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Interview with Simone Biles; Trump Releases First Campaign Ad; Deadly Flood Waters Force Thousands From Homes In Louisiana. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired August 19, 2016 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:29:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: But, in particular, your floor routine -- there were moments -- maybe we have a montage of some of the moments from your floor routine. You were doing things that defied gravity. There were a few shots where I thought the floor was spring-loaded and it was like a trampoline that was sending you up. But no, those were your muscles doing that. How do you explain --

SIMONE BILES, OLYMPIC GOLD & BRONZE MEDALIST: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- how really head and shoulders you are above everyone?

BILES: I still think I'm the same level because we're all here for the same reason, to compete for our country at the Olympic Games. And I think that's what we all did and we did a very good job at representing everyone back home, so I hope they're all proud.

CAMEROTA: Everyone is very, very proud and it's very humble of you to say that. I mean, our sports analysts have said that it's possible that you are the best gymnast ever. What does that title sound like?

BILES: It feels amazing and I know there are a few greats ahead in there -- the ones that paved the way for us to be able to be here and do what we do, so we also can't thank them enough for providing this path for us.

CAMEROTA: Hey, Simone, I have two words for you, Zac Efron. What happened there?

BILES: He came down to Rio to surprise us and the team and it was very exciting.

CAMEROTA: Yes, and he gave you like a kiss. (Video playing) Look at this. He gave you a kiss and then you, for the first time that we've ever seen --

BILES: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- spellbound.

BILES: Yes. Yes, I did. I thought I was going to die.

CAMEROTA: Because you love Zac Efron. But this is -- this speaks to what your life is like now. I mean, you have become an overnight -- I guess, celebrity is the word. So now you're on the cover of all these different magazines -- "People" magazine, "Sports Illustrated", "Time" --

BILES: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- and you've also made it to the cover of a cereal box. What's that like?

BILES: Yes. Honestly, it's a huge honor and I can't thank them enough. And it's awesome that I can share the box with my teammates because we've put in so much hard work for us to be where we are.

CAMEROTA: But Simone, I mean, what does this mean for your life that you go from having a somewhat normal life, though of course you have devoted it to being a gymnast, but now to being recognized worldwide and being an American hero and being a celebrity?

BILES: It hasn't quite hit us all yet. I'm sure it will once we fly into New York and it will be very crazy, but it's also very exciting and rewarding. And I don't know, we're excited about it but it's a little bit scary, too, but it will be fun.

CAMEROTA: Yes, I understand those mixed feelings. Simone, on a brief sour note, and not to obviously take anything away from all the multitude of accomplishments that we've seen there, but what do you make of the whole Ryan Lochte --

BILES: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- controversy and what that's done to this Olympic Games?

BILES: I honestly didn't hear about it until the other day so I don't know what I'm exactly supposed to say about it. But we've been focusing on what we had to do here and then get media out of the way so that we can have a fun time in Rio.

CAMEROTA: That makes perfect sense. Have you -- one more negative note. Have you heard about fellow gymnast Gabby Douglas and what she's been experiencing, particularly with sort of cyber bullies online?

BILES: I guess I don't have a comment for that, as well, because us, as a team, we're just like sisters so we stick up for each other no matter what. So we've been protecting every single one of us while we've been out here because that's our job as a team.

CAMEROTA: Yes, let's talk about your teammates, the "Final Five". What's it like, all of you together? Tell us about that energy.

BILES: Yes, the energy is crazy. Now it's even crazier because we're all done so we have all the energy in the world and it's very exciting, and we're ready to enjoy and explore Rio. But the team comradery has been amazing. We're always there for each other in and out of the gym, and the support with each other is just like -- we're like sisters and it will be something we'll cherish forever.

CAMEROTA: Gosh, what a nice relationship. I mean, that is a lifelong gift and a bond that you all share -- BILES: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- and it's so nice to be able to watch it. But you keep mentioning all the fun you're about to have in Rio. What are your plans?

[07:35:00] BILES: Us, and the girls, we definitely want to go hit up the beach and then we want to go see Christ the Redeemer if we have time. And I also want to go see diving tomorrow. I want to see Steele Johnson, David Boudia, and Tom Daley dive, so we're excited, if we can get tickets for that.

CAMEROTA: You -- I hope you have time because those sound like great plans. What do you think it's going to be like when you five hit the beach?

BILES: I don't know, it will be crazy. We might try to go to the pool instead, so it's a little bit more low key. But we're excited to finally do things and enjoy the time in Rio and attend closing ceremonies on Sunday.

CAMEROTA: I bet you are, you deserve it. So, Simone, what's next for you?

BILES: Thank you. Once we fly home, soon after we'll start the Kelloggs Tour of Champions, so we'll be touring 36 cities in the United States and we're all so excited.

CAMEROTA: And what about 2020?

BILES: Yes, 2020 is very far away now and we just have to finish off the journey here in Rio. But once we go on a lot of vacations, because I think we've deserved it all, and have some fun, then we'll get back to normal life when everything settles down and start training again.

CAMEROTA: So you say you've had your sights set on that. I mean, it will be hard to outdo your performance here but that's what you -- that's your long-term goal?

BILES: Yes, in four years, after we have fun here. We have to still take in this moment and enjoy it.

CAMEROTA: Yes, I don't -- we want you to bask in the glory of this moment and not take anything away from that.

BILES: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: So, Simone, last, you are now seen worldwide as a hero. You know, so many girls do look up to you and people, frankly --

BILES: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- you know, your determination and everything. What do you do with that new term of American hero? BILES: Yes. Well, I guess it's the same since every world championship, every -- I hope everyone can look up to us as being confident young girls in everything that we do, and they can see us having fun and enjoying the moment.

CAMEROTA: Well, Simone Biles, thanks so much for taking time for us and, yes, go enjoy your moment and hit up the beach and do all the things that you want to see there in Rio. We've just loved watching you, so thanks so much for being here.

BILES: Thank you so much. Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Coming up in our next hour we will talk with Simone's first gymnastics coach and a group of kids from her hometown gym about their Olympic hero -- Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN HOST: That made my morning. We're going to go on a lot of vacations because we deserve it. No truer words have been spoken. That was great. All right, next, this week's CNN hero, using his love of horses for healing. Harry Swimmer was set to retire and when he met a girl with cerebral palsy she inspired him so much that he decided to transform his farm into a horse therapy camp for special needs children.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRY SWIMMER, FOUNDER, MITEY RIDERS, CNN HERO: Horses are very special animals, people just don't realize it. What do you say now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Walk on.

SWIMMER: That's my girl. We had a child on a horse who had a seizure and that horse stopped dead in his tracks. When nobody else noticed it the horse caught it first.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: You can watch Harry Swimmer's full story. Just go to cnnheroes.com. While you're there, nominate someone you think deserves to be a CNN hero.

CAMEROTA: Well, let the ad wars begin. Donald Trump releasing his first campaign ad, spending close to $5 million it. So will this help him bounce back in battleground state polls? We'll talk about that next.

[07:38:50] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:42:50] HARLOW: So, we have a first for you this morning. Donald Trump just releasing his first official campaign ad, the one he's finally putting money behind. It unloads on his rival, Hillary Clinton. It is set to air today in five key swing states. It targets Clinton on immigration -- watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Hillary Clinton's America the system stays rigged against Americans. Syrian refugees flood in. Illegal immigrants convicted of committing crimes get to stay, collecting Social Security benefits, skipping the line, our border open. It's more of the same, but worse.

Donald Trump's America is secure. Terrorists and dangerous criminals kept out. The border secure, our families safe. Change that makes America Safe Again. Donald Trump for president.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm Donald Trump and I approve this message.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: This ad comes on the heels of Hillary Clinton's new ad hitting Trump for not releasing his tax returns. Here to break it all down are Mark Preston, CNN politics executive editor. Good morning to you, my friend.

So about an almost $5 million ad buy we're going to see here across these key swing states of Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Ohio. This is clearly the same message that we heard from him on stage at the RNC. It is pretty dark in terms of the picture he paints of her. This is compared to $61 million that the Clinton camp has spent since just June.

MARK PRESTON, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "CNN POLITICS": Right, and the numbers are really not that much different, certainly the national numbers. What we've seen from the Hillary Clinton campaign but we did not see from the Trump campaign is that you try to define your candidate early through television advertising and the Clinton campaign has done that effectively.

So if you look at some of these swing states right now she has very large leads. Overall, if you look at the latest Pew poll -- national poll number -- there's only a four point difference. But really, this election is going to take place in the states that you just announced.

CAMEROTA: But isn't it also possible, Mark, that he's the crafty smart one because haven't you always told us that people actually plug in after Labor Day --

PRESTON: Right.

CAMEROTA: -- and really start paying attention? Maybe he's held his fire until the perfect time.

PRESTON: Well, also -- and the question is, too -- or really, the answer is that he hasn't raised money to pay for T.V. advertising. And, by the way --

HARLOW: Right.

PRESTON: -- he has been on T.V. nonstop since day one of his campaign so he hasn't had to go out to do television advertising. In many ways he has been one big commercial for himself.

[07:45:00] HARLOW: He had this so-called earned media.

PRESTON: Right, right.

HARLOW: This --

PRESTON: Right, and somebody said, too, is that for the Clinton campaign in trying to define Donald Trump -- in order for somebody to really take hold of a television ad they need to see it four or five times, so people might wonder why are they spending so much money in some of these states. Well, that's the reason.

HARLOW: There was some concern among party leaders, the RNC, that he hadn't been out there buying ads and as you get later in the cycle they get more expensive, so that's the other factor here. Do you see this play, in terms of the five states he's playing it in, as giving up on states like Virginia, for example, where he's 12 points behind her in the latest polling, but a key swing state? He's not playing these there.

PRESTON: Right. Look, I'm not a political analyst. It was supposed to go into Virginia, perhaps they still will. But the fact of the matter is when you put Tim Kaine on the ticket -- on the Democratic ticket -- who was a very popular governor, a very popular senator, she was already ahead there to begin with. That's a state that you don't necessarily want to invest in.

But you want to invest in a state such as Iowa, which the media market's not going to cost you as much money. We know Mike Pence is going to be in Iowa and has spent some time in Iowa. That's a battleground state. Ohio, you want to spend money. Florida, where there's somewhere between 13 to 15 media markets. That's really where you want to focus.

CAMEROTA: For the sake of fairness, we want to play one of Hillary Clinton's ads. People have already seen it and she's been playing it. But first, before we get to that, one fact check about the ad that he just played. He said that illegal immigrants who commit a crime get to stay in the country under Hillary Clinton's plan. That is not true.

PRESTON: Sometimes facts don't matter, especially when it comes to television advertising. They try to bend the rules as much as they can.

CAMEROTA: They don't have to be factual in their own ads.

PRESTON: Correct.

CAMEROTA: OK, so let's play this Hillary Clinton ad against Donald Trump -- watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And you can tell them to go (bleep) themselves. I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn't lose any voter, OK? It's like incredible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Her strategy is using his own words and showed that our children are listening.

PRESTON: Not grown up enough to speak like a grown up, let alone to be commander in chief, and that certainly has been an effective ad for the Clintons. But you know what's interesting? Kellyanne Conway said this to you yesterday in a great interview where she really kind of showed us the playbook of what's going to happen --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

PRESTON: -- over the next 80 days, with you, Alisyn -- is that she wants Donald Trump and the campaign to focus on Hillary Clinton and to try to define Hillary Clinton. In that ad we've seen that.

HARLOW: I think that was interesting. She said win the argument. And she said that she's surprised that Hillary Clinton, like other Democrats, don't have this real message that they're sending. What is the most effective message to counterpunch that, that Donald Trump can make with these ads, outside of sort of scaring people and saying you're not safe?

PRESTON: Well, so these ads will work to a certain extent. Negative advertising always work better than positive advertising, right? You try to bring down your opponent.

CAMEROTA: This human --

(Crosstalk)

PRESTON: That's what it's all about it. At some point, though, you're going to have to see some kind of pivot from Donald Trump or a dual track where he's going to have to start putting ads out where he talks about his policy in 30 seconds, or what have you. He's going to have to do that.

We're also going to see the NRA in pro-Trump super PACs, as well. At some point you want them to take up the negative part and then he could pivot and entirely do positive ads.

CAMEROTA: But isn't he doing that in this ad? I mean, he's basically listing these things that Hillary Clinton does wrong with immigration, some of them not factual, and then saying that his will be a stronger policy. I mean, isn't he sort of doing both in that ad?

PRESTON: He is, but it's not quite the positive looking forward ad. It's saying I can fix the problems but it's not saying this is how I would fix the problems.

HARLOW: All right, Mark, thank you so much. As Mark said, unfortunately apparently, we respond more to negative ads than positive ads. Take that for what you will. But we want to know what you make of the ads. Tweet us @NewDay or post your comments on facebook.com/NewDay.

CAMEROTA: All right, tens of thousands of people have been forced from their homes in the flood-ravaged Louisiana. Just how bad is the damage, how long will it last? Well, FEMA's administrator has been there, seen the devastation, and will join us live, next.

[07:49:05] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:52:50] HARLOW: The historic and catastrophic flooding in Louisiana now being called the worst natural disaster since superstorm Sandy. President Obama under fire from some for not visiting the region because he's on vacation. Meantime, Donald Trump seizing on the opportunity, traveling today with his running mate Mike Pence to tour the damage.

Joining us now is FEMA administrator, Craig Fugate. He was in the area on Tuesday with the governor and joins us now. Thank you so much for being with me.

It is incredibly, incredibly troubling when you look at 20,000 people rescued, 13 people have died. You know, had 31 inches of rainfall in a single day. We saw some of these incredible rescue operations from vehicles as they were sinking. Give us your assessment of the devastation now as the flood waters are receding, and also, Craig, if you think anything could have been done to prevent the magnitude of what has happened.

CRAIG FUGATE, FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: Well, I think the response from the governor and the local parish officials and neighbors helping neighbors really kept the death toll down. Our big challenge, I think, for everybody, including the survivors, is most people didn't have flood insurance --

HARLOW: Right.

FUGATE: -- and we know that the FEMA programs won't make them whole. So the immediate issues are how do we get people somewhere to stay and begin the process of recovery and understand this is going to require a lot of other assistance and programs. This is going to be a long- term recovery, nothing that's going to get fixed overnight.

HARLOW: Could anything have been done to prevent the level of flooding, the level of devastation? Anything with levees, et cetera? Or was this just the fact that so much rain fell so fast and the ground was just full of water and couldn't absorb more?

FUGATE: Yes, this is classic when you get this much rain over this much area. Anywhere in the country it's going to be devastating. It's hard to build for events that people are calling 700-year or 1,000-year flood events. We have, unfortunately, seen this is in too many places.

But we do know that this is increasing in frequency, we've seen it. So at least now, as we go back to rebuild, we're not going to build back to the past data. We want to look to the future risk. [07:55:00] HARLOW: So, Donald Trump and his running mate Mike Pence are headed there today to tour the area and meet with victims, we're told. We'll see if a contribution is made, as Michael Smerconish suggested. They could write a check. The governor of Louisiana welcoming their visit but saying it should not just be a photo op. What can they do on this visit to help?

FUGATE: Well, I think that one, is draw attention to all of the volunteer agencies that are out there. Again, FEMA's got our role to play but we have a lot of volunteers -- Red Cross, Salvation Army and others that -- I don't think, nationally, that people realize that they need to support these organizations so they can help these survivors.

So, if anything, it's to call attention to the great work that the -- what we call the VOADs, the Voluntary Organizations Active In Disaster, both faith-based, and get people to contribute generously to help out because this hasn't been on a lot of national news over the weekend and most people didn't know how bad it was.

HARLOW: Right.

FUGATE: And so I think these organizations could use that kind of support.

HARLOW: I know we were covering it starting on my show Saturday night, but I agree. The magnitude, I think, was hard for people to wrap their heads around. You only really saw it with those aerial shots and it didn't come on with a bang like a hurricane. When was the last time you spoke with President Obama about this?

FUGATE: I talked to him Wednesday. And again, his direction to me was making sure we had everything moving that we needed to move. And as we anticipated some challenges coming up his encouragement was hey, if it's a 50-50 decision just do it. Let's don't hold back or wait until we have all the answers.

HARLOW: This is seen as the worst disaster -- natural disaster -- in this country since superstorm Sandy. Did you encourage your president to come tour the area, help out?

FUGATE: Well, again, I refer back to the governor. As he pointed out, we still have response operations going on. We've had people working nonstop since this started. And again --

HARLOW: But did you say that to the -- did you talk to the President about it? Did he ask you should I come down? Did you he ask you what --

FUGATE: No, he was wanting to make sure that we were doing everything on our part to get our resources moving in there. But again, it's one of those issues that to move the president into a disaster area actually takes away sometimes from the response and focus on what we're trying to do to save people.

HARLOW: Yes, no question. I mean, first and foremost, you don't want the president and the extra security his visit might bring to take away from the emergency response. But let me read you part of what was written in an editorial in a local paper, "The Advocate", there. Peter Kovacs, the editor, wrote this.

"The optics of Obama golfing while Louisiana residents languish in flood waters was striking. It evoked the precedent of the passive federal response to the state's agony in 2005, a chapter in history no one should ever repeat." Talking about former President Bush and the aftermath of Katrina. Should the president be there, Craig?

FUGATE: Well again, I will take issue with the term passive federal response. In this response, this has not been a passive federal response. We were on the ground when this thing started. The Coast Guard was doing thousands of rescues.

HARLOW: Just to be clear on the passive response, it's 2005, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. That's what they're referring to.

FUGATE: Yes, but they're trying to draw the conclusion that it's about the response and the response is basically in support of the governor, so I will defer to others about that. But I want to keep focused on what we're doing to support the survivors and the fact that Gov. Edwards and his team still -- this is an ongoing event. We still have some rivers that are crested but haven't come back down, so we still have an active response going on in the midst of all of this.

HARLOW: And the most important thing is the victims. Aside from the politics it's about the people. Look at those homes, just destroyed. And as you said, almost all of those people do not have flood insurance. Craig, thank you very much, we appreciate it.

If you're watching and you want to help the victims of the Louisiana flooding go to cnn.com/impact.

All right, we're following a lot of news this morning. Donald Trump admitting he has regrets. Let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Sometimes you say the wrong thing. Believe it or not, I regret it.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There is no new Donald Trump, this is it.

TRUMP: I can be too honest. Hillary Clinton is the exact opposite.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Let him be him. That's how he got here.

RYAN LOCHTE, OLYMPIC SWIMMER: They pulled us over, they pulled out their guns.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brazilian authorities saying Ryan Lochte's stunning story about being robbed at gunpoint all a lie.

MARIO ANDRADO, SPOKESMAN, RIO OLYMPIC ORGANIZERS: They made a mistake, it's part of life. Life goes on.

HARLOW: Brazilian police say their story about a robbery at gunpoint was actually vandalism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone, welcome to your new day. Chris is off and next to me I've put a mirror. Poppy Harlow --

HARLOW: What a compliment. Thank you, my friend.

CAMEROTA: And to me. Great to have you.

HARLOW: She had the haircut first, guys.

CAMEROTA: Great to have you here this morning. We're having a super fun Friday that is very busy with a lot of news. So up first, Donald Trump challenging and changing his unapologetic style. Just days after his third major campaign shake-up, Trump now telling supporters that he "regrets" some of his hurtful comments on the campaign trail.

HARLOW: So just to be clear here, Trump didn't specify which comments he regrets, nothing specific. But he did express remorse for ones that caused "personal pain". Is this the pivot? Is this the turning point for the campaign? Remember, Trump has said that he wasn't going to pivot.