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Administration Plans Iraq Strategy Shift; Jeb Bush Says He's Satisfied With 2016 Effort; Baltimore Police Officers Speak Out Exclusively To CNN; Most Job Openings In 15 Years. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired June 10, 2015 - 07:30   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO, NEW YORK: We were looking for a reporter to go into a prison and maybe stay there for about a year or so, and then do an expose...

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: I knew it.

A. CUOMO: ... on prison life. If you have any suggestions.

Any help you need with your co-host, I am in a position to be helpful.

[07:30:05] Oh, I have some very secret strategies that have worked very well. Knowing the right information about him keeps him very docile.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Problem is they haven't built a prison that can hold me yet. Other than Mary (ph).

JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": Aha! Gotcha, bro! By the way, I'm going to need to stay at your place tonight.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: All right, I'm done laughing. What is your take on it?

CAMEROTA: We are writing material basically for "The Daily Show." You're welcome. We just hand it right over to them.

CUOMO: Do you feel responsibility for these moments that happen on the show?

CAMEROTA: Well, he's the governor. I don't want to shoot him down. I am tickled when he goes in that direction.

CUOMO: Tickled? It's an evil, nasty tickle. Here is my take. Stewart, funny, but not accurate, there's no rivalry. This guy is my hero, he raised me.

CAMEROTA: No rivalry at all?

CUOMO: None. That gives false promise to me. He is the big brother and he gets it. Emmy nominated. He made fun of me. I have won Emmys and hopefully we win more. And the marriage thing, thanks Jon, my wife missed it the first time. Then you played it, she loves your show. Is the makeup covering the bruise? It was a joke.

CAMEROTA: Wow.

CUOMO: Stewart, your boy.

CAMEROTA: I was happy to see it again. Such good stuff. Let's get now to "Inside Politics" on NEW DAY with John King. Rich stuff.

JOHN KING, CNN HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Looking forward to you better beat Jon Stewart to the punch and book Mrs. Cuomo to talk about that prison.

CUOMO: Thanks, John. Move along.

KING: Moving along. I have a big brother, too. I know how the drill works. Let's go "Inside Politics" this morning, a very busy day. With me to share their reporting and their insights are Jackie Kucinich of "The Daily Beast" and Olivier Knox of Yahoo! News.

Jeb Bush is traveling overseas. He was overseas just as the Obama administration has given us word likely to send 400 military advisers, additional advisers into Iraq to work with the Iraqi troops as they try to take back Ramadi.

There's been a lot of criticism from the Republican candidates saying the president has been too timid, that the president doesn't have a strategy. Jeb Bush saying he needs to see the details, but thinks it might be a step in the right direction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: I think our advisers, if that's what they are ought to be in the military. It helps with our intelligence gathering. It certainly helps with the moral and ability to train the troops.

Right now, there's a prohibition of that. This is welcome news if this is a commitment from a strategic point of view to take out ISIS.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: It is rare we hear Republican candidates say good, when it comes to something the Obama administration is doing.

JACKIE KUCINICH, "THE DAILY BEAST": That's true and he is also -- he's actually the politics stop at the water's edge. He's actually exercising that there, which we haven't seen in a while. It's a smart thing for Jeb Bush to do because he hasn't seen all the information. He doesn't know what's going on with the president. There is a lot of room for error when it comes to foreign policy particularly in matters of war.

OLIVIER KNOX, YAHOO! NEWS: Yes, for Republicans have been calling for a more aggressive approach. Obviously, this is a step toward a more aggressive approach and the big gap here between Jeb Bush and the administration is the notion of embedding American advisers, American troops with front liner Iraqi forces.

So there's still a gap. He has room there. That's the only difference. This is a dangerous turf for all Republican contenders. At best, they are walking in, January 2017 with a war that is still going on. A lot of pitfalls here, they have to be careful.

KING: They'll be staging debates in a couple of months down the road as these operations start to ramp up and go. This is front and center of the Republican debate. There are some differences between and among the candidates.

Some of the candidates frankly have been a little shy, timid, and vague about what they would do. This is going to force the Republican candidates to step up and offer more details.

Jeb Bush was also asked about his campaign shake up. He doesn't even have an official campaign yet. He announces next week, but they moved some people around in jobs yesterday.

Some taking that as disappointment within Team Bush, that they are struggling. They are raising a lot of money, but if you look at the polls, Jeb Bush is in the middle of the pack. He hasn't pulled away. Jeb Bush says everybody needs to calm down, things will be fine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: It's a long haul. You start whenever you start and you end a long way away from where you are today. So, I just urge everybody to be more patient about this. I'm pretty confident that we are in a good position for sure. I'm going to compete everywhere. If I'm a candidate, there's no fifth place mentality in my mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Points for that's how you have to do it. You got to stay calm and say all is fine. We'll be good. Is he fine?

KUCINICH: He has had public stumbled. He's not the greatest speech applier in the entire world. He has had this shake up. But, I mean, in the way he doesn't want to peak too early is not necessarily a bad thing. You would think he would be further down the line at this point.

KNOX: I don't think he's wrong. There's a lot of room between now. I like if I'm a candidate. Given the activities, how do you shake up a campaign that doesn't exist yet?

[07:35:08] I think he's basically right, though, there's a lot of time. There are also a lot of enemies among the Republicans about his candidacy.

KING: A lot of unease and a lot of questions to whether he can convince the Republican base to come with him because it's a policy disagreement, but remember he's got $100 million in the bank. If he spends money against his rivals, we will see what happens. That's a decision Jeb Bush is going to have to face, when do you start being critical of the fellow Republicans?

Let's come back to the United States. President Obama is back from his trip to Europe. He did an event yesterday speaking about Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act. Now there is a big Supreme Court decision we are all waiting for.

But the president energized in the speech yesterday. He was talking about the people who had all these dire warnings. He said the Republicans said it was going to take away freedom in America, that hasn't happen. Then the president said, look, you opposed it then, but now it's in place. Why don't you just leave it alone?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: There's something, I have to say, just deeply cynical about the ceaseless, endless partisan attempts to roll back progress. It seems so cynical to want to take coverage away from millions of people, to take away from those who need it most, to punish millions with higher costs of care and what's been woven into the fabric of America. That kind of cynicism flies in the face of our history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Now you can take that as lobbying the Republicans to drop it and work with me on making it better. But I took it more as lobbying the Supreme Court saying it's woven into the fabric of our history. Leave it alone fellas and ladies.

KUCINICH: Well, it's a reason the administration hasn't come out with an alternative plan. The Republicans are deeply divided on this issue. There is no alternative plan that anyone has coalesce about. They are still fighting about what they would do if it's struck down. There's going to be disarray. Millions of people are going to be left without health care if this goes down. Who are they going to blame?

KNOX: In part this is the political argument the White House has been making since the roll out of Obamacare, which is that as Americans begin to regard this as benefits, as something that is their due, it gets harder and harder with millions and millions of people getting health care. It's harder and harder for Republicans to roll it back. That's the bet that's going on here I think.

KING: And almost the idea, too, that even if you were opposed to it, it's now the devil you know and you have navigated the system and you can rip it up and start all over again. It's clear the Democrats think to your point that if the Supreme Court rules the subsidy part unconstitutional, we have this big debate. There's no expectation this Congress is going to rush in to help this president. The Democrats think they have a winning issue.

KUCINICH: Yes, they do and particularly because of the backlash already to someone like Ron Johnson, who wants to extend it a couple months, like a year. So, again, this is going to divide the Republicans deeply and they are counting on that.

KING: We are in a bit of a box. When campaigning for president, it can be a very lonely job at times. I'm going to say this right up front. Rick Santorum surprised us in 2012. He went on to win Iowa, shy of 25 percent of the vote.

Yesterday, it was a tough day for Rick Santorum. He's campaigning in Hamlin, Iowa, population 300 and one person shows up at the event for Rick Santorum. Then he moves on to Dennison. He's doubling his crowd as he goes.

Two people showed up for Rick Santorum in Dennison, Iowa. It is -- bless him for doing the work and working hard the old fashioned way, but that's got to be tough someday.

KUCINICH: It's two steps forward, I don't know how many steps back. Rick Santorum in Iowa was drawing crowds at the end. Now he has nothing to show for it. People are looking at other candidates or they got other stuff to do.

KNOX: I guess he's just hoping history repeats himself. He works hard and goes all over Iowa starts with one, two, he would be doubling his crowds. At this rate, he's going to have whatever it is. He's betting history is going to repeat itself. He's going to keep doing it. It might work.

KUCINICH: We'll see what happens. I remember going out to see him in 2012, eight or ten people in the room at some of those events and he ended up winning, Alisyn. It's a long slog. Sometimes it's frustrating.

CAMEROTA: If you double that crowd, you get 16 in no time.

KING: There you go, 32 and off to the race.

CAMEROTA: Exactly. Thanks so much, John. See you tomorrow.

All right, two Baltimore police officers speaking out exclusively to CNN. You want to see this. They are talking about their jobs since the death of Freddie Gray and the riots that followed. What's behind the spike in crime? We'll tell you their answers, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:43:32]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: I understand the desire to self-protect, but at the same time, I am thinking if I'm a resident of the city of Baltimore, I am sitting here watching you all and thinking this is not OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need the public's help. It's the only element right now that is going to be able to face this because the people on our side -- (END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: That is Brooke Baldwin talking exclusively with two Baltimore police officers about the rise of crime in that city since the death of Freddie Gray and the speculation that could it be a work stoppage by cops.

The officers, obviously, wanted to be in shadow and wanted their voices changed because they didn't have permission to speak out and CNN agreed to not use their names and show their faces. That's why they appear as they do. Brooke is with us.

BALDWIN: Yes, we need to be really careful, we can't share their ranks and careful to say how long they were involved as officers. They were OK for me to say decades and leave it there. They are in positions in which they have officers underneath them.

I sat with them for an entire hour yesterday morning in an undisclosed location in Maryland. We talked about a lot between their thoughts on what happened with Freddie Gray, the usage of cell phones on scenes and if it's a distraction for some of these officers.

What we really hit on, I want to share it with you because we've been covering this, the notion that the month of May was the deadliest month for the city of Baltimore in 42 years. I said why is that? Here is their response.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[07:45:04] BALDWIN: Since the riots, Baltimore has had the deadliest month in the city's history in 42 years. I was reading the paper this morning, a 16-year-old died over the weekend an 8-and 10-year-old shot. Why is this happening?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because depending on the element, feels as though we are not going to run the risk of chasing them if they are with a gun and they are using this opportunity to settle an old beef or scores with people that they have conflict with.

I think the public really, really sees that they actually softer, less aggressive police department and now they are realizing their way of thinking does not work.

BALDWIN: Are the criminals right in thinking you all will not arrest people as you would before?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to run the risk. If I chase a guy who possibly has a gun, we'll all be charged with criminal negligence. That roll of the dice is greater than me running to the next call and writing a report. So, these are the things we have to weigh when we are riding pass a group of guys on the corner. We can't make that decision because we'll be -- we run the risk of being criminally charges.

BALDWIN: There are additional conversations you are having with yourself in your head whether or not you want to pursue. Is it because you don't want to be wrongfully charged or is it because what you reference, those above your pay raise are wanting the softer, more gentle police department? Which is it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe that there are outside influences such as the activists that request us off the police department. Some of the citizens requested a softer police department. Now we have the softer police department. We survived through --

BALDWIN: But you took an oath to serve and protect.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Changing the color of our cause to be light blue to appeal to the public and everybody wants officer friendly. The worst thing that could ever happen to a person, we respond to and see. We understand that these are not our problems.

We come to solve problems and help. Whenever there's a call for someone firing a gun, our officers respond with the same amount of vigor they have always done even before Freddie Gray.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: The commissioner says that the spike in crime is because of the drugs that were looted and that it set off a whole war there now because there is too much supply.

BALDWIN: I asked them about that. They basically called bs on that allegation. They were saying, listen, the city of Baltimore has been ripe with drugs for years and years. Can you imagine wanting to shoot somebody else on the street corner because someone else had some extra pills of Oxycodone.

They said, they believe that that is one example of how they believe Anthony Batts, the police commissioner in Baltimore doesn't have their backs. They believe the commissioner doesn't have their backs.

They believe the mayor doesn't have their backs and they believe the state's attorney, Marilyn Mosby doesn't have their backs.

CUOMO: So what do they think the solution is?

BALDWIN: That's a great question. I asked them, when will you fully do your jobs? Does it mean these officers have to be exonerated? They believe they have been convicted in the court of public opinion. That's the thing, we don't know.

CUOMO: Of course, you know, as you know, I'm sure from watching the coverage, there are a lot of cops say the exact opposite. They are doing their jobs and artificial pressure being put on them as always, but they still do the job.

BALDWIN: They would say they are doing their jobs. They want to go home at night to their families, but at the same time, they are being reactive, not proactive.

CUOMO: All right, Brooke has more of this interview with the officers. You can watch it at 2:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, well, first it was calorie counts. Now one city wants to shake things up even more at chain restaurants. We'll tell you how your meal may be changing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:53:30]

CAMEROTA: Time for CNN money now. Chief business correspondent, Christine Romans is here with good news for jobseekers.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look at this, a lot of help wanted signs up right now, there were 5.4 million job openings in April. That is a record high, the most since the government started tracking job openings 15 years ago. That means for every job opening, there are fewer than two people looking for work. That's a good ratio.

There's an angry debate raging online about this Wells Fargo ad. Watch it carefully. In April, Wells Fargo became the first American bank to feature a gay relationship in its ad. Now Christian Evangelist Franklin Graham is pulling his organization's millions out of the bank in protest.

All right, for today's "NEW DAY, New You," New York City could soon become the first city with salt warning labels on restaurant menus. Today the city's Department of Health will propose all chains put a little salt shaker next to products with high sodium content.

That means more than the daily limit of 2300 milligrams. That's about one teaspoon of salt. Eating too much salt, of course, increases the risk of high blood pressure, which can lead to heart attack and stroke.

Here are some tips to avoid eating too much, first, cook at home. Studies show most of our salt intake comes from processed foods and eating out.

Next, substitute spices and herbs. Look for low sodium versions of your favorite foods. Not just chips and crackers. Read the labels on bread, cereals, spaghetti sauce, you name it. You can also save some money eating at home is cheaper.

CAMEROTA: Thanks. Great tip. Great to see you.

CUOMO: We have new information for you in the search for those two escaped inmates in New York. Did a person who is working in the prison supposedly help them get away but then get cold feet? What we're learning about the woman ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:58:56]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are they closing in on two escaped murderers?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Investigators are questioning Joyce Mitchell. She may have been the ride for these two fugitives. But apparently she changed her mind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She is not the kind of person that's going to risk her life or other people's lives.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The police officer at the center of that pool party melee, he is stepping down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He shoved me in the grass. He started pulling back on my braids.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The policies, our training, our practice do not support his actions.

CUOMO: Five hundred additional American troops could be heading to Iraq to fight ISIS.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the Iraqi will to fight is still there, but I think we have to strengthen the leadership of it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Good morning welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Tuesday, June 10th, 8:00 in the east. Mich is off and Christine Romans is going to be here with us in just a second.

We have a New York prison worker who's apparently now the focus of the investigation. She tells investigators she planned to pick up the two escapees from the upstate facility after their get-away. But the source says that Joyce Mitchell, that's the worker's name, she got cold feet at the last moment.