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New Day

Flooding in Maryland; Trump Feud with Khans Examined; Julian Assange Talks DNC Hack. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired August 01, 2016 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:01] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: You can see cars being washed away like toys on a road that turned into river. Maryland's governor declaring a state of emergency for Howard County. Wow.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So is there relief in sight? Stunning pictures, so much devastation. Let's go to meteorologist Chad Myers for looking now at the forecast, Chad?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGISTS: Hey, John. Rain that came down in buckets, really its 2 inches of rain in 20 minutes over Ellicott City. And that is just to the west of Baltimore. But the numbers you were talking about, 5, 6 inches of rain fall just in a couple hours, just incredible numbers. Now we won't see that kind of rain today. We won't.

There will be rain today. There'll be showers 3:00, 4:00, 5:00. Normally, I think we're talking about Northern New Jersey for the flash flood risk today. But there's going to be more rain for the rest of the week. It's going to come down spotty, but it's coming down.

We're also watching the potential for a hurricane. Maybe the Yucatan, maybe the Gulf of Mexico, we're not sure of just yet. Still days away. Also, significant flooding possible in the desert Southwest across Arizona from the monsoon there. Busy week for us. We'll keep you advised.

BERMAN: All right, Chad. Thanks so much.

Critics slamming Donald Trump for the feud now with the Khan family, the parents of a slain Muslim-American soldier. Why is he involved in this war of words? What do Muslim-Americans think? We're going to ask when New Day returns.

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[06:35:19] KHIZR KHAN, DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION SPEAKER: This person is total incapable of empathy. I want his family to council him, teach him some empathy. He will be a better person if he could become, but he is a black soul. And this is totally unfit for the leadership of this beautiful country.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: That was the Gold Star father of Muslim U.S. soldier Captain Humayun Khan killed in Iraq. The father is now calling on Republican leaders to end their support of Donald Trump.

Khan and his wife condemned Trump's policies and statements about Muslims, saying the businessman has sacrificed nothing and no one and questioned if Trump had even read the U.S. Constitution.

Joining us now again is Haroon Moghul, senior fellow and Director of Development at the Center on Global Policy and a Senior Correspondent at religiondispatches.org., Farhana Khera, Executive Director of Muslim Advocates, and Miguel Ali Founder of the Constitutionalists for Gays and Immigrants.

Farhana, I guess I just want to start with you and get your general sense of this moment that we're in right now because this is highly unusual. We have a presidential candidate in this ongoing war of words now with Gold Star parents who happen to be Muslim-Americans.

FARHANA KHERA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MUSLIM ADVOCATES: Yeah. Well, first of all, I want to thank the Khan family for their extraordinary bravery and sacrifice. I mean, I can't just begin to imagine what it must -- the courage it takes, frankly, to stand before millions of people while you're grieving the loss of your son who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

Mr. Trump's attacks on the Khan family, a Gold Star family, is frankly beyond the limits of human decency and really is a new glow in this election campaign. And unfortunately, it's also part of a disturbing pattern for him. Just a year ago he attacked Senator John McCain, a war hero and a former prisoner of war, because he basically said that he doesn't care for people who are captured. He doesn't think they're war heroes.

So, you know, this is really testing the limits of human decency in our country. And I think it's really time for Mr. Trump to do the honorable and the decent thing. He should first of all apologize and genuinely apologize to the Khan family and all the Gold Star families. And I also think he needs to make a commitment to just stop. Stop with the sowing of hate and division and to start to begin to bring Americans together, not tear us apart.

BERMAN: So just to be clear, the three of you are all Trump critics. So I just want to make sure that the Trump side of this is presented. And Miguel, let me ask you when Farhana says that Donald Trump attacked the Khans, and that Donald Trump should apologize, what specifically are the attacks being referred to here, and what should he apologize for, Miguel?

MIGUEL ALI, FOUNDER, CONSTITUTIONALISTS FOR GAYS AND IMMIGRANTS: Well, you know, I give credit to the fact that he did call Captain Khan a hero. So, thank God for that because I don't even think he called John McCain a hero. So he properly did recognize that Captain Khan is a hero.

It seems like the attack was actually more on Captain Khan's mother Ghazala Khan which I also think was inappropriate. I would've loved if she had spoken, but I can completely understand why. And it was becoming clear that she just can't handle talking about her son at this time, and that's perfectly understandable.

I will say on this panel, as we congregate within the American-Muslim community, it's so great to see Farhana here. She is such an accomplished woman within the Muslim community with her work in the U.S. Senate under the guidance of Senator Feingold. And to me, she really represents what you will see amongst Muslim women here in America, women who aren't wearing a veil, who are very outspoken. Who -- Look, I think I need to get permission in order from her -- for me to speak. So I'm just grateful that Farhana is here, and I'm looking forward to more Muslim women coming out and being outspoken as a result of these events. And in a weird way, I actually think this is the best thing that could happen to the American-Muslim community.

So, I think if Trump is going to apologize, it should be directly to Ghazala Khan, Mrs. Khan. But I'm excited this dialogue is happening and I just think the Khan family has become the main villain of the Trump campaign, and I absolutely love that.

BERMAN: She will be, by the way, both Khans will be with us in just a few minutes here on New Day. We'll get a chance to hear from Ghazala and Khizr Khan at length, coming up in just a few minutes.

[06:39:59] You know, Haroon, it's interesting to. I can't tell, where is this Donald Trump feud with Muslim-Americans, and where is this hate feud with Gold Star parents. And is there a line between the two here?

HAROON MOGHUL, SENIOR FELLOW AND DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT AT THE CENTER ON GLOBAL POLICY: I think it's both. And I would echo Miguel and Farhana in talking about how he's -- he has gone too far and he needs to make apology, but the fact to the matter is that he has this vision of America where only certain types of people are American. And if you look at the military, if you meet people who are currently serving or veterans, you see this credible diversity.

So, he thought in his mind that he could very easily deflect criticism by turning it to Ghazala Khan and trying to make an allegation that a woman who's grieving is actually representative of some sort of Muslim culture that doesn't allow women to speak, nothing that I personally recognize, in my own experience of Muslim communities. And he went too far because he forgot who she also was. But he keeps doing this, I mean let's be honest every few weeks something comes up along these lines where the entire G.O.P establishment has forced to confront the fact that their nominee is something widely outrageous and they're not really sure what to do.

Yesterday, Mike Pence's only tweet was about how he was getting a haircut. Apparently it was like a 24-hour haircut, I don't really know what ...

BERMAN: He put out a statement overnight. He spoke about the Khans there. MOGHUL: He did. But it took awhile because nobody really knows how to respond to this. Why would you go after a grieving mother? And this is why -- if this is about more than just Muslims, this is about more than just Gold Star families, it's about how you treat Americans, how you treat people who serve, and what the bounds of political discourse are and that's exactly as Farhana said, what is the job of a leader, is it to bring people together or is it to divide them?

BERMAN: You know, Farhana, what Trump says in tweets, he says, "I was viciously attacked by Mr. Khan at the Democratic Convention, am I not allowed to respond?" That's what he said initially then later on, actually earlier than that, he said, "Captain Khan killed 12 years ago was a hero," but this is about he says, "radical Islamic terror and the weakness of our leaders to eradicate it." So he's trying to shift the discussion back to what he calls the major issue facing the country right now

KHERA: But the real issue in what Mr. Khan was talking about last Thursday evening was frankly months and months of Mr. Trump attacking the loyalty of American-Muslims. And that is why Mr. Khan spoke for so many millions of American-Muslims when he so bravely took the microphone that Thursday evening. And these are not just words, John, these words are having real life consequences for Muslim families and their children across the country. I can't tell you how many mothers and fathers I've heard from in the last several months who've talked about how this rhetoric is actually having an impact on their kids who come home from school asking if they're going to be deported if Donald Trump is elected president.

BERMAN: All right, Farhana Khera, Haroon Moghul, Miguel Ali, thanks so much for being with us. I do appreciate it.

And we should note, we are going to have the Khans coming up a little bit later in this broadcast

HARLOW: All right. To sports now in the PGA Championship that is in the books, heavy rain in the world's number one player not able to stop Jimmy Walker from winning his first major. How he fought off the field in the Bleacher report next.

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[06:46:41] BERMAN: Jimmy Walker captured his first major title after a marathon day. It was like a double featured at the P.G.A. championship. Andy Scholes has more this morning's Bleacher Report, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning John. Yes, stormy weather forcing the leaders to play 36 holes yesterday is actually the longest final day at the PGA Championship in more than 60 years and it all came down to defending champion Jason Day and Jimmy Walker. Now, they were down two strokes late, and he comes through with an eagle on 18. He's pumped up about it, thinking he's just tied it. But moments later, Walker birdied 17 and knocked in this putt for par on 18 to win the tournament. The 37-year-old Texan caps off a year where all four majors were won by first time major winners. All right, finally, this is one of the craziest things you will ever see. Daredevil Luke Aikens jumped out of an airplane from 25,000 feet without a parachute. It's a new record. After a two-minute free fall, he landed in a giant net. And if you watch closely, he didn't really landed in the center of that net. Now, the 42-year-old has over 18,000 jumps under his belt. And he actually worked as a stunt man on the hit movie "Iron Man 3," which makes plenty of sense.

I'll tell you what guys, you could have a net the size of Texas, and I don't think I would be jumping out of a plane without a parachute.

BERMAN: Just why? Why? You know, there are other things to do on a weekend.

BLEACHER: I guess after 18,000 jumps, he got to spice it up, right John?

HARLOW: I mean, why not? Andy, thank you very much.

Coming up next, you'll want to see this, we're going to speak live with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange about the DNC e-mail hack and his take on allegations that Russia led it.

Also, is there more material that could drop? How damaging could it be to the Clinton campaign? His response next.

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[06:52:37] HARLOW: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is vowing that he may soon release, quote a lot more material from a hack of the DNC computer system. Assange said that unreleased information is related to Hillary Clinton's campaign and at this, quote, very interesting. Let's find out what we can from him about what it might be. He joins us now to talk about it, from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, he's been staying there for four years, avoiding extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations, which he denies. Thank you for being with me, Mr. Assange, let's begin with this.

As you know, very well many are pointing their finger at Russia for this hack. And the director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, came out a few days ago and said they don't have enough to ascribe motive yet, but a senior US official told us at CNN last week that there's both little doubt that Russia is behind the hack. So, WikiLeaks is all about transparency. Can you say definitively categorically that Russia had nothing to do with this?

JULIAN ASSANGE, FOUNDER, WIKILEAKS: Well I can say definitively, categorically, that your initial introduction is sloppy journalism, which you know that WikiLeaks dislikes a lot because we are very much concerned with accuracy. So I am not staying in this embassy avoiding extradition to Sweden. I have political asylum. United Nations formally in February 5 this year down to the investigation against me was being conducted for improper purposely asylum contains an ongoing espionage investigation in United States, which has seen my alleged co-defendant Chelsea Manning imprisoned for 35 years and tortured. And the finding on the prison abuse is not just a finding by the United Nations, another finding in her case is also a finding by the U.S. military court system itself.

HARLOW: Mr. Assange, can you address the question at hand? And that is whether or not you can say definitively that Russia had no part in this hack.

ASSANGE: Well, you know what, what sort of question is that? I am a journalist. We don't reveal our sources.

HARLOW: At the same time, as I said before, WikiLeaks is all about transparency. And there are concerns among many, and they ask whether or not WikiLeaks is being used as an intelligence tool here. Whether not WikiLeaks it's being used by a foreign government to manipulate the election in the United States. So there is a relevancy there.

[06:55:11] ASSANGE: So what is the accusation here precisely? No one disputes even a single e-mail that we have published is authentic. No one in the DNC, and not Hillary Clinton, we are brought down ahead of the DNC with authentic information provided to the public. We have a ten-year record of complete accuracy. The goal of WikiLeaks as a media organization is to educate the public, to turn a dark world into a lighter world through the process of education, and we're doing it.

HARLOW: Mr. Assange, you spoke with my colleague Anderson Cooper on Friday, and you said, quote, "We have more material related to the Hillary Clinton campaign." How damaging is that material?

ASSANGE: Well, it remains to be seen I think it is significant material. It takes a lot of work to verify the accuracy, to collate the material into a form where it is easy to understand, easy to search, I will describe where some of the angles are borne out from the materials. So that where is that process that we're in currently engaged in. We are now confident that the material is accurate and so it's the second phase we're engaging, which is understanding what its importance is and what type of media partners we should have to release it so it has the maximum uptake by origin.

HARLOW: And that's the question right you said to Anderson that before you released the other e-mails, the 20,000 E-mails from the DNC, it was for maximum publicity, if you will. Any sense of the timing on when we may see what you have from the Clinton campaign? Are we talking about if you've gone thoroughly through it by then, perhaps right before the first debate?

ASSANGE: Well, we have quite a lot of materials, so I think we will stagger it in different batches as we are ready to publish each batch.

HARLOW: Edward Snowden tweeted this, because in this release of e- mails, it included some voice mails of children with their parents, some social security numbers, some passport numbers. Edward Snowden tweeted, "Democratizing information has never been more vital, and that WikiLeaks has helped, but their hostility to even modest duration is a mistake." Why publish it in full and not redact some of those things, including some of those voice mails with children, for example?

ASSANGE: Well, there has been significant false reporting for example, false reporting about there being credit card numbers in there. This is a play by the Clinton campaign. There is the last four digits of credit card numbers, just like there is on a receipt for something you buy, and then whether ...

HARLOW: But there were some children's voice mails in there.

ASSANGE: We're talking here about the DNC. We're talking about the ruling party of the United States and its material, not private information. The information held by the DNC. Now, WikiLeaks has -- it's not going to be tampering with evidence which will almost certainly be used in several successive court cases. We have a history of that. Our material has gone on in hundreds of different court cases to liberate innocent people from prison, to secure civil settlements up to $54 billion, in one case against Russia for its oil expiration.

And so, in serious cases involving even CIA were in issue. And so we know how to publish material in such a way that other journalists can be confident in its integrity and where they can be used within a court system. There if you're talking about some minor inconvenience to a few billionaires or millionaires that it had some information about them being revealed from the DNC itself because they have tried to influence the DNC through their cash flows, I mean, really, we have to keep things in proportion.

HARLOW: Julian Assange, I wish we have more time. We'll have you back, thank you very much.

We're following a live news this morning. In just moments, we will speak with the family of the fallen Muslim soldier at the center of the feud with Donald Trump. So let's get right to it.

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KHAN: Have you even read the United States Constitution? I will gladly lend you my copy.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And to his wife, she was standing there. Maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say.

GHAZALA KHAN, MOTHER TO SLAIN CAPT. HUMAYUN KHAN: America felt my pain without saying a single word.

KHAN: To not be aware of the respect of a Gold Star mother, this is height of ignorance.

[07:00:02] HILLARY CLINTON, (D) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Mr. Khan made the ultimate sacrifice, and what has he heard from Donald Trump? Nothing but insults?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Heard a bang, bang, and then the boom, boom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tragedy in Texas the deadliest hot air balloon crashed --

(END VIDEO CLIP)