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Political War of Words; Interstate Sniper; Gun Violence Survivors. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired September 10, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:31] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me.

Wow, less than a week away from CNN's Republican debate in California and the race just took a turn for the nasty. At the center of it all, you guessed it, Donald Trump. On CNN he unleashed a blistering attack on Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina. This comes a day after Carson questioned Trump's faith. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (voice-over): I've known Ben Carson, of him, for a long time. I never heard faith was a big thing until just recently when he started running.

CHRIS CUOMO, ANCHOR, CNN'S "NEW DAY": He's a Seventh Day Adventist. I mean it's - it's something he talks about a lot.

TRUMP: So I don't know about Ben Carson's faith. And all of a sudden he becomes this great religious figure. I don't think he's a great religious figure. And I saw him yesterday quoting something and he was quoting on humility and it looked like he had just memorized it about two minutes before he made the quote. So, you know, don't tell me about Ben Carson.

CUOMO: Well, but Ben Carson's coming at you too. He says -

TRUMP: Now, Carson is another one, he's starting to hit me. So I hit back. I only hit back when I get hit. I'm great counterpuncher.

CUOMO: I know. Let me -

TRUMP: He was a doctor, perhaps a, you know, an OK doctor, by the way. You can check that out too. We - you're not talking about a great - he was an OK doctor. There - he was just fine.

CUOMO: He - he was a - I don't know about OK doctor. You know, he was the first man to separate conjoined twins, you know.

TRUMP: Well, you know, he was just fine. And now, because he's a doctor and he hired one nurse he's going to end up being the president of the United States?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Just a short time ago, Ben Carson's business manager fired back here on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARMSTRONG WILLIAMS, BEN CARSON'S BUSINESS MANAGER: Mr. Trump, which is very disturbing for us, sounded almost like a schoolyard bully, that if you say something I don't like, then I'm going to come after you and everything is on the table. And while we have tremendous respect for Mr. Trump and Dr. Carson has great admiration for Mr. Trump and all the candidates, Mr. Trump should understand that Dr. Carson is a neurosurgery - neurosurgeon and Dr. Carson will not be intimidated by Mr. Trump's words or his hitting below the belt. Dr. Carson will always challenge Mr. Trump and anyone else on the issues if he disagrees with them.

Do we plan to reach out to Mr. Trump? Absolutely not. Mr. Trump should reach out to Dr. Carson and apologize for what he said this morning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: All right. So this is one part of it. The other part is this. Have you seen "Rolling Stone" magazine. In their issue here, they're reporting that Trump was watching Carly Fiorina on TV with a reporter present. And so when you read this whole article, this is the part that's making the news today. He said, quote, "look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?"

So, Chris Cuomo this morning asked Donald Trump to explain what he was referring to. He defended himself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via telephone): But, Carly - the statement about Carly, I'm talking about her persona. Her persona is not going to be - she is not going to be president.

CHRIS CUOMO, ANCHOR, CNN'S "NEW DAY": Yes, but I don't know about that.

TRUMP: She had a terrible, terrible, failed time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: All of this as this brand-new CNN/ORC poll, out today, solidifies both Donald Trump and Ben Carson in the top two spots. Let's discuss. CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash is with me from Washington and national political reporter for "Real Clear Politics" Rebecca Berg is with me as well.

Ladies, it's getting nasty. Dana, let's get into some of this ping- ponging back and forth personal, OK doctor, you know, talking about faith back and forth. But before we do that, again, top two front runners, zero political experience, double digits, Donald Trump and Ben Carson.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Not only double digits, Brooke, but if you combine the percentages that both Donald Trump and Ben Carson get, it's over 50 percent, 51 percent. So a majority of Republican voters are saying that - are splitting between the two of them. Obviously Donald Trump, as he says, is getting a lot more. But that says a lot considering how big this field is, 17 declared Republican candidates. So, you know, it says a lot, and not just about those two but much more importantly about what the Republican electorate is looking for and that is somebody with no experience in Washington and, in this case, no experience in politics.

BALDWIN: Rebecca, we have you on because you were the one at that Ben Carson campaign event in Anaheim. You asked the question, started this whole, shall we call it a kerfuffle that's gone nasty? I mean what do you make of what's at play here, the back and forth, and how surprised are you by Donald Trump on with Chris Cuomo this morning, you know, hitting back and defending himself?

[14:05:08] REBECCA BERG, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, REAL CLEAR POLITICS: I mean, frankly, Brooke, I was much more surprised by Ben Carson's answer yesterday when I first asked him this question because Ben Carson, to this point in the campaign, has not been very confrontational, he's not been attacking the other candidates, especially not in the way that Donald Trump has been out there attacking these other candidates. But I was - and, you know, I didn't frame the question in the sense of him necessarily attacking Trump, but he took that route and he decided to take Trump to task. And so I was very surprised that he did so. I was not surprised that Donald Trump hit back.

BALDWIN: Why do you think he did that? Why - why on Ben Carson, why do you think he did that, so that we'd be talking about it today?

BERG: I don't think that was it so much as they have so far run basically parallel campaigns. So they have both been rising in the polls, both categorized as sort of these outsider candidates who have never run for office before. And so a lot of voters are lumping them together right now, out on the trail, even at the Ben Carson event yesterday. I've heard voters often say in the same breath, you know, these are the two candidates who I'm deciding between. And so now is the point when Ben Carson needs to say, this is what makes me different, this is why you should support me and not Donald Trump.

BASH: And to that -

BALDWIN: Go ahead, Dana.

BASH: And to that point, this is, I think, if you look deep inside CNN's new poll today, you kind of get a sense of why it was that issue that Ben Carson choose, not that that's (INAUDIBLE) difference (ph).

BALDWIN: Evangelicals. Trump is winning.

BASH: Evangelicals. Donald Trump says he's winning and, guess what, he is winning among Republican voters in the subset of evangelicals, even today in this brand-new poll. Ben Carson's not far behind. Donald Trump is at 32 percent and Ben Carson is at 28 percent. On its face, Ben Carson should be trouncing Donald Trump with evangelical voters because despite what Trump said today, he is known as somebody who is of deep faith, who speaks to evangelical voters. Where Rebecca was in Anaheim, that is a place where there are a lot of evangelical voters. That's why he was there. So I think there's - it's not a surprise and it's not a question about why Carson choose that. Those are his voters on paper and he wants to get them back from Trump.

BALDWIN: You know, Rebecca, I've started making a list of people who have jabbed back, especially over Trump's comments over what - you know, what he told "Rolling Stone" about Carly Fiorina. Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Hillary Clinton and now Bobby Jindal. Bobby Jindal taking shots. Hear what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOBBY JINDAL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump is for Donald Trump. He believes in nothing other than himself. Look, he's not a liberal. He's not a moderate. He's not a conservative. He's not a Democrat. He's not a Republican. He's not an independent. Donald Trump is for Donald Trump. He's not for anything. He's not against anything. Issues don't mean anything to him. Policies, ideals, they're not important to him. He is for Donald. Donald Trump is a narcissist and he's an egomaniac.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Narcissist and egomaniac. Now I understand, to your point, Rebecca, why Carson hit back on faith, right? But with regard to a Bobby Jindal, a Jeb Bush, a Hillary Clinton, it has to be about traction in the headlines.

BERG: Oh, absolutely, Brooke. I mean I would compare what Jindal just said in that clip to what Rick Perry was saying a few weeks ago at a similar venue in Washington, D.C., trying to get press. Obviously Jindal has been in single digits in the polls and so he isn't really gaining any traction, hoping that maybe the media, us, right now will pay attention to him because he's talking about Donald Trump. And maybe there's something to that.

BALDWIN: It works. We're talking about him.

BERG: But we saw with Rick Perry that it didn't really turn around his campaign. But with Rick Perry, I mean, obviously, it didn't do very much for him. His campaign is broke. He isn't really paying his tab. He isn't - he hasn't been helped in the polls at all. So we'll see if it works for Bobby Jindal any more than it did for him.

BASH: Yes, Rebecca, I agree with you, there is a difference, though, in the content of what Bobby Jindal said today and what not only Rick Perry, as you point out, but also Jeb Bush in the past couple of weeks has been hitting. They attacked his conservativism. They attacked how much of a Republican he really is. I think Perry called him a cancer on conservativism.

That's not what Jindal did today. He got personal.

BALDWIN: Yes.

BASH: He got direct. And that was not an accident. Jindal did that on purpose because he does not think that this attack on his conservative principles and ideals - that obviously didn't work. And the way to get at it is to show, from his perspective, that the emperor has no clothes, he's not the real deal, he's not really going to do what he says he's going to do and he says he's going to keep doing this and he's going to keep hitting him on this and the only way to get at him is with a sustained attack on him personally and on his character and who he really is.

So that's going to be the difference. We'll see if Donald Trump responds. If he doesn't, that could be a - that could be a bigger ouch.

[14:10:03] BALDWIN: Who knows. I guess you've been a referee. Jake Tapper's going to be the referee next Wednesday as well.

Dana and Rebecca, thank you both.

Just reminding all of you, man, it is personal now. This is going to spill over onto that stage. The Republican presidential candidates facing off back-to-back in those debates next Wednesday night, September 16th, 6:00 and 8:00 Eastern only here on CNN. This is must much television, folks. And tonight, CNN will reveal the lineup, which Republican candidates will be at the debate. Find out tonight live on "AC 360" with Anderson, 8:00 Eastern here on CNN.

Coming up next, on high alert now, this serial sniper may be on the loose in Arizona. At least 10 vehicles targeted by gunfire. And just today, a possible 11th incident now being investigated.

Plus, a tennis superstar tackled by police here in New York. It turns out they really got the wrong guy. You're about to hear from James Blake himself.

And coming up, the most emotional, raw interview I have ever done. I spent my evening in Washington, D.C., last night, sat down with these 40 people, survivors, personally impacted by gun violence. See and feel what happened when they all came together for the first time in the very same room. Stay here.

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[14:15:30] BALDWIN: This is CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Police are hunting for a gunmen who has turned a busy stretch of Arizona highway into a shooting gallery. At least 10 vehicles in the Phoenix area have been hit over the past 11 days, four of them just in the past two. No one has been killed. One girl was hurt. Most of these incidents have been happening along Interstate 10 near downtown. Police hope a $20,000 reward will lead to an arrest.

James Fitzgerald is a retired criminal profiler with the FBI who was one of the investigators involved in that D.C. sniper case that just terrorized the area back in 2002. He's with me now from Washington.

James, thanks so much for coming back.

JAMES FITZGERALD, FORENSIC LINGUIST: Hi, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Hi. When you hear about all these details and possibly an 11th now today, if you put yourself in the shoes of the folks in Arizona, what exactly would you be looking to, to link this to?

FITZGERALD: Yes, these are some of the tough cases to solve because the police don't even know a crime was committed until sometimes 10 minutes, maybe even a half an hour later. So the crime scene could be completely cleared out from evidence. Of course the offender himself would be gone. What I would see as a priority right now is talking to the public. Obviously doing crime scene searches, forensic and ballistic sort of matches, they're all paramount. But as far as a corollary to all of that is - is talking to the public and putting out specific days, times that these events occurred to the best they can do this. Even the description of cars, et cetera, that were struck. But also, you know, who own as rifle, who's been buying ammo lately, who's been going off to ranges and that they could somehow, somebody could identify someone in their life, a co-worker, a relative who meets all these criteria, the police may start getting some leads.

BALDWIN: What is the biggest clue? What really is the number one, you know, something that could help police with a true lead?

FITZGERALD: Well, the first thing would be the ballistics.

BALDWIN: Yes.

FITZGERALD: I would want to know what type of rifle, what kind of firearm is being used. And if it's more than one, there's some intimation that there may be more than one weapon. I don't know that for sure yet. But that is certainly a factor that the police want to codify and confirm as soon as they could.

I'd also want to try to find the crime scenes and look for these spent cartridges, perhaps left on the scene. If they are removed by the offender, that shows a level of sophistication that we haven't always seen with these guys. The D.C. snipers left ammo behind or some of these spent cartridges. They even left notes and letters behind. This guy, at least so far as we know in the public, have not done that yet.

BALDWIN: Nothing. Nothing. James Fitzgerald, thanks so much.

Coming up next, an interview you cannot miss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It tears you apart. You don't go - it's nine years for me and I'm still suffering every single day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Last night, I was in Washington, D.C., with all 40 of these people. These are fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles whose lives have been forever changed. Their powerful stories will move you. This could happen to any of us. Stay here.

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[14:22:40] BALDWIN: Thank you so much for being with me today.

I just want to share with you what really, in my 16 years of journalism, has been the most emotional, raw interview I think I've ever done. You know we cover tragedies in America. And months and years later, the ones who have suffered are left behind without the cameras, left behind to survive to just keep breathing.

And so last night I was in Washington, D.C., and I sat down with the loneliest club. Forty people brought together because of loved ones, because of this young woman, this young man, and this woman here. So many stories to tell. People who have lost loved ones to gun violence. Others who have survived gun violence. They are on Capitol Hill today to demand that lawmakers do whatever it takes to stop gun violence in this country.

And no matter where you stand in this debate, these people were living their lives normally, just like all of us. And then their lives changed forever. Over the course of the next two hours, I am going to share with you how they told me about the phone calls they received, the struggles they cope with each and every day, and the surprising connection, soulmates I heard on more than one occasion last night, they have made with one another.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You are all connected through great, awful tragedy. And I am honored to be in a room with you all. And I just wanted to begin - I know a lot of you all brought photos of people. This is the reason why you're here. And I just want to take a moment to see them all. Would you hold the photos up for me? All these faces. All these faces, this is why you're here and this is why this conversation is so important.

You can put the photos down for now.

Show of hands, how many people were affected by Aurora. Aurora. How about Sandy Hook? Virginia Tech? How about - how many of you, show of hands, were affected by a story that wasn't the front page of the paper the next day? How many people in here lost someone near and dear to them? How many people in here own a gun? How many people - final question - believe in hope for change?

[14:25:10] You show all these photos. I want to hear a little bit about some of these folks.

Roxanna, to you first.

ROXANNA GREEN, DAUGHTER CHRISTINA KILLED AT REP. GABBY GIFFORDS' EVENT: Hi, my name is Roxanna Green. My daughter, Christina Taylor Green, was murdered on January 8th. She was nine years old, a third grader. She was waiting in line to visit and talk with her congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords. And, unfortunately, she was shot in the back, through the heart, and died immediately.

BALDWIN: In a couple of words, what was her essence?

GREEN: She wanted to be the first female president of the United States. And also the first Major League pitcher, female pitcher, to play in the big leagues. She was an amazing little girl. She was beautiful. She was brave. She was strong and I miss her every day.

BALDWIN: How about pass the microphone to your right. How about you two?

JACOB MOHLER, DAUGHTER BROOKLYNN WAS KILLED BY FRIEND PLAYING WITH A GUN: My wife sometimes has a hard time talking. Jacob and Darchel Mohler. We lost our daughter, Brooklynn, to what they called an accidental shooting. Her best friend was playing with her father's gun that he left in a kitchen cabinet. She was shot in the back from about 15 feet away. She wasn't playing with the gun, but we were just told it was an accident.

BALDWIN: Tell me about her.

MOHLER: You know, I think some people have revisionist history when they lose somebody. She was really the genuine article. She was a marathon runner, a competitive gymnast, honor roll student. You know, the only child of the three that we never had to tell to clean her room or anything. She just - she was really just, in her heart, just a really, really good kid.

BALDWIN: How about one more to your right.

CLEMMIE GREENLEE, SON RODRIGUEZ MURDERED IN NASHVILLE: My name's Clemmie Greenlee. My son was 29 years old. He was a murdered December the 8th, 2003. And that's when I really found out what the word "gangs" mean. And I know they say guns don't kill but people do, but I do feel like they get them so plentifully and so easily out here in this world and in our communities that it could have been prevented on a lot of us if they weren't easily gotten.

BALDWIN: Lucy.

LUCY MCBATH, SON JORDAN WAS VICTIM IN "LOUD MUSIC" TRIAL: I was visiting with my family for Thanksgiving in Chicago and I had just talked to Jordan Thanksgiving Day and he was really excited about going to the mall the next day and shopping with his friends. And he made phone calls to all of his friends on Thanksgiving Day to tell them that he loved them and that he was so thankful to God that they were his friends. And then the next day, I received a phone call that said Jordan had been murdered simply for playing loud music in his car. And every fear that you have as a parent, every fear that you have that they'll be hurt while driving or be in an accident, it all comes crashing down on you at one time. And I remember I was just completely numb.

BALDWIN: Where's Tom? Tom, Aurora. I want to hear from you.

TOM SULLIVAN, SON ALEX KILLED IN AURORA THEATER SHOOTING: That day was Alex's birthday. And I remember I woke up that morning - I worked at the post office. Had to be to work early. So when I got up in the morning, I would turn the TV on. And we had had it on a news channel and I saw the flashing lights, I saw a movie and that I placed the call, you know, to him and said, hey, I've seen this - this is going on. You know, give me a call when you get up. You know, your mom's going to be worried. And before I hung up, I wished him a happy birthday because that was his birthday.

BALDWIN: Twenty-seven?

SULLIVAN: Yes, he was 27. Yes.

And, you know, then I - I headed on into work and I actually drove right by the theater and could see the helicopters and I could hear the sirens and I called him again and, you know, said, hey, you know, I'm going to keep calling you every half hour until you, you know, get back to me. And I went to work and proceeded to do that until my wife finally called me at 6:30 that morning and I tried to calm her down and said, you know, oh, I've been calling him, but she yelled at me over the - you know, into the phone that, you know, Alex had been shot. And we got into action.

BALDWIN: It's these phone calls, you remember where you were, you remember what the day was like, you remember who called, the time of day.

[14:29:51]