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New Jersey Governor Chris Christie Comments on Debate Opportunity; Terror Threats in New York, Los Angeles; Republicans Set to Debate. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired December 15, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:02]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Dan?

DAN PFEIFFER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I would like to see how Marco Rubio is going to handle attacks on his effort -- his efforts to work with President Obama and Senator Reid to pass immigration reform.

I want to see what senator Trump -- Senator Cruz does today to sort of see whether he can build on the tremendous momentum his campaign currently has.

BALDWIN: OK.

Krystal?

KRYSTAL HEATH, AUTHOR, "GOD AND GOVERNMENT": Yes, I want to see two things.

I want to see the interaction between Cruz and Trump, because I think they're emerging as the front-runners and there's going to be something exciting that happens there. But what it will be, we don't know yet.

And then, secondly, I would like to see how the lesser candidates, now that we have this forefront of Trump and Cruz and Rubio and Ben Carson, everyone else needs to say, this is why we should still be here and they have to present that tonight and do it well.

BALDWIN: So, that's what you're looking for.

Dan, I want to end with you on this. I was watching you earlier talking about how you couldn't believe this Pew study of this engagement of folks, especially compared to when everyone seemed to really become -- recalling just a couple of years ago in previous elections, the Pew study, nearly seven in 10, 69 percent of Americans say they have watched at least one of the televised debates between the candidates.

You say that is stunning.

PFEIFFER: It is.

If you go back to my most recent experience when President Obama was running for the Democratic nomination, the debates we had were largely things to be endured. If you made a mistake, it would be a huge problem, but you weren't going to move numbers in a dramatic way.

Now they have become must-watch events. And it isn't just because of Trump, although he's a huge draw here. People are drawn to this election. I think it's also a shift in the way people watch TV. They're drawn to events that they can talk about on social media, and these debates are perfect for that.

BALDWIN: OK.

Kayleigh and Dan and Krystal, thank you all very much. I appreciate it for everything. I appreciate it very much.

And we continue on here. We're just over the top of the hour. I'm Brooke Baldwin here in Las Vegas, as we're, of course, covering what's happening here in mere hours from now. We have got the countdown clock for you, two hours, 58 minutes, 25 seconds until the main event.

Before we talk about this, I have to get you caught up on what's happened in Los Angeles and in New York, because they are searching hundreds of public schools after officials say they received an e-mail threat this morning.

The school superintendent in Los Angeles shut down the entire district at the height of the morning rush. L.A., keep in mind, is the country's second largest school district. More than 600,000 students were forced to stay home.

At the same time, the nation's largest school system, New York City, also working its own e-mail threat today, but officials in the city there say that was a hoax. Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said that when authorities began investigating, they discovered a number of issues that prompted the shutdown. Here he was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLIE BECK, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, POLICE CHIEF: The e-mail was very specific to L.A. Unified School District campuses and it included all of them.

It was also very specific about the threat, the implied threat. The implied threat was explosive devices. The specific threat was attack with assault rifles and machine pistols. These obviously are things that we take very seriously.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So that's the latest from we have heard from Los Angeles. A different story in New York. We're going to talk about what this means, though, and, of course, how this will factor in some of perhaps the language we will see on the stage tonight in Las Vegas.

We will talk to someone about that momentarily, but I want to take you to the stage directly here in Las Vegas, as we have been watching the last hour plus, these different candidates coming in, being stopped by some of our correspondents asking what they're up to in the final hours before the main event this evening here, the final Republican debate of this year, 2015.

I have my colleague, Sara Murray. She is standing by inside the arena as people are continuing to roll through.

Sara, set the scene for me.

SARA MURRAY, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we just saw former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum doing his walk-through.

And like I was saying earlier, Brooke, this is just -- it depends on what kind of candidate you are, how important this moment is for you. Are you the kind of person who wants to be on that stage, who wants to see where the Facebook questions are going to be, who wants to be able to sort of look at the lights that are going to cut you off at the end, or are you a candidate like Donald Trump?

He didn't come here to do his own walk-through. He sent his staff. He's the kind of guy who likes to roll in kind of at the last minute and just sort of take that flow with him to the debate stage and not spend a lot of extra time hanging around.

And the other interesting thing, we know Donald Trump has other plans today. He's meeting with the mega GOP donor Sheldon Adelson and so he's sort of doing his own version of debate prep while these other candidates do their walk-throughs today, Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right.

The theme of the debate tonight is national security. That will be front and center. And so we will watch for that and we will talk to some folks who are getting seated, what they're looking for ahead of tonight.

But on specifically, as we mentioned at the top of the hour, what's happening in Los Angeles and in New York, I have firearms and homeland security expert and former DEA agent David Katz joining me now.

And so, David, as we're getting this information -- and let's just be totally transparent. We don't know a lot as far as what has happened in both of these cities.

[15:05:04]

We know that there was an e-mail. It was routed through Germany. It was very specific to all Los Angeles school district campuses, that the threat mentioned the use of explosive devices, assault rifles and machine pistols.

How does that sit with you knowing that? How do you determine though what's real and what's fake, what's a hoax?

DAVID KATZ, FOUNDER AND CEO, GLOBAL SECURITY GROUP: Well, number one, when you say it's a specific threat, it's really a general threat, general to the Los Angeles school district. Specific would be this school on this date this time. So that's one

of the indications that it's a credible threat is specificity, so it apparently wasn't here. You have to look at the totality of the circumstances. You look at the verbiage of the threat. The fact that it's come up from overseas may or may not -- may or may not bear on it.

A lot of hoaxes -- I know from personal experience, the annex building downtown used to get tons of false threats from overseas. It was routine. So, that's one element. But you have to look at the verbiage, what exactly it says. And then you make a decision whether it's credible or not.

Apparently, the police department said no, FBI no. But Mr. Cortines said for some reason yes.

BALDWIN: What's interesting, though, as you point out, that the response is obviously very different, L.A. shut down, 640,000-some students not going to school this morning, New York and the commissioner there had a very different response. What do you make of this, almost it's like this tale of two different cities, very different responses?

KATZ: Yes, New York had the appropriate response. You do not under any circumstance take action unless the threat is corroborated.

For example, if a high-rise office building gets a bomb threat in New York City, the police department is not going to come over and evacuate your building absent some credible information, they discover a package, there's a threat with enormous degree of specificity.

What he did was a big mistake. He actually took the entire school system, shut it down.

BALDWIN: He would obviously totally disagree with you, though, David. He has these 640,000 kids he has as his priority. He would vehemently disagree with what you're saying about L.A.

KATZ: Yes, but -- I understand. But taking action based upon an uncorroborated threat, so if next week he gets another threat, is school going to close down again?

How about Saturday after next when they have the SATs and some nervous child puts a bomb threat in the morning of the SATs because their stomach is turning and they can't face the test, they put in a bomb threat? Is he going to circle the SATs?

That's why you need to have somebody with a little bit of background in this area to make the determination to say this threat warrants closing the school system. This one just warrants an absolute increase in security and police presence, of course, but not the disruption of the entire school day for that many, many children. It's just not the right move to make.

BALDWIN: Isn't it, though, such -- I do not -- I would never want to be in either of their positions, and then we heard the L.A. school district very mindful of what happened, what, 60 miles down the road in San Bernardino, and nobody wants to be fear-mongering, but they're very aware of what happened not too far away and it's this delicate line.

But, you know, I hear you loud and clear, but I don't envy their positions whatsoever in either city.

David Katz, for now, I'm going to thank you very much.

KATZ: My pleasure.

BALDWIN: I do want to move on and get you back to our special coverage here -- you got it -- back here in Las Vegas. We have these presidential candidates. They're arriving here on site. They are getting -- I keep saying they're getting the lay of the land, but that's really what it is, seeing where they will be standing, who they will be standing next to.

There are nice laminated photos of each of these different candidates on this debate stage here behind me at the Venetian Hotel. We just saw former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. We saw Texas Senator Ted Cruz last hour. We're still watching and waiting for both Chris Christie, the governor of New Jersey, and Carly Fiorina. They are expected at any moment, so I just wanted to give you the heads up as we are going to rock and roll back and forth. And if we see them, we will take that.

Meantime, CNN political commentator Michael Smerconish, who host's CNN's "SMERCONISH" on Saturday mornings, just sat down next to me.

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Balmy, balmy here today.

BALDWIN: It's like, do I take my jacket? It's so warm, it's so beautiful, blue, blue skies.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: What do you think? There are certain topics we keep hitting on over and over and over with regard to this debate. What do you think that we're missing? What are we not talking about that will be a headline tomorrow?

SMERCONISH: I think this will dominate it and I think the events unfortunately that you were just discussing in Los Angeles guarantees, as if we needed a guarantee.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Totally.

SMERCONISH: I have to tell you, as I'm watching these events unfold and I see the disparity the way in which this was handled in New York City and in L.A., and recognizing, Brooke, we don't know virtually anything yet.

BALDWIN: We really don't. We have to be careful. SMERCONISH: Yes, we don't. OK. So I put that qualifier in, right?

BALDWIN: OK.

SMERCONISH: I have to worry about Donald Trump creating a climate of fear that impacts our day-to-day lives.

Yesterday, I got an e-mail from John Mueller. He's a political scientist at Ohio State University. He's written a book titled "Overblown." He reminded me that the risk of you being a victim of a terror strike in this country is one in four million on an annual basis.

I think we do need some perspective from time to time.

[15:10:03]

BALDWIN: I was just talking to Ambassador Daniel Benjamin, who was essentially saying it's the cycle.

It's like you have this political rhetoric. And, yes, some members of the media are to blame as well, but it's this political rhetoric. And the terrorists want to terrorize. Right? That is the sheer definition. And so once they do, there's more payback for them to strike, whether it's an organized cell or someone who's self- radicalized. And a lot of Americans totally buy into it, and to your point.

SMERCONISH: And more than 50 percent of Republicans who will tune in and watch on CNN tonight and watch Donald Trump as he thumps his chest and says we need to shut down immigration for all Muslims, so it plays into his hand and it's self-perpetuating.

BALDWIN: So, almost as -- I don't know about you, when I go to the wedding, I never look at the bride, I look at the groom responding to the bride. I'm wondering, to use an off metaphor, while everyone is looking at Trump when he's perhaps saying those things, I'm looking at everyone else, seeing how they're going to then respond to Trump.

How will they do that and thread that needle?

SMERCONISH: Possibly tonight is the night, possibly it's the night that Jeb Bush finally says when two years ago I said you need to be prepared to lose primaries to win a general, I was talking about here and now. And, Mr. Trump, you're wrong, and reads him the riot act.

Now, it might not play so well inside the Venetian tonight if he does, but I think that it would play well in Middle America and I think there are a lot of independents should his candidacy survive that long that would remember a defining moment. So maybe Jeb does it.

I think that Kasich probably does it. I have my eye on Chris Christie, because Chris Christie among the establishment-type candidates has those law enforcement bona fides, and I would add we'd better be talking here tomorrow about Ben Carson, because if we're not... (CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Yes. We have not been talking -- think about when we were at the Reagan Library. That's all we were talking about, Trump and Ben Carson.

(CROSSTALK)

SMERCONISH: Absolutely. But Ted Cruz's ascent has been to the detriment of Ben Carson. That's where those votes have gone.

BALDWIN: So, what is the headline on Carson tomorrow?

SMERCONISH: Well, see, it's a hard thing for Carson because this is not his strong suit. Right? If these were social issues, but the calendar has been put in place long before San Bernardino.

National security is going to dominate this conversation. Quite frankly, it's a conundrum for him. I don't know how he works himself into this conversation and takes control of it.

BALDWIN: Their campaign doesn't like to be reminded he was pronouncing Hamas as hummus recently.

(CROSSTALK)

SMERCONISH: Funny at first, but then not.

BALDWIN: Not. Not.

SMERCONISH: Yes.

BALDWIN: What else? What else are you watching for?

SMERCONISH: I'm watching the interplay among the Cruz and Trump and Carson faction. They may be dispersed on the stage, but they're competing for the same...

BALDWIN: To your mavericks.

SMERCONISH: Yes. I know I keep saying it, but I believe it and I think that the numbers are proving it out.

And I'm seeing, is it finally a night where Rubio, Kasich, Christie, Jeb distinguishes himself, so that the others have to take a look and over the Christmas holiday say it's just not in the cards for me? Because it's only when they coalesce those votes around one other candidate is there a shot.

If you do the math and you total the maverick vote vs. the establishment vote, it's a 3-1 ratio. It's like 65 percent to 25 percent. Those numbers might not add up, but there are a couple of factors I can't place either way.

So it looks like it's a year where the very conservative vote is going to control the nomination cycle. And then we will finally have the litmus test. Do you really need to be a pure conservative to win or do you need to be more of a bridge-builder? So far we're headed down the very conservative path.

BALDWIN: Michael Smerconish, let's postgame this tomorrow, shall we?

SMERCONISH: Cool. I would love to. Good deal.

BALDWIN: Michael Smerconish, thank you very much.

Do not miss -- let me remind you again, tonight is the big night, the final Republican debate of the year 2015 less than three hours away only here on CNN beginning this evening at 6:00 Eastern live from Las Vegas.

Coming up, President Obama today taking an indirect shot at Donald Trump as he welcomed more than two dozen new American citizens. Hear what the president said.

Plus, we will take a look at some of the moments discussed from the last couple of debates, some highlights, some lowlights, and in between, how those moments have truly shaped the race thus far.

I'm Brooke Baldwin and this is CNN's special live coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:17:53]

BALDWIN: And we're back here live in Las Vegas. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me on such an important day for these presidential candidates.

When they take the stage in, checking our countdown clock, two hours, 42 minutes, and six seconds, national security will be topic number one. At the very center of the stage tonight, when you look at the podium positioning, as we do, will be the front-runner, Donald Trump.

Top of mind in this debate may well be Trump's recent call to ban Muslims from entering the United States.

A short time ago in Washington, President Obama countered Trump's stand on Muslim immigration in a speech welcoming new U.S. citizens. Here was the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We must resolve to always speak out against hatred and bigotry in all of its forms, whether taunts against the child of an immigrant farmworker or threats against a Muslim shopkeeper.

We are Americans. Standing up for each other is what the values enshrined in the documents in this room compels us to do, especially when it's hard, especially when it's not convenient.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: Let me bring in these two ladies, CNN political commentator Ana Navarro, who is a Republican strategist, a Jeb Bush supporter, and adviser to other Republican candidates. And Patti Solis Doyle is here. She's a CNN political commentator and Hillary Clinton's former presidential campaign manager.

So, lovely to see you all in Vegas, ladies.

With regard to this -- Trump's call to ban Muslims coming into the country, and I have like read through so many polls and I'm confused by them all, if I may just be totally honest. They're conflicting polls, so let's put polls aside.

When you're thinking of all the other Republicans on stage -- and, Patti, I'm going to direct this to you first -- all the other Republicans, and, listen, there is certainly a palpable fear, especially given whatever has happened in New York and L.A. today, how will the Republicans address that, but also not -- without discriminating, as other candidates have done?

PATTI SOLIS DOYLE, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.

[15:20:00]

Well, I think each of the different candidates have a different strategic imperative tonight. Donald Trump obviously is winning in the national polls and he's winning in most states, so I expect him to double down.

BALDWIN: On the fear.

SOLIS DOYLE: On the fear, double down on the ban on Muslims, double down on mass deportation. I think the most interesting probably dynamic of tonight is going to be between Cruz and Rubio in terms of immigration.

BALDWIN: Tell me why.

SOLIS DOYLE: Because, first of all, Rubio voted against the bill last night sort of banning immigration from the countries -- hotbed terrorist countries. Cruz voted for it. So they're going to go after each other on that.

BALDWIN: That's very important to point out.

SOLIS DOYLE: Yes.

And then Cruz is going after Rubio on his flip-flop on immigration and his participation in the gang of eight. So in terms of immigration, those are the two that are going to go at it the most, I think.

BALDWIN: What do you think, Ms. Navarro?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: What do I think?

I think it's going to be such an interesting debate because we are now so close to votes being cast. I think you have got a Chris Christie, a Jeb Bush, a John Kasich, who have so much riding on New Hampshire, so they're competing with each other. Chris Christie and John Kasich have bet the house gambling...

BALDWIN: Ba-dum-bum. Thank you very much.

NAVARRO: ... on New Hampshire. Jeb Bush has a lot riding on New Hampshire.

I think that you're going to see a lot of attacks come Marco Rubio's way, not only from Ted Cruz, but also from the...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Establishment candidates?

NAVARRO: Because Marco Rubio is trying to bridge that gap. He's trying to be all things to all people. And so he's going to get attacked from all people on that stage.

BALDWIN: How does he respond to the attacks?

NAVARRO: You know, he's been he's been pretty good so far. If anything, we have seen Marco Rubio is a very able debater.

BALDWIN: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Especially on foreign policy and national security.

NAVARRO: He can be poetic in his rhetoric.

He can be funny and quick. So, I think he can land a punch and he can take a punch. So I think he's shown to be very talented when it comes to debating. I think you're going to hear, though, the governors come after him on experience, come after him on lack of management skills and showing anything.

And I think you're going to see -- Chris Christie has been telegraphing. Chris Christie is laser-focused on New Hampshire. He's been telegraphing, hey, where's Marco Rubio been?

BALDWIN: Pop in the polls. It's paid off for him. It's paid off for him.

NAVARRO: I think the guy that's going to get the most attacks may not be Ted Cruz. It may be Marco Rubio.

BALDWIN: Marco Rubio. That's interesting.

As we continue, of course, talking about Republicans, as this is where we will be holding the Republican debate, how about Hillary Clinton, the presumed nominee on the Democratic Party? You know, she's holding this national security news conference at the end of this show in about half-an-hour. That timing is not coincidental. SOLIS DOYLE: Of course not, no.

Look, whether you like her or dislike her -- and I know a lot of people dislike her -- but she...

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hey, I never felt like I was off it. So, I felt on a main stage that night, so all is good.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: What kind of moment is this for the entire field, do you think? So much has happened since the last debate just around the world. Is this a different moment?

CHRISTIE: Sure, much different.

I can tell you, from being in New Hampshire and Iowa, that the feel of the campaign has been much different the last three or four weeks. I think people are really starting to focus on how important this decision is. And I think that's good. Time to have a serious discussion, and I'm looking forward to engaging in it tonight.

ZELENY: OK. Governor, good luck tonight.

CHRISTIE Thanks, Jeff.

ZELENY: OK.

CHRISTIE: Take care.

BALDWIN: OK. So there was Chris Christie talking to Jeff Zeleny, mentioning New Hampshire and Iowa.

Back to, though -- back to Hillary Clinton. Love her or hate her, this isn't a coincidence. She's talking national security. It's the theme of the debate tonight.

SOLIS DOYLE: Exactly.

So the juxtaposition between her and the rest of the Republican field is going to be stark.

BALDWIN: Yes.

SOLIS DOYLE: Right. She's very knowledgeable. Whether you like her or dislike her, there isn't anybody who doesn't think she's tough, who doesn't think she's hawkish, and who doesn't think she's extremely knowledgeable on these very complex issues dealing with the military, dealing with homeland security, dealing with foreign policy.

So I think this was not coincidental.

BALDWIN: You know what, though? And I want to end with this thought with you as well. I would bet that a lot of people don't know that there is a Democratic presidential debate on Saturday, as I bet a lot of people didn't know recently there was one a couple Saturdays ago in Iowa.

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: That's going to be her biggest challenge, frankly, that all eyes are on Vegas right now.

All eyes are on the Republican primary, which is so fun, so exciting, so entertaining, so fluid, so volatile.

BALDWIN: So, she's excited. But a lot of people don't even know. Is that on the party? Why do that?

SOLIS DOYLE: I honestly don't think it's a challenge at all for her.

You know, usually, anybody named Clinton gets this media attention like nobody else, right? Now that the attention has been sort of on the Republican circus right now, she really has the ability to talk to voters directly unfiltered in Iowa and New Hampshire. And that's how Iowa and New Hampshire is won. So, I think it's -- I think it's a positive for her, actually.

[15:25:00]

NAVARRO: I don't. You know, I remember the 2008 campaign, when John McCain wrapped up the nomination very early, and there was this very volatile fight going on, on the Democrat side between Obama and Clinton. And John McCain couldn't get any attention for months. It did not help him.

SOLIS DOYLE: That has never been Hillary's problem, not getting attention.

BALDWIN: Ana and Patti, thank you very much.

We are keeping an eye, of course, on the debate hall. We just saw New Jersey Governor Chris Christie pop on through. A couple more candidates will be rolling through as well. They will be facing off behind those podiums here at the Venetian Hotel momentarily. So, we will keep an eye on that.

Here's Chris Christie checking out where he will be standing.

Meantime, a Vegas institution will be joining me live on set. Robin Leach, he knows all about the lifestyle of the rich and famous. He has known Donald Trump for decades. We will get his inside scoop on what the Republican front-runner is really like.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right. And we're back live here in Las Vegas.