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Latino Community Reacts to Trump Comments; Voters in Iowa Weigh In on 2016 Candidates; S.C. Lawmakers Vote to Take Down Confederate Flag. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired July 9, 2015 - 06:30   ET

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


CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: One of the things that's very deceptive in this, Ron, as you probably know, is calling them sanctuary cities. It has nothing to do with locals wanting to avoid getting rid of illegals.

[06:30:00] It's that they kept getting sued for discriminatory practices and for over-holding people past any judicial process with a warrant. And they could sued, they'd lose and they are doing it behest of ICE.

So, what do you think is happening with this dialogue in the campaign right now?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

CUOMO: I lost Ron. That question was so pressing he couldn't handle it.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: The dialogue is going to go around and around in a merry go round. You're going to hear people say what Jeb Bush said, I'm going to penalize New York, I'm gong to penalize Houston, I'm going to make them do what the federal government has failed to do for a generation, that's not going to happen.

CUOMO: But it's inaccurate but also divisive, because you say sanctuary city, it sounds like you want to be easy on illegals and that's really not what's been going on. That's not how they evolved.

LOUIS: No, not at all. In fact, it's an easy way to do city-bashing, right? I mean, these are mostly Democratic cities they are talking about. So, they're going to talk about San Francisco and New York. They're not going to talk about Houston. They're not going to talk about some of the other cities. They're not going to talk about San Diego.

If that's what they want to do, that's fine. That will to get them through it. But at some point, either as presidential candidates or whoever is sitting in the White House plus Congress, they are going to have to deal with this issue. There are tons and tons -- I mean, we are talking 30,000 in any given year released to the streets, not because of sanctuary cities wanting to but ICE cannot deport them. CAMEROTA: On our way out, I just want to mention that we often talk

about, oh, the election is 400-some days away. Actually, the first debate is four weeks from tonight. The first Republican debate, we are closing in on election season quicker than you think.

Errol Louis, thanks so much. And our thanks to Ron Brownstein as well.

CUOMO: And you know what? Immigration is going to be a big issue and that's why we're talking about it and there are certainly criticism for San Francisco in this current situation but what are we doing about immigration?

That's why Anderson interviewing Donald Trump, and you're going to see a lot more of what his perspective on this because it is representative of a mindset in America. You can see that tonight on "AC360" at 8:00 Eastern, of course, here on CNN.

CAMEROTA: For all the political news, remember to go to CNNPolitics.com.

Let's go to Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, guys, imagine sparks flying out of your plane. It actually happened to passengers on one airline. We'll have all the details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:36:04] PEREIRA: History is being made in South Carolina. State lawmakers voting to remove the Confederate battle flag from the capitol grounds after an emotional debate lasted 13 hours. Governor Nikki Haley calling it a new day in South Carolina. She plans to sign it into law. The measures call for the Confederate flag to be taken down within 24 hours of her signing it. The move comes, of course, three weeks after that Charleston church massacre.

CAMEROTA: Donald Trump doubling down on his remarks about Mexican immigrants. The GOP candidate telling Anderson Cooper there are more illegal immigrants in this country than ever before and blaming President Obama. Trump again saying his solution is to build an impenetrable wall at the border.

RNC chair Reince Priebus last night asking Trump to tone down his comments.

CUOMO: This is not what you want to see out of the plane window. Those are sparks coming from the wing. The pilot of the Southwest flight aborting takeoff thankfully. They were going from Chicago's Midway Airport last night, the engine caught fire. Luckily, they wound up catching it and stopping the plane. None of the 143 passengers were injured.

PEREIRA: You don't want to see that, nope.

CUOMO: I have seen that, by the way. PEREIRA: Now we all.

All right. Donald Trump as we have been talking about this morning is not backing down. As we said, doubling down, in fact, on his comments about undocumented immigrants. How much is he hurting other Republicans with the Latino vote in 2016? We'll discuss it ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:41:28] CUOMO: Donald Trump is making a lot of noise or news depending on your perspective. CNN's best Anderson Cooper tried to use fact and reason to test Trump on his immigration ideas.

And we're going to continue with Ana Maria Salazar. She's Latin American political analyst and former policy advisor to President Clinton's special envoy for the Americas.

Ana Maria, can you make the argument for me that this is helpful to the debate on immigration, hearing what Donald Trump has to say?

ANA MARIA SALAZAR, LATIN AMERICAN POLITICAL ANALYST: Of course not. It's dangerous, it is racist, and basically what it's doing is putting this debate almost in two camps. One, we've got to build a border and, two, we've got to kick out all these -- he talked about 30 million. It's actually around 12 to 11 million undocumented persons who live in the United States.

It's not useful. And I would say it's poisoning the well. It's dangerous.

And I know a lot of Democrats think this is useful because it does strengthen the Democrats link to the Latino community, but it's dangerous because it is poisoning this debate. You can't have a same debate when you have Donald Trump talking about it.

CUOMO: But people are saying, Ana Maria, that he represents a real voice out there. And that's why his polls are so high. It's not about his celebrity or the fact that the media talks about him --

SALAZAR: High?

CUOMO: What, Ana Marie?

SALAZAR: Chris, high? Come on. Come on. He's second place in a field of what is it, 12, 13, 20 potential Republican candidates?

CUOMO: Fourteen.

SALAZAR: I mean, he's -- I mean, come on. Give me a break.

The problem is you have this man spinning out racist remarks about a large part of the U.S. population and no one can stop him. I mean, he called your colleague Anderson Cooper a baby at a point where he was trying to say, look, Donald, your data is wrong. What you're saying is wrong. So, part of the problem is that it's very difficult to stop these

comments because when you confront him with the truth, that in these communities where you have a large number of undocumented people living, the crime rate is lower than the rest of the city or the rest of the other parts of these communities.

CUOMO: But a lot of this is not just a fact analysis.

(CROSSTALK)

SALAZAR: So, you can't talk about a --

CUOMO: It's not just a fact analysis. It's about the optics.

SALAZAR: Well, it is.

CUOMO: And you did say it winds up becoming two camps.

Let's listen to what Jeb Bush said just last night about this, obviously another presidential candidate about how you can love and also want law. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You can love the Mexican culture, you can love your Mexican-American wife and also believe that you need to control the border. This is a bizarre kind of idea that somehow you can have an affection for people in a different country and not think the rule of law should apply. This is ludicrous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: And do you agree with Jeb Bush's assessment of it being unfair to question those who want to secure the border?

SALAZAR: I absolutely -- you need to secure the border. I think there needs to be an interesting debate as to what you do with the border. And if you really set up the walls, is this going to stop these people -- the people who are trying to come into the United States. And there's an interesting debate as to whether it won't stop that many people.

But more importantly, if you really want to stop people from coming to the United States, and living illegally in the United States, you have to go after the people who employ them.

[06:45:10] If anything we have learned with this slowdown of the U.S. economy and this crisis of the U.S. economy, a very interesting thing happened. And a large number of undocumented workers left the United States because they didn't have a job.

And that's the reality. I mean, some people have thought it's because the Mexican economy has improved. No, the truth is when there is no jobs available in the United States, if automatically it will reduce the number of people trying to go into the United States. So, if you want to stop this, you know what you have to do? You have

to go after Donald Trump, who has hired undocumented workers and basically also punish them if you're going to go in the same way against the people who have come in and are trying to find a job in the United States.

Go after Donald Trump who was hiring undocumented workers. That is the solution.

CUOMO: Fair point. And Anderson made that point to him last night, ironically Trump, though, told Anderson you're not the baby. He was the one babbling and gurgling when asked who works at his hotels.

Ana Maria, thank you very much. Appreciate your perspective as always.

Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: OK. Chris, voters in Iowa seeing a lot of the presidential candidates these days. So, which ones are making an impression? Our John Berman, who always leaves an impression, is taking the pulse of the people.

Stick around for that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:29] PEREIRA: The 2016 presidential field is certainly filled with a variety of candidates from Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton, but what do voters have to say?

Well, we sent our John Berman to get answers in the state where all political eyes are focused -- Iowa. And John joins us now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, sure, we sit here and we talk about how the election is 500 days away, but not in Iowa. In Iowa, it's just over six months away and these people are fully engaged and, man, do they have opinions about the candidates. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: You hear a guy, like Donald Trump, for instance, get up to say things on immigration that make it sound so easy. Basically build a wall on the border, he says, he says that the people coming over, among them are rapists and criminals and murderers.

When you hear a candidate use words like that, does it make you stand up and listen? Or does it make you shake your head?

CHRISTINA FERNANDEZ-MORROW, INDEPENDENT VOTER: It makes me shake my head. I mean, and I think to myself, this man has all this money and he is on this platform just spewing such ignorance. I believe that he is saying what a lot of people are too afraid to say. It's not a PC thing to say, that doesn't mean he's saying a fact and it doesn't mean that those people are believing what is true. KESHO SCOTT, DEMOCRATIC VOTER: I think his comments are -- reflect a

cultural insensitivity that we have been trying to reverse.

BERMAN: Can anyone in this table under any circumstances see themselves voting for Donald Trump?

ADAM VANDALL, REPUBLICAN VOTER: Yes.

BERMAN: Why?

VANDALL: He's a very shrewd businessman. I -- you know, so I think he would be able to at least guide Congress in a little bit better way to maybe perhaps pay down the $18 trillion debt that we are incurring.

BERMAN: Barb, you met him. Are you listening to what he says?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Answering the voters, only putting a piece together with his questions and none of the answers. How dare you, sir?

CAMEROTA: You can hear the answers with them.

BERMAN: When you heard them answer the questions, they were, in fact, fascinating.

No, there were three takeaways. Number one, when it came to Donald Trump, and you heard a piece of it there. I was talking to the Republican voters. They were saying, you know, they don't love what he was saying but none of them would rule out voting for Donald Trump. That was interesting to me.

On the Democratic side, on Bernie Sanders, all the Democrats there said, yes, we love what he's saying. It's really interesting. We know why people are going to his rallies. And I said, well, are you going to vote for him? They're like, probably not, but they like he's in the race.

CAMEROTA: How do you explain that?

BERMAN: I think they want a choice. They want a choice and they want someone to push Hillary Clinton. But when push comes to shove, it probably isn't enough to sway them. I thought that was very interesting.

CUOMO: Isn't because they are so pro-Hillary, or they want someone else? Are they talking Biden?

BERMAN: No, no talk about anyone else getting in the race. They're more or less satisfied with Hillary Clinton, and on Hillary Clinton, it was interesting, the emails, the Clinton Foundation, the scandals -- it is baked into the cake for most of the voters. The Republicans who would never vote for her to begin with, they're never going to vote for her anyway. On the Democratic side, they don't like the e- mails, sure, the emails don't make them happy but it's not going to change their vote at the end. PEREIRA: Did you get the sense they are committed and decided? Or

they are still measuring? We all recognize it's a long ways out.

BERMAN: No one has decided because they don't have to be. You know, the Iowa voters -- caucus voters, these are experienced professional voters. And they know they have until caucus night to make up their mind and they're not going to sell their vote cheap. They hang on to the bitter end.

And I think most of them have a clear choice of who they would vote for if it were today, not all of them but most of them.

CUOMO: They courted a lot also.

Any talk about the debates coming up, who do they think should be in it? Whether Trump should be there?

BERMAN: We didn't talk about that. But all of the people said -- no one said there are too many candidates. No one said I don't like hearing these different voices, people all said I like hearing these different voices, I like having the choice and I will make the choice based on the people we like.

PEREIRA: I believe we fixed the Gremlins. Let's go back to the tape and listen to a little more of what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I'm going to talk about the Republicans now. You guys have a dozen, couple of dozen, three dozen, four dozen people to choose from. Barb, what do you make of the field?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: You seem to take issue with that voter.

CUOMO: Barbara here name was. Why won't you let her speak John Berman?

CAMEROTA: Why didn't you put a microphone on her, John?

CUOMO: What was it? What did she say that bothered you so much that you silenced her?

CAMEROTA: And this one as well.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[06:55:00] SCOTT: Diversity. In my lifetime at 62, we have not had that diversity.

BERMAN: You have Ben Carson, guy, a brain surgeon, African American brain surgeon.

SCOTT: Absolutely, from Detroit.

BERMAN: You have Carly Fiorina, a female executive.

SCOTT: So, I think what is exciting about that is they will have conversations on race, violence, immigration that are important to people of color. And I'm interested in having those conversations. When I've been in the elections in my life where no one discussed race, right? So I think that is exciting. I think you're right, it's too early to tell, but it's going to be exciting to hear.

BERMAN: Adam, you have got -- you're a describe yourself as a social conservative. You have a lot of them running in the field right now.

VANDALL: We do. My top pick right now is Ted Cruz. I'm still looking at Mike Huckabee. Rick Santorum is on my radar but Bobby Jindal is really exciting.

BERMAN: So that leaves out right now the top tier to an extent. Scott Walker, it's Jeb Bush, it's Donald Trump, Marco Rubio is up there, Rand Paul is up there. There are five guys who you say you're not considering. Why not?

VANDALL: They haven't necessarily backed up -- I mean, Rubio supported amnesty without building a wall or doing anything else. And Jeb Bush, he's a complete and total moderate.

BERMAN: You're a Democrat but you're considering Jeb Bush.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, Jeb is different, he has an appeal for Latinos. If I was Republican, I would say it would be stupid for the Republican Party to not go after Jeb Bush because he's the only one that will be able to get the end pen independent votes. All the others are too far right to get anybody in the middle.

SCOTT: In terms of being in Iowa, the largest ethnic minority here are, you know, Latinos. So, I think it's going to be important to them that the Republican candidate who speak to their issues, cultural competency and also representation. And I think in that way, Jeb Bush is the strongest Republican candidate.

And although I have voted Democratic all my life, I would give him a vote of fantastic.

BERMAN: So you wouldn't vote for him but pat him on the back.

SCOTT: Absolutely.

BERMAN: You know what he'd say to that, is, thanks, thanks a lot.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: That doesn't do much to the polls, does it?

CAMEROTA: Attaboy.

It's interesting hearing from the voters because we have been debating this morning why it is that Trump is as high as he is in the polls. Why he's resonating. Did you get a sense of why they are taking him seriously?

BERMAN: They are listening because you can't help but listen. Donald Trump is on TV 24 hours a day right now. You know, all over the cables, he's in the newspapers and the local stations.

And what they say is they may not love the rhetoric, but they appreciate what they call his accomplishments. They say he's an accomplished businessman and they like the private sector experience. And they will listen to him. That's all they are willing to tell you right now. No one is saying they're for him.

And by the way, they say they see no evidence of a Trump organization in Iowa yet. And that matters.

CUOMO: We are his organization. We are putting him on TV 24 hours a day. He doesn't need a ground operation. He's not spending his money because he's on the media so much.

CAMEROTA: John, thank you.

CUOMO: That was well done, my friend, when you let the people speak.

We are following news this morning, so let's get to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: The Confederate flag is coming down in South Carolina.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A stunning reversal in a state that was decided the first shots in the civil war.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Remove this flag and do it today!

CAMEROTA: Major shakeup in Baltimore.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Recent events have placed an intense focus on our police leadership.

CAMEROTA: Police Commissioner Anthony Batts out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need a change.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will build a better wall and I'll build it cheaper and Mexico will pay.

Hillary can't do it. Jeb can't do it. I can do it easy.

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

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: This is still going on about this? Oh my, oh my --

CAMEROTA: I know. We're still debating. Can someone tape the commercial break? Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to your NEW DAY.

We have breaking news for you because it is a new day dawning in South Carolina. State lawmakers signed off on removing the Confederate flag from the capitol ground. That bill now on its way to the governor's desk.

CUOMO: Now, this final vote came after 13 hours of passionate debate in three weeks after the church massacre that, of course, is fueling these efforts to bring down the flag.

CNN's Nick Valencia is live in Columbia where the flag probably won't be flying much longer -- Nick.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

It is a day in history here in the state of South Carolina. Just hours ago, lawmakers in the House of Representatives here in the state voting decisively by a decisive margin to permanent remove the Confederate flag from the state ground. It was a marathon session that lasted well into the night, with the final vote coming just after 1:00 a.m.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, if I can get your attention.

VALENCIA (voice-over): More than 12 hours after passionate and oftentimes contentious debate --

UIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a part of our future, it is part of our past.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is my sincere desire that this bill does not pass.

VALENCIA: Members of the South Carolina statehouse overwhelmingly approving a bill to remove the Confederate flag from the capitol grounds.