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Clinton On Emails: "There Are No Excuses"; Trump Moves Closer To GOP Rivals On Immigration; U.S. Coalition Backing Iraqi Forces For Mosul Battle; Does Anti-Zika Pesticide Harm Unborn Babies?; European Union Has Banned Naled Insecticide. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired August 25, 2016 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00] REP. JIM HIMES (D), CONNECTICUT: I'd love to see her do more press conferences. Actually, she's an enormously smart woman. She does get attacked day in and day out but she's an enormously smart woman. When she speaks she talks about the things she's going to do for the American people when she's President of the United States.

When Donald Trump speaks we get things like shut out all Muslims and let's build a big, beautiful wall. I am totally in favor of both of them doing a lot more speaking.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: All right, let's see if there's a press conference around the corner. Thank you --

HIMES: Thank you, Poppy.

HARLOW: -- for being on the program, Congressman -- Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. All signs pointing to Trump changing his stance on illegal immigration. It's really not a question. The question is why? Well, he now admits tearing families apart would be a "tough thing". True, to say the least. So, what will he do now? Let's discuss with Michael Smerconish, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:34:40] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We are going to come out with a decision very soon. The bad guys are out of here. Now, that one we agree on. But everywhere I go I get the same reaction. They want toughness, they want firmness, they want to obey the law. But -- but they feel that throwing them out, as a whole family, when they've been here or a long time, it's a tough thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: That's right, and that's why his opponents, both within his own party and in the Democratic Party, have been saying you can't throw out 11 million people, it wouldn't work, it wouldn't be right. Well, it seems Donald Trump has come around. He still wants to build his wall. He still says somehow Mexico's going to pay for it. But now, a softer stance on illegal immigrants. Let's ask CNN political commentator Michael Smerconish. He's the host of CNN's "SMERCONISH". Great to have you here. First, let's deal with how to qualify this because the campaign's going to push back. Oh, it's not a flip-flop, he hasn't really changed, it's about evolution. He's learning on the job. How do you see it?

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: By definition, it is a flip-flop because he said at the outset the very first sentence that you just played. He said we're going to be coming out soon with a decision. Well, what's the decision if you're sticking to the policy that you've had throughout the course of the whole campaign?

And Chris, one other thing because I've been watching you and Poppy all morning long --

CUOMO: How we doing?

SMERCONISH: -- directly playing Jeb -- you're doing terrific.

CUOMO: Thanks.

SMERCONISH: You're looking great, by the way. But you're playing that audio of Jeb Bush and you're playing the audio of Marco Rubio. May I suggest that you also throw President Obama into the mix because the first person that I thought of when I heard Donald Trump say well, wait a minute, are we going to tear apart families, are we going to uproot someone who's been in the country 10 or 15 years with a pretty clean record -- I thought, well, that's what the President argued with the executive order.

HARLOW: All right, so as we have the control room scrambling to find that sound to play it for our viewers, Michael Smerconish, let me give them some time to do that and ask you this.

The question is does it broaden his base enough to make any difference, especially among minority voters, or does he risk just alienating the hardliners? Does he risk alienating the core of his base who from day one liked what he was saying about sanctuary cities and undocumented immigrants?

SMERCONISH: Let me answer the second of those first. The answer is no way he alienates that hardcore constituency because, Poppy, in the end there's only one thing that matters to those people and it is that he's not her. The antipathy that they hold for Hillary Clinton is such that wild horses couldn't keep them away from voting for Donald Trump on Election Day.

Now, to your first point, I don't think the intended audience are people of color. I think the intended audience are those who live in the exurbs, largely Republican, individuals who are college educated who are showing at best --

HARLOW: Would it make them feel a little bit better to make them feel like --

SMERCONISH: Exactly. HARLOW: -- OK, maybe he's not racist like we thought perhaps he was?

SMERCONISH: Yes. You know, hey, at least he's making the pitch to the people of color, to minorities and so forth in the same way that he asked and courted African-Americans --

CUOMO: But Michael, so --

SMERCONISH: -- for their vote last week.

CUOMO: Michael, though, does he take a step forward, perhaps, but then two back by calling Hillary Clinton a bigot, and not off the cuff. It seemed like he was reading it off the prompter.

SMERCONISH: Well, there's always something in there, right? A little chum in the water for the sharks. I mean, he's got a good ear. When he worked that crowd -- I think it was in Austin, Texas last night -- my God, like seven times he asked them what he should do. So he's always going to give a little something to the base to keep them energized while, at the same time, making the pivot that we've been discussing.

HARLOW: So, let's listen to it for our viewers who might not have seen it. Let's listen to what Trump said last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Hillary Clinton is a bigot who sees people of color only as votes, not as human beings worthy of a better future. She's going to do nothing for African-Americans. She's going to do nothing for the Hispanics. She doesn't care what her policies have done to your communities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: You know, you see that woman over his right shoulder and he says bigot and she goes (makes face).

HARLOW: Did he go -- did he go too far?

CUOMO: And you know what's interesting about it, Michael? It's just one person but sometimes a person can be a metaphor. The rest of what he says she's numb to it and that's the concern when you go too far. When you say something so ugly that with these more sophisticated voters you're talking about -- these GOP exurb, college grads -- whatever demographic you want to put them in -- maybe he then winds up hurting himself more than he helped himself with the softening on the immigration.

SMERCONISH: Bigot is a vicious word. If you're going to drop that kind of a bomb you better be prepared to back it up, and he's got nothing. You heard a guest earlier today that you asked to justify that. There was no answer there. I really think that that's beyond the bounds. You can challenge whether African-Americans, as a whole, have done better on a Democratic watch, but to use that word, I think, is just beyond the pale. HARLOW: And quickly, Michael, so she hits the trail again in Nevada today and she's going to make a tough speech on Donald Trump and she's going to tie him to the alt-right movement. And it seems like, increasingly, and we'll see it today, that she is playing more by the Trump playbook, if you will. Is that smart?

[07:40:00] SMERCONISH: Well, it wasn't smart for those that he ran against in primary season. You know, when they stooped to his level they came out with a lot of mud on their faces and he ended up being the victor. So I think she's got to tread very, very carefully in that regard.

HARLOW: Good point.

CUOMO: Michael Smerconish, appreciate the perspective, as always.

SMERCONISH: See you guys.

CUOMO: What do you think about what Smerconish said? Tweet us @NewDay or post your comment on facebook.com/NewDay.

HARLOW: All right, Iraqi forces and the U.S. coalition gearing up to fight ISIS and reclaim Mosul. How pivotal is this battle and will ISIS put up a strong fight? We will speak with the undersecretary of the Army, Patrick Murphy live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Iraqi forces, along with U.S. troops, are preparing for a battle against ISIS to reclaim Mosul. This is the second biggest city in Iraq and it matters on many different levels. Now, troops have been inching toward the city for the past four months as humanitarian groups prepare for an influx of as many as 1.2 million refugees who will be displaced when that battle begins.

Let's discuss the state of play and some concerns going forward with the undersecretary of the Army, Patrick Murphy, an Iraq war veteran and a former congressman from Pennsylvania. Sir, a pleasure to have you on NEW DAY.

PATRICK MURPHY, UNDER SECRETARY OF THE ARMY, IRAQ WAR VETERAN: Hey, Chris, thank you for having me.

CUOMO: So, how does it look on the ground? Do you believe that there is progress?

[07:45:00] MURPHY: I do believe there is progress, Chris. Our troops are doing a fantastic job but we have stood up over 13,000 Iraqi forces, which is the most important part. And now what you saw, breaking news, where the Turkey tanks are rolling into Syria to take the fight to ISIS. So having other countries, and most importantly, the Iraqi people stand up to punish ISIS is the greatest progress that we've seen to date.

CUOMO: Mosul -- people hear about that city from time to time. We always tell them it's important. Why? MURPHY: It's critically important. It's the second largest city in Iraq, behind only Baghdad. It's just north, as you know, of Baghdad. But I will tell you, what you're seeing is people -- and I saw your report about an hour ago when you interviewed the investigative journalist.

What you're seeing is the Iraqi people stand up to take the fight -- you know, part of that resistance. They're sending a message to ISIS they are no longer welcome there. And at the same time having that -- obviously the resistance of the battalion of Iraqis is critically important.

What we're doing there is empowering the Iraqi people to stand up against that terrorist organization. A terrorist organization, as you know, Chris, that has already captured 3,000 young women and girls to use them as sex slaves.

Now, I know there's people in America -- there's some folks that say we don't want to be the policemen of the world. But as a country -- as a nation like the United States of America -- to see that, we just can't look the other way, especially if there's no one else walking the beat. There's other countries now, like Turkey, that are walking the beat with America and with the Iraqi people.

CUOMO: The U.S. Army is a volunteer army. Good men and women, like yourself, put their lives on the line to defend freedom. It is not as common as it once was generationally. I think you have about one percent of the population now that's --

MURPHY: It's actually less than once percent, but yes.

CUOMO: So how big a concern is this and what are you doing to address recruitment?

MURPHY: You know, we are opening up our ranks to everybody like we always have, including transgender, including women. I wouldn't have been a U.S. congressman at the age of 33 if it wasn't for the Army or a professor at West Point before that.

And I joined at 19, and when I joined, Chris, I remember someone said to me well, Patrick, you were on the dean's list in college, you're the captain of the collegiate hockey team. Why would you join, you don't have to? As if it was for someone else.

A lot of millennials right now -- and we're in a talent management business. We bring in over 100,000 Americans a year and about 100,000 leave. We have about one million soldiers in the total force, meaning active duty, National Guard, and Reserves.

Millennials want to be part of an organization that's bigger than themselves. A lot of millennials are actually joining the military. Our recruitment is actually good right now. You know why, though, Chris, because they know the United States Army, which is America's varsity team, does what's necessary. Whether it's the governor of a state or the President of the United States, when they call 911 they're calling our Army and it's for home games and away games. As you know, in Louisiana, we lost 13 Americans to the flooding there.

We have over 1,300 troops. The Louisiana National Guard members, they were on the ground helping people. That's what we do. And we have away games, as well, like in Iraq or in Afghanistan, to make sure we keep our families safe at home and we don't look the other way when human atrocities are happening.

CUOMO: There's a little bit of stink that came up from the Army. There was some kind of slide in a presentation that had Hillary Clinton being seen as a recruiting tool for ISIS and I know it's been removed --

MURPHY: Yes.

CUOMO: -- but what did you find out about that?

MURPHY: Yes, we're looking into it but the bottom line is it was a political statement that someone put in there. We don't talk politics. We are an apolitical organization, Chris. Yes, I served as a member of Congress before but I take an oath like every other folks -- every other soldier in our army to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies and to not be political. So it's something that was addressed that we won't see again.

CUOMO: As somebody who has had their life protected by U.S. forces abroad, as you know, as embeds we're with the troops and we do it -- we see the excellence of character. They often have politics foisted upon them --

MURPHY: Right.

CUOMO: -- but they are very rarely political themselves. Let me ask you something. Arwa Damon is that investigative journalist you're talking about.

MURPHY: Yes.

CUOMO: She beats a steady drum in these situations. You have to win the military fight but the fight that follows is even more important. That is ignored here as a root cause of a problem that we're dealing with, with ISIS. How big a deal is the aftermath? So they take over Mosul --

MURPHY: Right.

CUOMO: -- but now what?

MURPHY: Right.

CUOMO: The humanitarian, the political struggle? How big is that?

MURPHY: Right, and that's what you're seeing and that's why it's -- from my perspective, Sec. of Defense Ash Carter, Sec. of State John Kerry working side-by-side because you're right, Chris. It's not just about the military power, it's about the economic and diplomatic power and force that we need to use.

And as far as our part in the Army, that's why we're partnering to make sure that Mosul's dam is up. Our Army Corps of Engineers is partnering with an Italian company to make sure that doesn't go into further decline. Things like that make a huge difference and that's why it's good.

I know a lot of diplomacy is not as sexy as military power but it is just, if not more important, than military power. And that's why we're working hand-in-hand, obviously, as a whole government and as our nation to bring other partners in that region to stand up with the Iraqi people. And that's why the news about Turkey getting there to take the fight to ISIS is such incredible progress that we've seen just within the last several hours.

[07:50:00] CUOMO: Patrick Murphy, thank you for the update and thank you for your service.

MURPHY: Of course. Thank you, Chris.

CUOMO: It's good to have you on NEW DAY, as always -- Poppy.

HARLOW: All right, thanks, guys, very much. We're going to take you to South Florida ahead because, as you've heard, the Zika virus is spreading there. But now there are new, really concerning questions about what they're doing to fight it. Is the pesticide used to stop it also extremely dangerous for babies? Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen investigates from Miami, next.

[07:50:40] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: So you've heard by now the Zika virus is spreading in Florida, especially southern Florida. The state is taking action. They're doing a lot of aerial spraying of different pesticides but there are concerns that the pesticide that they're using right now to fight this might also hurt babies and, frankly, hurt mothers carrying children.

Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is in Miami for us this morning. And Elizabeth, just to be clear, this is also the same pesticide that they refused to use Puerto Rico, right?

[07:55:00] ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, and many public health experts who I talked to, Poppy, were really critical of that decision. Zika has really run pretty rampant in Puerto Rico and some questioned whether their decision not to use that pesticide might be responsible for that.

I'm here now in the Wynwood section of Miami. It's a very active area. Lots of tourists, known for its great colorful street art. Also now known as one of the Zika zones in Florida and so they did aerial spraying that just ended last week.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COHEN: Zika is spreading in South Florida and the stakes are high. When pregnant women become infected with the virus their babies can be born with devastating birth defects. That's why health authorities have sprayed a pesticide from airplanes to kill the mosquitoes that carry Zika. But there's concern that the chemical being sprayed, called Naled, may also be harmful to unborn babies.

DR. BARRY RYAN, ROLLINS SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, EMORY UNIVERSITY: It's essentially a neurotoxin and can result in unborn children, in particular, having neurodevelopmental problems.

COHEN: The European Union has banned Naled insecticide. And in Puerto Rico, where Zika has been rampant, people have demonstrated against Naled, a type of organophosphate. The mayor of San Juan filed a lawsuit against the Centers for Disease Control to prevent spraying, saying "There have been recent findings linking the presence of organophosphates and behavior problems in babies whose mothers were exposed to this type of chemical during their pregnancy."

The CDC and the Environmental Protection Agency say Naled is safe and the best option for killing these mosquitoes. The CDC points out that Naled has been used extensively for years in the United States. That just two tablespoons are used over the size of a football field. "This small amount does not pose a health risk to people," according to the CDC.

So who's right? Will Naled help stop babies from developing birth defects or could it harm them? Experts say dozens of studies have shown that when pregnant women are exposed to Naled their children are more likely to develop behavior problems.

But for the most part, those studies were done in agricultural areas where families live near spraying for many years. They say the risks are much smaller in Florida where the Zika sprayings have been done only four times.

Dr. Barry Ryan, at Emory University, has done some of that research and he supports the spraying.

RYAN: Zika's a real problem. Children who suffer from this would not be able to cope with the real world. They will never recover from this.

COHEN: He said Naled can carry risks, but not nearly as big as the risks posed by Zika.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: And that's a difficult choice to make, which risk is greater. Elizabeth Cohen, before I let you got, obviously it's spreading from southern Florida. How far north is Zika spreading in the state and how widely is it spreading?

COHEN: So, Poppy, we're talking about people catching Zika in Florida -- from mosquitoes in Florida. These folks did not travel. So first, it was just in Miami and then it was in Pinellas County, and now we're hearing it's in Palm Beach County. All of this, those three cities, we're hearing about these just in the past week so that's pretty quick.

HARLOW: That is very quick. All right, Elizabeth Cohen, thank you so much. We are following a lot of news this morning. Is Donald Trump changing his position on mass deportations? A lot ahead, let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Hillary Clinton is a bigot.

CLINTON: He bullies and threatens to throw out every immigrant in the country and certainly when he changes his position three times in one day.

TRUMP: There's no amnesty.

HANNITY: Right.

TRUMP: But we work with them. Everybody agrees we get the bad ones out.

CLINTON: Donald Trump -- he is taking a hate movement mainstream.

TRUMP: Hillary Clinton ran the State Department like a failed leader in a third world country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It felt like someone had put a bulldozer under the house to try to knock it down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A desperate search for survivors.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They found two persons alive under a building.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The death toll rising and time running short.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Syrian rebels have captured the last major ISIS-held town between Syria and Turkey.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are losing key ground. This is not an enemy that anyone is going to be underestimating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

CUOMO: -- his signature paper, twirl that.

HARLOW: I saw that, impressive.

CUOMO: He does it every day. It never gets old. Good morning, welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Thursday, August 25th, 8:00 in the East. Alisyn is off, Poppy Harlow with me this morning. Good to have you, as always.

HARLOW: Good to be here. CUOMO: And we begin with Donald Trump's shifting position on immigration. Gone is the hardline stance for undocumented immigrants. That they're all gone. That there will be an agency, a task force, to find them. Now, Trump says that he would "work with undocumented immigrants," a softening of a position that is not being well met by his former GOP rivals.

We're going to talk with his campaign manager Kellyanne Conway about the shift, in a moment.

HARLOW: All right, looking forward to that. Also, Hillary Clinton making a lot of headlines this morning. She's responding to Donald Trump's seeming flip-flop on immigration in a new CNN exclusive interview.