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CNN NEWSROOM

American Pharoah Wins the Triple Crown; Did China Steal Info on 4 Million Govt. Workers?; Convicted Killer of Chandra Levy Gets New Trial; American Pharaoh Wins the Triple Crown; Jeb Bush's Tricky Trip to Europe; The Fight Over Wages and Income Inequality. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired June 6, 2015 - 19:00   ET

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


POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: This is a 3-year-old colt. The 43-year-old jockey Mexican Victor Espinoza.

[19:00:01] Guys, when you look at this, what do you think this means going forward?

Richard Roth, to you who has been there so many times waiting and waiting for a win. Is the curse over? Is it going to be another 37 years?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I was here in 1997, Silver Charm one of the more recent losers, then the next year Real Quiet a Baffert horse was nipped by a nose at the wire. I mean, maybe that's what kept this streak going.

Look, it's sad. I'd love to say, I'm sure you'd like to say this is going to galvanize horse racing, which has been one of the dying somewhat sports along with boxing in America. It has big event days.

The sad part is you may only have 2,000 people at the tracks tomorrow. I don't -- there are going to be huge crowds if American Pharoah runs again.

What do you think?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I personally think this is not good for horse racing because like I said, if a horse wins the first two legs next year, people will say, we saw that. We may not tune in. The TV numbers tell the story. When a horse is going for the Triple Crown, you get massive TV ratings. When there isn't, I think they get a third of the viewers.

ROTH: The why it was so tough is horses are bred more for speed now not stamina. And because it's three races in five weeks, this 1 1/2 mile odd distance at the huge track behind us called Big Sandy, makes it extremely difficult for horses. In the past they used to have more prep races and they had in their father and mother sire history. They had horses who could go the distance.

Now more trainers, more owners want a quick buck. They want the quick pass before they sell for stud duty.

HARLOW: It's important to note why it is so hard to win the Triple Crown, guys, Andy, this is the longest three races in five weeks, the last one is the longest, a mile and a half, the hardest. And you're also up against competition where not all these horses s have run the first two races in the Triple Crown, right? So obviously American Pharoah more tired.

SCHOLES: And we saw this come to fruition last year when California Chrome fell short. His owner Steve Coburn went on an epic rant after the race, calling the horses that rested the Preakness or sat out the Derby the coward's way out. He said, we'll never see a Triple Crown winner because of the horses resting for the Belmont.

It turns out one year later, he's wrong. But again, the resting factor makes it very hard for a horse to win a Triple Crown.

ROTH: That ended to an apology to his wife and the racing establishment I think. So there you go.

It's still tough. Who knows maybe I'll see you back here in 37 years.

(LAUGHTER)

HARLOW: Maybe next year.

ROTH: I hope I can relax during the race.

HARLOW: The images we're looking at, guys, live pictures of American Pharoah. Just celebrating in glory after 37 years of no Triple Crown.

This jockey, this extraordinary jockey, 43-year-old Mexican Victor Espinosa was ranked third in North America, probably ranked number one now -- riding his horse to what will be a draping of 700 white carnations, I believe, right, Richard? That is what will be placed on American Pharoah.

ROTH: Well, I've been told by many women I'm not good with flowers, so I don't know about that details. But Espinosa loved to say when he was asked, I'm going to do something different this week. And when asked, what are you going to do? He said, win. And he likes to take a nap. That was his, quote, "superstition". So, he had a good nap.

You know, he lost on a race earlier with a Bob Baffert horse, Sky Bishop. They finished third. I thought that might have been a bad omen. It was a mile and a half race. Not true.

SCHOLES: Yes, more than made up for that earlier loss with this win in the big Belmont stakes, Poppy.

HARLOW: Absolutely. Guys, stay with me. I want to also bring in on the phone with us as we continue to discuss, Lou Sahadi, author of "Affirmed: The Last Triple Crown Winner."

Lou, you're going to have to write a new book, because Affirmed is no longer the last Triple Crown winner.

You'll have to write another book. LOU SAHADI, AUTHOR (via telephone): I know, but he was a great horse

and had a great rivalry. I would love to write a book on American Pharoah, but I don't know how much more he's going to race. He may just end it at the derby. I don't know.

HARLOW: What do you make of this, Lou? You were telling me earlier that this horse American Pharoah is like Michelangelo's David if he can make it. He made it by a long shot.

SAHADI: Absolutely. I said he was a beast of a horse and he proved it. He took the lead right from the beginning and carried it all the way to the end. That is a mile and a half of horse, man. That is a great, great horse.

HARLOW: What do you make of the race? Did you believe that this was going to be the case, Lou?

SAHADI: Yes, I did, but I thought the only horse that could beat him was the guy that finished second, Frosted. I really did. He wasn't even close -- but I mean, you've got to give him credit. I don't care if he was running against -- he ran a great race.

The jockey, here is a jockey who was a California jockey, not a New York or Belmont jockey. He's only on the track maybe once.

[19:05:01] And, boy, he trafficked that horse so perfectly. He timed it so perfectly.

HARLOW: Yes.

SAHADI: That's where it's at the Belmont. You have to have a jockey who knows what they call rating the horse. He said, we're going to go from the beginning according to Bob Baffert who was certainly happy after three losses in a Triple Crown, and they went from wire to wire. It was no contest.

HARLOW: And this jockey, Victor Espinoza, the first jockey in history to go for the Triple Crown a third time in a row and the first to ever attempt it two years in a row with California Chrome before and now with American Pharoah.

Richard Roth, to you, what is the biggest moment of today for you? What do you take away from a day like this?

SAHADI: Well, I thought it was the great --

ROTH: It's going to --

HARLOW: Go ahead, Richard -- Richard Roth.

ROTH: Hello, yes. I'm sorry, great minds think alike. I mean, it's going to take a few hours I think for me to process it. I mean, we're not really at the winner's circle right now. But you felt, Andy, the roar of the crowd which I heard for years, Bill Clinton I saw waving. But you had a sense this is such drama. I may not believe it until I see the print headline. SCHOLES: Absolutely, it was electric out here. I was absolutely

electric out there. I mean, more than 9,000 people were here, hoping to see history, Poppy. They -- of course, they were jumping up and down, everyone had their iPhone up as he was coming across the finish line. They were happy to see history. Also happy because a lot of people had American Pharoah on their ticket.

ROTH: Yes, what do you have? Let me see.

SCHOLES: I have mine buried. I'm a happy camper right now and that's the thing, Poppy. A lot of people hoping to see history and a lot of people putting their money on American Pharoah.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCHOLES: It's a very happy crowd out here, I can say that.

HARLOW: What a perfect day. You saw the sun glistening on the crowd as they waited for the horses to run out of the gate. What an absolutely perfect day for this to happen, guys.

Stand by. We want to show you a little bit more about this extraordinary horse and this extraordinary moment. American Pharoah joins a very exclusive club in horse racing. He is just the 12th Triple Crown winner in history. Here's more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCHOLES (voice-over): When people talk about the greatest horses of all time, you heard of Secretariat in '73, Affirmed in '78 and now after an epic win in the Belmont Stakes, American Pharoah will forever be on that historical list.

AHMED ZAYAT, AMERICAN PHAROAH'S OWNER: He is a once-in-a-lifetime horse.

SCHOLES: Thirteen horses won the first two legs of the Triple Crown since 1978. They all failed to complete the five-week journey at the Belmont but not American Pharoah.

BOB BAFFERT, TRAINER OF AMERICAN PHAROAH: I just think that this horse is different.

SCHOLES: Some said there would never be another Triple Crown winner because of the way horses skip races to rest for the Belmont. But American Pharoah proved the doubters wrong, despite being the only horse in the Belmont field to have run in all three of the big races.

BAFFERT: Once he gets going, he just skips.

ZAYAT: He's a beautiful mover.

BAFFERT: He looks like a Ferrari going around. He does it effortlessly.

SCHOLES: For legendary trainer Bob Baffert, the fourth time was a charm. He was in position on three previous occasions to win the Triple Crown but came up short each time. Baffert said American Pharoah was the best hand he had ever been dealt. In the end, the 3- year-old colt turned out to be a royal flush.

For owner Ahmed Zayat, who made his fortune selling beer in Egypt, American Pharoah's win is a dream come true. He got into horse racing in 2006 and spent millions going for the Triple Crown.

ZAYAT: The last five weeks have been surreal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Wow, what a moment.

Joining me now on the phone, CNN historian Douglas Brinkley is with us, also Lou Sahadi, also on the ground there, we have Richard Roth and our Andy Schultz.

Douglas, let me go to you. Look, big picture here, the last time this happened, the last time this happened 37 years ago, it was in 1978. Affirmed winning, you had three Triple Crown winners in the '70s, then none until today. Big picture here, what do you make of today's win?

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN HISTORIAN (via telephone): Well, that's right. I mean, I was working with CNN on the '70s documentary they're doing. You read all these time lines of the '70s. It was a big deal, Secretariat kind of dominated sports in a lot of ways and the same with Affirmed.

And the fact that so many years have gone by without a Triple Crown winner, suddenly this has occurred and I think it's just a great moment because, you know, we always have Super Bowl winners. You always have a World Series winner year after year.

But to get a Triple Crown winner happens very rarely. There are a lot of viewers right now that haven't been alive when we had the last Triple Crown winner. So it's a great day for horse racing and for America in general.

HARLOW: This is the 147th running of the Belmont Stakes. It could not be a more perfect day for a win like this.

Richard Roth, to you, tell us a little bit about the owner here of American Pharoah.

[19:10:01] I know controversial and quite a story behind this.

ROTH: I think you were asking about the owner, right?

HARLOW: Right.

ROTH: The owner Ahmed Zayat, an Egyptian-American, is a high stakes businessman who, according to a lawsuit that was dismissed because of the statute of limitations just this week, he was sued for failure to pay back a $2 million loan, I believe, he's been involved with other instances. Zayat was very -- SCHOLES: Sorry to interrupt. Here comes the winner right now.

HARLOW: Let's take a look. Let's take a look at what a horse, the winner American Pharoah, this 3-year-old colt, winning the Triple Crown for the first time in 37 years.

Richard and Andy are back with us.

Continue, Richard.

ROTH: Yes. I mean, I was kneeling down watching a star, a mega star, though the horse doesn't know it.

But clearly to win these races, taxing races. They call the Belmont Stakes the test of champions for good reason. This is no easy deal. And to rip through those fractions, the first turn was the key, right, Andy?

SCHOLES: Absolutely. Bob Baffert said he needed to get off to a good start, not get pinned in. He did that. It was pretty much over for that. The big question on the final turn, was he going to run out of gas?

Because he was the only horse in this Belmont field that had run the Kentucky derby and the Preakness. So the question was, would he have enough stamina more that final push? He clearly did. He even ran away with it at the end and came away with one of the most impressive times we've ever seen at the Belmont. It ended up being one of the most historic runs we've seen.

HARLOW: Absolutely. An impressive time, 2 minutes 26 seconds.

Douglas Brinkley, to you, that is just two seconds shy of the track record set by Secretariat back in 1973. You know, Doug, we've been hearing and reading columns and newspapers this week about sort of how horse racing is dying a slow death, how young folks don't like it as much. Doesn't this do a ton to reenergize the sport?

BRINKLEY: It really does. It's just a giant booster shot. I mean, everybody in the country really is turning to this right now. And the Kentucky Derby has been able to maintain its tradition. Everybody kind of watches it. But there's been a lack of interest in the Preakness and the Belmont in recent years.

But I think now American Pharoah is the superstar of the moment, probably the horse will probably be getting a Hollywood deal soon and there will be a motion picture. It's just one of those moments in sports that gets talked about and helps define a decade.

HARLOW: Yes, it certainly does help define a decade. That decade was the '70s with three Triple Crown winners. Now 37 years later, 2015, we have our very own Triple Crown winner.

You're going to hear a lot about those three Triple Crown winners from the '70s in CNN's original series "The Seventies". That debuts June 11th here on CNN. Here is a sneak peek. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUBTITLE: Sound of the seventies. One nation under change.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The '70s awakened us and polarized us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 1970s saw the development of terrorism.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was bombshell after bombshell after bombshell.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Watergate scandal broke wide open today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 1970s, I think more. More hair. More naked people. More misbehavior.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The world is getting crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The culture revolution kind of exploded, and kind of fascinating chaos emerged.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because of what was going on, people came home and they wanted to laugh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want one picture taken with Archie Bunker and me. One, two, three.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a period of discovery for a lot of people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My only defense was it was the '70s.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dino-mite!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:16:48] HARLOW: Breath taking and scaled, bone chilling in its implications: personal data on 4 million federal workers stolen. Names and addresses of U.S. government agents dating back to 1985. That's according to Reuters.

The most frightening part, it took the U.S. government four months to figure out the data was stolen. The government now scrambling to try to deal with a severe security hack that U.S. government believes was carried out by the Chinese government. China is dismissing those claims.

Here's what we know so far: two distinct attacks crept into the federal system, sophisticated and undetectable for months, all the while stealing sensitive information from nearly every federal agency. Four million-plus Americans, employees, robbed of their personal information and possibly more yet to be discovered. It is what is believed to be the biggest data breach in U.S. history.

Let's talk about the severity of this, the long term implications with Howard Schmidt. He is the former cyber security czar to both President Bush and President Obama.

Thank you for being with me, sir. I appreciate it.

HOWARD SCHMIDT, FORMER OBAMA CYBERSECURITY CZAR: My pleasure.

HARLOW: Let's begin with this. What kind of information are we talking about here?

SCHMIDT: We're talking about everything that an employee would put on a job application, things about family members that live domestically, that live overseas, things about their kids. You name it, and an application form for the federal government would be -- pull this information and stored which evidently we're finding out a lot longer than it should have been.

HARLOW: Why do you believe a foreign entity, if it is indeed China, would want this information? For what purpose?

SCHMIDT: Very simply, the same reason we or any other government would want it. You look through it. You look and find out what jobs are related to the sensitivities of international relationships. You have issues about who works for the defense, who works for financial institutions like that, or who might have.

Then on top of that, you look for -- well, I have family members that live in some foreign country that might be more accessible to pulling information from to use for intelligence purposes, for business imperatives and things like that. I mean, once again, this is the type of thing you can use.

HARLOW: It seems like you would want a more targeted hack to go after higher level people than 4 million-plus Americans' data, because then they have to sort through all of that. It just seems like this is pretty random.

SCHMIDT: Well, that's the issue that many of us have been talking about. You know, since back in the early '90s, they have been pulling in and just sucking down data like a giant electronic vacuum cleaner and we've said many times, all the stuff they're pulling down, if they assigned the work to every citizen, they still wouldn't be able to get to it.

So, this is kind of strange. There's no doubt that for a long period of time they've been targeting White House people and government people and things like that, but this is like that big sucking vacuum digitally that, what are they going to do with if, unless they want to look for specific things?

HARLOW: You say they. Who do you believe carried this out?

[19:20:01] SCHMIDT: Well, once again, it's not surprising that I feel that it's probably a nation state and probably China. That doesn't mean the high levels of government were involved, the intelligence organizations that are somewhat rogue have citizens and universities. But it seems like all indicators come from that part of the world. HARLOW: Well, I just want to read you what a spokesman for the

Chinese embassy is saying, quote, "cyber attacks conducted across countries are hard to track and therefore the source of attacks is difficult to identify. Jumping to conclusions and making hypothetical accusations is not responsible and it's counterproductive."

They're saying, it's not us. Do you fear possibly that officials here are jumping to conclusions?

SCHMIDT: Well, yes. That's always a possibility. But all the indicators, all the M.O.s that have been used indicate that it is. But the interesting thing about this is, like what we went through with Sony, what we go through with the IRS last week, there's always a set of ways to hack the system that are very consistent, all the way across the board the same tools used, the same things.

Well, all these are well known to the hackers. They're well known to the security people. So, if it indicates that it's coming from one region, it could actually be coming from another region making it look like that it is.

HARLOW: Right.

SCHMIDT: So, it's not definitive, but strong indicators it will be.

HARLOW: Yes, incredibly scary. 4 million Americans working at the government from 1985 on now having their private information compromised.

Howard Schmidt, thank you for the perspective, sir.

SCHMIDT: My pleasure. Good talking with you.

HARLOW: Coming up, a judge grants a new trial for the man convicted of killing Chandra Levy. The details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Major development in a story that dominated the news 14 years ago.

[19:25:02] The disappearance of Capitol Hill intern Chandra Levy. You may remember when news of her affair with a congressman broke. Eventually he was ruled out as a suspect and later the grim finding in Washington Park. Levy's skull was recovered more than a year after she disappeared.

Now years after that discovery, the man who was convicted of killing her has been granted a new trial.

Gary Tuchman reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the parents of Chandra Levy, another trial means reliving a nightmare. SUSAN LEVY, MOTHER OF CHANDRA LEVY: I don't think that would sit

through the entire trial as I did the first time. There's no need to because the outcome, whatever way it's going to be, I still will never get my daughter back.

TUCHMAN: The case of Chandra Levy transfixed the nation in 2001. She lived in this apartment building in Washington, D.C.'s Dupont Circle neighborhood. The 24-year-old had just finished an internship with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. On May 1st of that year, she left her apartment and was never seen again.

It was discovered that on the day she went missing, she had used her computer to search for the location of the Klingle Mansion in Washington's Rock Creek Park -- a historic house now a park office.

So, that's where police started searching for her.

POLICE OFFICER: If you're familiar with this part of Rock Creek Park, the underbrush is rather extensive.

TUCHMAN: The searches through the summer of 2001 turned up nothing. Officially, this was still a missing person's case.

SUSAN LEVY: We appreciate you coming forward to help us get my daughter home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We appreciate your help.

TUCHMAN: Something else did turn up, though. Chandra Levy had been having an affair with a married congressman from California, Gary Condit.

REPORPTER: Do you know anything about where Chandra Levy is?

TUCHMAN: Condit denied having anything to do with her disappearance but did not deny a relationship. While she was missing, he did this interview with ABC's Connie Chung.

FORMER REP. GARY CONDIT (D), CALIFORNIA: We became very close. I met her in Washington, D.C.

CHUNG: Very close meaning?

CONDIT: We had a close relationship. I liked her very much.

CHUNG: May I ask you, was it a sexual relationship?

CONDIT: Well, Connie, I've been married for 34 years and I've not been a perfect man and I've made my share of mistakes. But out of respect for my family and out of a specific request from the Levy family I think it's best that I not get into those details about Chandra Levy.

TUCHMAN: Condit was thoroughly investigated. Many believe detectives spent too much time trying to link Condit to her disappearance to the detriment to the case. Scott Higham is a Pulitzer Prize winner for "The Washington Post", who

co-authored a book about the Chandra Levy case.

SCOTT HIGHAM, REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Cops and the prosecutors were so focused on that theory of the case, they missed the suspect who was hiding in plain sight.

TUCHMAN: Meanwhile, months wept by. The search for Chandra Levy continued. Efforts to find any clues in Rock Creek Park had failed. It wasn't clear if she would ever be found.

(on camera): But Chandra Levy's body was in this 2,800-acre park. Her remains were found right around here, not by police but by a man walking his dog while looking for turtles. His discovery came more than one year after she disappeared. Police had never searched this remote area of the park.

(voice-over): Even before her body was found, an informant in a D.C. jail named Armando Morales told authorities that Ingmar Guandique who was also in jail told him he had killed Levy. Guandique was behind bars after admitting to assaulting two other women in the same park.

It took eight years, but Morales' testimony would lead to Guandique's murder conviction with a sentence of 60 years in prison.

During the trial, Morales testified he had never cooperated with investigators before in an effort to win leniency for himself.

HIGHAM: It turns out that he had cooperated with other investigations, none of them related to this case.

TUCHMAN (on camera): And that was enough to ask for a new trial and get it.

HIGHAM: Yes. He committed perjury. He lied.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): So, this month, a new trial date will be scheduled. If Guandique is found not guilty this time, the question on so many people's minds 14 years ago will be asked again, who killed Chandra Levy?

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Gary, thank you for that.

Well, history was made tonight after 37 years. The Triple Crown has been won. We will take you live to the track, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:32:36] HARLOW: Breaking news in the world of sports. American Pharaoh has galloped into the history books, becoming the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years. Look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Moving outside. Around the far turn, and American Pharaoh continues to lead the way. He's on top by 3/4 of a leg. Mubtaahij just off the rail. And now he's a leg behind in second and American Pharaoh kicks away. American Pharaoh has opened up a two-leg lead as they come to the top of the stretch. And Frosted has moved up to the second and they're into the stretch.

And American Pharaoh makes his run for glory as they come into the final furlong. Frosted is second. With 1/8 of a mile to go, American Pharaoh has got a two-leg lead. Frosted is all out at the 16th pole. And here it is, the 37-year wait is over, American Pharaoh is finally the one. American Pharaoh has won the Triple Crown.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: What a moment. The 3-year-old thoroughbred capturing the win at the Belmont Stakes.

Richard Roth, Andy Scholes, live at the track.

Richard Roth, 37 years, you have waited, my friend, and it happened today.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And just the very names of those that failed here, I think millions remember Funnyside, Silver Charm, California Chrome, Big Brown, the list goes on. Andy with me, I think we still can't believe it. We watched history, and I have a feeling that years from now, 500,000 people will say they were here, though the attendance was capped for security and transportation reasons at 90,000.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS: Yes. It sounded like maybe there's 500,000 people here, though, with the roar of the crowd. I think everyone was hoping we would see history when the race started. Most people were still skeptical because, you know, it had been 37 years that we hadn't seen a Triple Crown for a reason. But as American Pharaoh came around that last turn and it was clear he was going to win, I mean, it was deafening here as just heard right there.

People were going nuts, jumping up and down, filming with their iPhones. And we caught up with a couple of people after the race and of course they were very excited to have witnessed history. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Here we are number 5 to win. It was amazing. Never gave up hope on him. I knew he can do it. I didn't cry. I was so excited.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was wiping her tears on her face. Because he did it. And we witnessed history. Not too many people get to do it.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Did you think it was going to happen? Did you think American Pharaoh was going to win? [19:35:02] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely. Never gave up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was a little skeptical because it's so hard to actually win the Triple Crown. Like it's a long race, and then you have the other two races. You don't get a break. So it's hard for a horse to win the Triple Crown. The fact he actually did it is amazing.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How do you guys feel? You witnessed history, 37 years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's amazing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's amazing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: It is indeed amazing, guys. Also, I mean, Richard, let's talk about the jockey, 43-year-old Victor Espinoza, the only jockey to have three chances at this Triple Crown, and he pulls it off.

ROTH: Right. I think he's -- was it the oldest, second oldest? Espinoza 42?

SCHOLES: He is the oldest to win the Triple Crown.

ROTH: Oldest. Look, it caps a long career. Jockeys sometimes the races are dangerous. You never know when your career will end. He got in the spotlight when California Chrome ran last year. Who knows? Maybe that whole experience that he said he was calmer this year. And he seemed to be making more jokes in the run-up to this. He just seemed more knowledgeable. The race has called that Jockey's race. He could have moved too soon, the horse would have been tired in the stretch and would have passed.

SCHOLES: That's right. I think he needs to go John Elway and kind of go out on top here and maybe ride off into the sunset because it's never going to get any better than this, Poppy.

ROTH: And for those who maybe fell asleep during the race, I think it's important to note for historical -- reasons because I think people gambled, by the way, on this, the winner was American Pharaoh.

HARLOW: Did you?

ROTH: Second was -- second was Frosted and third was Keen Ice.

SCHOLES: Yes.

HARLOW: OK. I know I kind of felt a little bit for the horses behind because I was thinking as I watched American Pharaoh cross the finish line, like no one is going to be talking about any of those horses and they were just a few -- a few seconds behind. But what a moment, I mean, 1973 Secretariat sets the track record, two minutes 24 seconds. American Pharaoh comes in at two minutes 26 seconds.

Andy, to you, tell us a little bit about Bob Baffert, the famed trainer.

SCHOLES: Yes, I mean, this was his fourth chance at a Triple Crown. He had been in this position three previous times and each time he failed once by a nose.

Richard, I know you remember that moment. And he said all week, American Pharaoh is the best hand he'd ever been dealt going for a Triple Crown. He said this is his best horse by far and it sure played out that way. Right, Poppy? American Pharaoh. I think afterwards he said he's just so grateful that he had this 3-year-old colt that was able to bring this home for him.

ROTH: I mean, Poppy, his life had gone through a lot of changes. He had a heart attack a couple of years ago on the way to Dubai.

HARLOW: Wow.

ROTH: New -- second wife, young son Bodie who he's in love with, of course, that he wanted to see him win this race. And also in the winner's circle, right, Ahmed Zayat, the owner, of course, even before the winner's circle raced out to the track, we are told, big hugs, emotion with Espinoza. I can't even imagine what it's like to own the horse that just won the Triple Crown.

SCHOLES: Yes. And we can't even realize, to put this in perspective, yet, Poppy. Of course we know is there've been 37 years since we've seen a Triple Crown winner. But we -- like in '78 when Affirmed won it, we don't know when it's going to -- we're going to see another one. So this could go down as one of the greatest --

HARLOW: Yes.

SCHOLES: You know, sports moments in history.

HARLOW: I can't even imagine what it's been like for you guys there. I know I almost jumped off this set when --

(LAUGHTER)

SCHOLES: Great.

HARLOW: When it happened just watching it on television. So what a moment. I'm so glad you guys got to be there. Perfect day as the sun sets on the Belmont Stakes.

Andy, Richard, go have some champagne. Have fun. Thanks, guys.

SCHOLES: All right.

HARLOW: All right. Now it is time to turn to politics. It is Jeb Bush's turn to try and steer around some deep political potholes. The soon-to-be presidential candidate is off to Europe this week where some other Republicans have made some missteps. We're going to talk about the lessons learned from those slipups,

next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:41:50] HARLOW: After a series of recent gaffes on Iraq, Jeb Bush is heading overseas trying to bolster his foreign policy credibility. The soon-to-be Republican presidential candidate will visit Germany, Poland and Estonia this week.

Let's talk about it with CNN senior political reporter Chris Moody.

Chris, thanks for being here. You look at this trip in the context of sort of the importance of someone who is about to launch officially on to the national stage on June 15th as a Republican presidential candidate. Why is he making the trip?

CHRIS MOODY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, one of the major questions for anyone running for president is, can this person keep me safe and what do they know about foreign policy? It's going to be a major part of debates and a major part of discussion in the future. Now Senators who are running and there are many get to sit on committees like the Foreign Committee or the Armed Services Committee, gives them real experience. They get to travel around world and really understand these issues.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as a presidential candidate also has a lot of foreign policy experience. But the people that -- the candidates that are usually lacking are the governors, and this is a case where Jeb Bush and other governors like Scott Walker will have to do a little bit of traveling and prove themselves on foreign policy, maybe take a little bit of a listening tour and come back and be like, look, I've traveled and I've listened to these world leaders and I understand these issues. That's going to be something that they're going to have to make up for.

HARLOW: How does he avoid sort of a Mitt Romney moment? You'll remember three years ago when he was there in Britain, he questioned Britain's readiness to host the London Olympics, the public erupted, it certainly made it to the air waves back here in the United States. What, should it be a listening tour?

MOODY: Well, this has been kind of a minefield for candidates for not just Republicans in the past couple of cycles but for decades. We remember JFK calling himself a jelly doughnut in Berlin. This is -- ad we're still talking about that today. And then other candidates in 2012 and then this year we've seen that as well.

Yes, I think candidates like Jeb Bush need to use this as a listening tour. Keep your head down. Try not to make news. Now, as a newsman myself, I hope he does speak and make news, but for a lot of times they try not to answer a lot of questions.

HARLOW: Right.

MOODY: But they are in a different context. They are many times answering questions from reporters abroad that they're not expecting, maybe coming a little bit out of left field. For a lot of candidates they know what to expect with us but they might get a different question and that throws them off their game. But I think Jeb Bush will have an opportunity to speak about a lot of

issues. He's going, as you mentioned, to Eastern Europe.

HARLOW: Right.

MOODY: He'll probably -- I'm going to guess maybe he'll use that as an opportunity to discuss President Obama's record and by proxy, because Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, her record there as well.

HARLOW: So I was going to ask you that, right? He's going to Germany, then he's going to Estonia and Poland. You look at sort of two former Soviet states. Do you think that he will use this to really attack the Obama administration's policy toward Russia, therefore Hillary Clinton, the Russia reset? Is he going to do it? If he does, is that a smart move?

MOODY: Well, I think it certainly offers an opportunity for him to do that. There's that famous video of Hillary Clinton meeting with a Russia official with the reset button that didn't actually say reset. It's something that I'm sure we'll be seeing played over the campaign and it could be an instance that he at least alludes to, certainly talking about his role if elected president how he might try to restore relationships or show American strength.

[19:45:12] That is if he does talking in public. It will be very interesting to see how the soon-to-be Bush campaign goes forward with this.

HARLOW: Absolutely. Chris Moody joining us from Washington. Thanks, Chris. We'll be right back.

MOODY: Thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: In tonight "American Opportunity" segment, a Los Angeles city council voted 13-1 this week to raise the minimum wage for all workers to $15 an hour by 2020. Also this week Wal-Mart said starting next month it will increase the wages of 100,000 of its managers by as much as 26 percent.

The fight over wages in this country is front and center on America's streets. It is also front and center in the halls of state capitals across the country. But some asking, is America still the land of opportunity? Economist and Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz says no.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH STIGLITZ, NOBEL PRIZE WINNER IN ECONOMIC SCIENCES: Maybe we should be calling the American dream the Scandinavian dream. I'm Joe Stiglitz. I'm here to talk about the growing inequality and what we can do about it.

America has the highest level of inequality, inequality of income of any of the other advanced countries. The same market forces, the same forces of technology and globalization are operating in the other advanced countries essentially in the same way as they are in the United States. It's not the economic forces that are driving this. It's our policies and our politics.

[19:50:04] We made it more difficult to unionize and so what we've done is we've increased the power of corporations and we've reduced the power of workers, our tax system actually reinforces the inequalities. Those people at the very top pay a smaller percentage of the income and taxes than those people whose income is much lower.

We don't have good job training program, we don't have good public transportation program. America has become a more economically segregated society. Maybe we should be calling the American dream the Scandinavian dream or so many other countries that realized 60 or 70 years ago, they'd looked across the Atlantic and they saw America as the land of opportunity, and they changed.

They changed their education system. They changed their social policies. They changed their legal frameworks. Meanwhile we changed. And we changed ourselves in ways that made us into less of a land of opportunity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: More than 20 million Americans with 30 percent of hourly workers over 18 years older are near minimum wage workers. That is according to a recent Pew study.

Let's talk about it with David Neumark. He's chancellor's professor of economics at the University of California-Irvine. He studies what government mandated wage hike do to employment.

Thanks for being here, David. I appreciate it.

DAVID NEUMARK, CHANCELLOR'S PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IRVINE: Thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.

HARLOW: You have studied this extensively. Time and time again you come back with the same conclusion. What is it?

NEUMARK: Well, it's more than one conclusion. One of the important conclusions is that minimum wages do cause some job loss. This is contested by some research but the lion share of the evidence points that way and I'm pretty convinced by it. That doesn't mean that the minimum wage is a bad idea. What it does mean is that some people are helped but we can't ignore the fact that some people are hurt. We have to think about this tradeoffs. And we have to think about where there's better ways to accomplish what we're trying to accomplish, which as Professor Stiglitz said, and I agree, is to reduce inequality.

HARLOW: So listen to what New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said this week on the "Daily Show."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY: The concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a very few. It's actually pulling down the country. They're the greatest income disparity since before the Great Depression.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: He said that the wealth in the hands of a few pulls down, right, the overall. Is it a zero sum gain?

NEUMARK: Is it a zero sum gain? That's a really tough question, right? Look, there are forces in the economy that have -- that have done a lot of good things that have, you know, free trade as an economist and as a consumer, certainly, I think is great. Globalization has brought lots of benefits, technology has brought lots of benefits. But a lot of these changes have clearly made things tougher for people with very low skills.

And I think that's the problem we're seeing. I don't know if inequality per se affects growth one way or the other, I'm not sure that's the settled question. But the world has gotten tougher for low-skilled workers, and that's we need -- we do need to think about this problem. And I give the president a lot of credit for really taking to the bully pulpit and talking about it a lot. And I think Professor Stiglitz hit on many things that I think are important.

The right kind of training, right kind of education. He mentioned transportation and other things to make it easier for low-skilled people to find work, to get the jobs, to keep their jobs. Those are all important things. I think the minimum wage has been adopted as a kind of fast-style solution.

HARLOW: Yes.

NEUMARK: That has a lot of intuitive appeal, and it's really easy for politicians because they don't have to find a penny in the budget to do it.

HARLOW: Right.

NEUMARK: But it really doesn't work that well.

HARLOW: Well, that's exactly what I wanted to ask you because $15 minimum wage seems so far off a year ago for most places. And now it is happening in more and more American cities. Look what L.A. just did this week. But here's the thing. It is easier, isn't it, to have a city council pass a dramatically higher minimum wage than it is to actually institute tax reform.

Warren Buffett wrote this op-ed a week or so ago where he called for a major overhaul of the earned income tax credit, which his argument is it enforces employment, it encourages more people to work. It does not mean less job. But that's a lot harder to do, isn't it?

NEUMARK: It is a lot harder to do. But I have to say some of my colleagues joke that Warren Buffett wrote exactly what I've been saying for years which of course we've never spoken. But I absolutely agree with him.

Redistribution is a response to inequality. Look, some people think government should play no role in inequality. I don't share that view. That's a political view, not a research driven view. I think government does have a role to play in reducing inequality. Every western advanced government does this in some way or another. I think the earned income tax credit is a terrific solution. We do it already. We can make it even more generous.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: But how do we get --

NEUMARK: You can think about doing it for --

HARLOW: How do we get that to happen? Because that's the thing, it is tough, and is it time that we start having a conversation about doing really, really tough complex things to actually move the needle here rather than just passing higher minimum wages? Which I'm not falling on either side of the fence here, I'm just saying it's harder to overhaul a tax system.

[19:55:16] NEUMARK: It absolutely is. Look, it's easy to look at Washington and say, can we get anything serious done, and maybe the answer is no. You know, I'm not here as a political operative, I'm here a researcher telling what implies about policy and I'm convinced that the earned income tax credit is a far better way to go.

I do think actually that on this particular topic, there's more scope for bipartisanship than others. It is actually not viewed as a left- wing policy. People on the extreme right don't like it, people on the extreme left don't like it. But it's typically had bipartisan support.

HARLOW: Yes.

NEUMARK: Because it's pro-employment. Right? And that's something that that is -- if there's any kind of redistribution on which the parties can unite, I think it's policies that everybody agrees and all the researches actually lead to more people working as well as reducing inequality as well as reducing poverty.

HARLOW: We'll see if we can get it done.

David Neumark, thank you, sir.

NEUMARK: Thank you, Poppy.

HARLOW: For the first time in 37 years, we have a Triple Crown winner. We're going to bring you the historic moment next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: After a 37-year wait, the world of horse racing can finally celebrate a Triple Crown winner. American Pharaoh left the competition in the dust literally at the Belmont Stakes. Take a look at the history-making moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With 1/8 of a mile to go, American Pharaoh has got a two-length lead. Frosted is all out at the 16th pole. And here it is, the 37-year wait is over. American Pharaoh is finally the one. American Pharaoh has won the Triple Crown.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: American Pharaoh, only the 12th Triple Crown winner in history. The last time we saw this, 1978, when Affirmed took home the title.

What an evening. Thanks for being with me. I'm Poppy Harlow. "THE SIXTIES" starts right now.