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Trump and Cruz Battle in Iowa; The Spread of the Zika Virus; Peyton Manning's Last Super Bowl? Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired January 26, 2016 - 09:30   ET

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

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol. Well, these are significant numbers for Donald Trump. He leads in younger voters, older voters, in men, women, white evangelicals and conservatives, really across the board there nationally.

[09:30:06] But what I thought was most striking from these new numbers is how Trump has really been able to cast himself successfully as the outsider candidate of this race. Something that is a good thing to have. This poll showed that 55 percent of GOP voters said that they felt that they were completely unrepresented by Washington. And among that group of voters, 47 percent support Donald Trump and only 19 percent there support Ted Cruz. So big difference in how they're able to cast themselves.

It, of course, comes as Donald Trump is really teetering, though, between both worlds, making the case that the establishment is against him, but also at the same time making the case that the establishment is slowly starting to warm up to his candidacy in opposition to Ted Cruz, as an alternative to Ted Cruz.

Cruz, of course, is his main rival. Very clear that that is embedded in every argument he's making, especially here in Iowa. Here's just a smattering of what he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer when he sat down with him yesterday in New York.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I think the establishment actually is against me, but really coming online, because they see me as opposed to Cruz, who is a nasty guy, who can't get along with anybody. You know, look, at a certain point, you've got to make deals. We can't have a guy who stands in the middle of the Senate floor and every other senator thinks he's a whack job.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Another New Yorker who's built a great company is Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City. He's now toying with the idea of running as a third party independent. If he were to do so, could you beat him?

TRUMP: I'd beat him and I -- I would love him to do it, actually. I love the competition.

BLITZER: You've called Bernie Sanders a total whack job. You've said you don't know if Hillary Clinton will make it legally. Who would you rather face in a -- in a general election contest? TRUMP: I don't care. I mean, really. I don't even focus on them. I

only focused on Hillary for a couple of days last week, as you saw. I don't even think about Hillary. And I don't think about Bernie Sanders. The first thing I have to do is, we had 17, now we're down to about 12 or 13. I've got to get rid of them first (ph).

BLITZER: You really think you have this Republican nomination in the bag?

TRUMP: No, I think that I have a good chance. I mean, look, I'm leading in all the polls. Iowa's very important to me. I should say to you, I should say, well, I'd like to do well in Iowa. I don't want to do that. I'd love to win Iowa. If I don't win it, I don't win it. I go to New Hampshire, where I have a very big lead and the people up there have been unbelievably good to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: Now, here in Iowa, Ted Cruz is offering up a candid assessment of sorts of the state of the race here. He last night told evangelical pastors here in Iowa that if Donald Trump wins Iowa, goes on to win New Hampshire, which he said is very likely, then he says Trump could be unstoppable. So this is a big part of Cruz's closing message, Carol, to say even if these pastors and other people here in Iowa support someone else, they should try to coalesce around him to stop Donald Trump.

Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Sunlen Serfaty reporting live from Iowa this morning.

And you heard Sunlen say it, there was that revealing admission about the state of the GOP race from Trump's chief rival Ted Cruz. In a private meeting with those evangelical pastors in Iowa, Cruz stressed the urgency of getting conservatives to unite around his campaign in that state and beyond.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If Donald wins Iowa, he right now has a substantial lead in New Hampshire. If he went on to win New Hampshire as well, there's a very good chance he could be unstoppable and be our nominee.

So even if you're thinking about another candidate, the simple reality is, there is only one campaign that can beat Trump in this state. And if conservatives simply stand up and unite, that's -- that's everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Cruz, who's facing increasingly sharp attacks from Trump, hitting back hard with this new ad that began airing in Iowa today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: I mean, hey, I lived in New York City and Manhattan all my life, OK, so, you know, my views are a little bit different than if I lived in Iowa.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): They are different. Like on abortion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would President Trump ban partial birth abortions?

TRUMP: Well, look, I am pro-choice in every respect.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what does Trump think about Iowa?

TRUMP: How stupid are the people of Iowa?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump, New York value, not ours.

TRUMP: You know, my views are a little bit different than if I lived in Iowa.

CRUZ (voice-over): I'm Ted Cruz and I approve this message.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK, so let's talk about that and more. S.E. Cupp is a conservative columnist and CNN political commentator, and Ross Douthat is a New York Times op-ed columnist and also a CNN political commentator.

Welcome to both of you.

So --

ROSS DOUTHAT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

So, S.E., Trump's birther strategy appears to be working. Perhaps symbolized by the man I'm about to show you. This guy is dogging Cruz at campaign events. He's dressed like a Canadian mounty and he's holding a sign saying Cruz likes the Canadian band Nickelback. Hopefully we can put -- there it is. That guy's everywhere. He's following Cruz all around. So that birther thing seems to be working, S.E. Can Cruz overcome it?

[09:35:14] S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Ah, yes. I actually don't know that it's -- it's working. Clearly Trump is ahead in Iowa, but the polls that I've seen have suggested that a vast majority of Iowa Republicans don't care that Ted Cruz's mom was born in Canada -- in Canada when Ted Cruz was born. So I'm not sure that that's what's having an effect.

Look, Trump is doing well for being Trump. And that encompasses everything that Trump does. Everything he says. Everything he puts out there. I was recently recalling a 1951 seminal book called "The True Believer" by Eric Hoffer that talks about the history of mass movements and he says a successful mass movement is the one in which the leader is more about certitude than meaning. And Donald Trump, being certain about something, is so much more effective to his followers than him actually knowing stuff or bringing plausible ideas to the table. So when he goes out and he says Ted Cruz is Canadian and they're going to sue him, they don't care that that's probably not true. The certitude is effective.

COSTELLO: So, Ross, how do you beat that if you're Ted Cruz?

DOUTHAT: Well what Cruz needs is in essence for some of Trump's supporters not to turn out, which is entirely possible. This is -- the big unanswered question in Iowa and New Hampshire and national is, is Trump's support overstated by the fact that it includes lots of people who don't vote a lot, some of whom who aren't registered Republicans and so on. Or are all of these people, as S.E. just said, going to be energized by the movement that is Trump-ism and actually turn out? And that's why the polling in Iowa, in every early state but especially Iowa, has been all over the map. It's not clear that Trump is leading among the people most likely to caucus. So the best -- I mean I think the argument we heard Cruz making earlier is quite shrewd. I don't think it's quite right, but I think saying, look, this is the best chance for sort of regular conservative voters who are freaked out by Trump to get together and stop him. That's a good case for voting for Cruz in Iowa.

COSTELLO: OK, so let's say --

DOUTHAT: And maybe it's the closing argument he need.

COSTELLO: Maybe. But let's say Donald Trump wins in Iowa and in New Hampshire. Something, by the way, no other GOP candidate other than an incumbent has managed to do. If he wins both those states, S.E., is there any stopping him?

CUPP: Yes. Yes. I mean you could -- you know, Trump could move down south and those New York values ads, which I'm sure you being in New York, Carol, me being in New York, we don't appreciate, but might be very effective in some southern states and some western states. I think what's interesting with Ted Cruz's sort of threat to his voters, if Donald Trump wins Iowa he can sort of run the table. What he's reeling saying there is, if I don't win Iowa, I don't have a chance going forward. I need to win Iowa to really have any momentum going forward past New Hampshire where Donald Trump or someone else could win down to South Carolina. So it's a really interesting -- I think he's right, but what he's really saying isn't that Donald could take this. It's that he needs Iowa the most.

COSTELLO: All right, I just got word in my ear that George Pataki just endorsed Marco Rubio, which brings me -- I don't know if that's -- I don't know if that --

CUPP: Something.

COSTELLO: Something -- it's something for --

DOUTHAT: Game changing. COSTELLO: You guys are so bad. But that brings up my next question to you, Ross, because Donald Trump on MSNBC said this morning that another big endorsement is coming his way. Who do you suppose that might be? We know it's not George Pataki.

DOUTHAT: I mean the interesting possibility is that it could be Senator Jeff Sessions, because an aide of Sessions just went to work for Trump and Sessions and Trump have communicated on immigration. I'm a little skeptical, but that would be, in a certain way, a bigger deal than the Sarah Palin endorsement because it would be an actual, you know, important Republican senator, which is why I'm skeptical that it would happen. But that would be the most interesting thing that could happen.

And then I mean getting back to what you and S.E. were talking about and the Pataki endorsement, I mean the really is, Trump has not faced sustained attacks. He's facing some now from Cruz in Iowa, but he hasn't faced sustained ads being run against him, attacks being made against him by well-funded opponents. Instead, all the other candidates, the Rubios and Christies and even Jeb Bush, who's done a little bit attacking -- attacking of Trump are basically attacking each other. So Trump can be stopped if at some point those other candidates get winnowed and one of them has the money to go after him. And the question is just, you know, does that happen after New Hampshire or not?

[09:40:05] COSTELLO: We'll see. I have to leave it there. Ross Douthat, S.E. Cupp, thanks to both of you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the deadly Zika virus is already in the United States. What health officials are doing right now to prevent a disaster.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Health officials in Texas have a new mission, stop the deadly and devastating Zika virus from spreading into the United States. In Brazil, nearly 4,000 babies have been born with a birth defect that causes small heads and abnormal brain development. Their mothers infected with Zika virus. So far, 46 babies have died in Brazil alone. According to the CDC, 22 countries and territories are now reporting local transmission of the virus. Health officials in several of these countries now telling women to avoid becoming pregnant until 2018. Now, there have been 20 cases of the virus here in the United States.

[09:45:01] COSTELLO: They all came from travelers. Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins me now to tell us more and about the U.S. effort to prevent this. Good morning.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Carol, these efforts are on all fronts. They are trying to come up with a vaccine against Zika, and they're also trying to get more places that can do a test for Zika. Because right now you have to send blood to the CDC to be tested or maybe a handful of other places. And speaking of blood, look at these photos. This is Dr. Scott Weaver

at the Galveston National Labratory in Texas and he is feeding mosquitoes sheep blood that has been spiked can Zika. He and his team will then study the mosquitoes, see how they digest it, see how quickly the mosquitoes themselves become infectious. And this is really important, Carol, because mosquitoes are what spread Zika virus. The mosquito bites an infected person and then turns around and bites another -- bites another person and then that person becomes infected. So studying those mosquitoes is sort of, icky as it looks, is really key to controlling this virus.

COSTELLO: So how do you stop the infected mosquitoes from coming into the United States?

COHEN: Right, well, it's actually not so much that they are coming into the United States. That's not as much the issue. It's that infected people are coming in to the United States from Brazil and other places, and then the mosquito bites those people and then bites someone else nearby.

And so what you can do to stop that is that you try to catch as many infected people as you can, and then you try to control it that way. So for example, if you know someone has Zika, these mosquitos love to live in houses, so you can spray that person's house. You can take those kinds of measures in order to try to slow the spread of the disease.

COSTELLO: So just the last question, because it sounds very scary, how afraid should we be?

COHEN: You know, Carol, every expert I talked to said that they really truly do not think that Zika will be nearly as bad in this country, in the United States, as it has been in Brazil. And here's why. It is a lot hotter in Brazil. And these mosquitoes, they love the heat. And even in places like Texas and Florida, there is a lot of air-conditioning. These mosquitoes do not like air-conditioning.

There are all sorts of other reasons we're much better at mosquito control in the United States than they are in Brazil -- this is what the experts tell me. And also people tend to live further apart in the United States, that it's not so densely populated. That means the mosquitoes have farther to go. I know that sounds odd; of course they can fly. But the farther apart the people are, the slower the spread of the disease.

So they think will it spread if this country? Probably. You probably will see some spread. But they think it will be very limited.

COSTELLO: I hope so. Elizabeth Cohen reporting. Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, could the Super Bowl be the last time we see Peyton Manning on the field? We'll hear from his dad, Archie, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:52:21] COSTELLO: Checking some top stories for you at 52 minutes past.

By special order of President Obama, no more solitary confinement for juvenile offenders or low level offenders. The new rules come as the president focuses on criminal justice reform in his final year in office. According to review by the Justice Department, solitary confinement hurts the chances for an inmate's rehabilitation, and makes it harder for them to reenter the society.

An Atlanta woman is killed while on vacation in Grenada, by a man with a machete. The autopsy results just released. It revealed her skull was fractured and she was suffocated. It happened when Jessica Colker was walking along the beach with her husband. Her husband managed to get away. He got the police. Police now have a suspect in custody, but they have no idea why the couple was attacked.

Chaos in a courtroom after a child molester attacks a prosecutor in New Mexico. You can see the brawl. It starts right after the man is found guilty. As they are pulled apart, the prosecutor tries to jump back at the suspect. The defendant could now be facing new charges.

Super Bowl 50 makes No. 4 for quarterback Peyton Manning. That's not the only number people are talking about. Peyton Manning turns 40 in March, making him the oldest QB to ever play in the big game. So will the Super Bowl be his last game?

We talked with his father, Archie Manning, about that and more. Actually, Coy Wire did. He's joining us live. Good morning.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. You know, Peyton Manning, he's going to be the center of attention in the sports world over the next couple of weeks, headed into his fourth Super Bowl, as you mentioned. An opportunity to win his second. And as you've also mentioned, this could be his last opportunity to play the game and ride off into the sunset of an historic career.

Now we caught up with his legendary father, Archie, in the tunnel just moments after that big Broncos' AFC Championship win on Sunday. And we wanted to get his thoughts on this special time in his son's life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARCHIE MANNING, PEYTON MANNING'S FATHER: It's been a good rodeo. It's been 18 good years, and so I don't know what's going to happen. We, I promise you, hadn't talked about it. Has not even brought it up. But, you know, just savor every -- this is a special day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Now, I got to catch up with the players in the locker room afterwards, Demaryius Thomas, Owen Daniels, who caught those two touchdown passes. And you could just see their faces light up when I asked them about being part of this historic journey, and obviously great talking to the legend, Archie Manning, too.

But I have to tell you, Carol, I don't know if you've seen this yet, it was actually his grandson, Marshall Manning, who was the one stealing the show on Sunday.

[09:55:05] Peyton and his wife have an adorable -- twins, four-year- old twins, Mosley and Marshall. Well, Marshall was at that post-game press conference. During this whole -- everyone is asking Peyton all these questions. They don't see him. This was his first ever press conference. You can understand that he was a little shy back there, but he's just saying, come on, Dad, you've been to four Super Bowls now. Let's just go home and cuddle, right? His sister Mosley was there too, got to join Pops on the trophy presentation stand on the field after the game.

And with all the success of Archie Manning, two-time Pro Bowler himself, college football hall-of-famer; Uncle Eli here is a two-time Super Bowl champ; and Peyton Manning, greatest of all time, I think we'll probably see Marshall Manning at podiums and press conferences more in the years to come, Carol.

COSTELLO: And maybe we'll see him one day as an NFL quarterback. Who knows?

WIRE: That's right.

Hey, getting a lot of comments about you and your dab that you did yesterday. Word is you have the most swag of any CNN anchor.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Really?

WIRE: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: Oh, you're going to have to enlighten me more. Coy Wire.

WIRE: We will do that.

COSTELLO: Always fun.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a break.

(COMMERCIL BREAK)