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Clinton Criticized Over Media Access; A Million People Expected to See Pope; From Escapee to Solitary Confinement. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired July 7, 2015 - 10:30   ET

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


[10:29:54] DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I should tell you that the Steinle family, they have had an opportunity to weigh in on this, and they have declined at this point. Their focus is really on preserving Kate's memory, just talking about the kind of person she was -- Ana.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Dan Simon. Live in San Francisco. Our thanks to you.

Hello again. Thanks for staying with us. I'm Ana Cabrera, in for Carol Costello. Glad you are here this morning.

Now, since jumping into the 2016 race, Hillary Clinton has been sharply criticized for not talking to the press. But today Clinton could have a chance to respond to her critics when she sits down for her first national interview of this campaign with CNN's Brianna Keilar. And it comes after this image of Clinton staff roping off reporters as she walked in a New Hampshire Fourth of July parade. This sparked a bit of a firestorm.

And here to discuss more now Robert Zimmerman, Democratic strategist and Tara Setmayer, CNN political commentator and former communications director of GOP congressman Dana Rohrabacher.

All right. Robert, I want to start with you. We know Clinton has really given no interviews in the past couple of months at least nationally.

ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGY: Well, she's not exactly the Greta Garbo of the media.

CABRERA: Exactly. Though she did talk to some of the local reporters after a big rally in June, but she is still way ahead in the polls. She really doesn't have anybody inching too close to her -- so does she need to talk?

ZIMMERMAN: You see, one of the great strengths of this campaign as its unfolding is they're not taking anything for granted, any voter for granted. Obviously this is the next phase of the campaign as the media has reported. The campaign is discussed. And as a Hillary supporter, Hillary Clinton supporter, I'm excited to see it unfold.

Tonight an historic night for the presidential campaign and a great night for CNN because it allows Hillary Clinton in this venue to really talk about the issues that really impact people, share her personal story. So I think it will be an important evening, but I think it's also important to put in perspective that, as I said, millennials can Google who Garbo is but she's not been that way. She's been out talking to voters. And that's an important phase in any campaign.

CABRERA: Tara, what questions does she need to answer?

TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think she needs to answer a lot of questions because she has not answered questions, any substantive questions in months. And this is because her campaign is scared to death of any more national exposure. The more people get to hear her and interact with her, the more they don't like her.

So as long as they keep it very controlled and try as much to put bubble wrap around her, which has been a failed strategy thus far because even Bernie Sanders has doubled in his popularity from 15 percent to 33 percent in the latest Quinnipiac poll. And she's dropped because people -- they just don't have -- they don't want the exposure nationally because it's a risk for her.

Look at the disaster --

ZIMMERMAN: Tara, I have a news flash for you. Hillary Clinton is not going to win by 40 percent. Polls always tighten up. She's still holding dramatic leads over Republicans nationwide.

SETMAYER: For now. For now.

ZIMMERMAN: That's why they're moving to the next phase.

SETMAYER: They are concerned about this. The first phase has not worked, and everyone knows and you know this, too, Robert that insiders are concerned that even Jennifer Palmieri, who is her comms director -- admitted that they're losing ground because they haven't had this kind of coverage.

ZIMMERMAN: Which Republican wouldn't want to have her numbers right now. Phase one went pretty well.

SETMAYER: No, listen. Listen, last summer when she went through her --

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: Let me ask you this question.

SETMAYER: It was a disaster and people know it and that's why they're trying to control it.

CABRERA: Politico sums it up this way in many ways. "Clinton is entering a phase now in this campaign where she will be forced to address or more artfully deflect uncomfortable questions head on.: A Clinton aide telling Politico that she looks forward to doing more sit-down interviews. And of course, she's been criticized for not being transparent. That's been one of the big arguments that Republicans have made against her campaign. But if she's sitting down now, does that eliminate that argument? SETMAYER: Listen, having a free and open press and access to them is

part of being transparent and there's been none of that because she's been plagued by scandal and controversy from the e-mails to Benghazi to not allowing pool reporters in to cover her, very scripted controlled events in New Hampshire. All of these things have been compounded on top of one another. Where they're even forced into having to now go into a next phase.

You have Bernie Sanders breaking records with attendance and enthusiasm for him.

ZIMMERMAN: Let me point out to you. Brianna Keilar doesn't need any advice from Tara or myself. She's a tough and fair reporter. And it's going to be an exciting interview. But I think what's important to know is Tara's line of questioning may be very good for the National Enquirer or Glenn Beck.

I think what the public wants to hear about are issues that matter in their lives. How to make college more affordable. How to grow the middle class. That's what this election is going to be about and that's what's exciting about this campaign -- hearing all the ideas from the candidate.

CABRERA: Now Robert, Tara did bring up Bernie Sanders. He is surging in the polls. The new Quinnipiac polls -- she referenced in Iowa where Clinton is campaigning today.

She's 52 percent to Sanders' 33 percent, which is a significant gain from what we're even seeing in that big poll that we showed on a national level. So he seems to be surging. How much of a challenge does he pose to Clinton in the left wing of the party?

ZIMMERMAN: Well, Ana, the good news is Tara isn't going to keep telling me it's a coronation anymore. Now she's going to acknowledge and the Republicans will acknowledge this is a real race, a real race of ideas. Obviously it's going to be a competition.

[10:35:06] I think what's important to put in perspective here is Bernie Sanders should look at Howard Dean to wonder how effective candidates who surge now are. How effective candidates who surge now do in the actual election. A lot of candidates surge now. It's the candidate with the organization and the message that has the staying power.

CABRERA: Tara, I see you shaking your head. You can have the last word.

SETMAYER: It's interesting that now the Clinton supporters now are trying to tamp down expectations. This isn't a coronation anymore because they know that she's now getting some competition and she's faltering as a candidate. She stumbled along the way.

Even the union leader in New Hampshire called her today they had an op-ed piece that called her HRC, her royal Clintonness telling her she needs to get off her high horse. You can't just walk down a parade route wave there like you're royalty thinking that that's going to be interacting with everyday people.

ZIMMERMAN: That's a newspaper that revered Donald Trump.

(CROSSTALK)

SETMAYER: I would take issue with your classification that my questioning, that the questions she should answer are "National Enquirer" worthy. Four people died -- Americans died in Benghazi on Hillary Clinton's watch and she has yet to answer for that. So I would take issue that the American people don't deserve that.

CABRERA: I know you feel passionate about this. I'll let you continue the debate during the commercial break.

Thank you both so much for talking to me.

ZIMMERMAN: We'll talk later. Thank you -- Ana.

CABRERA: We've got Tara Setmayer and Robert Zimmerman -- good to see you both.

Don't miss CNN's exclusive interview, Hillary Clinton's first national television interview as a candidate for president, today it's going to be at 5:00 Eastern on the "SIT ROOM" and also at 8:00 Eastern on "ANDERSON COOPER 360" only on CNN.

Still to come, the faithful flocking to see Pope Francis. Live pictures here from Ecuador. An astounding number -- a million people are expected to greet the leader of the Catholic Church, and we're live from Quito, Ecuador next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:41:05] CABRERA: The Pope is taking Ecuador by storm and he's bigger than a rock star. Day two for the Pontiff's trip to South America we're less than an hour now from Pope Francis' second mass of his trip. This is a service that more than one million people are expected to attend.

And Rosa Flores is there in Quito, Ecuador, where followers are gathering now. Good morning -- Rosa.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Ana, hundreds of thousands of people slept here at Parque Bicentenario (ph) in Quito, Ecuador, to make sure that they had a front row seat to visit with the Pope, who is about to hop on the Popemobile right now.

Now, if you take a look behind me, you will see that the altar is right behind me. Until a little while ago, it was covered with a tarp because we had rain, we had showers, but all of those faithful still stayed here in Parque Bicentenario.

Now, everyone, the world is curious about Pope Francis, about what he says sometimes off the cuff, and a lot of the times people think we probably know everything about Pope Francis, right? Well, no. I was able to sit with one of his very close friends and here is what he revealed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: A personalized the message from a dear friend is always a good gesture.

FATHER HERNAN PAREDES, FRIEND OF POPE FRANCIS: I ask you to keep praying for me and may God, may Jesus and the blessed mother take care of you.

FLORES: But when that friend e-mails you a month after being elected pope, it's practically a blessing sent from God. He was a busy man at the time.

PAREDES: Yes, he was. Can you imagine with all the job and all the situation in the church -- but he had the time for friends.

FLORES: Father Hernan Paredes has known Pope Francis for three decades, their first meeting back in the 80s when Pope Francis was Rector Jorge Mario Bergoglio the head of 100 seminarian Jesuits, including now Father Paredes. What do you call Pope Francis?

PAREDES: Jorge.

FLORES: They stay in touch by writing letters and e-mailing all in Spanish. That's because Paredes says --

PAREDES: Forgive me, Pope Francis, but he failed twice to learn English. He went twice to (INAUDIBLE) -- for him to gain confidence. And I have no confidence anymore.

FLORES: This picture, a memento from their visit in Argentina a few months before Francis became Pope.

He gave me his blessing, but at the same time I asked him to have a picture. He told me, Hernan, I am not a man of pictures. I feel ugly -- you can see it's terrible.

Flores: Now with his rock star status, the 78-year-old pontiff who loves listening to opera is probably one of the most photographed faces on the earth and one of the most quoted as well.

His message during his three-country visit to South America one of inclusiveness, service, and democracy. Next on his agenda, Cuba and the U.S. in September.

Father Paredes said he doesn't know if Pope Francis, famous for his "who am I to judge" quote about homosexuality, will comment about the recent Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage.

PAREDES: Remember dear that the tradition of the Church doesn't change overnight, and at the same time he acknowledged that there are other ways of living.

FLORES: Father Paredes who now lives in New York recently visited with the Pope in the Vatican. His first time seeing his dear friend since being elected. It was an emotional reunion.

PAREDES: And now he said that I am too American now.

FLORES: What does that mean?

PAREDES: Well, probably I put (INAUDIBLE)

FLORES: Like two old friends, they poked at each other. One of them just happens to be pope.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[10:45:01] FLORES: Now here is another little tidbit. Father Paredes also tells me that Pope Francis used to cook for all those 100 Jesuits and wash their clothing, Ana. Just another little tidbit of the simplicity of our current Pope.

CABRERA: Interesting. Rosa Flores in Quito, Ecuador. Thank you so much.

Still to come with the fate of New York's surviving escapee in limbo, we're now learning new details from the woman who helped him break free. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Updating one of our top stories now. The deadline for an Iran nuclear deal has been extended again. The U.S., Iran, and five other world powers are racing to secure a final agreement. Their goal was today, but the continued disputes over arms embargoes and Iran's ballistic missile program that now curbed the couples and of course contention negotiations. The new self-imposed deadline is now Friday.

[10:50:07] David Sweat, the surviving prisoner of that daring New York escape is now facing a disciplinary hearing. And details are few, but we do know this will be a closed hearing. The date and timing of that hearing will not be made public.

But we are learning more about Sweat's living conditions at a maximum security facility. CNN's Alexandra Field has more on that and on the woman accused of helping Sweat and his fellow prisoner Richard Matt.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ana, Joyce Mitchell's attorney tells CNN she never intended to participate in any plan to harm or kill her husband, but he does say that Richard Matt gave her pills which were designed to incapacitate Lyle Mitchell. The attorney says that Joyce Mitchell didn't know exactly what kind of pills those were, but that she ultimately destroyed them. She remains behind bars.

And now the surviving escapee, David Sweat, is adjusting to a whole new kind of life in prison.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MITCHELL: He tunneled his way to short-lived freedom before a police sergeant took him down. Now notorious escapee David Sweat will be confined to a cell 23 hours a day at Five Points Prison. 200 miles southwest of Dannemora, the conditions are far different form life on the infamous honor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unbreakable. Really tough to break. We've tried everything.

MITCHELL: the maximum security facility built in 2000 was touted at the time for its increased ability to segregate disruptive and violent inmates from staff and other inmates. Sweat's new home, a high security single cell.

ERIK JENSEN, FORMER INMATE: He's probably wishing that those two bullets killed him.

FIELD: Former inmate Eric Jensen served time with Sweat at Clinton correctional. He also went to five points where Sweat will be placed in the special housing unit, the most restricted unit.

JENSEN: That doors control from the control booth. It's like a little back of his cell there's a door, and that door is controlled from the control booth and it's like a little four foot by eight foot kennel. We used to call it the dog kennel.

You go out there for your hour recreation. All meals are brought to you, slipped through the slot. Your shower is in your cell in the corner. They control your water for you as well.

FIELD: Sweat will be in 1 of 150 cells considered disciplinary housing. The state of the art prison houses nearly 1,300 of New York's most violent inmates. In 2011 two of them plotted to break out according to a former representative for The Corrections Officers Union, who says the plan was thwarted by prison officials.

AL MOTHERSHED, RETIRED CORRECTIONS OFFICE: They did have an elaborate plan to escape. There was a hole in the fence. There were contraband items found in the cell aside from the dummies they had worked up to place in their spots.

FIELD: Among other high-level offenders, David Sweat will be closely monitored. The high-profile inmate now please on active suicide watch under 24-hour surveillance.

Now that David Sweat has been transferred Albany medical center, two from Albany Medical Center to Five Points Prison, he will be subject to a disciplinary hearing, various penalties can be imposed. We've spoken to people familiar - with the process who say that he could be penalized with years of solitary confinement. That confinement often comes with a further loss of privileges, everything from phone privileges to visitation privileges -- Ana?

CABRERA: All right. Alexandra Field in Dannemora, New York. Thanks.

Still to come, millions of you tuned into that big game. Then you took to the Internet. Coming up, the best of your World Cup reactions. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: We have this just into CNN. The South Carolina senate just passed the bill to remove the Confederate flag from the grounds of the state capitol. You're looking at pictures inside senate chambers. This bill passing on its third reading, 36-3, and the house, of course, still needs to vote on the bill. That's expected to happen later this week.

31 million people tuned into the women's World Cup Sunday night to watch the United States win it all, and then the Internet exploded with reaction, and our Jeanne Moos has that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: To score three goals in 16 minutes, no wonder the U.S. Women's soccer team joked that Carli Lloyd should be on the $10 bill. While she celebrated victory One of the vanquished players lay sprawled, and while Abby Wambach reached up into the stands to kiss her wife, the Japanese could only offer caresses of consolation. One fan tweeted out a photo of Godzilla, "What Japan sees when they look at Carli they see. This is what winning sounded like from Kansas City to Chicago to Atlanta.

Even in midair captured by an NBC reporter, the Rock paid tribute to the team.

DWAYNE JOHNSON, ACTOR: At the end of the day you are 23 of the biggest bad asses walking God's green earth.

MOOS: And that was even before they won the final. To score a hat trick in the first 16 minutes, that player must be a real dynamo, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Congratulations, Carli.

CARLI LLOYD, WOMEN'S SOCCER TEAM: Thank you. Pretty amazing.

Happy, yes. Haven't slept a minute.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Get some sleep.

MOOS: But there was one American soccer fan who was not happy to see the game end, even with a win. A pup named Deuce was so glued to the match on TV that he ignored his best buddy, toddler Collins Babcock.

JESSICA BABCOCK: He watched the entire second half.

MOOS: Like a deserted spouse, the toddler gave up on the pup.

He moved his head everywhere that the ball went. If the ball actually went off the screen for a second, we have a window in our living room right next to the TV. He would run up and look out the window because he thought that it would be out there.

[11:00:00} MOOS: Deuce would make a heck of a goalie. Did Deuce have any reaction when the U.S. won at the end? BABCOCK: No, I think he was more sad to see the ball go away.

MOOS: Not as sad as the Japanese. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES: That's going to do it for me. Thanks for being here.

I'm Ana Cabrera.

"AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts now.