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New Day

Chaos Overnight at LAX; Donald Trump to Deliver Immigration Speech on Wednesday; Interview with Florida Rep. Carlos Curbelo. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired August 29, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00] BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's not an easy. I think it was a paycheck. And that's why I think it's hypocrisy and I have no respect for him.

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN COMMENTATOR: I think he may lose a paycheck now.

FERGUSON: I am sorry, that's it.

HILL: This is not easy. I think he's catching of hell right now.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Ben, Marc, thank you very much for just filling up for those insights. I appreciate it. What do you think? You just heard both sides of this controversy articulated. Now it would suggest very well. Tweet us @NewDay. Post your comment on facebook.com/NewDay.

There's a lot of news this morning, including this scare that sent people running out of the doors and on to the tarmac at LAX. What happened? Let's get to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Chaos overnight at Los Angeles international airport.

Reports of a gunman sending travelers running through terminals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A flood of people that came running into the bathroom, saying there's a shooter. I mean everyone is in a huge panic.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: On day one, I'm going to begin swiftly removing criminal illegal immigrants.

KELLYANNE CONWAY, REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGN MANAGER, STRATEGIST AND POLLSTER: He's not talking about a deportation force. He is talking about being fair and humane.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: His real message seems to be make America hate again.

TRUMP: We have bad schools, no jobs, high crime, and no hope. What do you have to lose?

DIANN ALDRIDGE, NYKEA ALDRIDGE MOTHER: This is heartbreaking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The tragic death of Nykea Aldridge shining a spotlight on gun violence in Chicago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These kids are screaming out for help.

DWYANE WADE, NBA STAR: When will enough be enough?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. We do begin with breaking news for you because of this chaos and confusion at Los Angeles International Airport. It was following the reports of an active shooter. There were loud noises that sent frightened travelers running through terminals and onto the tarmac.

CUOMO: Police had to shut down the airport. Now, they didn't find anything major that we can report to you this morning. They did detain and questioned a man who was dressed as Zorro. A little bit of levity here. He had nothing to do with the incident. And he was just in a costume and going to Vegas.

However, the FAA did have to temporarily issue a ground stop. There are a lot of people's lives who are inconvenienced by that. CNN's Paul Vercammen live at LAX with breaking details. Paul, and as you laid out very accurately, this may have been nothing, but it is a reflection of something, which is people's anxiety.

VERCAMMEN: That is exactly right and panic went through this airport. In fact, some 68 arriving flights were delayed. They're still trying to sort out how many departing flights were delayed or possibly canceled. It's calm right now, but it sure wasn't last night.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERCAMMEN: Chaos overnight at Los Angeles international airport, reports of an active shooter sending travelers running out of several terminals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just saw people sprinting the other way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was in the bathroom, and all the sudden there was a flood of people that came running into the bathroom saying there was a shooter. I mean, everyone is in a huge panic.

VERCAMMEN: Panicked passengers using emergency exits to get away, some ending up in restricted parts of the airport. The scare leading to a full ground stop of air traffic as police searched the airport. LAX later confirming that the source was likely a loud noise, the false alarm causing a ripple effect of headaches for travelers. Massive gridlock on the freeways leading into LAX and passengers back inside the airport now facing delays as airlines work to get things back on track. The scare at LAX comes just two weeks after a similar incident caused widespread chaos at New York's JFK airport, both incidents highlighting how on edge travelers are following recent terror attacks abroad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VERCAMMEN: And the spark that set this all off emanated from terminal eight. It was gate 82 that's united from a single reporting male who had made it through the check point. Before that, that's where they detained -- this is Chris' favorite subject, Zorro. He was part of what's called cosplay, or costume play. They determined he had nothing to do with anything and his sword, Chris, was plastic.

CUOMO: Well, it is a good ending to the situation only because it's nice to inject a little bit of levity into something that wind up being a none event. You know, we have things that wind up being real so often. It's good to have one that wind up being nothing. Paul, thank you very much.

So let's turn to the 2016 race. Donald Trump's long-awaited immigration speech is coming this Wednesday in Arizona. Now, the big question here is actually kind of one that's easy to answer. Did he change his position? Remember, so forcefully saying, "I'm going to deport all 11 million." The answer is yes. Now maybe he might be going back. Certainly Trump is going to explain in his own words. He's also going to make a direct appeal to black voters later this week.

CNN's Sara Murray is live in all the developments. She's covering force in the Trump campaign and Washington with more. What are we expecting?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Good morning, Chris. Well look, the Trump campaign went back and forth on whether they even deliver this speech this week. Now it is back on. And the key question as you said, is what's going on with Donald Trump?

[07:05:00] Is he just softening his tone when it comes to talking about immigration or is he going to come out this Wednesday and outline a new plan on how to deal with the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.? And is he going to backtrack on that pledge to deport all of them?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: We are going to get rid of the criminals, and it's going to happen within one hour after I take office. Believe me.

MURRAY: Donald Trump announcing he'll deliver a highly anticipated immigration speech Wednesday in Arizona after all.

CONWAY: If you want to be here legally, you have to apply to be here legally.

MURRAY: The Trump campaign insisting the proposal, it won't amount to amnesty or include a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

CONWAY: We all learned in kindergarten to stand in line and wait our turn.

MURRAY: But as questions mount about whether Trump is softening his hard line position from the primaries.

TRUMP: At least 11 million people in this country that came in illegally, they will go out.

MURRAY: Even his allies appear unclear on his stands.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: What about the millions in this country right now?

GOV. MIKE PENCE, (R-IN) VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well.

TAPPER: What happens to them?

PENCE: I think Donald Trump will articulate what we do with the people who are here but I promise you ...

TAPPER: But he ready has articulated.

MURRAY: The GOP chairman even saying, "Deporting all 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. is complicated.

REINHOLD RICHARD, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: He's reflecting on it, and his position is going to be known.

MURRAY: This is Trump plans on Labor Day weekend trip to a predominantly black church in Detroit, part of his ongoing effort to woo minority voters.

TRUMP: African-Americans, Hispanics vote for Donald Trump. What do you have to lose? It can't get any worse. What do you have to lose?

MURRAY: The republican nominee sparking controversy over the weekend for politicizing the death of Chicago bulls star Dwyane Wade's cousin, tweeting,"Just what I have been saying. African-Americans will vote Trump." An hour later, Trump offered his condolences. This tweet just the latest example of Trump facing criticism for touting his political positions in the wake of tragedies.

TRUMP: It's horrible. And it's only getting worse. I say vote for Donald Trump, I will fix it.

MURRAY: And Trump continue to blame the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton for minority hardship and racial tension.

TRUMP: They've run the inner cities for years and look what you have. They're like war zones.

How quickly people have forgotten that Hillary Clinton called black youth super predators. Remember that? Super predators. Both Trump and Clinton's campaigns using their opponent's own words against each other.

TRUMP: What the hell do you have to lose?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MURRAY: Now, Donald Trump's campaign is looking to put a little bit more pressure on Clinton this week. They're going up on the air waves with the new $10 million ad buy. This is going to be across nine battle ground state. It is focus on the economy and very critical of Hillary Clinton. Back to you Alysin and Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Sara, appreciate it. We actually have that ad. We're going to play for it, I'll play -- I'll play it for you in just a second. But first, let's discuss some of the issues on the table.

CNN political commentator and former Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Yes, he is still receiving severance from the Trump campaign. And former governor of Michigan and senior adviser for correct the record, Jennifer Granholm. It's good to have you both here.

COREY LEWANDOWSKI, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thanks ...

CUOMO: Let's start off with something Corey that should be simple. What helped you guys distinguish yourself early on, and you deserve credit for identifying the issue? Was not just immigration as an issue, it was a very specific stance? Everybody says get rid of the people who are criminals here in the country. Everybody says you want a strong border. Everybody says you maybe verify so these employers who are enticing people to come into the country, often helping manufacture them to get into the country, have to be held accountable. Everybody says that.

You said something different. You said, we're going to get rid of all of these 11 million or whatever the number is. And we're going to put together a force. We're going to get rid of them. And it helped Trump immeasurably. He moved of that position last week. That's just true. Is there any other way to look at it?

LEWANDOWSKI: Well, you know, Chris, if you look at the conversation with Anderson Cooper. He said, look, here's what we're going to do. You have to go out before you can come back and become a citizen. He was very clear about this. He was in Manchester in New Hampshire and he talk about it. And what we're going to see this Wednesday from Phoenix, Arizona, he's going to lay out in specific details his plan.

CUOMO: He said, I'll work with them. Not to catch you off, but in this matters, because it's getting confusing. Why does he need to give this speech to clarify something if he never changed from what it originally was? He did, and that's OK. It happens all the time. I don't understand why the campaign seems to want to have a both ways.

LEWANDOWSKI: I think that it is when you look at this issue and you get past building a wall which he's going to do, and he's talked about securing the border, letting people in illegally. What the issue is right now, our government doesn't know how many illegal immigrants there are in this country. They don't know if it's 11 million or 20 million or 25 million and where they are. So the first thing is, you have to identify these people. That's the most important thing.

CUOMO: He said, I'm getting rid of all of them and allowed him to beat back his competitors.

[07:10:07] LEWANDOWSKI: That's right.

CUOMO: Because whenever they said anything like what you're saying now, he would look and he'd go. Lewandowski, we ...

LEWANDOWSKI: Yeah, he'll find them. Look, he got to find them.

CUOMO: You know, weak. He'll (ph) weak. I'm getting rid of them. I'll find them. I'll get rid of them, including (ph) their title, they're weak. He can't be president.

(CROSSTALK)

LEWANDOWSKI: That hasn't changed, you remember. Convicted felons, criminals, gone right away. He said that first hour, out the door. OK. I'm going to stop ...

CUOMO: Everybody said that.

(CROSSTALK)

LEWANDOWSKI: ... and verify. The other problem is our government doesn't even understand who these people are. We don't even know where they are. We have to go and find them. This takes time.

CUOMO: Everybody said that.

LEWANDOWSKI: And then, we have to understand how humanely, right.

CUOMO: Everybody says that. Everybody says ...

LEWANDOWSKI: And that, they know, he don't say that.

CUOMO: ... that you guys did, all right.

LEWANDOWSKI: Well, as he said there is no path to citizenship. He's been very clear about that. Very different than what everybody else has said.

CUOMO: No, it's not that different.

LEWANDOWSKI: This is not trouble border (ph).

CUOMO: But, you know what, Jennifer Granholm, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe, I was heading (ph) in away from that.

LEWANDOWSKI: He is, Jennifer. You know that.

CUOMO: Corey says I'm wrong. You weigh in. You'll be the moderator.

JENNIFER GRANHOLM, (D) FMR GOVERNOR OF MICHIGAN: I actually -- do you know what, Chris, I agree with Corey.

CUOMO: All right, good.

GRANHOLM: I don't think he's changing his position. I think what he is doing is just, you know, Katrina Pierson said last week and she got mad for it for saying that he's just changing the words using to describe his position, but I think that's actually what's happening. He's using words like humane. He's using words like, you know, we'll work with them. Well, what does that really mean? When somebody is unlawful in his plan, they're going to go out. Well how do they go out? How do you find them? You use a deportation force. He's not going to do that. He's going to say, we're going to beef up enforcement.

But essentially what he's doing is saying the same thing he has been saying all along, which is the 11 million people, good luck with this, go out. And they apply for citizenship and they come back. Well, how long does it take to get citizenship? It takes years. So essentially, he's saying the same thing. We're going to deport 11 million people.

CUOMO: All right, let's get to a different issue. He's going to make a direct outreach to the African-American community. He's going to Detroit. The past, he's been criticized, he was giving that call in front of white audiences. The campaign argue while he's speaking to a television coverage. He's speaking at the entire country. What's going to be his message to those people in terms of how he can make the lives better for African-Americans?

LEWANDOWSKI: Look, so there's a couple things. We saw this in another terrible tragedy this weekend in Chicago. What we've seen is from 2012 to 2016, more people have died in the city of Chicago than in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2015. Our cities aren't safe. We need to do something to allow the police to do a better job. African- Americans predominantly in the south side of Chicago are getting killed. When he goes to Detroit, he's going to go with Dr. Carson. What he's going to talk about specifically is 26 percent of the African-American community right now lives in poverty. That's not even a question. It's the true. That's a quarter of the African- Americans in this country are living in poverty.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: So what do you do about it? Do you think he'll put meat on the bones?

LEWANDOWSKI: Well no, he is absolutely going don't do that. The other thing is well, the earned median income right now is less for African-Americans than it was four years ago. Food stands dropped by 4 million from there when they were -- when Barrack Obama took office from 7.4 million to 11.3 million.

Look, we have to give opportunity. We have to give everybody a job. A rising tide lifts all boats. I think what you're going to see, a very specific plans, how African-Americans and for that not a low- income people across the country are going to have more opportunity under a Trump administration.

CUOMO: There's a new ad out to that effect. I believe we have it. And here's a part of the new effort of the Trump campaign actually get on with paid media. This goes to these issues that Corey is talking about. Here's the ad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Hillary Clinton's America, the middle class gets crushed, spending goes up, taxes go up, hundreds of thousands of jobs disappear. It's more of the same but worse. In Donald Trump's America, working families get tax relief. Millions of new jobs created, wages go up, small businesses thrive, the American dream achievable. Change that makes America great again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Now this ad is called "two Americas" which is an interesting play off the original Reagan narrative of the Shining city on the hill. How do you feel about this comparison to your candidate, Jennifer?

GRANHOLM: Well, first of all, he's going to Detroit, and he's -- it is a largely African -- I mean vastly African-American city. And believe me, this is why he's about 1 percent to 2 percent in the polls in African-Americans. He's painting this dystopian view, and he doesn't have any policies to remedy what he's saying. He's not talking about raising the minimum wage. He's not talking about a living wage. He's not talking about the people who gained access to health care through ObamaCare, which millions of African-Americans did. He's not talking about any specific policies to attract investment and manufacturing in the cities like Hillary Clinton is. He's not talking about any of those things. And he's certainly not talking about the fact that I forget American unemployment has been cut in half under Barack Obama and millions and millions of jobs have been created. That commercial is like a totally, it's the Donald Trump view of the world but it is not reality.

LEWANDOWSKI: Look, Chris, Donald Trump in the last poll with the African-American community got 8 percent. Not that's not a great number, but if you look back historically, John McCain got 4 percent and Mitt Romney on edge of polls got 6 percent. John though in the NBC poll, Donald Trump is getting 8 percent of the African-American population.

[07:15:03] He's getting 23 percent of the Hispanic population, outperforming, most people who said he wouldn't do well at all. The difference is, right now African-Americans have been taken for granted by the Democratic Party for a long time.

And I think what you see is they're tired of it. They want a change, and Hillary Clinton is not doing anything to help them become a better organization -- better in their lives. That's what the comparison (ph). That what this is about.

CUOMO: Governor? GRANHOLM: Chris, I just want to say, I mean, he -- Donald Trump was -- I don't know which way on the bailout of the auto industry. But the bailout of the auto industry made it possible for African-American unemployment in Michigan to be cut in half.

This is why -- I mean, even Rick Snyder, Republican governor was -- had a statement on Friday which completely disagreed with Donald Trump's vision of Detroit, which was, he was suggesting that Detroit was a manufacturing wasteland.

Detroit has -- because of the assistance to the auto industry, because they had record number of cars built, which hugely benefits the African-American community in Detroit because they have jobs in those factories. It's as though Donald Trump doesn't recognize anything like that that has happened.

For the African-American community in Detroit, and I hope you guys send people there on the ground to talk to them what Donald Trump is describing a world that is completely foreign to what people are seeing on the ground, the excitement about Detroit coming back.

I just think that it's not a good strategy for him to be telling the African-American community that they're essentially living in hell when he does not describe the lives of vast majority of the people who are living in Southeast Michigan. Certainly there are pockets of challenge in Detroit. But their situation has improved and not worsened.

LEWANDOWSKI: Chris, you know this, the Governor knows this, the trade deals of the Obama administration and the Clinton administration have destroyed a lot of our manufacturing base, particularly in the state of Michigan. We've seen it time and time again.

We've seen what TPP has done. We've seen what NAFTA has done. These are policies that the Clinton and the Obama administration have supported and Donald Trump has been very clear, this has been devastating to the economies of states like Michigan where we're now competing against foreign country. We're taking our jobs. We're shipping them overseas and his plan is to put Americans first.

CUOMO: One of the things that the politicians neglect very often on this issue, and let's -- we can end on this point, just get a quick thought from both of you on it.

The trade deals are a problem. Losing jobs are a problem. But that was going on before trade deals. It was going on when this economy change. And America did not prepare for the change. It did not change how it trains workers. It did not change how it educates people in general.

And innovation within manufacturing wound up leaving a lot of these workers with nowhere to turn and we didn't prepare for it as a society. So that matters, that education piece, that training piece, because you can't bring jobs back that people here aren't ready to do. Do you think Donald Trump will speak to that? LEWANDOWSKI: I do, and I think, look, innovation is a huge thing. What, you know, what used to take 10 people to do, a machine can now do, you know, by itself and run 24 hours a day. The difference is, right, we need to be able to compete with other countries. These trade deals that put us at a disadvantage are egregious, right?

We're taking our jobs, we're taking our manufacturing, we're putting them in Mexico, and then we're allowing them to bring their cars back into our country, no tariff, nothing (inaudible) thank you very much. We've seen major corporations take the manufacturing facilities and move them to Mexico because of cheaper wages. That's not right. That's not what a leader does.

GRANHOLM: And Chris, you should -- I mean, look at the policies that Hillary Clinton has put on. She doesn't disagree that the trade agreements have been a problem and you can't say -- you can't got to Michigan without acknowledging that trade agreements have been a problem for jobs in Michigan. That is true.

She wants to renegotiate NAFTA. She does -- she's not in favor of the TPP. She wants the trade prosecutor. She wants to beef up trade enforcement so that our trading partners are not taking us for granted. She wants to invest in research and development. She wants to invest in training to be able to allow people in Michigan and other industrial cities to get the training up to be able to take on those technology jobs.

Her policies are very specific. Donald Trump just makes broad statements. He doesn't have specific strategies for how he's going to lift people's skills to be able to take on the advanced manufacturing jobs of the future. She does.

CUOMO: Well, governor we name -- go ahead. We got to go.

LEWANDOWSKI: The governor knows this. Hillary Clinton said TPP was the gold standard for trade deals.

GRANHOLM: She's opposed to TPP, Corey.

(CROSSTALK)

LEWANDOWSKI: She's like every other politician, in favor before they're opposed to it.

GRANHOLM: You shouldn't be talking about that this week with your candidate. Let me just say.

CUOMO: Governor, that's why we call the show NEW DAY, because everyday, it's like something new happens on the campaign trail. Governor, thank you very much. Corey, appreciate the arguments, as always. Alisyn?

CAMEROT: OK, Chris, is Donald Trump taking the election seriously? Our next guest is not sure. Up next, we'll talk to Republican Congressman, Carlos Curbelo, who thinks Trump is not in it to win it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:23:40] CAMEROTA: Donald Trump announcing plans for a major speech on immigration in Arizona on Wednesday, but our next guest is not sure that Trump is interested in policy or even winning the presidency.

Joining us now is Republican Congressman from Florida, Carlos Curbelo. Congressman, thanks so much for being here this morning.

REP. CARLOS CURBELO (R), FLORIDA: Alisyn, good morning from Miami. Thanks for having me.

CAMEROTA: So you told a radio show that you are not convinced that Donald Trump really wants to win this thing. Here is what you said at the time.

"Put Trump's recent conduct together with the fact he's a close friend of the Clintons, they attended his wedding, the pictures are there to prove it. Donald Trump spoke to Bill Clinton three weeks before launching his campaign. I mean, again, I don't have any hard proof, it may be nothing, but is this the conduct of someone who is trying to win? I just don't see it."

Do you stand by those comments that you don't think Donald Trump is trying to win the presidency?

CURBELO: Well, look, Alisyn, when I said that Mr. Trump was campaigning in Connecticut, a deep blue state that I don't think any Republican is going to win any time soon, at least not for the presidency, and the point is that there really hasn't been a serious discussion of issues in this campaign.

And I think any winning candidate is going to talk about the issues that are worrying the American people, whether it's the economy, whether it's the fact that a lot of young people graduate from colleges and universities in this country and can't find quality jobs, all the problems overseas.

[07:25:10] Instead, I think the campaign was embroiled with the Khan family and that back and forth. So, yeah, it has been frustrating at times.

CAMEROTA: Yes, I understand your frustration. But do you really believe -- if he's not trying to win, what is Donald Trump doing?

CURBELO: I don't know. I can't get into his head. I just observe people's conduct and jump to conclusions. Now, for sure the campaign has made some improvements in the last couple weeks. I think the change in leadership was very important. Some of us had very serious concerns with the previous leadership.

But, what we need -- what this country needs, what the American people deserve is a serious discussion about the issues. And to be fair, neither candidate is doing that. Every week it's a back and forth on who's more corrupt, who's more dishonest, and that is simply just not good for our country. CAMEROTA: So I know you have said that because of all that that you can't vote for Donald Trump. Would you consider voting for Hillary Clinton?

CURBELO: No, look, like most Americans, I'm very disappointed with this election. I told a lot of people, don't trust these candidates. Well, I'm one of them. And my message to the American people is make sure you elect strong representatives in the United States Congress because I believe in January of 2017, the role of the Congress is going to be more important than ever.

I'm willing to work with whoever gets elected, but I'm also willing, and I will, hold either of them accountable. Right now, I am not prepared to support either of these two candidates. I think they both have some very serious character flaws. I don't think they're going to be able to improve that situation from now until Election Day.

So what they should do, both of them, is focus on the issues. Let's have a real debate on how we're going to reform higher ed. Let's talk about serious immigration solutions. Let's talk about how we're going to keep the American people safe and all the instability in the world. That is what the American people deserve to hear over the next 70 plus days.

CAMEROTA: Do you worry that Donald Trump will have an effect, a negative effect, on your reelection campaign?

CURBELO: I think you're going to see record ticket splitting in this election with both of the candidates being so unpopular. They are the number one and number two most unpopular candidates for the presidency in the history of this country, at least since we've been doing polling.

So I think you're going to see voters really go down the ballot and choose the best candidate in every single race. I have worked hard for my community in the Congress. I have put partisanship aside to try to get things done. And we've had some wins this Congress.

Now, the media don't talk about it very often, but, for example, we had a major highway bill pass this Congress that's very important to South Florida. We reformed K through 12 education, returned a lot of power back to the states while protecting education as a civil right.

So we have gotten things done and those are the types of people that I think increasingly Americans are going to turn to it send to Congress, people who are actually willing to sit at the table, have a discussion, find solutions, and restore the trust and confidence that the American people want to have in their government.

CAMEROTA: Congressman, very quickly, Marco Rubio, who of course ran for president himself, Republican senator, his primary race is tomorrow. What do you think is going to happen? Will he be reelect -- will he win this primary race?

CURBELO: Oh, yeah. Senator Rubio has done a wonderful job for our state. He's very popular here. I have worked with him on reforming refugee benefits programs. We've been working very closely in recent months on this whole Zika issue and making sure that the federal government long term funds this response effort.

So I'm confident he's going to do very well tomorrow, and I'm confident he's going to win in November as well. He's a very important asset to the people of Florida and the United States Senate.

CAMEROTA: You brought up Zika. And last, I do want to ask you. So what are you doing to combat that in your state?

CURBELO: As far as I'm concerned, Alisyn, the number one and number two priorities for Congress in September when we reconvene are to fund the government, make sure we don't have any kind of shutdown after September 30th, and also to fund the Zika response.

Zika is not just a public health issue here in the state of Florida. It is also an economic issue. We need to make sure that we continue containing this threat so that obviously we protect people's health, especially women who are pregnant or who could become pregnant, but also so that we protect working families and small businesses in South Florida.

Some parts of our local area down here have already taken a hard hit because of the advisories that the CDC has had to put out. So we want to make sure that the government has all the resources at its disposal to fully fund this response to Zika and make sure that it doesn't get out of control.