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Potential Obstacles for Clinton Campaign; Marco Rubio Announces His White House Bid; Kerry Asks Congress for "Space" on Iran Deal. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired April 14, 2015 - 06:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:31:26] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The music, the graphics means it's happening. Hillary Clinton waking up in Iowa this morning ready to hit the ground running in her presidential campaign. She has her first official event today.

Despite being the overwhelming favorite in the Democratic field, remember she is the only one in that field right now. Does she have obstacles that stand in her way? What about those memories of 2008 when that front-runner status simply evaporated?

I'm joined this morning by "New York Times" political correspondent Patrick Healy, who covered Clinton's campaign in 2008. Some of other campaigns as well.

Patrick, great to have you here.

PATRICK HEALY, NEW YORK TIMES: Great to be here, John.

BERMAN: Talk about the number of things she has between her and the nomination right now, or perhaps her and the presidency right now is more accurate because of no one else in race right now. Let's talk about the most recent kerfuffle to get in her way, the email situation right now, the fact that she used her personal e-mail account when she was at the State Department.

How big a deal do you think that will be?

HEALY: Right. It just invited all the questions to come back about trustworthiness, about secretiveness. It played into this longstanding idea that the Clintons sort of being different than the rest of us, sort of above and operating by their own rules.

The problem with that -- I don't think so much she's going to go to Iowa and people are going to be saying, the e-mail server, that's what I care the most about. It's more that there's going to be this level of discomfort that people are going to have a tough time getting over. That's why she's going to do these small events, to look people in the eye as much as possible, because when you do, people may think, well, maybe she doesn't have that much to hide.

BERMAN: It's not about the e-mail. People don't care about e- mail.

Did the news conference she gave at the United Nations to answer the questions, did that fix the problem?

HEALY: I don't think so. The people who are going to ask those questions are just going to keep asking them, you know?

BERMAN: All right. What about another issue that really became a very, very big deal when she was secretary of state and still is, Benghazi. She could be testifying -- a presidential candidate, major candidate, testifying before a congressional committee within the next month and a half.

HEALY: Right. You know how the Republicans are, John. They're not going to let this go away. This is an issue that they can be putting to her in terms of her record at the State Department, her credibility, her leadership skills. She clearly wants to run in part on her foreign policy record.

The thing that will be interesting is, will this become the issue that defines her State Department tenure? Will people be saying, well, what else did you do? Did you have a big accomplishment to set off against this disaster?

BERMAN: Of course, and we'll get to that in a second because the State Department record could become a very big issue here. But what about the idea when she testifies as she did already once before Congress, could that backfire against Republicans? Could Democrats rally around Hillary Clinton when they see her facing harsh questions in a congressional committee?

HEALY: That's the thing, John. Whenever she is seen as being under attack too much, whenever she's being seen as being beaten up too much or held to a double standard sort of in the public perception, I think her sort of likability goes up. I think people who may have mixed feelings about her start to say, well, wait a minute, is this sort of going too far?

And they kind of like the fighter Hillary, I mean, the degree to which the Republicans can bring out the overconfident presumptuous Hillary as opposed to the fighter Hillary. They're sort of better off doing that.

BERMAN: The conundrum for both Clintons for decades and decades. Now, we talked about the State Department record. We talked about Benghazi. You know, foreign policy was seen as a strength of Hillary Clinton up until maybe the last few months when so much of this administration's foreign policy has been thrown into chaos. Is this going to be a problem for her?

HEALY: Oh, absolutely. It's going to hover over her. I mean, she's still going to be remembered as Obama's secretary of state.

[06:35:00] If John Kerry started striking like major deals, major accomplishments, he's going to be the successful secretary of state.

She's going to be remembered for visiting 112 countries but not these deals. And then it becomes a question of, where were her instincts on a crisis point like Benghazi? What else did she manage to do?

The thing about her, though, is that she clearly wants to pivot to the domestic policy side. She doesn't think people are going to vote for or against her based on whether President Obama gets an Iran deal. I don't think it's that. I think it's about at least in the short-term about galvanizing, energizing Democrats by being seen as a different kind of Hillary, a little bit more of a populist Hillary.

BERMAN: So, we've gone down this list right now and it's not until we're like deep into number four where we actually talk about other possible Democratic candidates. That's Martin O'Malley, former governor of Maryland. This guy is vice president. He's a sitting Democratic vice president. Joe Biden hasn't said whether he's going to run or not.

Is there another Democratic possibility?

HEALY: Yes, it seems unlikely. I mean, they want to run. John Kerry probably wants to run as you remember 2004 that was a very tough loss for him.

I think the thing isn't so much someone there who can out-raise Hillary, who can beat her consistently in caucuses and primaries, can someone really bruise her, really damage her in a way when she goes into a general election where she's weaker. That seems a little unclear. It's possible -- I mean, if they can sort of reinforce people's misgivings about her, but it seems more likely that the bruising is the concern more than we're going to lose Pennsylvania to Bernie Sanders.

BERMAN: More than that. I think like Martin O'Malley wants to be seen as a viable alternative if something unforeseen happens. That's why he's out there right now.

This guy Joe Biden here, you know, I think probably not likely to get in, at least not yet.

Patrick Healy, great to have you here with us on NEW DAY. We really appreciate it.

Chris?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Helpful segment, J.B. to a different topic with similar concerns, flying -- never great for most of us, but now worse. Lost luggage, long delays, not a good year for frequent fliers. We're going to tell you which airlines are the worst offenders.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:41:04] CUOMO: Breaking just moments ago, police have captured the student suspected in a fatal shooting on the campus of Wayne Community College in North Carolina. Twenty-year-old Kenneth Stansell was found sleeping on the beach in Daytona City, Florida. Authorities say he shot and killed long-time school employee Ron Lane who ran the campus print shop. Officials say Stansell was a work- study student who reported to Lane. We will get more information about why this happened.

BERMAN: Really interesting.

All right, the suspect who endured a vicious breakdown by San Bernardino police after a three-hour pursuit is now speaking out. Francis Pusok tells a local station he thought he was being beaten to death. The FBI's conducting a civil rights inquiry and ten deputies are now on administrative leave.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: New audio is emerging from right after the South Carolina police shooting that killed Walter Scott. In one recording, Michael Slager explains his side of the story presumably on the phone to his wife. In another, he's heard laughing nervously just moments after Scott's death. All of this as Scott's passenger during that traffic stop that started it all is speaking out. In a statement, Pierre Fulton telling ABC, quote, "I'll never know why Scott ran, but I know he didn't deserve to die."

CUOMO: All right. Big news, big, big news, could change everything that you think you know about the New England Patriots. Witness, hero Tom Brady, judge for yourself if this is more man than myth throwing out the first pitch on the mound.

Yeeha, great catch by that guy, by the way. That was at the Sox home opener. Now, some say Tom Brady can throw 60-yard strikes on the gridiron, but this many say calls not only the latest Super Bowl win, which is still under review by the way, into question.

PEREIRA: Oh, my goodness.

CUOMO: But any success the team has had, the league and the United Nations considering an investigation.

PEREIRA: John Berman, I will often rush to your defense. You think we should now call Chris Cuomo Bitter Betty or --

BERMAN: I was gazing into Tom Brady's eyes right there.

CUOMO: That's the problem. The line of the objectivity of his failings.

BERMAN: Did you know Tom Brady was drafted by the Montreal Expos as a catcher before he went to Michigan to become a quarterback. He went for the fastball there.

CUOMO: The problem with Tom Brady is he's too talented and too handsome.

PEREIRA: We're going to leave the bromance alone, because right now, it's time for CNN money now. They'll discuss it.

Chief business correspondent Christine Romans, these two will go at it. Let's talk about travel. I understand it got worse last year.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That baseball was underinflated by the way.

CUOMO: Oh --

ROMANS: Let's talk about air travel here. It got worse.

Quality for most airlines fell last year. Virgin America topping the list for the third year in a row, had good review with the fewest lost bags, nearly no bumped passengers. Hawaiian Airlines with best on-time performance thanks to very few weather delays. Delta made the most improvements. Coming in last, envoy with the most lost bags and late flights.

Today is Equal Pay Day. This is the day when women finally earn as much as men did last year. That's right, takes them all the way to April.

For full-time workers women earn 78 cents to a man's dollar. You can't explain the gaps solely because women dominate lower paying fields. Take teachers, for example, women hold most of those jobs, 70 percent of teaching jobs are women and they earn 87 cents to the man's dollar there. For retail sales, 70 cents to the lawyer, for lawyers 83 cents.

What took men last year to earn, women just got there today.

BERMAN: Christine Romans, thanks so much. That teaching statistic really tells you a lot more than just a pure number. Thanks, Christine.

Secretary of State John Kerry urging Congress to give him space to reach a nuclear agreement with Iran. But some lawmakers not so willing to listen. Are the chances for a deal compromised? We're going to ask one congressman who just got inside briefings on these talks what was he told? That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:49:02] CUOMO: The big days just keep coming now as the race for president is real. Hillary Clinton announced now she's getting ready for the first event that will no doubt be a bruising campaign. She's already under fire from Republicans including Marco Rubio.

Now, he didn't trash her in his announcement. It was about him and in fairness a more affirmative vision than many might have expected. But he did take his aim at her and others in the field.

So, where is the balance power on this day?

Richard Socarides, former senior adviser to President Clinton and a Democratic strategist, and Kevin Madden, CNN political commentator and Republican strategist take us through it.

Mr. Socarides, can you say in the interest of balance that you were impressed with Marco Rubio last night?

RICHARD SOCARIDES, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: No. I can't say that.

CUOMO: Why?

SOCARIDES: I think it looked a little amateurish, actually. I think it looked a little untested. That's how it struck me.

CUOMO: A big glass of haterade from Socarides.

SOCARIDES: No, I don't hate him. I don't hate him.

CUOMO: He's being praised for this morning for hitting on affirmative themes, for putting out his best foot forward.

What did you see in it?

[06:50:00] KEVIN MADDEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, look, I think Marco Rubio and his team, I think they have as good a snapshot as there is of this American electorate is right now, where they genuinely want somebody new, they genuinely who is new and will be a visionary. If you look at the speech he gave, it was as you said, Chris, it was very affirmative, it was very aspirational. Spoke to a lot of things people want to hear about who's going to bring the kind of change to Washington that's needed if we're going to move into the future.

And he did, he made a very sharp contrast I think not only with the last -- what will have been the last eight years of President Obama, but he's also drew a contrast with Hillary Clinton and being able to be an agent for the future. And I think that was also a slight implied contrast with one of his main rivals in the Republican nomination which would have been Jeb Bush.

CUOMO: Well, that's the point, Kevin. The thumb in the eye to Hillary is also going to be a thumb in the eye to Jeb Bush. We'll deal with that in a second.

Now, is team Hillary given to caution when it comes to Marco Rubio, because although he is in that last layer within his own party right now, as polls suggest, against Hillary, he does very well. In fact, you could argue, he does the best in the field right now. Latest poll had him 55-42, very early. But numbers show trends. They give us a sense of feel.

Do they believe they see things in Marco Rubio that would be tough for Hillary to counter and not just age?

SOCARIDES: Well, listen, I think it's going to be a tough race. The country is very evenly divided. So, I think any one of these Republicans could put up potentially a very tough race. But Marco Rubio has got the same problems with his candidacy that Jeb Bush has, right?

I mean, he's too moderate. He's not really moderate, but he's too moderate for the Republican primary electorate and he's too conservative for the general election electorate. The problem -- additional problem that he's got is that he's not Jeb Bush. I mean, Jeb Bush has got some stature, he's got a family name. So, I think that, you know, I agree with Kevin that that is what he was trying to do yesterday in the announcement.

But I think you saw, you know, someone who'd never done this before, someone who's a little untested and someone who is not Jeb Bush.

MADDEN: Let me disagree with that.

CUOMO: Go ahead, Kevin.

MADDEN: Yes, Jeb Bush came -- I'm sorry, Marco Rubio came to prominence with a lot of Tea Party support, a lot of base conservative support when he first ran for the Senate. And he does, I think, many folks would say represent one of the candidates who has the ability to bring together not only the establishment Republicans but the base of Republicans in a primary. And then in a general election because of his Cuban-American heritage, he has an ability to go out and win some of those Hispanic voters that we did so poorly with in 2012.

So I think, he -- you know, many Democrats have to look at him as a potentially very strong general election candidate.

CUOMO: He came in with the Tea Party, Kevin.

But, Richard, then he took his position on immigration, which may have been seen as a very moderate one, but it angered people within the base.

SOCARIDES: That's exactly right. That's exactly right. The Republican Party is very fractionalized and there's no real fraction for him. I mean, he supports immigration reform, which would suggest that he's a little bit more of a moderate.

But he's not -- does not support marriage equality. He does not believe that there's a climate change problem. I mean, he is kind of a man without a home in the Republican Party.

MADDEN: The Democrats have their own problem. They've got everybody's clamoring for Elizabeth Warren to run. So, there's faction -- fractions on both sides, I think.

Look at what he's done with proposing a very bold tax plan, a very pro-growth tax plan. I think that would -- I think that's going to energize a lot of conservatives to his side inside a Republican primary.

CUOMO: Kevin, how far did up did he move in your standings yesterday?

MADDEN: You know, I have him probably the top three. I would say Jeb Bush, Scott Walker and Marco Rubio.

CUOMO: Rubio ahead of Rand Paul?

MADDEN: I would put him ahead of Rand Paul. I think Rand Paul is going to be very strong in the early contest, but if you look at somebody who has an ability to really -- to have staying power inside that Republican primary, I'd put Marco Rubio up there.

I think that's one of his big challenges, Chris, is if you look at that early primary calendar, which state does he win? It's a hard -- that's a hard question to answer right now. But I think we have plenty of time to start putting the pieces together of their strategy where they can do that.

CUOMO: What about this aspect? Last night, a big part of his theme which is just really strong when it comes to American values is, "I am middle class. My father's a bartender. My mother was a maid. And look at me. I've made it."

The human example beats very often the conceptual model what we're seeing with Hillary Clinton. Not that she came from such royal beginnings, but now she is who she is.

SOCARIDES: Right.

CUOMO: Does that concern you?

SOCARIDES: It doesn't concern me, but I think it's an excellent point, because voting is an emotional experience. It's not always, you know, a strategic experience. People don't go to the voting booth and say, well, this person is for this, this person is for that.

You have to have an emotional reaction to the candidate. I think that's where he is potentially the most threatening to the Democrats.

But look at Hillary Clinton. She's had a flawless rollout. She's reconnecting with voters. I think this road trip that she took is exactly what she wanted to do.

[06:55:02] It parallels what she did when she ran for Senate successfully in New York.

CUOMO: Do you think she's stronger now than when she ran against Obama?

SOCARIDES: I think she's had an incredible couple of days, and I think if she stays on this path, she is really going to surprise people and really connect with people.

MADDEN: From haterade to the Kool-Aid. Look --

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

CUOMO: Come on. That was good, Richard.

SOCARIDES: It was good, but look at the serious political reporters are calling this the best rollout they've seen so far. I mean, everything has been exactly as planned.

CUOMO: Some would argue since John Edwards did it online. We got to go. We'll pick it up.

MADDEN: OK.

CUOMO: We'll pick it up.

Kevin Madden, Richard Socarides, thank you very much.

This is a big story for you no question about it. But there's a lot of news this morning. We'll get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: We have two and a half months to complete a very difficult task which has high stakes for our country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What I see is complete lack of understanding between Americans and the Iranian counterpart.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People are talking about the real issues. That's what this campaign is really going to be about.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She needs to reconnect with her authentic roots.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's going to waltz to the Democratic nomination.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: I believe our very identity as an exceptional nation is at stake, and I can make a difference as president.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wouldn't count him out at all. I mean, I think he's got a ton of talent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Roll on your stomach now!

(GUNFIRE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He had been shot and they said, F your breath.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was excusable homicide under Oklahoma law.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think you're certainly in a dangerous place when you're allowing wealthy people to pay money almost to play cop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He shot me.

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

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: Good morning, and welcome back to your NEW DAY. Our Alisyn is off today. John Berman hanging out with us.

This morning, the White House and Congress on a collision course over a nuclear deal with Iran, a key Senate committee could vote on a bill as early as today to give Congress final say on any deal. Obama's top deputies are back on the Hill this morning to break lawmakers and ask for patience on negotiations with Iran.

CUOMO: Presidential hopefuls watching all of this very closely of course. Hillary Clinton will kick off her campaign with her first big events in Iowa. And on the Republican side, we saw Marco Rubio declaring himself in very auspicious fashion as the candidate of tomorrow.

So, what is the state of play?

We have it covered for you. We are everywhere only the way CNN can be. Let's get to the White House.

Michelle Kosinski, what do we know?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Chris.

You know, it is interesting to think that it might have been easier for the White House to work out a framework of a nuclear deal with Iran than now for them to try to get Congress to go along with it.

And the White House says they need two things at this moment, time and space to work out the details of that deal without Congress interfering for now. But Congress, you know, they don't see this as interference. They think they should have a vote on a deal for something so important. And some of those who feel that way are in fact Democrats.

I mean, today, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee could vote on a bill that would give them an up or down vote on the Iran deal. Others could add other provisions to it, could prevent the president from taking away sanctions that were imposed by Congress while Congress is considering this. The Senate is close to a veto-proof majority.

So, now is the time for the White House to be working overtime. I mean, they've had a classified briefing with the House today. There's one with the Senate to try to convince Congress otherwise.

Is it going to work though? It's a pretty big battle at this point. Rhetoric has reached proportions they may even be uglier than usual with the Republicans and the White House calling each other naive -- Chris.

CUOMO: Well, you know, we've got Jim Himes and Bob Corker coming on the show this morning, kind of talk about, well, what exactly is Congress's leverage here, what they hold as the chips on the table here? You know, why are they asking for this? So, we'll break it down and see where everything falls in that.

Michelle, thank you very much.

So, Hillary Clinton's Scooby van has arrived in Iowa. That's where she's going to hold her first event of the campaign today.

CNN's senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar is live from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, this morning.

Brianna, my first question: why isn't it called the mystery machine? That's what it was called in the cartoon. What is this Scooby van?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I know. I think this is her takeoff. We understand this has reminded her of the mystery machine and so, she calls it her Scooby van, which is arguably a cute little phrase.

But already, Chris, it's pretty fascinating, Republicans, RNC specifically, have seized on this and they've said, wait a second, didn't she have the Scooby van in 2000 when she was running for Senate? They're trying to say she's recycling ideas and she's recycling this concept even of the Scooby van. So, even the Scooby van coming under political attack.

But yes, Hillary Clinton wakes up here in Iowa this morning. I'm in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in the eastern part of the state, not far from Monticello, where she will go to a satellite campus of Kirkwood Community College. This is expected to be a very small venue that she'll be at today. Then, tomorrow a fruit company outside of Des Moines.