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Clinton, Trump Lead in Poll of Battleground States; Officials Look into Oregon College Shooter's Mom. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired October 7, 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: Question is, is there a way forward and a way that will satisfy the American people?

Mr. Volcker, General, thank you very much for the perspective.

[06:30:02] Appreciate it.

KURT VOLKER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO: Thank you.

GENERAL GEORGE JOULWAN, U.S. ARMY (RET): Thank you.

CUOMO: Mick?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Chris.

Investigators are turning their attention to the mother of the college shooter in Oregon. In online postings she professed her love for guns. She wrote about her son's disorder but did she know just how troubled he was?

The latest, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: A new Quinnipiac poll shows the Democratic and Republican frontrunners running strong in three key battleground states. Hillary Clinton leads by double digits in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. This despite more voters answering no to the question of whether she was honest and trustworthy.

These new numbers coming out less than a week away from the first Democratic debate, October 13th, 8:30 p.m. right here on CNN.

And on the Republican side, Donald Trump is on top, Ben Carson second, in all three swing states with a number of the other GOP candidates jockeying for third place in those individual polls.

[06:35:06] CUOMO: Hmm.

Investigators turning their attention to the mother of the Oregon gunman, particularly online posts she wrote about guns and her troubled son.

CNN's Dan Simon live in Roseburg, Oregon, with the latest.

What do we know?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Chris, you'll remember the gunman's father said he didn't know his son had any guns. Well, the mother not only knew about them but she's a gun collector and a gun enthusiast herself.

What we also learned through the social media postings, she said that her son has a developmental disorder on the autism spectrum, specifically Asperger's syndrome. Now, we should point out, there's no medical evidence, no link between violent behavior and Asperger's.

It raises questions as to what she knew about the full mental state and full mental profile of her son. Here's what she says about the guns and her affinity for guns. "I keep all my mags full, I keep two full mags in my Glock case. And the ARs and the AKs all have loaded mags. No one will be dropping by my house uninvited without acknowledgement."

There's almost sort of a boastful tone to these statements.

And here's what she wrote about her son and Asperger's. "My son has Asperger's. He's no babbling idiot, nor is his life worthless. He's very intelligent and is working on a career in film making. My 18 years experience with and knowledge about Asperger's syndrome is paying off. I'm a nurse."

We have confirmed she is, in fact, a registered nurse and in these postings she also says she has Asperger's herself. Obviously when you hear all this, there's more questions than answers. As many have already noted, striking similarities between this case and Newtown shooter Adam Lanza. In that situation, also living with a mother who collected guns, she encouraged the use of them. They went to shooting ranges and so obviously people are looking at that case and this one as well in the same context.

Chris, Michaela, back to you.

CUOMO: The similarities are a misunderstanding of the mental health state of the person involved and gun security. We very rarely talk about it in terms of what needs to change. More often than not people get access to these guns not themselves but others who haven't properly stored them, which that was a definition of.

PEREIRA: We'll talk more about this coming up in the next few minutes.

Meanwhile, the CEO of Volkswagen says the company will begin its massive diesel car recall in January. They hope to have them all fixed by the end of 2016. He also thinks just a few employees were involved in the so-called diesel-gate scandal, to seat on emissions test. The global recall and fines could cost that company tens of billions of dollars.

CUOMO: Once they put the word gate on you, you have trouble.

So, as we mentioned, the mother of the Oregon college shooter wrote about her son's state of mine. Were warning signs missed? Yes is the obvious question. A psychiatrist joins us to understand how this could happen.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:41:56] PEREIRA: Good to have you back with us here on NEW DAY.

Online posts linked to the mother of the Oregon college shooter reveal a window into his son's state, his mental state. They shared a passion for guns. Those posts are shining a spotlight on that mother's bond with her son, specifically over guns, and how it could have played into the gunman's troubled history.

Joining us to sift through it all is Dr. Jodi Gold, a board certified pediatric psychiatrist.

We're so lucky to have you here with us to talk about all of this.

So, we know that this woman was a bit of a prolific poster online. She says she was a registered nurse. We've been able to confirm that. She also claims she also has Asperger's.

And I just want to talk to you about what we know about Asperger's. This has been brought into the conversation. We know it's on the spectrum of autism. We know it's a developmental disorder.

DR. JODI GOLD, PEDIATRIC PSYCHIATRIST: Yes.

PEREIRA: But is there any reason, any science, to link any planned violence to this diagnosis?

GOLD: Let me start by being very clear. There's no link between mental illness and violence and there's certainly no link between an autistic spectrum disorder and violence.

To be clear, we don't talk about autism anymore. We talk about sort of autistic spectrum disorders.

PEREIRA: Right.

GOLD: The truth is people with an autistic spectrum disorders keep to themselves are not interested in other people, would be less likely to want to have revenge or to be violence, than someone without mental illness.

Now, people with autistic disorders may be very focused on interests, often they're focused on trains or subways. He could certainly be very focused on guns. So, that may explain the interest. But there's no link between the mental illness and violence.

PEREIRA: And then there's a lot being made about the relationship the mother and the son had, not just their relationship but their common interests and their bonding over guns. I actually want to read to you something that the AP -- they spoke to a psychologist, Peter Langman.

This psychologist said, "In some cases, parents don't recognize there's a problem. In other cases, they are aware of mental health issues. But they don't see any evidence of violence, so they don't see a reason not to have take their kids target shooting. Parents may also use the guns to bond with the mentally troubled isolated child who's obsessed with weapons and violence."

That seems like a really, really dangerous prescription.

GOLD: Yes, that's true. But the truth is, everything that she did was legal. In our country it's OK to bond around violence. So she bonded with him around guns. We know that. We know that they both had very big interests. Do I think it's a good idea to bond to a mentally unstable person around guns? Of course not.

PEREIRA: Is it something that -- somebody with this diagnosis, I mean, the common sense would say somebody with this kind of disorder, they shouldn't even have access to guns.

GOLD: Yes, it's true. I mean, I believe that we need to have more restrictions on access to guns for mentally ill. But the truth is all these guns were bought legally by his mother. He had -- I think Asperger's is not the issue here, because I don't think Asperger's is related to anything that happened in this violence.

PEREIRA: Right.

GOLD: I think we need to think about mentally ill and violence. It's about accessibility of guns in the home.

PEREIRA: Well, that's a good point to make, because also this was a man of 26 years of age.

GOLD: Yes.

[06:45:04] PEREIRA: This was not somebody under 18 where the parents have a little more sway or authority over. And that brings up a very important conversation -- if you have someone that is under your care, because obviously, this was a young man living with his mother, had a close relationship with his mother. What kind of responsibility do you bear and how does that weigh against that person's individual rights when it comes to mental health issues?

GOLD: This comes up every time I come on air to talk about these shootings, what the responsibility is for an adult child. I believe that parents of adult children with mental illness need to have more access to records, more ability to provide them care. But in our country, HIPAA --

PEREIRA: Does it's not set up that way.

GOLD: It was not set up in the system. Once you're 18 the parents have no access to records we have the HIPAA laws. They have no ability to mandate care.

That's something as a country we need to be talking about, how to provide comprehensive services to mentally ill and how to allow adults -- who have adult children with mental illness. However, I don't know that that's the key here.

PEREIRA: Right.

GOLD: I think she tried to get him care. We heard about him --

PEREIRA: She voiced her frustrations, too.

GOLD: Yes.

PEREIRA: From a medical perspective, the medical community, are they concerned? If we looked at the data, the CDC data says fewer than 5 percent of U.S. gun killings are perpetrated by people with mental illness. Is there a concern about the stigma after an event like this? Is there a concern in the medical community about that?

GOLD: We're always concerned about the stigma around mental illness.

PEREIRA: Always. But is it worsened at a time like this.

GOLD: Worsened in a place like this because the mental illness did not cause this violence. In fact, I actually think someone with an autistic spectrum disorder might be less likely --

PEREIRA: You hear politicians saying that it was a mental illness issue. Not a gun issue.

GOLD: That frustrates me because to me, they're just afraid to stand up to the gun lobby.

The reality is, is that states that have more guns in the household have higher rates of suicide. Having guns in the home kills people. If you want to talk about guns, talk about guns and suicide. So, if you have higher amount of guns in the home, you have higher rates of suicide, two thirds of gun, gun killings, are suicide.

When you have someone mentally ill or not mentally ill, and they think about --

PEREIRA: Troubled, right.

GOLD: Troubled, right? They have had a setback in their life. They've been humiliated, and they impulsively take a gun and kill themselves. If there's no gun, they don't kill themselves.

PEREIRA: Dr. Jodi Gold, obviously a conversation we need to keep pushing forward. We're having it here on NEW DAY. We appreciate you adding your voice to it.

GOLD: Thank you so much.

PEREIRA: Chris?

CUOMO: All right, Mick.

We've got new polls for you this morning for the 2016 race. They show Donald Trump still in the lead, and actually growing in places that matter. Who can beat him? Would Trump's answer be Marco Rubio? Is that why he's going at him? Inside the spat, who it helps and how. We'll take you inside the game, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:52:00] PEREIRA: We have some new polling to top the hour here, showing how Democrats are doing in key swing states, just six days before the CNN Democratic debate. I hope you're well napped up before that.

We're also going to look at the GOP field and break down who is rising and falling.

Plus, investigators are looking into the mother of the Oregon campus gunman, what she knew. Were there missed warning signs? We'll hear from a friend of the mother. We'll also speak with a top psychologist, ahead.

CUOMO: All right. So, that's what we're going to take on in the show.

PEREIRA: Yes.

CUOMO: What we also want to take on is what's going on with Marco Rubio and Donald Trump.

PEREIRA: They've got beef.

CUOMO: They definitely do. Why?

Trump poll numbers are up. Why is he calling a sitting senator a boy, a lightweight, like he said yesterday? Is it working for him? Is it working against him?

Let us discuss. We have Mercedes Viana-Schlapp here with us. And we also Matt Schlapp. Matt is a former George W. Bush political director and chairman of American Conservative Union, and Mercedes, his wife, former spokesperson for Spanish language media under President George W. Bush.

CUOMO: Good to have you both.

MATT SCHLAPP, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Good morning.

MERCEDES SCHLAPP, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Buenos dias.

CUOMO: Buenas dias.

So, when you look at what Donald Trump is doing, he says, Mercedes, I'm just returning fire.

PEREIRA: Counterpunch, right?

CUOMO: I'm a counterpuncher, he started it. What is your diagnosis of what is happening here and who it helps?

MERCEDES SCHLAPP: Look, obviously, Donald Trump views Marco Rubio as a threat. He's climbing in the polls. As we know, Donald Trump stays very closely attuned to what's happening in every single poll.

And so he's taking him on, saying, look, I have business experience. I've done the deals. He's trying to make the comparison for the voters, and in the meantime, he's having quite fun doing it by sending him the care package. I'm convinced Donald Trump will send a care package to you any day now.

CUOMO: What will be in it?

PEREIRA: I'm worried what will be inside.

CUOMO: Will it be ticking?

PEREIRA: I'm worried.

Matt, why don't we actually play the sound? I wanted to ask you. I'll ask you this on the other side of it.

Let's play a tidbit from yesterday, the gift you gave us on NEW DAY with Donald Trump. Let's listen to the sound.

CUOMO: Trump-nado.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via telephone): He's a highlight. He's weak on immigration. Take a look at his past. He's got $12 in the bank. He borrows, works with his car dealer in Florida.

Give me a break. Rubio is not the guy that's going to be negotiating with the kind of people you have to negotiate with to turn this country around.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: So I'm curious, he didn't really answer the question about the whole gag gift, first of all, which I thought was deflective.

CUOMO: The question is merely a suggestion.

PEREIRA: Also, I'm wondering is there a way that Rubio benefits from all of this fuss from Donald Trump, Matt?

MATT SCHLAPP: That's a great question. I think everybody has been anticipating that in it Republican race with this more brash and aggressive, sorry, some of us have been in the Midwest, some might even say, New York style of Donald Trump, that we keep thinking it's going to boomerang.

[06:55:05] You know, in these three-state polls, these key polls, it doesn't seem to be boomeranging.

Now, if you get inside the poll, there are some weaknesses Donald Trump has. But one of the strengths he has is leadership skills. If you notice when he makes the counterpunches, attacks, whatever you want to call him, it's about how he can lead and negotiate, which plays to his strength.

CUOMO: All right. So, let's look at what is going to be more difficult to navigate here politically. The most recent numbers in Florida, if we can put them up, Mercedes, Trump is in the lead. Fine. But the shocker here is this is the home state, the backyard of Rubio and Bush.

Let's talk about this Rubio/Bush dynamic.

PEREIRA: Mentor, mentee.

CUOMO: Right, they're friends, you know, and both of them say that. But that ain't going to last.

How does this one play out?

MERCEDES SCHLAPP: Well, I think we take a look we're still early on. I mean, right now, for the 2012 GOP primary it was clear that Herman Cain was up at this time. We have seen Governor Jeb Bush's number trend downward in Florida and Rubio is, he's staying up there. He hasn't fallen down. He's staying pretty good there.

But I think when you look at these numbers in Florida, it's clear that these GOP voters, right now, the sentiment is still anti- establishment, let's try something new. Let's figure out if these outsiders really have what it takes to shake it up in Washington. That's why you're seeing a shift in Governor Jeb Bush's campaign, saying we're going to shake down Mount Washington. You're seeing Rubio talking how he's distancing himself from Washington.

Those are smart tactics from these Floridians. And again, they've got to campaign aggressively to make ground.

PEREIRA: Well, Matt, Bush is getting a little more aggressive, stepping up the attacks on Rubio citing his poor attendance in Washington, something we watched Donald Trump do as well. Is that a wise move for him to take the same tactic as Trump?

MATT SCHLAPP: Absolutely. If you look at all these polls, the indication from Republican voters is they want someone who will shake things up, and Jeb Bush did that as governor of Florida. He was the leading conservative governor during his time in office. And he wants to rekindle that spirit with these voters.

And he's seen as an establishment, obviously being the brother and son of former presidents, it's hard for him to shake that feeling from voters, but he needs to go and talk to them about what he would do to change things. Remember, Jeb Bush has never spent one day in elected office in Washington. He ought to take Washington on. I think he's trying to do that with this new strategy.

CUOMO: But the question becomes how do you fight a friend? That's one of the things that changed this.

MATT SCHLAPP: It's tough.

CUOMO: Arguably they should have been more quiet about it earlier on. They knew only one could live, right? I mean, both of them knew only one can live, only one Floridian can make it out of that primary.

MATT SCHLAPP: So completely right.

MERCEDES SCHLAPP: Friends and politics, there's not many friends in politics, and that was going to be short lived. I knew it when Jeb Bush said we're friends, yes, you can be friends but when you have to compete and you're trying to win your state, you'll do what you can and you'll have to knock the other candidate down. That's just the way it works in politics.

So I think that, you know, with Senator Marco Rubio doing better in the polls, they're keeping a close -- Jeb Bush's campaign is keeping a close eye on that. So, I think you're seeing that with Trump, too. They're ready to knock him down.

But again, we're going to have see how Senator Rubio, he's going to -- expect he'll do well in the next debate and, again, he's rising. So, it's something to be watching carefully.

CUOMO: The Schlapps, thank you very much to both of you.

MATT SCHLAPP: Thank you.

CUOMO: We'll check in on the next event when we need perspective. Appreciate it.

MERCEDES SCHLAPP: Thank you.

CUOMO: This is a big story. There are a lot of them for you this morning. Let's get to them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: Russia's air assault continues with new strikes this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Syrian regime forces are taking advantage of these air strikes.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president has made quite clear that Russia should not be interfering.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can see where the water is covering over that road right there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Crews are moving fast to try and repair devastated South Carolina.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is hard to look at the loss that we are going to have.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Investigators from the NTSB arrived here in Jacksonville.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The search for survivors is actively still under way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've cried so much that I can't -- I have no more tears. They all have to come back.

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

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: Good morning. Welcome back to your NEW DAY. Good morning to you.

Breaking news overnight, Russia now says it's willing to cooperate with the U.S. in carrying out air strikes in Syria. The apparent olive branch coming amid deep concern over Moscow's increasing presence, militarily there. Overnight, Russian warplanes launching a new round of strikes on several towns in western Syria.

CUOMO: The big question is: are they there to take on ISIS or are they there to really help Assad or both? How do you figure it out?

Here's the one thing we know, the head of NATO is condemning Russia for violating Turkey's air space, calling it dangerous, reckless, and unacceptable behavior.