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New Day

Parents of Two Benghazi Victims Sue Clinton; 50 National Security Experts Sound Alarm on Trump; Candidates Battle For Win in Florida. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired August 09, 2016 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:38] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Kansas now say 10-year- old Caleb Schwab was killed as a result of a neck injury while riding the world's tallest water slide this past weekend. Investigators are still trying to determine how he got that injury. The slide at the Kansas City water park is 17 stories high, drops riders at about 50 miles an hour. Now, some guests reported that the slide's harness wasn't working properly. We'll stay on this story.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And three young girls injured when they fell 40 feet from a Ferris wheel at a county fair in Tennessee. Authorities say the basket they were sitting in somehow overturned. Emergency workers took two of the victims from the scene by $, helicopter and another was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. All three girls are said to be alert and communicating. All of the mechanical rides at this fair have been shut down as they investigate.

CUOMO: Well, we knew it was going to be more than one day and it is. Headaches continue at Delta. The airline cancelling nearly 250 flights today, delaying at least 200 others. Why? Well, the obvious. It's trying to recover from this commute computer meltdown it had that it says was caused by a power outage.

Delta is trying to deal with the challenge of trying to find enough seats to accommodate the tens of thousands of stranded passengers. So, Monday's outage grounded 1,000 flights. That's what they have to make up especially with the new delays of 2,600 more. They're giving you like $250 voucher for the inconvenience.

How does Brianna Keilar feel about that?

KEILAR: Can you get a flight for $250 these days anywhere?

CUOMO: Seems like you can't get a flight for any price on Delta right now. You have to wait.

KEILAR: No. It seems like that doesn't go way. But --

CUOMO: No, it doesn't. But the truth is this is one of the things we often see with the airlines. We fly all the time, so it's different for us. But when they make a mistake, the question is, how do they make it up to the consumer? We'll see what Delta figures out. KEILAR: That's right.

Well, let's talk about this, 50 of the world's top foreign policy and national security experts, they are slamming Donald Trump, all of them Republicans saying that he would be one of the most reckless presidents ever. But Trump's campaign has a message for them. Our panel will debate this next.

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[06:36:54] CUOMO: All right. So, past controversies back in the headlines for Hillary Clinton. The parents of two Americans killed in the 2012 Benghazi attacks just filed a wrongful death and defamation suit against Clinton. How is this going to affect the whole specter of what Benghazi means in terms of this election?

Let's discuss this with the former Democratic governor of Michigan and senior adviser for pro Hillary Clinton super PAC, Jennifer Granholm, and CNN political commentator and former lieutenant governor of South Carolina, Andre Bauer, who is supporting Donald Trump.

We also want to talk about this letter that came out to 50 national security experts from your party, but this lawsuit, this plays on heart strings not just on the legalities involved. Wrongful death, whatever you did wrong was the approximate cause of the death of somebody. So, it's a high standard of proof even though it's not criminal, it's civil.

Do you think this lawsuit is a political tool? Or do you think that this could win in a court of law, Andre?

ANDRE BAUER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I'm not schooled in law. That's probably a better question for the governor, but it's a difficult situation no matter how you slice it on the families, on the voters. It's just a tough thing to talk about.

I engaged one time in the Khan situation, no matter what the facts are, you kind of throw those out the window because the emotions in the loss of a child.

CUOMO: So what's the point of the lawsuit? How do you rebut a charge like this, governor? You have obviously it's Patricia Smith and Charles Woods, Sean Smith and Tyrone Woods were the two who were lost at Benghazi.

What do you do with a lawsuit like this?

JENNIFER GRANHOLM (D), FORMER GOVERNOR OF MICHIGAN: Well, I do think -- first of all, of course, she is going to say that she -- the families obviously are really important and understandably be sympathetic toward their loss, but there have been nine congressional panels that have looked at this specific question of her wrongdoing and have cleared her of that, so there's a high burden for those who are suing on that given the amount of discovery, the amount of findings that have already occurred through non-partisan or bipartisan panels. CUOMO: The wrongful death part is really where that analysis would

lay to bear. The defamation suit I'm assuming is a function of the suggestion of the families that Hillary Clinton told them when she met them that it was the video tape that was to blame for that incited this attack and that later on she denied that. When it came out to the parents, then you lied to us. She says, no, your recollections the recollections of those family members must be off. They're saying that was defamatory, that she's lying about them.

What about that claim?

GRANHOLM: Yes, I think that too is a high bar you have to reach because there are others who side with her in terms of what she actually said, including the other families' victims who may not be members of this particular lawsuit. I think it's a tough, it may be a tough case.

You know, no one can doubt that the pain of these fami1ies is very real and they want to seek some kind of closure.

[06:40:01] So, you can't blame families for trying what they can, but I do think legally this is going to be a tough one.

CUOMO: And then you have a similar situation now in terms of political impact with these 50 former national security advisers. In truth, I don't know how this will play because I never heard of anything like this before where members of a party in mass like this -- I don't know how they got 50 people together this way -- come out and say not only does Donald Trump not know foreign policy, he doesn't seem interested in knowing about it and that he might be the most reckless U.S. president ever.

How do you deal with that?

BAUER: I would disagree. If you look at Hillary Clinton, she has 40 years of bad judgment and Donald Trump is a change maker. He is running against Washington.

I know when I became lieutenant governor, declassified all lieutenant governor employees. You should have seen the chaos, because they aren't used to change.

And, look, he's talking about -- he's talking about being a big boy. These other countries that entered into NAFTA, now, they're not paying their fair share, it's time -- the burden is paid by everybody, not the U.S. government. We can't continue as good stewards of the taxpayer dollar to pick up the tab for everybody else.

So, I'm glad he's engaged in these conversations. Lot of folks say, oh, you shouldn't talk about that. I think it's wrong as a leader not to say, wait a minute, you're not doing what you said you do and we are and we need do something.

CUOMO: So, you dismiss out of hand 50 of your party's top foreign experts saying this is the wrong guy? BAUER: I don't want to ever dismiss anybody, but I think again you're

seeing Washington kicking and screaming lot of folks in his own party, because he is saying, look, we're changing Washington. It's broken. It's not working and he ran against the Republican Party establishment from the get-go.

So, it's not anything new. The establishment is not going to support him now, they didn't support him before.

GRANHOLM: Chris, I think that everyday you are seeing more and more evidence of conservatives backing away from him. I'll be curious to see today for example the fallout from the economic speech. Granted, he went after and absorbed the same tax bracket that Paul Ryan had put out. Gotcha.

On the estate tax, though, this is a really interesting one, to me, because he claims to be a blue collar billionaire. And yet .2 percent of Americans pay the estate tax because you have to have $11 million of worth before that even kicks in. How can you -- I get the billionaire part. But the blue collar part, that makes no sense.

CUOMO: Well, it plays to people's idea of keeping what's theirs, you know? Your family worked hard for this money. They built their family farm or they built their family fortune, whatever it is or whatever they have and now, the state gets to come in and take more of it after their dead and more of it?

GRANHOLM: Except he has been trying to woo the Bernie Sanders people. The question of income inequality plays itself out incredibly in this estate tax question. You want Waltons of Walmart to keep all of their money where they have this -- the Walton family, whatever the statistic is has more than 90 percent of the country or something like that.

I mean, why would you continue to keeping this particular provision, getting rid of that particular provision. What does it mean for him and for those who are on his committee that have advised him? How many of them would benefit from it? I think it will be interesting to see how that plays out, too.

CUOMO: How do you defend the last point?

BAUER: I think that's a great point actually. I didn't think about it like that as far as the Bernie Sanders' folks. I think that he philosophically believes it's wrong. I don't think that he put it out there to try to get votes because he could have just done it after he got elected.

I think it's an overall -- look, if you work hard in this country, you sacrifice, you shouldn't have to sell everything when you die when you transfer it --

GRANHOLM: Not everything.

BAUER: Well, a lot of times that's what happened because the assets in the business, it's not like they're sitting on the money in the bank. So, I think it's an overall what he believes the fiduciary responsibility of the government is and the fairness of taxation.

CUOMO: Interesting points. We'll keep spinning it out as we hear more of the details in the economic plan and this big news that came out today of this lawsuit and this 50 experts coming together. Thank you for all of that.

GRANHOLM: You bet.

CUOMO: Appreciate it.

Brianna?

KEILAR: Chris, Florida may just be the biggest of all battleground state battles and winning it could be a ticket to the White House for either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. This focus on Florida in our special battleground series, ahead.

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[06:48:21] CUOMO: The body of another young woman was found in the woods this time 60 miles west of Boston in the town of Princeton. Police are investigating the case as a homicide. The victim 27-year- old Vanessa Marcotte. Her family reported her missing Sunday afternoon. She went for a jog they said and never returned. Her body was discovered with burns to her hands, feet and head. You'll remember that Karina Vetrano was just found in Queens. She, too, had gone running and never returned.

KEILAR: South Florida is dealing with another case of the Zika virus. This is the first locally acquired case in Palm Beach County. Governor Rick Scott said the infected person recently traveled to Miami-Dade County which is ground zero for the local outbreak there. There are 17 cases locally transmitted of Zika in South Florida, including at least 14 in Miami's Wynwood neighborhood, two as well in Broward County.

CUOMO: File this under dangerous and bizarre. Take a look at this -- 23 people got hurt when this dog went on a two-hour rampage tearing through a street in China.

Look at that dog. It just keeps attacking people at random, jumping, chomping down hard on them, refusing to let go. Police captured the dog and were ultimately forced to kill it. It is unclear if the dog had an owner or what set it off. Look at running down the street, one dog.

KEILAR: That's scary.

CUOMO: Well, expect Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump to spend a whole lot of time in Florida between now and November because this is the biggest prize of all of the battlegrounds. We have a look at the political stakes in the Sunshine State next.

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[06:53:37] KEILAR: Now to our series on battleground states. Today, we focus on the biggest prize, we're talking about Florida. Hillary Clinton will be campaigning in Miami today. And recent polls suggest she has the edge in the state.

But as CNN's Martin Savidge found out, Florida is very hard to predict.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Brianna. A lot of people come to Florida and maybe as a result of that, they may think they know Florida, but politically this state has been changing and changing fast. It's not your grandfather's Florida anymore.

(voice-over): With 29 electoral votes, Florida is the biggest prize of the battleground states. But the difference between winning and losing here is often really small.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In 2012, Obama just won Florida over Romney by 0.9 percent. This is a fiercely fought for state.

SAVIDGE: There are currently roughly 4.4 million registered Republicans and close to 4.6 million Democrats. The Florida voters both campaigns want are the nearly 3 million independents who give this swing state its swing.

Who are they? Data shows they're young, part of the influx of new residents gone to work rather than retire.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you take the youngest generation the millennials, which are the 18 to 34-year-olds, plus the Gen-X, the generation right ahead of them, they make up around 47 percent of Florida's registered voters.

[06:55:06] SAVIDGE: Gone are the days a candidate could only talk Social Security. Younger voters have other concerns -- jobs, the environment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would say tissue of student loans.

SAVIDGE: These swing voters include Hispanics, not traditional right- leaning Cuban Americans, but Puerto Ricans with different politics, their numbers growing fast.

(on camera): Six to seven thousand --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thousands.

SAVIDGE: Every month coming to Florida.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To look for opportunities or see what is happening.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Republican organizers say they've been paying close attention to these new arrivals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Republican Party we're focused on the economy and really how we can help them really achieve that American dream that most Puerto Ricans are looking for.

SAVIDGE: Hillary Clinton's campaign also is making a big push for Hispanic voters in the state. Relying on Hispanic volunteers and selecting a running mate, Tim Kaine who is fluent in Spanish.

(SPEAKING SPANISH)

SAVIDGE: The Democratic ticket holding its first appearance together last month in Miami.

(on camera): One last thing about these critical voters, they all live in roughly the same area, going from Tampa to Orlando and Daytona. The I-4 corridor, it's the battleground of the battleground state.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: What a crowd. Florida, we love Florida.

SAVIDGE (voice-over): Donald Trump was there just last week. Clinton was there Monday with appearances in St. Petersburg and Kissimmee, but she seems to be there everyday on TV.

TRUMP: And you can tell them to go (EXPLETIVE DELETED) themselves.

SAVIDGE: Since early June, more money has been spent on TV ads in Florida than in any other state, with Clinton forces outspending Trump and his allies 12-1. That's $20 million versus $1.6 million.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I'm Hillary Clinton and I approve this message.

SAVIDGE: But Republicans say the key to Florida isn't going big with TV, it's going small. Identifying with what they call turfs, pockets of 6,000 to 7,000 voters where they focus hundreds of local volunteers. It's grassroots politics 101, straight out of the Obama Florida playbook.

The Clinton campaign is also trying to rewrite the playbook, going after Republican voters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a lot of Republicans, particularly in south Florida who are not happy with their nominee, who are having conversations with.

SAVIDGE: Wooing voters is one thing, but it takes organization to turn out the vote. The RNC says it currently has over 70 paid staffers with plans for at least 20 offices statewide. Democrats say they're aiming for at least 100 offices and already have well over 200 paid staffers on the ground.

(on camera): Judging by those numbers it may seem that Donald Trump is behind in this state organizationally, but some political advisers say he may be betting on a old tradition that campaigning during the summer is considered intrusive.

If he wins Florida, of course, he is a genius. If he loses, that may be looked upon as a big mistake in the battle for the biggest battleground state -- Brianna.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And we will see which it is. We're also following a whole lot of news. Let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: A group of 50 former national security officials warn that Donald Trump would be the most reckless president in U.S. history.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not the way commander in chief should act.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think this is anything I would take seriously.

TRUMP: Stop believing in politicians and start believing in our great country.

CLINTON: He's putting our economy at risk.

TRUMP: Every policy that has failed, is a policy supported by Hillary Clinton.

CLINTON: Trump is scrambling to do damage control.

TRUMP: She has been a disaster.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two golds in the pool on Monday night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Making waves and striking gold.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Phelps and le Clos face off tonight.

KEILAR: The U.S. women's gymnastic team prepares to defend its Olympic title.

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

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Big day coming up. We saw Michael Phelps qualify yesterday for the butterfly. You think he will win in the end?

CUOMO: Always. I always think America is going to win in the end. I don't have to think about it, Brianna Keilar. And don't try to mad dog me the way Phelps was doing with that guy from South Africa either. I'm --

KEILAR: I will be giving you the side eye.

CUOMO: Do not give me the stink eye either.

Good morning. Welcome to your new day. Alisyn is off. Brianna Keilar and I are with you this morning. The Republican resistance to Donald Trump seems to have reached a new high. Fifty former national security officials all Republicans writing an open letter warning that Trump would be the most reckless president in U.S. history.

KEILAR: And now, this morning, a key Republican senator says she cannot vote for Trump either, a day after he and Hillary Clinton squared off over their economic policies.