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CNN Poll: Trump In Second Nationwide; Three Prison Executives; Nine Staffers Placed On Leave; Misty Copeland Makes Ballet History. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired July 1, 2015 - 07:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. Let's get to "Inside Politics" on NEW DAY with John King. It's so inside, he's inside the studio today. Great to have you here.

JOHN KING, CNN HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Nice to be here, again.

CAMEROTA: So much to talk about with you in terms of politics. Let's start with Donald Trump, shall we? We prepared a little match up from his event last night in New Hampshire. It was supposed to be a town hall meeting, but mostly, it was Donald on the Donald. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I do show called "The Apprentice." It was a tremendous success. Somebody said I made a fantastic speech two weeks ago. Who has done more than me? I've employed tens of thousands of people over my life. They do a poll, it was a nice poll. They had me second.

So, first question is, which Republican candidate do you think would be the best to handle the economy. I blow everyone away. So I say to myself, if I'm number one in all the categories and these are the most important categories, why don't we just cancel the primary?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Why don't we just cancel the primary, John King?

KING: He would like to have it today, if you are Donald Trump. He does not lack in confidence. That's actually important. We make fun of him sometimes. Part of it is that he's out there and he's confident. Part of it is that he's Mr. Trump, he is not Governor Trump or Senator Trump, and people don't like politicians right now and they want something different.

They want something authentic. Like it or not, he's authentic, sort of. But look at the numbers, Alisyn, the numbers back what he's doing. Our new poll out this morning has him in second place nationally, right?

Jeb Bush is 19 percent. Donald Trump is at 12. There you see Governor Huckabee, Dr. Carson, and Senator Paul. Ted Cruz, just yesterday said, he thinks Donald Trump is great.

If you look at the bottom of the pack, the Ted Cruzes and the Scott Walkers, the Marco Rubios are losing. They are losing ground as Donald Trump gains ground. Three people we thought of as interesting, credible candidates. It will be interesting to see if the Republicans go after Mr. Trump.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Well, that's what I was going to ask you, at what point does one of them come out swinging? You know, because there's a chance for them to have an opportunity to sort of be the opposite of Donald Trump.

KING: So you have the Fox debate and then the CNN debate, August and September, that's the obvious opportunity. Will somebody do it on the campaign trail beforehand? Jeb Bush has said he thinks Donald Trump is wrong in his rants against Mexicans.

He says that's not the way to go about it. It's not the way to talk about it. You can have disagreements on immigration, but you shouldn't disparage the people coming across the border.

The chairman of the Republican National Committee has said the same thing. Republicans are very nervous about this because they don't think Donald Trump is going to be their nominee.

In fact, they think he is going to flame out or drop out sometime between now and Christmas or so or at least after Iowa early next year. But what happened to John McCain? What happened to Mitt Romney?

You cannot win a presidential election if you are losing more than two-thirds of the Latino vote and more than nine and ten African- American votes, just simply the demographics don't work.

And they think Donald Trump even though he won't be there at the end is again hurting a brand that is in deep need of repair to begin with.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: The balance is originally when he got in, the feeling was, you know, he might move this debate in the right direction, more plain speak, get off your talking points, stop hiding.

Now, with the harshness about Mexican immigrants and you are going to see this projected in a lot of things that he says, is he going to silence this?

It's one thing, I'm going to take him on. Very few of these people want to take on Donald Trump. He's a bigger talker. He can be more reckless. He doesn't really care how it turns out at the end of the day.

KING: It's dangerous in a debate if you take him on directly. He'll come right back at you.

CUOMO: He's more popular and he is a great talker.

KING: If you look at the poll, the economy and health care, number one. Race relations, immigration, moved down below. I do think it's an interesting question. There's an opportunity and a risk in taking on Donald Trump.

[07:35:00] So the question is how do you do it? The internal calculation of do they need to do it? We'll watch this one play out. Here is something in our poll that will help the other Republicans.

If you look at the Republicans versus Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump actually does quite poorly. If you go down into the poll there, he's 25 points behind Hillary.

CUOMO: What does that tell you? If he's high in his own party poll, but low against her, what does that mean?

KING: That's 34 percent is about registered Republicans roughly around the country that he's getting Republicans, but he is not getting independents. They don't view him as a president.

Again, primaries are about ideology. Trump was one of the birther people. He spoke to the dark elements of that movement. Now he's on immigration playing to a piece of the Republican base that matters. Don't discount them.

They have serious concerns about immigration. The language he is using to appeal to them, in my view, is way over the line, but it can work. The question is, where does he win and does he get that far? That's the big debate.

Most Republicans don't take it seriously, but he's at second place in our national poll. He's at second place in New Hampshire. There's a brand-new poll out this morning in Iowa. He's at second place. You can't discount him. Part of it is him. Part of it is people don't like politicians.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about the Democratic side. We have a new poll reflecting what's going on there as well. There's an interesting development. Hillary Clinton, obviously, in first place as she has been all along. The second is Joe Biden. Is there a chance that Joe Biden is going to run?

KING: People around the vice president say that he's going to make his final decision in August. The "Wall Street Journal" has a very interesting reporting last week that as Bo Biden was failing on his death bed essentially told his dad, "Dad, run, go."

Hunter Biden, Joe Biden's son, is another one of his closest advisers said if that's what you want to do, do it. Don't worry that Hillary Clinton has a big lead. It's a really fascinating calculation.

Joe Biden loves to campaign. Whether you agree or disagree, he's been a loyal vehicle, often getting the brunt of the work, dealing with Iraq and Afghanistan. Not the glorious stuff.

Yet, do you want to run in your last campaign, probably to loose and go back to vice president? It's a tough calculation. He's waiting for his own comfort level and to see. If you look at the national poll, Clinton is way ahead of everybody, but if you look at Iowa and you look at New Hampshire. Bernie Sanders has come up. There are some signs of weakness.

CUOMO: If trust stays an issue, Joe Biden is going to do well on that level. You know, you can say he says too much. Trump is doing well. He makes Biden look like a mute. So, if it's about trust, Biden should not be discounted.

KING: It should not be discounted. The Democratic base loves him for his loyalty to the president and you talk about authenticity, a lot of people think Joe Biden, you know, he is who he is. He's authentic.

PEREIRA: Can we quickly pivot to Jeb Bush releasing 33 years of tax records. He's worth somewhere between $19 million and $22 million. A level of transparency that I think that some might not be ready for. What does he achieve by doing that?

KING: Number one, he is going to get a lot of scrutiny for doing this releasing this. People are going to look at his business deals. Since he left the Florida governorship, he's made a lot of money. Some of those business deals probably not so great, some of his partners not so great.

CAMEROTA: Some of it on speaking deals like the Clintons -- $10 million on speaking deals.

KING: His point on what he is doing here, this is part about Mitt Romney who is very uncomfortable discussing his wealth and was slow sometimes to disclose things and Hillary Clinton who is far from, Barack Obama said he would be the most transparent president in history.

Hillary Clinton doesn't pass that test on several issues. What Jeb Bush is trying to say is here it is. You don't like some of it, ask me about it. If I'm doing this, how about you?

CAMEROTA: John King, great to see you.

KING: Nice to see you.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much for being in the studio.

PEREIRA: Good to have you here.

CAMEROTA: All right, we do have some dramatic new details this morning about the prison break in upstate New York. Exactly how these escapees pull it off? We know a lot more this morning. That's up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:43:01]

CAMEROTA: Prison escapee, David Sweat, is talking, giving investigators a lot of information. Now, 12 employees, including three executives are on administrative leave from the Clinton Correctional prison because this investigation is heating up.

Let's bring in former FBI special agent and former police officer, Jonathan Gilliam. Jonathan, great to have you here. So David Sweat is talking. This is according to state officials. He's talking and he is talking a lot.

Number one, he says that he was the master mind of this whole escape. Number two, he said that he and his cohort did a dry run the night before they actually escaped where they got very close to escaping. Let me play for you what the district attorney says about that first attempt at escape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DISTRICT ATTORNEY ANDREW WILEY, CLINTON COUNTY: They felt that due to there being a number of houses in that area that it might not be a good spot to exit from and so they located a manhole in between that manhole and the tunnel system where they escaped from.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, so basically, he's saying that the first manhole they came to, they looked around and saw that there were a lot of houses. They went back to the prison and then try it again the next night. Why is he giving them so much information?

JONATHAN GILLIAM, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Well, first off, he's a psychopath. He's going to make himself look like a bigger deal. He knows he's going to be famous out of this whole thing. In his mind, he is going to give them as much as he can to get something back.

Right now, it's a give and take with Sweat. The reality is though Sweat holds the key to all this stuff. As he gives out information, whether or not they went to the first manhole or the second manhole that is really inconsequential compared to was there a drug ring in here, who helped them? Those are the things we want to pull out.

CAMEROTA: So if he gives up that kind of information, what does he get from officials in return?

GILLIAM: Well, there's only going to be so much he can get. First off, he's going to have to be protected from the rest of the inmates because there's going to be a lot of people who are very mad at him because the whole prison system is getting a close look now.

[07:45:05] CAMEROTA: So if he's protected from the other inmates that would mean solitary confinement, but that's not something that he wants for the next -- for the rest of his life when he goes back. So how could they figure out where to put him?

GILLIAM: Well, it could be, you know, they could give him a choice of three or four different prisons to go to. There are small incentives that they can give him to play with him and get a deal with him so that he does continue to give them information. He knows he is in for the rest of his life. It's on his best outlook if he does play ball and give them the information they need. CAMEROTA: What do you think of the timing, the fact that we had heard from state officials that he was talking and then we heard that there were these 12 prison officials from top executives, the superintendent who are now on administrative leave. Does that mean that he told them -- he told officials something about these prison workers?

GILLIAM: Well, personally I think that should have been done immediately when this happened. I think the prison worker, the prison executives and anybody who was guarding or doing guard duty in that area should have immediately been pulled off and other people put in there.

But the thing that gets me is why do we need to know this information? This country is in a form of thinking where if we drop bombs in Iraq, they want to tell everybody the next day how many bombs they dropped and exactly where we did it. Why do we need to know this stuff from the district attorney?

CAMEROTA: What is the harm in knowing it for the general public?

GILLIAM: Well, you know, we don't know if the town is even involved. This town is around 2,000 or less people. It --

CAMEROTA: Of Dannamora, where the prison is?

GILLIAM: It pretty much exists for this prison. What if this system that is going on there that is corrupted is bigger than the actual prison? What if it's the town?

We don't know and nobody's asked the question, yet, what good it would have done these two individuals to get out of jail if there's a drug ring or something going on?

If that's the case, you have to look at the bigger picture. Were they trying to get to Mexico so they could set up something to get drugs back into this system? We don't know. I mean, they ended up in cabins that are owned by corrections officers.

That is strange to me. There are so many different coincidences that individually may just be a coincidence. When you put these things together, they are starting to say something. I'm not clear what that thing is, yet, but I don't think we need to keep giving out the information to other people on the outside that might be involved in this.

CAMEROTA: So in another words, you don't think that all of this was happenstance and a coincidence. You think that there could have been something larger going on that these two prisoners were in on?

GILLIAM: I think there could have been. Until we know that there wasn't, the attorneys in this, the governor, everybody needs to throttle back a little bit on how much information they are giving out because this could be potentially bigger than we even think.

CAMEROTA: Jonathan Gilliam, you have given us new questions to ask.

GILLIAM: That's right.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much. Great to have you on here again. Let's get over to Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Alisyn, Misty Copeland is making ballet history breaking a very significant glass ceiling. We have her inspirational story. You do not want to miss it, guaranteed, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Superstar ballerina, Misty Copeland, dancing her way into history books. Copeland has been promoted to the highest rank of the American ballet theater, and she's blazing a trail for those who follow in her graceful footsteps.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MISTY COPELAND, PRINCIPAL DANCER AT AMERICAN THEATRE BALLET COMPANY: I'm so honored, extremely honored to be a principal dancer, to be an African-American and to be in this position.

PEREIRA (voice-over): Misty Copeland, the 32-year-old ballerina making history promoted to principal dancer with a story at American Ballet Theatre. She is first African-American woman to achieve this top ranking honor in the prestigious dance company's 75-year history.

COPELAND: I had moments of doubting myself and wanting to quit because I didn't know that there would be a future for an African- American woman to make it to this level.

PEREIRA: Copeland, a 14-year veteran of ABT, broke ground when she was appointed soloist in 2007 as the first African-American ballerina to star in "Swan Lake" at the Metropolitan Opera House.

Copeland started her career at the unconventional late age of 13 at a boys and girls club while living in a motel room with her single mom and siblings. She told CNN's Randi Kaye ballet changed her life.

COPELAND: It became this escape for me.

PEREIRA: Her talent in athleticism vaulting her to success in spite of the critics and serving as an inspiration to those who don't fit the mold of traditional ballet culture.

COPELAND: So many young dancers of color stop dancing at an early age because they just don't think there will be a career path for them.

PEREIRA: The ever so poised Copeland fighting back tears as she reflected on achieving her lifetime dream.

COPELAND: My dream has been ABT since I was 13 and to be a principal dancer is reaching those heights. I'm just excited to do more and to continue to grow as an artist and hopefully see more brown dancers come into the company in my lifetime.

(END VIDEOTAPE) PEREIRA: Misty is fast becoming the most famous ballerina in the United States. As you saw, she was featured on the cover of "Time" magazine. She is the first ballet dancer to be endorsed by Under Armour. She's racked up nearly a million followers on social media. You can bet your tutu there will be lots of brown little girls saying mom, dad, I want to be a ballerina.

CAMEROTA: It's already happening. Not only is she just a talented dancer. She has reinvigorated the interest in ballet. She is a huge draw for audiences in all sorts of little girls.

PEREIRA: And I love the connection to the boys and girls club. I'm a big supporter of them.

CUOMO: She is probably the best that they've had in a very long time. They've been cultivating, you know, brown dancers for a very, very long time.

All right, so captured escapee, David Sweat is revealing all or at least all he wants people to think. There are details. They will shock you. We have them for you coming up.

CAMEROTA: And one win away, Team USA headed to the women's World Cup final. We are talking live with two members of the team. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:38:21]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Major scandal at Clinton Correctional.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It goes all the way to the top.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's kind of practice for these officers to bring in contraband.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Authorities now learning more about the duo's escape, which also included a dry run the night before they broke out.

CAMEROTA: A massive fire that engulfed a historic black church in Greeleyville, South Carolina.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the seventh black church across the south to be destroyed by fire since the Charleston massacre.

CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am proud to announce my candidacy for the Republican nomination for president of the United States of America.

TRUMP: Let see how they respond to $500 million very good lawsuit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At least Trump what he thinks. Chris Christie is trying to figure out, wait a minute, that was my role. CUOMO: The American women shutting out Germany.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, July 1st, 8:00 in the east. David Sweat revealing new details to investigators, he says they actually pulled off their brazen prison break twice. From his hospital bed, the captured killer telling authorities he and Richard Matt practiced their escape the night before they really broke out.

CAMEROTA: Meanwhile, the investigation into how they did it continues. The prison chief and 12 staffers now suspended. Our coverage begins with CNN's Jean Casarez. She is live outside the prison at Dannamora. Jean, what have we learned?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Alisyn, so much information is coming out. Now the question is, is it credible?