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DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz Steps Down Amid Leaked Emails Scandal; Interview with Senator Claire McCaskill; Shooting Takes Place at Florida Nightclub; U.S. Officials: Russians Suspected Of Hacking DNC; CNN Poll: Trump Leads Clinton To RNC Convention. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired July 25, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: What I suggested to be true six months ago turns out to be true, the DNC trying to undermine my campaign.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We're going to get a lot of Bernie voters, by the way.

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: You want a trash talking president or bridge building president.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESUMPTIVE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Senator Tim Kaine is everything that Donald Trump and Mike Pence are not.

TRUMP: The legacy of Hillary Clinton, death, destruction and weakness.

CLINTON: In Philadelphia, we will offer a very different vision for our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Monday, July 25, 8:00 in the east now. And guess where Alisyn and I are? Philadelphia. Democratic national convention begins today. But there is so much news going on about the convention, but also outside of it. We have these new poll numbers that show what happened after the Republican National Convention. Donald Trump didn't just get a bounce. He got a big bounce. You're looking at our new CNN national poll. Trump now leads Clinton by three points in a two-way race. That is a ten point swing since our last poll before the convention.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: This is the biggest post-convention bounce since the 2000 election, and this all comes as the Democrats deal with a controversy over some leaked emails from the DNC. There are also new questions this morning about whether the Russians are behind it and trying to influence our presidential race.

So we have every angle of this covered. Let's begin with senior political reporter Manu Raju. Good morning, Manu. MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Good morning, Alisyn. That

e-mail controversy actually costing Debbie Wasserman Schultz her job as chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. Now, today, Debbie Wasserman Schultz will actually speak to her Florida delegation this morning, and later to the actual full convention. So we'll see just how Bernie Sanders supporters greet her when she talks in this convention hall. But this much is clear. This Democratic convention is starting off with quite a bit of drama.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm with her. I'm with her.

RAJU: Democratic national chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz forced to resign amid a massive e-mail leak showing DNC staffers favoring Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary. More than 1,000 Sanders supporters marching in Philadelphia in protest. Sanders himself, who has been calling for Wasserman Schultz's resignation for months, telling CNN that he is not surprised that the DNC was working against him.

SANDERS: It is an outrage and sad that would you have people in important positions in the DNC trying to undermine my campaign.

RAJU: Clinton's campaign manager pointing his finger at Russian hackers, suggesting they had a hand in the leaks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Experts are now saying that they are -- the Russians are releasing these e-mails for the purpose of actually helping Donald Trump.

RAJU: Trump's campaign chairman flatly denying the suggestion.

PAUL MANAFORT, TRUMP CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: I mean, it's just absurd. I don't know what you're talking about. It's crazy.

RAJU: On Capitol Hill, Wasserman Schultz had few defenders. Sources tell CNN that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid was pushing for weeks to replace her, including at one point floating his number two, Dick Durbin, as a replacement. The interim chair will now be Donna Brazile, Al Gore's former campaign manager and a CNN political analyst. Brazile, who has ties with both Clinton and Sanders, warned Democrats last night that Friday's leak may just be the tip of the iceberg.

DONNA BRAZILE, INTERIM DNC CHAIR: More e-mails are coming. I don't know the substance, but I do know there are lots of stuff that we might have to apologize for.

RAJU: Trump quick to pounce on the political turmoil, posting this tweet, "The Democrats are in a total meltdown, but the bias media will say how great they're doing. E-mails say the rigged system is alive and well."

This scandal, threatening to shatter the uneasy truth between Sanders progressive base and the party establishment ahead of today's convention themed "United Together," where Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Michelle Obama will headline the first night.

The controversy also overshadowing Clinton's big introduction of her vice presidential pick, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine. The newly minted Democratic ticket sitting down for their first interview together, keeping their focus squarely on the Republicans.

[08:05:00] CLINTON: I don't know what their convention was about other than criticizing me. I seem to be the only unifying theme that they had.

RAJU: Kaine showing he is ready to defend his running mate on the campaign trail.

KAINE: When I see this, you know, "crooked Hillary" or I see the "lock her up," it is just ridiculous. It is ridiculous. And most of us stopped the name-calling thing about fifth grade.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU: Now, those poll numbers causing great alarm in Democratic circles this morning. So expect them to pull out all the stop this week to try to disqualify Donald Trump in the eyes of voters and also talk up Hillary Clinton with speeches ranges from Mike Bloomberg, the former New York mayor, as well as Barack Obama, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Many, thanks so much for setting all of that up for us.

Here to discuss now is Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill. She is a member of the Armed Services Committee and the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Great to have you here, Senator.

SEN. CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D), MISSOURI: Thank you. Great to be here.

CAMEROTA: Was Russia behind this email leak?

MCCASKILL: I don't think there is any question. In the metadata, you see it was sent to Russian computers. The experts are saying this was Russia. And it's no question they're doing this to try to impact our elections.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Why?

MCCASKILL: Because they want Donald Trump to win.

CUOMO: What makes you so confident about that?

MCCASKILL: They understand that there is this relationship. First of all you have a close relationship between his campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and one of the biggest Oligarchs --

CUOMO: Yushchenko.

MCCASKILL: Yes, Yushchenko. And Russia, who is like this with Putin. You have this bromance going on between Putin and Trump. Backing off on our commitment to our allies, that's unheard of. Somebody running for president would actually say people from France and England maybe can't come to our country, and, by the way, we're not sure we're going support NATO against Russian aggression. It's really amazing to me. I think it is very clear that Russia is doing this.

CAMEROTA: Last night, Paul Manafort said the idea that the Democrats would suggest that the Trump campaign is somehow motivating Russia to do this is -- shows desperation. So let me play this for you and our listeners.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANAFORT: They certainly are getting desperate rather early in the game. I mean, yes, they should be concerned about the leaks from the Democratic National Committee. It put the Democratic National Committee at risk and exposed the fact that it was a rigged political primary system against Bernie Sanders. But our concern is broader than that. The fact that we're having the conversation is the --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Basically he is saying that it is a red herring, no pun intended, to move away from the content of the DNC e-mails, which is damning for the Democrats.

MCCASKILL: Listen, I understand that what was in the e-mails was not great. I mean, it obviously showed that there were some people at the DNC that were really wanting Hillary Clinton to win the primary. But I don't find anything in e-mails that show they did anything to put their finger on the scale in terms of how the voting was done or how the primaries were actually conducted.

CUOMO: That's impossible to believe the lack of relationship, right? If somebody has a preference, a bias, an animus, any way you want to term it, how can you not assume their actions reflect that?

MCCASKILL: I get that. But Debbie is stepping down. And we're going be united. Bernie Sanders will give a -- there will be no Cruz tonight with Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders will endorse Hillary Clinton. And he will say how important it is that we all work for Hillary Clinton. We will be united. It will not be like the Republican convention where the number one candidate against Donald Trump refused to say his name.

CAMEROTA: Does Tim Kaine help reel in some of the Bernie Sanders supporters to Hillary, or is he just not seen as progressive enough?

MCCASKILL: I think as they get to know him, it will make a difference. I mean, this a guy that took a year off of law school to go to Honduras and help teach welding to teenagers. And, by the way, he was in law school at Harvard. I don't know how many Harvard law students take a year off to go to Honduras. I'm not sure there is many, but Tim Kaine did. He is all about social justice. He is all about the least among us and making sure that we are helping others. He has had a life of service. And that's really the values that the Bernie campaign embrace. So I think as they get to know him, they're going to be surprised how much his value system matches up to how much they care about helping the poor. CUOMO: When you look at this bump in the polls, OK, the history is

all over the place. In the last few cycles there haven't been that many bumps. This is an impressive bump for Trump, excuse the rhyme, by that standard. Historically bumps used to be much bigger, but we are where we are right now. The number that pops, it might be the biggest correlation to his pop, is not just the convention. It is Hillary Clinton's 68 percent negative rating when it comes to trust. Is that just baked in at this point? Do you think you can do anything to change how people feel about whether or not they can trust her?

MCCASKILL: I think people just slow down for a minute and realize she has been in the crosshairs for decades. Every scar she has she got while she was serving the public. And she has been targeted for decades by --

[08:10:10] CUOMO: The question is why, though, senator. The e-mail scandal, somebody didn't set her up.

MCCASKILL: No, I understand. I understand. And I do think that this convention will help people see the other side of her, the public policy side that has driven her in terms of issues about children and families. I think there will be a lot of validation of who she is as a person. And at the end, you've got two candidates that have high negatives. People are going to have to decide, which person do I want making the decisions about our national security, which is the person I want making the decisions in a complex world about how we help the middle class? And I think she is going to be just fine.

CAMEROTA: Carl Bernstein was just on saying that he felt that maybe some more contrition, maybe the American public hasn't seen her be sort of apologetic enough or relate on that level from what they're looking for from her. Will we see any of that here, or is she just moving forward?

MCCASKILL: You know, I think if she -- if we do a good job this week of talking about her life, and what she has done in her life, and if she does a good job on Thursday explaining her positive vision, her optimistic, positive vision, I think it will be a contrast to the anger and the fear that we saw last week.

CUOMO: Here is an angle for you. Donald Trump has said on many, many occasions, this is on the record, I've never asked God for forgiveness. I've never had anything that I needed to ask him for. This is a man who notoriously will not apologize.

MCCASKILL: For anything.

CUOMO: Hillary Clinton --

MCCASKILL: And he has got a lot to apologize for.

CUOMO: Maybe, maybe not. That's for people to decide. But for Hillary Clinton, what a change that would be compared to him, if she were to come forward and say, you know, this e-mail thing, I've talked about it, but not enough. I know what you think about it. I know that you believe that I was lying about aspects of asking for permission and how many devices. And you know what, I was. Here is what I did. Here is why I did it. I'm not him. I'm different. I know that that's risky. I know politicians don't like to do that. You're looking at me like I have too much bacon and it was laced with something. But is there anything chance? Don't you think that would be so impressive to people.

MCCASKILL: She has said she made mistake about the e-mail. She has said it over and over again. And I think that this is one of those things where you have to look at what was her intent. No one has ever, ever been able to put on Hillary Clinton an intent to do wrong to this country, ever. There has never been in a time that anyone can really accuse her of having a mal-intent toward the United States. And I think hopefully she'll be able to show how much she cares about this country and the good things she's going to do, and it will be quite a contrast to the fact free zone that we saw in Cleveland.

CUOMO: I thought you were talking about the show first. How dare you?

MCCASKILL: Oh, no. Cleveland. Cleveland.

CAMEROTA: Senator McCaskill, thanks so much.

MCCASKILL: You bet. Thank you.

CAMEROTA: We are following some breaking news that we want to get to right now to tell you about. There has been a deadly shooting outside of a nightclub in Fort Myers, Florida. Two people are dead and at least a dozen others are wounded, but the youngest person was just 12 years old, and CNN's Boris Sanchez will explain why that is so. He is live at the scene now with the breaking details. What have you learned for us?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Alisyn. This all started shortly after midnight. From what we understand, the club was hosting an all ages event where no I.D. was required to go in. The way the club officials are describing it, it was a middle school, high school party. And shortly after it let out, right about 12:15, here in the parking lot as students were calling their parents to come pick them up, that's when the shots were fired.

I'm going to get out of the way here so you can see, this is still a very active scene. Police are still here processing evidence. You see all the evidence markers. Those are shell casings from bullets, way more than a dozen, at least two dozen here on the scene. And this is just one of three scenes that officials are working right now. Another is a nearby home where shots were fired at the home and a car there. One person was injured. We also know they're processing a local intersection where one of three people, three persons of interest, were detained. So far officials haven't said much about them. They haven't called them suspects, either.

Clearly, there is a lot of questions here, specifically, a motive. We know that the three people that were detained were all adults. Many of the victims were young. You mentioned the youngest is 12 years old. We know the oldest is 27, so a very young crowd. We also know they are in varying degrees of health. Some of them are in ICU in a very grave condition. Clearly a lot of hope being poured into to hoping that those people pull through as investigators look through this evidence, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Just terrible, Boris. Please keep us posted on everything that you learn this morning. Thank you for that reporting.

All right, back here in Philadelphia, the curtain raising on the Democratic convention with what appears to be another e-mail controversy, as we've been talking about. Were party leaders ignoring warning signs from Bernie Sanders?

[08:15:01] And what does it mean for Hillary Clinton. Our panel weighs in on all of it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Chris and I are here in Philadelphia all week. The Democratic National Convention gets underway in just a few hours. But now, the FBI is investigating a suspected Russian hacking of the DNC's e-mail system. Are Russians trying to influence our presidential race?

Let's discuss this and so much more with Andre Bauer, he is the former lieutenant governor of South Carolina and a Donald Trump supporter. We also have Bob Beckel, CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist as well as Christine Quinn, CNN political commentator and vice chair of the New York State Democratic Party. Great to have you all here.

ANDRE BAUER, FORMER LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF SOUTH CAROLINA: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Andre, were the Russians behind this hack?

BAUER: I haven't seen any proof of it, but to me, again, it seems look a diversion of the real issue, and the real issue, was the collaboration of Democratic Party to try to help one candidate over another.

CAMEROTA: They do say that there is metadata that proves that it was found on Russian or at least went through Russian computers. So the technology side says that there is evidence that the Russians were involved.

BAUER: You know, if you guys are spending as much time as you worry about your party as you do ours, I mean, seriously. Take care of your own e-mails, will you.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Theirs haven't been leaked yet. I'm sure Reince Priebus, you know, would have loved to have been superdelegates, and probably tons of conversations about their agony over Trump, at least in the early stages. Here is the difference, Bob, they're not out there.

CAMEROTA: Not yet. [08:20:08]CUOMO: Yours are and that's the concern. Christine Quinn, this is what Bernie Sanders was saying. They don't like me. They're all insiders and they want to keep their clubhouse nice and cozy with Hillary Clinton. And now we see the e-mails and that seems true.

CHRISTINE QUINN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, these e-mails are e-mails within the DNC, with the staff at the DNC. They're not between Hillary's campaign and the DNC. There is no evidence that actually shows that -- although there may have been ill will towards him and people have opinions of other people. There is nothing that shows they did anything to jeopardize --

CUOMO: So you don't think they (inaudible), but they don't do anything about it.

QUINN: There is no evidence that it was anything more than kind of interoffice chat, albeit inappropriate, and I think what happened yesterday really speaks to how this campaign is going to get run and the integrity of the Democratic process. A problem was pointed out. Debbie Wasserman Schultz took responsibility, and will be stepping down after the convention.

BAUER: Shocked that 1,000 people on staff that someone like Sanders and someone likes Clinton. What's the big deal? They didn't take action. She is stepping down after the convention, and making a job out of it. She is not stepping down before the convention.

QUINN: There is no indication she is getting a job. She is stepping down right after the convention.

CUOMO: There was some indication that she's going to get the national honorary chair thing. That will be coordinated through the campaign. That's the speculation.

CAMEROTA: You don't think she'll be working at any part of Hillary Clinton's campaign after this?

QUINN: She has her own campaign. She has to go back to Florida and she has a legitimate --

CUOMO: Is that a no, Christine Quinn?

QUINN: I don't think she'll be working in any significant way, might there be a paper title, I doubt it, but that's not really working.

BOB BECKEL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: The demise of the superdelegates is the guy who was there at the beginning of the superdelegates in 1984. We did agree on finally getting them altogether. By the way, your old man was part of that, and it worked.

QUINN: That's why it was brilliant.

BECKEL: It is a sad passing.

CUOMO: Well, it was about why it was done there and talking to my father about it, he had big questions about it going forward about whether or not it was going to be an abused system. Just so you know.

BECKEL: I listened to him, believe me. I heard him.

BAUER: This is the year of the outside and Bernie Sanders may have very well been the nominee had there not been home cooking within the DNC.

QUINN: There is nothing in those e-mails that show that the race was any way tilted or impacted against Senator Sanders. There is nothing --

CUOMO: That's not what Donald Trump says.

QUINN: Well, Donald Trump --

CUOMO: That's not what Donald Trump says.

QUINN: What Donald Trump says is usually not true. So that only backs up my fact there. But what I think is really important to note is Senator Sanders, before the release of the e-mails, post the release of the e-mails, is standing with Secretary Clinton. A big comparison to the RNC where Ted Cruz got on stage and did anything but support Donald Trump.

BAUER: The Republicans don't unanimously check their brains at the door. They think about it -- Bernie joined the home team and that's great, but he was treated unfairly.

BECKEL: You should tell Trump to -- Tim Kaine is a wonderful guy. But listen to this -- when Donald Trump brings in illegal labor to finish his buildings, he doesn't pay his subcontractors. It is going to brutal.

QUINN: Sends jobs to China when he is talking about bringing jobs to America.

CUOMO: More on trade.

QUINN: He signed up for the gig. It is not our fault.

CAMEROTA: Donald Trump has been having a field day with the e-mail stuff. He has been tweeting up a storm. I'll read one of them. The new joke in town is that Russia leaked the disastrous DNC e-mails, which should have never been written, stupid, because Putin likes me. You know, there is a connection between is Putin trying to somehow influence our presidential candidate?

BECKEL: Putin's candidate is Trump. Look, everybody is entitled to a candidate.

QUINN: What is your evidence of that?

BECKEL: They're bros. They talk about it all the time.

QUINN: There were statements last week during the RNC from high-level advisors to Putin saying clearly that they would prefer the candidate to be Donald Trump. Why wouldn't they?

CUOMO: Defend your man, Andre.

QUINN: He is talking about getting rid of NATO, opening doors, if you think about it for Russia to take over more.

CUOMO: Here is the problem, OK. The Russia, the intrigue, the e- mails, what's in them, what isn't. This poll that comes out that shows Trump first of all breaking 46 percent for the first time in a big poll like this, he is at 48 percent. He's leading. He got a bounce after the convention, 68 percent, Bob, say I don't trust Hillary Clinton. I've never heard of a number that high before.

BECKEL: How about the other guy?

CUOMO: It's not as high as that.

QUINN: Look at his unqualified number.

BECKEL: We all know these bounces last about three weeks and they'll be gone. The question is when you get into the fall when they really matter, you've got to go state by state. Is Donald Trump with 30 percent of the electorate to be people of color? He's got to get 80 percent of the white vote. Where's you going to get that?

CUOMO: Andre?

BAUER: His numbers are on the rise and Hillary is spending tens of millions of dollars beating him up right now. He is not spending any money so the fact. You know in campaigns when you are the one taking the hit, usually your numbers are going down and the one that's not taking hit, his numbers going to up, exactly the opposite is happening.

QUINN: There is always a bump after a convention.

BAUER: It was a terrible convention and he still got an credible --

CAMEROTA: You guys take this over to the grill and -- happy birthday. Thanks for spending your birthday morning with us.

QUINN: Thank you.

BECKEL: You did a good job. You spun it as best as you could.

CUOMO: Double-team, that's not fair. That's why I helped you out. Christine, enjoy it.

All right, outgoing DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, rocking the start of this convention, by announcing plans to step down. Not now, it's going to be after the convention.

But still, she will get a chance to speak to fellow Democrats, so this is going to be the first time that we see something like this heading into a convention, this e-mail controversy. What is the chairwoman going to say? Next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)