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Supreme Court Takes Up Obama Immigration Actions; Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Neck and Neck in Iowa; Trump, Cruz Clash as Iowa Vote Nears; Freed Americans Reunite with Families. Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired January 19, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:03] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: It will be very strange going forward in a world without him in it.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Unbelievable, right? The Eagles' first greatest hits album was released in 1976. It sold 29 million copies in the U.S. alone.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

COSTELLO: All right, and good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

We begin this hour with breaking news out of Washington where the U.S. Supreme Court has just announced it will take up President Obama's controversial immigration actions.

CNN justice correspondent Pamela Brown is following the story for us.

Good morning.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning to you, Carol. This decision by the Supreme Court today is a very big deal for the Obama administration. The administration had wanted the high court to take it up, and now it will decide the fate of President Obama's controversial immigration actions that are meant to allow millions of undocumented immigrants to apply for programs that could make them eligible for work and other benefits in the United States.

Now federal courts had blocked the implementation in response to a challenge brought by Texas and 25 other states, you may remember. So since then, 4.3 million immigrants have been caught in this legal limbo, not knowing if they'll be able to stay and legally work in the United States. So if the high court decides, you know, what to do here, decides to not take up -- not take up the case, but decides that this program violates the Constitution, that means it will continue to be blocked.

And so this ruling is expected to come down in the midst of the presidential campaign and settle an issue that is becoming a talking point for Republican candidates who say that the president's actions violate the Constitution. That is the question that the high court will be trying to answer. And a ruling on this is expected by early summer, so now doubt, Carol,

one of the most significant cases of the term, and if the court green lights this, you know, saying that these programs do not violate the president's constitutional power, that means that they will go into effect during the president's -- before he leaves office.

And as you know, this has really been the centerpiece of the president's second term so that the stakes are very high for the Obama administration -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Pamela Brown reporting live from Washington.

Joining me by phone to talk more about this is criminal defense attorney and constitutional attorney, Page Pate.

Hi, Page.

PAGE PATE, CRIMINAL DEFENSE AND CONSTITUTIONAL ATTORNEY: Hey, good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So this, the U.S. Supreme Court will take up Obama's executive actions because he implemented these changes in our immigration policy without Congress. How do you suppose it will go in the Supreme Court?

PATE: Well, the Supreme Court is going to look carefully at whether or not this particular set of executive actions are within the president's scope of powers under the Constitution. As you know, there's a very clear division or separation of powers that's provided for in the Constitution, and the question here, as with other issues like gun control, is how far can the president go on his own?

If he sees an area where he wants to act and Congress has refused to act or at least not done what he thought should be done, he can take some steps, but how far can he go? And that's the issue that will be before the court.

COSTELLO: Are you surprised that the U.S. Supreme Court decided to take up this matter, Page?

PATE: I am a little bit surprised because the case is not over yet in the lower courts. I mean, this case came up because the plaintiffs, the various states, were seeking to block implementation of this particular program that the president wanted to put forward. So they got a district judge to agree to block it. Then the case is appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. But the case has not really been fleshed out on the merits. And normally, the Supreme Court will wait until there's a final decision before they accept a case for purposes of review.

So I'm a little surprised by the timing. But again, I think given the fact that the president's going to be leaving office soon and he wants to move forward with this policy, his lawyers were able to convince the court to take it up now.

COSTELLO: All right, Page Pate, thanks for your insight. I appreciate it.

Again, the U.S. Supreme Court will take up Mr. Obama's executive actions as they apply to undocumented immigrants in this country. 4.3 million of them children of people who came into this country illegally and are considered undocumented. Mr. Obama's executive actions allows those people, those 4.3 million people, protection against deportation. It allows them to apply for work permits and other benefits.

We'll have much more on this throughout the day on CNN.

Counting down until Iowa caucus day, and the campaign rhetoric is ramping up. You're looking at live images of Bernie Sanders at -- Bernie Sanders rally in Iowa. The Democratic candidate is coming off a massive rally in Alabama where he bragged about his surging poll numbers to some 7,000 people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And here's some pretty good news. Now polls go up and down. And this early in a campaign, they don't mean all that much.

[10:05:06] But what is interesting is the last poll just came out yesterday. Had us 15 points ahead of our very good friend, Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Sanders went on to tell the crowd that while Hillary Clinton looked inevitable in the past, she, quote, "ain't so inevitable today."

Clinton didn't mention Sanders by name at her rally but touted her experience to a crowd of about 300 in Toledo, Iowa, last night.

Our senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny live in Ft. Dodge, Iowa, with more on all of this.

Good morning, Jeff.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Carol. I mean, we heard Hillary Clinton last night in Iowa making the case to Iowa voters that it's her experience that's necessary. But boy, what a split screen image that was with her in Iowa and Bernie Sanders campaigning in Alabama last night. Such a difference in crowd and energy and momentum.

I am at a Bernie Sanders rally now, and there are a lot of Iowa voters who are undecided here. But let's listen to what Hillary Clinton said last night as she begins to make her closing argument.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have seen it up close and personal. You know, I have been someone who has testified before Congress, worked with other presidents, and of course, lived in the White House because of my husband's presidency. And then I was elected in my own right to serve in the Senate. And then the man I ran against in 2008, and you remember that was one hard, long race, turned around and asked me to be his secretary of state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: And boy, Carol, I can tell you, it is such a familiar argument to the one she was making some eight years ago here in Iowa. That she is the most electable candidate, that she is the candidate who can take on Republicans the most.

We talked to some voters afterward about this race with Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Let's take a listen to one man who came to visit Hillary Clinton on his 83rd birthday. He has a bit of Iowa wisdom here. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: What do you make of Bernie Sanders? He seems to be giving her kind of a run for her money.

FRANK NEKOLA, HILLARY CLINTON SUPPORTER: Bernie Sanders, he's a nice guy and everything, but he -- I don't think he can control himself, if there was an issue that come up, I don't think he would know what to do with it because he's kind of flip-flops around. And I don't think he can control himself or control anything that happens.

ZELENY: Are you surprised that it's -- that he's kind of as close to her as it seems that he is?

NEKOLA: Well, Bernie promises too much stuff to the young people. Everything free, you know. And the young people, they dwell on that, you know. And that's not going to happen. We all know that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So, Carol, of course, just the words of one voter there, but Hillary Clinton is getting out the traditional caucus-goers, those older Iowa voters. The question here is, can Bernie Sanders turn out some of these new people, some of these younger voters to the process. So for the next two weeks here, that's exactly what the campaigns are doing.

The Clinton campaign is all-in in Iowa. They're spending most of the next two weeks here. She's off the campaign trail today to fundraise, but back in Iowa tomorrow, and as the week goes on.

But, Carol, I can tell you this is a very tight race, and a lot of voters are still making up their mind here. So we'll be here listening to Bernie Sanders' rally and we'll check back with you later -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. We'll do. Jeff Zeleny, reporting live for us this morning. On the Republican side, Ted Cruz continues his major five-day push in

New Hampshire this morning and he's incorporating attacks on Donald Trump into his stump speech, framing the race as a choice between him and Donald Trump who he calls as an entertainer who cannot be trusted as commander-in-chief.

This comes amid Trump's campaign bus in Iowa. The Republican frontrunner is stumping in three cities today and promising a, quote, "special announcement."

CNN Politics reporter Sara Murray is with the Trump campaign in Winterset, Iowa, with more.

Good morning, Sara.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. That's right. Now Trump has been teasing this special announcement coming later tonight. And I will tell you, even his staffers on the ground here at his first event have no idea what's coming. Of course, there's plenty of rampant speculation out there.

In the meantime, he's starting off his first of three stops here today at John Wayne's birth place. And I think that you are really seeing Trump sort of ramp up his campaigning across Iowa. In part because the race has become so close with Ted Cruz. Cruz is relying on a very traditional ground game. He's bringing in volunteers from all kinds of different states to help make sure voters actually turn out and make sure that his slight lead in the polls can turn into a victory on caucus night.

Now Trump has had a very different approach. He's holding these big rallies and it is rare for him to make more than one stop. I think one thing is for sure you are going to continue to see this harsher rhetoric from both Ted Cruz and Donald Trump as each of them try to gain an edge with just weeks to go before the Iowa caucuses -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Sara Murray reporting live this morning. Thank you.

[10:10:03] Up next in the NEWSROOM, Cruz and Trump duking it out for the all-important undecided vote. And he's not going to get any help from a big-named conservative. Talking about Donald Trump here. We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Donald Trump will announce something big today. The speculation that that announcement that something big will be an endorsement by someone. The influential conservative blog Red State is speculating that Sarah Palin is that someone, but the fact is no one really knows.

Still, perhaps a Palin endorsement would benefit Trump since conservative talk show types are starting to cast doubt on the Republican frontrunner, including Rush Limbaugh.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[10:15:05] RUSH LIMBAUGH, CONSERVATIVE RADIO HOST: But there are a lot of conservatives -- you've heard them call here -- that do not like Trump because they don't think he is one.

There are a lot of conservatives who think that he is a wolf in sheep's clothing. That he is a traditional lifetime New Yorker and that means something. There are all kinds of conservatives with suspicions of Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: With me to talk about this is the political commentator and former Republican communications director on Capitol Hill, Tara Setmayer, and Sara Murray will join us shortly.

Tara, I want to start with this, though. No one has endorsed Mr. Trump. And you heard Rush Limbaugh, right? So would someone like Sarah Palin endorsing Trump help him among conservatives?

TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Not necessarily. I mean, Sarah Palin has her group of followers, but I think her influence has diminished considerably over the last couple of years. And you know, the people I think that like Trump are going to like Trump. I don't know that Sarah Palin is necessarily going to be someone that sways a large swath of conservatives who are already skeptical of Donald Trump that way.

I don't really see that endorsement necessarily having that much of an effect, other than dominating the news cycle for a couple more days which is a win-win for Trump.

COSTELLO: All right, so let's head back out to Iowa can check back with Sara Murray.

Any idea what this big announcement will be, Sara?

MURRAY: Well, you're hearing the same speculation we are, which is a lot of people do believe that Sarah Palin, and you know, the Trump campaign does have ties to Sarah Palin. Donald Trump's political director was a close aide to Palin for a long time. And Sarah Palin has made it no secret that she is a fan of Donald Trump. So it's certainly a possibility.

But I do think that it is interesting. It makes you wonder what does Donald Trump get by getting a Sarah Palin endorsement. And he certainly will get plenty of media coverage for that, but there are -- you know, the people who are voting Trump don't move in a block. It's not just Tea Party supporters. It's not just evangelical supporters. It's not just your traditional Iowa Republicans.

So the idea that Sarah Palin might show up and all of a sudden a huge block of voters might move to Trump, I don't necessarily think that's the kind of thing that's going to come to fruition.

The other thing that I think is interesting is we don't see Donald Trump share the stage with a lot of other big names. He tends to like to be the center of attention. He doesn't really like to share the spotlight. So it will be interesting to see if it is Palin and she does bring her star power, how that plays out with the two of them together.

COSTELLO: OK. Well, we'll be waiting for that.

Tara, back to you because Ted Cruz is hitting Donald Trump very hard. He's citing his donations to Democrats over the years and to Chicago's Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Trump is actually polling well, though, in New Hampshire, so does any of that matter to voters?

SETMAYER: Well, I think in New Hampshire, it probably won't. It may matter in Iowa which I think is the contest that is really most important right now. I mean, New Hampshire has a completely different electorate than Iowa. And since you see Donald Trump spending -- he's doing three campaign stops today in Iowa, which is a pretty heavy schedule for him. That's not usual. So obviously you see we're in the homestretch here and he sees that he has to shore up his vote in Iowa.

And it was no accident that he showed up at Liberty University yesterday, heavy evangelical. Right? And Iowa is very strong with evangelicals. So Trump recognizes that he has -- that, you know, he really needs to step it up because Ted Cruz's attacks against him are legitimate ones. And I don't know how many people actually knew that Donald Trump gave money to not only Hillary Clinton, not only to Chuck Schumer, but to Harry Reid and Anthony Weiner, Rahm Emanuel.

Those things matter to conservatives, I think, the ones that may be on the fence. I think they'll start to see that perhaps, is this the consistent conservative that we want? And looking at his business record, also, you know, in focus groups, there were a lot of attacks that did not touch Donald Trump. The ones that did move the needle a little bit were questions about his business record and eminent domain. So you see Ted Cruz is capitalizing on that also.

COSTELLO: Right. And not just eminent domain. And Tara, I find this fascinating. Senator Cruz is even attacking Trump for not being tough enough on immigration, saying Trump was, quote, "nowhere to be found when the amnesty debate was being played out in Congress." Really?

MURRAY: Well, that is interesting because Donald Trump, of course, set off his campaign by these very controversial comments about undocumented immigrants. And that's really what set fire under his bid to begin with. But I will say, Ted Cruz is pretty accurate about that. I covered the immigration debate when it was playing out in Congress. And it's not like you heard Donald Trump then beating down the door on this issue.

But by that same token, you heard Ted Cruz's rhetoric, very different in the midst of that Senate debate, insisting he wasn't inserting poison pills into the bill. Insisting he just, you know, wanted to try to help and make this legislation a little bit more conservative. So I think this plays both ways. Yes, you see a different person on the campaign trail than you do when you're not running for president. That's true of Donald Trump and that's true of Ted Cruz.

[10:20:09] COSTELLO: All right, I have to leave it there. Tara Setmayer and Sara Murray, thanks to both of you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, new images of their newly restored freedom. But far from Iran, there are new challenges lurking. We'll look at the transition back to normalcy next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: We have new images to show you of Americans reuniting with loved ones just days after being freed by Iran. In this photo, that's Amir Hekmati, second from the right. He's a former U.S. Marine. He's with his two sisters and brother-in-law along with the hometown congressman who helped secure his release.

And this is "Washington Post" journalist Jason Rezaian. He's on the left there. He's joined by his wife, his mother and brother. Here, he's seen beaming. But the local congressman who met with him in Germany says Rezaian's time in captivity was agonizing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[10:25:12] REP. JARED HUFFMAN (D), CALIFORNIA: His spirits are terrific. He's feeling good physically. I think he's having waves of complex emotions, as you would imagine. But if Iran's goal was to break Jason Rezaian's spirit, they failed miserably.

Through part of his incarceration, he was in a very small cell. And he describes it as like three feet by three feet. But he says he nevertheless made himself do calisthenics, take steps and count as far as he could as he took those steps and when he lost count, start again. And so that was one way he was able to keep his mind together, keep himself in some semblance of health.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: My next guest can talk about the journey ahead for these newly freed Americans. Terry Lyles is a psychologist and author as well as a combat stress coach. He joins us now live from Miami.

Welcome, Terry.

TERRY LYLES, PSYCHOLOGIST, COMBAT STRESS COACH: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: So Jason Rezaian, he was kept for part of his incarceration in a cell measuring about three feet by three feet. At one point, he was kept in solitary confinement for 49 days straight. What does that do to a person?

LYLES: Well, I mean, as you heard on that interview and that package just before me, I mean, you have to -- you have to occupy your mind in a three by three space. So he would count, he would think about what's happening in his life, what's important. How do I get out of here eventually and what am I going to do. You have to keep your mind busy. And the interesting thing is when

you're confined in that small of a space, not only physically, but psychologically and spiritually, it actually has an effect on us. When you get out, you have to now kind of rewrap yourself and expand that three by three space to be a larger space. So that's where some of the stress comes in coming home, answering questions, reuniting with family. As great as that sounds to all of us, it's a gradual process of linking those boundaries once again after captivity.

COSTELLO: And not only that. He's kept in solitary confinement. You know, he has high blood pressure, he has health problems. At times the Iranians kept his medication from him. He slept on just a single cot. Sometimes there were no bathroom facilities inside that prison cell.

I just can't imagine.

LYLES: Yes, I mean, all of that is that psychological torture that goes on and it's the games that's played in captivity. And it does have an effect. There's people who live the rest of their lives with those scars. The challenge is he and the others have to take those wounds and turn them into scars. And that involves a grief process. Past reality to a new reality.

And the individuals I work with, I use a vital telemetry system to actually show what's going on inside of their bodies and their nervous system to help them make that transition. It's really going to be important that he gets the right treatment and the right care with the love and support of his family to make this a past event and it doesn't continue to be a current reoccurring situation psychologically for him.

COSTELLO: Were the Iranians trying to break him? Trying to get him to say or testify in open court that he was a spy?

LYLES: Yes, I don't have all that intel. I mean I've read up on the stories and I've watched as much as possible. But I would venture to say yes because that's mostly why people are in captivity, because they're trying to figure out why they're there, how can they use them psychologically as a pawn, whether it's a political faction that's going on between Iran, the United States, which obviously is out there.

But also, if they can find guilt or some premise of why he's there and use that against America or against himself, absolutely. And that's part of the warfare that goes on with captivity. And it sounds like his spirit was preserved. And he got through it. But again, you know, the issue is going to be regardless of why he was there and what happened, you've got to recover correctly to make it through to your life and to your family and re-assimilate back into society in a very healthy way.

COSTELLO: Terry Lyles, thanks for being with me this morning.

LYLES: Thank you, Carol. COSTELLO: Checking on some other top stories for you at 29 minutes

past. A school tutor in the Nashville area has been charged with reckless endangerment after police say they saw video of three children getting out of the trunk of her car. Police say Andrea James had a total of nine children in her Chevy Malibu. A customer at a gas station reporting seeing the children, some of the children getting out of the trunk. James called the claim an utter lie but surveillance video confirmed it. She's been put on leave while the school investigates.

Two current students and one former student were found dead on Sunday at the state university of New York in Geneseo. Police say it looks like it was a murder-suicide. The former student may have stabbed his ex-girlfriend and another student after their three-year relationship ended.

Five soldiers training in the French alps have been killed in an avalanche. Four other soldiers were injured when they were swept away. They were part of a group of 50 soldiers training in the alps. The accident comes only four days after another deadly avalanche killed three other people.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: the toxic tap water in Flint, Michigan. Protests grow, anger builds but worried residents say they're not hearing any solutions. The sound and the fury -- when we come back.