Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Sanders, DNC Dispute Probed; Affluenza Teen Sought by Texas Police; Trump, Bush Feud Heats Up on Campaign Trail; Outrage Over Homework Assignment; "The Force Awakens" Shatters Box Office Records. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired December 19, 2015 - 16:00   ET

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

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR NEWSROOM: ... Sanders' camp to regain their access and avoiding the lawsuit, allowing the Sanders camp to regain their access to the database.

[16:00:07] All very confusing. All very important. Ahead of these primaries, Athena Jones live for us from Manchester, New Hampshire. That is where we will see a head-to-head match between Clinton, Sanders and O'Malley tonight on the debate stage. OK. Walk us through, Athena, why this database is so critical, and what was done wrong by the Sanders' staffer.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Poppy, you're right, it is confusing. This database is critical because it's a massive database maintained by the Democratic National Committee of voters. And each of the campaigns has access to this voter file. These contact lists. Each campaign spends a lot of money, whether it's door knocking or phone banking, to make contact with these voters to figure out what their issues are, what their preferences are, how likely they are to support that individual candidate.

The thing is that there's supposed to be a firewall between the different campaigns data that each campaign is not supposed to see the other campaign's data. This is what happened on Wednesday. The firewall came down for several hours. Several Sanders' campaign staffers, according to the campaign, accessed this data over a period of about 40 minutes. Now, only one staffer has been fired. The campaign is still investigating the others.

The staffer who was fired said, "Look, I only accessed this data to try to figure out how much of the Sanders campaign data was exposed during the security breach. We didn't reap any material gain." The Sanders' campaign didn't reap material gain from those actions. But, Poppy, two other sources, two senior Democrats who are familiar with this voter program and with the investigation say that these Sanders staffers may have been able to gain a few critical of pieces of information for the Clinton campaign for their strategy. We're talking about things like turnout projection for the key early States of Iowa and New Hampshire. Those are of course the first two States to go in this contest next year.

Also, information from other early voting States like Nevada and South Carolina and from about 10 States that will be voting in March. That's another big month for primaries. Two of those States are Florida and Colorado.

We also understand that this group of staffers was able to see voter enthusiasm and voter support. So those are the scores of the Clinton campaign gave to the voters they contacted that measure how likely that person is that actually turn out and vote for Clinton. And so this is the kind of information that if they were able to access and download, it could have been very helpful to the Sanders campaign. The campaign says, they don't have any lists or voter contact lists or modeling that was actually exported. That none of this is actually in their possession. That's what the Sanders campaign says, Poppy?

HARLOW: Right, yeah, it would be key for you to know, all right, this voter isn't fully decided in this critical state. We're going to go after them versus so and so. So it certainly is key--now i know everyone has access to the data they're supposed to have, but I am sure it will be a big topic on the debate stage tonight. Athena, thank you very much.

JONES: Thanks.

HARLOW: For months, the Sanders' camp has been seething that the DNC was already in the bag for Hillary Clinton. That's what they say. They have accused the DNC of purposefully scheduling debates on nights when fewer people are likely to watch. They're not the only ones making that observation. You read about it this week in the New York Times. Frank Bruni wrote about it. He argued that in his opinion piece. Let's talk about--I don't think we have our guest. We're going to be joined in just a moment by Brian Fallon. He is the press secretary for Hillary for America. Let's take a listen.

(START VIDEO CLIP)

TED CRUZ, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They keep scheduling the Democratic debates at, like, 2:00 A.M. on a Saturday on Alaska PBS. It's almost like they don't actually want anyone to see their candidates for presidents, which you can understand why. But there is good news. They've announced the venue for the next Democratic debate. They're holding it at Leavenworth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right, that was Ted Cruz and I want to get this man's response, joining me now, Brian Fallon, Press Secretary for Hillary for America. Nice to have you on. Thank you, sir.

BRIAN FALLON, PRESS SECRETARY, HILLARY FOR AMERICA: Thank you for having me.

HARLOW: So what say you to those like Ted Cruz, Frank Bruni, and others saying, the DNC has this in the bag for your candidate?

FALLON: That's a ridiculous assertion. The debate schedule is something that was worked out by the Democratic National Committee in conjunction with all of the campaigns. We certainly are looking forward to tonight's debate and we're going to have several more debates even after this one. [16:04:58] And I don't think they'll be any shortage of focus on the issues in the Democratic primary contest that's been going on in the recent months. In fact, I think that the debate using on a Democratic that is far more substantive than the attacks and fear-mongering that you're seeing on the Republican side.

HARLOW: So some have said that this whole brouhaha, this whole controversy over the Sanders campaign, one of their staffers accessing critical Clinton camp voter data last night for a 40-minute period of time shows that Sanders' campaign is just politics as usual. Not of this revolution that they have been touting. Are we going to hear Hillary Clinton make that assertion tonight on the debate stage?

FALLON: I think that Hillary Clinton wants to have a conversation with voters about the issues that are important in this race. I think that the discussion tonight will be substantive. At least we certainly hope it will be. I mean, just this week, Hillary Clinton was in New York, laying out new proposals on immigration reform. She traveled to Nebraska and appeared with Warren Buffett to talk about how we reform our Tax System to achieve more fairness. And she also gave a major speech in Minnesota about a counter terrorism strategy for stopping any future San Bernardino incidents.

So she is showing the type of dexterity and talking about the issues that keep people up at night. That's what we want to continue to do. With respect to the Sanders campaign, you know, it is unfortunate, that we have seen, after promising to run a different type of campaign saying that they wouldn't have support from super PACs. Now they do, saying that they wouldn't run negative ads. Now they are and then this week unfortunately having some staffers that participated in a breach of our campaign's sensitive data, you know, so I do think there's some serious questions being raised about whether they're fulfilling the promise that they made to run a different type of campaign. But I don't think from Hillary Clinton tonight you'll hear anything other than a sincere focus on the issues.

HARLOW: OK I want to talk about that speech she gave in my hometown in Minneapolis this week, because there has been an issue in Minneapolis with jihadi recruitment especially targeting the Somali community there. Let's talk about how her strategy, Brian, is going to be different than this president's. I know she'll point to arguing as Secretary of State to arm the Syrian rebels. But sitting in the oval office now, what would she do differently than this president to take on ISIS?

FALLON: Well I think what she has laid out as a plan that would really intensify our efforts to combat ISIS and specifically some differences that she's laid out. She gave a speech of the Council on Foreign Relations last month where she talked about the need for increased Special Operations Forces and then--

HARLOW: So she would go further than President Obama in terms of more Special Ops?

FALLON: She did say that last month and then the Obama administration ended up following through on that suggestion. She also said that she would seek to impose a "no fly zone" in Northern Syria to create safe haven for the refugees there to help stop that immigration problem that we're seeing out of Syria by providing pockets of safe spaces for those that are fleeing the bombing.

And here at home, she's called for an intelligence surge that would allow us to better identify and disrupt plots here at home. Obviously, wanting to strike the right balance between civil liberties and the need to disrupt terrorists communications so I think that those are just a few of the examples that she's laid out of how she would seek to intensify and go further than the current administration to prevent radicalization here at home and also confront ISIS from securing a safe hold in the Middle East.

HARLOW: Interestingly, Brian, the top issue for your Democratic primary voters is not terror. It's up there. But the number one issue is the economy and jobs. And that is somewhere where Bernie Sanders has seen a lot of strength, right? His push on income and equality, his push against Wall Street, his framing of your candidate as someone who is cozy with the big banks in Wall Street, how does she battle that tonight?

FALLON: Well I would actually submit that nobody has talked about middle class wages and how we can increase them more than Hillary Clinton in this campaign. She said that the number one challenge of the next president is going to face is how to lift middle class wages, you know, the president has done a great job in bringing us back from the brink of a depression. But we need to get wages up. People back to work but we need to see their wages rise and she's actually laid out some concrete steps that she would take to achieve there, including calling for an innovative proposal that would incentivize more businesses to offer profit sharing to their employees. She's obviously supports the minimum wage.

She's called for changes to the capital gains tax treatment to incentivize more investment in a way that we create jobs and just earlier this month, she laid out a comprehensive infrastructure plan that would invest $500 billion in public works projects across the country to get more people to work in good paying jobs.

[16:09:57] So I actually think she's been the innovative one in proposing strategies to help get more good paying jobs out there and for those that already have jobs, increase their wages.

HARLOW: We just pulled up. Before I let you go. The New Hampshire numbers, let's look at them again because Bernie Sanders has a two- point lead against Clinton in New Hampshire. Can your candidate win New Hampshire?

FALLON: Absolutely. We've always said from the beginning since the outset of this race when we launched the campaign in April that this is going to be a tight contest. We wouldn't have it any other way. In Iowa, it's been a close contest. We have a slightly lead there and New Hampshire has been a close contest throughout and we think we're effectively tight and so we expect it to remain that way, all the way up until the voting starts. But we're confident we'll win in both States. HARLOW: Brian Fallon, nice to have you on, thank you.

FALLON: Thank you for having me. Good to be with you.

HARLOW: Of course, we have our very own Wolf Blitzer with special debate coverage right after the debate tonight. It begins at 10:30 P.M. eastern time only right here on CNN.

Still to come, where in the world is this teenager? He's been dubbed the "affluenza teen" two years after Ethan Couch avoided jail after killing four people because he was driving drunk and only got probation. Has he fled the country? Next

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: A $5,000 reward now offered for information on the whereabouts of a teenager who is now a fugitive, Ethan Couch. He gained national notoriety two years ago when he was driving drunk and he killed four people. The judge only gave him probation because his attorney argued he was spoiled and his parents didn't teach him the difference between right and wrong.

[16:14:56] He was tagged the "affluenza teen" and as CNN's Nick Valencia explains, there are plenty of people now saying, "I told you so."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN MALE: It's this video that eventually led to the manhunt, posted on social media this month. The clip seems to show a group of college-aged kids partying while playing beer pong. Among them appears to be Texas teen Ethan Couch.

UNKNOWN MALE: We need some ambulances, it's bad. We flipped and--oh God.

VALENCIA: Two years ago, Couch, then just 16 years old, was sentenced to 10 years probation after killing four people while drunk driving.

ERIC BOYLES, LOST WIFE AND DAUGHTER IN A CRASH: Then two of those were my wife and daughter.

VALENCIA: His blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit. As part of a deal, Couch agreed to stay away from alcohol or end up going to jail. In a bizarre defense, Couch's attorney convinced the judge that couch was a victim of affluenza, the product of wealth and privilege, with parents who never taught him the difference between right and wrong. Listen to what Couch's mother said during a deposition from one of the victim's civil suits against her son.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When is the last time you recall disciplining Ethan for anything?

TONYA COUCH, ETHAN'S MOTHER: I don't remember.

VALENCIA: Now the teen and his mother have gone missing. Couch apparently fled shortly after this video was made public, apparently to avoid violating the probation deal. According to reuters, the teen's father told law enforcement the passports of both Couch and his mother are also gone.

FRED COUCH, ETHAN'S FATHER: And I hate to say i told you so, but i told you so.

VALENCIA: County Sheriff Dee Anderson tried to lock up Couch two years ago.

DEE ANDERSON, TARRANT COUNTY SHERRIFF: I think this was planned and I believe that they planned to get away and I believe that they're going to run far and try to hide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Wow. Nick Valencia with us from Atlanta. The FBI's are looking for them. U.S. marshals are looking for them. The father says the passports are gone. Do they have any leads?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this has been tremendously infuriating, especially for the victim's family, those four people that he killed. Let's not forget why he's on probation to begin with, Poppy. But the authorities at last we heard, they believe that Couch, that young man that you're looking at your screen and his mother may have fled the country. They were tipped after he failed to show up to a parole hearing. A hearing--actually a meeting I should say with his parole officer. It was shortly after that video had come out. It can only be assumed that he knew that that video was going to get him in trouble violating his probation which is why he took off and now this teen who allegedly has no moral compass, this disease called affluenza, a bizarre defense. It seems Poppy that he's going to do just about anything to avoid a life behind bars.

HARLOW: And so he's already violated his parole because he didn't show up for that meeting.

VALENCIA: That's right.

HARLOW: If he had actually fled the country with the help of his mother, what kind of charges would he face, would she face?

VALENCIA: Well that could level all sorts of other charges, which is why the FBI is now assisting. We don't believe that they are officially involved in any capacity just yet. Just out there, in case assistance needs to come from the FBI but that North Texas Fugitive Task Force, the U.S. Marshals has been activated but again at last we heard from these authorities is that he may have fled the country which could bring a whole other slew of charges now that he has officially violated his probation.

A probation--the guidelines were very strict. He was supposed to stay away from alcohol, not drink alcohol and then this video which presumably shows him along with some other college aged kids playing beer pong. He has a lot more to answer for now, Poppy.

HARLOW: Four innocent lives, four loved ones lost because of his reckless behavior. Nick Valencia, thank you.

Coming up next, how much of your privacy are you willing to surrender in order to keep terrorists from keeping their plans secret. The national debate that has a lot of people fascinated, others up in arms. Answers next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:22:12] HARLOW: Terrorists have learned how to go dark, encrypting their online and cell phone communications so law enforcement cannot break into it. They can't read it in the aftermath. They can't intercept what is being said in real time. Investigators in Paris telling CNN terrorists using encrypted apps to plan their deadly terrorist attack last month.

A new bill was signed yesterday by the president who's designed to give companies as the tech companies legal cover if they share data about cyber-attacks with each other and with the government. It has staunchly been imposed by privacy and civil liberty groups who call it just an expansion of surveillance at the heat of debate. In the midst of it, here to explain it, CNN Money Tech Correspondent, Laurie Segall and CNN Global Affair Analyst, Kimberly Dozier. Thank you, ladies, for being here.

Laurie, let me begin with you. Increasingly, big tech is using encrypted data. So it doesn't matter how high you go up in the government, the president asks for it, he can't get it. Terrorists are taking advantage of it. Where do people fall on this? You need it to protect the privacy, at the same time. It seems like it's risking some things.

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECH CORRESPONDENT: It's also--it's funny because we have this debate any time there's news like the attackers in Paris where there's the Encryption Act. So it might have sway one way but really what we've seen in the last couple years, this Encryption Acts have gone mainstream.

So encryption technology is a dual technology. It can do good things. It can do bad. It keeps our bank accounts safe. It keeps the internet safe but over the last couple years, because encryption has gone mainstream and it mean you can use it very easily. It's increasingly easy for terrorists to use it so we're now at this really pivotal point where you have lawmakers saying to the tech companies, "We need access. We need some kind of backdoor access," you know, the tech companies saying, "That's not possible because if you give the good guys access, then you also give the bad guys access." So that's going to where we stand at this moment at any time something like this happens, it ignites the debate all over again, Poppy.

HARLOW: Kimberly, could these tech companies that Laurie's talking about--we're talking about the biggest ones, the Apple, Google, you name it. Could they be forced at any, in any way to hand over this data? Would it mean a complete rewriting of the laws?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, you know, that's how it used to work when a court would rule that they had to turn over that bulk phone data to the NSA because the NSA was looking through that data to see if they took a number from terrorists and see who had called that number and the companies had no choice in that case. What this bill would do was protect them when they hand over information voluntarily related to hacking. So this is a little bit different.

HARLOW: Right, but they cannot be forced at this point in time to hand over the other encrypted data? That's right?

[16:24:55] DOZIER: At this point, it's part of their package and their compact with the consumer that they won't hand over the data but they've also put in a design such that they can't access a lot of this data. It's encrypted to the company as well and so that's been their defense and Congress--some in Congress, would like them to rewrite the code to put in that back door that you talked about.

HARLOW: Right, Laurie, I'm assuming they're not likely to rewrite this code. I mean you just did a whole half hour special with hackers last week, speaking to some of the biggest names in this.

SEGALL: Yeah , actually spoke with a guy named Moxi Marlinspike. He's a hacker, a security researcher. Everyone from Edward Snowden to government officials have said look out for whatever he's building. So what is he building? He's building encryption technology that is now being used by Whatsapp. So this goes out to hundreds of millions of users. And I asked him, I said, Moxie, I asked him about the debate, and I said, "Why build this technology? What's at stake?" Listen to what he said to me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOXIE MARLINSPIKE, OPEN WHISPER SYSTEMS: What we were trying to do is make mass surveillance impossible. And, you know, terrorists or pedophiles or, you know, whoever the bad people are, they already have access to encryption. Right now, we're the only people that aren't using encryption technology, you know, people who are already engaged in high-risk criminal behavior are already using it. And so what we're trying to do is develop technology that is really simple to use and accessible to just everyday normal people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEGALL: And I did asked him that question and I said, "Well OK, the government says they need some kind access to these communications." And what he said is, if they can't protect their data, they're getting hacked all the time, how do they expect us to protect theirs? And if we build the back door for the good guys, the bad guys are going to go right in. So that's really interesting point in time or having any discussions and some of like the policy played catch up to the technology.

HARLOW: Well and then, Kimberly, before I let you go. Yet, you know, this week, Brazil temporarily banned Whatsapp that's using this encrypted technology. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook, which owns Whatsapp said, "How can you do this, a court overturns it." But this shows how countries are grappling with how to deal. DOZIER: Yeah, I think what you're going to have are countries that are

going to have this debate with their citizens, saying do you want us to keep you safe or do you want to have access to totally encrypted technology. If you want us to keep you safe, then these companies are going to have to agree with us to build something and to let us access this. Otherwise, when something like the San Bernardino attacks happened and you realized that they used this encrypted technology to hide what they were planning to do, well, you can't really complain.

HARLOW: It's a great point. Laurie, thank you, Kimberly, thank you very much, appreciate it. Much more on CNNMoney.

Back to the race for the White House, these two men head-to-head, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, the battle goes on. The two first-term senators going after one another instead of the front-runner Donald Trump. Is that a smart strategy? Next

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:59] HARLOW: Back with more on the fight, hitting Jeb Bush against Donald Trump, the two taking swings back and forth, back and forth today on the campaign trail.

(BEGINVIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I had one guy come at me with sound bites from his pollster, it was so sad to watch him. So sad. Bush. No, it was just sad. I mean, it's like close to incompetent.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He just doesn't have a serious idea about anything and we're living in serious times. For us to win -- well, Trump can't be the nominee. He's never going to beat Hillary Clinton. It's just not possible.

I'm the only guy that's speaking out about the lack of seriousness of Donald Trump. Not being able to answer the question about the role of nuclear triad. I mean, the answer that he gave was just like -- it made no sense at all. If people can't see that, or they're fearful of him, fine. I like the lane I'm in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Nationally, Trump is still by far the front-runner. Take a look at this new FOX News poll. Trump at 39 percent support. Bush at 3 percent.

Right now, Trump still speaking live in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Our Jeremy Diamond is there.

He started out talking about his poll numbers, wishing everyone merry Christmas and talking about Vladimir Putin. What has he said for the past hour after that?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, well, we've been here, Donald Trump has been speaking for more than an hour now. It's been a pretty meandering speech. He's talked about a little bit of everything, including touting one of these projects that he had in New York City, where he rebuilt the ice rink there in Central Park, spent almost ten minutes I think talking about that project, and talking about cutting the strings and the red tape in government.

But one of the things that was really important was how he was talking about Vladimir Putin. You know, in the last few days, we've been seeing Putin had some comments praise worthy comments. And Trump was essentially slamming down the criticism of how he's received those comments from Putin.

Trump saying it's a great thing. And he thinks good things about Vladimir Putin who, of course, is a strong man in Russia. He rules there essentially by -- not just by popular mandate but, of course, in an autocratic fashion. So Trump saying that, you know, people are just jealous that they're not getting the same kind of endorsement from the Russian leader.

HARLOW: Jeremy, thank you very much. We'll keep listening, keep monitoring what Trump is saying, speaking there in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Thank you very much.

I want to get some more insight on this. Joining me now, political commentator Ryan Lizza in Washington.

What do you make of this? I mean, Jeb Bush clearly is saying I'm going after Trump with everything I got, even though he's so far behind in the polls.

RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Or maybe because he is so far behind in the polls, Poppy.

I think Trump responding is actually a mistake. You know, when you are on top of the polls the way Donald Trump is, you usually just ignore people who are down in single digits.

And so, I think Jeb is smart, frankly, to go after Trump. It's not like Jeb Bush has a lot of options right now. And everyone in the race, if they want to break through, they have to figure out a way to bring Trump down all summer, all fall. He just assumed that would happen on its own and it didn't.

HARLOW: I mean, so far, Jeb Bush today called Donald Trump a, quote, "jerk", and said Donald Trump doesn't know Kurds are Muslims. I mean, he's holding nothing back.

There is another big fight. Cruz and Rubio, two 44-year-old first- term senators. The question is, is there room only for one of them in this race?

You wrote a fascinating piece on it this week, and you said the new Rubio/Cruz phase of the campaign is a welcome development.

[16:30:04] You called it akin to Lincoln/Douglass.

LIZZA: What I said is compared to the policy debates we were having over Trump, this is like Lincoln/Douglass.

Look, Trump wants to build a wall. He's got a $12 trillion tax. He wants to ban all Muslims. I don't think a lot Republicans see those policies as very serious. You haven't had much of a real debate because they've just been so far out there.

Cruz and Rubio, it's a different story. These guys are both senators. They both had a few years working on issues in the Senate. And now, they're bringing those debates to the campaign trail. They're about very meaty, important issues.

The three biggies are, when does the U.S. militarily intervene overseas? Cruz has -- he's much more skeptical of intervention than Rubio is. The second big one is on NSA surveillance.

Cruz led the fight to reform the NSA's program. Rubio opposed that bill. And, obviously, the biggest one is on immigration. Where Rubio I think to his credit worked very hard to pass comprehensive immigration reform bill and in a Republican primary, he's really paying the price for that support. Cruz of course opposed to this bill.

HARLOW: You write about this and you say this is why, in the long run, Cruz has the advantage in his three policy fights over Rubio. Why do you read it that way?

LIZZA: So, my view of these fights in the Republican primary is, who has the position that is closest to President Barack Obama, right? And that's a bad place to be.

So, on two of these three issues we just outlined, NSA surveillance, interventionism and immigration, Cruz is more aligned -- excuse me, Marco Rubio is more aligned with the Obama position than Cruz, he's to the left of where Cruz is. And these are pretty important issues.

The two where he's closer to Obama, of course, are on immigration and on intervention. Cruz -- excuse me, Rubio supported the intervention in Libya, which is becoming very unpopular among Republicans, because a lot of Republicans, rightly, argue that it's left the vacuum that ISIS has entered.

I think Rubio has done a good job muddying the waters in the last week over his position and Cruz's position on immigration. But if you listen ton the conservative talk radio and you read the conservative online publications, they're with Cruz on this. He has staked out a much more hard line Trump-like immigration position. And that is paying dividends in this primary and on intervening overseas, he's -- opposes where Obama is and Rubio's closer to Obama. And that's why I argue Cruz has the advantage on these three issues.

HARLOW: What about on immigration? I thought "The New York Times" piece this work was fascinating, juxtaposing the two of them, two 44- year-old first-term senators, both fathers who are Cuban immigrants, who have embraced or not embraced their Cuban-Latino heritage so drastically differently, Ryan.

Do we see that play out more on the trail?

LIZZA: I think so. It's partly the difference between Marco Rubio growing up in Florida with a very large Cuban-American population and being a little bit closer to his Cuban roots. And Cruz, who was born in Canada, but has lived in Texas for a long time --

HARLOW: He changed his first name.

LIZZA: He changed it to Ted. Great detail in that "New York Times" article was his father didn't like that. You know, he thought he was trying to, you know, cut himself off from his Cuban-American roots.

So, look, it plays into the immigration issue. A lot of pundits have argued, wouldn't it be great for a Republican to have a Latino nominee? It could help them with the Latino population and the general election, which the Republicans need to do to win the White House.

From my vantage point, Marco Rubio would do a whole lot better on that front than Ted Cruz. One, because of the way that he has associated himself a little bit more with Latino issues than Ted Cruz. And then, two, of course, his position on immigration is a lot closer to most Latinos.

HARLOW: And we have seen Ted Cruz veer far, far, far more, I think, to the right, in the wake of Donald Trump and his surge. I wonder, if Ted Cruz does make it into a general election, what does he do after veering so far, further right than I think he planned to going into this primary?

LIZZA: Much further. I think he was trying to maintain the ability to move to the center on immigration. I think every Republican candidate wants to be able to do that in a general election. And when you have a Republican electorate as conservative as it is on this issue, especially in Iowa, and then you have someone like Donald Trump who just moved the entire debate as far to the right as he possibly could, that was very tempting to Cruz.

[16:40:09] And he's basically abandoned the middle ground on the issue. He can't go back if he's the nominee. You look at this ad he's running in Iowa right now. He has basically said he's in the Donald Trump position. He's basically -- he hasn't said it this way, but the logic of his position now is all illegal immigrants have to be deported. That's where he is.

HARLOW: Yes.

LIZZA: Marco Rubio has not gone that far. Think he's in a better place in general. In general, Cruz is in a better place to win the nomination though with his position.

HARLOW: Yes, you got to get there first. You got to get to the general first.

Ryan Lizza --

LIZZA: And this is what happened with Romney. A lot of Romney's aides tell you he get pulled too far to the right.

HARLOW: That's a good point.

All right. Thank you, Brian. Nice to have you on.

Coming up --

LIZZA: You got it, Poppy.

HARLOW: Coming up next, outrage over a homework assignment forced an entire school district in Virginia to shut down. Find out why this lesson in calligraphy turned into a major concern for some parents.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: In August County, Virginia, a homework assignment is causing a major controversy prompting an administrator to shut down the public schools there temporarily. This happened after a teacher handed out a homework assignment on Islam. Some parents saw it as an attempt to convert their children.

Jason Carroll has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, the local sheriff tells me that the volume of hate mail the district received led him and the school superintendant to cancel classes for the day and change the way that course is taught in the future.

(voice-over): It was a routine homework assignment for ninth graders attending their world geography class at Riverheads High School in Stanton, Virginia.

A calligraphy assignment to copy this -- is what caused an entire school district to cancel classes.

[16:45:00] CHUCK LAYMAN, PARENT: Most people just don't really understand what exactly was put into that work sheet that the kids were sent home with.

CARROLL: According to the school, the assignment said, "Here is the shahada, the Islamic statement of faith, written in Arabic. In the space below, try copying it by hand. This should give you an idea of the artistic complexity of calligraphy."

But instead of a lesson the calligraphy, the school district learned a lesson about the complexity surrounding Islam. Americans, uneasy now with anything having to do with their religion, in the wake of the recent terror attacks overseas and at home.

KIMBERLY HERNDON, UPSET MOTHER: I will not have my children sit under a woman who indoctrinates them with the Islam religion when I am a Christian and I'm going to stand behind Christ.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why couldn't we just learn to write hello, good- bye, normal words, not that.

CARRROLL: The local sheriff's department says the Augusta School District received hate mail, accusing the teacher of trying to convert children to Islam, so the district canceled classes Friday for the entire county, all of its 10,000 students.

They say there is no specific threat, but school officials did say the, quote, "tone and content" of some of the communications was concerning. The superintendant released a statement which reads as we have emphasized, no lesson was designed to promote a religious viewpoint or change any student's religious belief. Although students will continue to learn about world religions as required by the state board of education and the commonwealth standards of learning a different nonreligious sample of Arabic calligraphy will be used in the future."

A number of students took to Facebook to defend the lesson and the teacher. One post reads, "I personally was not offended by this. I liked the assignment." Calling his teacher "an amazing teacher."

The teacher had lifted the calligraphy lesson from a standard workbook on world religion. And according to the sheriff, had assigned it before, without any threat or backlash.

Muslim leaders now say the cultural climate has shifted to an unsettling place.

COREY SAYLOR, COUNCIL ON AMERICAN-ISLAMIC RELATIONS: It shows us the level of anti-Islam hysteria in the United States. We want our children to understand the world in which they will live and, unfortunately, we find that some parents are just terrified of even a simple calligraphy assignment.

CARROLL (on camera): Poppy, we should also tell you that we did attempt to reach out to the teacher in question. She did not respond to our calls. I can tell you that her daughter did post a statement on Facebook, thanking all of those people who were out there in the community supporting her -- Poppy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Jason Carroll, reporting. Thank you, Jason.

Up next, the force at the box office awakening, for the latest installment of the "Star Wars" franchise.

If you are one of the legion of fans, you will find a galaxy of new characters this time and some old favorites. Up next, Brian Stelter joins me to look at the 120 million reasons why this film is making box office history.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:51:23] HARLOW: It is here, the wait for the galaxy far, far way is finally over. It's opening weekend for the new "Star Wars" movie "The Force Awakens" and it is shattering all of your expectations and all sorts of box office records. The movie has earned an estimated $120 million on its first day alone and is on track for a $220 million opening weekend.

Brian Stelter here with more.

Can I admit? I've never seen one.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: This is the moment, poppy.

HARLOW: Well, no, I have to go back and watch all of them.

STELTER: Actually, yes, "Star Wars" geeks say you should go back and watch the original three from decades ago. You can skip the more recent trilogy that some people are embarrassed by. But they say this picks up really well from where the original three left off.

HARLOW: What is it about this film that has it raking in $220 million expected this weekend?

STELTER: Well, partly this entire series, going back decades, is a part of American mythology, it's America at its best. It's Hollywood at its best. But this movie in particular, this is Disney at its best. This is Disney showing how synergy works. Synergy 101 by buying Lucas Films several years ago over $4 billion, placing a bet on the future of "Star Wars," reinvigorating the franchise, and then making sure we all know about it.

The marketing has been tremendous for this movie. The buzz has been tremendous for this movie. And not only has it been advertised well, it's actually a good movie. The reviews have been entirely positive.

So, they also worked with a great director, JJ Abrams, to make sure it's worth seeing.

HARLOW: Right, and brought back some of the old stars -- they're not old, former stars.

STELTER: The classic stars, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, they're joined by a new generation of celebrities, a new generation of characters. And, of course, they work really well together. This is the first of several new movies and a new franchise so it will go on for years to come.

HARLOW: There's another one, 2017, 2019.

STELTER: Right.

HARLOW: But you mentioned this, $4 billion price tag, for Lucas Films.

STELTER: Now, it looks cheap actually.

HARLOW: It does?

STELTER: Well, compared to how -- when you think about how well it's doing right now. You can put it on screen I think what the prior record was for an opening weekend in the U.S., the prior record holder was "Jurassic World." Earlier this year, you can see there, it made $280 million in its opening weekend.

"Star Wars" is definitely going to beat that tomorrow. The numbers are going to come in tomorrow morning. We'll cover them on "RELIABLE SOURCES."

It looks like "Star Wars" is going to make about $220 million just this weekend. But it's going to, over time in other countries, make up to $2 billion. So, even though it feels like everybody's already seen it this weekend, you're not the only one who hasn't seen it yet, it's actually going to be doing well for the box office for many weeks.

Disney's going to make a fortune off this, just the first movie, and then the merchandise. And then there's the theme parks that they're working --

HARLOW: They were selling it. I went to the movies last night, I saw "The Big Short," which was fantastic.

STELTER: Can't wait to see that.

HARLOW: And, by the way, tickets in New York City, $16. $16, it's unbelievable. But they had an entire "Star Wars" setup there, selling the merchandise.

STELTER: And, by the way, this movie is going to raise all votes because "Star Wars" is in theaters, it might be sold out, you might see something else instead, or you will see "Star Wars" twice because you liked it so much. So, the entire box office of holiday season is going to be benefitting from the fact the "Star Wars" is in theaters.

HARLOW: Parents and kid, it's rare when a film really attracts parents and kids.

STELTER: That's right.

HARLOW: This does it.

STELTER: This does, absolutely.

And ones you see on that record list like "The Avengers" and like "Jurassic World", they have the same effect. They have the same ability to bring in older and younger viewers. That's one of the reasons why "Star Wars" is working so well.

And like I mentioned, it's just a good movie. JJ Abrams is the director, he was trusted with this franchise and he did not disappoint. Both for the "Star Wars" obsessives, the big fans and for the more casual fans.

[16:55:00] HARLOW: All right. I am not even a casual fan. I will begin watching this weekend on my vacation, Brian, thank you. Have a great holiday. STELTER: Good to see you. You too.

HARLOW: Good to see you as well.

From "Star Wars" to a war of words, the rhetoric heating up between Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Jeb Bush just moments ago.

Mr. Trump wrapped up a rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. You're looking at live pictures of all of those Trump supporters. Much more after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Five o'clock Eastern this Saturday. Here in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Poppy Harlow. Thank you for being with me.

Expect a lot of fireworks tonight between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders at the Democratic debate. The past 48 hours have been among the most volatile yet between the two. Sanders campaign was accused of improperly accessing Clinton's voter data due to a software glitch.

The Democratic National Committee immediately shut Sanders' camp completely out of all voter information, including their own. That led to a federal lawsuit almost being filed last night by the Sanders' camp. Now, the DNC has restored sander's access to the voter rolls.

But why the DNC reverse course? Well, that depends on who you ask.

CNN's Athena Jones, live with us from New Hampshire. That is where the debate is tonight.

No question, this will be addressed in it the debate, Athena. I don't think it will dominate the debate. Can you walk us through why is it so critical that this Clinton data, this proprietary data, was tapped?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Poppy.

It is complicated and it is critical because this voter file, this voter database that the DNC maintains is used by all of the campaigns. But even though all of the campaigns may have access to the lists of Democratic voters, each of these campaigns is separately doing a lot of groundwork.