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Rubio Courts Iowa Voters Today; Trump May Skip Next Debate, "Unfair" Fox Host; The Secret Life of "GI Joe". Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired January 26, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:29:44] SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Today he's rolling out the key endorsement of former Texas governor Rick Perry and also here today at all seven stops with Steve King and Bob Vander Plaats -- two voices that have a lot of sway here with Iowa voters.

Interesting when Rick Perry decided to endorse Ted Cruz, sources say that was much to do about Donald Trump and his distaste for Donald Trump. And he's already starting to preview the message that he will bring for Cruz on the campaign trail, already arguing that Trump is not a consistent conservative.

And this has been like a broken record what we've seen from the Cruz campaign really embedded in every message that they've been bringing saying that Donald Trump is a phony conservative. Donald Trump is a phony evangelical.

Their Super PAC also out with a triplicate of ads this week hitting at that same thing mentioning times in the past where Donald Trump has said he's pro-choice, times in the past where he's aligned himself with universal health care.

So Carol -- really seeing the framing of this image that they're trying to paint of Donald Trump here in Iowa that Donald Trump does not align himself with Iowa values -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Sunlen Serfaty, reporting live for us.

Now to Manu Raju and Marco Rubio. You saw that Quinnipiac poll, Rubio is a distant third. How well does he have to do in Iowa to continue to be an effective candidate?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, Carol, he really needs to pull in a solid third place. That is what the Rubio campaign is going for all along. They want to emerge from Iowa as that alternative to Ted Cruz and Donald Trump and take that case to New Hampshire where they believe they can end up in a strong second place finish and then tell the party establishment and the different wings of the party to unite behind his candidacy.

We heard this morning here in Pella, Iowa where Marco Rubio made that pitch to be a unity candidate. Here's a little bit more about what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I am your

nominee, and that's why I'm here today to ask you for your vote. If I am our nominee, I will unite this party. I will unite it faster than anyone else who is running because we can't win if we're not together.

We need to be the United States of America which means we will have differences of opinion on policy. But we will all understand that in the end, we are truly all in this together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Really what the Rubio campaign is hoping for is for some of the other establishment favorite candidates to drop out of the race after New Hampshire and see that support go toward him. Now, he is banking on a long shot strategy, a long ball strategy, I should say -- really a slog, state by state slog where it's going to be a fight over delegates, something that could last weeks and weeks on end.

It's a risky strategy though because if Rubio underperforms particularly in New Hampshire, he'll have a harder time making that case to voters. We'll see how he ends up making his final pitch here in the coming days.

COSTELLO: We will. Manu Raju, reporting live for us this morning -- thank you.

So Donald Trump is at it again saying on MSNBC he has a powerful endorsement coming down today. Also Trump is threatening to skip the Republican debate on Thursday. His big beef -- Megyn Kelly and her quote, "unfair treatment". Those are Trump's words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Before Iowa there's a Republican debate Thursday night. Fox is hosting that debate. You and Megyn Kelly have had issues. She's one of the moderators. Are you going to be at that Fox debate?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, probably. I mean I don't like her. She doesn't treat me fairly. I'm not a big fan of hers at all. I don't care. I mean she was -- she probably was -- I might be the best thing that ever happened to her.

I don't know. Who ever even heard of her before the last debate, but I thought she was very unfair in the last debate. A lot of people said I won that debate. Everybody said I won the last debate. But I'm not a fan of Megyn Kelly. I don't like her. She probably doesn't like me. And that's ok. But she better be fair.

I'd like to go to the debate. I enjoy the debates. I've done well in the debates. Every single poll has said I've won every debate. But we're going to see what happens. It's going to be exciting.

BLITZER: When you say probably, you haven't a 100 percent decided you will be at the debate? TRUMP: No. Nothing is 100 percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. Let's talk about that and more. With me now John Avlon CNN political analyst and editor-in-chief of "The Daily Beast"; and Ben Ferguson, a political commentator and conservative talk radio host. Welcome to both of you.

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

So John -- let's just cut through the bull. When candidates say things like that about reporters, aren't they just trying to intimidate the reporters? To force them to ask like easy questions?

AVLON: Well, I mean I think that's the intended hope of the brush back fringe, and the Trump organization and the campaign has a history of trying to intimidate reporters who they don't like, calling them out.

But clearly, you know, Donald Trump is a man who is very comfortable wearing the black hat. He does not mind being disliked. And you can ascribe that to any number of different personality quirks or traits, but when you call out a reporter and you try to attack them in person or you try to investigate them and shame them, you know, that is a classic Nixonaire dirty trick. And that's not the kind of thing we need more of in American politics, let alone the White House.

COSTELLO: Well Ben, at least Trump has a problem with Fox too as opposed to just the lame stream media.

[10:35:02] FERGUSON: Yes. Well look, this fits the narrative of "I'm against the world and join my team and everyone now is out to get us, and that's the reason why you should vote for me." The problem is, is it a conservative value to basically say if someone doesn't treat you fairly, which really means give you softball questions and not question your authority, is that a conservative value you want to back?

Because as president, my concern would be that if any conservative or liberal or anybody asks a question he doesn't like, he now banishes them from the room. That's not a conservative value. And I think that's what you're going to be hearing a lot more from Ted Cruz and other conservatives is look, this guy is a bully.

I think something else that was funny he said there. He said nothing is 100 percent guaranteed. Nothing is 100 percent. I would also say this. It may also include his quote, unquote, "conservative values". I don't think they're 100 percent solid, and I think that's where he's also vulnerable.

But this fits that narrative of I'm being bullied by everyone else. I'm not going to take it. So get on the Trump train and we're going to do and change the world and anyone that gets in our way, we'll run over them, just like that woman who I took her house when I built a casino with eminent domain. That's also not a conservative value.

COSTELLO: John.

AVLON: Carol -- I appreciate -- I appreciate Ben bringing up eminent domain like that in a Cruz ad.

But let's be real about this. You know, the problem that conservatives are confronting in the form of Donald Trump and the problem the Republican Party is confronting in Ted Cruz is not an imposition. It is something they have helped seed.

This is a condition where you view the world as us against them, where you try to punish people who are not ideologically in line. That is a kind of intolerance and ideological approach filtering the world and the news that has been part of the conservative playbook for a long time, and all of a sudden -- Golem is turning on its creator and people are panicked.

FERGUSON: Did you hear anything I said. No, I'm not panicked.

AVLON: Yes, I did. And I'm saying that you're making lovely points. I think there's an irony to it.

FERGUSON: No, I'm pointing out the obvious here.

AVLON: Yes. I just think it's ironic -- Ben. That's all.

FERGUSON: All the other candidates are not doing what you just described. Let's be very clear about that. Donald Trump has been the one that has gone out there and has basically said that if you don't support me, I will crush you and you're an idiot, you're stupid, you're incompetent, you're dumb, you're a moron. He did it with Megyn Kelly.

And I have been -- hold on -- as a conservative, I have been one of those for quite some time that's been questioning Donald Trump. And I think what this is, is a populous candidate that said I'm going to fill a void here regardless of what he's done with his past, regardless of how he has people now like Bob Dole who's an establishment who he says he's against who basically have endorsed him and others just like him like Trent Lott who is not a conservative.

I'm just pointing out the obvious here on Donald Trump.

COSTELLO: Last word, John, and then I have to go.

AVLON: Ben, my point is that you all are -- yes, you are all complaining about something you helped create. But I agree with you on some of the --

FERGUSON: I didn't create Donald Trump. Let me make this clear. I did not create Donald Trump. COSTELLO: Ok. I have to leave it there. I'm glad you guys are

in separate locations.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, when the secret life of a small town police officer becomes not so secret, well, what he was hiding and why will shock you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:42:23] COSTELLO: The death of Lt. Joe Gliniewicz shocked a village and sparked a massive manhunt for his killers. But in the days after he was found dead with gunshot Gliniewicz was hailed as a hero. Memorial signs of the man who they called G.I. Joe were all over Fox Lake, Illinois. But as investigators dug deeper into his death, that hero image started to fall apart.

And as Pamela Brown reports, that town could have known the truth earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The file is 264 pages thick -- full of accolades and shocking information.

GEORGE FILENKO, COMMANDER, LAKE COUNTY ILLINOIS: Let me put it to you this way. If I knew about that personnel file when I was up here, I certainly wouldn't put my child in the explorer program under his tutelage.

BROWN: In may of 1988, Fox Lake Police Sergeant James Bush stated that he was called by a sheriff's deputy who found Officer Gliniewicz passed out in his truck on the side of the road with the engine running full throttle with his foot on the gas. Sergeant Bush wrote that he was summoned because the department couldn't wake Gliniewicz and this was not the first time that something like this has happened.

In 2003 a Fox Lake radio dispatcher claimed Gliniewicz joked about putting bullets in my chest. Three weeks later, she claimed he brought a gun into the dispatch room. "I don't appreciate someone cocking a gun or whatever he was doing, making clicking sounds with it, especially when that someone just recently joked about putting bullets in my chest."

And there's more.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 2009 some anonymous officers sent former Fox Lake mayor, Cindy Irwin, letters saying they had a list of grievances against Gliniewicz.

BROWN: Among the many accusations, various members of the department had been approached by bouncers from different establishments and advised that Lieutenant Gliniewicz had been escorted from the establishment in a highly intoxicated condition. The letter goes on to claim that Gliniewicz did not pay a bar tab in excess of $300. That he took his family on vacation to Wisconsin in his squad car. And that on several occasions he inappropriately touched women, grabbed their breasts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: CNN's Pamela Brown now joins us live. Just listening to that, I'm shocked all over again.

BROWN: Right.

COSTELLO: There were suspicions about this guy even shortly after he was found dead?

[10:45:02] BROWN: That's right. We covered the story, Carol, here on CNN. And we were told by law enforcement officers in the very beginning, just a couple of days after Lieutenant Gliniewicz's death, that doubts were creeping in that he may have committed suicide; that this was not in fact a homicide. This was even before the funeral, the hero's funeral where thousands of people turned out to attend.

Because things were not adding up at the crime scene, investigators say that his uniform was in perfect roll call order and that his bullet proof vest was where it should be, not indicative of a struggle which they presumed he would have been in if there were actually three suspect. And there were some other clues in terms of the fact he was there 30 minutes before he called into dispatch. Why was he there 30 minutes before?

So there were suspicions early on but it wasn't until investigators looked through that personnel file and uncovered 6,500 messages of deleted texts, Carol, showing that he wanted to put a hit out on the village administrator, that he was stealing money from the Explorer post, this group of teens that he trained to be law enforcement officers, that he was stealing money from them for seven years.

COSTELLO: In light of all that, why wasn't he under investigation or off the force already?

BROWN: Right. And you know, we asked that because we said how can he be a supervisor? He was a lieutenant and he had this thick personnel file and the mayor we interviewed said he didn't know about it. That while he was mayor, there was no disciplinary action against him.

And clearly investigators were shocked to learn that this was someone who was stealing from the Explorer Post and who had such a vendetta against the village administrator that he wanted to put a hit on her. I think a lot of investigators were surprised to uncover that after their initial suspicions that this was something other than homicide.

COSTELLO: I can't wait to watch your special. Pamela Brown, thanks for stopping by. "THE SECRET LIFE OF G.I. JOE" airs tonight 9:00 p.m. Eastern only on CNN.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, mounds and mounds of snow in D.C. -- so where do you put it all? (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:51:11] COSTELLO: Parts of D.C. still shut down this morning after that epic snow storm, and get this, according to the "Washington Post", 3.5 billion cubic feet of snow fell in the area this weekend alone.

So the big question, where do you put all that snow?

Rene Marsh is on top of manmade snow mountain. How did you get up there?

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: A little bit climbing but I had to do it well ahead of this live hit -- Carol. Didn't want to climb this, live because I didn't want to end up on YouTube. So where do you put all this snow? Well Washington D.C. is putting it in six locations. This is the largest location.

We're here at RFK Stadium. Take a look. Truck after truck just filled with snow. They're coming and they're dropping it all off here as far as the eye can see. D.C. officials telling us that over the next few days they will have plowed some 4,400 miles of roadways. Guess what? That's the equivalent of traveling from Washington D.C. to L.A. and halfway back.

They even brought here a machine that melts tons of snow by the hour. We do know that the major roads, they're pretty much all clear. Now the focus is on the neighborhoods and all those side streets. They are still hard at work as far as clearing all of this snow.

The federal government buildings within Washington D.C., those federal government buildings are closed again today. However, D.C. government is open. D.C. public schools also closed today, Carol.

So we see some progress but still a lot of work ahead of them.

COSTELLO: A lot of work. Do you feel like king of the mountain? I would feel powerful up there, Rene Marsh.

MARSH: I do feel powerful, man. I do.

COSTELLO: Amen, sister. Rene Marsh, reporting live -- thanks so much.

Still to come, most 18-year-olds are just thinking about going to college. Not Ted Cruz. When he was 18, he had much, much bigger plans.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:57:28] COSTELLO: We'll take you out to Osceola, Iowa right now. You see Sen. Ted Cruz there. He's on the stump, speaking to his supporters because let's face it, he and Donald Trump are running neck and neck in Iowa -- very tight race. He's doing all that he can to gain the upper hand.

So Ted Cruz is fighting to be your next president, but does he want even more like world domination and bikini babes?

Here's Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What might 45-year-old Ted Cruz say about 18-year-old Ted Cruz? Because 18-year-old Ted Cruz had some funny answers when asked about his aspirations.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Aspirations is that like sweat on my butt?

MOOS: Aspirations like perspiration. I'm already sweating for Ted having to watch his old self talk about his future goals.

CRUZ: Take over the world, world domination. Rule everything, be rich and powerful. That sort of stuff.

MOOS: But really who hasn't been embarrassed by their younger self? I'm sure young Hillary Clinton might agree with the Cruz defender who said thank heavens there were no video cameras when I was a shallow, mouthy teenage girl. Now, if only we could unearth some ancient footage of a young and handsome Donald Trump articulating his aspirations.

The Cruz video even includes his father.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think Ted is going to rule the world one day?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hope not.

MOOS: Thanks -- Dad.

The person who posted the video says it came from a classmate of Cruz who wants to remain anonymous. It was turned into a mock ad. The 18-year-old Ted's first aspiration was a doozy.

CRUZ: Oh I don't know. Being a teen (EXPLETIVE DELETED) film like that guy who played Horatio -- you know. He was in Malibu Bikini Beach Shop.

MOOS: A movie about two guys who inherit a bikini store.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think I found my calling in life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really. And I had you figured for a brain surgeon?

MOOS: No, the brain surgeon would be young Ben Carson. When asked about the old video, a spokesman for the Cruz campaign told Politico "Good to see he's always had a great sense of humor," and it could have been worse. At least ted didn't answer like a bikini contest contestant.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are your goals in life? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN.

CRUZ: Take over the world.

MOOS: New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: I thought that bikini babe was going to say to be a news anchor.

Thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

"AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: So guess who just said Donald Trump might be unstoppable. This time it wasn't actually Donald Trump. No. It was Ted --