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NEW DAY
Donald Trump Is "Really Rich"; Cruz Says He Won't Beat Up On Trump; Clinton Struggles With Grass-Roots Donations; Israeli Minister: "No Real Compensation For A Nuclear Threat"; Blinken: "Best Way To Prevent Iran From Nuclear Weapon"; Greece Votes "Yes" On Bailout Bill. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired July 16, 2015 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[07:31:30] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Big political news includes Donald Trump saying what he's worth. Let's get to "Inside Politics" on NEW DAY with John King for some scrutiny.
JOHN KING, CNN HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": He's proud of that money, isn't he, Mr. Cuomo?
CUOMO: Yes, he is.
KING: We'll wait and it's a good day to go "Inside Politics" and discuss his money. We'll wait for the actual report to come to see the details. But with me to talk about that and other matters of political importance this morning, share their reporting and their insights, Lisa Lara of the "Associated Press" and CNN's Jeff Zelany.
We've all heard this before. In just about every speech, Donald Trump makes note of his wealth. Let's get a little sample before we talk about this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Here's the good news. I'm very rich. I don't need anybody's money. I'm really rich. I'm the most successful person ever to run. Fortunately, I'm very rich. So I have a total net worth and now with the increase it will be well over $10 billion. I'm not doing that to brag because, you know what, I don't have to brag. I don't have to, believe it or not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: He's not doing that to brag. He's just doing it, I guess. Look, we can make fun of this, but some voters actually see this as a virtue in the sense that they think politicians are too beholden to big interest and big money.
We'll wait and see. He's filed the report. We haven't seen the details yet to give us where the money is from and what it is. Some people are skeptical he's worth quite that much. We'll look at it when we get it, but on the issue of his wealth, asset in the campaign or detriment or little both? LISA LERER, "ASSOCIATED PRESS": I think there's a sense among some voters that he's liberated of politics. He speaks his mind. He's telling it like it is. He is not politics as usual. I mean, that's part of what is fueling his rise.
One point that he made and I really cannot believe I'm going to agree with Donald Trump, but in the paperwork he released about his own wealth, it opened up by saying that the FEC file was incapable of measuring his great wealth.
And that's because of the argument that Trump and his people are making is the top box to measure an asset is $50 million and his buildings are worth far more than that. He has a point on that. We are in the world of billionaires --
KING: So if it is worth $300 million, it is listed on the form as --
LERER: It's listed as $50 million. He has a point on that. We are in the point of billionaires, who run for president and in that world maybe those forms need to be updated so we can get a more accurate picture of how much these people are actually worth.
KING: The FEC can't agree on what day of the week it is.
LERER: Right. Don't hold your breath.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: It is different than we've ever heard of a presidential candidate that I can recall talk about their wealth. Mitt Romney, you know, tried to not highlight his wealth but many others have as well.
This is part of Trump's brand, his bluster. So this definitely fuels that. But what I want to know is who is giving money to Donald Trump, $96,000 in contributions. People were actually helping his campaign along. So we'll look into that a little bit, but he also loaned his campaign $1.8 million.
KING: Right. We have numbers to show people that. Total contributions, he recently announced that he'll spend his own money. We'll see how much he does raise, so total contributions, that's a low figure for a presidential candidate.
But again to your point, A, people know he's wealthy, B, he hasn't been out very long. Cash on hand for the campaign is pretty low as he spends money. There's no question he can finance the campaign himself.
I think to your point, how many people have to say, I really want this guy, you know, grassroots to send him a check for $200 or $300.
ZELENY: Right. I mean, my guess is not that many, but he doesn't need it, of course. The other candidates do.
LERER: But of course, it adds a certain credibility. If you have people backing you instead of being the novelty that you are funding yourself. KING: We have watched over the last couple of weeks, some gently, some not so gently, most of the Republican candidates, most distance themselves from Donald Trump, Jeb Bush has been most prominent, I think and most critical in saying what he says that Mexican immigrants, Mexico is sending in rapists and murderers and other criminals.
But one candidate who has refused to criticize him is Ted Cruz. Well, not only refuse to criticize him, but he went to the Trump Tower yesterday for a meeting with Mr. Trump and came out and said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[07:35:02] SENATOR TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You're right. There are a number of Republican presidential candidates, who have gone out of their way to try to whack Donald Trump with a stick. I'm not one of them.
There's nothing the media enjoys more than a Republican on Republican violence. They are never happier than when you get a Republican blasting another. I'm not going to play that game.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: What is the calculation here? You can make the case at the moment, some new polls out yesterday. Trump is still moving up in the polls or at least staying stable in first or second place nationally, second place in New Hampshire, moving up in Iowa. Some of that support is coming from Ted Cruz. What is the Cruz calculation?
LERER: I mean, look, I think Trump has tapped into a certain element of the Republican base. That's the element that there's some overlap with the kind of voters that Ted Cruz is pulling. He wants to make sure that those people stay with him.
If he alienates Trump, he risks alienating that segment of the population. I also think for the other primary, I mean, I think about this primary is two contests happening at once.
Once for the beast and one, you know, for the establishment, I think there is a real opportunity still for one of the more establishment candidates to come out and you know, say really strongly they don't agree with Trump. I'm curious to see if we see that in the first stage.
KING: But when we get to the debate stage, if your slice is the conservative slice, and you have got Trump taking some of it, you've got Huckabee, Santorum and Ted Cruz, don't at some point you have to at least make the point of why you think he'd be a better president than Donald Trump and just let him hold it?
ZELENY: I think he did, but at this point, Ted Cruz is very good at one thing, and that's knowing where the cameras are and knowing how to get attention. If Donald Trump is taking out the oxygen, you go where the oxygen is. He's the only candidate who is siding with Donald Trump here. Basically the only way to get attention or best way to get attention is either attack him or join him. So Ted Cruz decided to show up outside of Trump Tower. He knew the cameras would be there. Interesting strategy, I would say.
KING: Surprise, surprise, surprise. A lot of numbers in the news this week because it's the filing deadline for the candidates so let's look at some other numbers. A lot of people are asking questions about Hillary Clinton's numbers.
If you look at the two big establishment favorites, Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush, if you will, she's raised $45 million. Jeb Bush raised $11.4 million. That's just for their campaign organizations, not the super pacs.
A lot of these being made, 17 percent of Hillary Clinton's contributions come from small donations, only 3 percent of Jeb Bush's, small donations to find is $200 or less. Bernie Sanders says 77 percent of his have come from 200 or less to 17 percent for Hillary Clinton.
A lot of people making the point, does this prove that she has problems with what President Obama did brilliantly and successfully raising money in checks of $50 and $25, and $100 from average Joes, the grassroot support of the Democratic Party?
I do want to say, the Clinton campaign is saying if you look at $250 or less, 94 percent of the donations come from that. So they say this is a bit exaggerated. But is this a problem that the base of the party is not sending her checks for 50 bucks?
LERER: This is a really important thing for the Clinton campaign. They want to make sure that they -- you know, they said over and over that this primary is not coronation. They have been highlighting those numbers really hard because they want to make sure that everyone in the media and everyone in the public knows that she has support and enthusiasm among the rank in file Democratic Party voters.
But these numbers are not great for her. Particularly, they are bad also for Jeb Bush who has a similar problem of looking like the establishment candidate that really isn't supported by the grassroots of this party.
KING: It's a passion and intensity. They like her. Hillary Clinton's poll numbers among Democrats, her favorability is fine, but they seem to have a --
ZELENY: There's not a sense of urgency. She's not under attack or threat. That's another reason people are not sending money, but they tried mightily to get that number up by selling small things and selling aprons and all these things online.
All that goes into this, $5 for this, it's a struggle for them because 60 percent of her contributions are from people who can't give again. Bernie Sanders can give again and again, sort of like paying the phone bill every month. She has enthusiasm issues. KING: We'll see if they figure that out. Lisa and Jeff, thanks for coming in. Alisyn, as we get back to you, we should know one of the ways to get the excitement going is to be out on the trail. Hillary Clinton's first full town hall is today in New Hampshire, taking question from voters. We'll keep an eye on that.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: I bet you will. All right, John, bring us all of the highlights.
Meanwhile, the U.S. reportedly offering more military aid to Israel after the Iran deal, is this a consolation prize? We'll get the Obama administration's reaction, next.
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[07:40:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: This deal is not contingent on Iran changing its behavior. It's not contingent on Iran suddenly operating like a liberal democracy. It solves one particular problem, which is making sure they don't have a bomb.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: Bottom line, is the Iran deal going to make you safer or is it a capitulation bent on the destruction of the United States and Israel? Joining us to answer the critics is Deputy Secretary Of State Tony Blinken. It is good to have you with us, Deputy Secretary.
Let us begin with the words of criticism and concern from the United States' closest ally in the region, Israel. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YUVAL STENITZ, ISRAELI MINISTER OF NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE, ENERGY, AND WATER: There can be no real compensation for nuclear threat. You are doing an agreement. The immediate result will be to put fuel on the fires that has burning all around the Middle East.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CUOMO: That's Minister Yuval Stenitz. You know who he is. Two concerns that we want you to be tested on this morning, Tony, one is did you stop them from getting nukes in the best way? And the second is the impact of giving them all this money when we know that often they are up to no good.
Let's start with the first, why is this the best you could do in terms of stalling or stopping the Iran nuclear machine?
ANTONY BLINKEN, DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: Chris, that's exactly the right question. And this is the best way to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon far into the future and you have to compare it to the alternative. Some people say we should keep squeezing them and get them to capitulate, but we tried that for more than a decade, and what happened? They went from having 150 centrifuges to 19,000 before we stopped them.
[07:45:05] And they built up a stockpile of low-enriched uranium to make 10 to 12 bombs until we stopped them. And our partners around the world who we need for these sanctions, there's no consensus that Iran shouldn't have a bomb, there is no consensus that they shouldn't have a peaceful nuclear program.
We couldn't bring our partners along to total capitulation. The other alternative is military action, but we know that while we can set back their program by a few years of military action. This deal sets it back far, far longer.
And of course, if you take the military action, the net result is you can't bomb away knowledge and so the program would underground and Iran would eventually race to a bomb. So when you look at the alternatives, this is the best way to prevent them from getting a weapon far, far into the future.
CUOMO: The push-back is yes, you could have squeezed the sanctions. You have the juice with the allies. They would have done what you wanted them to do as they were all along in the P5+1. So the sanctions were just starting to work in the last few years. Why did you run away from them?
BLINKEN: We didn't run away from them. To the contrary, we applied the sanctions with incredible bigger, but the deal was this, our partners around the world came in on this reluctantly. They were losing money. They didn't believe this is the way to go.
We brought them along. And the deal was that once Iran was satisfied with the concerns of the international community about its nuclear program, then the sanctions would go away. That's why they were imposed in the first place. That was the deal.
CUOMO: The inspection and review, it is not anytime, anywhere, it is sometime, somewhere, you give them too much time to react and they are going to cheat and you are not going to be able to catch them.
BLINKEN: Chris, let's be clear about this. There are two things going on here with the inspections, first, in terms of their known facilities, it is 24/7 access by the IAEA.
And it is not just these places where the centrifuges were spinning. It's the mines, mills, assembly lines, and the entire chain of production. That means it will be incredibly difficult for Iran to divert stuff to a covert program or built. They have to build an entire production chain covertly if they wanted to have a clandestine program.
Second, with regard to places that are not declared, what this agreement provides is that if the IAEA gets any suspicion of something and want to see it, they can see it, and they can do it no longer than 24 days. That's plenty of time.
Keep in mind this, for years Iran has been trying to keep the IAEA out of this military facility where more than a decade ago we think they were undertaking weaponization activities. Why have they been pushing back for a decade?
Because the stuff that we are looking for in these kinds of situation, it lasts for hundreds even thousands of years. You can be picked up long after the fact.
CUOMO: All right, then let's put into a basket -- last bucket of concerns not to mix basket and bucket metaphors, one is you let them keep (inaudible). In 2013, President Obama used that as a steppingstone for why they needed a deal in the first place and then you let them keep it.
Two, we know the secretary of state was talking about the hostages that are kept unlawfully according to the administration and Iran. You can get upset about Major Garrett's tone, but the substance is right on. Why didn't you get anything done with the hostages?
And then thirdly, all this money and you know that they are seeding discontent all over the region. They keep shouting "death to the U.S." and "death to Israel." Why do you give them all that money?
BLINKEN: So first on (inaudible), it is taken out of commission. It cannot make material for a nuclear weapon and what we are doing here is needing the bottom line we set from the beginning, which was making sure that even if Iran tries to break out. It would take them at least a year to develop enough material for a nuclear weapon. That problem is solved and answered exactly the way we want it from the beginning.
With regard to the hostages, the only thing we have talked to the Iranians about on the margins of these nuclear talks other than the nuclear issue were the hostages. If we had tied the hostages to the talks, if the talks hadn't succeeded, what would that have meant?
That the hostages would be there in perpetuity? Now our hope is that we can get our Americans back. We will not rest until we do. And finally, the money, Iran unfortunately is engaged in all sorts of nefarious activities right now under sanctions.
And a lot of what they are doing is not capital intensive. What we are doing intensely with our golf partners, with Israel is giving ourselves and giving them the means to push back.
Chris, one thing is interesting. The very people in Iran who are behind these nefarious activities are the ones who didn't want this deal. They were the ones in Iran who are pushing back against it. That should tell you something.
CUOMO: Tony Blinken, this is going to be a long debate. Thank you for taking us on the first step. Appreciate it.
BLINKEN: Thanks, Chris. CUOMO: All right, Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: Chris, the search for drug lord, "El Chapo" is intensifying today. We will take you inside the cell that he busted out of and the tunnel he used to make that brazen escape. Wait until you see what our reporter found down there.
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[07:53:48]
CAMEROTA: Time now for CNN Money now. Chief business correspondent, Christine Romans, is in our Money Center. So Christine, tell us about stock responding to all the turmoil in Greece.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, stocks are climbing around the world, a six-week high for European stocks after the Greek parliament voted yes to top economic reforms to secure a new bail out, but investors are happy.
People in Athens are not. Protests turned violent overnight. Protesters threw Molotov cocktails. Police responded with tear gas, still a very difficult situation there.
The stock to watch today here, Netflix, it's up more than 10 percent before the bell, huge subscriber growth. Think of all these original programs, these original shows, big deals with names like Brad Pitt. The stock has doubled in price this year. Netflix is the best performer in the S&P 500. It's trading for around $100 a share.
CUOMO: I'm so happy. I don't own a share of it.
George Bush 41 has been hospitalized. He's got a broken bone in his neck. How serious? What's the prognosis? Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta has answers for you straight ahead.
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CAMEROTA: George H.W. Bush hospitalized.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It sounds like it was a mild fracture of one of the vertebrae in the cervical spine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a big scare for the former president.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the bed that "El Chapo" slept on here. That's the access point that "El Chapo" used to escape.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It stretches for more than a mile, a feat of engineering.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you tell the country, sir, why you are content?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: The notion that I'm content --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To leave the conscience of this nation, the strength of this nation unaccounted for.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Nobody is content. That's nonsense and you should know better.
CAMEROTA: Bill Cosby invited you to a dinner party at his home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He gave me a drink and I started to feel really odd.
CAMEROTA: When did you realize that you were in danger with him?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Thursday, July 16th, 8:00 in the east. Mich is off today. We do have some breaking news for you, former President George H.W. Bush taken to the hospital, the former president breaking a bone in his neck in a fall at his vacation home in Maine.
CAMEROTA: The 91-year-old suffers from Parkinson's disease and he has had a serious of health scares recently. So let's get right to CNN's Sunlen Serfaty. She is live in Washington with the latest. How is he this morning, Sunlen?
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, aides say he is in stable condition, but he did spend the night on the hospital in Maine and remains there this morning. He took a fall yesterday while at their home in Maine, breaking a vertebrae in his neck and he will be in a neck brace. That's according to aides.
His spokesman tweeting in the last hour, quote, "President Bush remains hospitalized at Maine Medical Center. We will send updates as they become available."
