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Delta Grounds Departing Flights Due to System Outage; Trump Suggests Clinton Mentally Unfit to Be President; George P. Bush Breaks with Father Over Trump; Katie Ledecky Shatters Own World Record in 400-Meter Freestyle. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired August 08, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Folks, we're playing games with Hillary.

[05:58:20] HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I may have short-circuited it, and for that, I will try to clarify.

TRUMP: She took a little short circuit in the brain.

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA), VICE-PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: She said over and over again, "I made a mistake, and I'm going to fix it."

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I wish that I could be fully enthusiastic. I can't be.

NEWT GINGRICH (R), FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: You're looking at the last few days, I think he's gotten the message.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is day three of the Olympic games.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Team USA breaking records in Rio.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been electric.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Katie Ledecky took her first gold of the games, breaking her own world record in the process.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The women's U.S. gymnastics team dominating the competition.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is Michael Phelps' 19th gold medal. There really is no stopping him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Wow. Were you up watching? Were you screaming, "USA! USA!" all over the place?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: I ended up watching some of the highlights the next morning, but I'm just as excited. CUOMO: Holy cow. Ledecky, huh?

KEILAR: Yes.

CUOMO: It's like she's got an outboard motor strapped to her in the pool.

KEILAR: I know. It's amazing. Very exciting swimming.

CUOMO: Very cool. We've got Olympic fever here on NEW DAY this morning. Good morning to you. It's Monday, August 8, 6 a.m. in the East. Alisyn is off. Brianna Keilar is here with me.

KEILAR: Very nice to be here.

CUOMO: It's good to have you. And we do have breaking news for you. Delta Airlines grounding all departing flights around the world this morning. Why? A system-wide computer failure.

KEILAR: Yes, and there's a ripple effect that we're seeing. It is causing major delays for air travelers today. We want to go to CNN's Alison Kosik now. She has all of the breaking details on this big story.

Alison, what can you tell us?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, this is a system-wide computer failure, forcing Delta to actually ground departing flights around the world. Thousands of Delta passengers are currently on stand-by as the airline works to fix this problem.

Now, the airline just released a statement confirming the problem, quoting this: "Delta experienced a computer outage that has impacted flights scheduled for this morning. Flights awaiting departure are currently delayed. Flights en route are operating normally, which means they're going to continue to finish out their routes."

Now, long delays are being reported all over social media in airports, including London, Tokyo, and Los Angeles. We're seeing a lot of activity online, as well, with lots of pictures. A U.S.-bound Delta passenger in Rome posting this picture that you see here while waiting in line for more than an hour early this morning. Now, this tweet showing passengers getting ready to camp out as they await for the issue to be resolved using the hashtag #DeltaMeltdown2016.

Now, what is Delta telling passengers? They're urging passengers to check their flight status before going to the airport. They're also reaching out to frustrated travelers on Twitter, apologizing and trying to assure passengers that they're working to get things back up and running. Of course, keep watching NEW DAY. We're going to keep you posted throughout the morning on any developments -- Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Can't get the planes in the air, but the Twitter account still working. All right. We'll stay with you on this. On our other top story, the obvious one, the election. Donald Trump says today is the day that he makes policy his priority. Does he have a real plan for making the economy better? He's going to answer that question in a big speech today in Detroit.

But of course, he's still sticking to his main strategy, which is insult Clinton. He is now suggesting that the Democratic nominee is mentally unfit to be president.

We have it all covered. Let's begin with Jason Carroll live in Detroit. That's where Trump is going to speak in just hours -- Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And you know, Chris, that Trump is very comfortable talking about the economy. He plans to do that later on today in an economic policy speech. He plans on hitting on a number of topics, reviving manufacturing jobs, also perhaps the idea of making childcare payments tax-deductible. All this in an effort to reboot his campaign after a disastrous week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: She is a totally unhinged person. She's unbalanced. And all you have to do is watch her.

CARROLL (voice-over): Donald Trump stepping up his blistering attacks on Hillary Clinton, suggesting the former secretary of state is mentally unfit to be president.

TRUMP: The people of this country don't want somebody that's going to short circuit up here.

CARROLL: Trump using Clinton's own words against her. She continues to repeat a debunked claim that the FBI director said she was truthful about her use of a private e-mail server as secretary of state.

CLINTON: So I may have short-circuited, and for that I, you know, will try to clarify.

CARROLL: Clinton's running mate, Senator Tim Kaine, coming to her defense.

KAINE: She said over and over again, "I made a mistake and I've learned from it. I'm going to fix it." We're going to be real transparent, absolutely.

CARROLL: Trump's ramped-up rhetoric against Clinton coming ahead of his speech on economic policy in Detroit, where he is expected to unveil his agenda for revitalizing the American economy. All this as the Republican nominee is coming off one of the worst weeks of his campaign that saw Trump repeatedly engaged in controversies instead of focusing on Clinton and battling slumping poll numbers in a number of key battleground states.

KASICH: He's going to win parts of Ohio where people are really hurting, but I still think it's difficult, if you are dividing, to be able to win in Ohio. I think it's really, really difficult. CARROLL: And this morning, a new CNN poll of polls shows Hillary

Clinton with a ten-percentage-point lead nationally, leaving some in the party saying it's time for Trump to pivot his campaign.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to see Donald Trump change the positions he needs to change and particularly change the tone and tenor of the debate sufficient to win the election in November.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: And Trump made an effort at party unity with those last- minute endorsements of House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senator John McCain, and Senator Kelly Ayotte on Friday. And, you know, Brianna, some were wondering, is it too little, too late? Trump supporters say not the case. Plenty of time to make up ground here.

Clinton, we should also mention, for her part will also be here in Detroit delivering her economic policy speech. That will be on Thursday -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Busy week for Detroit. Jason Carroll, thank you.

Well, Jeb Bush has said he is firmly never Trump, but his oldest son, George P. Bush, is breaking with his dad and his family. In a meeting with Texas GOP activists, he is now urging Republicans to back Donald Trump in order to stop Hillary Clinton from winning.

CNN's Jessica Schneider joining us now with more on this -- Jessica.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna, it is a major break in message for the Bush family. George P. Bush acknowledging that his push to get behind Donald Trump is a complete flip from his father Jeb's stance.

[06:05:07] But nonetheless, when the 40-year-old Texas land commissioner stood before Republicans in the state Saturday night, he stressed that they must set aside that bad blood from the primaries and get behind the nominee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE P. BUSH, SON OF JEB BUSH: From Team Bush, it's a bitter pill to swallow. But you get back up and help the man that won, and you make sure that we stop Hillary Clinton.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: And George P. Bush there referring to Team Bush. His father Jeb battled in a bruising primary with Donald Trump and has adamantly stated he will not be voting for Trump in November.

Donald Trump, of course, unleashed a barrage of bashes against Jeb Bush throughout the primary and beyond. Most memorably, calling him a low-energy stiff, also weak and ineffective, "a pathetic figure desperate and sad," and finally "a total embarrassment to his family." Last month Jeb Bush predicted Trump's campaign supporters would feel

betrayed by empty promises if Trump was elected. Presidents George W. and H. -- George H.W. Bush have also refrained from backing Trump, making George P. the first Bush to call for party unity to defeat Hillary Clinton -- Chris and Brianna.

CUOMO: All right. Thank you. Let's discuss.

Let's bring in CNN political analyst and national political reporter for "The New York Times," Alex Burns; CNN politics reporter, M.J. Lee; and CNN political commentator and senior contributor at "The Daily Caller," Matt Lewis.

M.J., only in this election are the punch points on a graphic of your main case against someone all insults like we just saw with Jeb Bush. But today is supposed to be a different day. Policy. What are the expectations for Donald Trump when he gets up there? How much meat on the bones does he have to put at this point in the race?

M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, he is calling this a major policy speech. He is going to talk about his jobs plan. And this is really important right now because, as you know, Brianna, you've been on the road with Clinton a lot. This has been her main message since coming out of the Democratic National Convention. She and Tim Kaine have really been hammering home this message that, you know, the two of them can do a lot more than Donald Trump and Governor Pence than, you know -- to create jobs and actually help the middle class.

They've been touring factories. They've been going to places in countries where people really need the help. And I think that Donald Trump really needs to sort of nail this one.

I will say, a lot of talk about is he going to stay on message, is he going to read, actually his, you know, prepared speech on the teleprompter and not sort of veer away? We've been here before. We have asked that question before. And yes, he could have one day where he really does stay on message. But I do think that he always sort of proves that he isn't really capable of doing that for a longer period of time.

KEILAR: Is he really capable of a pivot in this regard? Is it just one day of making a speech and then, really, he kind of becomes his own worst enemy again?

ALEX BURNS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: This is the man Republicans nominated, and they knew this when they chose him. And it was a big part of his appeal in the primaries, that this is a guy who shoots from the hip and says what's on his mind. And it turns out what's sometimes what's on his mind is, you know, some observations about a Gold-Star family that turn out to be controversial, or some resentments about a federal judge that he wants to air.

The Republicans have tried before to get him to just get on the prompter, get on the script, and stick to it over a sustained period of time. It works for a period of days. You see him maybe starting to get positive reinforcement, that he's a guy who likes to read good headlines about himself. So there are headlines that, man, Donald Trump really nailed that economic speech in Detroit. Maybe that'll extend the run a little bit.

But you always know, and Republicans really after last week have given up hope that the guy is not just going to veer off at some point pretty soon.

CUOMO: The guy's style, Donald Trump, is a problem. That's no secret to anybody who's watching the race. Matt, the concern for you, though, as a member of the party, is substance. And that could be his salvation with his style problems, that he's actually offering the what and how that will cater to your party's interests going forward. What do you need to hear today?

MATT LEWIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, I think that, you know, obviously Donald Trump's economic proposals are at odds with a lot of conservatives in terms of fiscal economic policy, but let's put that aside. I think their winning argument, to top -- Donald Trump can get to the populist side of Hillary Clinton. I think saying that she's mentally unstable is stupid; it's ridiculous.

What you should say is that she's not truthful, that she's part of the status quo, and that she is in bed with big business, with the globalists. I think Donald Trump...

CUOMO: But that's not a policy plan. What do you want to hear as a policy plan?

LEWIS: Well, he's laying it out. So he's going to have a moratorium on new regulations. He's going to attack trade deals like TPP and NAFTA that Hillary Clinton supported or, in some cases, her husband; in the case of NAFTA, her husband was behind, along with Republicans, as well.

He's going to talk about things like killing the death tax. He's going to talk about making childcare tax deductible.

[06:10:05] So these are real populist, public policy positions that I think will be public -- will be popular with the American people, if he can keep from messing it up and talking about Gold-Star families.

KEILAR: But this is really the issue, is the -- when you look at whether people trust Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton on the economy. This is the fight that we're seeing them have in Pennsylvania, in Ohio, and when you look at the polls, it's pretty interesting how tied up it is, according to this new ABC/"Washington Post" poll on the economy.

Who do you trust to handle the economy? And 48 percent say Clinton; 46 percent say Trump. Obviously, that is pretty close. But this could be, certainly, where the Clinton campaign thinks the election is going to be in November.

LEE: Yes, absolutely. And Donald Trump is really making a play for states like, you know, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan. And from the beginning, you know, his message has been sort of this economic populist message that Washington has not been working for the middle class. And I think that's a message that will work really well for him in the general election, only if he can stay on message.

I think Matt also makes a really interesting point about sort of the battles that Donald Trump really has to pick and choose when he is going after Hillary Clinton. He should not be questioning whether she's qualified or whether she's prepared to be president of the United States. He really needs to go after her weakness; and her biggest weakness is whether people think that she is honest and trustworthy.

CUOMO: Also Alex, you have the concern of people are hurting. There's no question that he has tapped into something. We know that. That part of the discussion is over. But when people are hurting, they also have very low tolerance for B.S. at a certain point. They want you -- they want to know, what are you going to do for me?

So there's a little bit of a plus/minus in saying, "I'm going to tell you what I'm going to do for you, Alex, and I'm going to tell you how my opponent stinks." That could be playing with fire.

BURNS: Absolutely. And I would add to that, Chris, a lot of people are hurting in ways that Donald Trump is not talking about. So if you're a former factory worker who's been hurt by international trade deals, Trump is speaking to you.

If you're living in the suburbs, and you're a paralegal or your mortgage is under water or you're barely above water now after, you know, getting hit really hard in the financial crisis, trade deals don't necessarily have anything to do with your experience of a sluggish economic recovery.

He does needs to find a way to reach those suburban moms and dads, maybe some urban moderate Republican and independent voters who are open to the idea of a change but who simply don't relate to the post- industrial experience that has been the framework for the Trump campaign.

KEILAR: Matt, does he need to be doing better on the economy against Hillary Clinton? When you're looking at these numbers, should Donald Trump be fearful of where he is?

LEWIS: Well, he should absolutely be fearful. He's getting crushed. The trajectory is entirely wrong. Ever since the conventions, he has collapsed.

The good news for him is he get -- if -- there's no reason to believe he will be disciplined, but he actually still could turn it around. And I think the economy is part of it.

I really think, even though I don't agree with it in terms of economic policy, his populist message has real appeal. I mean, Hillary Clinton is not likable. She's not popular. And the truth is that she's part of this globalist free trade, you know, paradigm that has fallen out of favor. Trump can get to her populist left if he stays disciplined. CUOMO: And if he has something to offer beyond saying, "I'm better

than she is." I think that's where he is, and that's why this is such a big moment in the campaign.

Panel, thank you very much.

Always good to hear what the experts say, those who are covering. But what about the voters? That's what this is going to come down to. We have a panel of Republicans and independents. What do they want to hear from Donald Trump today?

KEILAR: And Team USA off to a strong start in Rio. Both swim teams flaunting big victories with one athlete smashing her own world record. Meantime, the women's gymnastics team proving they have what it takes to defend their Olympic title. CNN's sports anchor, Coy Wire live in Rio with more.

Coy, give us the latest.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi, Brianna.

Second day of games in the books. The medals already stacking up. On top, you have USA, 12 medals in total for the Americans. China at 8. Italy and Japan tied with seven each. So we'll see how these counts continue to play out.

Now, one of the highlights yesterday, guys, Katie Ledecky. I talked to her earlier in the day just after she had broken the Olympic record in the 40- meter free. All smiles. She said it would bode well for the night, and boy was she right.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE (voice-over): Teen sensation Katie Ledecky shattering her own world record in the 400-meter freestyle. Ledecky pulling away from the competition by nearly five seconds, blazing to gold.

Michael Phelps making a splash in his return to Olympic competition, leading the men's 4-by-100 relay. Phelps building up a big lead on the second leg, rocketing his team to the finish.

[06:15:03] It's the 19th gold medal for Phelps, 23rd overall, the most decorated athlete in Olympic history.

The women's U.S. gymnastics team dominating the competition with jaw- dropping performances, posting the highest scores in all but one event. Simone Biles making a flawless Olympic debut, advancing with Aly Raisman to complete for best all-around.

But on the tennis court, an end of an era: reigning champions Venus and Serena Williams suffering a shocking defeat, beaten in the first round of women's doubles, a first ever for the sisters at the Olympics.

Also ousted in the first round, the world's No. 1 player, Novak Dokovic, losing to Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina. Another Olympic dream dashed, this time in the women's road race. Annemiek van Vlueten of the Netherlands rider taking a terrifying plunge over her handlebars in the downhill stretch. She's in intensive care with a severe concussion and three minor spinal fractures but is expected to recover.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE: That's good news to hear.

OK, now, what do we want to watch today? Day three in Rio, we're going to see Michael Phelps back in the pool, this time in his first individual event, the 200-meter butterfly, prelims and semi.

We'll also see the Dream Team in action against Venezuela and the U.S. men's gymnastics team looking to win gold in the team competition finals.

Chris Cuomo, bongia bendido (ph) in Rio. I've got a big Brazilian steak for you. We'll get some workouts on the beach. Come on down, buddy.

CUOMO: Get those pipes working with a USA fist pump, Coy Wire. You look like you should be competing in the Olympics, not covering it. There it is. That's what I'm talking about. Thank you, Brother Wire. Talk to you soon.

All right. So another big battle going on, obviously, is for the presidency. Hillary Clinton now in this poll of polls. What's that? Well, we'll remind you, we look at the major polls. We give you a cumulative average of them. That's our best way to give you a snapshot. Why is Clinton up by more than ever? Our panel weighs in next.

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[06:21:08] KEILAR: Hillary Clinton is extending her lead over Donald Trump in several national polls. CNN is releasing a brand-new poll of polls, which is an average of the last six surveys. And it shows Donald Trump trailing Hillary Clinton by ten points.

So how does he close that gap? That is what he is certainly focused on right now.

Let's bring back our panel. We have Alex Burns, M.J. Lee, and Matt Lewis. All right. So let's just talk about this spread right now. When you're looking at ten points, what does that tell us at this point in the race about where the race is, whether Donald Trump can come back from this? What do you think?

BURNS: I think that in a lot of ways, the most important number in that poll of polls is the 39 percent for Trump. You know, Clinton's lead has fluctuated between the low single digits to the high single digits, now just barely cracking double digits.

What's really revealing is the Republican nominee for president, after his convention, cannot crack 40 percent of the vote. This is a pattern we saw before he chose Mike Pence as his running mate, before he delivered his rousing acceptance speech in Cleveland. He just seemed to have a ceiling on his support, that a lot of people in the general election simply didn't want to get on board with him.

If he falls back into that pattern, that's very, very ominous for Republicans, much more so than whatever Clinton's lead happens to be.

CUOMO: M.J., you could argue he's never left that pattern. You know, he has always been in full attack mode. It got him through the primary. He sees Clinton as even more susceptible.

And let's put up the poll number that feeds his theory, which is the honest/trust number. OK? That's his advantage right now. Now, you know, he's not shining that bright eye there, when you look at these are not the most trusted people in America right now. These are probably the worst numbers we've ever seen from party nominees at this point in an election. But why is this the key for him?

LEE: Right. I mean, this is why I was saying earlier that this has to be the issue that Trump talks about when it comes to Hillary Clinton over and over again. Yes, deliver your message about the economy; talk about policy. But when it comes to Hillary Clinton, he has to say over and over again she cannot be trusted and she is not honest, because that's the issue that, frankly, bothers voters the most.

And that's why I think last week when she sort of had these misleading statements about Comey's statements about...

CUOMO: The head of the FBI.

LEE: ... her use of a private e-mail server at the State Department. That was actually kind of confusing that she didn't just stick to her script of, "Look, I said I was sorry, but I apologized. I made a mistake, nothing more to see here. Let's move on. That has to be the script that she sticks to when she talks about this issue.

KEILAR: Matt, I think you can feel that people are very anxious. And we have some poll numbers that are backing that up. People were asked, does a Trump presidency make you -- and we had them rate how -- during this poll was how anxious. Very and somewhat anxious, 70 percent said that.

You ask the same question to people about Hillary Clinton in this ABC/"Washington Post" poll, 51 percent. That is a staggering difference. How does that translate to voter support?

LEWIS: So Donald Trump has a lot of problems. Still has an opportunity but a lot of problems.

The good news for Trump is that seven out of ten Americans think we're on the wrong track. And so this is a change election. The political universe, the world wants this election to be a change election.

Hillary Clinton is the status quo. She is the establishment candidate that represents where we are today. Donald Trump could be the change agent. In order to become the change agent, he has to pass a threshold test. He has to be minimally acceptable to the American public. They can't be afraid of him. They can't think that he's -- that he's, you know, chaotic or undisciplined.

KEILAR: So then where would you put that? How -- how many -- 70 percent is high. So how many...

CUOMO: It's even more than that, because it's 70 plus 28, right? Because it's very, somewhat anxious; very, somewhat comfortable. You've got to look at both of those numbers. I don't mean add them together.

KEILAR: Yes.

[06:25:05] CUOMO: You only have 28 percent of the people saying you make them comfortable.

KEILAR: That's right.

CUOMO: And you have 70 percent making you very uncomfortable.

LEWIS: So the challenge for Donald Trump is that Hillary Clinton has made this election, amazingly, a referendum on Donald Trump. Donald Trump has allowed this to happen. This should be about change versus more of the same. Trump should be the change agent. And yet, it's now a referendum on Trump.

He is not passing the threshold test. He needs to be minimally acceptable. That means disciplined. That means he can't say crazy things for the next 90 days.

CUOMO: Right. But he didn't -- he didn't set himself up. What did you make of -- Clinton teed this up for him last week. He had a very bad week. I was on vacation, and even I know that. But short- circuited. "I short-circuited." That's like something that you think only the Clinton campaign would come up with. You know, she kind of teed it up for him.

KEILAR: We keep seeing them both do that. That's the other thing. Remember, it was she was sitting down with the FBI, and the Star of David thing came up. And so you're seeing this in the same way. She didn't stick to what she had been saying all along.

And I wonder if part of that is because the explanation still to this day, Alex, is not that great about the e-mails. So how does she, I guess, manage that?

BURNS: I think as M.J. was saying before, the only way to manage this is to try to not talk about it. If you get into the details of litigating the specific decisions and when they were made and why she did them on the emails, there are no really good answers for her to give on this, right.

I think there are particularly bad answers, and short-circuited might have been one of them, but there are ways of pivoting away from the issue. I do think that, you know, you do have to wonder. And I don't want to be too speculative here, but on some level, Hillary Clinton has always insisted that she truly didn't do anything wrong, right? And when offered the opportunity to sort of double down on the idea that no, I didn't do anything wrong...

KEILAR: So she's revealing, you think, what she really thinks.

BURNS: Well, I'm not going to put the candidate on the couch, but she has always said there was nothing in particular that was profoundly inappropriate about what she did. And I think it can be difficult for a candidate who feels that they've been wronged in some way to maintain the kind of self-control that it takes to stop talking about a damaging issue.

CUOMO: Especially when you know it's an issue that does resonate with people and they have definite feelings about. So now you're invalidating the voters. That's always a dicey proposition.

M.J., Alex, thank you very much. Brother Matt Lewis, always good to see you there in the screen. He's got his own TV shot. Must be important.

KEILAR: Of course he is.

Well, summer fun turning to tragedy at a Kansas water park. A 10- year-old boy killed in an accident on one of the world's tallest water slides. We're going to talk about what we're learning about the victim and what may have happened here.

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