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GOP Debate; Obama on ISIS; Cosby Sues Accusers; Bowe Bergdahl Case. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired December 14, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:16] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And here we go. Top of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin, live in a very chilly, very windy Monday morning here in Las Vegas, but it's about to be hot, hot, hot inside of that debate hall come tomorrow night. We are here live in Las Vegas at the beautiful Venetian Hotel for your CNN special coverage for tomorrow night's presidential debate.

And it's a big one. It is the last one of the year, of course, and the first time the front runner, Donald Trump, has a lead like this. Check the numbers with me, folks. He has crossed that 40 percent mark in this new national poll. This is from Monmouth University released near minutes ago.

So you that 41 number. This is huge for him. The fact that he is now 41 percent, outdoing certainly his next competitor's support combined when you do all the math. Take note though too when this poll was taken because this is the other headline. This started last Thursday, three days after Trump announced his plan to temporarily ban Muslims from U.S. entry.

Another debate first here when you look at the lineup, right, we talk so much about these podiums. The lay of the land, if you will. Ted Cruz has stepped into the spotlight as the Republican's second choice for a nominee. So when you see the lineup there with Donald Trump smack dab in the middle, he is flanked again by Ben Carson, but on his other side you have Senator Ted Cruz.

Polls suggest the senator from Texas has actually taken over much of Carson's support nationally. And in the state, with the very first - the first caucus, the contest, February 1st, in Iowa, Cruz is pretty much neck and neck with Trump, 27 to 28 percentage points.

Another poll, we're throwing a lot of numbers at you, I realize, but another poll released earlier put Cruz 10 points ahead of Trump in Iowa, 31 percent to Trump's 21.

So before we dig into all these numbers and hopefully don't fly away with all this wind here in Las Vegas, let's go first inside to our senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny, who is there in the beautiful debate hall.

Jeff, walk me through what you're seeing. Here we are, what, I'm looking at the countdown, 27 hours away. JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's right,

Brooke, just a little bit more than a day away from here. And you can see the stage behind me here. All of the podiums are set. And as you said, Donald Trump will be center stage, but Ted Cruz will be right next to him. And, boy, that is the new dynamic in this race. Yes, Donald Trump is soaring in national polls, 41 percent in that Monmouth University poll. Certainly the envy of any candidate, certainly leading in - in every measure across the board, except possibly in the state of Iowa.

As you said, it's the first contest on February 1st. So after this debate, the campaign is going to go into a bit of a holiday hiatus and then the Ted Cruz, Donald Trump match is going to go from there. That's why this debate tomorrow night is so important.

It's not just Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, however, though. So many candidates have so much that they need to do, they're trying to do. Marco Rubio, prime example. He is trying to also challenge Ted Cruz to jump into that top three spot. And so many others at the bottom sort of ranks of this top tier, Chris Christie is back in the main debate stage. He is going to try and make this his moment about national security, about terrorism. Jeb Bush, of course, has so much on the line here.

So, Brooke, we always say the stakes are high in debates, but, boy, this time it is truer than ever before compared to any of these Republican debates here. This is the dynamic that is going to be set going into the new year, set as this campaign enters a new phase here. So Donald Trump is actually going to be holding a rally this evening here in Las Vegas. The rest of the candidates are laying a bit low. Marco Rubio has a smaller event but the rest of the candidates are preparing here for that all important evening tomorrow night, now just almost, as you said, some 27 hours away from right now.

BALDWIN: Over the course of the next two hours, of course, we'll walk through those key threads ahead of this national security debate.

But since I have you, Jeff Zeleny, I know Donald Trump has just - or I think it was his doctor who just sent out this statement about Mr. Trump's health and in - I understand true Trump fashion, there are all kinds of glorious adjectives. Do tell.

ZELENY: Brooke, no doubt about that. I mean Donald Trump is 69 years old and he said several weeks ago that he would release his medical records and medical report. I think this comes something a little bit short of that. It's a statement from his own doctor, a doctor who's been treating him since 1980 or so, and it is filled with all kinds of Trumpisms, shall we say. It said "astonishingly healthy, and in, you know, "very good health." He's 69 years old. He is one of the oldest candidates in this race here.

But, Brooke, I was struck by this. The doctor closed the statement with this line, that Donald Trump would be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency. So not exactly sure how this one doctor in New York City knows that he would be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency. Of course, there have been a few presidents that have gone before him. But in typical Trump fashion, that's the statement from the medical doctor. But by all accounts he is in good health and we'll see that tomorrow night on this debate stage, Brooke.

[14:05:13] BALDWIN: Well, good for him, and hopefully we all have doctors like that who speak so highly of our individual health.

Jeff Zeleny, thank you very much, there inside the Venetian ahead of the big debate tomorrow.

As we mentioned a second ago, you know, Trump will be standing mere inches away from Senator Ted Cruz on that debate stage. But you may see the aggression going only one way on the stage. Trump went after Cruz last week after Cruz was overheard at that private fundraiser questioning Trump's judgment as a commander in chief, right? That was a big headline last Friday. Then, fast forward to the weekend, Sunday morning, Trump told Fox News that Cruz was a, quote, "a little bit of a maniac," referring to Cruz's habit of rebelling against the party in Congress, even to the point of a government shutdown, to which, of course, Cruz tweeted this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): She's a maniac, maniac on the floor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Wonder what Jennifer Beels (ph) feels about having this playing on loop essentially all morning as we're covering this back and forth between Cruz and Trump. This is, of course, this classic song from 1983's "Flashdance" with Cruz saying, quote, "in honor of my friend Donald Trump and good-hearted maniacs everywhere." That was the senator's tweet.

All right, so a lot to talk about. So let me bring in my panel sitting with me here in Las Vegas. I have chief political analyst Gloria Borger, CNN political commentator Amanda Carpenter, who actually used to be the communications director for Ted Cruz, and CNN political commentator Van Jones, former adviser to the Obama administration.

So awesome to be here with all of you.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Fun.

BALDWIN: And let's get to, Gloria and Van, I'm curious to hear just from you, when we see this Monmouth, this - this national poll, Trump is above the 40 percent mark at 41 percent. This is after he said what he did about banning Muslims in the country.

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.

BALDWIN: Your response?

JONES: Well, you know, it's terrifying. First of all, as a Democrat you say good because it - what it shows is that the Republican Party is really going - chasing itself off a cliff when it comes to the fear mongering and that kind of stuff. But as an American, I feel terrible that someone could accuse basically a whole group of people and say, you're not fit to come into the United States because of a few people and benefit from it. That's very scary to me as an American.

BALDWIN: Van is terrified. How about you?

BORGER: You know, to - with Trump, the broader the stage, the better he seems to do. The narrower the stage, now, we see these polls in Iowa, for example, suddenly he's got somebody in Ted Cruz either beating him or just right on his rear.

BALDWIN: On his heels, yes.

BORGER: Right. Exactly. So this is the challenge for Donald Trump, which is, he may have this broad appeal on the Republican Party, but can he bring those people, who have not been involved in the political process before, and those are his supporters, can he get them to the Iowa caucus, can he get them out to vote in New Hampshire? You know, he's opposing somebody like Ted Cruz, who's very well organized, who's been doing his homework. So you can punch at him, but he has some solid supporters out there.

BALDWIN: What about, Amanda, in - I want to loop back to Cruz, of course, and how he's done so well, especially among Evangelicals in Iowa, but the news today that Alice Stewart (ph), the chief coms director for Mike Huckabee, she is now day of the debate, the last Republican debate, out.

AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, that's never good news.

JONES: Yes.

BALDWIN: Right.

CARPENTER: But, listen, with so many Republican candidates, this is really a game of election - or nomination elimination. I mean not only are we talking about the big Trump-Cruz face-off that may happen, but where is Jeb Bush? I mean look at all these polls.

BALDWIN: Hold on, though. Back on Huckabee. I want to get you on that. I mean day of?

CARPENTER: Oh, well where is Mike Huckabee? Why would somebody leave his campaign. Yes, you don't leave unless you're going somewhere or you're fed up. And I don't want to speak to what her ambitions might be, but this is not good news for Mike Huckabee clearly.

BALDWIN: OK. OK.

CARPENTER: No one walks away at that time.

BALDWIN: Back to - back to Ted Cruz, though. And when I think of Ted Cruz, of course, I mean here he was, he was elected 2012, freshman senator from Texas, reading all the way back to his parliamentary debate skills back at Princeton. I mean this guy knows how to, you know, be so eloquent as an elocutionar (ph) on the stage. But also I think of "Green Eggs and Ham" and the 21-hour filibuster. And -

CARPENTER: And "Maniac."

BALDWIN: A vote. I mean and a maniac, right. So in a general election, what would his pitfalls be?

CARPENTER: What would his pitfalls be? I mean, honestly, for all the tough stances that he's taken in Washington, he's taken on a lot of negativity. That has taken a toll. I wrote a column at "Conservative Review" about Ted Cruz's so-called personality problem. A lot of people have tarred his image and made him seem like a really mean, nasty guy. That's not him. I can tell you that clip about the maniac, that is classic Ted Cruz. He loves a good joke. He's playful. He's light hearted. He has a lot of personality to showcase to people as we go forward.

JONES: You know what she sounds like? You sound like - like all the Hillary Clinton supporters. You know, if you just knew her. Now, of course, I do know Hillary Clinton and she is great. But, you know, one thing I think - I just want to say -

BALDWIN: Yes.

JONES: Something strange has happened here, which is that, we have this now, the insider and the outsider. And so what's happening right now is you have the outsider race is now Cruz versus Trump. The insider race is Rubio versus everybody else. Rubio's got to knock out everybody else for him to be able to compete. But the labeling helps him. I would say extremist versus moderate. The very fact that we now say -

[14:10:15] BALDWIN: Well, who's the extremist you're talking about?

JONES: I would say Trump and Cruz are extremists, and I would say that Rubio and Bush are moderates. But now we've fallen into their framing, your brilliant framing of outsider versus insider is now everybody's framing.

BALDWIN: (INAUDIBLE).

BORGER: But - but -

BALDWIN: Go ahead, Gloria.

BORGER: But right now - right now these candidates, as - and we're going to see tomorrow night -

BALDWIN: Yes.

BORGER: They have moved beyond the audition stage. Everybody's had their audition on that stage. People are starting to hone in because now particularly given San Bernardino, given Paris -

BALDWIN: Paris.

BORGER: People are looking for a commander in chief, OK. And some people - for some people Trump's tough talk works -

JONES: Yes.

BORGER: OK, because it sounds good and it makes you feel like, OK, we're going to go get them, right? But Republicans are also thinking about commander in chief, who can win, who can beat Hillary Clinton if she becomes the nominee or Bernie Sanders, but -

BALDWIN: I keep thinking about Rubio and I also keep thinking -

BORGER: And -

BALDWIN: You know, the matchup everyone is focused so much on Trump/Cruz.

BORGER: Well -

BALDWIN: I think it's Cruz/Rubio.

CARPENTER: Yes, and this is where I think the national security aspect becomes very interesting.

BORGER: Exactly. Exactly.

CARPENTER: Marco Rubio has been very clear in Iowa. He wants to have a debate about national surveillance with Ted Cruz. Marco Rubio wants to paint himself as being more aggressive, more in the camp of John McCain, Lindsey Graham. Ted Cruz is somewhere in the middle between Rand Paul and Marco Rubio.

BORGER: And defense spending. And defense spending.

CARPENTER: And defense spending.

BORGER: Very important.

CARPENTER: They want to have this debate. I think this would be a wonderful, substantive debate for the Republican Party to have because there are very different approaches among Republicans of what to do with foreign policy.

JONES: It just shows how timing is -

CARPENTER: And we should have that and then Trump will be left out of the discussion because he can't (ph) hang with it.

BORGER: Well -

JONES: Well, --

BALDWIN: Can't hang - can't hang.

JONES: But you just - 41 points?

BALDWIN: What are you saying on timing? What did you just say on timing? JONES: Well, I'm just saying, it just does show how timing is everything. If this were two years ago with Ed Snowden and all this, Rand Paul would be the person saying, listen, I'm going to protect your privacy. I'm going to keep you out of dumb wars overseas.

BALDWIN: Yes.

JONES: Then, you know, unfortunately, he's 18 months, 24 months too late. Rand Paul, an afterthought. And Rubio, who was kind of getting beat up for his pro-surveillance, he may be rewarded for that.

BORGER: And I'll tell you what -

BALDWIN: Quickly.

BORGER: Ted Cruz is lucky that Rand Paul is on that stage with him tonight.

JONES: Say that. Say that.

BORGER: he's on that stage with him tonight, because then if you're going to attack someone for being an so-called isolationist, Rubio is, you know -

JONES: Can point to Rand Paul.

BORGER: Can point to Rand Paul too and it will deflect a little bit from Cruz.

BALDWIN: He'll be down there on wing, (INAUDIBLE).

Gloria and Amanda and Van, thank you all so much. See you around here at the Venetian in Vegas.

Meantime, you, of course, can watch and we will all be encouraging you to do so. The final Republican debate of 2015 only here on CNN. It starts tomorrow night at 6:00 Eastern, live here from Las Vegas.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, President Barack Obama making a rare visit to the Pentagon this morning. He reveals something the U.S. had not yet confirmed. We'll share that with you.

Also ahead, CNN reports that Jeb Bush donors are doubting that he is in it for the long haul. What they are saying versus the candidate himself.

And, breaking news involving Bill Cosby. The actor accused in dozens of rape cases is now suing several of his accusers. We have that for you.

Stay with me. I'm Brooke Baldwin here live in Las Vegas. You're watching CNN's special live coverage ahead of the big CNN debate.

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[14:17:09] BALDWIN: All right, and we're back here outside the Venetian Hotel here in Las Vegas on this Monday afternoon. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with us.

Watching CNN on such a special day as Republicans get ready for their last huge debate of the year here in Las Vegas tomorrow. They, of course, will have to address the issue that is ISIS. This will be the very first debate since the attacks in Paris and in San Bernardino, California.

And just a short time ago, President Obama told reporters that his administration strategy against the terror group is moving forward, but the fight to destroy ISIS is - it's a tough one. The president spoke after meeting with his national security team. He was at the Pentagon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are hitting ISIL harder than ever. Coalition aircraft, our fighters, bombers and drones have been increasing the pace of airstrikes, nearly 9,000 as of today. Last month, in November, we dropped more bombs on ISIL targets than any other month since this campaign started. We're also taking out ISIL leaders, commanders and killers, one by one. The point is, ISIL leaders cannot hide and our next message to them is simple, you are next.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Want to bring in our senior politics senior reporter, Stephen Collinson, who joins me now from Washington.

And what did you hear from the president? I mean significant, a, that he himself went and spoke from the Pentagon and also acknowledging one of the headlines to me, the fact that Jihadi John was, in fact, taken out. But beyond that, what more, Stephen, did you hear?

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Well, I think it's significant, Brooke, that we had this appearance from the president on the eve of the Republican presidential debate in which his strategy in ISIS is surely going to get a real good going over and a lot of criticism. And just the tone of the president's remarks, you know, he was talking there about going after ISIS leaders and warning the ones that are still alive they're next. He reeled off a long list of ISIS leaders the U.S. has taken out off the battlefield in Iraq and Syria.

I think that hints at real palpable frustration in the White House that what they see as an intensified effort over the last few months is not really getting through to the American people and the president's getting a lot of criticism. I think the White House believes that it's got as much as anything else a communications problem on ISIS, as much as a strategy problem that many of its opponents see as really the issue here.

BALDWIN: Given the fact that we heard from the president, as you so astutely point out the day before this debate, this is also the first debate in the wake of Paris and in the wake of San Bernardino. When you imagine those, especially the main stage, those nine podiums, those nine candidates, who do you think, Stephen, has the - the advantage when it comes to really debating national security?

COLLINSON: Well, I think one of the things we've seen in the last few weeks is the strength that Donald Trump projects on terrorism and ISIS. Even the fact that he doesn't come out with much details about what he would do about this. This is one of the keys to his success. You have Marco Rubio, who's a star -

[14:20:08] BALDWIN: But don't Americans need details ultimately?

COLLINSON: Ultimately, they do, but I think Donald Trump has been very astute in playing into this rising fear of the resurgent threat from terrorism. He's given voice to that fear. And that's one of the keys to his success in the campaign. And I think Marco Rubio has starred himself as a foreign policy and national security expert. And I think tomorrow we could see Marco Rubio go - perhaps go on the attack against Ted Cruz. He's already been saying that Ted Cruz, his foreign policy smacks of isolationism and he's not tough enough on terrorism and perhaps doesn't recognize the threat. And I think that's one of the ways where I think Marco Rubio thinks that perhaps he can start to sort of chip away at Ted Cruz's advantage over him in places like Iowa and elsewhere in the country.

BALDWIN: I agree with you on Rubio. Also talking to other pundits, don't count out Chris Christie either, especially -

COLLINSON: Yes, definitely.

BALDWIN: You know, his role in the wake of 9/11 there in New Jersey.

Stephen Collinson, thank you very much.

COLLINSON: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, this will be the very first debate we will see the candidates face Donald Trump since the firestorm over his proposed Muslim ban. Didn't seem to hurt him, though, when you check the numbers in the polls. So who might really choose to hone in and take him on? We'll explore that.

Also, breaking news today. Bill Cosby now suing seven of his sexual assault accusers. Suing them. Hear his reasons and whether he actually has a case.

Our special coverage continues here live from Las Vegas on this Monday.

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[14:25:44] BALDWIN: And we are back here live in Las Vegas, getting ready for the CNN Republican debate tomorrow. Checking the countdown clock, 27 hours, 34 minutes, 18 seconds. And we have a lot more, of course, of that coverage in a moment.

But first, two items of breaking news. The first involving news with regard to Bill Cosby. Listen, you know the story, he's been accused by more than 50 different women of sexual assault. Well now Bill Cosby is suing seven of his accusers.

So let's go straight to CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson with more on this.

And so, Joey, according to this press release from his attorney, he is suing them for, and I'm quoting, "malicious, opportunist and false and defamatory accusations of sexual misconduct against him." Explain please.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: That's right. So what ended up happening - Brooke, good afternoon, by the way. Hope all is well in Vegas. What's ending up happening here is remember, he was sued, that is Bill Cosby, by a number of accusers and the suit was predicated upon defamation, that is, that you are imputing our reputations by calling us a liar based upon you going out there, at least his lawyers, and saying, you know, all types of things about our credibility. And then, of course, there were other women who ended up entering into that lawsuit that was filed last December.

Well, as part of the lawsuits you're allowed, number one, to answer those claims in addition to pose counterclaims of your own. And so his counterclaims are, wait, I'm not the liar here, all of you are lying about me. So his claims are based upon defamation.

BALDWIN: Wow.

JACKSON: They're also based upon tortious interference with contractual relations. That's a fancy way for saying, so many bad things have happened to me, I've been taken off TV, I've lost honorary degrees, it's all your fault and I want damages as a result. So he's all in. But guess what, Brooke, briefly, now we have to get to the underlying facts because an absolute defense to defamation is truth. And so he'll be deposed, as we know, or has been deposed. The other women will be deposed as well. And the truth may or may not come out because it was such a long time ago. So, stay tuned.

BALDWIN: OK. We'll stay tuned for that. That's a big deal today.

Also, another piece of breaking news related to Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who was released, as we all know, in that controversial prisoner swap. And so we're hearing he will now face a general court martial. Walk us through what that means in terms of this military court.

JACKSON: Sure. What it means is that he's going to go to trial. Now, this is significant news, Brooke, in light of the fact that there was a recommendation that pretty much said, you know what, I've reviewed this, I've evaluated this from the underlying Army investigator and after hearing witnesses, I really don't think it's that serious. And as a result of it, we should really end this here.

Well, the general, of course, went against that recommendation and, as a result of that, because of the full blown trial that he's now exposed to, and because of the nature of the charges, desertion and potentially exposing his comrades, his partner in arms to danger, he could face a life sentence. And so this is major, significant news. Obviously, you're innocent until proven guilty. But the mere fact, Brooke, that this is allowed to go forward where there will be a judgement made after his conduct is very, very significant.

BALDWIN: Joey Jackson, thank you very much.

JACKSON: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: I want to get back now to our special debate coverage here in Las Vegas. Appreciate it.

Joining me now to talk more about that, CNN senior media correspondent, host of "Reliable Sources," I have Brian Stelter, and Dylan Byers (ph) is with me. He is CNN's senior reporter for media and politics.

So, great to have both of you here.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Again, begin a chick and having hair in the wind is not always fun, so there's that.

STELTER: One advantage.

BALDWIN: So, Let's just begin with, ahead of this debate, I know, you know, in terms of the behind the scenes, I mean the debate hall is pretty incredible in the Venetian.

STELTER: It is. That's such a majestic (INAUDIBLE).

BALDWIN: It is absolutely majestic. I understand this is where "Phantom of the Opera" is normally on, but, so, forget that. it's all politics tomorrow night. And Wolf Blitzer, he has not been in touch or interviewing any of these candidates, correct, because he wanted to stay like totally objective.

STELTER: That's right. Yes. Yes, if you've noticed on "The Situation Room," he's not been interviewing candidates in the past few days.

BALDWIN: Yes.

STELTER: He wants to stay above the fray until he's on the stage tomorrow night. He said to me yesterday on "Reliable Sources" that he wants to get specifics from these candidates about national security and other issues as well.

BALDWIN: What a timely (INAUDIBLE).

STELTER: But he's not revealing much. Almost like somebody at one of the tables here at the Venetian, not showing his cards before the debate.

[14:30:03] BALDWIN: Bet Wolf Blitzer has a pretty good poker face.