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Learning More about Suicide Bomber Who Targeted German Music Festival; CNN Poll: Trump Gets Big Post-Convention Bounce; Pros And Cons Of The VP Picks. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired July 25, 2016 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:31:22] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: We have breaking news from Germany. We're learning more about the suicide bomber who targeted a German music festival injuring at least a dozen. Authorities say the 27-year-old Syrian national detonated a device and found screws and nails in his backpack.

The unidentified bomber entered Germany two years ago. He was actually rejected for an asylum claim. So far the attack is not said to be linked to terrorism. This is the third attack in Germany just since last Friday.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Back here at home, the massive wildfires in California have tripled in size over the weekend. They're now burning more than 33,000 acres. Here you can see some of it.

Firefighters in California are dealing, of course, with these hot temperatures and all of the dry conditions out there as they work to try to contain two raging wildfires.

The flames killing one person, hundreds of others have been evacuated from their homes. In the mountains north of Los Angeles, this is. There's also a fire near Big Sur that's consumed about 11,000 acres so far.

CUOMO: Verizon hammering out a deal to buy Yahoo!'s core assets for at least $5 billion. The announcement is actually expected to be made later today. The move would end Yahoo!'s years' long fight to survive as a standalone company. It will also likely end the reign of Yahoo! Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer. This will be after four years of trying and failing to stage a turnaround.

[06:35:13]CAMEROTA: All right. Back to what's happening here, the DNC. On the very first day of this convention, there's already controversy. We have the chairman of the DCCC, who's going to be joining us to talk about what was in those DNC e-mails.

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CUOMO: It is the first day of the Democratic National Convention here in Philly. It's getting under way this morning. According to a new CNN national poll, Donald Trump got a notable bump out of his party's convention last week. In the four-way race, Trump now leads by five points.

Here to discuss is New Mexico congressman, Ben Ray Lujan. He is also the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Great to have you here with us this morning.

REP. BEN RAY LUJAN (D), NEW MEXICO COMMITTEE: Good morning. It's wonderful to be here today. A little bit of rain, but it's going to be a wonderful day.

CAMEROTA: It's just broken, so things are looking up in terms of weather. So let's talk about this new CNN poll that is just out because it does seem as though the Republican National Convention was good for Donald Trump.

[06:40:04]Maybe we can look at the two-way race, when it's just between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. I can show you that before the convention, he was at 42 percent, she was at 49 percent. After the convention, those numbers have switched. He's now at 48 percent, she's at 45 percent. How do you explain what the bump is that he got from the convention?

LUJAN: Well, clearly it's a convention bump. Alisyn, I appreciate you pointing out that the last poll that CNN did had Secretary Clinton up seven points. We'll get to the Democratic convention, and we're going to see Secretary Clinton rebound. We'll see that bounce come back around.

I would say the one thing that I appreciated from the convention last week and where we're going into this week is just to remind everyone out there, last week not a living Republican president came out to support Donald Trump.

Governor Romney wasn't here to support Donald Trump. This week we have Senator Sanders tonight. We have President Obama this week, Vice President Biden, as well as President Clinton and Secretary Clinton. So we're going to be stronger coming out of this. Hope to see that rebound.

CAMEROTA: But I guess what the point is, is that based on the polling numbers, voters don't seemed to care. They don't care that there wasn't somebody who was a big headliner beyond Donald Trump. They don't care that there seems to be some chaos or Melania Trump's speech seemed to be plagiarized. They responded to whatever it was that Donald Trump said in his speech.

LUJAN: Well, I think that voters across the country and people across America are going to see that contrast this week as well. They'll compare where Democrats are with not just what Republicans are doing, which is enflaming flames rather than solving problems.

CAMEROTA: But that's working. I guess, that's my point, it's resonating.

LUJAN: I really want to say that people want to see real solutions behind what's going on here. There's going to be a very positive conversation this week that I'm looking forward to as well, hearing about stories like Senator Kaine who has just worked hard, a very humble beginning, being able to reach out to the American people. As well as Secretary Clinton advocating for all that work she's done on behalf of children. That's where people want us to be talking.

CAMEROTA: OK. The Democrats, however, as you know, are already embroiled in their own controversy because of these leaked e-mails that do seem to illustrate that the system was rigged against Bernie Sanders. What do you say to that?

LUJAN: Well, first off, chairwoman and Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz did the right thing. Clearly, she didn't want to see a distraction going into this amazing week with Democrats as well. Look, we all know that those e-mails should not have been sent as well about Senator Sanders.

I think we all agree with that. As we go into this week to make sure that we're coming together and reaching out to the American people, we're earning their trust, holding that trust, that's what I'm looking forward to.

CAMEROTA: But they were sent. How do you explain that it seems that the content of those e-mails suggests that the DNC never wanted Bernie Sanders to be the nominee, they wanted Hillary Clinton to be the nominee, and they were putting their finger on the scale for her?

LUJAN: Well, Alisyn, as I said, those e-mails should not have been sent. I think it was very clear that people all across the country, especially with Secretary Clinton, the leadership now across the country with Democrats, we all agreed that those e-mails should not have been sent.

CAMEROTA: So what was going on at the DNC?

LUJAN: I'm not certain what was going on. Looking at this, it's clear that coming out of this, though, we're moving forward and we're united. We're strong now going into this week.

CAMEROTA: But I mean, this is from Brad Marshall, DNC CFO, saying that they should somehow try to denigrate Bernie Sanders' religion. Let me read it for everybody.

"It might make no difference, but for Kentucky and West Virginia, can we get someone to ask about his belief? Does he believe in God? He had skated on saying he had a Jewish heritage, but I think I read he's an atheist. My southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist." So I mean, it seems irrefutable that the DNC was stacking the deck.

LUJAN: Clearly the staff that sent this e-mail, there was no reason why this e-mail should have ever been sent. It should have never been authored. It should have never been mentioned. Those are thoughts that have no place in what we do as a Democratic Party.

There's a reason why there's action that's being taken today and why we're united going into this week. That's the difference between Democrats and Republicans. I don't think you're going to find a Democrat out there or a person out there that's going to say a positive thing about that ugly e-mail.

CAMEROTA: Congressman Lujan, thanks so much for being on NEW DAY. We'll be watching your speech and everything else very closely.

LUJAN: Great to be with you.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much for being here. All right. We now know who the number twos are in this race, Indiana Governor Mike Pence for Republicans, of course, and Virginia Senator Tim Kaine for democrats. So how will they be used on the campaign trail and where do they stand on the issues? We'll explore the number twos next.

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[16:48:59]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I want somebody who will can be candid and will tell me, hey, I don't agree with this, or could you think about it somewhat differently? I don't think I have all the answers. I think that we'll be a good team. I believe we'll work well together. I believe that he will give me his best advice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: And he said nothing during that entire sound bite. That is obviously the vice presidential nominee, Tim Kaine there. That's Hillary Clinton speaking about her running mate. That was their first interview together last night on "60 Minutes."

Many are praising Clinton's choice of Kaine as an experienced, steady, and likable figure who will humanize her, but there are some Sanders people who feel like he ain't to the left enough.

So let's discuss the pros and cons of both VP picks and we have the big CNN poll numbers that tell us what the net effects of the Republican convention was.

We have John Phillips. He's a Donald Trump supporter. He's also a radio commentator. He's got one of the best voices in the business, and former senior adviser to Bill Clinton, Richard Socarides. He is now a Hillary Clinton supporter. It's good to have you both. Thank you.

[06:50:07]So let's look at these big numbers. OK. Let's look at the four-way race first. That's including obviously Dr. Stein and Gary Johnson with Clinton and Trump. You'll see Trump has taken the lead, OK, 44-39 there.

Now let's look at the two-way race between Clinton and Trump. Please, if you would. There we go. This is important for two reasons. One, you see your bounce. We haven't had big bounces in recent elections. That's a plus for Trump and he's above 46 percent. Now that was a ceiling for him. This is the first time we've seen that number pop. It's the first time he's been if the lead against Clinton in many months. So this is all relevant.

Now, on the VP side, we have some numbers as well. Obviously, the polls were done before Tim Kaine entered the picture. Put that up just for our little bit of a measure of how people feel about governor from Indiana Mike Pence fares, and it's positive, his number there.

So pre-RNC, favorable opinion of Mike Pence, free, 46, post, 63. All right, so that takes us to the panel. You have all these numbers to digest. I don't see how you qualify them as anything but good for your side, John. What do you take most confidence in?

JOHN PHILLIPS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, if you go to the Wikileaks scandal right now, I think that's very damaging to Hillary Clinton.

CUOMO: I'm asking you for the poll numbers, and you just can't wait.

PHILLIPS: Here it is. We have to put it into context of the convention. What was the story line coming out of the Republican convention? That Hillary Clinton is crooked. What happens as soon as you start the Democratic convention? You have this Wikileaks document dump where it looks like the Democratic Party fixed it for Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders.

So it feeds into the narrative that Trump put out there. Now you're seeing a bounce in the polls post-Republican convention, when everyone thought it was a disaster, the party's in disarray.

CUOMO: Bounce isn't unusual.

PHILLIPS: He did get a bump. He is in the lead. Now Hillary Clinton has to try to take the story line that Donald Trump set and defined, and she's got to try to turn it around.

RICHARD SOCARIDES, FORMER SENIOR ADVISER TO BILL CLINTON: Can I tell you, though, no poll is going to matter until this whole race settles a little bit. I would say two weeks from now when we get a little distance from both these conventions, the polls will settle and we'll start to get a real look at the race. It's interesting that everyone thinks Hillary Clinton is a slight favorite. The polls are going to be all over place. This is going to be a close election.

CAMEROTA: But Richard, how damaging do you think the Wikileaks content -- the content of those e-mails that show that there was something suspicious going on from the DNC?

SOCARIDES: You know, ultimately, I don't think it's going to be damaging at all to Hillary Clinton because I don't think Hillary Clinton had anything to do with it. I mean, it is very unfortunate. I think the people who are responsible are going to -- you know, are taking the hit on it, as they should.

CAMEROTA: It's just another e-mail controversy. That can't be good. SOCARIDES: Well, I mean, listen, it's very unfortunate that people acted irresponsibly, but this had nothing to do with Hillary Clinton. These are not people who even work for her.

CUOMO: Now they do.

SOCARIDES: Well, not yet. Not until Thursday.

CUOMO: But what's that about, Richard? How do you feel about that move? That you have Debbie Wasserman Schultz step down as chairwoman because of these e-mails.

PHILLIPS: Not yet. She's here for four more days.

CUOMO: Because that's when the convention ends, but you have the punitive head now in Donna Brazile, who is coming in. Should Hillary Clinton absorb DWS, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, into her campaign given what's just happened?

SOCARIDES: Listen, I don't think that's going to happen. So I don't think we should --

CUOMO: You don't think that will happen? It's just a rumor?

SOCARIDES: I don't think it will happen. I think Debbie Wasserman Schultz has served as head of the DNC with some distinction and now some issues. We're going to move on from that.

But I don't think it involves Hillary Clinton because Hillary Clinton had nothing to do with it. These aren't people who work for her. I'm sure she wouldn't want this.

These are people expressing their own personal preference. Now I'm not defending it. They should not have done it. It's inexcusable. People who are responsible have taken the hit.

PHILLIPS: Well, if it's 11:00 at the hotel, somebody needs to tell Debbie it's time to check out because she's here through the duration of the convention.

SOCARIDES: I love these Republicans who are getting involved in who should be running the Democratic Party.

PHILLIPS: Well, I'll say this, Donna Brazile is one of the smartest minds in politics.

SOCARIDES: So she scares you, right?

PHILLIPS: No, I'll tell you what. With Anderson Cooper last night, she said even more e-mails should be expected to come out that will be embarrassing to the Democratic Party.

SOCARIDES: That was a prediction.

PHILLIPS: What's in those e-mails?

SOCARIDES: Not a fact.

PHILLIPS: She said it worried her a little bit.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk very, very quickly about the vice presidential pick. Does that move the needle in this race? This year, do these choices of Mike Pence and Tim Kaine move the needle?

SOCARIDES: I think you see with Tim Kaine -- you saw that chemistry the two of them have together. You saw how he relaxes her. I think she -- we all know, right, that she connects best with voters when she's informal, when she feels comfortable, when she's relaxed.

He obviously -- there's a great chemistry between them. He's a strong progressive. I think we're going to be unified. He's going to help unify the party.

[06:55:05]On the other side, I think Mike Pence is a conservative. He's out of step with the mainstream. There's obviously no chemistry between him and Donald Trump. You know, Trump went in, tried to give him a little smooch, he stepped back.

PHILLIPS: Just because he didn't let him kiss him.

SOCARIDES: He made that big push for gay voters, though, what was that about?

PHILLIPS: Who did?

SOCARIDES: Donald Trump.

PHILLIPS: We didn't try (inaudible).

SOCARIDES: Well, I don't know where this is going.

CAMEROTA: Neither do we. Gentlemen, thank you. We'll wrap it on though note. Thank you very much.

CUOMO: All right. No better way to start off a convention than that. This is the DNC's moment. How do they counter what happened with the RNC? Donald Trump got a bump in our new poll numbers. So what does the DNC have to do this week? What does Hillary Clinton have to this week? There's a number in that poll that's going to shock you, next.

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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLINTON: The next vice president, Senator Tim Kaine.

SENATOR TIM KAINE (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: When Donald Trump says he has your back, you better watch out.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Tim Kaine was a slap in the face to Bernie Sanders.

BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: On his worst, worst, worst day, Tim Kaine is a hundred times better than Donald Trump will ever be.

TRUMP: Let's defeat her in November.

CLINTON: I don't know what their convention was about other than criticizing me.

KAINE: Most of us stopped the name calling thing about fifth grade.

SANDERS: The DNC was not running a fair operation. I'm not shocked.