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Santorum, Pataki, O'Malley to Enter 2016 Race; Remembering Fallen Soldiers on Memorial Day. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired May 25, 2015 - 08:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:33:05] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, here we go with the five things to know for your new day.

At number one, pointed criticism of Iraq from Defense Secretary Ash Carter, exclusively telling CNN, Iraqi forces showed no will to fight when ISIS took over Ramadi. Iraqi forces now gathering outside Ramadi, preparing for an order to try and retake that city.

More rain is expected in Texas and Oklahoma today, which could make for even worse flooding. Flash floods killed three people, several others, a mother and her two children, are missing.

A deadly weekend in Baltimore. Police now working to investigate more than a dozen shootings. At least 18 people shot, six were killed between Friday and Sunday. Police have not announced what is behind all that violence.

A person has been arrested after a pressure cooker was found in an abandoned car in Washington, D.C. A bomb squad safely destroying the cooker and the car's owner was arrested and charged.

It is Memorial Day today as the nation honors soldiers who gave their lives to defend our freedom. President Obama will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery later this morning.

For more on the five things, be sure to visit newdaycnn.com for the latest.

Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Michaela. If you feel like there just aren't enough candidates for president in 2016, good news, three new hopefuls expected to jump in this week. We will look at what they each bring to the race. That's next.

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[08:38:30] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Are you running for president?

GEORGE PATAKI, FORMER NEW YORK GOVERNOR: I am going to announce that next Thursday in Exeter, New Hampshire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: That was former governor of New York, George Pataki, on NEW DAY last week announcing.

CAMEROTA: You heard it here first.

PEREIRA: Essentially announcing. Just one of those expected to how his hat into the ring of the ever expanding GOP presidential field.

Also expected to make an announcement on Wednesday - let's run through the list - former Pennsylvania Senator Republican Rick Santorum. Also Democrat and former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley is planning to announce his campaign in Baltimore.

CAMEROTA: So joining us this morning is CNN political commentator and Jeb Bush supporter Ana Navarro.

Ana, we can't believe we get you all to ourselves this morning.

PEREIRA: Yes, but she's in Miami so, you know, life is good for her.

CAMEROTA: Oh, totally.

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right. I'm not vacationing on the beach because I live on the beach.

CAMEROTA: Right. Your life's even better than those of us who go on vacation. So, Ana, let's talk about this new field. Rick Santorum jumping in. George Pataki, as you heard on NEW DAY. Martin O'Malley. Do - how do any of these move the needle?

NAVARRO: Well, let's see. Rick Santorum joins an already very crowded lane of candidates competing for the social conservative vote. Let's remember, Rick Santorum ended up winning the Iowa caucuses when they finished the recount in 2012.

PEREIRA: Right.

NAVARRO: And he really was the one that dragged out the primary until way into the calendar and took on Mitt Romney until almost the very end of the primary calendar. So, you know, I think those things make him feel like he's entitled and should be running.

[08:40:09] George Pataki. Uh-huh. OK. Some people get hobbies. Some people run for president. I - I have a hard time figuring the one out. But, you know, it's the -

CAMEROTA: Well - well -

NAVARRO: Land of the free, right? And he qualifies to do it. I'm - so, you know, he'll - he - some people just want to get their voice out there.

CAMEROTA: OK. Well, here's what he told us on NEW DAY, which is, that he was a Republican who won the blue state of New York and he's one of only two Republican governors ever to have served in New York. So he thinks the he can sort of tread that middle ground that isn't in - that could be bipartisan in way.

NAVARRO: OK. So, the - that - that's his, I guess, path to victory. But I think there's already somebody in that lane. His name is Chris Christie.

Look, let's just face it, OK, some people are actually running for president. Some people are running as business development.

PEREIRA: Ah.

NAVARRO: It makes you more relevant. It gets your voice out there. It gets - it makes you more marketable. Your speaking fees go up. Maybe you get a good cable gig. Maybe they'll be on this network. We don't know.

So, you know, or maybe they'll catch lightning in a bottle and they'll be stars in the debate. The problem is, I'm not even sure George Pataki gets into the debates with the poll numbers that he has. But, look, it's a free country. Everybody's got a right who qualifies to run and, you know, we'll just ride this one out with 15, 15 - a football team worth of candidates starting off.

PEREIRA: I can hear - I can hear you just sort of saying good grief in all of this with the deep pauses and trying to find the politically correct way to say it. But it is actually, on a serious note, it makes you wonder, with a field that is so diluted, you know, diluted with so many candidates, it's got to be hard for the GOP to sort of say, look, we need to garner support after a couple of really strong candidates to potentially face off against the front-runner in the Democratic party.

NAVARRO: The field will narrow down quickly once this starts in earnest.

PEREIRA: Of course. Of course. But it's going to have to really narrow -

NAVARRO: Think about all the names that are being batted around now, it's - right, it's still going to be a very big field. And so, we've got two ways to approach this. Either we say, woe is me, it's going to be a crazy circus, or you say, you know what, this is great. It's going to be a vigorous debate. You're going to hear an enormous amount of diversity of thought on that debate stage and from the different candidates. And we'll narrow it down. And Republicans will have a very wide choice.

Whereas on the other side, you've got what looks like an anointed candidate. You've got an arranged marriage and you've got basically one choice because, yes, I mean, I might be poking a little fun at Pataki, but let's just face it, Martin O'Malley and Bernie Sanders are almost, you know, just as laughable when it comes to the Democrat side.

CAMEROTA: But let's - but let's talk about that. I mean will they -

NAVARRO: And when we all know that there is one candidate.

CAMEROTA: But do they make Hillary Clinton have to modify her positions or her campaign somehow by getting in?

NAVARRO: I really don't think so. I mean, I think they're - I think they're - you know, I don't think that they move the needle as far as Hillary. I think that they serve a useful purpose, frankly, because at this point if it wasn't for Bernie Sanders and maybe Martin O'Malley, who's supposed to get in later this week, who would she debate? Hillary 2008?

You know, I mean at least at this point it gives them a fig leaf of a reason to schedule six debates. It gives the DNC a fig leaf to schedule six debates, which I think is important because you're going to have an enormous amount of activity on the Republican side. Events, fun, yes, it will be cringe worthy at times, but it will also be a vigorous debate and a very heated competition.

CAMEROTA: All right. All right. Well look at it as a vigorous debate.

NAVARRO: And on the other side it's kind of boring and people don't like boring.

PEREIRA: No, we certainly don't. All right, let's look at this other leadership conference straw poll that was held over the weekend. We know that none of the three front-runners, including Jeb Bush, had a major presence at that leadership conference. But that put the results, Ben Carson coming out on top in that straw poll. What is his appeal with the southern Republicans?

NAVARRO: You know, Ben Carson has a core group of supporters who are extremely enthusiastic about him and who are just, you know, all about Ben Carson. I think they like that he has taken on President Obama. He really came on the scene when he spoke at a National Prayer Breakfast and spoke against Obamacare as a doctor, and with President Obama sitting there. That really turned him into a star, and he's got a group of supporters who just love Ben Carson.

Now, straw polls are straw polls, right, they're not scientific polls. And even scientific polls don't matter that much at this stage of the game.

[08:45:00] A lot of times straw polls and events like this can be, you know, easily controlled. You pay tickets so that your supporters go there. I'm not saying Dr. Carson did that, but I'm saying he's very well liked and this is a straw poll so let's put it in perspective.

CAMEROTA: All right. It's going to be an interesting week.

PEREIRA: Go back to the beach, Ana. We, we, we -

CAMEROTA:

PEREIRA: She probably has her bathing suit on underneath the blazer. You know she does.

CAMEROTA: We know you do. All right, Ana. Thanks so much.

CABRERA: Have a nice day, guys.

PEREIRA: You, too. As we kick off the unofficial start to summer it's also important, vital to remember the true meaning of today, of Memorial Day. A retired lieutenant general joins us live with ways we can pay tribute to fallen American heroes.

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PEREIRA: That is a live look at Arlington National Cemetery. Today, of course, Memorial Day. And we pay our respects to the men and women who died in the service of this country.

Retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, he's a friend of the show, and he thinks about the soldiers who gave their lives under his command every single day. He keeps a picture of these 253 men and women in a box on his desk.

Lieutenant General Hertling joins us now.

[08:50:02] Good morning, General.

LT. GENERAL MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good morning, Alisyn.

PEREIRA: So this is very personal to you and this isn't just about Memorial Day. You do this every day. Can you just let us in a little bit on the ritual that you go through?

HERTLING: Well, this box is something that three of us share. General Dempsey, who is the Chairman of Joint Chiefs, General Mike Scaparrotti, who is commander of U.S. forces in Korea, and I all have this box and it initially started during our tour together in Baghdad in 2003 and '04.

When we started having soldiers who were sacrificing their lives for that fight, General Dempsey, our chairman, started a really unique tradition of getting each soldier's picture printed, the date and time of his or her death, and on the back of it, you have how the individual was killed and their next of kin.

So every day, truthfully, I still have this box in my office where I work now. I'm retired, as you know. But I open it every morning when I first start work, and just pick one or two pictures out, take a look at them and constantly remember these young men and women.

PEREIRA: I can tell this is a moving thing for you to share with us, General. And I know what it matters to you, we know you personally and know what a heartfelt human being you are, a military man first and foremost. But tell us maybe a little bit about one or two of those people. I understand you have the box with you there.

HERTLING: Yes, I do. It's right here, Alisyn. It's right next to me, if you can see it. You'll see on the front we've engraved it with "make it matter," and that was an expression we always used, the three of us. Whenever we went to a memorial service in Iraq, we would kind of come together afterwards and say, hey, this death has to be for something. Yes, I've got a couple that I pulled out from the very top.

CAMEROTA: Yes, tell us. Share their stories.

HERTLING: Yes, well, there's Captain Rowdy Inman, who was a young captain who served with me in my third tour in Iraq in 2007-08 and he was killed in Mosul, which is a contested area now.

There's Private First Class Rachel Bosveld, a young military policewoman who was killed in Baghdad. And it was interesting, her story, because we were getting ready to give her a Purple Heart, and we actually thought she was the first female that was going to be awarded the Purple Heart in our unit, when she was killed the day before the ceremony to present that. So she, in fact, got two Purple Hearts. And it will always last in our memory.

Have a young Corporal by the name of Luke Runyan. My Sergeant Major Roger Blackwood and I were on a patrol one time with Luke. We met him just a few days before he died. Was killed in action by a sniper's bullet in Saladin province near Tikrit. I'm sorry, in Diyala province near Baqubah. And we actually talked to him a few days before he was killed by that sniper and he was talking about re-enlisting in the army and he was talking about taking care of his young wife, Courtney, and his newborn daughter, Brianna, who is now, I think, a graduate of kindergarten, so it's been seven years.

And that reminds you that even though these pictures show these individuals today, they remain ever young to us while time passes. And then the final one that I have that I pulled out, the fourth one, was Command Sergeant Major Eric Cook, who was killed about 200 yards from me in Baghdad in 2003. Actually on Christmas Eve. It was a tough - Yeah, that affected his entire brigade because he was the senior enlisted adviser of the brigade. A great individual. The soldiers loved him and he was killed in an IED blast on Christmas Eve and his wife, Dagmar, still lives in Germany and, you know, all the families in Europe kind of gathered around her, as they always do around the families when a loved one is lost.

CAMEROTA: General, it's so important to remember that every single one of the fallen has a sorry, a family story and loved ones and you've helped us remember that. Can you quickly tell us, General, why you don't want to be thanked for your service today?

HERTLING: Yes, well, today is Memorial Day, Alisyn. And today is the day we remember those who paid the ultimate price, who've sacrificed their all. You know, when they joined the military, they wrote out a blank check to --

PEREIRA: It's okay, go ahead.

HERTLING: Yeah, that gave their life, if need be, for the United States. Thanking the living isn't good enough. You know, we're thanked on Veterans Day or, you know, and even some of us don't like to be thanked at all because we chose the profession of arms and we fight to defend the country.

But these young men and women, all we ask is that you remember them. As you're going to your car sale or the beach or cooking out today, just take a couple of seconds and remember all the ones who died for us.

[08:55:03] PEREIRA: General Mark Hertling, you are such an extraordinary man. Thank you so much for showing your true heart to us. Michaela and Alisyn here, we both thank you so much for, for joining us today.

HERTLING: Thank you.

PEREIRA: All right.

CAMEROTA: Thank you.

PEREIRA: I think we need some "Good Stuff," don't you think?

CAMEROTA: We do.

PEREIRA: We'll have it after the break.

CAMEROTA: We'll be right back.

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CAMEROTA: Such a beautiful song. We want to show you live now, take some pictures of what's happening at Arlington National Cemetery.

PEREIRA: This is our "Good Stuff" today.

CAMEROTA: This is our "Good Stuff" today. Look at this. Every single one of these head stones, obviously, has a story behind it and a family who loved them and you can start to see the cemetery -- not only is the ceremony filling up, but the cemetery is also filling up. We're seeing multigenerations come to honor those who have fallen.

PEREIRA: And we want to invite those of you at home to share your photos, memories and stories of the veterans you've lost. You can go to CNN.com/MemorialDay. And with that, we turn to Carol Costello for "NEWSROOM."