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Trump Breaks Silence Following Anti-Muslim Remarks; Clinton: Trump's Muslim Question: "Shocking, Not Surprising"; Police: Man Claims Child Was Possessed, Punched Her; Arizona Shooting Suspect In Court Today; Pope Francis En Route To Havana, Cuba; Bergdahl Investigator Says No Jail Time Warranted; Latest on Migrant Crisis in Europe. Aired 12-1p ET
Aired September 19, 2015 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Chris Cuomo will look at how Pope Francis became a rock star around the world. The CNN special report, "The People's Pope" airs this Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. We have more ahead in the NEWSROOM and it all starts right now.
Happening now, in the NEWSROOM, Donald Trump breaking his silence over anti-Muslim remarks, in a series of tweets, he says he is not morally obligated to defend the president against claims that he's a Muslim. And he adds, Obama has been horrible, I will be great.
Plus new details indicating that Joe Biden may jump into the race. Reports today that Biden's team is honing a campaign message hitting up donors, even hiring staff.
And an historic visit by Pope Francis, in just a few hours, he will be arriving in Cuba. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Hello and thanks for joining me. I'm Jim Sciutto. Fredricka Whitfield is off today. Thanks so much for joining us. We are following breaking news on a major political story.
Donald Trump breaking his silence with a series of tweets for the first time since he failed to correct a supporter who called President Obama a Muslim and seemed to insult Muslims in America in general.
Trump tweeting this morning, quote, "Am I morally obligated to defend the president every time somebody says something bad or controversial about him? I don't think so!"
He is scheduled to speak tonight in Iowa. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is at the Michigan Republican Leadership Conference on Mackinac Island. So Sunlen, Trump sending out this series of tweets. What else is saying about those now very controversial comments on Thursday?
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very controversial, Jim, and for days, Donald Trump has really been deflecting questions from reporters about this. His campaign only offering up the explanation that they believe he did not hear the question correctly.
But now, as you said, Trump really breaking his silence and pushing back in a much different way. I want to read you a series of these tweets that came in from Donald Trump this morning, where he said, quote, "This is the first time in my life that I have caused controversy by not saying something."
Next up, "If someone made a nasty or controversial statement about me to the president, do you really think he would come to my rescue?" And then this next one, the most explanation or excuse, I would say, that Donald Trump offers up about this moment at that New Hampshire town hall.
Tweeting, "If I would have challenged the man, the media would have accused me of interfering with this man's right of free speech, a no- win situation." And lastly, Trump adding, quote, "Christians need support in our country and around the world. Their religious liberty is at stake. Obama has been horrible. I will be great."
Now it's important to note, Jim, not only is there no apology in any of those tweets, but Trump really does not dispute any of the allegations that that New Hampshire voter said in that town hall, when he alleges that President Obama is a Muslim, that he's not American.
So, certainly, as Trump hits the campaign trail tonight in Iowa, these questions will be very much still swirling -- Jim.
SCIUTTO: He doesn't challenge the questions about Obama. He also didn't challenge the more general swipe at Muslims in general from the questioner, who seemed to say that Muslims were -- are a threat to the country. Thank you so much, Sunlen Miller, for joining us.
I want to talk about this more with Kayleigh McEnany. She is the founder of realreaganconservative.com. Kayleigh, although there is some criticism, we've come to expect this unapologetic behavior from Donald Trump. Do you think this will be a moment that could damage his polling?
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I don't think so. Donald Trump was silent in response to the questioner, as Donald Trump rightfully pointed out on his Twitter account. He had no obligation to defend the president. If the president wants to come out and defend himself, he can do that.
But Donald Trump was staying away from an issue, if anything. You know, the question certainly had some racist and nativist undertones, so why would Donald Trump mire himself in a discussion of this matter?
Instead, he laughed, he looked away, kind of dismissively gave an answer and moved on to the next question. That was the right move. There is no need for an apology here.
SCIUTTO: But you get right at the issue there because it wasn't just about the president. There was a racist comment about Muslims in general in the U.S. here. We saw in 2008 that now-famous moment of when John McCain challenged a questioner who questioned the president's faith.
Why not, if he's running for president, why not challenge a comment that tars, in effect, a whole faith, with the same brush. It's not just about defending the president. It's about defending a faith here, really.
MCENANY: You know, Donald Trump is not obligated to berate his supporter. If anything, move on to the next question. Get away from the topic. That's exactly what I would have done. I think several candidates would have done the same thing.
And the racist portion of it was one statement at the beginning. Donald Trump said he didn't hear that portion. We'll take him at his word for that.
[12:05:07] And as far as the president's faith goes, only one person knows the president's faith, and that's the president himself. If the president wants to defend his faith and where he stands, that's his job, not Donald Trump's job.
And like Donald Trump said, I don't think President Obama would be defending Donald Trump if the rolls would be reversed and someone at his campaign rally had said something about Donald Trump.
SCIUTTO: We've noticed not just Donald Trump's silence until today on this, but the silence of most of the GOP candidates on this, with the exception of Chris Christie, Lindsey Graham, who have criticized Trump's comments, and Rick Santorum, who effectively made the same argument that Donald Trump did, that it's not his obligation, the other candidates didn't say anything.
And I wonder, is there a political reason for that? Are candidates reluctant to challenge that point of view because they know that there's a portion of their supporters, their base, who believes it, and they might lose that base if they challenge it?
MCENANY: I don't think that's it at all. I think moats of the candidates are abiding by Reagan's 11th commandment, which is thou shall not attack a fellow Republicans. And I think a lot of them realize there's an effort to bring down Donald Trump.
One reason for that because he's beating Hillary Clinton in the polls, 45-40, beating Joe Biden in the polls, 42-40. Donald Trump is the frontrunner. People are rallying around him. There's an effort to bring him down and this is part of it. And the other candidates don't want to get mired in this back and forth against Donald Trump.
SCIUTTO: Is that an effort to bring a candidate down or is that just politics? I mean, you have Hillary Clinton facing tough questions and Chris Christie facing questions on his governorship of New Jersey. Aren't these the kind of questions that presidential candidate face when they run for the highest office in the land?
MCENANY: I would prefer that they be ask questions about the issues, but we are being sidetracked because entities like the Democrat National Committee look at something like this and come out with a statement that Trump's racism knows no bounds.
That is absurd to suggest that because Donald Trump was silent in response to a question, he's somehow racist and that knows no bounds. So when you have the DNC inserting itself into an situation like this, it is a concerted effort to bring him down.
SCIUTTO: Kayleigh McEnany, we appreciate you taking questions, answering the hard questions, and particularly taking time on a weekend. Thanks for joining us.
MCENANY: Thank you, Jim.
SCIUTTO: Donald Trump will be on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" with Jake Tapper. That is tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. Eastern, undoubtedly facing tough questions on this again.
And I want to go now to some news from the Democratic presidential hopeful. CNN's Suzanne Malveaux is in Manchester, New Hampshire, for the Democratic Party state convention there. Hillary Clinton speaking there just a short time ago in Manchester. Suzanne, what did we hear from her?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it really was quite incredible. The whole room erupted in applause. There was an incredible amount of energy, because you're talking more than 4,200 people here. More than 1,000 delegates, clearly a lot of Hillary supporters, Hillary Clinton supporters, but also a lot of Bernie Sanders supporters.
We just heard more from folks who are lifting up their signs here. But she certainly gave them a lot to work with. She spoke for more than 40 minutes. And I want to point out some of the new things we heard from her, some new lines.
Specifically, she went after all the GOP candidates, but she also specifically went after Trump. And we have heard just over the last couple of weeks, her getting more and more vocal, going after him, and going after him hard.
One thing she said is that Donald, she says, if you say "I cherish women," that doesn't help you. She says it's time to stop cherishing women, but to respect women. That got huge applause from the crowd.
She also said this regarding the controversy over his refusal to deal with those anti-Muslim comments at the town hall. She says, Trump has been trafficking prejudice and paranoia throughout this campaign. That's also a new line.
And then she went directly after his slogan, talking about making America great. And here's how she responded to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When you hear Mr. Trump saying he wants to make America great again, respond, America is great, we just need to make it work for all the people in our country again!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Jim, what's important to know is that she needs to excite this audience. She needs to excite the base and she still needs to get a lot of the moderates and independents. It is because who is winning in the state of New Hampshire, this critical primary state is Bernie Sanders, the last poll showing him at 43 percent to her 36 percent and that that is going to be a real problem for her.
The other person who comes into that poll is Joe Biden, the vice president, who has not even announced at 13 percent. So she has got to excite this base and she has got to excite those women and those moderate and those independents, if she's going to make a dent in this state because Bernie Sanders is ahead by four polls in this very critical state -- Jim.
SCIUTTO: I'm glad you mentioned Joe Biden. There's some new reporting in the "Wall Street Journal" saying he's getting closer. And CNN is reporting that really the ball hasn't moved. He's still considering it.
[12:10:05] But let me ask you this. In that room there, do you sense and feel a draft Biden momentum for this race?
MALVEAUX: There are some "Draft Biden" volunteers who set up a booth. They are giving out these stickers here, Jim, I don't know if you can see it here, but "I'm riding with Biden." there does seem to be an enthusiasm and excitement to get him into the race, as a possible alternative.
I want to point out, these are internal records, a document from a Biden super PAC called Draft Biden. And this is what they say. This is following Biden's appearance with Stephen Colbert, when he was very emotional about the potential of getting in after his son, Beau, died.
The super PAC saying that they saw an 800 percent increase in daily signups and website traffic also increasing by 600 percent. So that is what they're going on here. They see a tremendous interest, but, again, our political reporters saying that he is not yet made up his mind, but time is of the essence, because that window is quickly closing. He has got to make a decision in the next couple of months.
SCIUTTO: That first Democratic debate coming up in the middle of October. Susan Malveaux, thanks very much with the Democrats today.
And coming up next, disturbing new details in the death of Boston's Baby Doe, we are now learning how she may have died. We will go live to Boston, right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCIUTTO: There are disturbing new details in the death of Bella Bond, who until yesterday, was known simply as Baby Doe, police are now saying that the boyfriend of Bond's mother, Michael McCarthy, is responsible for her death. The toddler's mother, Rachelle Bond, is charged with accessory to murder after the fact.
Bella's remains were found on a Boston shoreline back in June. Our Sara Ganim joins me now from outside the home where Baby Bella lived. . Sara, what are the new details you're learning about her death? What are police saying?
SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Disturbing details, Jim. We're learning that Bella was punched by her mother's boyfriend, Mike McCarthy. He's now been charged with her murder.
[12:15:10] We're also learning from a law enforcement source that the tip that finally came into police to help them identify Baby Bella, to give that girl a name, that came from someone who was living with the family, who asked Bella's mother, Rachelle Bond, where's Bella? And her mother's response was that Bella was dead.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her name was Bella.
GANIM (voice-over): After nearly three months of investigation, Baby Doe finally has a name, Bella Bond.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bella, happy 2nd birthday, Monkey, yes! Yes! Whoo!
GANIM: This is Bella at her 2nd birthday. Friday, authorities revealed she's the mystery toddler whose composite picture captivated millions when she was found wrapped in a trash bag on a Boston shore in June.
DANIEL CONLEY, SUFFOLK COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: And the tragedy of her death is compounded by the fact that her short life ended not by illness or accident. But we believe by an act of violence in the very place where she should have felt safest, in her home.
GANIM: Authorities have determined earlier this year from pollen on her had polka dot pants that Baby Doe was likely from the Boston area. According to officials, it was a tip this week that led them on an intense 24-hour search resulting in the arrest of Bella's mother, Rachelle Bond, and her boyfriend, Michael McCarthy. McCarthy charged with murder and Bond charged with accessory after the fact.
CONLEY: We alleged that McCarthy caused Bella's death. That he did so intentionally, that he and Bond took specific steps to keep Bella's death a secret and to avoid prosecution.
GANIM: Neighbors say they remember a troubled household. According to CNN affiliates WHDH and WCBB, court documents show Rachelle Bond had an arrest record that included drugs and prostitution.
YESSIOMARA TORRES, NEIGHBOR: It's shocking and it's sad because she's so young for that to happen. I feel sorry for that little girl. She should have been in better hands.
GANIM: An official from the Department of Children and Families tells CNN that between 2001 and 2006, Rachelle Bond had her parental rights terminated for her two other children. The agency also said they had been in contact with Bella, twice in response to neglect.
The agency did not say why she was not removed from her mother's custody. Neither McCarthy nor Bond has issued any statement since their arrest. Officials say they are blaming each other for the child's death. It's still unclear exactly when or how she died.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GANIM: Jim, this is the house where Baby Bella lived. You can see a growing memorial here outside of it, with notes like, people hoping that Bella now can play house, dress up, baby dolls with the angels, doing things that little girls are supposed to do.
Both McCarthy and Bond expected in court for their first hearing on Monday. And officials telling CNN, there'll be more details about how and when she died at that hearing -- Jim.
SCIUTTO: You see those videos of her and it makes it so much more real, as always. Sara Ganim, thank you for covering a really, really difficult story.
A man police say terrorized drivers for weeks in Arizona faced a judge. Just in the last hour, police arrested, Leslie Allen Merritt last night after storming a Walmart.
They say he is the man who shot at passing vehicles along Interstate 10 in Phoenix, but police can only link him to four of the 11 shootings so far. It is possible there is another gunman or gunmen out there.
Let's bring in Nick Valencia. Nick, what is the latest on the investigation now?
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim, this arrest comes after nearly three weeks of terror in the Phoenix area, with the majority of those shootings happening along Interstate 10. Police were able to catch suspect, 21-year-old Leslie Allen Merritt Jr., matching him to the shootings with forensic evidence.
He tried to sell a .9-millimeter handgun at a pawnshop and police had put out be on the lookout for that type of weapon. When he tried to sell his gun, pawnshop owners called police and they were able to match that gun to four of the 11 shootings. Last night at a press conference, the Arizona Department of Public
Safety spoke about the possibility of there being more suspects on the loose.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLONEL FRANK MILSTEAD, ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: We have made an arrest in the I-10 shootings that occurred on August 29, that day, and on the morning of August 31, 2015. A subject is in custody because the weapon that he owned is forensically linked to these crimes. Are there others out there? Are there copy cats? That is possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VALENCIA: Merritt's father told police that he believes his son is innocent. He also told the media that he believes his son -- it's not simply in his character to do this. Police believe that they have the right man.
[12:20:06] He was arraigned in the last hour, Jim and according to his mug shot, he's being charged with discharging a gun, illegally, within the city limits -- Jim.
SCIUTTO: Nick Valencia, thanks for following this story for us.
Still to come, as Pope Francis is about to land in Havana Cuba, we'll tell you the story of a priest in Cuba who discovered a lost family connection there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SCIUTTO: Right now, Pope Francis beginning his historic trip to Cuba and the U.S. His plane left the Vatican a short time ago, making its way to Havana. At 4:00 p.m. Eastern, he lands in Cuba and will be greeted by the Cuban president, Raul Castro.
Tomorrow will be an even bigger day, when he holds mass for thousands of Cubans in Havana's Revolutionary Square. Afterwards, he will greet some 2,000 young people at a cultural center there. On Tuesday afternoon, he leaves Cuba for Washington, D.C.
Let's dig deeper into the pope's visit. We have CNN correspondent, Patrick Ottoman. He is live in Havana. It's estimated that more than half of Cuba's 11 million people are Catholic. What does this visit mean to them, do you think?
[12:25:11] PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It means a great deal. This will be the first Spanish-speaking pope to come here, a pope that's played a key role in U.S.-Cuban relations, the thawing in those relations, and we expect the pope to be landing in about three hours or so.
So there is a lot of excitement. And of course, this pope has several very specific messages he wants to deliver. And one of those key messages is reconciliation, bringing the divided Cuban community here and the United States back together. And for one American priest working in Cuba, that reconciliation has already happened.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OPPMANN (voice-over): Father Gilbert Walker celebrates mass in Havana, speaking fluent Spanish with only a slight accent of his native Mississippi. Walker is one of three American Catholic priests in Cuba, he says. It was his lifelong dream to move to the island where his great-grandparents lived for 30 years before leaving in the 1950s.
GILBERT WALKER, AMERICAN PRIEST LIVING IN CUBA: I felt at home. I felt very much at home, surprisingly, to me.
OPPMANN: Even more surprising, when he visited the town where his great-grandfather oversaw a sugar cane production was a discovery that he had deeper ties to the island.
WALKER: It was a strong intuition, only explanation was that God gave me this intuition that I had family here. That looks like it might have been their home.
OPPMANN: Walker asked townspeople if his great-grandfather had children outside his marriage. The answer was yes, a daughter with a Cuban woman. And soon after, he was introduced to her son, his cousin, Raphael.
WALKER: I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know what he would be like. I didn't know whether he would be welcoming or -- it was absolutely unknown to me. And it was absolutely wonderful. He and I both sort of welled up.
OPPMANN: The meeting and resulting friendship healed the long open wound of a family abandoned.
On one hand, it seems like a novel. On the other, like a prophecy, he says. It was God's will and there's a before and an after. They see or talk with each other every week.
WALKER: It's been a real blessing for me and I think a blessing for my family here, too, and my family in the states, to know that there's a connection. And that time and distance haven't erased that connection. It's still there. The same blood flows through our veins.
OPPMMAN: Both men said they're hopeful that restored ties between the U.S. and Cuba will lead to more people reestablishing connections like theirs. Family once lost, but now found.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OPPMANN: And Pope Francis will be coming here where I'm standing in Havana's Revolutionary Square tomorrow for what is expected to be his largest mass in Cuba. Hundreds of thousands of people expected here, Jim.
Then he will travel throughout the island, a mass near Santiago, Cuba, Cuba's second largest city and all of those masses, we expect Raul Castro to be in attendance, another first, another sign of the thawing relations between church and state in Cuba -- Jim.
SCIUTTO: Raul Castro, an atheist, but he says Pope Francis might get him praying again. Great to have you there, Patrick.
Don't miss a CNN special report on Tuesday, "The People's Pope" airs at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
And next on CNN, Donald Trump breaking his silence on the controversy surrounding a supporter who made anti-Muslim remarks, what Donald Trump tweeted today, coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:31:59] SCIUTTO: Hello. Thanks for joining us. I'm Jim Sciutto in today for Fredricka Whitfield.
And Donald Trump breaking his silence today, following a backlash when he did not speak out after a supporter called President Obama a Muslim, not an American, also seemed to insult Muslims in America, in general. Among several tweets from Trump today, he said, "Am I morally obligated to defend the president every time somebody says something bad or controversial about him? I don't think so!"
With me now, a Washington Republican strategist Ford O'Connell and then New York Democratic strategist, Nomiki Konst.
Ford, I want to start with you because in effect with these tweets today, you have Trump doubling down on this. He's really not backing off. Is that a mistake in your view?
FORD O'CONNELL, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Not really. Look, he certainly could have handled this better, particularly given his actions in 2011. But he's correct. He's under no obligation to actually stop the supporter from saying this. I don't think this is going to hurt him. But understand something his prime voting bloc OK or basically folks without a college education. And guess what, 28 percent of those folks don't think that -- only 28 percent of those folks think Obama is a Christian. So you know what, this is politics right now, but he has to watch how far he takes it.
SCIUTTO: Before I'm going to ask you, is that a no obligation to challenge this? What is the comment, the questioner who said, Muslims in America were a problem? What is the question that had said the same thing about Christians or Jews? Were they even been under obligation to do it then?
O'CONNELL: No, he wouldn't have been under an obligation to do it then. But, you know, I think that we're trying to really allow the society to perpetually offended to take over, and we just didn't focus on the event, because the second question that the questioner asked was actually kind of an important question, given the foreign policy debate that went on on CNN the night before.
SCIUTTO: Nomiki I want to ask you your views because -- and not just Democrats but some Republicans. You have Jeb Bush, you have Lindsey Graham who have criticized him for those comments, to Trump for not challenging those comments, I should say. Let's have a listen to that sound.
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Don't be distracted by their flamboyant front-runner. Trying to bully and buy his way into the presidency. His latest outrage, the way he handled the question about President Obama was shocking, but not surprising. He's been trafficking in prejudice and paranoia throughout this campaign.
SCIUTTO: Obviously, Hillary Clinton, not Jeb Bush. But just to paraphrase, Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham both criticized Donald Trump for not challenging that question. Rick Santorum actually echoing really Donald Trump's point, saying, it's not his obligation to do.
I want to ask you now Miki, in the silence we've heard from other Republican candidates on this issue, do you sense that they see a political benefit in not challenging that kind of questioner and that kind of line of questioning, and really thoughts about Muslims?
NOMIKI KONST, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: You know, with these highlights, the lack of candidates stepping out, except for Jeb Bush, and Chris Christie to be fair, as well, and Lindsey Graham, it highlights a leadership deficit in this party.
You know, this election, everyone's been talking about how that everybody is -- you know, wants to get -- they want to move on from the politician. They want to vote for the people who are outside of the political establishment. Well, leaders challenge -- you know, this type of conversation. Leaders step up and speak the truth and they highlight the truth and that's something Chris Christie even said today. You know, this is a problem in the Republican Party. When a quarter of your demographic, you're relying on hate speech to recruit that demographic to vote for you, that's a problem, and...
O'CONNELL: Nomiki, I'm sorry, I cannot disagree with you more. In 2008, when I worked for John McCain, he stood up against this and guess what, the media didn't highlight it. And here's what the other candidates are pissed off about...
KONST: No, they did highlight it.
(CROSSTALK)
KONST: And they did a great job.
(CROSSTALK)
SCIUTTO: That was a story at the time. That was a story.
(CROSSTALK)
KONST: Yeah.
SCIUTTO: That got a lot of air time.
(CROSSTALK)
KONST: It was a huge story. Lindsey Graham...
(CROSSTALK)
O'CONNELL: And guess what, the Obama guys were still able to use it against John McCain, because they said, well, those are Palin supporters and he must not be a leader because he picked Palin, and (inaudible) McCain's a bad guy.
KONST: That's not what happened at all.
O'CONNELL: Hold on. Hold on. Here's the other problem, the other candidates don't want to talk about Trump. They want to do anything they can to get out their message because they're so low in the polls. And all we do is we have a media obsession about Trump 24/7. I know it gets ratings but let's be honest here.
SCIUTTO: Ford, let me ask you a question, you said it's a media obsession but let's play the sound that I wanted to play earlier and these are Republican candidates challenging, criticizing Donald Trump for those comments. Let's have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEB BUSH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Barack Obama is a talented man. And by the way, he's an American, he's a Christian. His problem isn't the fact that he was born here or that what his faith is. His problem is he's a progressive liberal that tears down anybody that disagrees with him.
RICK SANTORUM (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: People are entitled to their opinions. We have a first amendment for a reason, because people can stand up and say what they want. You don't have to agree with it, you don't have to like it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So do you believe President Obama is a Muslim, Senator?
SANTORUM: The president says he's a Christian. Look, ladies and gentlemen, I'm not playing this game that you guys want to play.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[12:37:01] SCIUTTO: Ford, why not just a simple statement from Donald Trump or the other candidates, President Obama is a Christian, and he was born in America.
O'CONNELL: Let me say this. I wouldn't have even said that. Here's what I would have said if I beg (ph) Donald Trump, because I certainly think he could have handled this better. He won't be having opening mics to this next town hall. Discrimination has no place in my campaign.
Jim, have you looked at your latest CNN polling? OK. Because honestly, only 39 percent of Americans think Obama is a Christian and 30 percent think he's a Muslim.
(CROSSTALK)
O'CONNELL: I'm not saying either -- I'm not challenge...
SCIUTTO: Why not challenge that?
(CROSSTALK)
O'CONNELL: Because I think this is knuckling (ph) burger, OK.
KONST: But when you have a candidate who's perpetuating that, who also started that...
O'CONNELL: No, I did not.
KONST: ... and need one Republican nomination. Listen, I don't agree with you. This is...
O'CONNELL: I'm just citing the numbers. Discrimination has no place, period.
KONST: Absolutely.
(CROSSTALK)
SCIUTTO: Nomiki, let me give you a chance to have an answer.
KONST: The Republican should be having that out and RNC should push for all of the candidates to step up and say, this has no place in our party. So if Rick Santorum and all these other candidates want to go out there, and Ted Cruz, and want to piggyback off of Donald Trump's football game, then they've got to step up. The RNC has an obligation to say, this does not stand up...
O'CONNELL: So you basically want to slime my guys and have the society of the perpetually offended basically reign supreme...
KONST: This is not a politically...
(CROSSTALK)
O'CONNELL: So that Hillary Clinton can change the story and talk about us all day.
KONST: ... and hatemongering. There's a very thick line.
O'CONNELL: Let me just say this, OK, discrimination has no place and each candidate is entitled to their own opinion to state that, because at the end of the day they're running for the nomination, they represent themselves. I do think Trump could have handled this better, and I do agree with Jeb Bush and Chris Christie, but you guys really just want to pin this and make this the story, because Hillary Clinton's in deep trouble and you guys know it.
KONST: I'm not working for Hillary Clinton. You can say whatever you want about Hillary Clinton. This has to do with Donald Trump, who's running for the nomination of the Republican Party, and the other candidates, who continue to say the same type of speech. You know, when 7 out of the 10 of the candidates that were on stage or 11 candidates, agree with Donald Trump, that's a party issue. And the party relays a lot of talking points to their candidates to bring up during the election. Guess what? None of them are saying, you have to stop...
(CROSSTALK)
O'CONNELL: Nomiki, does Bernie Sanders speak for Hillary Clinton speak for the Democratic Party? I don't think so. I think you're making a false equivalent here.
(CROSSTALK)
O'CONNELL: There are 16... SCIUTTO: Ford and Nomiki...
(CROSSTALK)
SCIUTTO: ... we're going to have to leave it there. I know it's a difficult issue and I really do appreciate you taking it on and speaking honestly and directly on this, particularly on a weekend. Thanks to both of you for joining us.
O'CONNELL: Thank you.
Donald Trump will be on CNN's "State of the Union with Jake Tapper" tomorrow morning, that is 9:00 a.m. Eastern.
And still ahead today, what fate awaits former Taliban captive, Bowe Bergdahl? We'll have surprising new details from the investigation into whether Bergdahl deserted his army unit in Afghanistan.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[12:43:30] MIKE SNOWDEN, MUSICIAN: I'm Mike Snowden and I'm a musician and a cigar box guitar builder.
I was in a band, I was touring, we were playing like 250 shows a year. Looking back on it, it really just wore me out. So I really quit playing music for like five or six years and I was looking for something different to do.
And I actually stumbled a pony (ph) guy playing a cigar box guitar on YouTube and I was like, "Man, that's too cool." So I made one, my buddy saw it and he wanted one and I've made a whole bunch of them.
I just build them out on my garage. I have made about a thousand of them. Most of my sales come from my online store. Each one, there's no two alike, they're all individual, because every cigar box is a little bit different. On mine I make with three strings and I do some four- string versions.
There's some kind of magic going on in the box. It doesn't sound like a banjo, it doesn't really sound a guitar. A bigger box has more of a deep done. A smaller box, a little tighter tone.
I also perform. I do a one-man band and play cigar box guitars. Sometimes, when I'm down here working on guitars, I'm like, "(Inaudible) what am I doing? I'm making cigar box guitars." But then people see them, and they're like, "Whoa, man! How cool is that!" I've been doing it for a while. You know, you kind of forget, it's a cool thing. It is something different and unique.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: "Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl should not get a day of jail time." That is the word coming from the army general in charge of the investigation against him. Bergdahl is accused of deserting his fellow troops, but the investigator says he didn't find any information to support that. Bergdahl was captured and held by the Taliban for five years, released only after a controversial prisoner swap just last year. Let's bring in CNN Correspondent, Martin Savidge. Martin, what else did we learn from the investigator?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Jim, Article 32 hearings are usually just formalities. And most of them are pretty boring. This one was astounding. And I'm talking the stuff of movies. Because, Bowe Bergdahl's release was so controversial, mainly because many Americans felt that a trade to defy Taliban for one American soldier, whom already a lot of them saw as a both a deserter and possibly, even a traitor was outrageous.
And on top of that, there were additional reports that say that seven American soldiers, perhaps, had died searching for Bowe Bergdahl. And then there were other reports that said that while he was in that lengthy captivity, he had somehow turned and become an aid to the enemy. This hearing reveals that almost none of that was true. In fact, it said the army's own investigation found not a single soldier died looking for Bowe Bergdahl.
And the army debriefers, the experts that talked to him after he came out of captivity found that he gave away no information of any military relevance. In fact, they said, his resistance and his continuous attempts to escape, and at one time he managed to escape for as long as eight days before being recaptured, were almost meritorious. They had not seen any prisoner suffer as much as he had since the days of the Vietnam War. So, it turns out that much of the public, what we thought we knew about Bowe Bergdahl was absolutely incorrect.
SCIUTTO: Incredible. And those stories, as you know, they get a life of their own and they're hard to tamp down, you know, after the fact. But it's good to hear they've done their digging there.
Martin Savidge, great to have you on that story.
Thousands of refugees fighting to get on to buses shut out of country after country. Their struggle is now turning into a fight between those countries. That's next.
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[12:51:21] SCIUTTO: Israel has responded to a rocket attack from Gaza with three punishing air strikes. Video shows a communication tower destroyed by one of those air strikes. The Israeli military says a single rocket was launched in the Southern Israel from Northern Gaza, though it caused no injuries or damage.
Turning now to the refugee crisis in Europe. Nearly 800 people were rescued today, trying to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Europe. One charity group says that hundreds of those people had suffered stabbings and beatings while in Libya.
The crisis is also causing growing tensions between Croatia and Hungary. Hungary taking a hard line against the refugees and has built fences along its borders to keep them out. Now it's accusing Croatia of illegally sending a train full of refugees across that border. The train made it about four miles in before it was stopped.
CNN's Senior International Correspondent Ben Wedeman, he joins us now from Hungary. Ben, these are really horrible images to watch, as Europe in effect, closing its doors to these refugees. So, what's the situation there today?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, rhetorically, Europe seems to be closing its doors, but in reality, it's a somewhat different picture. In fact, we're in front of the train station in Gyor in Northern Hungary, where this morning, at about 7:00, according to local aid workers, buses came directly from the Croatian border full of as many as 3,000 migrants and refugees. They were -- got off these buses and boarded trains to the Austrian border. And we were told that thousands have now crossed into Austria, really, just the latest in many strange twists and turns to this very complicated story.
She barely made it to the front of the line for the bus, whimpering, "Enough, enough." This woman from Syria, overcome by exhaustion from a journey that paused in the Croatian border village of Tovarnik.
We never imagined this trip would be so hard, says Samir from Damascus. We thought after all we've already suffered, they would welcome us differently than this. Thousands flocked here from Serbia after Hungary slammed shut its border. Yet another night in the rough, this tiny hamlet's population suddenly swelled by thousands, yet again, the tired, the desperate, the destitute from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and beyond, stranded and waiting for a solution.
PETER BOUCKAERT, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: This is a real disaster on Europe's doorstep. And the European Union is doing very little to resolve it. We just see thousands and thousands of people on the move every day. Wherever they get blocked, they end up in a similar situation like this.
WEDEMAN: Buses eventually arrived, but few knew where they would be taken. Confusion reigned. Ahmel from Damascus fainted from the heat and then discovered her 6-year-old son had boarded one of the buses and left without her. Police told me everyone would be bused to a nearby city. But hours later, many of the buses ended up here, on the Croatian/Hungarian border crossing (inaudible).
The Croatian government overwhelmed and floundering in the flood was passing them on to Hungary, which in a bizarre twist, agreed to take them in. Just to underscore the absurdity of this seemingly endless odyssey, some of these people, 48 hours ago, were throwing rocks and clashing with Hungarian riot police on the Hungarian/Serbian border.
[12:55:14] Two days later, we see Hungarian police herding them on to buses into Hungary. Adults weighed down with exhaustion, children dazed and babies crying. They boarded for their next stop. Final destination, unknown.
And, of course, we're expecting more buses to come this evening to get on more trains, to head toward Austria. Jim?
SCIUTTO: Such incredible contrast, Ben. Thanks for sorting that out. Some generosity, some confusion, and some anger. Great to have you on this story.
Coming up next, it's a big day for politics. Donald Trump is breaking his silence after a Trump supporter made anti-Muslim comments at his campaign event. Plus, Hillary Clinton got fiery today, at a convention in New Hampshire. What she said about Trump. That's coming up.
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SCIUTTO: Hello. Thanks, everyone, for joining me. I'm Jim Sciutto. Fredericka Whitfield is off today. And we are following today new details on a major political story. Donald Trump breaking his silence with a string of tweets for the first time since he failed to correct a supporter who called President Obama a Muslim, also seemed to insult Muslims in general in the U.S.
