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Latest GOP Debate in South Carolina; Trump Fires at Cruz; New Poll Shows Clinton's Lead Shrinking; Shanghai Exchange Lost More Than 3.5 Percent Today; New Ebola Case in Sierra Leone; Health Crisis in Flint, Michigan; California Lottery Hoax?. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired January 15, 2016 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:01]

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN NEWSROOM HOST: The Republican race for the White House, the gloves come off. Hear what candidates had to say in their first debate of 2016, including this...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Because he was not born on the land, he cannot run for...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Donald Trump hammers Ted Cruz on whether he can even be President because he was born in Canada.

Later, ISIS is now claiming responsibility for the terror attack in Indonesia's capitol. From CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world, I am George Howell. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

And we begin this hour with the debates that wrapped up just a few hours ago in North Charleston, South Carolina. That's the Republican candidates that are running for President. And they got into their last chance, really to make the case to voters to be commander in chief just weeks before the Iowa caucuses. Their latest debate featured fireworks between the two front-runners, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.

It started early with Mr. Trump insisting there are still questions about whether Ted Cruz is even eligible to be President since he was born in Canada.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: This isn't me saying it. I don't care. I think I am going to win fair and square and I can win this way. Thank you. Numerous from Harvard said that there is a serious question as to whether or not Ted can do this, ok. There are other attorneys that feel -- and very, very fine constitutional attorneys that feel that because he was not born on the land, he cannot run for... SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, listen, I have

spent my entire life defending the constitution before the U.S. Supreme Court, and I will tell you, I am not going to be taking legal advice from Donald Trump.

TRUMP: You don't have to. Take it from your professor.

CRUZ: The chances of any litigation proceeding and succeeding on this are zero.

TRUMP: It's wrong.

CRUZ: And Mr. Trump.

TRUMP: It's wrong.

CRUZ: Is very focused on Laurence Tribe. Let me tell you who Laurence Tribe is. He's a left wing judicial activist Harvard Law Professor who was Al Gore's lawyer in Bush versus Gore. He's a major Hillary Clinton supporter. There's a reason why Hillary supporters are echoing Donald's attacks on me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Trump and Cruz got into it again over Cruz's recent assertion that Donald Trump embodies, "New York values." Cruz explained what he meant.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRUZ: Everyone understands that the values in New York City are socially liberal or pro abortion or pro gay marriage, focus around money and the media.

TRUMP: New York is a great place. It's got great people. It's got loving people, wonderful people. When the World Trade Center came down, I saw something that no place on Earth could have handled more beautifully, more humanely than New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: And there was another key moment as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio sparred on the issue of immigration. It started with a discussion on whether to allow Syrian refugees into the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRUZ: You don't get to say we need to secure the borders and at the same time try to get Barack Obama more authority to allow middle eastern refugees coming in when the head of the FBI tells us they cannot vet them to determine if they are ISIS terrorists.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Maria, let me clear something up here. This is an interesting point when you talk about immigration. Ted Cruz used to say he supported doubling the number of green cards. Now you say you're against it. You used to support a number a 500 percent increase in the number of guest workers, now you say that you're against it. You used to support legalizing people who are here illegally. Now you say you're against it. You used to say you were in favor of birth right citizenship. Now you say you're against i.

And by the way, it's not just on immigration. You used to support TPA. Now you say you're against it. I saw you on the senate floor flip your vote on crop insurance because they told you it would help you in Iowa. Last week we all saw you flip your vote on ethanol. That is not consistent conservatism. That is political calculation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Joining us now is Conservative Radio Talk Show Host and CNN Political Commentator Ben Ferguson to talk about the Republican debate, Ben, good to have you with us.

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good to be with you.

[03:05:01]

HOWELL: Thank you. Thank you. Let's talk about the front-runners, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. We saw that much anticipated showdown between these two. The questions flew over the birther debate. Is the birther debate put to bed now or will we hear more of it?

FERGUSON: You're going to hear more of it, and the reason why is because Donald Trump realizes if he can throw doubt out there, it pulls down Ted Cruz in the polls. Many people go I don't want to waste my vote if this guy can't be President regardless of what the facts are. Legal scholars have made it clear, Donald Trump is not correct on this issue. Donald Trump keeps trying to say, look, I am not the one saying this, but Democrats are the ones doing it.

If you can't put this to bed 100 percent sure, the Democrats sue you, do you really want that to be your nominee? It's a very crafty play. I do think Donald Trump is going to keep using this to somehow kind of try to go after some of the supporters of Ted Cruz. It has worked in Iowa in the polls there. It's brought him down five or six points. I think it will also work in Iowa. At some point, the question is does Ted Cruz have to throw a harder punch at Donald Trump than he did even tonight in the debate?

He certainly fought back with him, but I don't think you saw him go for full on blows at Donald Trump. Right now, Donald Trump is going to wear this one out.

HOWELL: Donald Trump, a master at branding businesses withholding that question over Ted Cruz's head.

FERGUSON: Absolutely.

HOWELL: Ok, the other issue that came up, gun control. Chris Christie took heed for his efforts as the Governor of New Jersey to strengthen gun reforms there. Ted Cruz though saying he is the strongest in protecting the second amendment. Who do conservatives see as the strongest on gun rights?

FERGUSON: You know what, it's interesting. I have talked to a lot of conservatives. They all say that pretty much everybody on stage on guns. They all know they're going to defend the second amendment. They're not really concerned with the in fighting here on this one. I think Ted Cruz obviously this is going to play to his advantage being from Texas. He has a strong record on this. I think what you see with Chris Christie, he's saying I have been strong on guns and vetoed many issues on guns in my state.

When he said that, I do think it resonated with a lot people that were watching and those in the crowd. But overall, I think pretty much everyone on the Republican side of things this will only be an asset for them. It is not a liability. I think they all have a consensus on one core issue and that is the issue of mental health. They all seem to want to work on mental health issues. And I think that's where they're going to be able to use this on their campaigns.

HOWELL: We saw Marco Rubio attacking Ted Cruz on being inconsistent on his votes in the senate, describing it as political calculation. Is this his last chance to top him in the polls and prove that he is a better candidate?

FERGUSON: Yeah. I don't think it worked tonight, and I think the way that you saw Ted Cruz fight back in a very solid way with a lot of people applauding him for when he was coming back after him. I think Rubio -- I said this tonight earlier, I said if there was a debate every single week, Marco Rubio would be in first, second place. He is probably -- I think the best debater consistently throughout this process.

The issue is he has some liabilities. One of the big ones is the gang of eight. One of the issues where you saw Ted Cruz fight back against the voting record critique that Marco Rubio was trying to bring out. Hey, you're the guy with the gang of eight. I was not a part of that. You're the guy that worked on this issue and saying you wanted to give every illegal immigrant in this country amnesty. I am against that. The counter attack may have done more damage than good for Marco Rubio.

HOWELL: What about the back and forth between Marco Rubio and Chris Christie.

FERGUSON: Yeah.

HOWELL: Rubio calling Christie too liberal. Why not go after the front-runners?

FERGUSON: That is one of the ideas I don't understand here about all the candidates. I think they all should be ganging up on Donald Trump as a strategy. This isn't me saying I am against Donald Trump, but when you have a guy that is this solid, you need to go after them and all of them need to go after him. If you go after him one on one, you end up losing because Donald Trump has a bigger microphone than anyone else. He understands how to control that microphone in the media. And I

think that's where these candidates have to kind of come together and say, look, we may not be able to win the battle with him one on one, let's all go after him. For some reason they didn't do that tonight. I don't think you help your campaign going after Christie or Christie going after Rubio or Cruz over Rubio, Ben Carson over somebody or Jeb Bush over somebody.

At some point, these candidates are all going to lose out to Donald Trump if they don't start to wither away at him as a candidate, chisel away at his lead. If you are Donald Trump and you walk out stage night, you still feel like you're in first place, you still feel like you're in command of this election. And I think he's going to feel very good about tonight.

[03:10:01]

HOWELL: It comes down to these two front-runners. We saw that dust up over Cruz's comments about Donald Trump representing what he describes as "New York values."

FERGUSON: Yeah.

HOWELL: Is this a fair attack?

FERGUSON: I think it's a smart attack by Ted Cruz because I think a lot of people associate New York politics with people like Hillary Clinton and others that are out there that have come from New York. And I think they understand that the media is an easy target right now. People associate the media coming out of New York. And the New York Times, so I think this was politically a very smart move by Ted Cruz to say your brand of politics or your brand of conservatism is very different than mine in middle America in Texas, and I think the other candidates, if they want to start to take out or go after at least Ted Cruz -- or excuse me Donald Trump, they better follow suit and go after him the same way because otherwise they're all going to be in third, fourth, fifth, sixth place and Donald Trump is going to win this thing.

HOWELL: From Dallas, Texas, Ben Ferguson joining us there, CNN Political Commentator, Ben, thank you so much.

FERGUSON: Thanks for having me.

HOWELL: Absolutely.

Throughout the debate, we heard candidates make plenty of negative claims about their opponent's records as well as the record of President Barack Obama. CNN's Tom Foreman looks at some of those claims and how they compare with the facts.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The candidates gave us plenty to keep our fact checkers busy. So let's start off with Marco Rubio going after Chris Christie for not being conservative enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RUBIO: Unfortunately, Governor Christie has endorsed many of the

ideas that Barack Obama supports, whether its common core or gun control or the appointment of Sonia Sotomayor, or the donation he made to Planned Parenthood.

FOREMAN: That's four fast claims there. Christie says on the first three he has really evolved to a different position, but the bottom line is, yeah, he has supported them over time. So that's true. That's true, that's true in terms of what Rubio said about him. On Planned Parenthood, Rubio's claim is based on a 20-year-old newspaper article, in which Christie says he was misquoted.

Let's move on to Ted Cruz who had some things to say about the economy under Barack Obama.

CRUZ: The millionaires and billionaires are doing great under Obama, but we have the lowest percentage of Americans working today of any year since 1977.

FOREMAN: That's a big claim. Let's take a look at the numbers and see if it's true. In 1977, the percentage of Americans working was 58.7 percent. In 2011, it was at 58.2 percent, and right now it is at 59.5 percent. Just do the math and you can see that Ted Cruz's claim here is false. And Jeb Bush jumped in on the Iran nuke deal. Listen.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As it relates to Iran, we need to confront their ambitions across the board. We should re-impose sanctions. They've already violated sanctions after this agreement was signed by testing medium range missiles.

FOREMAN: This gets really complicated when you start looking at all the language and the timing and the sanctions and what they can, what they can't do. Bottom line, Iran tested some missiles last fall. They shouldn't have done it so Bush's claim is true. You can find out a whole lot more about how we reached these conclusions and about many other things that were said during this debate by going to CNN.com/realitycheck.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Tom Foreman there. Thank you.

CNN's Gary Tuchman went to a viewing party to watch this debate with a group of Republican voters in Charleston County, there in the state of South Carolina. Here is a sample of what they had to say about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Normally, they watch motion pictures in this movie theater. This is the cinema in Charleston County, South Carolina, a close drive to where the debate was held, and behind me were 120 loyal Republicans that came here on behalf of the Charleston County Republican Committee, a lot of them going home because it's late. These are the people that stuck around. Did you enjoy the debate? They enjoyed the debate. This is not a scientific sampling of voters but a large number of

voters in a very important political state. The South Carolina Republican primary is February 20th. The Democrats February 27th. Was this good for the party, this debate do you think?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

TUCHMAN: A straw poll was taken to see who these people thought won the debate. Not who they liked necessarily but who they think won the debate, in first place with 38 of your votes, Donald Trump. In second place, 36 votes, Ted Cruz, third place, 28 votes, Marco Rubio. Tied for fourth, with 6 votes each, Ben Carson and Jeb Bush, 2 votes, John Kasich, and with no votes, he did not have the applause lines here, Chris Christie, he had no votes. Donald Trump was the winner this time around.

[03:15:01]

This guy right here, I am going to lean over you if you don't mind. Do you think Trump did better -- we've been here for three debates? Did he do better or about the same?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Trump has been very consistent lately. I think he's gotten better in the last two debates than earlier. I think he had a very strong performance tonight, and he has great presence on the stage and he's able to keep his narrative very focused.

TUCHMAN: Over here, we have some new voters, seniors in high school voting in their first Presidential election. Who do you think did best?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wasn't here for the whole thing but I think Marco Rubio...

TUCHMAN: Let's just say Marco Rubio. Who do you think did best?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Cruz did a great job counter attacking a lot of the stuff that was said at him.

TUCHMAN: What about you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I agree, I think Cruz did a very good job tonight.

TUCHMAN: What's interesting here talking to these people -- most people had opinions when they came in. They've stuck with their candidates and had opinions about the candidates. These two gentlemen right here both school teachers. They came in undecided, undecided between whom?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kind of leaning towards Rubio and Cruz?

TUCHMAN: And you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The same. I did like some of the undercard people who were not part of the main debate because I am both a fiscal conservative and also a social conservative.

TUCHMAN: So did this debate change your mind? Have you come up with a candidate?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I leaned more tonight towards Rubio but I -- but I could be happy with Cruz.

TUCHMAN: You?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Same way. I lean towards Rubio, for one reason I watched them in the debate and on screen, I am thinking, I think he would appeal to the younger portion, the millennials that may think about voting Republican this time because he's a young guy. Very passionate and I appreciate his passion tonight.

TUCHMAN: Thank you. This guy over here, Larry Gobrowski, Chairman of the GOP here in Charleston County, he's not allowed to say who he likes. He sponsored. He provided pizza, popcorn, peanuts, and pop. That's what they call soda in the Midwest. This is pop. Either way, we have our debates. We'll probably be here more because this is a very important group of voters. This is Gary Tuchman, CNN in Charleston, South Carolina.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Now let's take a quick look at the Democratic race for the White House in that key state of Iowa, and there the race is very tight between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. A new Bloomberg/Des Moines Register poll shows Ms. Clinton leading by just two points. Just a month ago, she was leading Bernie Sanders by nine points in that same pole. Iowa's first in the nation caucus is less than three weeks away. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Still to come, one day after a terror attack that killed two people and wounded dozens of others, next we take you live to Jakarta where Indonesians say they will not live in fear. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:23:01]

HOWELL: ISIS claims responsibility for the deadly bombing in downtown Jakarta, the bombing that killed two people, an Indonesian and a foreigner. Two dozen others were wounded in the attack. Police say the attackers used grenades and handguns. They also say the Indonesian militant behind the attack is in Syria right now and instructed his cells back home to strike. An anti-terror source says they found a blog with ISIS teachings that is likely to belong to him. Meanwhile, Indonesians say they will not be afraid. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This accident can happen in a life so we're careful every time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you afraid that there could be more violence? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. No. Not afraid anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Not afraid they say. Let's go live to Jakarta this hour. Saima Mohsin joins us with more, Saima, good to have with you us, and we do hear in the background a call to prayer happening, if you could just talk to us about this particular suspect that the government has singled out. What more can you tell us?

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. This is the prime suspect believed to have been the recruiter and financer behind this attack and one other that he tried to plan that failed earlier last year, George. His name is Baroum Naib. He's around 32 years old, known to authorities in Indonesia. Previously, a member of a nonviolent extremist organization that wants an Islamic caliphate but not quite the version that ISIS wanted him in. It was nonviolent.

It was in 2010 he came to be known amidst authorities when he was arrested and jailed for hiding ammunition that a terrorist group was using or had used in an attack on police in Java. Shortly after his release, George, he married for a second time, and it's with his second wife that he is believed to have fled to Syria. He is now believed to be in Raqqa from where he is orchestrating these attacks.

He wants to be the leader of ISIS in Indonesia. There is no ISIS in Indonesia. He wants to be the man to start it and this, of course, is the first attack here on Indonesian soil claimed by ISIS, George?

HOWELL: Saima, this terrible attack, two people killed, dozens of people wounded but, you know we heard that sound bite before we came to your live report, you know the gentleman saying that he is not afraid. Talk to us about what you're hearing there from people, reaction this day after the attack there.

MOHSIN: One of the reasons I am here on the ground mosque today, George, is that thousands of people come here every week, particularly for Friday prayers. We wanted to speak to local people to know how they feel. Of course, when it's an attack by a group that claims to carry out attacks like this in the name of Islam, you want to hear how average Muslims feels about it.

Now in a very unusual and quite damming move, the imam here during Friday's sermon which he gives every Friday spoke to this attack, saying that terrorism is a crime against humanity, that this is nothing to do with Islam, the people that carry out these attacks know nothing of Islam. They say throughout Islamic history, the nature of Jihad, the holy wars has been defensive rather than offensive, which is what ISIS tries to do.

He really tried to speak to the people here and I suspect the rest of the world, saying that Islam shouldn't be something to be scared of. The people that came here today, too, spoke to me. They were willing to speak because they wanted to say that these attacks and these people do not represent them. Let's have a listen, George. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened yesterday, they are not Muslims.

They are infidels. I condemn them. I demand the government solve this problem. As a Muslim, I reject this terrorism in the name of Islam.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Islam's become a scapegoat. People believe Islam is identical to violence. Every time violence happens, people think it's related to Islam but it's not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am not a terrorist but I want to say to the work, terror of Islam, Muslims, are not terrorists, not to Muslims.

[03:28:01]

MOHSIN: Indonesia is home to the largest Muslim population in the world. Significant that this attack by a group that wants to be known as ISIS Indonesia has been carried out, but only 500 fighters from Indonesia are believed to have gone to fight in Iraq and Syria. The fear is when they return what do they do, George?

HOWELL: CNN Correspondent Saima Mohsin, live in Jakarta, Indonesia, Saima, thank you so much for your reporting there.

And in the aftermath of this attack, we spotted this man you see, a man with long hair and sun glasses. His sign showing the late Beatle John Lennon and a very simple message there, rock and roll, yes, terrorism, no.

We'll be right back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:37:01]

HOWELL: And a warm welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and around the world, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I am George Howell.

And returning now to our top story, the latest Republican Presidential debate that wrapped up in the state of South Carolina, the leading candidates met on stage Thursday night in North Charleston, South Carolina, where Donald Trump questioned Ted Cruz to find out whether he's even eligible to be President since he was born in Canada. Just listen to this exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRUZ: The child of a U.S. citizen born abroad is a natural born citizen. If a soldier has a child abroad, that child is a natural born citizen. That's why John McCain, even though he was born in Panama was eligible to run for President, and if an American missionary has a child abroad, that child is a natural born citizen. That's why George Romney, Mitt's dad, was eligible to run for President even though he was born in Mexico.

At the end of the day, the legal issue is quite straightforward but I would note that the birther theories that Donald has been relying on, some of the more extreme ones insist that you must not only be born on U.S. soil but have two parents born on U.S. soil. Under that theory, not only would I be disqualified, Marco Rubio would be disqualified, Bobby Jindal would be disqualified and interestingly enough, Donald J. Trump would be disqualified, because Donald's mother was born in Scotland. She was naturalized. Now Donald...

TRUMP: But I was born here.

CRUZ: On the issue of citizenship...

TRUMP: Big difference.

CRUZ: On the issue of citizenship, Donald, I am not going to use your mother's birth against you.

TRUMP: Because it wouldn't work.

CRUZ: You're an American as is everybody else on this stage, and I would suggest we focus on who's best prepared to be commander in chief because that's the most important question facing the voters.

TRUMP: Let me just tell you something and you know because you just saw the numbers yourself. NBC, Wall Street Journal just came out with a poll headlining Trump way up, Cruz going down. I mean, so don't -- so you can't -- you can't -- they don't like the Wall Street Journal, they don't like NBC but I like the poll. Frankly, it just came out, and in Iowa -- now as you know, Ted, in the last three polls I am beating you so, you know you shouldn't misrepresent how well you're doing with the polls.

You don't have to say that. In fact, I was all for you until you started doing that because that's a misrepresentation, number one. Number two, this isn't me saying it. I don't care. I think I am going to win fair and square and I don't have to win this way. Thank you. Laurence Traub and numerous from Harvard -- of Harvard said that there is a serious question as to whether or not Ted can do this, ok? There are other attorneys that feel -- and very, very fine constitutional attorneys that feel that because he was not born on the land he cannot run for office.

Here's the problem. We're running, we're running, he does great. I win. I choose him as my Vice Presidential candidate and the Democrats sue because we can't take him along for the ride. I don't like that, ok? The fact is -- and if for some reason he beats the rest of the field, he beats the rest of the field -- see, they don't like that, they don't like that. No, they don't like that he beats the rest of the field because they want me.

But -- and for some reason he beats the rest of the field, I already know the Democrats are going to be bringing a suit. You have a big lawsuit over your head while you're running, and if you become the nominee, who the hell knows if you can even serve in office?

(END VIDEO CLIP) HOWELL: Ted Cruz's former law professor is accusing him of constitutional hypocrisy when it comes to the birther issue. You heard Trump mention Laurence Tribe there. Mr. Tribe teaches constitutional law at Harvard. Tribe's former students include Mr. Cruz, President Barack Obama and two Supreme Court justices. Here's what he told our Anderson Cooper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURENCE TRIBE, HARVARD PROFESSOR: Cruz certainly needs to answer that. I agree with those of your guests who say he didn't put it to bed. If he did put it to bed he's certainly sleeping alone, because real serious scholars think there's a serious question. It's just obvious. I think what's really interesting is that he's much more interested in playing games, sticking daggers into people who are criticizing him, often unproved actors.

Turns out I am not a Hillary Clinton supporter. I didn't endorse her in 2008, I didn't endorse her this year, but it makes -- you know it makes a good talking point. Most of what he said is nonsense. All of these examples about Rubio and Jindal are simply distractions. It hasn't changed since September, of course, not. But the question of how you interpret that document isn't a joke and isn't funny, it matters a lot regardless of whether he is or is not kicked off some ballot because of his birth outside the United States.

[03:42:01]

I mean his whole approach on issues where he likes the results of very rigid view of the constitution is that it hasn't changed since 1788. Not only in the last six months. It's a rigid document. It always made its way before. Well, in 1788, I assure you natural born citizens did not mean citizen from the time of birth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Following the debate, CNN's Dana Bash asked Donald Trump to react to Ted Cruz's comments that Trump embodies New York values. Trump used the 9/11 attacks to counter Cruz's jabs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Let's talk about New York values.

TRUMP: OK.

BASH: Do you think Ted Cruz explained what New York values were when he was asked about it?

TRUMP: No, I don't think he did, and I think he insulted a tremendous number of people, and you can't insult New Yorkers in front of me. I mean, you know with what we all put up with, with the World Trade Center and that whole thing and the death and the travesty of the World Trade Center, and then to come back like we came back, I just don't think you should be hitting on New Yorkers. I think he realizes he made a mistake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Speaking there of Donald Trump, he has a commanding lead in a new national poll. The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows him leading now with 33 percent of national Republican primary voters. Ted Cruz follows at 20 percent, Marco Rubio at 13, Ben Carson 12, Chris Christie and Jeb Bush were tied at 5 percent.

On the Democratic side of things, Hillary Clinton's lead over Bernie Sanders, it is shrinking. A new poll from the New York Times and CBS News puts Clinton at 7 points ahead of Mr. Sanders, but that lead was closer to 20 percent just last month. Clinton told late night host Jimmy Fallon her big lead was at the start of the race, it was, "artificial."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, LATE NIGHT HOST: They just came out today with the New York Times or someone came out, the national numbers, that Bernie and you are kind of close.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Oh, we're in a tight race, yeah.

FALLON: You had like a giant -- a 20 point lead.

CLINTON: Well, yeah, but you know that's really artificial. All of those early soundings and polls, once you get into it, this is a Democratic election for our nominee, and it gets really close, exciting, and it really depends upon -- you know who makes the best case that you can be the nominee to beat whoever the Republicans put up and try to get your folks who support you to come out. I find it exciting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: The next Democratic debate is on Sunday hosted by NBC and the Congressional Black Caucus Institute.

An off season hurricane is churning right now in the Atlantic. The first time we've seen a storm like this in the month of January in nearly 80 years, details on the hurricane's path and surprising strength as CNN NEWSROOM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:50:01]

HOWELL: More trouble for Chinese stocks. The Shanghai Composite is now officially in bear market territory. Let's take a look at the numbers here. The Shanghai exchange lost more than 3.5 percent today, it's off by more than 20 percent from its recent high in December. Markets in Japan, Hong Kong, and Australia were also down as you see there, Europe's financial markets are looking to recover from Thursday's losses. We are about 30 minutes into the trading day, and right now you can see that the FTSE is down. The DAX is up. The CAC 40 down and also Zurich's SMI is trading down at the moment.

Health officials in Sierra Leone are confirming a new death from Ebola in that West African country. This news comes hours after the World Health Organization declared the end of the outbreak in Sierra Leone as well as in Liberia, I should say, and in Guinea. The organization did warn though of more flare-ups of the disease. This Ebola epidemic started two years ago. It killed more than 11,000 people.

Now to the United States where a health crisis in Flint, Michigan is growing even more serious. Governor Rick Snyder announced a recent spike in cases of legionnaire's disease. In the two years since the city switched its water supply. Soon after that switch, it was discovered that the drinking water there, that it was contaminated with lead. Health officials say the increase cannot be directly linked to the water at this time. Snyder says he wants answers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR RICK SNYDER (R), MICHIGAN: I don't discourage the U.S. attorney from investigating. I think it's actually a good thing. It should be investigated. Let's get the answers. With respect to the task force, they're going to come out with recommendations to say here are lessons learned. With respect to Flint and hopefully here are recommendation that could apply statewide to make sure this doesn't happen again, because we never want to see -- we never -- this is something you wish that never happened and let's not see it ever happen again in the state of Michigan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Authorities say residents there should keep using filters and drinking bottled water.

A school teacher is being investigated for involuntary manslaughter after an avalanche struck a group of students who were skiing in the French Alps on Wednesday. A French prosecutor says the group went to an area that had several signs indicating that it was closed off. That area had a high risk of avalanche. He says the group also went over a net meant to keep people out. Two students and a Ukrainian skier were killed.

The Alps are certainly prone to avalanches. Let's turn to our Meteorologist Derek Van Dam at the international weather center. Talk about the snow conditions there and the highest mountains that have been so dangerous this season, Derek.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: George, it really was a combination of lethal elements that ultimately led to the avalanche disaster in France. First and foremost, this is extremely steep, mountainous terrain. Some of these mountains actually range anywhere from 50 to 60 degrees slope. Show you how steep it actually is. On top of that, there was a fresh layer of new fallen snow on top of an already very icy packed layer of snow that had developed thanks to the unusually warm temperatures the Alps have experienced throughout the month of December. What we're seeing here with this new fallen snow on top of that icy,

packed layer is a layering effect that eventually destabilizes the snow pack and eventually grabbed the winds creating and ultimately allowing for disasters like the avalanche that occurred in the middle of this week. Unfortunately, there's the potential of more avalanches going forward because another 15 to 30 centimeters of snow is across the French and Swiss Alps going forward over the next three days.

Something you'll want to consider if you're traveling to this part of the world for a ski or snowboarding holiday. I am going to take you to another weather topic that's typically synonymous with warmer climates. Well, we have our first or what -- rather, our strongest Atlantic hurricane ever recorded in the month of January.

Welcome Hurricane Alex. This is the third hurricane ever recorded since records started keeping track back in the 1800s, 75 mile per hour sustained wind gusts and it's currently impacting the islands west of Portugal, current winds across this area anywhere between 60 and 80 kilometers per hour or roughly 50 miles per hour. This storm actually developed in the relatively warmer waters of the Bahamas, but once it reached the eastern Atlantic, you would think that the colder temperatures would not allow for tropical development as it's done so, but there is a large temperature difference between the upper levels of the atmosphere and the sea surface.

So this created the instability necessary for thunderstorms to develop, and eventually we saw that counterclockwise spin indicating our very unusually formed and unusually timed hurricane that developed. And by the way, as the storm system moves across the islands, it will move in a north to northwesterly direction potentially impacting southern Greenland, believe it or not, something that typically doesn't happen.

We'll end with this, George, a web cam coming out of Port Delgada. This is the capitol of the Azores. It is extremely rare to see a hurricane. This in fact, only happens every 10 to 20 years in the Azores Islands. But it is remarkable to have a land falling hurricane in this particular island nation during the month of January, back to you.

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HOWELL: Hurricanes are no joke. Let's wish them the very best as they get through the storm. Derek, it's so odd to be talking about a hurricane.

VAN DAM: Yeah. You would think that this is more October weather for sure.

HOWELL: Derek, thank you.

You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. And still to come, the California lottery says it may have a hoax on its hands. The search continues for the country's newest millionaires.

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HOWELL: It is a mystery. We still don't know who the three winners are in Wednesday's $1 billion lottery jackpot. But the California store that sold that winning ticket is celebrating all day, and CNN's Kyung Lah was there.

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KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is about as close as you can get to $1.5 billion, the very machine that printed out one of three winning Powerball tickets. No one wanted to wait. Minutes after news of a winner, a crowd filled the Chino Hills 7-eleven, hoping to find out who won, surrounded the clerk who may have sold one of the three winning Powerball tickets.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, a lot of money. Yahoo, I love watching TV so my store was on the news.

LAH: That's how the store owner found out he'd be getting $1 million for selling one of the winning tickets in the biggest jackpot in U.S. history. Not bad for a self-made businessman, an immigrant from India.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the land of opportunities so anybody if they want to make it, they can make it.

LAH: It's a family-run business. Are you going to get any of that cash that he's holding up there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. He promised to share with us.

LAH: I was talking to your brother-in-law. He says you're going to share the money with him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, no, not him.

LAH: We think he's kidding.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course, of course.

LAH: Better to laugh than cry if you're not the mystery winner. Did you buy your ticket here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I bought it up the street. I messed up. Didn't win anything, not even a handshake.

LAH: Maybe a handshake is all you can ask for. You shook his hand?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

LAH: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because he seems to be on the news. Maybe he's a lucky charm.

LAH: Do you know what time the winner bought the ticket?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We actually do but I cannot tell you.

LAH: That's part of the verification process says the lottery, matching the winning ticket to the surveillance video. The winner proving he or she legitimately purchased the multi-million dollar ticket.

You haven't peaked at who that person is?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am not going to tell you.

LAH: Yeah, he knows, right along with the still unnamed luckiest three people in America. California lottery says all day they've been chasing down fake reports from a nurse who was pranked to fake tickets that have been posted on Twitter and Facebook. The California lottery saying so far no winner has stepped forward.

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HOWELL: This year's Academy Award nomination, they are finally out. Critics noticed a frustrating trend, on the list for the second year in a row. None of the nominees in the acting categories represent an ethnic minority. Earlier, CNN's Don Lemon spoke to April Reign, the woman behind the Twitter hashtag #oscarssowhite which has gone viral online. Listen.

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APRIL REIGN, CREATOR OF #OSCARSSOWHITE: We're talking about the major studios. When movies are green led. When we have producers around the table, what decisions are being made and what questions are being asked. For example, Bird Man last year was a fantastic film starring Michael Keaton, but the question is did Ken Watanabe audition for that role. Was Andy Garcia's name on that list? And of course, we always can talk about Denzel Washington. So it needs to be a systemic change from the top down with respect to making sure that movies that include marginalized communities are being made, that they are being supported.

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HOWELL: Some critics say the lack of diversity in the Oscar nominations could be due to the voters themselves. A Los Angeles Times study shows a majority of the members in the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences are white males.

Powerhouse British Singer, Adele took a spin around London while singing some of her tunes. Listen to this.

TV host James Cordon picked up his friend for the latest carpool karaoke episode for his late, late show in the United States. Cordon has picked up a number of other big names for his carpool karaoke, including Stevie Wonder and Rod Stewart. And from Adele's Hello, we say good bye. We thank you for watching this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm George Howell of the CNN Center in Atlanta. For viewers in the United States, New Day is next. And for viewers

around the world, NEWSROOM continues. You're watching CNN, the world's news leader.

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