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Who Are On Trump, Clinton Short List for VP?; Can Republicans Unseat Vulnerable Senator in Colorado? Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired July 01, 2016 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:50] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Let's play the V.P. game, CNN confirming New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich are being vetted as Donald Trump's potential running mate, but a source tells us there could be a surprise in store.

Let's discuss this with CNN Political Commentator and host of CNN's Smerconish, Michael Smerconish.

Hi, Michael.

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: There's been a surprise in everything else, why should this be any different, right?

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Good point. All right, let me put up the so-called shortlist of what we think we know about Donald Trump's possible pick on it, our Governor Chris Christie, Newt Gingrich, Senator Jeff Sessions, and Senator Bob Corker.

Let's start with Christi. Would he ever pick Governor Chris Christie.? What does that buy him in election?

SMERCONISH: Here's the starting point that I have, Hillary can have whomever she wants. Donald cannot, right? He gets to the shortlist because I think the most attractive candidates would not be interested in being his vice-presidential candidate, like John Kasich, like Marco Rubio.

So, you know, it's a more selective crew that he has to pick from. Chris Christie, I don't know what he brings to the table because he's not going to win any additional states, there's no way given his poll numbers right now in New Jersey that he seemed in going to help you in the garden state. I've always looked at Christi as the attorney general of the Trump administration. I think it's unlikely, he has been a loyal soldier and man, he has put it all on the line for Donald Trump, right? I mean he is all in, in this candidacy and he's paying a price for it at home.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: So, what about the others you look there, Senator Bob Corker, I mean, if you're thinking that his deficit is in levelheadedness or what, you know, whatever the negatives are there by going that route as opposed to be attack dog route. Is there wisdom there for him?

SMERCONISH: I think that Corker and Sessions are both credible picks. I don't know that they have the star power that Donald Trump is looking for. He has said that he wants someone, you know, who can bring some of those same traits and characteristics that he has. I think Newt probably falls in that category. Although it's been a number of years since he has played that insider role. He's been there, he's done that. That is the deficit that Donald Trump has. And so I think it would be more likely that it's Newt Gingrich.

CAMEROTA: Maybe all of this is to get us off the scent.

SMERCONISH: Probably.

CAMEROTA: Who do you think the surprise could be?

SMERCONISH: I have no idea. I mean, Jesse "The Body" Ventura. I don't know. There could be some crazy outlier out there that you'd say, yeah, he's really going to do this.

SCIUTTO: Boris Johnson, he's looking for a job. So, "Washington Post" has been reporting that the announcement could come as soon as next week before the convention, which happens to be a time-- was meant to be a big week for Hillary Clinton next week. Is that something you would look forward to take the attention away?

SMERCONISH: I think it's a possibility that it could come as soon as next week because the hope would then be that it would a positive set of new stories going in to Cleveland. Cleveland is a crap-shoot. I've attended many conventions. I have no idea what to expect, none as to who will speak in prime time, whether there'll be political faces or whether there'll entertainment faces. This could set the tone for what's to come in Cleveland.

CAMEROTA: It will certainly be very exciting. We'll all be there covering it.

Let's talk about Hillary Clinton's V.P. shortlist as far as we know it. First up, Tim Kaine.

SMERCONISH: Yeah.

CAMEROTA: So, you know, there's a little bit of scuttlebutt that he's been vetted and one of the things there's on earth even though he disclosed it is $160,000 worth of gifts, mostly traveled during his eight years as governor so that's $20,000 a year, that's not exactly propagate personal gain. And he disclosed it and it was legal. What's the problem?

SMERCONISH: Well, first of all, how that -- why are we talking about this now? And I'm not being critical of you, Alisyn, I mean, it seems to me, someone who wishes to be Hillary's vice-presidential candidate or in support of someone who wants to be that person dropped it and tried to make it an issue now. I feel the same way about this that I felt about the Bob O'Donnell Supreme Court opinion, which I read twice. The first time that I read it, I said, this is unseemly and surely it must be illegal. I read it the second time and I still thought it was unseemly but as you pointed out, it's not illegal. And in the case of Kaine, he absolutely did disclose each one of these gifts. It's the sort of thing I think that's problematic for Hillary because trust and honesty dog her.

And so, do you really want to come out of the gate. I mean, look at what we're talking about today, what you've been talking about that meeting on the tarmac in Phoenix. Do you really want to start the whole equation with someone who's got an issue?

[08:35:06] SCIUTTO: So, what -- you talked about Donald Trump wants, he wants star power, right? You know, what does Hillary Clinton and I suppose there's two questions, what does she need in that vice- president's role and what does she want, what is she looking for?

SMERCONISH: I think she's probably going to be more strategic and look at the map. We fall into this every four years. What state might you win with a V.P.? Probably none ...

SCIUTTO: Has it ever happened?

SMERCONISH: But will that stop her, Jim, from taking a hard look at Sherrod Brown? I don't think so. I think she probably will take a long hard look at him. I don't think she wants to be over-shown by Elizabeth Warren. So I don't think it will be an Elizabeth Warren pick for her. So, time will tell but in the end, at my view, is that this race is going to come down at the top of the ticket. These are two lightning rod personalities people both love and despise each one of them. And the election will be determined based on the strength of their character and not their second-in-command.

CAMEROTA: Michael Smerconish, thanks, always great to get your insight ...

SMERCONISH: Have a great holiday weekend.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much.

Check out Smerconish Saturdays at 9 a.m. Eastern only on CNN.

SCIUTTO: Well, American's unlikely ally in the fight against terror, Vladimir Putin, coming up, how the two rivals could join forces.

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[08:40:11] CAMEROTA: We have new information this morning.

The Obama administration is considering a proposal to team up with Russia to defeat terrorists in Syria. CNN's Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon with all the details. What have you learned, Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alysin. If this were to happen, it would be a major turnabout for U.S. military policy with Russia.

The administration, now reportedly considering offering Moscow a proposal to team up, sharing intelligence, and targeting of targets inside Syria, terror targets.

But here's the catch. Bashar al-Assad, the President of Syria, then would have to agree to stop bombing civilians and rebel groups.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter is still very aware it is the state department that wants this deal. And he is expressing a good deal of skepticism about it. Have a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASH CARTER, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: If the Russians would do the right thing in Syria, and that's an important condition, as in all cases with Russia, we're willing to work with them. That's what we've been urging them to do since they came in. That's the objective that Secretary Kerry's talks are aimed at. And if we can get them to that point, that's a good thing.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

STARR: So why is all this happening right now?

Well, look, Carter pointed out in that same press conference, the U.S. wants to get those rebels to Raqqa as fast as possible, get Raqqa out of ISIS hands.

And there's going to be more rebel troops on the ground, there's going to be more U.S. military advisers on the ground. They don't want to risk the Russians making any mistakes, any accidental bombings of U.S. or rebel groups. Jim?

SCIUTTO: There's real dangers out there. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon.

Well, feeling patriotic this holiday weekend, it began with a dare to sing the national anthem at the Lincoln Memorial and it's now turning an assistant principal from Florida into a viral phenomenon. CNN's Jeanne Moos shows you why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No one expected to hear this at the Lincoln Memorial, not even the woman singing.

STAR SWAIN, ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL: Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave ...

MOOS: 34-year-old Star Swain was just a regular tourist coaxed by her friends to do an impromptu performance.

SWAIN: We could hear the acoustics and we're just like, man, it sounds amazing in here.

MOOS: At first, no one noticed. Then people started to gawk. By the time she got to the ramparts, Star was turning heads.

SWAIN: ... over the ramparts we watched ...

MOOS: She's been singing since she was a kid, performs mostly in church, so she was shaking with nervousness.

SWAIN: Lord, please let this note come out.

MOOS: The video went viral, commenters gushed about getting chills and goosebumps.

You mean, they haven't called you for the Super Bowl yet?

SWAIN: No, and I am waiting.

MOOS: Star, an assistant principal at a Florida school, was so thrilled with the response, she sang her gratitude.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SWAIN: Over 10 million views, I thank God for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOOS: That's one of her two kids, popping up behind her. There was one guy in the audience who didn't react to Star's performance, who remained stone faced.

Was it weird to sing with Lincoln sitting over there in a chair?

SWAIN: He would have gotten up and applauded, that was a bit weird.

MOOS: But how can he just sit there like a statue, listening to this?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SWAIN: ... and the home of the brave ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Come on.

SCIUTTO: Let me tell you, everybody in the studio was mesmerized by the screen. You don't know how to stop these guys but that's a great moment.

CAMEROTA: That's quite an impossible song to sing and to do it impromptu. Wow.

All right, it is time now to meet this week's CNN hero, Luma Mufleh is helping young refugees from war-torn nations build their confidence to succeed socially and academically here in the U.S. And she's doing it on the soccer field. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LUMA MUFLEH, CNN HERO: There are so many things stacked against them.

For you to be successful, you're competing against all these other people that are already like 10 steps ahead of you. So how are you going to catch up? How are you going to standout? And how are you going to contribute successfully?

We're getting people from all over the world, from all different faiths to come together to do something great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:45:12] CAMEROTA: All right, you can watch Luma's full story at cnnheroes.com. You can nominate someone you think should be a 2016 CNN hero.

SCIUTTO: Well, can Republicans unseat a vulnerable Democrat in a Colorado Senate race?

Coming up, you'll meet the GOP's unconventional candidate who is trying to do just that.

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SCIUTTO: Republicans in the battleground, State of Colorado, have made a surprising choice in their party's primary, Darryl Glenn, an antiestablishment tea party conservative who beat out more moderate favorites there.

Can Glenn unseat a vulnerable Democrat in the Colorado Senate race? Coming up, Darryl Glenn, joining us now. Darryl, thanks for joining us today.

A source within the National Republican Senatorial Committee tells CNN it is, "very unlikely you will get funding from their organization." Of course, your Democratic opponent has the full backing of the Democratic Party.

Can you win without the backing of the GOP establishment, or I wonder if in the current environment, you consider that an asset?

[08:50:03] DARRELL GLENN, (R) SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: Well, basically, you know, we are running the people's campaign. And I believe it doesn't matter if you're a Republican, a Democrat or unaffiliated, you're going to get onboard.

The one thing that I've heard after campaigning for over a year and a half, these people are tired of politicians saying one thing and then getting elected and completely selling out. Our campaign is different.

SCIUTTO: The former GOP chairman for Colorado Ryan Call, he says, "In a state like Colorado, you are not going to be successful if you pretend you're in the heart of Texas."

Colorado, one of those states, demographics are changing. You're running old school, you know, as it were, really, you know, farther right than many candidates currently sitting in Senate for the Republican Party. How do you battle the direction of the state and pull out a win here?

GLENN: Well, you know, we've kind of captured this on electdarrylglenn.com but we're running the people's campaign. It's not about partisan politics, it's about leading.

I grew up as a Reagan conservative. And it's about leading, leading from the front, coming up with an agenda. When you think about this administration and the current senator that's being represented here, supporting Obamacare, supporting the Iran nuclear deal, supporting the EPA regulations, these are issues that resonate and are actually crashing constituents in Colorado. They need somebody to lead and I'm that leader.

SCIUTTO: There's been a lot of talk about how having Donald Trump at the top of the ticket affects the down-ballot races and Senate concern and some in the GOP establishment that he will lose the Senate majority. You say, though, you were backed by Cruz and Sasse earlier and so you do support Donald Trump.

Is he an asset for you as you're running in Colorado?

GLENN: Well, he's a nominee but what you need to understand, I've been blessed to be the quarterback of this team. And it is my job to carry Colorado and I will do that. I will campaign down the ballot. I will make sure that we retain the seats necessary and make sure that we flip Colorado red. And that's why we've captured that on electdarrylglenn.com.

SCIUTTO: But I want to ask you your position on Trump and whether he helps you. I mean, you've seen the polls.

Republican voters, this is the new CNN ORC polls this June 19th -- out June 19th. Choice for nominee, 51 percent say they're happy with Trump, 48 percent, this is -- Republican voters say they would prefer someone else.

You say you do support Trump, but are you saying -- I just want a straight answer here. Does he help or hurt you as you're running this race. It's your race, but does he help or hurt you?

GLENN: He does not hurt us. We have a nominee. And the fact is, the alternative and that's Hillary Clinton, is unacceptable. We will rally. We will, at the end of the day, make sure that we deliver Colorado for the Republicans.

SCIUTTO: Let's talk about Colorado, and both for you, you got your race and of course, it's a swing state in the national election, we nailed President Obama, he won it in 2012 and 2008, the demographics moving more in general in favor of Democrats.

Mr. Trump coming to your state later today, what does he need to say to voters to win them over in the general in November?

GLENN: You know, he needs to come and it's important for him to come and lay out his vision. But it's also important for all of us to realize that this is a purple state.

And what's been lacking is the focus on the people. This is the people's campaign. It's focusing in on this administration and Mr. Bennett, who has not done his job.

When you think about the Iran nuclear deal, when you think about the excessive EPA regulations, when you think about Obamacare, they're on the wrong side of this issue. Now, they have a candidate that can actually go right into the heart of where the Democrats traditionally take us for granted.

And I can talk about issues of liberty, freedom, you want to talk about fairness, let's talk about the platform that I'm going to bring forward. That's what we've captured at electdarrylglenn.com. That's why I'm going to win this race.

SCIUTTO: Final question for you, Trump visiting your state, have you asked Donald Trump to come out and speak in support of you?

GLENN: I have not spoken to Mr. Trump.

SCIUTTO: Darryl Glenn, we wish you the best luck. Thank you very much for joining us.

A car engulfed in flames, a driver trapped behind the wheel and a police officer going bravely well beyond the call of duty. We're going to have that story for you right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:57:17] CAMEROTA: A driver trapped inside his car as it is engulfed in flames on one of L.A.'s busiest freeways. That's when an off-duty officer decided to go beyond the call of duty.

Here's Kyung Lah.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get him out of there.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A car burst into flames on a California freeway. Other drivers recording video and panicking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there anybody else in the car?

LAH: Look closely, one man hops over the center divider towards the burning car.

Los Angeles Police Officer Donald Thompson was driving into work on Christmas morning 2013 and saw the car slam into the center divider.

DONALD THOMPSON, LAPD: Really hard, he hits it. After it hit, a huge ball of fire.

LAH: He knew the driver was trapped.

So you're surrounded by fire.

THOMPSON: There's fire at -- fire was everywhere. What you instinctively want to do is turn around and just run away because there's -- you got pain, you've got all of this heat.

LAH: The driver was unconscious. Officer Thompson couldn't get his seatbelt off.

THOMPSON: You never give up. Reached around the door and grabbed him and pulled him out of the car. He weighed over 200 pounds but he was so light. It felt like he only weighed an ounce or two. Adrenaline is absolutely amazing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow, they saved that guy's life.

LAH: That guy, now carried to safety by other drivers was Bill McWhorter.

BILL MCWHORTER, RESCUED DRIVER: I was shocked. I was in dyspnea. I didn't know where I was.

LAH: A medical emergency caused his blackout. The architectural designer would only suffer some burns and a couple of cracked ribs.

LAH: Do you feel grateful?

MCWHORTER: Very much so. It's difficult to be unhappy when you're grateful.

LAH: Grateful that it wasn't just anyone who ran to his car, but a 6'7" cop with the length to reach the seatbelt. Thompson is also an LAPD bomb technician, who knew by the burn that the gas tank was torn and would likely not explode.

LAH: You don't think it was just a coincidence?

MCWHORTER: Are there any coincidences in life? Are there?

LAH: I don't know.

You don't know this man. Why risk your life?

THOMPSON: Do you really have to know someone to help someone? You don't.

LAH: You don't but you do have to have the heart to do it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God bless you, man.

LAH: Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh. I feel like crying.

SCIUTTO: It's an incredible story. I mean, that was truly risking his life. And I feel like, you know, we talk so much about division and so on. There are folks making heroic decisions like that everyday.

CAMEROTA: I'm so glad when we show these segments. They're so important because there are angels among us.

SCIUTTO: Yes, and great for the 4th of July weekend.

CAMEROTA: It is great. So, here's a live picture behind us there of the Statue of Liberty on this Independence Day. So, everyone, enjoy it.

SCIUTTO: Enjoy the weekend. It's been great joining you and the team today. We're wishing the best this holiday weekend.

CAMEROTA: Great having you here.

Time now for "NEWSROOM" with Pam Brown, in for Carol Costello. Take it away, Pamela.