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Sources: Trump's Behavior Frustrating Aides & Backers; Emirates Jet Crashes After Landing in Dubai. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired August 03, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Republican nominee is unfit to serve as president.

[05:58:21] DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He's a terrible president.

For him to be calling me that is almost an honor, because he truly doesn't know what he's doing.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Increasing frustration inside the Trump campaign.

TRUMP: We're running against a rigged system.

I don't regret it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He has been digging a deeper and deeper hole.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Honoring the families of those who have served and those who have served and those who have sacrificed.

TRUMP: I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier.

KHIZR KHAN, FATHER OF FALLEN U.S. SOLDIER: You dodged the draft, and you now want an easy Purple Heart in your pocket?

You should have pinned that back to that veteran's chest.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to NEW DAY. John Berman is still getting ready.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Every minute, there are some new developments we have to report.

CAMEROTA: I know. I have it all right here. It's Wednesday August 3, 6 a.m. in the east. Chris is off. John Berman joins me. Great to have you. Up first, Donald Trump's campaign reportedly in disarray. Sources

tell CNN that top aides, including his campaign chairman, are growing increasingly frustrated with the Republican nominee's behavior of picking battles with opponents and his allies.

BERMAN: Right. Trump has spent days since the Democratic convention battling with the father of a Muslim-American soldier killed in Iraq. Beyond that, Trump has ignited a new firestorm, refusing to back the House speaker, Paul Ryan, in his primary battle or John McCain in his primary battle.

Now, more Republicans, new prominent Republicans have jumped ship, including one big donor. A big fund-raiser, now saying she will back Hillary Clinton.

Let's begin our coverage with Manu Raju live in Washington.

Manu, I'm afraid because I got in the elevator, I feel like something else happened on the way up here.

MANU RAJU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's very -- quite, quite possible, John. You know, just two weeks ago, Republicans left their nominating convention, saying they were more united than ever in their quest to defeat Hillary Clinton.

But we've seen Donald Trump lurching from one controversy to another, and many in the party keeping their distance from their own nominee. Turns out that unity was just papering over deep-seated divisions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: I don't regret anything. I said nice things about the son.

RAJU (voice-over): Republican leaders and Donald Trump's own campaign staff frustrated with their candidate. Sources tell CNN even Trump's campaign manager, Paul Manafort, is upset with Trump. The tipping point: Trump openly challenging the parents of slain Muslim soldier Captain Humayun Khan.

KHAN: This person is not fit for the office he's seeking.

RAJU: Trump refusing to drop his fight with the Gold-Star family, despite the urging of senior staff, and failing to stay on message and attacking Hillary Clinton.

TRUMP: I was hit very hard from the stage, and you know, it's just one of those things. No, I don't regret anything.

RAJU: This as Trump refuses to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan in his Republican primary, telling "The Washington Post," "I'm just not quite there yet. I'm not quite there yet." Trump thumbing his nose at Ryan's delayed decision to endorse him back in May.

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I'm just not ready to do that at this point. I'm not there right now. RAJU: Trump also declining to back former GOP nominee Arizona Senator

John McCain, who is in a tough re-election battle: "I've always felt that he should have done a much better job for the vets."

Trump's tension with McCain has been brewing ever since Trump criticized the war hero for being captured in Vietnam. McCain telling me back in May, he wants Trump to apologize to POWs.

MCCAIN: When he said, "I don't like people who were captured," then there's a body of American heroes that I'd like to see him retract that statement.

RAJU: The avalanche of Trump's controversial statements prompting several prominent Republicans to break from their party and back Hillary Clinton.

President Obama used the weight of the office to slam Trump at a news conference with the foreign leader at the White House.

OBAMA: The Republican nominee is unfit to serve as president.

RAJU: And blasting Republicans for standing by their nominee.

OBAMA: If you are repeatedly having to say in very strong terms that what he has said is unacceptable, why are you still endorsing him? This isn't a situation where you have an episodic gaffe. This is daily. And weekly, where they are distancing themselves from statements he's making.

RAJU: Trump firing back.

TRUMP: Well, he's a terrible president. He'll probably go down as the worst president in the history of our country. He's been a total disaster.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU: Now, earlier this morning, Trump tweeted that there's, quote, "great unity" inside his campaign, perhaps more than ever before, but down ballot, that's just another question.

In Arizona, McCain's biggest challenge will be navigating the forces of Trump in a general election, where he'll have to court Latino voters upset at Trump and Trump's own loyal supporters in the state. So all this infighting, guys, only bound to distract from the Republican effort to project unity.

CAMEROTA: OK, Manu. Stick around, if you would.

We also want to bring in CNN political analyst and host of "The David Gregory Show" podcast, David Gregory; and "Washington Post" reporter Philip Rucker, who interviewed Donald Trump yesterday, and that's where you made a lot of news.

Gentlemen, great to see you...

BERMAN: A little.

You know, everything, as we've been talking about. But Phil, your interview with him certainly did. So David, let's start with this disaffection that's been reported by Dana Bash among Donald Trump's top lieutenants, who -- including his chairman, Paul Manafort, who seem to think that, unless he can stay on message and become more disciplined, that donors are getting cold feet and top Republicans are getting cold feet. What now?

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, Donald Trump has been the ultimate disrupter in this political campaign, but now he seems to be moving into the area of self-sabotage. And I think that's what has people concerned.

The fact that a campaign that has been so disruptive has said, "Look, let Trump be Trump," and now what's spilling out is all of this dysfunction, I think, takes it to a different level. The lack of unity in the Republican Party a couple of weeks after their convention has to be deeply troubling, for a very simple reason.

How does he start adding to his base of support? He seems to be detracting from it. He's like a street brawler, just taking on all comers here, instead of a disciplined candidate. And you're seeing that disaffection play out among his staff and, of course, in Phil's interview with "The Post," so revealing because he's just all over the place on so many of these different issues and giving people a lot of anxiety inside the campaign, within the party.

BERMAN: Yes, you can forget unity within the party. I mean, there's a unity issue, apparently, with his own campaign. I mean, Phil Rucker, you are a great reporter. You know there are people -- there are three reasons people like No. 1, great reporters you get you to do it without their knowledge.

No. 2, they want to send a message to the candidate.

No. 3, they want to cover their own butts, because they're embarrassed by what's going on, and they don't want to be connected to whatever is happening inside a campaign. I think options two or three are the most likely here. When these campaign staffers are leaking overnight that there's disarray, that they're mailing it in, you know, including Paul Manafort. It's significant in and of itself that these leaks are happening.

PHILIP RUCKER, REPORTER, "WASHINGTON POST": It is significant, but it's also nothing new. Donald Trump, they've been promising a pivot from him to be acting more presidential now for months. I remember back in May, I think it was, Paul Manafort told the Republican National Committee that Trump would be a new Trump in the general election. We've yet to see that.

I think what we're learning is that Trump is going to do what he wants to do, say what he wants to do, make news when he wants to make news. I don't think what he had to say yesterday about Paul Ryan and John McCain, for example, was any planned strategy by his campaign team. I think this was just Trump sort of mouthing off about what was on his mind.

A lot of his supporters find that refreshing. The problem is, it's not the most disciplined approach when you're running for president of the United States.

CAMEROTA: That's interesting, Philip, because it does sound like what he said to you about Paul Ryan and John McCain did sound planned by him. Maybe not by his campaign.

RUCKER: By him.

CAMEROTA: Yes, by him. So let's JUST read a portion of what he said about Paul Ryan. When asked if he was going to -- by you -- if he was going to endorse Paul Ryan, "I like Paul, but these are horrible times for our country. We need very strong leadership. We need very, very strong leadership, and I'm just not quite there yet. I'm not quite there yet."

David, that rings -- there's an echo there. It sounds awfully familiar. That's what Paul Ryan told Jake Tapper about Donald Trump in May.

GREGORY: Right, and so this sounds like nothing more than Donald Trump saying, "Well, I'm not so sure about him either. We'll just have to see."

CAMEROTA: But it's payback, right? The fact that he's using the exact same words, doesn't that sound like, "Oh, I remember and feel a little vindictive about this"?

GREGORY: That's right. And I think he's just keeping everyone kind of at bay here and still said, I mean, there is -- what is refreshing to so many Trump supporters, that he would just go completely, you know, from the gut on any particular day, is what has, I think, people around him so worried, what has donors worried, all of these things.

Donald Trump has been very successful as a candidate doing it this way. But what he's doing -- I mean, he has got to unify the Republican Party. And then he's got to start adding to what his base of support is with women, with minorities, with independent voters.

And I think one of his problems, if you look at white-collar voters, where he's losing ground, when most Republicans have an advantage here, is that independent voters, white-collar voters, they're paying attention to these kinds of flows in the news cycle. And they're the ones who are most impressionable when it comes to questions of temperament, fitness, knowledge of the issues, as well as kind of self-discipline, as well as a candidate.

BERMAN: Look, this isn't just a finger in the eye of Paul Ryan. It's the middle finger in his eye. I mean, it's really an unmistakable statement that he made to Phil Rucker right there.

You know, Manu Raju, one of the things our friend Alice Firth (ph) at "The New York Times" is reporting is that all political reporters are hearing right now, is that maybe more Republicans will come out and break with Donald Trump in the coming days.

They're looking at these off-ramps right now. This debate with the Khans has really made it something that is more possible and could happen any minute, any hour today. You saw Sally Bradshaw, advisor to Jeb Bush. You saw Maria Comella, who is a big advisor to Chris Christie.

Now you see Meg Whitman, who was a Republican candidate, a big donor. We're talking hundreds of millions of dollars to her own campaign and to other campaigns over the years, a supporter for Mitt Romney. She says she's voting for Hillary Clinton.

Will more people come out over the next few days?

RAJU: You know, John, I think you definitely can expect some of these more prominent Republican operatives, donor types, people who are just in that more establishment or moderate, right-of-center camp in the Republican Party begin to break ranks.

But what is challenging for Republicans in Congress, particularly ones who are in tough re-election races, even in blue states, purple states, swing states, is that they cannot distance themselves totally from Donald Trump, because they need Donald Trump's supporters to come out at the end of the day.

So they will need to court Donald Trump supporters. They -- but at the same time, they'll have to reach out to those disaffected people in the middle, people who are alienated by Donald Trump, Hispanics, minority groups, people in New Hampshire, like Kelly Ayotte, who in Phil Rucker's piece, who Trump criticized.

And she is still supporting Donald Trump, even though she's saying I'm not, quote, "endorsing him." You can make that distinction. It's a sign that she needs those Donald Trump supporters in her race, even if she can't fully embrace him, given New Hampshire's moderate leanings. You're seeing that happen all over the country. Really a bind that a lot of these Republican lawmakers are in, in these tough re-election races.

Team Clinton -- I mean, the president has jumped into this, as well, creating a kind of a momentum that all these Republicans are about to break. We're not seeing that. Senator McCain issued a blistering critique and rejection on Donald Trump's attack on the Khan family, and he's not renounced his support.

Where is Rob Portman in Ohio? Kelly Ayotte in New Hampshire? That will be the test, as to whether there's an unraveling in the party that's real. They are worried about this core Donald Trump support, which is very, very strong.

I go back to what I said at the beginning. The core is very strong. It's how he adds from there that is the real test of the general election. But you know, seeing these other Republicans break will be whether they're really willing to stick the tiger in the eye and say, "You know, I'm going to sacrifice my potential chances, you know, for honor," if that's what they really believe. CAMEROTA: So President Obama threw down the gauntlet basically about

this very thing yesterday, saying that there -- it is time for Republicans who say, I disavow what he said, to now change their endorsement. So listen to President Obama.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: And the question, I think, that they have to ask themselves is, if you are repeatedly having to say, in very strong terms, that what he has said is unacceptable, why are you still endorsing him? What does this say about your party that this is your standard bearer?

CAMEROTA: I don't know, Phil. When President Obama chastises Republicans, I don't know if that gets them to get on board any more quickly.

RUCKER: No, but I think this is a -- this was a notable development for President Obama. He's had a lot of negative things to say about Donald Trump over the last few months, but this was by far his sternest rebuke yet. He actually went on to say, "Look, I don't talk about my political opponents this way. When I ran against John McCain and Mitt Romney, I argued with them about ideas. I didn't think they should be president, but I never doubted that they were either qualified for the office or that they had sort of common human decency and would follow the established rules of being president, and that that is not the case with Donald Trump."

So I think he's trying to send a message to the country at large that this is dangerous, that he does not -- he truly does not think Donald Trump is ready to succeed him, even if that's what the voters might want.

GREGORY: He's really speaking to independents and moderate voters. Core Republicans hear that and say, "Really? You don't like Trump? I like him more."

CAMEROTA: OK, panel. Stick around. We have much more to talk about, what's going on in the DNC. But we'll get to that in a moment. We do have some breaking news to tell everyone about. Thick smoke and flames shooting out of an Emirates Jet after it apparently crashed upon landing. Emirates Airlines has confirmed an accident occurred.

So let's go straight to CNN's Isa Suarez. She's live in London with the breaking details. What do we know, Isa?

ISA SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Alisyn.

An Emirates Boeing 777 making its way from southern India to Dubai International Airport experienced what Emirates Airlines are describing as an accident upon landing. We know that on board, 275 passengers, including crew.

We also know that, thankfully, they are all safe. Reports from the Dubai government's media office saying everyone is safe. There are no reports of injuries so far. And everyone has been evacuated, Alisyn. Now, we're looking at that plume of smoke on our air right now. Other

images that are seen on social media show pretty much what can be described as dramatic visuals, Alisyn . The front portion of the plane pretty much not standing on its feet. The front landing gear, what it looks like from it, the front landing gears may have collapsed, and then the plane slid.

This is just what our experts have managed to figure out for the time being. Of course, an investigation will be looked upon in the next couple of hours. We know that Dubai flights have been -- flights into Dubai have been delayed but have not canceled.

But of course, Dubai is the busiest international airport in Emirates, the largest airline we know, Alisyn. The Boeing 777 has a very good safety record. So no doubt they'll be looking into exactly what happened. Thankfully, no reports of injuries thus far, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: And 275 people safely evacuated. That's another big headline. He said please keep us posted when they figure out what went wrong there. Thank you for that reporting.

BERMAN: All right. Up next for us, what did Donald Trump say when he was given a Purple Heart? What did he say about a baby that has so many people talking today? New controversy surrounding the Republican nominee. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:19:03] TRUMP: Now, I said to him -- I said to him, "is that, like, the real one, or is that a copy?"

And he said, "that's my real Purple Heart. I have such confidence in you."

And I said, "man, that's like big stuff." I always wanted to get the Purple Heart. This was much easier.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Donald Trump facing criticism for those comments. He was given as a gift a Purple Heart from a veteran at a campaign event. One man is particularly outraged by what you just heard, the father of the fallen Muslim-American soldier currently in a feud with Donald Trump. In an interview with Anderson Cooper last night, Khizr Khan seemed to barely contain his anger.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KHAN: Donald Trump, you had the time. You did not serve. You know what you should have done? And listen to me, and I want his surrogates to listen to me. You should have pinned that back to that veteran's chest and should have hugged him and thanked him. That is lack of -- I'm sorry, guys. I'm shouting. I'm just so upset at this lack of empathy, lack of common sense. (END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:20:20] BERMAN: Bring back our panel right now. David Gregory, Manu Raju, Philip Rucker of "The Washington Post." And Gregory, legitimate criticisms of Donald Trump, or is this now just in the context of what was already a tough week for him piling on?

GREGORY: Yes, I think it's probably the latter. I think the biggest mistake that Trump has made, based on the reaction of allies, other Republicans, and the general public is attacking this family to begin with, the Khan family to begin with.

And now he's kind of in the arena of getting batted around on anything that has to do with the military. So it doesn't appear that he's actually going to apologize. I think he continues to elevate this -- the issue by, you know, staging an event like that where he accepts a Purple Heart.

Look, the military, the aspect of the military support for him, whether it's former generals and others, is very interesting, because I think Trump will have a lot of support. And not everybody will...

BERMAN: He does have a lot of support.

GREGORY: Yes, he does. And we're just also in a different time politically, where the notion of his own service, that he got multiple deferments. I think the political class has kind of moved on from that, as we've now elected presidents who no longer -- who no longer served.

CAMEROTA: But -- but Phil, isn't it a little politically dicey for Donald Trump to say, "I always wanted the Purple Heart"? Well, there would have been a way to get that, had you not deferred, several times, service. I mean, going there, does it -- does it open the door for criticism?

RUCKER: Yes, you know, that quote, I think, exposed him. When I interviewed him, it was shortly after that rally. And he actually pulled the Purple Heart out of his suit pocket to show it to me. And he was so proud of it. I think -- and I said, did you not think about giving it back to the veteran? How can he take this from him?

And he just insisted that this veteran wanted him to have it. It was an odd moment. And I think, certainly, he's exposed himself to criticism for his kind of flip remark about always wanting the Purple Heart, especially because it came on the morning when "The New York Times" had a front-page story about his lack of service in Vietnam and the deferments.

BERMAN: It's the timing of it, right? That service is part of the discussion. That all these other things are going on that made it complicated. I mean, it's a show of devotion and commitment from the supporter to give him the gift, you know, a Purple Heart. There's no, you know, doubt that that man supports Donald Trump right there.

Manu, I want to talk about another story in the news right now about the other party, the Democratic National Committee, which overnight had a purge. I mean, they got rid of three top staffers at the DNC, largely because of their role in this entire e-mail hack, the things they said that were revealed in this hack. There's a kind of upheaval right now in the Democratic Party ranks while no one is looking.

RAJU: That's right. And a lot of Democrats wanted this to happen much sooner, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, who I interviewed last week. And he told me that this should have happened six weeks ago, eight weeks ago, particularly Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who of course, abruptly resigned just as the Democratic convention was beginning in light of this e-mail hack.

There's a real concern, John, that there are going to be more of these e-mails that are going to come out in the coming weeks, that there will be more and more leaks, that it will reveal even more embarrassing disclosures.

So as much as we're talking about Donald Trump and his controversies right now, all these issues about the Democratic -- the way they handled the primaries, other things that they said to big donors, could come back to light. So that's why we're seeing right now Democrats cleaning house, trying to suggest they're moving in a different direction before we possibly see even more embarrassing revelations come out in the coming days and weeks.

CAMEROTA: David, how big of a problem is this shake-up for Hillary Clinton?

GREGORY: Well, it's a problem for a couple of reasons. One, it's a horrible thing to have to go through in the middle of a general election race. You wonder about the potential effectiveness as a party in terms of getting out the vote and things like that.

Were it not for Donald Trump and his daily headline-making machine that is his campaign, it would loom -- it would loom even larger. I think the largest danger is that the Democratic Party is not immune from the kind of unraveling we're seeing on the right.

The forces of populism and disaffection and anti-establishment fervor within the Democratic Party is real. And just like the Republican Party did not pay attention to what was happening in the Tea Party and the other populists they had and ultimately got Donald Trump as a result, the Democratic Party, I think, is just sitting on that same kind of powder keg, if they're not careful.

BERMAN: A purge, though, may give you the sense that they are taking care of it. They are fixing whatever problems, maybe.

GREGORY: Kind of obvious fixes. I mean, given some of the e-mails we've seen so far, you're going to take that obvious step if you're interim chair, Donna Brazile. And there are going to be more things to come that are going to be distracting and potentially embarrassing.

[06:25:03] I think they probably will invalidate what's already known, that this was tilted toward Clinton or any insider to the exclusion of the outsiders, and that's going to continue to wrangle those Bernie Sanders supporters who are still out there.

CAMEROTA: Phil, let's talk about sexual harassment. You asked Donald Trump about his comments. He was asked by Kirsten Powers, a columnist for "USA Today," about what would you do if your daughter, Ivanka, was sexually harassed at the workplace? And he had originally said something, "Well, I would hope that she would find a new career or a new job," which of course, is, to many, not the right answer, because you don't have to be sexually harassed at your workplace. There are laws against that, and you can fight them within your workplace.

BERMAN: You should be able to fight them.

CAMEROTA: You should be able to fight them. So his idea, well, you just get out of there, seemed a little antiquated. You went back and asked him about that again yesterday. What did he tell you?

RUCKER: I did. And I said, why -- why should it be up to your daughter to leave her workplace and find a new career? Shouldn't she be able to challenge this from within?

And, you know, Trump had a -- had a kind of long, circuitous answer, but it basically came down to choose your own adventure. You can, A, challenge the system within, you know, press charges against your boss, try to get him fired, whatever works within your company, or B, leave and find a new career if you feel like you're being harassed unpleasantly in the workplace. And he said it would totally up to the individual.

So he did not come down on the side that absolutely, the victim in this case should stay put in her career and stay working where she's working and challenge the authorities there. But she should choose what's best for her based on the circumstances in her life.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BERMAN: So Ivanka Trump herself finds herself in the middle of this discussion that her father has been engaged in, her brother has been engaged in. She herself became part of that discussion last night. She was asked about it, and she had a response very different from that of her father. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVANKA TRUMP, DAUGHTER OF DONALD TRUMP: I think it's -- sexual harassment is inexcusable in any setting. I think harassment in general, regardless, sexual or otherwise, is totally inexcusable. If it transpires, it needs to be reported, and it needs to be dealt with on a company level.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That's the answer I think if Donald Trump had given or Eric Trump had given, we would have moved on.

GREGORY: Yes. Ivanka Trump is not running for president, you know. Her father is. As impressive as she is, as appropriate as she is, as a counterbalance to her father, it is irrelevant. Because while she has a lot of influence, apparently not a lot. Because he still goes off and every day we're talking about this. Donald Trump is not talking about why Hillary Clinton should not be president, about the economy, about all this.

BERMAN: Obamacare issues.

GREGORY: It's a lot of wasted opportunities.

CAMEROTA: Panel, thank you very much for all of your insights and sharing your reporting with us. We have a quick programming note. Join us tonight for a live CNN town hall with the libertarian ticket. Anderson Cooper is going to be speaking to Gary Johnson and William Weld about the alternative they present in this race. That's tonight, 9 p.m., only on CNN.

BERMAN: We're following breaking news. An Emirates Air flight catching fire after a crash landing in Dubai. We have new details coming in. That's next.

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