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South Carolina State House Votes to Remove Confederate Flag from Capital; Donald Trump Defends Controversial Statements on Mexican Immigrants; Voters in Iowa Weigh In on 2016 Candidates. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired July 9, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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


[08:00:00] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Lawmakers approving a bill to remove a symbol of the state's racist past.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The voting coming after 13 hours of debate including an emotional and tearful plea by one representative. The decision marks a stunning reversal for the state three weeks after nine people were killed at that African-American church in Charleston. CNN's Nick Valencia is live in Columbia, South Carolina with all of the breaking details. Tell us what's new at this hour, Nick.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. It is a monumental day here in the state of South Carolina. The expectation is that this flag - that confederate flag you see not really waving there behind me right now, that's been up there since 1961. Tomorrow the expectation is it will be permanently removed and moved to a confederate relic museum just about a block away. Lawmakers in the House of Representative taking hours to come to this conclusion, a decisive margin and a huge victory for those who want to see this flag come down, the vote coming just after 1:00 a.m.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, if I could get your attention.

VALENCIA: More than 12 hours after passionate and oftentimes contentious debate --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It isn't part of our future. It's part of our past.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is my sincere desire that this bill does not pass.

VALENCIA: Members of the South Carolina state house overwhelming approving a bill to remove the confederate flag from the capital grounds. This just weeks after nine black church members including State Senator and Pastor Clementa Pinckney, were gunned down by a white supremacist at a Bible study at a Charleston church. A group of lawmakers mounting opposition to the flag's removal, proposing dozens of amendments in an attempt to blunt the momentum of debate beaten back by a group of bipartisan legislators, tempers fraying into the night, an impassioned plea from Republican Representative Jenny Horne to fellow members of her party.

JENNY HORNE, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: I cannot believe that we do not have the heart in this body to do something meaningful such as take a symbol of hate off these grounds on Friday. And if any of you vote to amid, you are ensuring that this flag will fly beyond Friday. And for the widow of Senator Pinckney and his two young daughters, that would be adding insult to injury. And I will not be a part of it.

VALENCIA: A black flag draped over Pinckney's chair as debate came to head.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's come to order, please.

VALENCIA: The final vote overwhelmingly in favor of the flag's removal. The move to take down the controversial banner a stunning reversal in a state that was the site of the first shots in the Civil Wars. It has flown at the state house for half a century.

HORNE: I am a descendant of Jefferson Davis, OK? But that does not matter. It's not about Jenny Horne. It's about the people of South Carolina who have demanded that this symbol of hate come off of the state house grounds.

VALENCIA: The bill now headed to the desk of South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley who praised lawmakers. "It is a new day in South Carolina, a day we can all be proud of, a day that truly brings us all together as we continue to heal as one people and one state."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: Under the Senate proposal Governor Nikki Haley will sign this bill and then this flag will come down 24 hours after she's expected to do that sometime today. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Amazing how fast things can happen as they have in the past three weeks. Nick, thanks so much.

Later this hour we will speak with South Carolina senator and presidential candidate Lindsey Graham about this historic vote to bring down the flag.

CUOMO: The chairman of the RNC is asking Donald Trump to tone it down when it comes to his remarks about Mexican immigrants, fearing that they could have a detrimental effect on Latino support of the Republican Party. But a candid and defiant Trump stood by those derogatory remarks with our man Anderson Cooper in a one-on-one sit down with Trump. Anderson joins us this morning. Thank you for being on NEW DAY. This was quite the challenge you had on your hands.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it's always interesting talking to Donald Trump. And we sat down in the Trump Tower. And he's clearly sticking by his remarks. He's not apologetic really for anything he said, even a tweet that was deleted -- a re-tweet about Jeb Bush and his wife which we talked to him about. But on immigration he is essentially doubling down, saying some people

took his remarks out of context but he stands by what he said. And I pressed him a lot on the illegal immigration issue. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: You talk about focusing on the criminal and deporting people. More people have been deported under Obama than any other president previously.

[08:05:03] DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And more people are coming in under Obama by far than any president ever. There's never been an entrance like this. And they're walking in. They're walking right past our patrols.

COOPER: But the patrols on the border have gone up significantly.

TRUMP: I can just say this. More people are in this country right now illegally than ever before. I will build a better wall and I will build it cheaper, and Mexico will pay. That is your next question.

COOPER: Yes. How do you get Mexico to pay? Come on.

TRUMP: Because they are ripping us left and right.

COOPER: How do you make them pay?

TRUMP: I love the Mexican people. Many Mexican people work for me. Many Mexican people I do business with. They purchase things for me like apartments, et cetera, et cetera. I have great relationships with Mexico and the -- I love the Mexican people. I love their spirit.

COOPER: You said "When Mexico sends its people they're not sending their best. They're not sending you. They're sending people with lots problems. They're bringing those problems to us. They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, and they're rapists." You went on to say --

TRUMP: How did you set it up? You said when Mexico sends its people.

COOPER: Well, let me ask you --

TRUMP: I'm talking about the government.

COOPER: What evidence do you have that the government sends --

TRUMP: Everybody knows it. This man or this animal that shot the wonderful -- that beautiful woman in San Francisco, this guy was pushed out by Mexico. We bring them back and they push them out. Mexico pushes back people across the border that are criminals, that are drug dealers.

COOPER: So if the article that you're basing this on, this Fusion article that you've cited. TRUMP: That's just one of many articles. That talks about 80 percent

rapes. But that's not it. Just look at Homeland Security reports. Look at all of the reports.

COOPER: You talk about there are reports. I've got to look at a bunch of studies here that say there's actually no correlation between illegal immigration and crime.

TRUMP: Oh, come on.

COOPER: And actually immigrants actually commit crimes at a lower number.

TRUMP: Anderson, you're not a baby. You're not a baby. Illegals coming in are causing the tremendous problems in terms of crime, in terms of murder, in terms of rape, and lots of other things.

COOPER: Let me give you two studies. Northwestern University cited by the "Washington Post" says essentially no correlation between illegal immigration and violent crime. Pew Research Center using figures from the University of Massachusetts found, quote, "The crime rate among first generation immigrants, those who came to this country from somewhere else, significantly lower than the overall crime rate in that of the second generation."

TRUMP: If somebody's an illegal immigrant they shouldn't be here at all. There shouldn't be any crime. They're not supposed to be in our country.

COOPER: You said there is a correlation --

TRUMP: I don't believe the studies, number one. Even if the studies were correct, I'm not talking about correlation. When you have illegal immigrants coming in, if they commit crimes they're not supposed to be here.

COOPER: You did indicate that people coming across the border were raping 80 percent of the women.

TRUMP: Excuse, you are putting things --

COOPER: All right, talk to me.

TRUMP: Read the article.

COOPER: I did. I pulled up the article.

TRUMP: That article was written by "Fusion." You know who owns "Fusion"?

COOPER: Yes, Univision.

TRUMP: You know who I'm suing? Univision. They have a big problem with my lawsuit. So let me just tell you something. Univision comes out like I'm some bad person. Univision is being sued by me. The thing that they own is "Fusion" and they're talking about 80 percent rapes. I didn't make that up.

COOPER: In that article it says that it's corrupt officials, it's traffickers, it's gangs and other migrants inside Mexico.

TRUMP: As I said before, it's called rape. It is rape, and it's happening, and it's a shame and it's horrible.

COOPER: So you stand by your comments?

TRUMP: I stand by whatever I read from Univision. Univision did it. I didn't do it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: Of course the original comments were saying that people coming across the border for rapists. What the article actually is saying which is the article that he's always citing was that these rapes were occurring actually inside Mexico by traffickers, by officials, by others, usually on Central American women who are coming up through Mexico.

CAMEROTA: That's different than his point.

COOPER: That's different than his point.

We also talked about illegal immigrants actually working for Donald Trump, something the "Washington Post" has raised about an ongoing project in Washington, D.C. and that "The daily Beast" has raised looking back five year. I talked to him about that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: The "Washington Post" says that some of the workers building this beautiful hotel that you're building down in Washington, D.C. are illegal. They talked to 15 workers. They said a number of those 15 came here illegally through asylum, they're now legal, but that a number of them did say they're illegal. Isn't it hypocritical for you saying that illegal immigration is killing this country to be employing illegal immigrants?

TRUMP: I read the story. And by the way, that story does not name any names. I'd love if they could give us some names. They said they spoke to one or two, but they don't name them and they don't even know it's true.

COOPER: What say said is that several of the men who are mostly from El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, have earned U.S. citizenship or legal Secret Service through immigration programs for Central Americans fleeing civil wars or other disasters. Others quietly acknowledge that they remain in the country illegally.

TRUMP: They have to give us the names because --

COOPER: They are illegal --

TRUMP: No, no. They have to give us the names. And I have to say this. We believe so strongly -- I hired a very big contractor, one of the most prestigious, one of the best in the world to build the building. It's their responsibility to make sure they have done -- absolutely. We have gone out of our way to make sure that everybody in that building is legal. And we do have some that were -- that became legal. Wait a minute. We have some, many I think, that became frankly, me, you, everybody, I mean ultimately we were all sort of in the group of immigrants. But we have done that to the absolute letter of the law.

COOPER: This isn't the first time this has been an issue. "Daily Beast" today, there was an article, I don't know if you've seen it, the headline says -- they're talking about the building we're sitting in right now. They're saying "Trump Tower was built on undocumented immigrant backs."

TRUMP: How many years ago was this?

COOPER: It was 35 years ago.

TRUMP: They said 35 years ago.

COOPER: This was a court case, 200 illegal immigrants, Polish workers, guys --

TRUMP: Anderson, I hire a contractor. The contractor then hires the subcontractor. They have people. I don't know. I don't remember. That was so many years ago. But 35 years ago they said --

COOPER: This was a court case settled in 1999. You settled with it.

TRUMP: OK. That's fine. I remember the case. Frankly, I remember it very well. We hired the contractors. The contractors are highly prestigious, very good contractors. They go out and hire subcontractors. Sometimes the subcontractors will have people working, but, you know, it's pretty far down the line.

COOPER: This was 200 Polish workers working out hardhats, pretty noticeable on a union job.

TRUMP: Anderson. If you have to go back 35 years to tell me about something, I think that's pretty pathetic.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Anderson you have given us a lot to work with this morning. So stick around if you would.

COOPER: OK.

CAMEROTA: Because we want to bring in now CNN Political Reporter M. J. Lee and CNN political commentator and Jeb Bush supporter Ana Navarro. Ladies, thanks so much for being here. Ana, I want to start with you. What jumped out at you from Anderson's one-on-one with Trump?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That he's really hard to follow and that, you know, he says things that are crazy. That he's pulling numbers out of thin air.

CAMEROTA: Such as?

NAVARRO: Such as 34 million undocumented immigrants when the number that every study cites is 11 million. Such as that he takes no responsibility. He says, oh, you know, OK, there could be illegal immigrants working for me at my construction sites, but I hire contractors and they hire subcontractors.

Now, you tell me, is that the guy you want fixing the problems at the Veterans Administration? I think he's relishing in this publicity. I think it's his cause celeb now. He's found his niche. I think he's saying some things that are certainly striking a chord with some people. But I think most Americans really find his tone, his tenor, his words to be misinformed and offensive. And you can count me in that number.

CUOMO: But M. J., number two in the New Hampshire polling, certainly middle of the pack, almost in the first tier in the national polling. It's more than just some. He must be tapping into something, or is it just celebrity and bluster?

M. J. LEE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: I think a lot of it is celebrity and bluster. I think the one thing that we learned from your interview yesterday with Anderson is Donald Trump is not going to tone it down. You mentioned that the head of the RNC had a phone call with Trump and said you need to watch your tone. This is not looking good for the party. When he made the controversial comments initially he doubled down. When the sponsors continued to pull their business deals with Trump, he said, you know, you guys are the suckers. I'm gaining money from all of this.

CUOMO: North Carolina poll has him at number one this morning.

COOPER: That's going to be interesting when the debates begin, and it will be interesting to hear what Ana has to say about this, when the debates begin and you have Donald Trump on the stage with these other candidates saying these things, saying let's bomb the oil fields of Iraq, let's send in the oil companies, we'll send in the troops to build a ring about them and we'll take the oil, how do the other candidates respond? Do they actually take it on directly? Do they ignore him? I'm not sure what the strategy is.

NAVARRO: Initially I would have told the, Anderson, to ignore them. But it's been over three weeks now. This has become too big an issue, too much publicity. I think that it provides an opportunity for other Republicans on that stage to differentiate themselves from Trump and to look like states people, to look like statesmen who actually offer solutions, who offer civility, who offer an agenda and a vision as opposed to a man who spews venom and offers nothing.

COOPER: So in other words you see this as good for the Republican Party?

NAVARRO: I think it's a short-term headache and harm for the Republican Party. It definitely never helps when somebody that's identified as a Republican, who by the way was a Democrat, as you pointed out to him --

COOPER: Also an independent.

NAVARRO: Right. He's been everything, right? He's now unfortunately chosen to run as a Republican. He also is somebody that has donated extensively to Democrats including Hillary Clinton, who has donated in the five figures to the Clinton Foundation.

[08:15:05] He's somebody who had Hillary Clinton at his wedding at the front pew.

But, yes, he is running as a Republican and it is not good for the Republican Party to have our brand associated with some of these very offensive comments. But I am very proud to support a man and there are many others in the Republican Party, Governor Rick Perry, Senator Lindsey Graham, Senator Marco Rubio who have stood against these comments. So, I think it's very inaccurate and unfair to paint all of the Republican Party with the same brush.

CUOMO: So, the question is going to become, MJ, what does this do, the Trump effect to the rest of the field? Anderson's question is the precise one, heading into this debate, that's just a few weeks away, what is this going to mean? He's certainly going to be there.

MJ LEE, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: I think the big losers from Trump being on the debate stage are the middle tier candidates who are serious, who are well-known but really need to have this boost of energy to get their candidacy really on the national stage. I mean, folks like Bobby Jindal or even Chris Christie. Do we even remember that he launched his presidential campaign last week?

We're not talking about him. I think all these candidates who really needed to sort of have the supporters, galvanized around them, get the airtimes that they need. I mean, all of that is being sucked by Donald Trump. How do they get past that?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: It's also interesting for Chris Christie. I mean, you raised him. You know, he kind of pitched himself as the straight talk guy, as the, you know, telling it like it is. It's hard to do that in Trump's shadow when Trump is certainly that guy --

CUOMO: Well, it's easier for Trump to do it when he is immune to fact, and comfortable, highlighting problems that he is a symptom of. When he said to you, yes, I give money to both sides, total corrupt, it's horrible for the country, but I did it, and because it worked really well for me. I don't think I've ever heard that from somebody running for office before.

COOPER: I thought it was interesting that he actually points out, it's like, look, this isn't going for the country, but look, this is the business, this is the city I'm in. This is how it's run.

NAVARRO: And then he points out --

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Go ahead, Ana. NAVARRO: And then he criticized some of the elected officials for saying, well, you know, all they do is cater to the special interests.

Well, Mr. Trump, let me give you the memo. You are a special interest. You do have lobbyists. You are part of the Washington establishment. It really boggles the mind that the billionaire is the one who is supposedly talking truth to power and the one who is somehow in touch with the common person. Give me a break, folks. This guy is part of the establishment and we're falling for his trick.

CAMEROTA: I mean, you pointed out to him, was it to curry favor with everybody? And he's unabashed in admitting some of these things.

COOPER: Yes. I mean, you know, he'll say, well, everybody loves me. That's about, you know, but yes --

NAVARRO: Which, by the way, tells you the man lives in a parallel universe. He also said yesterday that he would win the Latino vote. I hate to tell you this, Donald Trump, you wouldn't even win the vote of the Latinos who work on your construction site, including because some of them can't vote, because they're undocumented.

CAMEROTA: On that note, MJ, Ana, Anderson, thanks so much for sharing it with us. Great to have you all.

NAVARRO: Thank you.

CUOMO: You can catch part two of Anderson's sit down with Donald Trump. It's going to air tonight at 8:00 p.m. only on CNN.

By then, the Donald may have some choice words for Ana Navarro.

CAMEROTA: For all the latest political news, go to CNN Politics --

COOPER: What's your Twitter so we just --

CAMEROTA: Let's put it out there. We'll do that.

Let's get over to Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, guys. Thanks so much.

Voters in Iowa are seeing a whole lot of the presidential candidates lately. What impression are they leaving on voters ahead of the first in the nation caucus? Our John Berman spoke with some of them. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:22:06] PEREIRA: Well, the 2016 presidential field is certainly filled with a variety of candidates. Donald Trump, all the way to Hillary Clinton, what are voters thinking and what do they have to say?

John Berman got some answers in the state where all political eyes are focused, fresh back from Iowa. What did they tell you?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fresh back from Iowa. Boy, my arms are tired.

Now, look, the caucuses are about six months away, just little more than six months. It's pretty soon relatively speaking for them. They are paying attention and they are checking out these candidates one by one, and putting them through the motions.

BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: You hear a guy, like Donald Trump, for instance, get up to say things on immigration that make it sound so easy. Basically build a wall on the border, he says, he says that the people coming over, among them are rapists and criminals and murderers.

When you hear a candidate use words like that, does it make you stand up and listen? Or does it make you shake your head?

CHRISTINA FERNANDEZ-MORROW, INDEPENDENT VOTER: It makes me shake my head. I mean, and I think to myself, this man has all this money and he is on this platform just spewing such ignorance. I believe that he is saying what a lot of people are too afraid to say. It's not a PC thing to say. That doesn't mean he's saying a fact and it doesn't mean that those people are believing what is true.

KESHO SCOTT, DEMOCRATIC VOTER: I think his comments are -- reflect a cultural insensitivity that the diversity movement for the last 25 yeas have been trying to reverse.

BERMAN: Can anyone in this table under any circumstances see themselves voting for Donald Trump?

ADAM VANDALL, REPUBLICAN VOTER: Yes.

BERMAN: Why?

VANDALL: He's a very shrewd businessman. I -- you know, so I think he would be able to at least guide Congress in a little bit better way to maybe perhaps pay down the $18 trillion debt that we're incurring.

BERMAN: Barb, you met him.

BARBARA DETERMAN, REPUBLICAN VOTER: Yes, I have. I've met several of the candidates and I'm holding all judgment on all of them, because it's way too early.

BERMAN: Are you listening to what he says?

DETERMAN: Oh, of course. I listen to all of them. I would be very closed minded not to listen to every single one on both sides.

BERMAN: Himar, you don't want to listen anymore. You're shaking your head. HIMAR HERNANDEZ, DEMOCRATIC VOTER: People need to be responsible their comments and reactions. And w cannot say, you can say whatever you want in a free country and say nothing is going to happen to you.

DANIEL HOFFMAN-ZINNEL, DEMOCRATIC VOTER: There's repercussions.

HERNANDEZ: Yes, there's repercussions. And I think the problem with Trump is he has zero credibility now in the world that for himself, the way he did.

BERMAN: Let's talk about Hillary. Six in ten voters, they don't exactly say they trust Hillary Clinton. They say they're not sure where they trust her. Hillary said people should and do trust me. Is she right?

SCOTT: I think in Iowa people generally trust Hillary Clinton because she has a record in court, in connection with what's happened with last several years, in terms of education, in terms of being critical of the foreign wars. So I think they do.

HOFFMAN-ZINNEL: She's someone that I have always respected and trusted all along.

[08:25:02] And so, I think she's done a great job as secretary of state when she was secretary of state. I think Iowans believe that they can trust her now.

BERMAN: So, Bernie Sanders, he's drawn thousands of people? What do you all think of Bernie?

HOFFMAN-ZINNEL: I think he has a lot of great proposals for people that are coming of age and going to college. That's something that I really respect.

BERMAN: Is he for real?

SCOTT: I think he will do what whips do in political elections. They push the other candidates to be clearer.

BERMAN: Exactly.

SCOTT: And I think in that state, he should be taken seriously.

BERMAN: Christina, you're an independent. His idea -- he's pretty far left. I mean, this is a guy who's actually a self-identified socialist.

FERNANDEZ-MORROW: Right. You know, I'm glad he's in there because he's putting ideas in people's heads about what they should be expecting from other candidates. So, I like it. I kind of feel like he's an agitator, and I would love to see him go far.

BERMAN: I'm talking about the Republicans now. You guys have a couple dozen people.

You know, Barb, what do you make of the field? DETERMAN: I think it's great. It's absolutely great. We get to talk

a lot of different issues. At the end of day, it's going to come down to a strong leader for me and a strong person in a lot of different areas.

SCOTT: What I want to add to that is that we have a large number of Republican candidates of diversity. And in my lifetime at 62, we haven't had that diversity.

BERMAN: You have Ben Carson, guy, a brain surgeon, African American brain surgeon.

SCOTT: Absolutely, from Detroit.

BERMAN: You have Carly Fiorina, a female executive.

SCOTT: So, I think what is exciting about that is they will have conversations on race, violence, immigration that are important to people of color. And I'm interested in having those conversations. When I've been in the elections in my life where no one discussed race, right? So I think that's what's exciting. I think you're right, it's too early to tell, but it's going to be exciting to hear.

BERMAN: Adam, you have got -- you're a self-described social conservative. You got a lot of them running in the field right now.

VANDALL: We do. My top candidates right now would be Ted Cruz. I'm still looking at Mike Huckabee.

Rick Santorum is kind of on my radar but Bobby Jindal is really exciting.

BERMAN: So that leaves out right now the top tier to an extent. Scott Walker, it's Jeb Bush, it's Donald Trump, Marco Rubio is up there, Rand Paul is up there. There are five guys who you say you're not considering. Why not?

VANDALL: They haven't necessarily backed up -- I mean, Rubio supported amnesty without building a wall or doing anything else. And Jeb Bush, he's a complete and total moderate.

BERMAN: Himar, you're a Democrat but you say you're considering Jeb Bush.

HOFFMAN-ZINNEL: Well, Jeb is different. He has an appeal for Latinos. If I was Republican, I would say it would be stupid for the Republican Party to not go after Jeb Bush because he's the only one that will be able to get the independent votes. All the others are too far right to get anybody in the middle.

SCOTT: In terms of being in Iowa, the largest ethnic minority here are, you know, Latinos. So, I think it's going to be important to them that the Republican candidate who speak to their issues, cultural competency and also representation. And I think in that way, Jeb Bush is the strongest Republican candidate.

And although I have voted Democratic all my life, I would give him a vote of fantastic.

BERMAN: So you wouldn't vote for him but you pat him on the back.

SCOTT: Absolutely.

BERMAN: You know what he'd say to that? Thanks, thanks a lot.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: It was really interesting to see. Now, you remember in Iowa, you know, the caucuses, the Democratic caucuses or Republican caucus, not many of the Republicans are going to go even consider a Democrat. Not many Democrats are going to consider a Republican. But they're each looking at their own parties and they're taking the measure of the candidates and so many of them have met the candidates. They make sure they meet the candidates and check them out individually.

CUOMO: You did a good job. You really helped these people kind of come out and express what's going to motivate them with the debates right around the corner for the GOP. Important time to have them.

BERMAN: I appreciate it. Thanks so much. I love Iowa, too. Go Iowa.

CUOMO: You do. You are from there, aren't you?

BERMAN: I'm from -- no.

PEREIRA: No, he's not.

CUOMO: Not? All these years --

BERMAN: The Boston part of Iowa.

(LAUGHTER)

CUOMO: How smart of him on so many levels.

All right. So, we're going to take a break, the Confederate flag now as little as a day from coming down in South Carolina. Lawmakers passing a bill to remove the rebel flag from capital grounds. We have South Carolina senator and presidential candidate Lindsey Graham. He's going to tell us about why this happened with the flag and what does he think about all the Trump frump.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)