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Jeb Bush Super-PAC Attacks Marco Rubio; Thousands Starving In Madaya; President Obama's Final State Of The Union Address Tonight; Media Mogul Rupert Murdoch Engaged To Jerry Hall. Aired 3:30-4p ET
Aired January 12, 2016 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[15:30:00] SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And it seems that Hillary folks are very eager to support Donald Trump and the attacks that are being tossed my direction. Regardless, he is entitled to toss whatever attacks he wants. I haven't reciprocated. I don't intend to. I'm going to focus on what the American people are interested in which are real solutions to the enormous challenges facing this country.
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BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Let's go straight to our political reporter Sara Murray who is in Cedar Falls, Iowa where Donald Trump will be very soon. Now that we have heard that ping- ponging over this issue continues, Sara.
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, I think these are Ted Cruz's sharpest comments towards Donald Trump on this to date. And look. I have lost track of the number of times Ted Cruz has been asked about this by reporters, by people in the last week or so. So I'm sure what you're seeing here from Cruz is a little bit of frustration that this line of attack is gaining traction and has caused him to sort of end up getting knocked off message of a little bit.
And I think it's interesting to see the way he's going after Trump. He is raising an issue that a number of his Republican contenders have tried to raise, which is maybe Trump isn't a true conservative, isn't it interesting that Democrats are starting to follow him. And so, so that's not something that Republican primary voters want to see, a bunch Democrats ling up behind Trump. We will see if it has any traction so far as we have seen these attacks go off at Trump and they just seem to bounce right back off. But Trump will be here in Iowa in just a couple hours. So it will be interesting to see if he ratchets up his tone a little bit further against Ted Cruz because of this.
BALDWIN: Quickly, Sara, do we have any idea whether or not Donald Trump will be watching or live tweeting the president's state of the union tonight?
MURRAY: Yes. So he will be in and out of Iowa, as usual, on his private jet. And while he will not be watching state of the union from here on the ground, he will be watching on his private plane as he heads back. I think it's a safe bet that he will probably offer us some twitter reaction, although his campaign will not confirm that one way or another.
BALDWIN: I'm not a gambling woman, but I'm going to gamble that you are correct.
Sara Murray, thank you very much in Iowa for us.
Let me bring in Katon Dawson, the South Carolina chairman of George W. Bush's 2004 reelection campaign.
KATON DAWSON, FORMER CHAIRMAN, SOUTH CAROLINA REPUBLICAN PARTY: Nice to see you, sir. Welcome.
Thank you for having me, Brooke.
BALDWIN: You got it. Before we talk about Bush 43 and this idea of yours, let me ask you. I want you to take a look - listen, much to do has been made over Marco Rubio's sort of taste when it comes to some boot. And apparently this Jeb Bush super PAC going after that and a little bit more. Here you go.
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BALDWIN: So now that's going to be stuck in my head for the rest of the night. Thank you Jeb Bush super PAC. But to you, you know, your reaction to the ad.
DAWSON: Brooke, it's cute, it's silly. I don't think it has any stick to it. It's interesting in this campaign especially the South Carolina commercials that are starting to heat up now, which will be the big primary of the first three, 650,000 voters.
I think you're seeing what you're seeing is everybody running for second place and nobody for first place. That's what I am seeing. Donald Trump has decent numbers here enough to win the primary outright. Everybody seems to be jockeying for second place.
That commercial is cute. I watched Governor Bush go after Senator Rubio, a good bet those two. Now, you are watching Cruz took what I consider a good clean punch at Donald Trump in Iowa today. So, you know, the mudslinging is going to start and it ought to get fairly serious. Let's watch tonight. Let's watch Donald Trump tweet during the president's report. But back to the state of the race, it's still influx.
BALDWIN: By the way, I think the mudslinging has long since started. But you had this idea, Katon, that I had not heard of yet. You basically said quoting you, Bush 43 comes off the ranch, it could very well change the race. I mean, how could, you know, George W. Bush help the entire team? Choose your words.
DAWSON: In the context of that, what I was answering was a question about Bill Clinton. And Bill Clinton has never quit campaigning since the day he left the White House. And I'm giving a compliment to the Democratic Party for that. He's been their leader. He's been their referee. Certainly President Obama beat Hillary. He's back out on the trail again raising money, raising issues. And we have always -- a lot of us that worked for President Bush 43 have looked for his help and support. Tremendous fundraiser, tremendous competitor.
My answer to a question was would that help the process or help his brother. I'm not sure it would help Jeb. I'm certain it would bring some sanity to the Republican Party which is having just outrageous primary at this time.
[15:35:30] BALDWIN: What about what John Kasich said, you know, talking about New Hampshire specifically. And he says, you know, he comes out of New Hampshire with momentum. That that would be sufficient enough to win the nomination. I mean, you are in that next primary state post New Hampshire of South Carolina. Do you think that there's any truth to that, to your point? I mean, it's basically a five-way race for second place in New Hampshire.
DAWSON: I think a couple things happen. Iowa has never really mattered that much to South Carolina. New Hampshire, that's where Donald Trump has problems. Donald Trump needs a pretty good-sized field coming into South Carolina. Because he's got a base vote enough to win now. When you subtract out the other people that are there and looks like the crowd will thin. So I don't think New Hampshire bumps you into South Carolina and gives you a lot of momentum because it hasn't in the past.
The corrections have been made in South Carolina. What I do know is the South Carolina will punch about three tickets out of here and on to Super Tuesday. And then, Brooke, in the April, which is the end of March which has 31 contests, 24 primaries and seven caucuses. And that's a pretty big deal.
BALDWIN: Katon Dawson, thank you.
DAWSON: Thanks, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Coming up next, aid workers in Syria reduced to tears as they bring food to starving little boys and girls who have been cut off for months and months. We will show you what's happening on the ground in that war-torn country.
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[15:41:05] BALDWIN: Want to just take a moment in the midst of everything here in Washington to talk about Syria where a set of photos has stopped us in our tracks. The brutal war there has sent people running for their lives. Families, innocent civilians, children. But in some cities they have not been able to leave and nothing, not even food has been able in until now.
One of them is the city of Madaya. Pictures we are about to show you are graphic. Thousands of people starving. Some starving to death. Many of those people fighting for their lives, toddlers, their skin like paper over tiny bones reports of infants going months without milk. Children forced to eat stray dogs and cats. The elderly eating grass and leaves just to stay alive. This video amateur video shows people lining up. You know what they
are lining up for, packets of salt. Well, today aid workers finally reached these areas. It's the first aid to reach the town in nearly three months.
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh tells us those aid workers all experienced war and famine were brought to tears by what they saw.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, those 400 people urgently need assistance. And they are the most fragile victims of month's long malnourishment and starvation inside of Madaya, experienced aid workers, I am told by source in the convoy moved to tears by what they saw when they entered that city yesterday. It took hours of negotiations to get those 44 trucks in. And even still then when they entered, aid workers offered customary Syrian hospitality by those who were starving who offered their besieged soup.
And that is simply hot water and spices, sometimes flecks of wheat in there as well. A bit to try and show them some kind of hospitality, it was refused. But that kind of meal is all the children have been getting each day to keep them alive in the cold temperatures. Some children approaching the aid convey saying can I have a biscuit. Another simply saying can I have some French fries and ketchup.
Very human basic needs, but a great deal of urgency, Brooke. You have to bear in mind that the hospital there dealing with these dozens of cases of extreme malnutrition while is a makeshift room in a home. And as veterinarian helping with care, two dentists, one actual doctor, nurses learning on the job. They have a difficult task now. They have this pretty small amount of aid given the scale of the challenge they have. They have to give it slowly with medical care or it could make them most hungry, actually more sick than they currently are.
Those evacuations so urgent, aid workers say maybe 30 people have died from starvation so far since the beginning of September. And even this aid complex to get in because it had to happen simultaneously with a delivery to aid to other towns that are loyal to the government. Madaya is siege by the government. The towns are not a loyal to it. And there have the siege by the rebel. So tit for tat, aid here, that in itself will complicate these urgent evacuations of 400 people that's so badly needed, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Nick, thank you so much.
If you'd like to help, you can. Just go to CNN's impact your world website. There we have a list of vetted organizations on the ground helping folks in Syria. That's at CNN.com/impact. Again, CNN.com/impact.
We'll be right back.
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[15:48:44] BALDWIN: The stage is set for President Barack Obama's final state of the union address tonight here on Capitol Hill. It's his seventh annual appear to update Congress and, of course, all of you. The president is expected to address gun violence, terrorism, ISIS, Guantanamo Bay. Earlier, the president said he also wants to use this final address to bridge the partisan gap.
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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's no doubt that politics in Washington are so much more divided than the American people are. Part of what I want to do in this last address is to remind people we got a lot of good things going for us. If we can get our politics right, it turns out that we're not as divided on the ideological spectrum as people make us out to
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BALDWIN: President's speech will be apparently shorter than usual. "The LEAD's" host, Jake Tapper, also host of "State Of The Union" is with me now.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to Washington, Brooke.
BALDWIN: In your house. So how in general on day like this with the president and the White House prepare for such a big moment?
TAPPER: The president, this president, starts thinking about the state of the union months ahead of time.
BALDWIN: He does.
TAPPER: Yes. And what he wants to say. And they have been very conscious about not making thus a look back, talking about the next year ahead, and what they want to do. So in that way they are not going to be looking back at Obama presidency. They still have a year on the clock. President Obama has said they wanted to leave it all on the field. There's a lot of stuff he still wants to do. So I think we will hear a lot of that. I'm sure he can't help but feel nostalgic, this being his last.
[15:50:21] BALDWIN: He has to.
TAPPER: Yes, happening. But at the same time, it is a speech where you try and, you know, very seldom have the unfiltered attention of tens of millions of Americans. So it's an opportunity for him to lay out what he does want to do. And as you mentioned, a lot of those things have to do with gun control, talking about ISIS. It's not necessarily an area that where he wants to do much more legislatively, although he is seeking authorization from Congress for military action against ISIS. But I think that's more of an attempt to look at the anxiety and try to reassure the country.
The president looks at the polls. He is aware that the American people feel anxious and unsettled about the future and about the president. He doesn't feel that way. And I think he's going to try to convey the sense of optimism he feels. BALDWIN: It is his final address.
TAPPER: Yes.
BALDWIN: It is House speaker Paul Ryan's his first.
TAPPER: His very first.
BALDWIN: As speaker of the house.
TAPPER: Yes.
BALDWIN: You had, what, some (INAUDIBLE) this morning?
TAPPER: We had some - no. You know, Paul Ryan is very healthy. He doesn't eat bacon and eggs.
BALDWIN: I hope you --
TAPPER: We had yogurt.
BALDWIN: How did it go?
TAPPER: I mean, he is loaded for bear as well. I mean, he says that it was, you know, it was a bunch of us reporters, we asked what were you expecting? He says six or seven straw men gauzy look at the last seven year. But obviously, he feels the country's on the wrong track and he thinks that President Obama is going to spend the next year -- this is Paul Ryan, not me -- baiting Republicans on Capitol Hill into fights that will, and Ryan's terminology, make them look like angry reaction areas so as to better set the stage for presumably Hillary Clinton, but maybe not, in November. So that's his view of how the next year's going to go. Obviously, that's not how President Obama would see it.
BALDWIN: What do you say about Nikki Haley, South Carolina governor, who had a pretty big year last year with everything that happened in her state and she will be giving the rebuttal after the president.
TAPPER: Yes. I will tell you something. There are moments in a politician's career where you either rise or fall. And Nikki Haley when it came to removing the confederate flag, she rose. And she really impressed a lot of people, especially leaders of the Republican Party in Washington D.C. Paul Ryan had a hand in selecting her. He has given her advice, personal advice on how to handle the speech. You know, it can be difficult giving the opposition party speech, the response to the president. And it has hurt people before. You might remember Marco Rubio lunging for water.
BALDWIN: Bobby Jindal.
TAPPER: Paul Ryan did it in 2011. And so, you know, you can escaped unscathed or even better off. Ryan said that he told Nikki Haley put a cough drop in the corner of your mouth. That will keep saliva going and you won't have the cotton mouth. So that is a little practical hands. I'm sure he had substantive suggestions for her as well but he didn't share them with me.
BALDWIN: And yogurt for breakfast.
TAPPER: Yes.
BALDWIN: OK. Tapper, thank you.
TAPPER: Thank you.
BALDWIN: See you (INAUDIBLE) all night to night. I'm sure.
Meantime, again, please join us here CNN starting 7:00 eastern for complete coverage of the president's final state of the union address.
Now this one, you heard about this? Media mogul Rupert Murdoch getting married again. He just got engaged to former model and actress Jerry Hall and "the Daily Beast," in my opinion, might have said it best. Quoting them, "it is perhaps fair to say it's not best of weeks for Mick Jagger. First, his old friend collaborator contemporary David Bowie died. Now his former wife, Jerry Hall has announced that she is to marry the 84-year-old media magnate, Rupert Murdoch. And it's only Tuesday." Murdoch and Hall have been today for only four months.
Joining me now is CNN digital senior media and politics reporter, Dylan Byers.
Hello, my friend. Why do you think this is getting so much attention today?
DYLAN BYERS, CNN SENIOR MEDIA AND POLITICS REPORTER: Well, it's a lifestyles of the rich and famous sort of thing, for one. I mean, these are two sort of major, major figures and, of course, it's very -- it's always very interesting to those of us who watch the media what Rupert Murdoch is up to and who he's marrying.
This is, of course, his fourth wife. I think it interest a lot of people that he is getting married now. He is 84. She is 59. So I think there's a wow factor here. Not a lot much more to say about it than that. You know, there's a huge prenuptial agreement here. It not going to have a huge effect on his business. Certainly won't have a news effect on us in News Corp 21st century FOX stock. But you know, it's -- it's a rich and famous thing and it's captivating in that regard.
BALDWIN: Captivating. I mean, listen, maybe if you're 84 and still feeling love you want to, you know, say "I do" again. Do we have details? I have to imagine it is way too early as far as the when and the where.
[15:55:05] BYERS: It's too early to know the when and the where. For now we can just sort of, you know, pray that we get a ticket, get an invite to this event.
You know, I will say, it's interesting to think of Rupert Murdoch as this sort of romantic Don Juan, you know, sort of rock star playboy, because that is not the image we have when we think of Rupert Murdoch. We think of a very buttoned up British focus media mogul. But it piece out in British actually, you know, talking about this sort of more romantic, loving side of the media mogul.
BALDWIN: Romantic, loving side. We'll leave it. Dylan Byers, thank you so much.
And again, just a reminder, we are hours away from President Barack Obama's seventh and final state of the union address happening here tonight on Capitol Hill. We have much more on that ahead here on CNN.
We'll be right back.
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