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New Day

Biden Opens Up on Clinton Foundation; White House Cancels Meeting with Philippines President; Obama Defends Colin Kaepernick's Right to Protest. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired September 06, 2016 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:21] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. The post-Labor Day push in the presidential election, the challenge for Hillary Clinton now clear -- convince people you be trusted, find a way to explain away controversies that dog her like suggestions about the Clinton Foundation.

What are the answers? Vice President Joe Biden may know. He is on the campaign trail with Clinton's running mate, Tim Kaine.

CNN senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny put the questions to him. What was your take?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Chris, to see Joe Biden out on really his final campaign year as a vice president, he was enjoying the voters clearly. But he knows this is a tough road ahead for Democrats. It's why he, President Obama, and the entire Democratic bench are coming out starting now. And he had some advice for Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are positioned in a way that the United States can lead the world in the 21st century here. No time to go back. And for Donald Trump to be elected president, he is already in the area of foreign policy, making America weaker, I can't fathom what he would do.

And the idea that he cares about the plight of middle class people is just inconsistent with everything he's done. So I think really it's a consequence.

ZELENY: Senator Kaine, what's it like having this guy out on the campaign trail? I saw you watching him earlier as he was firing up the crowd.

SEN. TIM KAINE (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Yes.

ZELENY: What does -- what does he do for some of these working class voters who may not be on your side yet and why aren't they on your side yet? KAINE: Well, Vice President Biden, Joe is the best we have in terms

of making the connection with the middle class folks on the issues that they care about. I've been watching and learning for a long time. In the ticket in '08 and Virginia was a battleground state because they decided to invest when nobody had for a very long time, we campaigned together.

And then in 2012, when I was running for the Senate, Vice President Biden came and did the last rally for me the night before the election in Virginia. And so -- and then in the Senate, you know, we've worked together on issues from -- administration policy in Latin America to foreign relations issues. I've been learning an awful lot from Joe as a senator and vice president and as a friend.

But in terms of making that case to people about can we create an economy that grows for everybody? We don't have a better person than Joe Biden.

ZELENY: Some working class voters still are not sold on Hillary Clinton? Why do you think that is? Is that her unpopularity in particular, her trustworthiness, honesty? What can she do to turn that around?

BIDEN: I think it's an incredibly confusing year, number one. I think a lot of the criticism of her has been veiled and nonspecific. I think what you're going to see now as we focus on what each of the candidates are going to do, I think you're going to see that change.

And I, you know, I feel it. I mean, look, the one thing Hillary understands, he understands the pain these people. She understands the pain of actual folks out there who can't get their kid to school. And so, he has no notion of it.

And my advice to Hillary always is, just open up. Let them see your heart a little more. She has the heart.

ZELENY: Does she need to do more explaining on some of these controversies like e-mail and other things or should she stop explaining?

BIDEN: Well, I think she's -- I -- certainly Tim (ph), but my understanding is she is going to make a final judgment about what they're going to do with the foundation and just lay it all out and this is what's going to happen from this point on, this is who I am, this is what we're going to do.

ZELENY: Has she not been clear enough?

BIDEN: Well, it's been a moving target. Look, the whole notion of how foundations function is now, all of a sudden, being put in play like it never was before. So, I'm absolutely confident she is doing it by the book and I think she is going to figure out what she is going to say crystal clear to the American people about what the relationship between the family and the foundation from this point forward. KAINE: And one of the things that's interesting, Jeff, is, you know,

she made a commitment about the foundation activities before the election. You know, we'll stop taking donations, the foundation will from certain groups and after the election additional commitment about President Clinton stepping back.

Meanwhile, this week, there's been a story about the Trump foundation that they used charitable foundations money in the Trump Foundation to make an illegal campaign contribution to a Florida attorney general who is considering whether to sue Trump U or not. Of course, after the $25,000 went to the Florida A.G., she didn't pursue the lawsuit.

[06:35:06] And then when the Trump Foundation filed their financial forms, they misrepresented it to hide the fact that they gave a political donation.

So, you know, while Hillary is announcing these steps are going to be taken to make sure that they do what's ethically right, we've got this counter story of the Trump Foundation being fined by the IRS for acting illegally in the foundation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: So there we heard the vice president calling these foundation issues and e-mail issues a moving target here, but he is offering some advice to Hillary Clinton to open up, show her heart a little more and she is not new at this campaigning clearly, but that is still one of her challenges why a lot of those white working class voters, some others, simply haven't signed on to her like they may have with some other Democrat.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Really interesting interview. Thank you very much, Jeff.

ZELENY: Thanks.

CAMEROTA: All right. President Obama cancelling a meeting with the president of the Philippines over some vulgar comments. A closer look of the consequences, next.

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CAMEROTA: President Obama cancelling a meeting with the Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte after some vulgar remarks that Duterte made.

[06:40:01] What does this mean for the U.S./Philippines relationship?

Let's discuss with former U.S. ambassador to NATO, Nicholas Burns.

Mr. Ambassador, thanks so much for being here.

NICHOLAS BURNS, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO: Thank you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Just so everyone knows what we're talking about. Let me read what the comments were that President Duterte said about President Obama. This was in response to President Obama saying he wanted to bring up

at their meeting the drug crisis and drug trade going on in the Philippines. Here's what Duterte said, "I'm not beholden to anybody. I do not have any master, except the Filipino people, nobody but nobody. You must be respectful. Do not throw questions and statements. Son of a blank, I will swear at you at the forum."

After a comment like that, was there any question, Ambassador Burns, that President Obama would cancel that meeting?

BURNS: No question it was the right decision by President Obama. You know, this was an offense against President Obama personally but it was also an offense against the Office of the Presidency of the United States and in international politics. I mean, there's a level of decorum that nearly every leader matches, and this is a very rare occurrence when another leader uses such crude and uncivilized language.

And so, he made the right decision. Duterte sounded contrite this morning when he was asked about this. It was the right signal to send. And he's going to have to learn, President Duterte, you can't treat other leaders like this.

CAMEROTA: OK. So, let me read his contrition this morning where he does seem to have regret for those statements. He says, "The meeting between the United States and the Philippines has been mutually agreed upon to be moved to a later date. While the immediate cause was my strong comments to certain press questions that elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the U.S. president."

Basically, Mr. Ambassador, what they're saying now is that the president meant that in reference to the reporter, he was directing those vulgar comments at the reporter, not at President Obama.

BURNS: Yes. Clearly not acceptable either. You can't blame the press for everything, right? I know you agree with that.

CAMEROTA: I do.

BURNS: He is in a tough place. He's inexperienced. He is new to global leadership. He is showing it. The president sent the right signal.

U.S./Philippine relations are very strong. We've been friends for a long time. And there's a common concern, Chinese aggression against the Philippines in the South China Sea. It won't end the relationship, but President Obama is a very experienced leader, and hopefully, President Duterte will learn a little about how to be a polite world leader from President Obama.

CAMEROTA: So, in terms of the alliance between the Philippines and the U.S., you think this is a minor hiccup?

BURNS: I do. This guy has been a problem. He also criticized very -- in very personal terms our ambassador of the Philippines. He has a track record of doing this. He even, believe it or not, cursed Pope Francis last year. So, he's clearly got a problem.

But the relationship between the United States and Philippines of long standing is very important to both countries and the Philippines needs the United States right now protect it from Chinese aggression. The Chinese are assaulting Filipino sovereignty in the Scarborough Shoals in the East Philippine Sea.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about another international issue and that is the hacking into the DNC computers and whether or not Vladimir Putin and the Russians were behind it. Hillary Clinton addressed this yesterday with reporters. Listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We are facing a very serious concern. We've never had a foreign adversarial power be already involved in our electoral process with the DNC hacks. We've never had a nominee of one of your major parties urging the Russians to hack more. So I am grateful that this is being taken seriously.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So, Ambassador Burns, if this really was the Russians and Vladimir Putin -- by the way, let me say Vladimir Putin denies this.

He said, "Listen, does it matter who hacked this data? The important thing is the content that was given to the public. There's no need to distract the public's attention from the essence of the problem by raising some minor issues connected to the search for who did it. But I want to tell you again, I don't know anything about it and on a state level, Russia has never done this."

How do we get to the bottom of it and how big of a problem is it?

BURNS: Well, first, I don't think we can trust Vladimir Putin obviously. He is formerly KGB. He's still KGB in his DNA.

For him to say that the value here is that the public gets the information when he runs a dictatorship where there's no access to information, it's laughable. And so, Secretary Clinton is obviously right here that the United States has to pursue every avenue to understand what exactly the Russians are doing.

[06:45:01] There was this hack of the Democratic National Committee. There are persistent rumors over the last couple of days that the Russians may be intent in interfering with our election. It's hard to believe they would go that far on a rational basis because that would sink our relationship to a new low, unacceptable cost to the Russians from interfering with election in the United States.

But Putin for several years now is trying to diminish not only the power and influence of the reputation of the United States. It seems farfetched, but with Putin you've got to look at all the angles and have your eyes wide open in dealing with him.

CAMEROTA: Ambassador Nicholas Burns, thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.

BURNS: Thank you, Alisyn. Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Let's get to Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Do you own Apple stock? Today could be a big day for you. The company is about to unveil its newest smartphone tomorrow. What are we expecting from the iPhone 7? How will the market react?

We'll give you a guess next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: Time for CNN Money Now. CNN Money correspondent Alison Kosik is in our money center with some highly anticipated tech news.

Tell us, Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

So, Apple's big reveal coming tomorrow. CEO Tim Cook is going to be taking the stage to unveil the latest version of the iPhone.

So, what can we expect this year? Hmm. Well, here is the latest in iPhone rumor roundup, but we make it an improved camera, new shade of black and even a water resistant phone. But what could be the most controversial update yet is the rumor that the headphone jack could be completely removed.

[06:50:08] The company needs these updates to make a splash. Apple's iPhone sales fell for the first time ever this year.

And, Chris, I am certainly in the market for a new iPhone. I dropped mine on the floor and cracked it.

CUOMO: You know why, because gorilla glass is a joke.

KOSIK: Yes, it is.

CUOMO: It is not gorilla glass. It's the weakest gorilla ever.

KOSIK: I'm with that.

CUOMO: Hopefully, they improve that. Alison, thank you very much.

Up next, strong reaction from President Obama's defending 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick's constitutional right to protest the national anthem. Was the president in the wrong? Or did he just say it the wrong way? We debate next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: So, did the president say the right thing about the controversy surrounding 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick? Once again in silent protest of the national anthem, he says over issues of race in the U.S.

Here is what the president said about the situation --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's exercising his constitutional right to make a statement. I think there's a long history of sports figures doing so. I don't doubt its sincerity based on what I've heard. I think he cares about some real, legitimate issues that have to be talked about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: The issue has never been whether he has the right.

[06:55:00] Obviously, the First Amendment allows it, but is it right for him to do what he is doing this way? That's the continuing controversy. Let's discuss.

CNN political commentator, host of BET News, Marc Lamont Hill, and CNN political commentator and host of "The Ben Ferguson Show", Ben Ferguson.

Ben, your take.

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, two things here. I think the president should look at Colin and the entire aspect of what he's trying to do here before he comes out. Colin Kaepernick said something I do agree with. He said, look, we have a presidential candidate running for office and she's deleted e-mails and got away with it a normal citizen as he put it would be in jail.

So, if he's standing up for that, hey, if the president is backing Colin Kaepernick's word on that one, I'm all about it.

But he also wore socks depicting police officers as pigs and wore those socks to protest the police describing them as pigs. When you're the president of the United States of the America and you lend your name to support somebody's cause and what they're doing or you back them in the way the president did, knowing that he wore those socks, knowing that that was part of the controversy, it undermines yet again the police in this country, and the president seems to do whatever he can to undermine them when someone else speaks out.

You don't back a football player that's all over the place, one minute saying Hillary Clinton should be in jail and the next minute saying the police officers are pigs, and refusing to stand during the national anthem. You have the right to not stand, but the president shouldn't back you up for that when you're the commander in chief of the United States of America.

CUOMO: Marc?

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: First of all, I don't see those as competing claims. You can be critical of Hillary Clinton and critical of police. Hillary Clinton is not police officer. So, it's not all over the place. It's two different issues.

Second, Barack Obama didn't back Colin Kaepernick's wearing of any socks one way or another. What was specifically asked about in the press conference was Colin Kaepernick's refusal to stand the national anthem, and what he responded to specifically was that. I'm not even sure if the president knew about the socks. Remember, he said I hadn't been following this closely, and he responded -- because of the G20, he responded very specifically to that issue.

If he knew about it, he certainly didn't respond to it. We may or may not agree with the president, but he certainly didn't speak to the socks. It's not fair to suggest that he did.

Also, the president didn't back Colin Kaepernick. In fact, what I heard, and was a little disappointed, just a little bit, was him not supporting one way or another. He has the right to do it. I'm sure his heart is in the right place, and there are a lot of soldiers out there who probably can't get past it, but at least he's engaged.

He was not taking a position on it at all. He was saying, look, the kid has a right to do it and I don't think he's a bad kid. That's what the president was saying. I actually wish the president would come out stronger and say, I do support Colin Kaepernick. I don't expect that from the leader of the American empire, but it would have been a great way to end the presidency.

FERGUSON: Here's my thing, the president knows about issues like this that are going on, because every time one of these things come up, he has no problem diving right into it. To imply that somehow, well, maybe he didn't know about the socks or didn't know about Colin Kaepernick when you're the president of the United States of America, then don't back someone or give comments that seem to imply that what he's doing is okay when you're in charge of the United States of America.

This is about standing up against somebody who calls the police pigs and wears literally on the field wears those socks. The president is a smart guy. He knows about Colin Kaepernick. If he didn't know about it, then I'm sure his staff let him know about it.

He loves sports. He knows sports than any president we've probably ever had. To say that somehow he didn't know the whole controversy I think is absurd.

(CROSSTALK)

HILL: It's not what I said.

CUOMO: But hold on a second, guys. Let's just reframe where are right now because we're starting to get into a little bit of a loop. Everybody says that Colin Kaepernick has the right to do what he is doing. There is no dispute about that. The First Amendment is clear.

It's about whether or not he is doing something that is productive and that is going to be respected by people. There seems to be a division on that. Certainly there is on this show. But, Marc, what do we do with this situation to make it anything valuable?

HILL: Well, I think one we have to have the substantive conversation which is not does he have a right to do it, but is this the right move? The president did not speak to that. The president quite deliberately did not speak to that. That's what President Obama does quite masterfully sometimes, he waxes eloquently but doesn't exactly speak to the issue that's at the heart of the political controversy.

I would love for hear him say, look, the kid is coming from the right place. He has the right to do it. He has a good heart. He knows the issues and I agree with him. Or I disagree with him. At least then we could have the conversation.

I quite clearly and equivocally stand with Colin Kaepernick. I agree with Colin Kaepernick. I think his position is right, I think his position is informed and I think his position is principled.

That is the kind of response I would love to hear the president has. If the president doesn't agree with me or Colin Kaepernick, that's cool, too. Then just say it.

CUOMO: Ben, final point.

FERGUSON: This is the part, when you say that his idea is well- thought out, would you say that about him saying that Hillary Clinton is in jail, would you say that when he wore a Fidel Castro shirt claiming that African-Americans are oppressed in this country but supports Fidel Castro? Would you say he is well informed about his socks depicting the police as pigs? No, of course not.