Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Ten Injured At White Supremacist Rally In California; Turmoil Erupts In Britain After Brexit Vote; Legendary Coach Pat Summitt's Health Declining; Could Brexit Impact The 2016 Race? Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired June 27, 2016 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Welcome back to NEW DAY. Bottom of the hour now, violence breaks out at a rally in California. At least ten people injured, some stabbed, as a white supremacist group and hundreds of counter protesters clashed at the state capitol.

CNN's Dan Simon is live there in Sacramento with more. Dan, good morning.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor. What a scene you had here in Sacramento. On the one side, you had this white nationalist group. They had a permit to hold a rally here in Sacramento. On the other side, you had a group of counter protesters who wanted to say that hate speech is not going to be tolerated.

Now just as this rally is about to begin, you have this group of counter protesters encircle the white nationalist group. That's when this melee broke out. The head of this white nationalist group, it's called the Traditionalist Worker Party, said that his members did come to Sacramento armed with knives because he said they received threats on social media.

Now usually police like to keep the two sides apart when you have the threat of violence looming. Obviously that did not happen in this case. Ten people injured, but everybody is expected to survive. Alisyn, we'll sent it back to you.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, thanks so much for that reporting.

Well, five people, including three children, were killed after an Amtrak train slammed into their van. Colorado police say the van's driver failed to yield the right-of-way to the train. The driver and his four passengers were killed. Another person was air lifted to the hospital with serious injuries. No one on board the train was hurt.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: The death toll now 25 because of these historic floods in Hammer, West Virginia. Several towns still submerged. Look at this. That tractor trailer was tipped on its side because of the water. The water was moving that truck over time.

The state's governor says flash flooding has destroyed at least 100 homes. The president declared a major disaster in the state. Another round of rains is on its way today. We'll stay on this story. BLACKWELL: An investigation under way at an amusement park in Scotland after a roller coaster packed with riders went off the tracks. Ten people, including eight children, were hurt in Sunday's derailment at an amusement park near Glasgow. Police say five gondolas detached, slammed into the ride structure, and crashed to the ground. I can't imagine. There is that moment on a roller coaster where you feel -- maybe it's designed to feel that way, but this is unbelievable.

CUOMO: You nailed it. It's designed to make you feel scared. It's not supposed to be designed to actually be a cause for concern.

CAMEROTA: That's the beauty of a roller coaster. You think you're doing something death defying, but you know I'm safe because they test these things. So that is so scary for everybody involved. We'll follow that.

Meanwhile, the fallout from Brexit, what does the U.K.'s divorce from the E.U. mean for the fight against terror? We have a former top State Department official who will weigh in next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:35:00]

CAMEROTA: The fallout from the Brexit vote leaving Britain in political turmoil this morning and allies wondering whether the U.K. itself will remain united. What impact will this have on Europe's fight against terror?

So let's discuss all of this with former U.S. undersecretary for political affairs and former U.S. ambassador to Greece, Nicholas Burns. Good morning, Mr. Ambassador.

NICHOLAS BURNS, FORMER U.S. UNDER SECRETARY FOR POLITICAL AFFAIRS: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: What's your greatest fear connected to Brexit?

BURNS: The greatest fear is that the most important country to us in the European Union is now going to be out. Britain has been our channel into the European Union. Britain tended to see things our way and we their way on defense and security issues.

So Britain was a voice inside the E.U. that connected the United States to the E.U. It also translated the United States to the E.U. and its strengthened our position in Europe.

Without Britain in the European Union, on issues like sanctions against Russia, it might be more difficult for us to make sure that the Europeans and Americans are working together. I think that's the primary problem with Brexit.

Secondly, Britain itself, as you implied, might be fractured. Scotland, if Britain does indeed leave the European Union, has promised a referendum for independence. The Irish question, the age-old Irish question could be reopened. Relations between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. So there are a lot of consequences for Americans in this vote.

CAMEROTA: We've talked to Tony Blair, former prime minister, here on Friday. He also was gravely concerned, I think it's fair to say, about what the implications were for this. He talked about the economic impact as well as how complicated it is to sort of untangle trade agreements and contracts and treaties. What do you think about all that?

BURNS: Oh, I think it's going to be -- first of all, you're going to see the most bitter divorce separation, divorce trial in history between the European Union and Britain. There's extraordinary regret among a lot of Brits over the weekend as to what has happened.

There's even some speculation that a new conservative government after David Cameron resigns power could even attempt to renegotiate Britain's relationship with the European Union and then perhaps put that to a vote.

We don't know it's going to happen now, but at a time when the United States is trying to push forward with a major transatlantic trade and investment treaty, a free trade agreement with the E.U., at a time where we're trying to contain and deter Vladimir Putin, Britain have played a key role in both those issues.

I think the British are going to be consumed by their own problems. They're going to be inward focused over the next couple months certainly as they go through leadership battles in both the conservative and possibly the Labour Party. That will mean that Britain is a distracted ally for us.

We do have a special relationship with Britain. That's the term that we've used over many decades. But as a practicing diplomat, when I was in government, there was no question that the trust we had with Britain was strongest among all the countries.

I would also say, Alisyn, it does mean now if Britain is going to leave the European Union that we're going have to have a stronger, deeper relationship with Germany, the largest economy in the E.U.

[06:40:03]CAMEROTA: And what does this mean for the fight against terrorism? Why are you concerned it will be harder to fight terrorism if Britain leaves?

BURNS: Well, I think the British are going to remain focused on the battle against terrorism. They're a victim of terrorism themselves. The British and American governments have worked very closely on this for many, many years.

I don't think Britain will lose focus on that, but a diminished Britain eventually, if Scotland leaves, if there's even a change in the status of Northern Ireland, the country just won't be as strong as it once was. One would hope that the British military and intelligence services will continue to be well funded and well trained because this fight against terrorism is a very long fight indeed for all of us.

CAMEROTA: Donald Trump was is Scotland, as you know, when all of this was happening on Friday. He talked about how there could be a silver lining economically speaking, that it's not such a bad thing if the British pound were to go down. So let me play for you that moment that you talked about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When the pound goes down, more people are coming to Turnbury, frankly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So he was talking about his resort. That means more tourism will come, and of course more tourism would come to England throughout. What's your reaction?

BURNS: I think he failed a leadership test when he reacted to Brexit. This is our strongest and greatest ally in the world. The first thing that Donald Trump does is talk about the impact on his own business, his golf course business, and to suggest that somehow his interests should take precedence over those of our greatest ally, I thought it was a preposterous thing for him to say.

When leaders look at this, I think any American leader in the Democratic or Republican Party with the exception of Donald Trump has lamented the fact that our strongest ally is now weakened. We have -- our lead trade partner is Europe. Our leading investor into the United States is Europe.

The strongest collection of American allies in the world are Europe. If Europe has suffered a defeat through Brexit, I find it strange indeed that Donald Trump would cheer that.

I think he's the only major American politician who's taken this position and that says something when his fellow Republicans are lamenting the fact that Britain has suffered this defeat if the United States in turn is going to be weakened in our position in Europe.

CAMEROTA: Former Ambassador Nicholas Burns, thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.

BURNS: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Let's get it over to Victor.

BLACKWELL: Alisyn, it was a rough start at the Olympic trials for a swimming superstar. We'll tell you who did not make the cut for the USA team.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:46:41]

CUOMO: All right. We have some sad news to tell you about this morning. We've all been following the struggle of legendary coach, Pat Summitt. Her family says the basketball coach has seen a decline in her health in recent days.

Andy Scholes has more in this morning's "Bleacher Report." You know, Summitt has been very out front about what she's fighting and what it means, but she's such a huge figure that everybody has been pulling for.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Chris. You know, one of the best coaches of all time, male or female. Pat Summitt retired from coaching the Tennessee Lady Balls in 2012 after announcing she was diagnosed with early onset dementia. Her family says the disease has progressed over the last few days.

Now once the news broke yesterday, #prayforpat began trending on Twitter. Summitt coached 38 seasons, winning eight national titles. He has more wins than any college coach, male or female. Summitt's family is asking for prayers in this difficult time.

All right, the Copa America final in New Jersey between the number one ranked team in the world, Argentina and Chile coming down to penalty kicks. Messi shoots it over the crossbar. He couldn't believe it. Neither could the fans.

Chile would win it in penalties to claim the title. Argentina once again coming up short. Messi has lost in three Copa finals and a World Cup final. After this emotional lost, he said he's likely done playing for the national team.

Finally, a shocker from the U.S. Olympic swimming trials. Ryan Lochte failing to qualify for the 400-meter individual medley last night. That's the event he won gold in at the 2012 London games. Lochte had pulled his groin earlier in the day. That could put his Rio Olympic dreams in jeopardy.

Michael Phelps, meanwhile, will try to qualify for Team USA starting tomorrow with the 200-meter butterfly. I start to get excited about this Summer Olympics once these swimming trials start. It's really probably the most exciting event that there is.

CAMEROTA: We're getting close.

SCHOLES: Almost there.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much.

CUOMO: This is a big one. Part of the story of the Olympics are the personalities. If Lochte is not there, that's a big blow.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely.

BLACKWELL: He's a big personality. CAMEROTA: Yes.

All right. Well, Americans are feeling aftershocks even of the Brexit vote. What impact will it have on the 2016 race here? We discuss that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:52:43]

CUOMO: Brexit, funny name, but there's nothing funny about what's going on after the vote. Not just in the U.K. but also Europe, and yes reverberations back here to the U.S. in terms of what is the flow of our election, what could it be a metaphor for.

Both the campaigns, Clinton and Trump, are trying to capitalize on the situation. Trump looking to ride the populist wave. Look what happens when you take your country back. Clinton saying the vote calls for a steady hand.

Let's discuss the plus/minus on both sides. We got CNN political commentator and contributing editor of "The Atlantic," Professor Peter Beinart, and we have Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union and former political director for President George W. Bush.

Professor, I start with you. How rude of me to not say your name, especially when we went to college together. When you see Brexit, it was a vote that was done out of anger of people, and sometimes you don't make your best choices when you're angry. Do you believe this is an example of that, and if so, why reverberation back to our election?

PETER BEINART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right. Clearly there's a lot of anger, and this was an opportunity for people in Britain, many people in Britain, to kind of shake a fist at a political establishment that they felt was not responsive and at a loss of sovereignty and out of frustration of immigration.

So you certainly see some of that stuff here in widespread hostilities toward political elites and also anger especially in the Republican Party over immigration. I think a big difference is here we have two candidates. So you can't just make a protest vote.

You can't just vote for an idea. You have to vote for a person. I think there's a percentage of people who would love to shake a fist at the American political establishment but still have problems with Donald Trump.

In fact, his response to Brexit underscored the fact that he's a flawed candidate, saying that this is great because it's going to put more money in my pocket because people are going to come to my golf course, was probably not the wisest response to Brexit and underscores the fact that he may not get all of the supporters who themselves would like to be anti-establishment. CUOMO: Now, Matt, there are a lot of characteristics that make the Brexit vote distinguishable from what's happening in the election. There's a lot of layers of trade and politics and narratives going on. However, this first element that Peter identified, the populism of it, taking your country back, that does resonate back here. What do you see as a chance for Trump to play to advantage here and has he so far?

[06:55:09]MATT SCHLAPP, CHAIRMAN, AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE UNION: Yes, absolutely. I see great parallels, Chris, between what the voters were saying in Great Britain and what voters are saying here. Look, it is populist and I think it's a little bit of people who feel like they're not always in on the take.

They're not always getting to sit around that table to make these decisions. It's about economics. It's about the fact that many Americans don't see a great future in their economic prospects. It's also about sovereignty, as Peter said.

It's about the idea that they don't like the fact that somebody else is telling them what rules should be followed and what rules shouldn't be followed. I do think immigration undergirds all of this.

Europe, it was more of a pernicious problem in terms of terrorism than it is here, but we're seeing it here as well with these terrible and horrific tragedies. I think the problem is, Chris, there's a lot of elites in both parties who are somehow just not connected to what every day Americans are thinking.

That's why you saw this Bernie revolution on the Democratic side and that's why you saw Trump knock down 16 other candidates.

CUOMO: But that's the risk. The risk is once you identify the anger, what do you do with it? How do you make it better? What we're seeing in the early aftermath of Brexit is some of the headline promises that drove the vote they're backing off on.

Again, there are big substantive differences to what's going on. Let's just stick with that idea that they promised things that harness the anger that sounded like the kind of change that people wanted in the U.K. They voted.

Now they're being told, well, look, it's not as simple as we made it out to be. That's powerful medicine also.

BEINART: Right. So you can play this either way. I think you can say this could hurt the U.S. economy, which might actually help Donald Trump because it makes people more frustrated or you can say this is a kind of instructive tale, a cautionary tale for people who might want to vote for Donald Trump.

You saw the ad that Hillary Clinton went up with. She said, in a volatile world, do you want a volatile candidate? Do we want to wake up the next morning and be dealing with some of the same fallout the British have dealt with, with Brexit.

Donald Trump's election, according to a lot of economists and serious people who look at this, actually could be very, very harmful to the world economy.

CUOMO: Matt, you know --

SCHLAPP: No, no.

CUOMO: Explain why you don't believe that because that's the concern.

SCHLAPP: No, no. Look, I quibble with this world anger. I quibble with the word anger for these U.K. voters and also for these American voters. I don't think it's fair to say that there's some kind of, like, irrationally angry.

What they are is concerned about the future of their country. The issues that undergird these elections are incredibly important. The only markets that are going to be upset by this Brexit vote are people's equities in the stock markets that will be jittery in the fact there's all this change.

But there are bigger economic problems just besides the value of your stocks. Which are what are your economic prospects of your people and that's what's going on in America as well.

Yes, there's no question that if Donald Trump were to be elected president, there are a lot of people on Wall Street that will get the jitters. We could see some gyrations in the markets.

But we have to make good economic decisions underneath all that drama to make sure that we have economic prospects and jobs and that we're making smart decisions on the regulatory and tax front.

CUOMO: So two things. One, anger and irrational anger are totally different things. You haven't heard me say irrational anger. There's a reason for that, Matt. The other question I want to leave you with, Matt, is do you have complete confidence at this point that Trump can avoid the Brexit pitfall, which is promising things you can't deliver? Do you believe Donald Trump can do everything he's said he can do?

SCHLAPP: I think he puts a nice spin on everything. He's a hell of a good marketer. I think actually doing these things is much tougher. I think that's probably true in the U.K. and probably true here. These are serious problems, Chris.

CUOMO: Matt Schlapp, appreciate it. Professor Beinart, as always a pleasure. What do you think? We're following this now. We're going to tell you more as Brexit unfolds.

How do you see it reflecting back on what's happening in our own election? You can use Facebook, Twitter. There's huge chaos in Britain after this Brexit vote. What's going to happen there and in Europe is unclear, but we have new information. Let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The nervousness that you see in the markets is likely to continue. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We lost more overnight than we've paid into the European Union in the last 15 years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.K. parliament is set to meet for the first time since Thursday's vote to leave the E.U.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a desperately dismayed country waking up and wondering, what the hell have we done?

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There are many frustrated people in Britain. There are frustrated people here at home too.

TRUMP: Obviously for the 219th time, they were on it.

CLINTON: You can't respond with a snarky tweet.

TRUMP: Let me tell you how it's going to play out. Trump is going to win, and the world is going to be a happy place again.

CUOMO: Historic remarks aboard the papal plane.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pope Francis says the Catholic Church should apologize to gay people and seek forgiveness for how they've been treated.

(END VIDEOTAPE)