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CNN NEWSROOM

Thousands of Refugees Making Their Way through Austria; Exclusive Interview with Sarah Palin; Sanders Leading Clinton in New Hampshire Polls; Refugees Continue to Arrive in Munich. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired September 6, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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


[15:00:24] MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN HOST: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, 11,000 refugees making their way through Austria today. The crisis so grave that Pope Francis is imploring Catholics to help those refugees.

Plus, an exclusive interview with Sarah Palin. What she thinks America needs in its next president and what she would do if she were in charge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't think the public gives a flying flip if somebody knows who today is a specific leader of a specific region or religion or anything, because that leader will change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: And it's happened again for the second time this week, a drone crashes at a major sporting event.

NEWSROOM starts now.

Everyone, I'm Martin Savidge, thanks for joining us. I'm in for Fredricka Whitfield who has today off.

A startling jump for Bernie Sanders as the race for the White House on the democratic side is getting hotter this afternoon. A new NBC/Marist poll shows that the Vermont senator has opened up a nine- point lead over Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire. That is 41 percent to Clinton's 32 percent.

Also gaining ground in that poll is Ben Carson in Iowa. Donald Trump, of course, still leading Carson by seven points and has said if he becomes president, he would seek out quote "great minds for his cabinet." One of those minds he mentioned, Sarah Palin.

Today in an exclusive interview with Jake Tapper on CNN's "state of the union," Palin weighed in on what she thinks voters want in their next president, what she would do if she were in charge and why people in this country should speak American.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) PALIN: I think I'd rather have a president who was tough and puts America first than can win a game of trivial pursuit. Some of those questions, I don't know if other candidates were posed the same question so I don't know if they would have the answers, but I don't think the public gives a flying flip if somebody knows who today is a specific leader of a specific region or religion or anything else because that leader will change, of course, when the next president comes into power just based on the volatility of politics in these other areas.

So I don't think the public is so concerned about that. And then, you know, it's kind of subjective too, right, whether a candidate is worthy to be given attention and respect and be taken seriously if they don't know the leader of some -- a tribe or a religion or even a country. When -- how about other candidates that may not know the price of a barrel of oil today, or how much oil it is that we are importing from foreign nations, unfriendly foreign nations, and we have a ban on exporting our own oil and we have prohibitions and bans on drilling for our own oil. Details may be involved in that, that a candidate doesn't know. I'd be subject I've and say if you don't know that, you're not worthy of being taken seriously, Mr. Candidate.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump says that he would love to have someone of your strength in his administration. When you take a look at the cabinet, is there a particular area that you think would lien up best with your strengths, a position you'd want to serve in?

PALIN: That's a great question. I think a lot about the department of energy, because energy is my baby. Oil and gas and minerals, those things that god has dumped on this part of the earth for mankind's use instead of us on relying on unfriendly foreign nations, to import their resources. I think a lot about department of energy. And if I were head of that, I'd get rid of it. And I'd let the states start having more control over the lands that are within their boundaries and the people who are affected by the developments within their states.

So if, you know, I were in charge of that, it would be a short-term job but it would be -- it would be really great to have someone who knows energy and is pro-responsible development to be in charge.

TAPPER: Donald Trump said this week that Jeb Bush should speak English and not Spanish when he's campaigning in the U.S. Jeb Bush's response was that Trump doesn't value tolerance. What did you make of that debate?

PALIN: I don't know what, you know, choosing to speak English or Spanish in a conversation, what that would have to do with somebody opposing it with tolerance or not. I think that it's a benefit of Jeb Bush to be able to be so fluent in Spanish, because we have a large and wonderful Hispanic population that, you know, is helping to build America and that's good. And that's a great relationship and connection that he has with them through his wife and through his family connections. On the other hand, you know, I think we can send a message and say you

want to be in America, hey, you better be here legally or you're outta here. B, when you're here, let's speak American. I mean that's -- let's speak English and that's kind of a unifying aspect of a nation is the language that is understood by all. But, you know, I took Spanish in high school and I took French in high school. Shouldn't have taken them both because I got them all mixed up by the time I was graduating, but again, a benefit of Mr. Bush. And I think, you know, that's one of those issues too where it goes right over the public's head, legitimately so. They're on to the next issues that are very important for the candidates to be debating.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[15:05:51] SAVIDGE: All right. So we have a lot to talk about.

Let's bring in our political panel. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty, she joins me from New Hampshire. From New York, we've got Brian Morgenstern political strategist and then Ellis Henican, a columnist at "News Day" and a popular television and radio commentator. And she is the author of three "New York Times" best-selling books.

Ellis, let's -- actually, you know, I'm going to start with Sunlen first. Hillary Clinton just recently came out with this comment and said that she expected this was going to be a competitive race. And she's talking about Bernie Sanders, of course. I never believed that she thought it was going to be a competitive race. I don't think anybody else thought that. Does this really -- is this supposed to resonate with the electorate here?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think she's definitely trying to take pains to say that she always knew it was competitive, she wants it to be competitive. Clinton saying she wants there to be a debate in this primary. But certainly, I don't think the Clinton campaign imagined this much competition and certainly the new poll numbers out today show that here in New Hampshire it is a competitive race. The game is on here in New Hampshire and all the momentum is with Bernie Sanders because he has taken the lead from Clinton.

These new poll numbers show that Clinton is at 32 percent here in New Hampshire, compared with Sanders at 41 percent. And when you look really deeper into these numbers, Martin, you really see that the figures are even more striking. Because Clinton in July, just over a month ago, she was up 10 percentage points to Sanders, so that clearly shows there's a significant shift here on the ground in New Hampshire.

But also in Iowa there are concerns for Clinton's team as well. She is still in the lead at 38 percent compared to Sanders at 27 percent. But again, there Sanders, showing that he's making serious gains in Iowa. Her support has dropped 11 points for Clinton in the past month. And you have said Clinton really seems to be irked by this competition from Sanders although she is not openly admitting it on the campaign trial. And Sanders meanwhile says that he believes the Clinton campaign is getting nervous.

SAVIDGE: Yes. I imagine they are. Those numbers are quite stunning.

Ellis, let me ask you this, Sarah Palin, she had a lot to say on Jake Tapper. You heard that. And I'm wondering, how Influential is she anymore when it comes to the Republican Party and how likely is it that she would be a part of a Trump cabinet? And I know I'm jumping way ahead here.

ELLIS HENICAN, COLUMNIST, NEWSDAY: Well, I mean, she's already speculating about madam secretary. I don't think it's impossible. I mean, not this year, nothing is impossible, Martin.

Listen, she still has her peeps, right? She still has got some people who listen to her. I would have to say quoting her today that she very well may be the world's greatest expert on a candidate for high office not being taken seriously. So when she starts talking about people not taking a candidate seriously, my little ears perk up and I think she knows what she's talking about on that topic at least.

SAVIDGE: And I think they are actually, you know, she uses some very cute language, but there are some very solid points she makes.

And Brian, let me ask you this. You know, she talks about how the public doesn't, quote, "give a flying flip," you know, when it comes to candidates knowing who the world leaders are, and these specific names of terror groups and on and on and on about that and I think that's right. I don't think people think the president expect to be on jeopardy or a game show like that. Is that important? Do you think it resonates that people have to know if you are going to be the next president know the name of every potential leader of a terrorist organization?

BRIAN MORGENSTERN, POLITICAL STRATEGIST: Well, no, but it helps to be prepared. And I know that was coming from a very personal for Sarah Palin because she --

SAVIDGE: She's had her own problems with that.

MORGENSTERN: Exactly. You know, in particular what comes to mind is that Katie Couric interview where, you know, she took a lot of flak for that. I agree with you that I don't think our candidates are expected to be jeopardy champions. I do think that if you want to be the president of the United States, voters appreciate it when you do your homework and you prepare. And I've been frustrated as a GOP strategist with some of our candidates sort of, you know, thinking their personality from their localities are going to carry them to victory nationally. And I think that it's a very different ball game. And you need to be able to anticipate what a national reporter is going to ask you, because it's going to be very different. And you need to, in the event that you don't know the answer to a question, have an adequate response that leaves the voters with the confidence that you're going to find out what that answer is and that your governing philosophy will lead to the right conclusion.

[15:10:20] SAVIDGE: You need to have a good plan b when it comes to some sort of response if you don't have the exact answer.

MORGENSTERN: Exactly.

SAVIDGE: Yes, Ellis, do you think that the Hillary camp would have ever imagined that Bernie Sanders would pull ahead in New Hampshire as he has apparently done?

HENICAN: No, no. And Martin, when you hear nine points, I hear two different words ad not nine-points. I hear Joe Biden are the two words that I hear, right? He's got to be looking at those numbers and saying, wow, if Bernie can do that and Iowa numbers are encouraging as well. If Bernie can do that, how well will I do? He's already in double digits and he's not even running in those states.

SAVIDGE: Yes, I saw that. That jumped out at me as well.

Ben Carson, I should talk about as well. Sunlen, Ben Carson gaining ground on Donald Trump in Iowa. Gaining is the key word here. How concerned do you think that the Trump campaign is with these kind of new numbers?

SERFATY: Well, that's right. Ben Carson certainly is having his moment, especially in Iowa. I want to show you these numbers here, these new polls just out today. It show that Trump still holds on to his commanding lead in Iowa. He's leading at 29 percent. Look at Ben Carson, 22 percent support. He is certainly is having a moment where these insurgent candidates are springing up in the polls and certainly since the first debate he's been doing very well right and very consistently and notable in all of these polls he has the highest favorability rating of any candidate and that is a place where Trump struggles. So certainly they're paying close attention to that as well.

But I have to point out in this Iowa poll, I think the big news is certainly Jeb Bush's fall here. He has fallen to six percent support. That means he's fallen lost nearly half of his support in a little over a month. In July he was polling at 12 percent, so certainly bad numbers for Jeb Bush here.

SAVIDGE: Yes, it's not the summer they thought they were going to have. And you are right, the insurgent candidates are the ones that seem to be surging.

Thank you very much, Sunlen Serfaty, Brian Morgenstern and Ellis Henican for joining us.

And just a reminder. Be sure to watch the next Republican presidential debate. It's not far away. It's going to be hosted by CNN Wednesday, September 16th. That will start at 6:00 p.m. eastern.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:16:05] SAVIDGE: Let's go now to some powerful images from the refugee crisis where an estimated 11,000 are crossing into Austria over the last 24 hours. Federal police say 5,000 have crossed into Germany today. The country where most refugees say that they are going to seek asylum. The situation is getting so dire now that the Pope is calling on catholic institutions to take in refugees. And at a train station in Germany after weeks of exhausting travel, a heart- warming scene unfolding there.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

SAVIDGE: So let's go to CNN's Atika Shubert. She is in Munich where refugees continue to arrive.

And Atika, you know, this is a completely different kind of sentiment than what they were met with say in Hungary. Why is that?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Well, for one thing the German public here, more than 60 percent in the recent polls, support the German chancellor's decision to accept more refugees. In fact Germany said it will accept 800,000 applications for asylum here by refugees.

And just to give you a location of that, the train from Budapest just arrived and so hundreds of refugees actually just moved into the train over here and are being moved to reception centers nearby.

So this is the kind of scene here every day. Thousands of people arrive. They are then registered. They show their IDs and fingerprints and then they are brought to shelters where they get temporary housing, either in university dorms, public housing or even gthe sort of shipping containers transformed into like small miniature homes. Then they are shifted into more permanent housing, and the hope is then they will become integrated as they wait to see if they are accepted at refugees here in Germany, Martin.

SAVIDGE: And I'm wondering if, you know, what sort of stories have you heard from these refugees that many of them have been through just, you know, an incredibly difficult, sometimes dangerous journey? They must be relieved.

SHUBERT: Yes. Almost all of them have these harrowing tales of crossing the Mediterranean then walking on foot from Greece through Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary and then here. And of course, the most recent arrivals have found themselves trapped in Hungary where they felt that Hungary was a country that didn't want them. And that's why we see so many refugees who are coming across.

Even though they're passing through Hungary and Austria, thousands of them passing through, but only about a dozen seeking refugee status in Austria. That's because so many say they want to come here because they feel that Germany is welcoming them. And of course, this is a prosperous country. And it is where they believe they can start again and they can try and rebuild their new lives. And that's what so many of them are looking for.

SAVIDGE: Yes. The end of one journey and the start of a new life.

Atika Shubert, thank you very much for joining us.

Ahead, two drones, different ones, they disrupt two different sporting events within two days. And the one happened on Thursday. It crashed into the U.S. open.

Details on what happened last night at a college football game we'll hold until after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:23:07] SAVIDGE: Let's give you a check of the top stories.

Officials in San Antonio, Texas, are investigating why two high school football players violently collided with a referee. The players' team lost the game 15-9 and they were ejected. Video posted on You Tube shows one player slamming into the back of the referee while his teammate dives into the ref helmet first while he's on the ground.

And there are new pictures of the only person who survived being shot on live television in Virginia last month. It shows Vicki Gardner sitting up and smiling in her hospital bed. That's good to see. Her Facebook recovery page says she may be out of the hospital soon. You may remember Gardner was shot during a live interview with WDBJ reporter Alison Parker and photographer Adam Ward. Ward and Parker were also shot and they died as a result of their injuries.

In Houston, a selfie of a teen and female officer goes viral. Everyone loves this story. It all happened after the officer was getting gas for her patrol car. The teen asked if he could stand by to watch her back. He said he wanted to make sure that she was safe. The gesture comes after a deputy was killed while refueling his patrol car. That's backup.

And authorities are deciding what to do with a student who crashed a drone into a University of Kentucky football game last night just before kickoff. It slammed into a corner of the stadium. Nobody was hurt, nothing was damaged.

Coming up, 30 minutes of all the football analysis you could possibly handle. CNN sports anchor Rachel Nichols is with the pro himself, Dan Marino, with a preview of the new season -- Rachel and Dan.

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Thanks.

All right, Dan, it has been the conversation around the NFL for months now. Deflate-gate. Federal judge vacating Tom Brady's suspension. So what do you think of this whole mess where we are at this point?

DAN MARINO, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, it's hard to believe that we talked about this at the super bowl and now it is eight months later and we're still talking about it and it hasn't been handled. And you know, for me, it's just about getting back to football. You know, all the drama is over. Let's see some football in action.

[15:25:10] NICHOLS: Absolutely. Still in the appeals process, but at least Tom Brady can play.

MARINO: Well, hopefully they'll get that figured out soon.

NICHOLS: Absolutely. Now, the Patriots, of course, super bowl champions, but then there's the other team that they beat to win that super bowl. And really, at the end of the game it had looked like the Seattle Seahawks were the ones who were going to walk away with the ring. They had that huge opportunity at the goal line in the final seconds. They blew it.

Earlier, I spoke to head coach Pete Carroll, and I asked him how the team was dealing with the after effects of that moment and moving on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE CARROLL, HEAD COACH, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS: IT'S there, you know, somewhere. So when the time is right and when it fits, you know, you kind of call that up. I've been doing that for years. I've got a lot of games in my history that stay with me, and, but we have to put it in the right place because we have a lot of work to do. And our guys have turned their focus forward. You know, we were disappointed with the way it ended of course and kind of anxious to get back at it and go to work again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NICHOLS: You can see the full interview with Pete Carroll, plus interviews with Peyton Manning and a host of others, plus hey look, that's Dan and me.

MARINO: Yes. I'm Dan.

NICHOLS: That's me. I'm Rachel. We will be hosting CNN's pro football preview special today at 3:30 p.m. eastern time. Please join us.

SAVIDGE: And that special starts right after a quick break and I'll be back with more CNN NEWSROOM at 4:00 p.m. eastern. See you then.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)