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William Weld: Trump Has "A Screw Loose"; Libertarian Candidates Make Their Case In CNN Town Hall; U.S. Makes $400 Million Payment To Iran On Day Prisoners Freed; Aerial Spraying For Mosquitoes Begins In Miami-Dade County To Combat Zika; Officials: 41 U.S. Military Service Members Infected With Zika. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired August 04, 2016 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:31:30] WILLIAM WELD, LIBERTARIAN VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think he's a, you know, he's a showman, he's a Pied Piper, he's the Music Man. But more recently it's gotten a little bit more serious and the noun that comes to my mind is a screw loose.

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: That was Libertarian vice presidential candidate William Weld slamming Donald Trump. That was during CNN's Libertarian town hall last night. Former Gov. Weld was joined by his running mate, former Gov. Gary Johnson, who may have a real chance. They may have a real chance at making the national debate stage. They need to get to 15 percent in the polls. Right now they're at 12 percent in the latest national polls, just a few points away from that magical 15 number to get on stage.

The two governors are joining us right now. Gentlemen, thanks so much for being with us. You know, Alisyn Camerota just had a fine interview with Congressman Sean Duffy --

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you.

BERMAN: -- of Wisconsin, who said something really interesting at the end. This is Congressman Duffy who, reluctantly, is supporting Donald Trump because he says that Hillary Clinton is so bad but he doesn't really like Donald Trump.

He, essentially, says we have to make a choice between one of these two unsavory choices. You need to break through to these people. Why are you having difficulty convincing people there are more than two choices?

GARY JOHNSON, LIBERTARIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, John, 60 percent of Americans don't even know we're actually in the race. And based on your interview, Alisyn, I mean, he's acknowledging two candidates in the race, there are three. And I thought last night's town hall, again, just a terrific opportunity to be able to express what we're about where the Democrats and Republicans aren't. CAMEROTA: And Governor, what do you say to people who say well, you know, I don't like Hillary Clinton. I sure don't like Donald Trump but, you know, I'm going to have to choose between those two? And basically their argument is that they're the two viable candidates. One of those has a chance of winning and at 12 percent, you guys don't.

WELD: Well, you know, I think the duopoly, the two-party monopoly in Washington has gotten to the point where it's kind of run out of gas and it's even bad for the country. I mean, it's almost like traumatizing for people to hear the Democrats and Republicans who exist for the purpose of killing each other.

It's like, you know, kids when their parents are heading toward a divorce. The kids get traumatized. They can tell that the grownups aren't getting on. And I think that monopoly in Washington is not serving the country well. We do offer, I think, a quite appealing alternate path.

BERMAN: It's interesting because you're critical of both candidates in both parties, in your own way. But it seems that you go an extra step when it comes to Donald Trump. You said Donald Trump has a screw loose.

WELD: Oh, yes.

BERMAN: You didn't say that about Hillary Clinton.

WELD: No, no. I don't think Donald is temperamentallysuited for the job of president which is why I said, not without affection, that maybe he could consider a different line of work to pursue. You know, the real estate business, the laundry business, anything except President of the United States.

CAMEROTA: But a screw loose goes beyond not temperamentally fit. What do you mean by a screw loose?

WELD: Well, you know, how people handle credit and blame is often very revealing about them, and in Donald's case he seems to want all the credit and he seems to be pretty liberal about dishing out the blame when things don't go his way. That's not so good for a president of the United States.

Maybe you can run a business empire that way, as long as you don't care what people think of you out there in the marketplace, but President of the United States? I mean, we've got allies, we've got constituency groups in the United States. That's just not going to work.

BERMAN: So, Gov. Johnson, CNN holding another town hall at the end of next week for Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, the fourth party candidate, if you will. You've made a plea to Bernie Sanders' supporters -- you know, people who supported Bernie Sanders who may not have fallen in behind Hillary Clinton. Why should Bernie Sanders' supporters go for you and not Green Party, Jill Stein? [07:35:00] JOHNSON: Well, we just want a look from Bernie Sanders' supporters. We think that about 75 percent of what we've got to say really ties with Bernie Sanders' supporters. But look, government is not capable of income equality. Peter taking from Paul -- that's an equation that Peter really loves and the government is incapable of overseeing that.

But if Bernie Sanders' supporters are looking for equal opportunity I think we deliver that in spades, and that is something that government can accomplish and I think it's what most people are looking for.

CAMEROTA: Specifically, what do you offer that neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump can?

JOHNSON: Well, a unique combination of being small government -- proven small government. Two Republican governors serving in heavily Democrat states getting re-elected. What's that all about? Being fiscally conservative and socially tolerant -- socially inclusive. Who cares what you are socially as long as you don't force it on anyone else.

So, allowing people to have a choice in all cases, except when those choices put other people in harm's way. And then I think unique is -- look, whenever we get involved in regime change, these military interventions have resulted in a less safe world, not a more safe world, so how about a couple of skeptics at the table when it comes to further military action?

I thought it was interesting last week that the -- there was a poll of active military personnel, who would they vote for president? Thirty- nine percent, Johnson-Weld; 31 percent, Trump; 20 percent, Clinton. I think that that just speaks volumes about judicious use of U.S. power.

WELD: Another thing that we offer that brand X and brand Y don't offer is we can say we've done it, you know. We were both Republican governors in blue states succeeding Democratic governors and we cut spending and got the fiscal house in order.

And nobody can say we didn't change our states, you know. We instituted a more conservative fiscal policy with balanced budgets and the record is there. I cut taxes 21 times, Gary cut them 14 times. We never raised taxes a penny. You think that's going to happen in the United States if the Democrats win the election? I don't think so.

JOHNSON: And our pitch is if either Trump or Clinton get elected, look, it's going to be more polarized than ever. What if you elect us in that office, hiring Democrats and Republicans, a really bipartisana dministration? All of them will be Libertarian-leaning but absolutely bipartisan. And really, being able to call both sides out, saying come on to the table, let's deal with the issues that we have.

BERMAN: Can I ask you one thing you guys brought last night that was very interesting? You basically presented the idea of a co- presidency, right? You would be working together with a shared staff. You know, this was something that was sort of discussed in 1980 when Ronald Reagan was considering Gerald Ford as his running mate. How does that work? I mean, can that possibly work?

WELD: Well, you're the president, you've got to endorse the idea. But I will tell you, I think --

BERMAN: You like it more than he does. You love this idea. You're all accepted toward it.

JOHNSON: No, no, no, no, no, I love the idea. Bill Weld is a role model to me. Having him as a running mate is just beyond my wildest dreams. I think it's two for the price of one and, right, no divided staff. Bill did this as governor of Massachusetts.

WELD: My lieutenant governor and I shared a staff and did not have an argument in seven years, and everything worked very smoothly.

BERMAN: But you -- but you were in charge. I mean, there's got to be one president.

WELD: No, no, I -- if Paul Cellucci said Bill, privately, I think you may be wrong on this, I listened to Paul Cellucci because he'd been in the Legislature for 14 years. He knew a lot of stuff I didn't. I came out of the world of prosecution and finance and law. Different backgrounds but we got together before the campaign to run as a ticket, just as Gary and I have. We've known each other for 20 years. We were good friends as governors.

CAMEROTA: John demands complete autonomy on set so he doesn't understand what you're saying, but I do.

BERMAN: I have no idea about how the presidency works.

CAMEROTA: Gentlemen, yes, I get it. Gentlemen, thanks so much for being here.

WELD: Oh, thank you.

CAMEROTA: Great to talk to you, as always. Well, the U.S. revealing that it sent Iran $400 million on the very day that American prisoners were freed. Some are calling this a ransom payment. We'll debate that, next.

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[07:42:50] BERMAN: "The Wall Street Journal" is reporting senior Justice Department officials did not want to send a plane filled with $400 million to Iran at the same time four U.S. prisoners were released. Critics say the money amounts to ransom. The White House says no, it doesn't.

Here to discuss, CNN political commentator and former CIA counterterrorism analyst, Buck Sexton. And CNN national security analyst and former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, Juliette Kayyem.

Guys -- Buck, I want to start with the idea of what we've actually learned in the last 24 hours because the day that the deal was announced, or the day that it went into effect in January, President Obama said we're sending money to Iran. Let's just remind ourselves what he said.

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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States and Iran are now settling a long-standing Iranian government claim against the United States government. Iran will be returned its own funds, including appropriate interest, but much less than the amount Iran sought. For the United States, this settlement could save us billions of dollars that could have been pursued by Iran. With the nuclear deal done, prisoners released, the time was right to resolve this dispute, as well.

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BERMAN: That was January, you know, at the time David Sanger and "The New York Times" reported $400 million had gone to Iran. So, in your mind, what was different, what was significant about what we learned yesterday?

BUCK SEXTON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER CIA COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: Well the report from "The Wall Street Journal" makes it clear that there were pretty considerable lengths that the administration went to, including transferring from U.S. dollars to another -- to other forms of currency, and that's something that they didn't tell us about. And to have done it in U.S. dollars would have been a violation of U.S. law. So they weren't being upfront with the American people about that, right, and that's something that I think automatically raises questions.

Then you look at the timing of this and the reality is that much of the Iran was phased out over a number of years. I don't think that anybody was supposed to get the impression that we were going to get these hostages back -- I mean, these were prisoners being held by Iran for no reason -- and giving them cash on the same day.

Saying that we've resolved this dispute, it made it seem as though, yes, there will be wire transfers, it will all be done on the up and up, when the reality is this was like a payment to a Mafia Don. I mean, this was essentially protection money.

This was hey, we're showing up with all this cash for you which is, obviously, completely untraceable. We're doing it in a way that tries to evade or get around existing U.S. law. And there's a reason they weren't upfront with the American people about it.

[07:45:00] BERMAN: But if you're trying to hide a $400 million cash transfer, a good way to hide it is not to tell the American people that I'm giving Iran a whole lot of money. You do agree with that?

SEXTON: I'm sorry, if you --

BERMAN: Well, if he was really trying to hide it -- the White House was trying to hide the fact that they were paying Iran this money, why would they have announced it at the time? SEXTON: Well, why would they speak about it in a way that it wasn't clear that they were deciding to send a cargo plane full of cash to Iran? That's not what you get. That's not what you get --

BERMAN: He absolutely did not say that.

SEXTON: Yes, he did not say that and there's a reason that he did not say that, which I think we have to keep in mind. And there's also a reason why people, when they learn about this, say wow, this looks like a ransom payment for hostages. So say that it's coincidence is insulting to the intelligence of the American people.

BERMAN: All right, Juliette, about that.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, AUTHOR, "SECURITY MOM": It's insulting, I guess.

BERMAN: The White House hates the word ransom.

KAYYEM: Yes.

BERMAN: They absolutely -- any chance they get they say it wasn't ransom. However, they really have a hard time answering the question. They don't really answer the question when asked if they did not get the money -- if Iran did not get the money would these hostages have been released.

KAYYEM: And the reason why is -- let's just go back to January of this year. So there's three different negotiations going on simultaneously and I call them past, present, and future. Past is the debt we're talking about, present is getting the hostages who were then being held in Iran out, and the future is the nuclear deal.

They are done on three different tracks simultaneously because, of course, we're in the new era with Iran. So it would be very hard to say that well, we don't -- you know, if you take one piece away hard to know what would happen with the other piece. So this idea that something that was announced in January is now somehow nefarious because the administration did not want to violate U.S. law.

And the means -- I mean, maybe you'll criticize the means by which they sent the money there, fine. I mean, whatever. But the idea that because it was the same time period that that somehow shows that this administration violated U.S. law is, you know, sort of beyond the pale. And so, what people don't understand, there are three concurrent negotiations going on at the same time. That's because a deal is being made --

BERMAN: Right, right.

KAYYEM: -- with a nation that we did not have relations with for a couple of decades.

BERMAN: This feels like the type of thing where the U.S. government just can't admit that sometimes they give money for hostages --

KAYYEM: Well, there's a reason --

BERMAN: -- or there is -- but it seems like it happened. Iran got money, hostages were released. Without the money, the hostages wouldn't be released, but we just can't speak those words out loud because of diplomatic protocol.

SEXTON: It seems like --

KAYYEM: Well, that is -- no, no, no, that would be true. I would agree with you if this $300 million, $400 million came out of nowhere, right. This was a litigated sum of money based on an agreement we made in 1979 that we, essentially, abandoned because they took our hostages, so it's not like this number came out of nowhere. There was litigation going on that we needed to settle.

If, out of nowhere, we find out that the administration sent $400, $300, whatever -- $1 billion over to Iran, then you'd have an argument. But this has been existing for a couple of decades.

BERMAN: Buck, 10 seconds.

SEXTON: The timing tells you everything. This is preposterous. Anybody can look at this and say OK, we've owed them this money for this long and it just so happens that perhaps the same day there is this $400 million cash transfer when we get these hostages -- beyond the pale, beyond belief, no way that is, in fact, what the administration was trying to get accomplished.

BERMAN: Buck Sexton, Juliette Kayyem, thanks for being with us, appreciate it -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Cases of Zika, John, in Florida have officials taking action today. What Miami is now doing and there are 15 people that have contracted the virus there. So we're going to have the mayor of Miami-Dade County on next with what you need to know.

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[07:52:50] CAMEROTA: All right, we have an update for you now on the Zika virus in Miami. An aerial spraying operation is underway to help bring down the mosquito population. Fifteen people in one Miami neighborhood have contracted Zika. Officials are taking steps now to try to combat the outbreak.

So joining us is Carlos Gimenez. He's the mayor of Miami-Dade County. Mr. Mayor, thanks so much for being here.

CARLOS GIMENEZ, MAYOR, MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FL: It's a pleasure to be here.

CAMEROTA: Explain what you're doing today to try to combat this.

GIMENEZ: Well, this is a -- we're doing aerial spraying for adulticide, which basically helps control the adult population of mosquitoes. And then we're going to follow that up with larvicide, which kills any larvae that may be around which then -- obviously, then, prevents them from becoming adults.

And so there's going to be four cycles of this. Today was our first mission on adulticide over a 10-square mile area, and then we're going to follow-up with larvicide over a 2-square mile area and we'll do that four times, once a week, for weeks.

CAMEROTA: So Mayor, are you confident that this spraying that you're doing of insecticide is bad for the mosquitoes but OK for humans?

GIMENEZ: Well, this kind -- this insecticide that we use is being used all over the state of Florida and has been for a number of years. There are a number of other counties that spray on a regular basis in the state of Florida to control the mosquito population.

Frankly, if they didn't do that it would be very, very uncomfortable to live in certain parts of the state. So it's not something that's unusual in the state and it's EPA-approved, and so we're very confident that it's a safe product. Like I said, it's been used all over the state for a number of years.

CAMEROTA: OK, so how confident are you that these 15 cases will remain at just 15 cases?

GIMENEZ: Look, you can't be assured that that's going to be the case. We are constantly looking. We are giving the message to our -- to our residents here that prevention is the key. If you're going to go out at certain times of the day, especially during the early morning and early evening hours when the type of mosquito that may be carrying the virus is active, then wear some long clothing, socks, a little bit of mosquito repellant so you won't get bitten.

[07:55:00] And so that's the message that we've been sending and we think it's been pretty successful. But again, you know, this is -- we have 2.7 million people in Miami-Dade County. We've had 15 cases. It's isolated to a 1-square mile area. We haven't had any new cases in a couple of days.

We also haven't found any mosquitoes that are actually carrying the virus because we trap thousands of mosquitoes every day to determine if actually they're carrying the virus. We haven't found a mosquito yet that has that so hopefully this is an isolated case and then we can contain it, and we're doing the best we can to make sure that that's the case.

CAMEROTA: Mr. Mayor, this is not connected to you but I do want to give our viewers an update in terms of the cases because we also understand that 41 military service members have also contracted Zika, including one pregnant service member. Now most of those folks are serving in the Caribbean, they're not in your neighborhood. But, it does show that the numbers are higher, even than the 15 known cases in your neighborhood. Are you confident in the federal government? Do you believe that the Feds, in terms of funding and everything, have done all they can?

GIMENEZ: Well, I think -- look, what we want from the Feds is funding so that we can get more research so that we can actually develop a vaccine. That's going to be the ultimate outcome of the Feds. You know, we have sufficient money here in order to do the things that we -- that we have to do. Could we use a little bit more to reimburse us for the expenses, sure? We can -- we can certainly, you know -- that would be good for us.

But we're doing everything that we can here to -- and we're following all the recommendations of the CDC and also our State Department of Health, so the issue is not one of funding for us for the things that we have to do. But research, that's the key to see if we can, you know, basically make Zika a non-issue.

It's really -- Zika is -- the problem with Zika is that 80 percent of the people that actually get it don't even know they have it, it's that mild. But it does affect a small number -- a certain percentage of the population. It could affect, you know, pregnant women and their fetuses and so that's the big concern with Zika.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

GIMENEZ: But for the average person, even though they contract it they don't even know they have it. So that makes it a little bit more difficult, too, to track because we have some people here that may have had it and didn't even know they have it. And so, look, Miami is home to a lot of people that were born elsewhere -- Puerto Rico, South American, et cetera. There's a lot of traveling that goes back and forth between Miami and their home countries.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

GIMENEZ: And so that's the reason why we had so many travel-related cases here. But we've known that for a while and we've stepped up our prevention and our education efforts for some months. And it's unfortunate that we just did have that little pocket and hopefully that will be -- that will be the end of it.

CAMEROTA: Last, Mr. Mayor, and we only have a few seconds left, $82 billion industry is the tourism into Florida. Have you seen any drop in tourism dollars, given that there's that CDC travel advisory against that Miami neighborhood of Wynwood?

GIMENEZ: Well, remember, this is one square mile of 2,400 square miles in Miami-Dade County. This is, you know, a distance away from our major tourist center which is basically South Beach, Miami Beach and this is not really prevalent there because of the ocean breezes. They've got -- it's another type of mosquito that may be there but not this kind of mosquito.

CAMEROTA: OK.

GIMENEZ: So we want -- we're going to put that message out. It is safe to come to Miami-Dade. There is this one square mile that we had an outbreak on. I think we have a handle on it but we're going to continue our best efforts and hopefully it will not have an effect, but it may.

CAMEROTA: OK. Mayor Carlos Gimenez, thank you very much for being on NEW DAY.

GIMENEZ: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: We're following a lot of news this morning so let's get right to it.

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GINGRICH: Every time he talks it's clearly a mistake.

TRUMP: By the way, those people that knocked down the World Trade Center, under the Trump policy, wouldn't have been here.

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R), ILLINOIS: He has crossed so many red lines.

TRUMP: The campaign is doing really well. It's never been so well united.

PAUL MANAFORT, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: The Clinton machine may not like it but we're prepared for the fight.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Anyone who can be provoked by a tweet should not be anywhere near nuclear weapons.

BERMAN: President Obama now enjoying his highest approval rating of his second term.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a very good sign for her.

WELD: The noun that comes to my mind is a screw loose.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: President Obama sent $400 million to the Iranian regime at the same time as four American hostages were being released.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It is not a ransom payment. It is against the policy of the United States to pay ransom for hostages.

TRUMP: Two more have been kidnapped since then. Where's it going to end?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone, welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Thursday, August 4th, 8:00 in the East. Chris is off, John Berman joins me. Great to have you.

BERMAN: Good to be here.

CAMEROTA: OK, Donald Trump insists that his campaign is more united than ever. This, despite reports that party leaders and senior advisers are frustrated with some of his repeated self-inflicted wounds.