Return to Transcripts main page

NEW DAY

Perry Asks for Border Meeting, Obama Obliges; Chris McDaniel Challenging Mississippi Primary Results; Texas Toddler Dies in Hot Car; Kiss Goes Amiss at Tour De France

Aired July 8, 2014 - 07:30   ET

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


MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: No crying in baseball, but a Yankees fan is taking his gripes all the way to court. Andrew Rector filed a defamation lawsuit against two ESPN baseball commentators, the Yankees and Major League Baseball for showing him sleeping during an April broadcast of the Yankees/Red Sox game. Game commentators apparently made fun of him while the camera showed him dozing off. He is now seeking $10 million in damages.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Both teams, by the way, so bad that sleeping is the only responsible action.

PEREIRA: So says the Red Sox fan.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Isn't it assumed that you will be on camera once you walk into the stadium?

PEREIRA: I don't think it's so much showing him. It's a public event, one that is going to be broadcast. I think it's the comments that he most took issue with.

BERMAN: Ten million dollars.

BOLDUAN: So be careful guys when I doze off.

BERMAN: You can film me dozing off and say whatever you want and I'll only charge you a million.

BOLDUAN: That sounds like a deal. John King, wake up, John, wake up. Welcome to "Inside Politics."

JOHN KING, CNN HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": I'm just going to join my fellow suffering Red Sox fan. The Red Sox should be paying us to stay awake.

BOLDUAN: Well said.

KING: That's how bad it has been. Good morning, folks. A lot to cover "Inside Politics" this morning so let's get there quickly. With me to share their reporting and their insights, Margaret Talev of "Bloomberg News" and Peter Hamby of CNN.

Let's start with Governor Rick Perry and President Barack Obama. Sometimes you get what you ask for. Governor Perry said he's met with the president on the tarmac, a handshake to talk about big issues like immigration. That wouldn't do. See them there back in 2013 so he wants a meeting with the president, and the White House this morning overnight sends him a letter saying, sure, let's meet.

The president will be in Texas tomorrow, Margaret. He is going to have a meeting in Dallas. He is not going to border. A lot of Republicans have said go to the border and get a first-hand look of the crisis down there. He won't do that, but he is meeting with faith leaders and immigration activists in Dallas and he says, Governor Perry, come on in. I would say a smart counter from the White House, but also an opportunity for Governor Perry, no?

MARGARET TALEV, "BLOOMBERG NEWS": I think it's pretty hard for both of them to resist this for completely different reasons, but it is sort of the ball is in Governor Perry's court now. My most recent conversation with the White House, they have not yet heard back from him about whether this is going to happen, but it's a real official offer.

And there's a roundtable event that they have put together that is going to serve as instead of him going to the border. He couldn't just go and do fundraisers, at a certain point that's became untenable. They've come with the sort of event without having him on the border in a bad situation, and -- and now this has become a much more interesting visit.

KING: And Perry has revived himself looking at a disastrous presidential campaign last time. Couldn't name the three cabinet agencies he would cut, it was awful, but he has been reviving himself slowly, Peter, reaching out to key activists on the country and on this issue he's restored his national prominence, if you will, being at a point counterpoint with the president. What's he looking for in a meeting like this? Is it all partisan or is there a greater opportunity here?

PETER HAMBY, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, I think Margaret there is something that both teams can get out of this and I texted a Perry advisor. We haven't heard back them if they are actually going to take this meeting. Hard for them to say no. It elevates him. At some point the White House, you know, called his bluff, so to speak and now he kind of has to accept it.

But it puts him eye to eye with the president of the United States and this does elevate Rick Perry, like you said, who is trying to sort of climb back to prominence and be taken seriously so it's probably to his political advantage.

KING: This is the letter, Valerie Jarrett, the president's senior adviser sent to Governor Perry overnight. It starts with thank you for your concern about the urgent humanitarian crisis. So a little bit of -- but then it does list on the back the things the president is going to ask for more than $2 billion for some steps on the border.

Here is my question to both of you, look, the White House is doing this for political purposes and Governor Perry doing it for political purposes. There is a major policy issue here. Might they actually seize this opportunity to say we disagree about this, this and this and will fight that another day, but how about we agree on this, this and this.

And maybe Governor Perry can actually send a message to his fellow Republicans and say we may be at odds with this president, but when it comes to increasing border security, speeding up the processing of these children we'll cut a deal.

HAMBY: Well, that's a thing to watch because one thing that really damaged Rick Perry in his last presidential campaign is that he took kind of a reasonable approach to immigration. Remember in that Orlando debate where he really cratered even before the oops moment, calling for a Texas Dream Act and got booed by conservative activists. He's tried to seek out a middle ground and interesting to see what he does in today's meeting.

I mean, the president wants $2 billion to expand resources on the border for these children. Perry wants these kids to be turned around and sent back immediately so it's hard to see where the middle ground is right there.

TALEV: That's what the White House is counting on is that any meeting in the middle between Democrats and Republicans will mean the money that they are looking for. And the real question for them (inaudible) comes next. How active do they become on child deportations? Whatever authority they get from Congress, whatever do they do with it?

KING: In divided government you can't get any progress unless you make a deal. That's the simple point, but either you get nothing and you get the political debate. If you want some progress to deal with this crisis, you got to make a deal.

Let's move on to another race that simply won't go away. We're 119 days away from the November election, but the candidate who lost the Mississippi runoff says he's not done yet. Remember, Chris McDaniel thinks a number of African-Americans voted illegally in the runoff a couple weeks back and he's planning on suing although he's not gone to court yet.

His team keeps saying they will go to court. We'll see when that happens and among those joining his cause is Ted Cruz. He is the Tea Party favorite, the freshman senator from Texas. Listen to him here last night on the Mark Levine radio program.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS (via telephone): What happened in Mississippi was appalling. Primaries are always rough and tumble, but the conduct of the Washington, D.C. machine in the Mississippi runoff was incredibly disappointing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: We know, Peter, that Ted Cruz was a Chris McDaniel supporter in Mississippi. The thing that strikes me though is this has been hard for him this year, but he still officially has a title, does he not, as a deputy something or other at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which I assume is that Washington machine of which he speaks.

HAMBY: The very people who wanted Thad Cochran to win in this election and who are bashing their heads against the wall about this continued McDaniel call for a recount or to throw out some votes. Yes, he's a member of the NRC, I think he's vice chairman. This has to just further aggravate not the chairman of the NRC, but Mitch McConnell who watches the Republicans in the Senate watching Ted Cruz sounding off again.

But look, it kind of takes this race, which the political class has paid attention to and conservative movement has paid attention to it, but it elevates, too, and brings even more election, an outside voice taking a little bit --

TALEV: Not the only outside voice. Remember, Hillary Clinton did this fascinating interview with C-Span with her book over the past weekend in which this very same issue came up and she praised Cochran and gave him a shout-out for saying he did exactly what he's supposed to do by reaching out and courting these black Democratic voters. I wonder if that's a position she would hold further down the line.

KING: Hold further down the line, but the question about the specific race is at the moment that Thad Cochran is the Republican nominee likely to win that race in November. If you're going to contest it, stop talking about it and go to court and make your case.

One more race we've watched a lot. This was a race Democrats thought here was their opportunity to slay a giant, Alison Grimes, the Democrat running against the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell in Kentucky. He hopes to be the majority leader next year. The Republicans need a net gain of six seats, but he is in a lot of trouble if you look at his poll numbers. But she's made a couple of tactical mistakes in her campaign lately. An outside group with a new ad questioning Alison Grimes saying, what do you stand for?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do we know about Alison Grimes, the "Bowling Green Daily News" says she waffles on the issues, hides from voters, "The Herald Leader" reports Grimes is nearly impossible to pin down dodging the tough question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: So this race, Margaret, if you looked at this a couple months ago, this is the one the Democrats thought the Republicans knocked off the Senate Leader Tom Daschle and now we'll get Mitch McConnell? Are they as confident now as this campaign plays out?

TALEV: I think it's tough to beat Mitch McConnell and it's always been really tough. Why not go for it, but the Democrats are trying to build a bench in places like Kentucky and Texas of women who take on, you know, a sort of near impossible feat and see how far they can get and I think this is what is part of when you see Elizabeth Warren coming to Kentucky to raise awareness and money for people. KING: You've spent a lot of time on this race. I said early on she had a chance, but she had to be near perfect. She hasn't been near perfect.

HAMBY: She hasn't been near perfect and this is the knock on her since the beginning, that she's not ready for primetime. The NRSC speaking of them, unfortunately, called her in the beginning of the race an empty dress, which was an unfortunate phrase coming from a man, but if you talk to Democrats there they do think she's gotten better.

Yes, she's been too cautious with the media, cautious on policy. Afraid to take stands on certain things, running away from Obama on coal, for example, but she has gotten better. I talked to one donor over the weekend who is expecting her to post a really strong fundraising quarter, maybe over $4 million, which would be a really good number. But almost $8 million of outside spending in the race, two-thirds of that has gone attacking her and supporting McConnell.

KING: That's the one Republican seat, they say Georgia sometimes, too. Democrats looking at the map, not trending in their favor. We'll see how it goes from here. Margaret, Peter, thanks for coming in. I hope Mr. Berman didn't fall asleep during our segment this morning.

BERMAN: If I would have let you film me and give you a discount because you're a Red Sox fan and charge you only $500,000.

BOLDUAN: It's getting lower and lower if we keep talking about it.

KING: I would never sue you, Mr. Berman. It would frivolous.

BERMAN: Appreciate it. John King, appreciate it.

BOLDUAN: Last time I want to hear legal jargon from you two. Thanks, John. Great talk.

Coming up next on NEW DAY, on the heels of the toddler's death in Georgia that we followed so closely, that investigation in the case, yet another hot car death to tell you about. This one in Texas. Why are these awful cases happening?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: As much of the country is gripped by the case of the Georgia father accused of letting his toddler son die in a hot car, another tragic incident of the very same kind has happened in Texas. And as temperatures are rising, obviously as we head further and further into the summer, more children are in danger of falling victim to the same problem. CNN's Miguel Marquez has more this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's happened again, this time El Paso, Texas.

UNIDENTIFIED DISPATCH: With reference to the 911, unknown problem? I have a 2-year-old female.

MARQUEZ: A 2-year-old left in the car parked at the family's home reports the child left to suffocate overnight. An autopsy now being conducted on the little girl before possible criminal charges, and, again, in Tennessee, Matthew Brown and Brittany Zenneti arrested after leaving their 15-month-old girl in their car as they shopped at the supermarket.

She's OK after a firefighter smashed the car window to free her. They face up to six years in prison. Already this year, 15 children have died from heat stroke or suspected heat stroke. The researcher gathering this data says the number of close calls, in the thousands.

(on camera): Cars can heat up very quickly, even in cooler temperatures. It's 91 outside. Inside, we've only been in here 10, 15 minutes. It's 108 degrees. I'm sweating through my shirt already and sweating just about everywhere. These cars can go from uncomfortable to deadly very fast.

(voice-over): All these cases in the last week, even though most of the nation is laser focused on the sickening case of 22-month-old Cooper Harris.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, are you Justin Ross Harris?

MARQUEZ: The child discovered by his father, Justin Harris, who spent the day working at Home Depot, having lunch with friends and sexting women while his son spent seven hours strapped into his car seat. Scratches to his face, abrasions on the back of his head, the child apparently struggling to survive the heat.

Harris charged with murder and child cruelty the same week Cooper Harris died in Georgia, 9-month-old Anna Marie Lily in Florida, died after four hours in the back of her father's truck. He told police he meant to drop her off at daycare before heading to work. Here's Steven Lillie from a 911 call.

STEVEN LILLIE: She's been in the car for hours. I absolutely forgot about her. She's not alive.

MARQUEZ: A shocking admission from a father at the scene of his own daughter's death, as unimaginable as leaving a child in a car seems, experts say there will be more cases as temperatures across the country rise. Miguel Marquez, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Thanks to Miguel for that. Big storms overnight. Let's get right to meteorologist Indra Petersons who is keeping a track of the forecast for today -- Indra.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Looks like a light show out towards Boston. Light show in the afternoon and evening hours, and that's going to continue to be the story as we go throughout today because why? We're watching the same cold front taking its time. Notice all the lightning around Chicago right now. Big airport hub, guys. Check for delays if you're heading out.

Otherwise 40 million looking for severe weather again. Still watching the cold front, all the way back even through Arkansas. Talking about the threat for the thunderstorms to continue, even into the afternoon and evening hours, and notice even by tomorrow, it is still here progressing slowly off to the east. So some scattered showers will only be increasing over the next couple of days here as it makes its way closer into the northeast.

Tail end of that have bringing more of the heavier rain out there so that's what we're talking about, two to three inches of showers and one to two inches of rain up to the northeast as the system makes its way across. In the southeast, big dome of high pressure has been in place, and temperatures, they are well above normal. A good 10 degrees above normal even all the way up to New York City, 93 degrees.

Kind of that hog and muggy feeling. One plus to the cold front as it kicks through. Temperatures start to go down to even below normal, so we'll start to feel a little bit better. Kind of a mixed bag. A little bit of rain and milder weather on the back side so kind of evens out.

BOLDUAN: Equilibrium. Thanks, Indra. Coming up next on NEW DAY, a Tour de France moment goes viral for all of the wrong reasons. The missed kissed that one cyclist will never be allowed to forget even if he wants to.

BERMAN: I'm embarrassed for him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: How many times has this happened to you?

BERMAN: I don't know, today, this morning, so far?

BOLDUAN: Say it. John gets a little fresh with the camera.

BERMAN: First of all there's too much yellow here to begin with but beyond that, there's another big problem. It's being called the dissed kiss. What was supposed to be a celebratory moment for a Tour de France cyclist has become a viral sensation when his lips and so much more are left hanging in limbo in such a public way. Jeanne Moos has more on the cringe worthy moment.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kissing should be like riding a bike. You never forget how, but instead, it can get so awkward, watch when the Italian who won stage two of the Tour de France angles for the traditional kisses from the podium girls. The first one goes fine, but the second girl leaves him hanging, stuck pretending to fix his own collar. It's being analyzed in slow motion, looped in a six-second vine.

(on camera): But the cyclist is in good company when it comes to having his lips left in limbo. Even former presidents end up in puckered up purgatory.

(voice-over): The intended target was Hillary. Bill ended up kissing air while Hillary wound up being kissed by then presidential nominee, Barack Obama. Who himself has had his share of kissing mishaps including the time he accidentally kissed his vice president's wife right on the smacker and the vice president has found himself in a three-way kissing muddle.

Talk about having your kiss dissed, singer, Erica Badou, was clowning around in a WPIX reporter's live shot and then she tried to kiss him --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Labeouf obviously -- excuse me --

MOOS: Who eventually tweeted "Sorry Mario" to the reporter. Miley Cyrus's kiss was dissed by Katy Perry when Miley went a little too far with her tongue. Of course, a lot of kissing confusion can be blamed on the age-old angle dilemma.

(on camera): German researcher concluded after spying on 124 couples that 65 percent of people tend to tilt their heads to the right, rather than to the left, going in for a kiss.

(voice-over): President Obama was in the minority with his left tilt approach to kissing Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan, but don't blame his left-handedness. Many famous movie kisses start with a right tilt. Cary Grant plays it both ways in "Notorious."

The German researcher thinks it's a womb thing. Babies tend to turn their heads to the right. U.S. goalkeeper, Tim Howard, is still blocking, in this case blocking a fan's hug. It's no fun being rejected, all puckered up with no place to go. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: Like she pinched his neck or something. What is the back story? Don't you want to know? We were talk about this, the age-old, this how are you doing, you go in to do the cheek kiss and same direction, becomes an accidental makeout session.

PEREIRA: Happen a lot to you?

BERMAN: How many of your makeout sessions are accidental?

BOLDUAN: The only time I'm going to get a kiss, OK? Just kidding. All right, Jeanne Moos only the way Jeanne Moos can.

Coming up next on NEW DAY, Japan getting hit with one of the strongest storms it's seen in decades as powerful as a Category 3 hurricane. Live report coming up from the region.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)