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Interview with Sen. Rand Paul; One Week Until Iowa Caucuses; Broncos, Panthers Set to Meet in Super Bowl 50. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired January 25, 2016 - 09:30   ET

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


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[09:31:22] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

CNN's poll of polls is out and Donald Trump remains on top in Iowa. He now leads Ted Cruz by 5 percentage points. With one week to go before the Iowa caucuses, Trump is out campaigning hard. Yesterday he was in the state of Iowa and later today he'll travel to New Hampshire. His strategy seems to be working. First, Trump went way negative on Ted Cruz and then he went down home, ditching his private plane and upscale digs for this Holiday Inn Express in Iowa, $209 a night with free wifi and two rounds of golf. Trump also attended mass at the First Presbyterian Church. He prayed, he sang hymns and he listened to a sermon on humility.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Just got back from church and it was good. It was really good. I learned something. We talked about humility at church today. I don't know if that was aimed at me. Perhaps. Now, the church I don't think knew that I was coming, so maybe it was just by luck, but we talked about humility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Shortly after Trump talked about humility, his security threw out a protester who was holding up a sign that said "stop the hate." He was also wearing that bright red turbine.

Of course this week candidates are doing everything they can to sway voters for Republican presidential hopeful Senator Rand Paul. That means energizing his base. Even though he's trailing in the polls, his campaign is hoping he'll get a big boost of support from college students. His other not so secret weapon, his father, former congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul. Senator Rand Paul joins me now live.

Hi. Welcome.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thanks for having me.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being here. So, should we dispense with the Donald Trump questions right off the

bat?

PAUL: Oh, my goodness, I thought we were just going to completely ignore him, which would be fine with me.

COSTELLO: No, I have to ask you about his down home thing going on in Iowa. He stayed at that Holiday Inn Express. He went to church.

PAUL: Well, we always joke that we have our own airline also, it just doesn't have my name on it. It has Southwest on the side of it. But -- so, no, I think a little humility, a dose of humility might be good for him. But I'm actually worried about the opposite. I'm worried that his narcissism exceeds nothing and that his delusions of grandeur have him saying that he can shoot people and people will still vote for him. I hope that's not true.

COSTELLO: Well, he still leads in most polls. It's been an amazing run for Donald Trump. And, of course, he captured the imagination of the country with this Sarah Palin endorsement.

PAUL: Right.

COSTELLO: And as expected, it hit the air waves on "Saturday Night Live." Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm here for all you teachers and teamsters, you farmers and charmers, whether you're a mom, or two broke girls, or three men and a baby, or a rock and roller, holy roller, pushing stroller, pro-bowler with an abscess molar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's a firecracker. She's a real pistol. She's crazy isn't she?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK, so as a Republican --

PAUL: You know, a lot of us still think that Trump has a lot of work to convince conservatives that he actually is for smaller government. What I hear coming from Trump is, trust him, he's really rich, he's really smart and he'll take care of us. But a lot of us believe that power corrupts and we don't want anyone to have power, too much power, either a Democrat or a Republican, because we think that power has a corrupting influence. And so we love the fact that our founding fathers bound up the government with the Constitution and said, you can't do certain things. I worry that trump isn't from that tradition at all.

[09:35:06] COSTELLO: But just going back to that skit for just a moment, there are a good many in this country that -- who think that Sarah Palin endorsing Donald Trump, it just makes a joke out of this primary. PAUL: You know, I think Trump still has to prove himself. I don't

think that endorsement will necessarily change the trajectory of things. One of the thing that bothers conservatives like myself --

COSTELLO: Is Sarah Palin credible?

PAUL: Well, one of the thing that bothers conservatives, like myself, about the whole situation of whether or not he is a conservative -- and I think that's what the endorsement about -- is that his whole business model has been about taking land from private property owners through imminent domain. And most of us are really -- we are very much opposed to the government abusing imminent domain to take private property. So I think as more voters know that Donald Trump's -- not only his business model, but his philosophy is predicated upon taking people's land, the government taking people's land, I think a lot of people will run away from that when they -- when they truly know what he's about.

COSTELLO: Analysts say if you don't do well in Iowa, it's pretty much over for you. If you don't do well in Iowa, is that it for you? Will that be it?

PAUL: We'd kind of like to wait until the election happens to make any decisions. We think we're actually doing very well. We're -- I think the message to say the --

COSTELLO: You're at 4 percent in Iowa.

PAUL: Well, we don't actually trust the polls in the sense that I think a lot of young people don't show up in polls because they're on cell phones and they're not part of the list. We think that young people are going to come out in droves for a message that says the government should not be collecting your phone records. I'm very much opposed to the surveillance state where the government collects your credit card records, your phone records. And I think a lot of young people agree with me. And we'll find out in the election.

COSTELLO: Well, a lot like what you dad might say --

PAUL: Yes.

COSTELLO: Ron Paul.

PAUL: Yes.

COSTELLO: And he's going to be campaigning for you in Iowa for the first time.

PAUL: Yes, we're excited to have him. We're excited to have him.

COSTELLO: So -- so why now, though?

PAUL: Well, we're -- we were excited to have my dad come at the very end because we're going to have a big college rally and the college students rally to his message as well. And I think it's going to be great. We're excited to have him on the trail. COSTELLO: Why haven't you had him on the trail before?

PAUL: Well, you know, he did it nonstop for about eight years. And so we thought it would be nice for him to have a break. But also that I have to be my own person.

COSTELLO: (INAUDIBLE).

PAUL: And I've had to campaign on my own and make sure that people know who I am and that it's a distinct message.

COSTELLO: And some might say that your father's prone to throwing verbal grenades sometimes that might be harmful to your campaign. Was that a concern?

PAUL: I think it was mostly that I had to be my own person and that I think he is well-known and liked by a lot of the same audiences who believe in a strict construction of the Constitution, balanced budget, but also a government that leaves you alone. So we have a lot of similarities, but we thought it was very important that I run my own race and we have. But we're very happy to have him at the end and I think we'll have a big crowd at the University of Iowa.

COSTELLO: So I'm going to ask you kind of a weird question. In a way is Bernie Sanders the Ron Paul of this race?

PAUL: I think what we're finding is that the youth are attracted to disparate messages. We have a lot of the college campus people, and Bernie Sanders has some as well. Where they overlap is that I think we're both suspect of the Federal Reserve, we're both suspect of foreign war and entanglements. But where we are separate is that it's -- I'm a big believer in capitalism. That exchange, voluntary exchange, is what has made us wealthy. Bernie's belief in socialism, I think, is an old idea that's really much of the evidence really goes against -- I mean I think the Cold War was won because the engine of capitalism defeated the engine of socialism, and I think that's a tough sell for Bernie Sanders to young people wanting to find a job, that he's opposed to the engine that creates jobs.

COSTELLO: OK. And the last question will center on -- because you're also running for the Senate in Kentucky, right?

PAUL: Right.

COSTELLO: And there are some people who think you ought to go back because now the Democrats are finding little cracks.

PAUL: Well, I don't have an opponent yet, so they haven't found a big enough crack to actually put forward an opponent.

COSTELLO: Well, that Lexington mayor might jump in.

PAUL: We'll see. We'll see.

COSTELLO: He's very wealthy. He's very popular and --

PAUL: We'll see when that happens.

COSTELLO: So for now you're sticking with it?

PAUL: Yes, we want voters to vote. We've been working at this for two years. I have a distinctive message. My message is that foreign involvement in the Middle East has not made us safer, has made us less safe. The government shouldn't collect all your records. And, really, we don't want the government putting our young people in jail for marijuana. We think that is a distinctive message in the Republican party and we're willing to see what the voters say.

COSTELLO: Senator Rand Paul, thanks for stopping by.

PAUL: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the wildcard in Iowa. Will voters actually show up? It could turn the results upside down if they do.

Plus, conservative host Glenn Beck is hitting Trump hard. Hear why he says the GOP frontrunner is a very dangerous man.

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[09:43:49] COSTELLO: Tonight, right here on CNN, the Democratic presidential hopefuls make their last pitch to voters at a town hall in Iowa. Each candidate will get 30 minutes on stage and face questions from the audience. This as a new poll shows Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders neck and neck in Iowa. With just one week until caucuses day in Iowa, the big challenge for both parties is getting the voters to turn out.

Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has unveiled an Iowa caucus finder on his website and Senator Rand Paul is counting on his father to shore up support.

With me now to talk about all of this is Lynn Hicks. He's the opinion and lead engagement editor for "The Des Moines Register," which has endorsed Marco Rubio and Hillary Clinton.

Welcome, sir.

LYNN HICKS, OPINION/LEAD ENGAGEMENT EDITOR, DES MONIES REGISTER: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being here.

I want to talk about tonight's town hall first. Could this change things?

HICKS: I don't think so. You know, Bernie's got to answer the main question that a lot of people are asking is, how is he going to carry out this reform, the progressive reform and agenda that he is -- he is promising. So he's inspired people, but a lot of people are coming to his events saying, you know, how are you going to do it? [09:45:00] That is a main question for him. O'Malley still needs to

show people that this is more than a two person race. So I think it's, again, it's Hillary's to lose. She needs to inspire people to come out next week. The tough thing is, sorry, CNN, but a big game going on in Iowa tonight, and so it's going to be competing for their attention.

COSTELLO: OK, but I hold down hope because people are very interested this time around.

Let me ask you about Hillary Clinton because I know that your paper has endorsed Hillary Clinton. I think voters want to see some passion from her so what can she do to impart that tonight?

HICKS: Well, I think that, you know, we met with Hillary Clinton for three hours over two meetings and she is warmer than she gets credit for. And I think that she does have ideas that can inspire people to come out. So if she can continue to kind of show that warmth and personality, I think that it also instills confidence that she is the nominee.

COSTELLO: All right, so on the Republican side, earlier on NEW DAY, Chris Cuomo interviewed Glenn Beck, who's endorsed Senator Ted Cruz. But here's what Glenn Beck had to say about Donald Trump.

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GLENN BECK, NATIONALLY SYNDICATED RADIO HOST: Donald Trump, I really truly believe, is a very dangerous man. When you have a guy who is angry and then has an enemy's list and starts just to take people down over and over and over again, if you disagree with him, he destroys you, that -- if that is the mood of the country, we're in more trouble than I thought.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right, I know your paper has endorsed Marco Rubio. But with that in mind, your thoughts about what Glenn Beck had to say about Trump?

HICKS: Well, I don't often agree with Glenn Beck on anything, but our paper has been critical of the way that Trump has run this campaign, and we invited him to come in to our endorsement interview several times. He declined. And I think what's interesting that we are seeing in Iowa is that people are worried about the credibility of the Iowa caucuses. And so you'll see establishment Republicans who are speaking out against Cruz, but they're also making appearances with Donald Trump. So it's almost as if the establishment is starting to realize that we better take him seriously because we want the caucuses to be taken seriously.

COSTELLO: Speaking of voter turnout, because when you look closely at the polls, a lot of people taking part are people who have never voted or never participated in the Iowa caucuses. Do you think that the polls reflect reality at the moment? HICKS: Well, best we know, they do. We'll have more polls coming

out. The problem is that Iowans are known to wait until the last minute. Our polls are showing that there is a large number of people who are still uncommitted or that can be persuaded away from the first choice. And in Iowa, what also matters is not only turnout but where people turn out. Geography matters. And that is going to be a big deal in the Clinton/Sanders race, because Sanders' support is in college towns. So what's important to remember is that caucus is a not a popular vote, at least on the Democratic side. And so it depends where those delegates are coming from, regarding Sanders versus Clinton.

COSTELLO: All right, Lynn Hicks, thanks for being with me this morning.

HICKS: Thank you.

COSTELLO: You're welcome.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the future Hall of Famer versus the rising star, Super Bowl 50 is set. Let the betting begin.

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[09:53:19] COSTELLO: Football fans, the biggest game of the season just two weeks away. Super Bowl 50 in San Francisco will pit Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers against Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos. But they had to get past the Cardinals and the Patriots to do that, and at least one game was exciting.

CNN sports correspondent Coy Wire is in Denver with highlights from yesterday's NFC and AFC championship games.

And, man, that Patriots-Broncos game was something else. I almost had a heart attack at the end.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Me too, Carol. I got to play against both of these guys. And, look, I played nine years in the NFL. Seen a lot of games. This was one of the most exciting and intense games that I've ever seen it person. Peyton Manning, Tom Brady duking it out for a chance to go to Super Bowl 50. It was simply awesome.

Now, let's check out these highlights. Peyton, he had one of the best games of the season. He threw two touchdown passes, both to Owen Daniels. Here's one of them. But down by 8, final drive of the game, the Patriots would convert two fourth downs, including this touchdown to Rob Gronkowski with 12 seconds to go. That's where Carol got all excited and nervous. So the Patriots would have to go for two for the tie, but Denver's defense fittingly seals the deal. They dominated all game. Denver wins a wild one, 20-18. Peyton has now won his last three consecutive playoff meetings against Tom Brady and the Pats. And here he is, just moments after the game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PEYTON MANNING, DENVER BRONCOS QUARTERBACK: This is a sweet day. This was a sweet victory. To me, this victory sort of is a great example of what this entire season has been like. It hasn't been easy. It's been a lot of different people stepping up, doing their parts, at different times.

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[09:55:05] WIRE: Now in New England just minutes ago, the Pats held their season ending press conference. And head coach Bill Belichick, not a guy who's known to open up to the media, didn't really open up to the media. Listen.

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BILL BELICHICK, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS HEAD COACH: We had some opportunities. But in the end, just came up a little bit short, and that's obviously disappointing feeling at this time of year. So, we'll turn the page here and move on and we'll ust start the process all over again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: So much sadness.

Well, with their victory, the Broncos mean they're facing this guy, Cam Newton and his Carolina Panthers, in Super Bowl 50. Cam Newton showed why they call him Super Cam. Threw for touchdowns. Ran for two more. But it was Carolina's defense that was a difference maker in this one. They dominated Arizona's top-ranked offense, forcing seven turnovers, including this interception for a touchdown by Luke Kuechly. Panthers win 49-15, scoring the most points ever in an NFC championship game.

Now, Super Bowl 50 happening February 7th in Santa Clara, California. Cam making his first Super Bowl appearance; Peyton making his fourth. It's going to be outstanding, Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes. Is that how they do it?

(LAUGHTER)

WIRE: I love it.

COSTELLO: Coy Wire, many thanks.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a break.

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