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New Poll Has Donald Trump Leading in Iowa; Bernie Sanders Seeks Support from Black Voters in South Carolina; No Prime Suspect in Phoenix Highway Shootings; Kentucky Clerk Files Appeal to Delay Marriages; James Blake Speaks About Encounter with New York Police Officer; Cop Who Tackled James Blake Had Prior Complaints; Raging Wildfire Threatening Community in Butte County; Aired 1-2p ET

Aired September 12, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:01] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Over 200 people were also injured. Officials believe powerful winds from a storm blew that crane down.

And we have so much more in the NEWSROOM. And it all starts right now.

All right. Hello, again. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right. A huge day in politics with Republican frontrunner Donald Trump set to speak in Iowa in just a few minutes. Huge day. He is in that politically key state with many of his GOP rivals. And Democrat Bernie Sanders is rallying his supporters in another crucial state, South Carolina.

We have full coverage of all the rallies taking place. CNN's Nia- Malika Henderson is in South Carolina. Sara Murray is following Trump in Iowa.

So let's begin with you, Sara. So four days away from the debate. What's the main focus for Donald Trump and there are three other Republicans in Iowa as well, right? What's the focus for them?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Sure. Donald Trump is going to be having an event here in Boone, Iowa, starting in just a few minutes. And the Trump bus just drove through a parade in town. He's now with volunteers up here signing up people, making sure they caucus. Sort of the bread and butter of campaigning in Iowa. But he's going to have a whole lot of company when we move on to this tailgate and Aim.

We're expecting to see Senator Rand Paul, Senator Marco Rubio, and Scott Walker. All working the crowd at this tailgate trying to get voters on board. Latest polls show Donald Trump with a pre-commanding lead which is bad news if you're Scott Walker. He was banking heavily on winning Iowa to carry him to victory. So I'm sure we'll see a lot of hustle from him today as well.

WHITFIELD: At. So let's also bring in to the equation here, CNN senior political reporter, Nia-Malika Henderson. So, Nia, you're at the Sanders event there in Columbia, South

Carolina. His message has really been one to resonate with the middle class he says, and to people of color and the inequities as it pertains to education and wealth disparities as well.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. He got a crowd of about 1,000 people here at Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina. This is a historically black university. And his campaign very much sees this as the kickoff to a broader and bigger effort to really attract African-American voters to his candidacy. He has struggled with that. Hillary Clinton is out front. If you look at some of the most recent polls out of South Carolina, she has a base here of African-American support.

Bernie Sanders, still largely unknown. But at this event he had Cornell West, Dr. Cornell West, of course, is a prominent academic to introduce him. West referred to him as "Dear Brother Bernie Sanders" and said that Bernie Sanders is on the move and that he's going to win. That drew a lot of applause from this crowd.

I talked to people before the event and then after the event. Some of them didn't know much about Bernie Sanders beforehand. And after I talked to them and they said that they liked what had he had to say about reforming of the criminal justice system, about giving people more access to college by making it more affordable, free in fact. So he has done himself I think a lot of good in this state with this key group, African-Americans, who will be the majority of voters come February in this state's primary.

WHITFIELD: And this is what Bernie Sanders had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Racism remains alive today, and our goal together must be to end all forms of institutional racism and make major reforms in our criminal justice system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So Nia, you know, and Sara, also with us still in Iowa, the two candidates stumping today that we are showcasing here cannot be more different. You've got non flashy here in talking these social issues here for Bernie Sanders and then in Iowa, Donald Trump who is flashy and he's not at all apologetic about it. But you know it really is his personality that is upstaging any kind of messages.

So, Sara, I wonder, you know, how does Donald Trump kind of try to strike the balance? At what point will he feel like he needs to strike some balance with the flash, you know, and the entertainment value and some substance or real specificity on issues?

MURRAY: You know, I think that Donald Trump's campaign feels like it's already doing everything right. They're leading in all the polls, they're holding these really big events, which is very uncharacteristic for this early in Iowa. You know, we usually see candidates do a little bit more glad-handing. And I think they sort of feel like the entertainment value works to Donald Trump's advantage. They don't have a traditional candidate and they're not trying to run a traditional campaign.

You know, when they try to recruit volunteers in a place like Iowa they go to a beer fest in addition to a local GOP meeting. So I think they're happy to run a totally different campaign. And I think the people who are running against him are hoping that their attacks on him, saying he's not substantive, he's not a real conservative, will ultimately be able to break through. Particularly if you're Jeb Bush and you have $100 million to put behind those attacks.

[13:05:15] WHITFIELD: And then, Nia, you know, we heard from Bernie Sanders at the top of his speech in South Carolina. It wasn't necessarily a jab but he did, you know, implore to people that, you know, let's talk about what's important. Don't be distracted by the, you know, news about the latest person to slip on a banana, et cetera. And he essentially was, was he not, talking about the entertainment value that has come with being on the campaign trail, and that he is not going to engage in that?

HENDERSON: That's right. And he in some ways was criticizing us, the press, for sort of treating this like a horse race, in seizing on what people say and covering that. He said at one point that he was sort of sorry that he didn't have any jokes, that he wanted to sort of bore people with the facts. His sort of -- his campaign style is almost lecturing, it's almost professorial. And that's the kind of substance at least of this crowd like.

I think the sort of energy and the fire very much was brought by Dr. Cornell West today who likened Bernie Sanders to Martin Luther King. At one point he talked about John Coltrane and said we should join the love train which is the Bernie Sanders campaign. So I think they're going to see a lot more of Cornell West on this campaign trail. They're meeting later with African-American leaders throughout this state.

So this is really a test for Bernie Sanders' campaign. Can he get African-American to vote for him? Hillary Clinton relying on African- American voters particularly in the south in the way that Obama did in 2008 to carry her to victory. But Bernie Sanders is not giving up.

WHITFIELD: Wow. All right. Nia-Malika Henderson and Sara Murray, thanks to both of you, ladies. Appreciate it.

And of course be sure to tune in to CNN, just a few days away. The Republican presidential debate live right here and online from CNN, Wednesday, September 16th, starting at 6:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Now police in Phoenix say they are still looking for a prime suspect in a string of highway shootings. But they do have a person of interest in custody.

Next, we go inside the police investigation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [13:10:29] WHITFIELD: All right. A possible new development today in the hunt for the Arizona freeway shooter. In just the last couple of hours, a police spokesman told CNN that the person of interest detained yesterday is not a prime suspect in the investigation.

Over the last two weeks, 11 vehicles have been struck by bullets or projectiles on or around Interstate-10 which runs right through the heart of Phoenix.

I wanted to bring in Mary Ellen O'Toole. She is a former FBI special agent and profiler. Good to see you.

MARY ELLEN O'TOOLE, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: So help us understand what is the potential personality behind someone arbitrarily targeting people on roads and highways?

O'TOOLE: Sure. In this case after looking at it and being quite familiar with the Phoenix area, the area itself is fairly central to these shootings. So someone familiar with that area. The shooter is really taking a lot of risks because he's doing multiple shootings every time he goes out to shoot. It's pretty impulsive behavior as well. So I think we're looking at somebody that's a lot younger. And we're looking at someone where alcohol or drugs could also be involved.

And if you have a youthful shooter who's now having fun and enjoying this, you've got someone who is, number one, he's following it in the media because he can't stick around long enough to see even if the car notices that they've been shot. And number two, a more youthful offender will talk about it, will brag about what they're doing.

WHITFIELD: And then it sounds like you have some familiarity with that area or with that highway. So then aren't there cameras on a lot -- you know, of the great spans of that highway, wouldn't it seem to be that this person, if it's just one or several, has some familiarity with the positioning of these cameras so as not to be captured?

O'TOOLE: Well, I wouldn't say that because if they are dealing with someone who's reckless, who's youthful, who's taken a lot of risks, cameras could be there. Cameras don't have to be there. This is someone that's not that sophisticated when it comes to, you know, forensic evidence. So I don't think that they really care about it.

WHITFIELD: And what about the time of day? When you talk about this risk behavior, almost maybe thrill seeking --

O'TOOLE: Sure.

WHITFIELD: You know, what about how investigators try to evaluate the time of day? What kind of commonalities there are with all of these shootings?

O'TOOLE: Sure. The times of days -- the time of the day includes the early morning hours, later morning, and then evening. There's no middle afternoon shootings. At least that they're putting out in the media. But frankly, we don't know the extent of the shooting because he's probably out there shooting much more than the investigators can really corroborate because he's missing targets. In these kind of cases you have to assume that he's missing targets.

So they're looking at that in terms of what could this mean in terms of maybe employment, what does this mean in terms of surveillances that were setting up, in terms of police presence. And that's the other thing. There's a tremendous police presence in this case. And still you have the shooter coming right back out there and engaging in the same behavior. So that again is very reckless behavior. And it strikes of someone that is immature and youthful and is throwing all caution to the wind.

WHITFIELD: Interesting. All right. Fascinating stuff and very frightening, too.

Mary Ellen O'Toole, appreciate it.

O'TOOLE: You're welcome.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jail wasn't enough to stop a Kentucky clerk from fighting against same-sex marriage. Next, how Kim Davis will try to -- well, she'll be returning to work within the next 48 hours. And we're going to find out how she's going to treat her job once she gets back.

And we're waiting for Republican frontrunner Donald Trump to speak in Iowa. We'll have that for you when it begins.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:18:13] WHITFIELD: All right. Checking our top stories.

In Saudi Arabia, at least 107 people dead after a crane crashed through the roof of Mecca's Grand Mosque. It was very crowded as this happened during the days leading up to Muslim pilgrimage known as Hajj. Over 200 people are also injured. And officials believe powerful winds from a storm blew the crane down.

And Subway says it has completed its own investigation into the former pitch man Jared Fogle. Fogle agreed to plead guilty to child pornography charges and to crossing state lines to pay for sex with minors. Subway says they have reviewed over a million customer comments and only found one serious complaint about him. But it says there was, quote, "nothing that implied anything about sexual behavior or criminal activity involving Mr. Fogle."

A plane, a small carrying crew members from a new Tom Cruise film crashed in Columbia killing two people. Universal Pictures say that the crew had just wrapped up filming. Pilot Alan Purwin was confirmed as one of the people killed. Purwin was also known for his incredible sweeping aerial shot in many Hollywood films. He had even appeared in cameo roles as a pilot in movies like "Jurassic World" and "Zero Dark Thirty".

And a judge has denied an appeal from controversial Kentucky clerk Kim Davis. Her lawyers had requested another delay in issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Well, Davis was released from jail under the conditions that she cannot interfere with the deputies in her office providing licenses to same-sex couples. And if she defies those conditions, the judge said he will throw her back in jail. She's supposed to go back to work on Monday.

Nick Valencia joining me now with the very latest. So what are you learning about the strategy, the plan in place, what does she intend to do Monday?

[13:20:05] NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This appeal was filed on Friday by her attorneys in the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. A lower court denied this appeal so they're going to a higher court to try to get a resolution there. But essentially what her attorney is arguing is that all those who are seeking same-sex marriage licenses from Kim Davis they've all received them. So once she returns to work on Monday, she should not be required, according to her attorney, to issue any licenses or her office should not be required to do so either.

What they really want here is they want her name removed from same-sex marriage licenses. They want the authority taken away from her Clerk of the Court office there. And they believe that this district court has the authority to do that. The district court in this lower court said that he doesn't. They've kicked it up to a higher court. Davis, of course, has remained steadfast in her religious beliefs essentially saying that she would rather break the law than violate her own moral conscience.

That's said morality has caused her five days in jail. Just released on Tuesday after several days. That judge has been very clear, though, Fredricka, that when she goes back to work, if she chooses not to issue these licenses, that she's going to go right back to jail. So her attorneys are hoping to get a resolution by Monday. But she's putting herself at risk.

WHITFIELD: Is there some belief that she will take on a different role as she returns to the same job with the same title and someone else -- we mentioned deputies will be administering the licenses. Is it the case that she just -- there is a physical distance between she and any dispensing of licenses, approval, et cetera?

VALENCIA: Well, seven same-sex marriage licenses have been issued during that time that she was in jail. When she goes back to her job, it's our understanding that she's going to have the same job responsibilities, same authority. She doesn't want her name on these licenses. It really comes to her religious beliefs.

And we saw how many people were descending on this little small town in Kentucky. You had Republican presidential candidates Mike Huckabee, also Ted Cruz there putting her -- putting their support behind her saying, you know, essentially she's a martyr, that she's a Christian martyr here and that it's their belief, it's Christian beliefs here in this country that are being persecuted. They don't believe that she should have to go through with this. Of course she's an elected official, though, Fredricka. WHITFIELD: Right.

VALENCIA: You know, she --

WHITFIELD: And there was an oath of office. She has to --

VALENCIA: She's -- an oath in office. She's supposed to uphold the law.

WHITFIELD: Swear to uphold the law.

VALENCIA: Now we'll see what happens on Monday. She's going back to work. Still the drama continues around this case.

WHITFIELD: OK. Thanks so much. Keep us posted.

VALENCIA: You bet.

WHITFIELD: Nick Valencia, appreciate that.

VALENCIA: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: All right. Still ahead, former tennis star James Blake, right there body slammed by a New York police officer in a sting gone wrong? Will Blake sue the city of New York?

CNN's Don Lemon asked him the questions. We'll have that for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Mortgage rates were mixed this week. Take a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:26:08] WHITFIELD: All right. Hello, again. And welcome back.

Former tennis star James Blake just told CNN that he is undecided on whether he will file any lawsuits against the city of New York. Blake was wrongfully arrested and tackled this week in what police are calling a sting operation gone wrong. You see it on videotape right there. NYPD releasing this new surveillance video showing the violent take down as Blake was waiting outside a hotel before an appearance at the U.S. Open. And we're now learning that the officer involved in this incident has a history of excessive force complaints.

CNN's Don Lemon sat down with James Blake last hour and he said what happened to him is not uncommon. And he believes the officer should be fired.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAMES BLAKE, FORMER TENNIS STAR: You know, I've seen it a few times now. And they talk about being sensitized when you see something a lot. And I'm definitely not at that point because it still strikes a nerve and it's still so frustrating and angering to see how vulnerable I was and what he did with that. And to be a police officer you're given a lot of rights and you're certain powers, and then to abuse them is just wrong in my opinion.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Do you relive it?

BLAKE: I have relived it quite a few times. Yes. And just thinking about what could have happened, what I could have done differently, what I should have done, and what I'm glad I didn't do. I'm very glad that I looked at it as an instance where I thought it was someone coming up rushing to give me a hug or something or something positive. And that left me completely passive. Because I'm -- I think about what could have happened and I think about how scary it would have been, had I put my arms up, had I done the normal human reaction when someone coming at you, to defend myself.

Because it seemed like this person had an agenda with how this was going to go down. And if I had any sort of resistance, I wonder what could have happened. And if instead of having a bump and a bruise, I could have broken bones or concussion or even worse.

LEMON: And you may not be here. I mean, sadly.

BLAKE: Yes.

LEMON: But that's the reality of it.

BLAKE: Yes. And that to me makes me feel like it's an obviously a negative situation, but I'm trying to think about a lot of the positives and one of those is that I completely didn't resist. The first time in my life when I'm 100 percent cooperating. And that was to put my hands behind my back and do whatever he said.

LEMON: Did you do that because of what you have seen in the media? Because we talk about this so much.

BLAKE: Yes.

LEMON: And we saw the Eric Gardner video. We see what's happening across the country. Was that why?

BLAKE: Yes. And I was aware of that in the media that a lot of times the reason for things going wrong, the claim is that there's a miscommunication. That they thought someone was resisting, they thought he was reaching for something. They thought something was going on and just a complete miscommunication. So I made sure there was no miscommunication. I'm 100 percent cooperating, whatever you say.

LEMON: Having dealt with the situation similar to that, you're in shock. It's so shocking because at first you thought you were getting a hug.

BLAKE: Yes.

LEMON: I had a situation where I thought I was getting mugged. BLAKE: Yes.

LEMON: And people say. You know, these things happen. They don't happen very often.

BLAKE: Yes.

LEMON: Do you think they happen more often than we think they do?

BLAKE: Sadly I do think they happen a lot more often. But I think it's from a minority of the police force. I think there's the majority that are doing great police work that are true public servants, that are keeping the public safe and doing the job the way they're supposed to. And unfortunately the media attention is given to this very dangerous minority that is out there with a badge and using that as a shield to do whatever they want.

And I also think it happens more often because this never would have been filed as a report if I hadn't gone to press. His superior officers never -- wouldn't have known anything went on and that to me is extremely scary. You wonder how many times this has happened without anyone knowing.

LEMON: And you don't know. Right? And so, again, we don't know how often it happens. And I think, even though the records are not clear, it still happens to black and brown people more than it happens to any other -- statistically, proportionate. It's not because, you know, people commit more crimes. It happens to black and brown especially young men more often than anyone else.

The police commissioner has said that he doesn't believe that it has anything to do with race. Here is on CNN's "NEW DAY." Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[13:30:05] BILL BRATTON, NYPD POLICE COMMISSIONER: Sorry. Race has nothing at all to do with this. If you look at photograph of the suspects, it looks like the twin brother of Mr. Blake. So let's put that nonsense to rest right now. Race has nothing to do with this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: So he says race has nothing to do with it. Your mom says, I'm glad he took the path of least resistance. She said, it could have gotten really ugly. You don't think about them as being black until this kind of thing throws it back on you.

She thinks it has something to do with race. He says it doesn't. Do you?

BLAKE: You know, I think the race issue is a huge issue. I don't think it's appropriate for this incident because I think this incident needs to be more about the force and the fact that this can't be used and these kind of police officers can't be encouraged to be back out on the streets. I think the issue of race is a bigger one for a whole different

interview. And I don't want to like muddy this situation, muddy this incident, that really needs to create change in the police brutality, in the accountability of these police officers with the racial issue.

I think there's probably -- there probably is a gray area with Bill Bratton being so clear one way and my mom being so clear the other way. I'm sure there's a gray area somewhere in the middle that we could talk about. But I think that's for really a different discussion.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Whether or not race was a factor in James Blake's wrongful arrest is still under investigation. But what is becoming more clear is that the officer involved in this incident has a history of excessive force complaints.

Joining me right now to talk about this is CNN's Boris Sanchez.

So, Boris, the officer has been stripped of his gun and badge. He still has a job however. I mean, you heard James Blake, he says he doesn't believe he ought to be, you know, protecting and serving at all anymore. So tell us what has -- what has this officer face in terms of accusations of excessive force before?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know Officer James Frascatore has faced excessive force charges at least twice before. He's facing two civil suits for two separate incidents that took place in New York City in 2014. The first one, he's one of eight officers accused of racially profiling a man in Brooklyn. He's alleged to have put handcuffs on this person and then beat him and used racial slurs toward him.

In the second case, he's one of five officers accused of beating up a suspect that was riding his bicycle on the sidewalk. Interestingly CNN has learned that just yesterday, the city of New York has moved to try and settle both these cases. Of course Frascatore could be facing a third lawsuit. We heard James Blake talk about the fact that he's uncertain as to whether or not he may file his own suit against this officer. CNN has reached out to Officer Frascatore but he has yet to respond -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: OK. All right. Thank you so much, Boris Sanchez. Appreciate this.

All right. Wildfires raging in California have an entire town on edge. Officials are telling them, prepare to evacuate. Details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:36:42] WHITFIELD: All right. The entire town of San Andreas has been told to prepare to evacuate. A massive raging wildfire in Butte County, California, has exploded in size and is now larger than 64,000 acres. And it's now threatening more than 6,000 homes closing schools and cancelling athletic events. Leaving thousands of people without power as well.

Joining me on the phone now is the chief of public information for Cal Fire, Daniel Berlant.

All right, so give me an assessment. How were you all able to tackle this blaze, this threat?

DANIEL BERLANT, CALIFORNIA FIRE CHIEF PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER: This has been a very fast-moving wildfire. It's already charred now about 65,000 acres. Over 6,000 homes remain threatened by this fire. We've brought in a lot of firefighters from across the state to help protect those homes and also to battle this fire. But with the dry conditions we have across California, this fire has been explosive both in the size and just how quickly the fire has been able to grow.

WHITFIELD: And how were you able to execute this evacuation?

BERLANT: Well, we've been working very closely with the sheriff's department in the area, and law enforcement to get homeowners out of the area. There are, as I mentioned, 6,000 homes. So, you know, about 10,000 people that are impacted by this fire. But this fire has continued to grow at such a fast rate. It is threatening more and more homes. Now the community of San Andreas yesterday was put on an evacuation order, the entire community.

Fortunately the fire is now burning somewhat parallel to that town. So we were able to lift the evacuation and just make sure those residents were prepared should it change. But with the conditions as dry as they are here in late September, it would give the dry conditions that we've been experiencing. The fires burning as such an explosive rate. They continue to move closer and closer to thousands of homes throughout that area.

WHITFIELD: All right. Cal Fire's Daniel Berlant, thank you so much. All the best as you all try to get better control of this terrible threat. Appreciate it. And we'll be right back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:42:59] WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back to the NEWSROOM. Live pictures right now in Boone, Iowa. Donald Trump making his appearance there at a rally before making his way to Ames, Iowa, for a tailgate party. Right now let's just listen to what he has to say.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And you know, that's something I hear these politicians, I just can't stand hem anymore. And somebody said you're a politician. I said please, for three months I've been a politician. Do you believe it? All my life I've dealt with politicians. You know, if you can't make it with a politician, you might as well give up. I've spent my whole life. I help them, they'll do whatever. You know, it's -- the whole thing is -- I hope we don't have too many politicians. We'll exclude the people that are in this audience.

But I'm now a politician which is crazy to me. It's crazy. I actually had something -- I had jury duty. Do you believe it? All of a sudden they give me for jury duty. And I -- it said occupation. And I guess I'm supposed to say politician but I put down real estate. I can't do the politician. But politicians are all talk, there are no action. They go to Washington, they tell you they're going to do all these things. And they never get done.

And then you have some people, you think oh, these are my people. These are great. This guy or this woman is going to be fantastic. They go to Washington and they change. They see the beautiful ceilings, the vaulted ceilings, they see the beautiful marble columns. And something happens. I say they become impotent. Is that a correct word to use? They become impotent. Something happens to them.

When they're back in Iowa and when they're back in New Hampshire, and South Carolina. We're winning in all of these states. We're winning everywhere. We just got a poll, Georgia, Florida. How about in Florida, you have a governor from Florida and you have a senator who's actually a sitting senator, and I'm leading in Florida by a lot. I mean, can you believe it? Because people -- and I'm leading the pack. I will tell you. Well, the people, people are tired of incompetence. They're tired of people that don't get it done.

[13:45:09] And you look at our budget. It's massive. It's massive. Somebody like Jeb Bush is in favor of Common Core meaning your children are educated from Washington, D.C. Who could want this? And you know when you listen to these people like the Common Core people, they can't explain it. There's no justification.

If I'm in Iowa and if I have my children in Iowa, I want local education. The local teachers and the local administrators will do a better job. Then you have people -- so I came out as you know with my immigration plan. And I'll tell you what, it's been really well received, better than I thought. And I thought it was a little bit stringent, a little tough. And a lot of people think, oh, could you make it tougher?

It's true. But it is a pretty firm plan. If you're illegal -- if you're illegal, you've got to go back. You've got to go back. Now if somebody is great and they've been here for a long time, I don't think we can -- and I can't live with doing anything, we can move it. We can move the process. You have people that have been here a long time. But they've got to go back. They've got to. We've got to build a wall and we've got to get rid of the bad ones. We've got some real bad ones.

You know, a lot of the gangs that you've been reading about in these different places including like Chicago and -- a lot of the places. Not to mention names, but a lot of the places, they're illegals. And they're tough dudes. They're tough. They're out of here.

I'll tell you what, before I even get the wall started, they're gone the first day. One of the first things, they're gone. They're gone.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

So we're going to take back our economy. Right now, if you look at what's going on, trains like this, they're going. And you know where the stuff is going? Goes to China. They don't pay us. We pay no tax. You know the whole thing with the tax. A friend of mine who's a great manufacture. He sends stuff to China. He has to pay a fortune in tax when they take his product. They don't even take his -- they don't want it. And yet, they send and we're stupid. We take everything. No tax, no this, no that.

I like free trade. But when you have free trade, you have to have smart people, smart negotiators. We don't have those people. We don't have those people. And believe me, if I'm elected, I know the smartest. I know the toughest, I know the meanest. Some are just horrible human beings. They are. They're horrible. You would not have dinner with them. I tell you. This gentleman here who's a great vet. You wouldn't want anything. But you know what? I want them representing.

Do you agree with that? Or would you rather have a very nice person like Caroline Kennedy, right? She's representing us in Japan. She knows nothing. She admits she knows nothing. But we are going to have the toughest, the smartest. We're going to have people that are so good. We're going to have the greatest -- I know them all. I know the good ones, I know the bad ones, I know the overrated ones.

I know the ones that will really do a good job and keep friendly which I want. We'll have better relationships with China, Japan, Mexico. We'll have better relationships than we do right now. We don't have good relationships and they all rip us off. So last year -- I was just curious. And last year I said how much money do we lose with China, meaning what's our deficit? It's over $400 billion. Think of that. $400 billion. I said what do we lose, just out of curiosity, what do we lose with Japan? I was surprised. Not that bad. About $60 billion. Not that bad. Not bad. You know, we only lost $60 billion.

How would we like that -- Iowa would like $60 billion. You could -- there'd be no taxes for the rest of your lives, right? So, and by the way my tax plan is going to come out in about three or four weeks. And we're going to lower taxes especially for the middle class. We are going to make sure that my friends in the hedge fund business who make a fortune and pay virtually no tax they are going to start paying taxes. They're going to start paying taxes. I don't care. You know?

(APPLAUSE)

I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm spending my own money. When I fly here I spend my own money. I don't need their money. I don't want their money. And I feel so foolish because guys are coming up to me saying, I want to put millions of dollars, one guy, $5 million, and I'm turning him down. I say, I don't want it. I feel like -- honestly, can I use a bad term? I feel like a schmuck.

(LAUGHTER)

[13:50:02] No, I'm turning down millions of dollars. Bush, he's raised $125 million, $130 million. He gets it from China. He gets it from the Wall Street guys. He gets it from all of these companies. And once you get -- I love that sound. No, I love it. It's progress. But you know what, when I'm president that train is going to move a hell of a lot faster.

(LAUGHTER)

It's going too slow. No, it's true.

(APPLAUSE)

Well, no, that's because your engineer -- think of this, the engineer actually stopped because he wants to listen to the speech. Can you believe that? No, that sucker is going to be moving. It's going to be loaded up. And it's going to be -- I don't know where the hell it's going but it's going to be going fast.

So the hedge fund guys have to pay. Now they're supporting Hillary who may not get to the starting gate, folks, right? I don't know. She may not get -- I don't know. Who cares? It doesn't matter. I'm not worried about her. I'm worried about the first guys. You know, we -- Perry, isn't he a nice man? Mr. Perry, Governor Perry. He's gone. Good luck. He was very nasty to me, but you know yesterday I put out a tweet, I said he's a wonderful man and I wish him well.

People couldn't believe. But you know when you win, everybody is wonderful. Right? And I think he's -- I think he's actually a nice guy. But he dropped out. So we have a total of 16 people. So what I'm getting nationwide 32, one poll came out 40, but when I'm getting 32. It's sort of funny. I have a poll at 40. I have a poll at 32. And then I have these other polls, and you know, they're all like that. Winning in Iowa, winning in New Hampshire, winning every place by a lot.

And then I hear, here's the headline, Carly is surging. She's got 3 percent. I hear Ben, who is a nice guy. Ben Carson is a very nice man. He's surging, but he's way behind me. I say, well, what about me? I'm leading. They don't mention that. The headline is Carson surging. I keep saying what about Trump? I say, oh, well, you're leading, but, you know. And by the way, I'm surging much more than him. I'm surging more than anybody. Because, look, I mean, in all fairness to Ben, Ben hit me on my faith. You don't hit a person on faith.

I don't know him. He knows nothing about me. I'm protestant, I'm Presbyterian. I believe strongly. I believe in the bible strongly. But he hit me in my faith. No, I believe strongly. You know --

WHITFIELD: We're going to come right back to Donald Trump out of Boone, Iowa, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:56:21] WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta. You're looking at Donald Trump in Boone, Iowa. And he's saying being nice is not necessarily the attribute needed to be president. Let's listen in.

TRUMP: For real super confidence. We're tired with this nice stuff. We need people that are really, really smart and competent and can get things done. We need people --

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

We need people with an aggressive tone. And we need people with tremendous energy. And I'm your candidate. OK?

(CHEERS)

So just to finish off, this is a fantastic crowd. And I really appreciate it. And they said 10 minutes and I wanted to go much longer because so many people are standing out here and it's hot and all of that. But I have to tell you, I love Iowa. I really appreciate that you understand what's going on. The people of Iowa really do get it. They really do get it.

And I mean, look, you're hardworking people that really don't want anything. You just want to see this country be great again. And that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to make this country great again. I'm going to make this country greater than it has ever been before. Better. Enjoy. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Donald Trump to an enthusiastic crowd there in Boone, Iowa, saying everything from now he's embracing the fact that he's a politician but at the same time he's not a politician. And also expressing his likes and dislikes as it pertains to Common Core. He's an advocate of local education, not necessarily Common Core and his immigration plan he says is receiving a lot of great praise and that he likes free trade. He just kind of was very spontaneous, kind of off the cuff.

Let's talk more about his style, his content. Of course he had to have a few jabs at others. Even bringing Caroline Kennedy into the mix.

All right. Well, Democratic strategist Tharon Johnson is joining us from Miami and also we've got Jackie Gingrich-Cushman also with me here.

All right. Let's talk more about this. So, Jackie, I mean, he was all over the place. But this really is his style. He's dotting the map. But he is appealing to the crowd that turned out for him there in Boone.

JACKIE GINGRICH-CUSHMAN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Absolutely. And you notice what're really happening is, your network just did it. You just gave him 10, 12, 13 minutes on TV. He doesn't need all the money that the other candidates have because he gets all this media. But what he really talks about is he's going to have energy, which he obviously has. And he's going to get things done. And that's really his theme. I'm not a politician, I'm not like the other people. I'm going to get things done. So it's fascinating to watch. I'm actually rolled out.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Reminding people that, you know, when he was called up for jury duty and he made it clear he didn't seem like he's ever been called for jury duty. Now he's called for jury duty and asked the profession, instead of putting politician on there he put real estate.

GINGRICH-CUSHMAN: But I think one of things he's really done is he was able to articulate what people are thinking in that we do need to get things done. He says things that people have been scared to say. And they like his courage. Even if they don't agree with his policy or what little policy they can find they appreciate his courage and his ability to articulate in front of mass crowds that we can be great again, that we can be more and be better. And people are really responding to that.

WHITFIELD: OK. Sara Murray is also with us. CNN's Sara Murray, she's there in the crowd. You've been there with the crowd, Sara, for some time awaiting Donald Trump's arrival. So what was the response from people in the crowd when they heard him talking about everything, you know, from Common Core to his immigration plan to saying nice doesn't get you anywhere. He knows a few, you know, tough people but he knows they're going to get things done.