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New Day

Leaks Escalate Rift in White House; Health Care Votes in Senate; USA Captures Gold Cup; Indulgent Foods Can be Healthy; Trump on Russia Interference. Aired 8:30-9:00a ET

Aired July 27, 2017 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:33:23] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, it's time now for the "Five Things to Know for Your New Day."

Number one, the battle over leaks is escalating and increasing the rift inside the Trump White House. White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci told us this morning in an exclusive on NEW DAY that he and the president know who the leakers are, but he didn't name names.

The Senate tackling health care again today. Republicans debating a skinny reveal -- repeal option, leaving parts of the current law intact. It comes after the Senate rejected a straight repeal of Obamacare.

A deadly accident shutting down all the rides at the Ohio State Fair. A person was killed, at least seven others injured when this thing on your screen, it's called the fire ball attraction, malfunctioned. It broke apart and sent riders who were flying high in the air at high speed plummeting to the ground.

North Korea and south Korea marking the 64th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, but there are growing concerns that Pyongyang may conduct another missile test.

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, finally some good news. He's been released from a Washington, D.C. hospital six weeks after being shot at a congressional baseball practice. Doctors say he will now begin intensive inpatient rehab.

For more on the "Five Things to Know," go to cnn.com/newday for the latest.

All right, we want to get back to our exclusive interview. We had White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci call in this morning because there was really an urgent situation. These tweets last night that he had sent about leaks and who it may be and he named Reince Priebus. And it really needed to be clarified. So we called him in and a lot got unpacked.

[08:35:14] Joining us now is Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana. He's a member of the Senate Judiciary and Appropriations Committees.

We want to talk about health care with you and what's going on and how it will affect Americans, but I do want to get your take on your level of concern about all of this palace intrigue. And, in fact, that phrase may cheapen it. These seem like real concerns that are going on.

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R), LOUISIANA: Well, I don't know exactly what's going on in the White House, but -- I've never worked there. But I've worked for two governors. And I can tell you what it looks like is going on.

You have all these aides that work for the president and they want daddy to love them best. And so they fight over turf. And they try to hurt each other. And they leak stuff. And it ends up hurting the person that you're working for.

Now, some of that is -- Chris, is inevitable. It's human nature. But it looks to me like this is, in this White House, it's out of control. That's point one.

Point two, in terms of making all these announcements about who's doing what to whom, somebody ought to check the water in the White House because folks there seem to grow anxious when they have an unexpressed thought. You don't have to talk about all this publicly. If somebody's caught leaking and doing a disservice to the country and to the president, fire him. Don't talk about it. Just go ahead and fire him.

CUOMO: It's an interesting observation, senator. You know, you said you worked for a couple of governors --

KENNEDY: Yes.

CUOMO: And, obviously, you're a leader yourself. You have your own staff. And it does raise the question about the tone from the top. We know that the president is guilty of some of these actions himself, that he'll take to Twitter. What he's doing with Jeff Sessions, going after him publicly instead of privately. Do you think that that has a role in engendering a little bit of this negative culture?

KENNEDY: Well, let me put it this way, Chris, part of wisdom, particularly in politics, is understanding you don't have to comment on everything. Sometimes it's OK to say nothing.

Number two, in politics, as in life, what you do is what you believe, it's not what you say. And if you believe in something, then do it. Judge somebody by their actions, not their words.

And every White House is different. This White House likes to muse publicly about their thinking. And that's their choice. But I wouldn't do it.

CUOMO: All right. So I'm appreciating the candor, senator. Let's keep it rolling.

KENNEDY: OK.

CUOMO: What we're seeing happening with the health care debate right now. Here's the proposition. Why don't Republicans just own what you really want to do? There is a pronounced feeling for many years, John Boehner used to muse about it all the time, that there's a division about how to deal with health care within your party. But there is a central interest, which is, let's take money out of this system and use it for other things. No matter what you call any of these versions of a plan, skinny repeal, fat repeal, straight repeal, mike the appeal, you know, whatever you want to call it, they're all doing the same thing to various degrees.

KENNEDY: Sure.

CUOMO: Taking money out of the system. Why not just own that? Yes, we want to take money out. We know that that may mean less people get covered. That's the trade-off. Let the American people decide at the polls the next set of elections.

KENNEDY: That's an interesting thought, Chris. And I think that describes some of the people in the Republican caucus, but not all of it. We've got several groups of people. We've got some people in the Republican caucus want to put more money back in. I mean they have decided that they like Obamacare all of a sudden. And that's OK, but they ought to own it. They ought to stand up in front of God and the country and CNN and say, I've changed my position and I support it.

There are others who do believe what you believe. But the problem right -- or what you suggested, rather. But the problem right now is, we don't have a consensus. And I know what's going on is ugly and it's messy, but in a way it's beautiful because this is how a democracy's supposed to work. Everybody now, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, can offer amendments. They can say in a transparent way what they believe. And I think that's positive.

I will say this, and I think this is true on both sides of the aisle, we do have some folks kind of like the line in "The Wizard Of Oz," they're looking for courage. They don't quite know -- want to say what they believe. And I think now's the time.

We've talked about it enough. Let's vote. And if you believe in something, stand up and say it and own it. And if you changed your mind, stand up and say, I changed my mind and here's why.

[08:40:03] CUOMO: Well, senator, it would be good to get some plain speak so the American people can judge it.

KENNEDY: Yes, it would.

CUOMO: We'll see what you all come up with. And you are always welcome on this show to test the ideas and put it before the American people.

KENNEDY: Thank you, Chris.

CUOMO: Always. Thank you, sir, for taking the opportunity. All right, an unlikely hero has emerged in the Gold Cup final. Did you

see this? What happened between the U.S. and Jamaica. Oh, oh, oh. "Bleacher Report" is next.

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CUOMO: Did you hear those chants? "USA. USA." Forget about the political division. You know everybody gets behind a country when it matters, and boy did it matter to Team USA winning the Gold Cup for the sixth time.

Andy Scholes has more in the "Bleacher Report."

A beautiful moment to behold, my brother.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly was, Chris. And I'll tell you what, though, there were some tense moments in this one before Team USA was able to pull it out. And it had actually been an unlikely hero coming to the rescue. Check it out how it went down.

In the 50th minute, 22-year-old Jordan Morris, we've highlighted him here, he loses track of his man and Jamaica is going to score off the corner to tie the game at 1-1. But, Morris, he would get redemption. The 88th minute, he gets the ball in the middle of the box and he's going to bury it there at the back of the net.

[08:45:07] And, I'll tell you what, Morris is just a winner. He won a national title at Stanford, an MLS title in Seattle. Now he can add a Gold Cup to his resume as the U.S. beat Jamaica 2-1. And during all the celebration, Head Coach Bruce Arena, he had a warning for his team.

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BRUCE ARENA, HEAD COACH, TEAM USA: Anyone who hits me with champagne has no chance of making the next qualifying. We won the World Cup!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: I think he was just kidding.

All right, and, finally, if you ever are fortunate enough to own a $150,000 earring, here's a tip, don't wear it if you go to the lake. Atlanta Falcons star Julio Jones is learning this lesson the hard way. Jones was jet skiing. He fell off. And when he came out of the water, his earring was gone. Now Jones actually has hired a dive team to go down and look for the earring. They went down as far as 65 feet, but the divers said it's going to be impossible to find it.

So, Chris, if -- or if you ever -- I know you go fishing quite a bit, so maybe you should not wear all of your expensive jewelry either.

CUOMO: They didn't find it. And then one of them bought a Corvette ZO6.

SCHOLES: Yes, Julio can't afford to replace it. CUOMO: Yes, tough luck for him. He'll get it back. He'll get it back.

SCHOLES: Yes.

CUOMO: Andy, thank you very much.

SCHOLES: All right.

CUOMO: All right, coming up, we're going to talk to former CIA director, Michael Hayden. What does he make of the palace intrigue? What does he make for the president's basis of not believing the Russia intel?

But first, indulgent foods, they can be good for you depending on how they're prepared. CNN health contributor Lisa Drayer explains how in today's "Food as Fuel."

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LISA DRAYER, CNN HEALTH CONTRIBUTOR: A slice of the right kind of pizza can actually pinch hit for a nutritious meal. One whole wheat slice topped with spinach clocks in at just 240 calories. Plus, you'll get calcium from cheese and disease fighting lycopene from tomato sauce.

Shrimp can be a great lean protein option. One jumbo steamed or boiled shrimp has a mere 14 calories and heart healthy omega 3 fats. But steer clear of the fried stuff. A single double Tempura shrimp has 70 calories or five times the amount of the sustained version.

And good news for coffee lovers. A 12-ounce cup of brewed black coffee has only five calories, while the same size nonfat cappuccino has only 60. My recommendations, if you want milk, ask for skim. And if you want sweetener, request sugar free syrup. And hold off on the whip cream. You'll save several grams of fat and hundreds of calories.

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[08:51:28] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: The president and I would like to tell everybody we have a very, very good idea of who the leakers are, who the senior leakers are in the White House.

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CUOMO: White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci in an exclusive call-in interview on NEW DAY this morning saying that he's got a good idea who the White House leakers are, but he didn't want to directly implicate Chief of Staff Reince Priebus or any others.

How is all this talk of leaks, this intrigue, how is it going to affect us? What's it going to mean? Let's discuss this and some other security matters with CNN national security analyst, former director of the CIA and the NSA, General Michael Hayden.

General, great to have you this morning.

GEN. MICHAEL HAYDEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Good morning.

CUOMO: So, the simple question is, have you ever?

HAYDEN: No. Never. And I was watching all your coverage earlier in the green room, Chris, and I harken back to a breakfast I had in Great Britain about a year ago. International table for breakfast. A long and involved discussion. At the end one, one of our European friends turned to me and simply said, you do realize, don't you, how much we rely on you Americans to do the right thing? And so now you've got the whole world watching what appears to be an incredibly dysfunctional White House. And the whole world does depend on the world's strongest power to be a moral leader. And right now I don't think they've got a lot of confidence in us.

CUOMO: Well, let's talk about that for a second, general. You know, for all your titles, at bottom you are a leader. You have led men and women for many years in different capacities. What do you believe is happening and not happening in the White House to engender this kind of culture?

HAYDEN: Chris, when I went to CIA in May of 2006, we were in the news far too much as source and subject. And, frankly, I think a lot of the sources were from within the agency or at least its alumni association.

Now, there are ways to handle leaks. One is to make war on your workforce. That's really successful. You get leaks -- and I'm not excusing leaks in any way -- but you get leaks when people feel as if they have exhausted all means within the government to make their voices heard. People leak when they've lost all alternative.

So my policy at the agency was to simply open up communications with the workforce. I gave them my e-mail account. And I'm not suggesting the president do that. But I gave them my e-mail account and I answered every one of them. And I got thousands for a couple of weeks. And then they began to taper off. And so did the leaks. And so I think we're getting these leaks because of the atmosphere within the administration itself. If you want to stop the leaks, change the atmosphere.

CUOMO: Another question for you. One of the things that came out, I don't want it to be lost in the Scaramucci conversation, is he talked about a conversation he had with the president where the president talked about why he doesn't accept the Russian intelligence about the interference necessarily. And, again, this could be just of benefit to the president's position. But he said, well, you know, they got the weapons of mass destruction wrong. The intelligence community said it was a slam dunk. And the president remembers that. So unlike the rest of us in the media, he is being a little skeptical. What do you make of that? Because context, his head of the CIA, his

intel chiefs, they've all looked at the intel and they say there is no question. And basically the president's saying, I don't believe you.

[08:55:13] HAYDEN: Yes, that WMD thing, Chris, was my generation. That took place 15 years ago. We've taken full responsibility for getting that wrong.

We've got a new generation of officers there who are very careful when they attach high confidence to any kind of judgment. And they've attached high confidence to this.

And, Chris, I was in Aspen last week. The current and former, the Trump and Obama heads of CIA, director of National Intelligence, Homeland Security and the Homeland Security advisor all said the Russians did this without a doubt.

Now, look, this is important because the government, the intelligence community responds to the president's priorities. And the president has indicated, by his language, by what you've just referred to here, the president has indicated this is not a high priority. So I fear we're not doing enough to learn what happened and to prevent it from happening again.

CUOMO: What's your level of anxiety about what's going on in government?

HAYDEN: I'm very anxious. Look, Chris, you want an indicator? You just took a 39-year military veteran, the former head of CIA and NSA. You had him on your show. And I understand the question. But you asked me to comment what's going on between the White House communications director and the White House chief of staff. That should answer your question.

CUOMO: We just depend on you that much, general. Your portfolio is that broad.

Thank you, sir, for being on with us today.

HAYDEN: Thank you.

CUOMO: All right. We've actually made a lot of news for you this morning. CNN "NEWSROOM" with Poppy Harlow and John Berman is going to pick it all up for you. Please stay with CNN after this quick break.

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[09:00:12] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.