'd get clobbered. The reality is, as Peter Bergen if you don't know who he is, when he nods his head, it carries weight on everybody on that part of the world and knows the reality.

You want to say we'll be strong, we're going to crush them, we're going to do it -- it's complicated. For all the military incursions the United States has done, the risk, according to every expert, is as great or greater, and not because of what the U.S. has done but despite it. The threat is very real. It's easy to campaign about, very difficult to control once when you're in office.

CAMEROTA: And you can feel the weight of that in his tone there.

CUOMO: You can see it in his hair.

CAMEROTA: That's true. Let us know what you think of that exchange. Find us on Twitter.

If the front-runners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump win Indiana today, fasten your seat belts for a battle in the general. What's the Democrats' plan to fight Trump? We'll ask the Democratic Party, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:47:40] CAMEROTA: It's a rainy start to May in the Northeast, a soggy morning up and down the East Coast after a night of severe storms and even hail.

Take a look at D.C. Wow. You can see that a downed tree crushed some cars there.

Let's get to CNN's meteorologist Chad Myers with a look at how long this will last.

What are you seeing, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: One more day, and it's done, Alisyn. Even by about 3:00 this afternoon, it will be done for most of D.C., but La Plata, you can very close to a very, very big storm yesterday.

We'll see more of that weather into Delaware all the way down to about Hampton Road, but this morning the story is rain. Slowing down your compete, at least a half hour in a lot of spots and maybe more in some bigger airports there, bigger they are, slower they'll be and the chance of some possible severe weather around Charlotte, all the way to just about the Delmarva Peninsula.

But let's get to the temperatures because they're looking good for this time of year, we're beginning to warm up, not a lot 56 in New York. But it warms up from here. Look out at the desert southwest, 94 in Phoenix and warmer than that tomorrow all the way to 101.

So here we go. Here we go with the warm-up. Cooling down a couple of days but then finally back on the uphill swing as the next cold front goes by. 60 in New York. Gets warmer from here and by I'd say Monday or Tuesday, back up to 75, and the flowers will be happier than they are right now. At least they're getting rain, that will help a little.

Back to you guys.

CUOMO: I'll take it. We don't have any choice. Thanks, Chad.

So, an overwhelming majority of Democrats say Clinton will be the party's nominee. Now, if that holds true, is she ready to do battle with Donald Trump? We're going to ask the head of the DNC, next. What's the plan for the big game?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:52:58] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: E-mails -- bad judgment. Iraq -- voted yes, bad judgment. Libya, bad judgment. All bad judgment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: That was Donald Trump foreshadowing attacks that he plans to use in the general election against Hillary Clinton. This as more than eight in ten Democrats in a new CNN/ORC national poll believes Hillary Clinton will be their party's nominee.

So, how will the DNC prepare for a likely face-off with Donald Trump?

Let's ask the woman in charge, DNC chair and Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Great to have you here in studio.

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL), DNC CHAIR: Great to be with you.

CAMEROTA: OK. So, that was just a little snippet, a little taste of what Donald Trump plans to say against Hillary Clinton if they do, in fact, become their party's nominees. Basically, I mean, he has already telegraphed that nothing is off limits. He's going to hit her with everything he has.

So how had the party preparing for this kitchen sink approach?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Well, all of this from the person who is the dictionary definition of bad judgment. You know, when the Republican party is getting ready to nominate the most sexist, bigoted misogynistic candidate that we've had in the modern presidential election cycles, you know, throwing around bad judgment is quite a bit coming from that guy.

CAMEROTA: Well, let me ask you how far you'd be willing to go. Because Donald Trump has telegraphed that he is willing to go back in time and bring up Bill Clinton's past sexual history. Would the Democrats be willing to go back in time to Donald Trump? Bring up things about his wife, his ex-wives, his marriages?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Alisyn, this election -- first of all, we have been taking this election seriously. People seriously. That's why, you know, I've been so proud of both of our candidates, our debates have been substantive, focusing on issues that matter to voters.

So this election is going to be decided by voters who care about whether the person who wants to be our president has their back, is going to focusing on continuing to create jobs.

[06:55:02] We've had 73 straight months of job growth in the private sector. Who's not going to take away people's health care from the 20 million who have health insurance now but it's going to add people to the health care rolls. That's going to make sure we can make education more affordable.

CAMEROTA: I mean, you want to focus on the issue, but it seems as though voters are responding to his style and tone as well?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Republicans -- no, no, no, no. Republicans voters are responding to his tone and his style. But that is an extremist Republican Party that's played out and, you know, Donald Trump didn't hijack the Republican Party. Donald Trump is the Republican Party.

So, their voters, and who is coming out to support him and the entire wear their primary has played out reflects how extreme and how off- base compared to the American people their party really is.

CAMEROTA: So, you're saying if he engages in that asymmetrical warfare bringing up all sorts of things that might be considered sort of, you know, off limits that you're not going to? The Democratic side won't go that way?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: We are going to prepare and are preparing fully to run the full gamut of a general election. We are going to focus on the issues, but we're certainly not going to let ridiculous, extreme attacks throw off the focus of this campaign where voters really want it to remain.

CAMEROTA: OK. Let me ask you about something that happened yesterday. Hillary Clinton, as you know, is touring coal country, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio. She was confronted there by a coal worker who asked if she really does have their backs because of something she had said in a town hall, which was, look, coal jobs are going away.

So, let me play to you her response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't how to explain it other than what I said was totally out of context from what I meant, because I have been talking about helping coal country for a very long time, and I did put out a plan last summer, and it was a misstatement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Is that the right tact? It was a misstatement?

She was telling the truth to begin with. They do need to transition out of, you know, being solely dependent on coal to other renewable things and fracking? She was right. In other words, what she said during the town hall was the truth, but now is clarifying or apologizing it.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: No, I didn't look at it that way at all. First of all, good for her for sitting down to people who really are deeply concerned about how their jobs and their industry is going to transition as we try to make sure that we can reduce our carbon footprint and address climate change and not, you know, completely put people out of work, at the same time.

And so, in saying that she made a misstatement, I don't think she was backing tracking on the substance of what she said, but, you know, when you say something that comes out in a hurtful way you want to make sure that people understand that you still care about them, you're not just discarding them or don't care about how it's going to -- the changes are going to affect their lives. And so, sitting down with those people had are going to be affected by changes is important.

CAMEROTA: Is it a problem that basically what he was saying that they don't know if they can trust her?

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Look, Donald Trump is going to pull every trick out in the book possible, as he continues to cause the implosion, or the, finalize the implosion of the Republican Party. Their primary played out in the most chaotic way. Their convention will go even further, and you have a very large percentage of Republican voters who now say, a majority of Republican voters, who now say that they are not going to be able to reunify by November.

Our party, on the other hand, has enthusiastic voters who are coming out at our primaries saying that our primaries actually energize them to support either one of our candidates. So, I'm very excited about the prospect for the general election. The organization that we're going to have, we've been preparing at the DNC simultaneous to our primary playing out.

We still, Alisyn, will out-organize and out-mobilize the Republicans. They never did anything they said they needed to do to win a presidential election when they release that autopsy. They are alienating the voters they said they needed to stop alienating. They never created a centralized voter file, we have one, have strengthened ours.

You know, we still have more advanced capability and technology in our digital tools. So, we're going to be ready for them and we'll run circles around them and on top of that our nominee, regardless of who it is, will champion the issues that matter to Americans, and theirs will try to drag us backwards.

CAMEROTA: Debbie Wasserman Schultz, thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.

WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: My pleasure. Thanks.

CAMEROTA: We're following a lot of news this morning, including a live interview with Donald Trump's campaign manager, so let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Indiana is going to be a critical state.

TRUMP: He's choking like a dog. We have to put them away.

CRUZ: I am in for the distance. I'm not willing to give up.

TRUMP: I don't have to worry about Lyin' Ted Cruz, we don't have to worry about Kasich who's 1-44.

CLINTON: We're going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.

(CHANTING)

CLINTON: It was a misstatement. That is not what I intended at all.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: By far, Bernie Sanders is the strongest candidate.