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Trump Currently Leading Clinton In New CNN/ORC Poll By Five Points; Firestorm Following DNC Chairwoman Heading Into First Day Of Democratic Convention; Two Dead, More Injured In Shooting Outside Nightclubs In Fort Myers, Florida. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired July 25, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:00:00] DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Let's defeat her in November.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESUMPTIVE NOMINEE: I don't know what their convention was about other than criticizing me.

TIM KAINE, (D) PRESUMPTIVE V.P. NOMINEE: Most of us stopped the name- calling thing about fifth grade.

BERNIE SANDERS, (D) PRESINDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The DNC was not running a fair operation. I'm not shocked.

TRUMP: I'll take our Reince over her any day. Forget it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is "New Day" with Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to your New Day. We are live here in Philadelphia, where the Democratic National Convention begins today. And we do begin with some breaking news, some breaking political news because there is a major shift in the race for the White House. Donald Trump getting a notable bounce after his convention.

Let's take a look at these new CNN national poll numbers out just one hour ago. Trump is now ahead of Hillary Clinton by five points in a four-way race. This is his largest lead in nearly a year.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: In a two-way race, number is more dramatic. Trump has a three-point lead over Clinton. Now you have to remember, why is that dramatic, it's less than the four way. No, this is the first time we've seen Trump at 48 percent. And this is also the first time he's been beating Clinton head to head in months.

So this is a big deal. And it comes in context of not the best start for this campaign either -- for this convention either. Look at this number that's in the poll. Honest and trustworthy about Hillary Clinton, yes, 30 percent, no, 68 percent. How does she fix that in the convention here in Philadelphia, which is already overshadowed by the resignation of the party's chairwoman because of these e-mails that WikiLeaks dumped on the internet that shows there was some, you know, hostility towards Bernie Sanders within the DNC. We have every angle covered.

Let's begin with Senior Political report Manu Raju. Manu?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Hey, Chris. Yeah, that's right. Debbie Wasserman Schultz actually scheduled to speak before the Florida delegation later this morning and here in this convention hall. How will Bernie Sanders supporters react when she does speak that is an open question. But this much is clear, the Democratic convention starting off with a bit of drama.

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DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, DNC CHAIRWOMAN: I'm with her! I'm with her.

RAJU: Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz forced to resign amid a massive e-mail leak, showing DNC staffers favoring Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary.

More than 1,000 sanders supporters marching in Philadelphia in protest. Sanders himself, who has been calling for Wasserman Schultz's resignation for months, telling CNN he's not surprised that the DNC was working against him.

SANDERS: It is an outrage and it's sad that you would have people in important positions in the DNC trying to undermine my campaign.

RAJU: Clinton's campaign manager pointing his finger at Russian hackers, suggesting they had a hand in the leaks.

ROBBY MOOK, CAMPAIGN MANAGER, HILLARY FOR AMERICA: Experts are now saying that the Russians are releasing these e-mails for the purpose of actually helping Donald Trump.

RAJU: Trump's campaign chairman flatly denying the suggestion.

PAUL MANAFORT, DONALD TRUMP CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN: It's just absurd. I don't know what you're talking about. It's crazy.

RAJU: On Capitol Hill, Wasserman Schultz had few defenders. Sources tell CNN that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid was pushing for weeks to replace her, including at one point floating his number two Dick Durbin as a replacement. The interim chair will now be Donna Brazile, Al Gore's former campaign manager and a CNN Political Analyst. Brazile, who has ties with both Clinton and Sanders, warned Democrats last night that Friday's leak may just be the tip of the iceberg.

DONNA BRAZILE, INTERIM DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIR: More e- mails are coming. I don't know the substance, but I know there are lots of stuff that we might have to apologize for.

RAJU: Trump quick to pounce on the political turmoil posting this Tweet. "The Democrats are in a total meltdown, but the biased media will say how great they are, doing. E-mails say the rigged system is alive and well."

This scandal threatening to shatter the uneasy truce between Sanders' progressive base and the party establishment ahead of today's convention themed united together, where Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Michelle Obama will headline the first night.

The controversy also overshadowing Clinton's big introduction of her Vice presidential pick, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine. The newly minted Democratic ticket sitting down for their first interview together, keeping their focus squarely on the Republicans.

CLINTON: I don't know what their convention was about other than criticizing me. I seem to be the only unifying theme that they had.

[07:05:01] RAJU: Kaine showing he's ready to defend his running mate on the campaign trail.

KAINE: When I see this, you know, "Crooked Hillary or see the "lock her up", it's just ridiculous. It is ridiculous. And look, most of us stopped the name calling thing about fifth grade.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, Clinton's slipping poll numbers underscoring the stakes ahead of this week's convention. Democrats pulling out all the stops, including a speech this week by the former New York City mayor and independent Michael Bloomberg, hoping to give Clinton some appeal with moderate and swing voters. Chris?

CUOMO: Boy, I'll tell you, Manu, just when you say we'll that'll never happen in this race, it happens. Thank you for that. We got some other big headlines that are shockers. This new poll. And how about this, the WikiLeaks where all these e-mails get dumped about the DNC, and it turns out according to the U.S. government that Russia did it. What is going on here?

Let's bring in former governor of Michigan and Senior Adviser for Correct the Record, Governor Jennifer Granholm, and Bernie Sanders' campaign manager Jeff Weaver. It's great to have you both.

JENNIFER GRANHOLM, (D) FORMER GOVERNOR OF MICHIGAN: hey, we're here together on the same page.

CUOMO: I know.

JEFF WEAVER, CAMPAIGN MANAGER, BERNIE SANDERS: But not on the same team.

CAMEROTA: There you go, you guys look happy.

CUOMO: And do you consider yourselves on the same team Weaver?

WEAVER: Absolutely, a 100 percent.

CUOMO: Look, just as you suspected, just as you suspect and as I said for long time. But look, I think Debbie Wasserman Schultz did the right thing. I think now is the time for party unity. I think she put the party ahead of herself. She stepped back. I think we're going to of a chance to turn the page. We're going to have new leadership there. I think we'll have a new direction in the party. I think we're going to be really ready to fight in the fall.

CAMEROTA: Jeff, that's really gracious. You and Senator Sanders have been gracious throughout all the revelation of these leaks. Just one more point on this. You did long suspect this. So what was it like to then see it in print and have the evidence and have it confirmed?

WEAVER: Well, you know, you can say suspect. I think we long knew it based on how we were treated during the campaign. And I think for everybody else in the world, this was really sort of bringing it out in black and white. But look, this happened. We knew it happened then. Now is the time to go forward. Look, the thing to do now is to elect Hillary Clinton and defeat Donald Trump. That's what we have to do.

CAMEROTA: Do you think the Russians were behind it?

WEAVER: I have no idea whether the Russian ...

CUOMO: The U.S. government thinks the Russians with were behind it.

WEAVER: I don't think that they're saying their not. I mean, I just ...

CUOMO: You know but so let's say the Russians are behind this. What does that mean in terms of the dynamic ...

GRANHOLM: It means you better watch your e-mails and everybody who writes an e-mail. I'm not kidding you. Anything is subject to hacking at this point. And so, you know, you heard others saying there will be more e-mail. I'm sure there will be.

CUOMO: Why the DNC e-mails?

GRANHOLM: Well, I don't know ...

CUOMO: Why aren't the RNC e-mails, who do the think to come?

GRANHOLM: Who knows, right? Who knows I mean include the Russian's favor.

CUOMO: I don't know. What's your speculation?

GRANHOLM: Who's BFFs with Putin?

CUOMO: Donald Trump said he's a strong leader. He never said they were friends.

CAMEROTA: Right been it mean obviously the Clinton campaign has suggested there was some sort of working in cahoots between the Russians wanting to do this. And the Trump campaign. Do you go that far?

WEAVER: I haven't seen the evidence of that. But if there is we should see it.

CUOMO: Will you want nothing to do with these e-mails. These e-mails can't go away enough for both of just. What you're they can't go away you pretrial to come together and this si proof of what is made in the journey, right?

GRANHOLM: Here's what I would say about this. So, this is a story. It's a story on the first day of the convention. It has been addressed. Debbie Wasserman Schultz has decided not to be the story. And she has stepped down. We are moving forward. Tonight's theme is all going to be about Hillary her focus on her life's fight, for families, for children. You're going to see people who are giving testimonials about her. You're going to see Michelle Obama. You're going to see Cory Booker. You're going to see Senator Warren and the P.S. the resistant, of course Senator Sanders. It's going to be a great night. And This kerfuffle will be over.

CAMEROTA: Here's another headline, there's a new CNN poll out. It does show that Donald Trump got a bump from his convention last week. A notable one. If you look at the two-way race, Donald Trump is now at 48 percent. He was at 42 percent before last week. Hillary Clinton has dropped from 49 percent to 45 percent.

So Jeff, does this mean -- you know, you heard so many Democrats say it was such a dark speech, his vision for the country is overly dark. They felt there was so much chaos. Voters responded to it. Voters didn't think it was overly dark.

WEAVER: Look, I think Democrats have to be vigilant. Donald Trump is a very dangerous candidate. We cannot afford to let him become president of the United States. He'll turn back decades of progress in this country. So everybody who's thinking about sitting out or voting for a third-party candidate, you have to get into this race. You have to support Hillary Clinton. We've got to defeat Donald Trump if we're going to make any progress going forward.

CUOMO: The Berners are out there. Donald Trump is reaching out to them saying, I'm your guy. I'm an outsider who wants to attack the status quo just like Sanders did. I'm against trade every bit as much and even more than Bernie Sands is because I'm for you working-class people who have been forgotten by the fat cats at the tops of both of these parties. How do you get those people into the Clinton camp?

WEAVER: Well, I think we have to expose Donald Trump, first of all. I mean, it's all phony bologna. He talks about trade, but he wants to turn trade policy over to corporate raiders.

[07:10:04] Certainly they don't need more business people involved in trade. We need more government people who are going to protect what the interest of American public. So Donald Trump on trade is a phony and I think we better expose them and I think we have to show and I think Secretary Clinton start to do that with her opposition to TPP.

I think the Democratic Party has been to off the rails on trade and I think now they're trying to get back on the rails so we can protect the American workers. GRANHOLM: And I think Bernie Sanders supporters are smart enough to see exactly what Donald Trump is doing. He's trying to goad them. And they're not -- I mean, he's even trying to ...

CUOMO: He got a bump in independents in this poll.

GRANHOLM: Well yeah, but I mean it's a poll after a convention. You're supposed to get a convention bump. He got a six-point bump. You know Walter Mondale has nine-point bump, Jimmy Carter had a nine-point bump. Neither of them did well in their elections. So, you know, Barack Obama ...

CUOMO: A heck of a keynote speech at that convention though. They said, their ...

GRANHOLM: There was a great keynote speech in that convention for sure.

WEAVER: But I do think we have to be vigilant. I mean Democrats cannot sit on their hands this election this fall.

CUOMO: And look, the poll numbers Governor shows that Hillary Clinton is still bedeviled by the untrustworthy moniker and characterization, 68 percent of people in this new CNN poll find her to be untrustworthy.

GRANHOLM: And that's all you heard last week. That is the unifying theme at the Republican convention.

CUOMO: So what do you do with it?

GRANHOLD: So, we start today. And we start to give people the real Hillary so people can see what she has done, how consistent she has been through her life. You're going to hear from real people who have been impacted by her, who know her, who can talk about her story, the sort of -- you talk to people all the time who say, if you only knew her, who know her. Who can talk about her stories, the sort of peek behind, you know, you talk to people all the time who say, if you only know her one on one, if you only see what I see. So those stories are going to come out, and they're coming out starting tonight.

CUOMO: Jeff Weaver, Governor Granholm, great to have you here. Enjoy your convention. Notable to say, 68 percent, that number only ten points less than the "is Alisyn Camerota too sexy, distractingly so" number that comes across in all polling. The truth must out.

CAMEROTA: I know. He likes the chartreuse.

CUOMO: That is true. I can't spell it, but I like it. "New Day" is going to be live from Philadelphia all week in 5:00 a.m. eastern all the time. And Ted Cruz right at the top.

CAMEROTA: I know but I was trying to move.

CUOMO: Don't steal my read. The Democratic National Convention begins at 4:00 p.m. eastern time when the gavel goes off. CNN will be there. CAMEROTA: Republican nominee Donald Trump says he wants to expand his proposed ban on Muslims entering the U.S. it will include countries compromised by terror, like France, Germany and Spain.

CNN Jason Carroll is live in Roanoke, Virginia, with more on that. Hi, Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Alisyn. You know Donald Trump is calling his proposal extreme vetting. We'll see if he has more to say about that when he holds his town hall here in Virginia, Roanoke, later on today. What is very clear at this point, Donald Trump not backing down on a number of controversial statements he's made on a number of issues.

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TRUMP: Extreme vetting. If a person can't prove what they have to be able to prove they're not coming into this country.

CARROLL: Donald Trump offering new clarification on his ever-evolving immigration stance, moving away from the blanket Muslim ban he proposed this past December.

TRUMP: ... calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.

CARROLL: To omitting the word Muslim entirely during his speech at the Republican National Convention.

TRUMP: We must immediately suspend immigration from any nation that has been compromised by terrorism.

CARROLL: Trump now insisting he's not pulling back on the ban.

TRUMP: I actually don't think it's a pullback. In fact, you could say it's an expansion. People were so upset when I used the word Muslim. Oh, you can't use the Muslim. Remember this -- and I'm OK with that because I'm talking territory instead of Muslim.

CARROLL: The Republican nominee even refusing to rule out banning immigration from top U.S. allies, including France and Germany and threatening to abandon the world trade organization if it doesn't approve of his plan to tax American goods produced in foreign countries.

TRUMP: We're going to renegotiate or we're going to pull out, World Trade Organization is a disaster.

CARROLL: Ahead of tonight's Democratic National Convention kickoff, Trump attempting a divide and conquer strategy, slamming Hillary Clinton for naming Virginia Senator Tim Kaine as her V.P. pick.

TRUMP: What happened with the choice of Tim Kaine was a slap in the face to Bernie Sanders and everybody. I was shocked.

SANDERS: On his worst, worst, worst day, Tim Kaine is 100 times better than Donald Trump will ever be.

CARROLL: This as prominent Trump supporter, retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, stirs new controversy for the campaign, retweeting a CNN link to an interview with Clinton's campaign manager with an anti- Semitic comment attached.

Amid online backlash they've retweet was removed. Flynn writing, "All, this is what was meant to be retweeted, the earlier retweet was a mistake, my sincerest apologies."

[07:15:08] This is the latest Twitter flub from Trump's team with a tweet from Trump's own account being called anti-Semitic earlier this year, that included what critics say was a star of David.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

And Chris, Trump also not backing off on those controversial statements he made about NATO when he suggested that NATO nation that do not pull their own weigh financially he may not come to their aid to which Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called those comments basically irresponsible, saying it was a rookie mistake, to which Trump said McConnell is 100 percent wrong. Well Chris, I suspect we're going to hear some concerns.

CUOMO: All right, Jason. Thank you very much. We will follow that part of the story. We'll be back with you in a little bit.

But we also have breaking news to update you on. There has been a deadly shooting outside a nightclub in Fort Myers, Florida. Two people have lost their lives. At least a dozen others are wounded. Those numbers are early. It's still an active situation. The youngest victim just 12-years-old.

CNN's Boris Sanchez is on his way to the scene. He joins us now on the phone. Active in terms of the police not knowing exactly what happened yet and how many are involved. We're looking at live pictures right now, Boris, of where you're headed. What do you know?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Chris, we actually just pulled up to the scene here, and we're hearing from the club for the first time. They posted a comment on their Facebook page just a few moments ago kind of explaining the situation. It was apparently a middle school/high school event. No I.D. was required to get in. You had young children of all ages.

Apparently the event had just ended and people were pouring out into the parking lot, many young kids calling their parents they'll pick them up, when apparently shots rang out. We don't know exactly how many shots were fired or by whom. What we know is that three people have been detained. And this isn't the only crime scene. There's actually another crime scene down the street from here at a home where apparently shots were fired at the house and at a vehicle. One person was injured there.

There's another crime scene not far from here at an intersection where one of those three people were detained. From what we understand, officials are still canvassing the area looking for more suspects. As you said, at least a dozen people injured, ages ranging from 12 to 27. Still a very active situation. We'll get more information and send it your way soon, Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Boris. Thanks for making it there. You know, we're showing a live picture right now of all those bullet casings. Every one of those little yellow tags is the number of a casing they found so far. We'll stay on that situation. It seems complex, at least.

So we'll get back to that as soon as we get more information. Let's take a quick break right now. The election has taken a turn. Donald Trump got a bump after his convention. The numbers, it's a new race. We're going to show you the state of play, and we're going to get some insight into what Hillary Clinton needs to do to get the mojo back. Senator Chris Coons joins us next.

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[07:22:03] CAMEROTA: The Democratic convention begins today here in Philadelphia, where Chris and I are, but many people are still talking about the leadership shake-up in the party. The DNC's chief resigning after the -- resigned after this convention because of these leaked e- mails that showed party officials were biased towards Hillary Clinton and against Bernie Sanders.

Joining us now is Delaware Senator Chris Coons. Senator, thank you so much for being here.

SEN. CHRIS COONS, (D) DELAWARE: Thank you. Great to be here.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about these leaked e-mails. Before we get to the content them, who do you think was behind the hack and leaking them?

COONS: Well, I haven't gotten a definitive brief on this yet, but I'm very troubled. I'm concerned with the allegations reported in "the New York Times" this morning as well as by Hillary Clinton's campaign manager that Russia was actually behind it, that some of the cyber hackers that are specialists at breaking into American companies and American military sites actually targeted the DNC.

No one's broke into the DNC since Watergate and Richard Nixon. So this is a troubling suggestion that the Russians are trying to influence the outcome of our election to benefit Donald Trump.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about that. Because that's what Hillary Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook suggested, that's why the Russians would do this. Not just for mischief but because they somehow support Donald Trump and thinks he supports them. Can you expand (ph) on that?

COONS: Well, I'm struck by the things Donald Trump has said publicly in recent months, both walking back our commitment to our NATO allies and suggesting that he genuinely likes Vladimir Putin. Putin, who's under sanctions from the United States and many of our E.U. allies for invading and occupying a big chunk of Ukraine.

CAMEROTA: We have some examples of what Donald Trump has said about Vladimir Putin. Let me play those for our viewers and get you to respond. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have Russia, which is a real threat too. It's not as big as the Soviet Union but a real threat, run by a very smart cookie, much smarter, much more cunning than our president. And I like him because he called me a genius. I respect Putin. He's a strong leader, I can tell you that, unlike what we have. We have a pathetic leader.

I know Russia well. And you know what, they want to be friendly with the United States. Wouldn't it be nice if we actually got along with somebody? Wouldn't it be nice that we actually got along with Russia? Wouldn't that be good? I mean, is that a bad thing?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Senator, what do you hear in these comments?

COONS: I hear someone who's not sophisticated in foreign policy, who isn't paying attention to what's happened in the world in recent years, who doesn't recognize the danger that he poses when walks back our commitment under the NATO treaty to Baltic states like Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, that are right up against the Russian border. And Russian divisions literally poise to take the same sort of aggressive action against them, that Putin recently has taken against the Ukrain.

I'm leading a congressional delegation to Ukraine and Estonia later this summer where we're going to take a closer look at exactly what the situation is on the ground. I'm concerned that this suggest Donald Trump just isn't ready to be president.

CAMEROTA: You're on the foreign relations committee as well. Will you be able to figure out if the Russians were behind this?

COONS: We'll get a briefing. One of the things I'm excited about this week, this convention, is for the American people to get to know my colleague on the Foreign Relation committee Senator Tim Kaine.

[07:25:06] He's a terrific, balanced, and capable person, a great husband and father, a progressive Catholic, who I think is ready to be president on the first day. So I'm thrilled that Secretary Clinton made him her running mate.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about this new CNN poll out just this morning that shows that Donald Trump did get a notable bump from his convention. Six points from where he was before the convention. He's now at 48 percent. If it's just a two-way matchup, to Hillary Clinton's 45 percent. And she was hurt by the convention, it looks like, last week. So she had 49 percent before the Republican convention and now she has 45. How concerning is this?

COONS: You know, I'm really not surprised by this. Historically, conventions give their candidate a bump. That's part of the point of having a four-day nationally televised convention. I'm excited for the American people to tune in the next four nights as they get to see here in Philadelphia what our vision is, the Democratic Party is. I think when folks get done hearing about President Obama, Vice President Biden, First Lady Michelle Obama, and then Secretary Clinton and Senator Kaine's vision for the country, she'll get a comparable or bigger bounce coming out of Philadelphia.

CAMEROTA: But does this suggest that the way that the Democrats characterize the Republican National Convention, it was overly dark, it was hopeless, it s demagoguery, if that's not how voters felt. And certainly not respondents to this poll.

COONS: Well, it was dark and it was full of demagoguery and it was frankly troubling. But I also think they succeed in moving folks who had rejected Trump and were considering voting for Johnson, the libertarian candidate, back into the Republican column. CAMEROTA: How did they do that?

COONS: I haven't seen the internals of this.

CAMEROTA: Yeah.

COONS: But I think Trump's speech the last night cleared the bar for many Republicans who had walked away from Trump because he's not a conservative. He doesn't share many of the core values of the Republican Party. You heard what Senator Cruz did the next to last night. He refused to endorse Trump. There's a big and deep division within the Republican Party. So even though their convention was full of a lot of foot faults and misstatements and that big fight in the last two nights, I think the in end they brought home some of the base of their Republican Party.

CAMEROTA: So in other words, division does work for many voters.

COONS: Division may work for voters who don't see a positive alternative. I think if you're selling fear and concern and division, that can work if there's no positive alternative. What American voters are going to hear this week, particularly out of Tim Kaine and Secretary Clinton, is a positive, hopeful alternative about why America is strong, is great, and can be stronger and greater in this century.

CAMEROTA: Senator Chris Coons, thank you so much for being here. Great to have you on New Day.

All right. The Clinton/Kaine ticket of course making its debut. Will the DNC e-mail leak hurt party unity as the convention begins? We'll discuss that with our all-star political panel next.

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