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NEW DAY

Bush Vows to 'Fight Back' Against Trump; Sanders Hoping to Capitalize on Growing Iowa Popularity; Kentucky Clerk Jailed for Defying Court Order; Tense Standoff Between Migrants, Police in Budapest. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired September 4, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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


HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Under Democratic presidents, people do better.

[07:00:02] TRUMP: The economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans.

JOHNS: Jeb coming out swinging in New Hampshire Thursday.

BUSH: When he attacks me personally, or disparages my family, damn right I'm going to fight back.

JOHNS: And on Twitter, pointing out he's voted Republican since 1972.

But, a potential Achilles heel for Trump could be exposed during the next GOP debate if asked about foreign policy, as it was during this radio interview Thursday.

HUGH HEWITT, RADIO SHOW HOST: I'm looking for the next commander in chief to know who Hassan Nasrallah is, and Zawahiri, and al-Julani and al-Baghdadi.

Do you know the players without a scorecard yet, Donald Trump?

TRUMP (via phone): No, you know, I'll tell you honestly, I think by the time we get to office, they'll all be changed. They'll be all gone.

JOHNS: Trump slamming debate moderator Hugh Hewitt for asking, quote, "gotcha questions" after flubbing his answers.

HEWITT: So the difference between Hezbollah and Hamas does not matter to you yet, but it will.

TRUMP: It will when it's appropriate. I will know more about it than you know. And believe me, it won't take me long.

(on camera): Did you vote for Trump? Did you vote for Trump?

JOHNS: Still, Trump continues to dominate the GOP pack, but he's not the only one with rising support. A new national poll shows that, in a head-to-head with the other GOP candidates, second place retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson is the only one to best the Donald.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: The spectacle over this issue is a big win for Donald Trump, though one of the things that may have been attractive to voters is that he was seen as running against establishment politics. Tea Partiers who support him were already expressing concern that he's now given up important political leverage -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Joe. Thanks so much for that.

Well, on the Democratic side, Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders trying to close the gap with rival Hillary Clinton while stumping in Iowa. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is following the Sanders campaign. She joins us live from Des Moines. What's the latest?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Alisyn.

Well, people are feeling the Bern, as they like to say, here in Iowa. I mean, really incredible. Take a look at these crowds. It is simply a race against time.

Now, Bernie Sanders doesn't like to talk about the horse race. He actually hates to talk about it. But we actually got some one-on-one time with him yesterday, and he did talk about that. He talked about the fact that he knows he has to change these big, big crowds, these numbers at least three different stops yesterday. One of a Grenelle (ph) town. A lot of people, a lot of support. He's got to translate that into voters.

And that is something that he emphasized. But he also wants to talk about the issues. So he is talking about things like raising the minimum wage, also expanding Social Security. But he also wants to make sure that the people that are around him are going to come out in caucus. And that is the big challenge.

And Alisyn, one of the things that is very obvious here is that it is very Obamaesque. He talks about a revolution. He talks about politics not as usual. I want you to take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We will be outspent. Let me say this. I know we will be outspent by opponents. We don't have a super PAC. We're dependent on small, individual contributions. But I think the grassroots movement, that's what's going to win it for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: And Alisyn, we even heard a couple "yes, we cans." He knows he is getting these crowds and getting these numbers. He has got to get the infrastructure together to do what he is saying he wants to do, which is a political revolution -- John and Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: That will be the challenge. Suzanne, thanks so much for all that background.

BERMAN: Bernie Sanders has raised quite a bit of money himself, so he's doing just OK out there. Plenty well.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BERMAN: All right. Here this morning to talk about all this, CNN commentators S.E. Cupp and Amanda Carpenter. Amanda is a former communications director for Senator Ted Cruz, and today is her first day appearing on NEW DAY

CAMEROTA: Welcome.

AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you so much.

CAMEROTA: Great to have you here.

CARPENTER: Thanks, guys.

BERMAN: As such, you will get the first question. The first question has to do with Donald Trump, this radio interview with Hugh Hewitt. Hugh Hewitt asking questions about terror groups around the world. Terror very much in the forefront of a lot of people's minds. Foreign policy, a key campaign issue. Let's listen to just a little bit of this radio interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP (via phone): When you start throwing around names of people and where they live and, you know, give me their address, I think it's ridiculous. And I think it's totally worthless.

HUGH HEWITT, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: I wouldn't do that. That's crazy.

TRUMP: By the way, the names you just mentioned, they probably won't even be there in six months or a year.

HEWITT: I don't know, Nasrallah's got such staying power.

TRUMP: Let's see what happens. You know what? In that case, first day in office or before then, right at the day after the election, I'll know more about it than you will ever know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: "More than you will ever know." Amanda, not so much that maybe he didn't know who the head of Hezbollah or Hamas or al Qaeda at this point, or al Nusra, didn't know the heads of them, but the way he answered. I don't know and I don't care about knowing right now. I will know when I need to know. Is that an acceptable answer?

CARPENTER: No. It absolutely is not an acceptable answer for someone that's running to be commander in chief and run the military, lead our strategy for protecting America.

But we've seen this pattern so many times with Donald Trump. When he thinks -- when he doesn't know the answer to a question, he goes after the person who asks it, even if it's a terribly fair question.

[07:05:16] It appears that Donald Trump is trying to bluff his way into the White House. And I this I this charade has run its course.

CAMEROTA: S.E., what do you think? At this point in the game, does he need to know all of these distinctions?

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, I don't know that you could find a president or a would-be president who knew who the Quds were before, you know, taking office but I don't think it's too much to know -- too much to hope that someone running for president would at least express some curiosity about world affairs and not suggest that "Don't worry. On the day I take office, I'll know who the major players in the war on terror is." That's very sort of alarming.

But that said, you know, his supporters will simply say he's antiestablishment. He's an outsider. This is exactly what we want. I just like to remind them, the establishment does not have a hole, does not corner the market on knowledge. You can be antiestablishment and actually know stuff, too.

CAMEROTA: Interesting point, S.E.. Let's look at where he is in the polls right now. Because it is, you know, the numbers just keep rising. This is the new Monmouth University poll, Republican voters nationwide. Donald Trump is at 30 percent. He is that much higher than the next. Ben Carson at 18 percent, then Cruz 8 percent, Bush 8 percent.

But look at what's happened since just July. I mean, Donald Trump has doubled its numbers since July, as has, even more so, Ben Carson. Now it's interesting. The next poll, in a Trump versus Carson match up, however, Carson comes out on top with 55 percent. Wait a second?

BERMAN: We have that clip. It's actually Carson beating Trump, 55 percent to 36 percent, which is frankly remarkable.

CAMEROTA: So explain that, Amanda.

CARPENTER: Sure. I think people -- right now, the polls just show where -- what -- who Americans want to hear more from. Ben Carson hasn't had a huge presence on the national stage. The first Republican debate was really his introduction to voters. And people are intrigued. He has a brilliant life story. He has a story to tell, and people want to hear it.

That said, looking at the head-to-head match-up with Ben Carson and Donald Trump, they are too wildly different candidates. I think it's very hard to evaluate them one against each other. But when I look at that poll, I see an indictment with the rest of the field and people not rising to the occasion, fighting for a cause and proving they have what it takes to win the White House.

BERMAN: Because S.E., there's two remarkable things here. Ben Carson is the only Republican candidate defeating or leading Donald Trump in a head-to-head match-up right now. The only one everyone else trails from mostly by a lot.

The other thing that's interesting, and this is Ben Carson's best week of this presidential campaign. You know, he's rising in the polls. CAMEROTA: He's skyrocketed.

BERMAN: He's off the trail. He's on vacation right now. So it seems, S.E., that he's doing his best by not being around.

CUPP: Well, and that's exactly right. I talked to a lot of conservatives around the country who say they are intrigued by Ben Carson. They like Ben Carson. They also haven't seen a lot of Ben Carson. So when I actually point out some of the things that he has said and some of the positions he's held, for example, on the Second Amendment, just being one, they are actually very surprised by some of his very bizarre past statements.

So I think once Ben Carson starts actually talking more, and the level of scrutiny that is applied to other candidates starts being applied to Ben Carson, I think people will still admire his life story but consider someone else to be president.

CAMEROTA: Amanda, let's talk about Jeb Bush. Because as we saw in that poll, his numbers have actually gone down since July. And he is, you know, in this war of words with Donald Trump. And Jeb Bush appears to be getting feistier and feistier. Here's what he just said on the campaign trail about Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: I'm going to push back when he says things that are ugly that I think will damage our brand, damage our ability to be successful. I'm sure as hell going to -- when he attacks me personally or disparages my family, damn right I'm going the fight back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: So Amanda, is that the right tone? I mean, he could either ignore Trump or he could engage.

CARPENTER: Just look at how uncomfortable he looks. His body posture is hunched up. He doesn't feel authentic saying these words. I think he's making the classic establishment type of mistake. And that's when you see, you know, a grassroots kind of movement that isn't supportive of you.

Instead of drawing the lessons and saying, wow, a lot of these people are upset about illegal immigration and finding a way to follow that track and be in that support, they just want to kill that movement. He's going after Trump to kill him. He thinks it's his job to take him out of the race. And it's backfiring, because people want a hopeful, forward-looking optimistic message. And Jeb Bush has completely lost track of that.

BERMAN: And saying you're damn right, he will. Do you believe that Jeb Bush will order the code red?

CUPP: You know, I mean, Jeb Bush, basically, it just sounds like he's saying, "I'm angry. I'm high energy." You can't say it; you have to be it. And Amanda is right, it just doesn't come off as authentic. Jeb's selling point was that he was a happy warrior. And he's been sort of corralled into being, you know, the angry, "get off my lawn" guy. And it just doesn't -- it doesn't work well.

And frankly, it's benefiting some other candidates, I think. You know, Marco Rubio, I think, looks a little bit more sober when it comes to Trump. Where Jeb, honestly, looks like he's setting his hair on fire. Walker looks a little bit more sober when it comes to Trump.

So I think Jeb, you know, Jeb -- Jeb is the front-runner for the sort of establishment wing, so he's doing what he thinks he has to do. But, I think we should all kind of take a breath. It's August. Or September.

BERMAN: It's September!

CUPP: 2015. We've got 14 months. It's a long haul.

CAMEROTA: Thank you for that sober assessment. S.E. and Amanda, great to see you guys. Thanks so much.

BERMAN: We're going to talk about all this with Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum later this morning. And of course, you must watch the Republican presidential debate. The CNN debate, Wednesday, September 16 -- September 16, sorry, at 6 p.m.

CAMEROTA: Or John Berman will come and get you.

BERMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Meanwhile, to this important story that you've all been following. That county clerk in Rowan County, Kentucky, is waking up in a jail cell this morning after refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. A federal judge ordered Kim Davis taken into custody for defying a court order.

CNN's Alexandra Field joins us live from Morehead, Kentucky, with more details. What's the latest, Alexandra?

ALEXANDRA DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kim Davis, the county clerk is waking up this morning in a county jail. We just spoke to her husband. He's here in Rowan County. He says that Kim Davis is prepared to stay in that jail until as long as this fight takes and until she is victorious.

This is the county clerk who has decided to deny couples of marriage licenses ever since the Supreme Court ruled earlier this summer that same-sex marriages were legal throughout the nation. A judge ruled that Kim Davis had to issue marriage licenses to any couples who met the legal requirements to marriage. But she has been a hold out, refusing to do that. She is now in contempt of court. Her attorneys say she's asking the state for what they consider a simple fix.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's asked for one simple accommodation for her faith. Not just for her, but for all the other clerks in Kentucky that are similarly situated. And that is remove her name and title from the marriage certificate. That's all she's asking for. She'll issue the certificates. But she doesn't want her name and title on it because that, in her understanding and mind, is authorizing something that is contrary to her Christian values and convictions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD: Well, the governor says that here in Kentucky, it is the responsibility of the county clerk to issue marriage licenses. There are no plans, according to the governor, to convene a special session of the general assembly to discuss whether or not there should be statutory changes or changes to that marriage license form, as Kim Davis' attorney is requesting.

But here's the news this morning. The couples who have been denied their marriage licenses in this county have a chance to come here today and obtain their marriage licenses.

With Kim Davis in court, a judge has authorized five of her six deputy clerks to give out those licenses to any couples who apply. The sole hold-out, the sixth deputy clerk will not be giving out those licenses is Kim Davis's son. Davis was given a chance yesterday to get out of jail if she agreed not to interfere with the process, but John, her attorney said he couldn't guarantee that.

BERMAN: It will be interesting to see if they walk away with marriage licenses today. Alexandra Field, thank you so much.

Breaking just a few minutes ago, Britain announcing this morning it will accept thousands more Syrian refugees. This comes as a tense stand-off remains in Hungary between migrants there and police.

Let's go to CNN senior international correspondent, Frederik Pleitgen, live in Budapest with the very latest.

Good morning, Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, John. The scene here continues to be absolutely tragic.

I'm here at that train station where a train is stranded with hundreds of mostly Syrian migrants on it who want to go on to Germany, but they can't.

I want to show you the scene right now. Many of them, as you can see, are camping out in front of the camp, in front of the train. They had a makeshift demonstration earlier today where people were just starting to cry, starting to scream, saying all they want is they want to be able to move forward.

They say the situation on that train is bad. They've been holed up there for more than 24 hours there, obviously with very little food, very little water. But a lot of pregnant women and also children. I managed to speak to one of those who was on board. And here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No food, no water. Nothing. And we don't know what to do. We buy the ticket by our money. They don't take us from the station.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:15:07] PLEITGEN: So you can just see the frustration there in and amongst those people with many of them came to us and told us almost the identical thing.

Now, the tragic thing is also there doesn't seem to be any solution to this problem right now, because the Hungarian government, it insists people get off the train, get registered here and then go into a camp here. But they say they want to go to Germany, and the Germans say they are willing to take them in. And so it's just one of these many tragic stories as this micro crisis unfolds and continues to grow here in Europe -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: It seems like such an intractable problem there, Fred, behind you. Thanks so much for showing us that.

Well, authorities now have home surveillance tape possibly showing the three suspects who gunned down a veteran Illinois police officer this week. Police are still canvassing the community of Fox Lake, saying that it is likely the wanted men are still in the area.

Meanwhile, a funeral will take place Monday for Lieutenant Joe Gliniewicz. The 52-year-old leaves behind a wife and four sons.

BERMAN: Conflicting accounts this morning in the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old boy allegedly by an 11-year-old in St. Louis. Police say the incident was the result of a home invasion by the teenager. But according to "The St. Louis Dispatch," several neighbors and eyewitnesses claim they saw the younger boy call the teen over to the house and shoot him point blank in the head as they spoke about the sale of a cell phone. Police say the investigation is ongoing.

CAMEROTA: Just terrible.

All right. Let's do something with a little levity, shall we? Because we have really nice funnies for you. Jimmy Fallon was having a bit of fun with the latest feud between Donald Trump and Jeb Bush. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, NBC'S "THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JIMMY FALLON": Trump came back at Jeb Bush for speaking Spanish at all and said Jeb Bush could only speak English while in the United States. Yes. He should speak English the way Trump does.

TRUMP: Bing, bing.

Bum, bum.

Ay, yi, yi.

Shoo, shoo.

Bing, bing.

Bong, bong, bing, bing.

FALLON: I think most of that was in minion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Thank you, Jimmy Fallon.

CAMEROTA: Yes, that was great. Bing, bing, bong.

BERMAN: That's what I sound like every day.

The Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples in jail this morning. Some call her a hero. Others want her to resign. Should her religious beliefs trump her public duty? We have a conversation you do not want to miss. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:21:07] SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What happened today is an outrage, and it is fundamentally wrong. For the first time, we're seeing a Christian woman thrown in jail for standing up to her faith. I'll tell you, I stand with Kim Davis unequivocally. I stand with her and anyone else that the government is trying to persecute for standing up for their faith.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Well, that was Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz weighing in on the arrest of the Kentucky clerk who repeatedly refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses. Davis's supporters call her a martyr for holding onto her faith. Critics want her to resign.

With us this morning is Ryan Anderson. He's a senior research fellow for the Heritage Foundation and the author of "Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom."

Ryan, thanks so much for being here on NEW DAY. What's going to happen? How is this woman going to get out of jail when she says that she cannot, because of her beliefs, issue these marriage licenses?

RYAN ANDERSON, SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW, HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Well, hopefully, she'll get out of jail because the state of Kentucky will realize there are compromises that we can reach that will protect both the rights of gays and lesbians to get marriage licenses and the rights of someone like Kim Davis not to have her name on that marriage license.

CAMEROTA: Such as, and I know you have a suggestion. What could have been the answer other than jailing her?

ANDERSON: Sure. I mean, one of the answers would have been that the state of Kentucky change their marriage license after the Supreme Court. It used to say "bride and groom." They changed it to spouse one and spouse two. There's no reason why they couldn't also change it to accommodate Miss Davis by simply removing her name. It's not clear why her name has to be on that marriage license. It can't be someone else.

CAMEROTA: That would have been acceptable, Ryan. That would have been acceptable to her, just to not have her name on the marriage license? But would she still have issued it to same-sex couples?

ANDERSON: As far as I understand, she said that she would issue it if her name wasn't on it and she would have allowed all of the deputies in her office to issue the marriage licenses, provided her name wasn't on it? I just don't understand why we can't work together to find some compromise where it would be a win/win.

CAMEROTA: Sure. That is a great suggestion. Because she can't just obviously languish in a jail cell for what she says are her religious beliefs.

So the other alternative for her was that she could have resigned. She -- she took an oath to uphold the law of the land. The Supreme Court has now said this is the law of the land. So, she could have resigned her post.

BERMAN: She could have but she shouldn't have to. We have a rich history in the United States of accommodating conscientious objectors. The state of Kentucky accommodates conscientious objectors for other types of licensings.

North Carolina has shown us a way of how to do this for marriage, in particular. We've done this with pacifists. We've done it with a variety of people. And so the question here should be, if we can accommodate someone, why shouldn't we? Why should the burden be either every aspect of the job or be forced to resign or go to jail? We haven't done that with other jobs and other issues, so why do it on this one?

CAMEROTA: You know, Ryan, it's been widely reported that this county clerk has been married four times. She was divorced three times. Do you understand why it is galling to same-sex couples that she would represent the sanctity of marriage?

ANDERSON: Sure. I mean, as she says it, all three of those previous marriages took place before her conversion to Christianity. So she doesn't deny that she's lived a life that she's not proud of. She just points out that that happened prior to her conversion. And now that she's become a Christian, she tries to live her life in accordance with her beliefs.

I don't think it's my place to judge, you know, her kind of worthiness here. I think religious liberty is for everyone, even when I disagree with those religious beliefs. CAMEROTA: Sure.

ANDERSON: If we can accommodate the religious beliefs, we should at least try to.

CAMEROTA: Sure. I mean, none of us are here to judge. It is her prerogative to be married as many times as she wants as a heterosexual woman. And, you know, gay couples say that they want that same prerogative. They want to be able to get married and make a mistake, if they must, as she has, a couple of times. And they feel that she is the one who's judging them for wanting to live their fullest life.

[07:25:14] ANDERSON: Well, and that's definitely true. She has a position on what marriage is. She believes it's the union of a man and a woman. And so all she's asking is that she can keep her job and not have her name on those marriage licenses. And county clerks do lots of things. She's been in this position for a while, first as the deputy, now as the head clerk. If we can work together, I feel like we should.

CAMEROTA: That sounds totally reasonable, Ryan. So is there any indication that Kentucky will move towards that and allow her name to be taken off the marriage licenses?

ANDERSON: Well, so far, the judge that heard the case didn't allow that outcome to come forward. The governor has said he refuses to call the legislature back to session to fix this legislatively. So it looks like it might have to wait until January, which is when they're next sitting there. It just seems that it could have been avoided, had either the judge, the governor or the legislature been willing to kind of create a fix ahead of time. Which is what North Carolina did.

CAMEROTA: Yes, thank you for pointing that out, Ryan Anderson. Nice to talk to you. Thanks so much for pointing out all of those compromises out. What is your take on this? You can tweet us, using the hashtag #NewDayCNN. Or post your comment on Facebook.com/NewDay -- John.

BERMAN: All right, Alisyn. Trump stumbles on foreign policy. So will his enthusiastic supporters -- will they even care? John King breaks it down, "Inside Politics," coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)