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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Reports Of An Active Shooter At Naval Medical Center In San Diego; Democrats Trade Shots AT Final Forum Before Iowa; Clinton Touts Foreign Policy Experience; New CNN Poll Has Clinton Topping Sanders By 14 Points; Trump's Lead Bigger Than Ever; Cruz Ad Attacks Trump's "New York Values"; Jerry Falwell Jr. Endorses Trump; CNN Special Tonight On Officer's Staged Suicide. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired January 26, 2016 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:01] KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: While there is this concern of San Diego High School, Roosevelt Middle School, as well as Garfield High School. The population of all of those schools that -- you know it's sizable, so they want to make sure that children stay inside while there is this concern.

And you mentioned, Ashleigh, those restaurants and cafes, there is a cafe with the Science Center. There are a number of places you can sit outside here on the naval property and enjoy your morning coffee. People routinely walking dogs through Balboa Park, they push their children on carts. This is an area that, you know, it's a tourist attraction. If you think about the San Diego Zoo, how many people head to the San Diego Zoo every day.

It's a gorgeous day in southern California today. So a lot of people would be expected to be out and about, so that, you know, again, all of these precautionary but a lot of concern because of the location of this particular building.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: Well, lest they get anywhere near to this particular set of buildings. They're going to run into a perimeter that has now been set by the California highway patrol. They announce that live on the air moments ago.

Obviously, there is a full effort to find whomever may be responsible for whatever it was that led a witness to report that there were three shots fired in the basement of that building on your screen, Building number 26 at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego. And as they continue to search and clear floor to floor, we continue our reporting here on CNN as well.

It is a busy, busy time in politics. That countdown is officially on, is it ever to the first in the nation election. Last night, the Democrats at the CNN presidential Town Hall made their last speeches to Iowa voters who caucus in just six days.

Hillary Clinton saying that she's been proven fighter. Bernie Sanders telling us why he is a socialist, and Martin O'Malley pleading for his supporters to stay in the game. Here's CNN senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN MALE: All right. We are live ...

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Less than a week away from the Iowa caucuses.

SEN BERNIE SANDERS, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This calls for a stay only gap response.

KEILAR: The democratic candidates are out of their chairs.

MARTIN O'MALLEY, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not capable of doing Q and A in Iowa from a sit.

CHRIS COUMO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes please.

KIELAR: And throwing soft punches in a final pitch to voters.

SANDERS: Experience is important. But judgment is also important.

KIELAR: Bernie Sanders kicking off CNN's Town Hall going record to record through record with Hillary Clinton.

SANDERS: I voted against the war in Iraq, Hillary Clinton voted for the war in Iraq. I led the effort against Wall Street deregulation. See where Hillary Clinton was on this issue.

On day one, I said the Keystone Pipeline is a dumb idea. Why did it take Hillary Clinton such a long time before she came in opposition?

KEILAR: Clinton says one bad vote on the Iraq war is just a scratch. Not a dent.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have a much longer history than one vote which I've said was a mistake because of the way that that was done and how the Bush administration handled it. But I think the American public has seen me exercising judgment in a lot of other ways.

KEILAR: Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley once again fighting for his place in this race.

MARTIN O'MALLEY, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am the only one of the three of us who has a track record. Not of, being a divider, but of bringing people together to get meaningful things done.

KEILAR: Voters challenging the candidates on key issues.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you planning to insure racial equality?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you going to fight for women's rights?

KEILAR: The Vermont senator clearing up his stance on gun control.

SANDERS: If a gun shop owner should know why is somebody buying 1,000 guns? Somebody should be thinking that does not make a lot of sense. In that case, that gun shop owner or the gun manufacturer should be held liable.

KEILAR: The former secretary of state leaning on nearly a million miles of travel to prove she's the foreign policy frontrunner.

CLINTON: I fled from Cambodia where I was with the president to Israel, middle of the night. Go see the cabinet. Work with them on what they would accept as an offer. Go see the Palestinian president. Work with him to make sure he'd back it up. Go back to Jerusalem. Finalize the deal. Fly to Cairo. Meet with President Morsi, the Muslim brotherhood president of Egypt, hammer out the agreement.

KEILAND: Clinton not only highlighting her records, but defending her character.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've heard from quite a few people my age that they think you're dishonest?

CLINTON: I've been on the front lines of change and progress since I was your age. I have been fighting to give kids and women and the people who are left out and left behind a chance to make the most out of their own lives.

KEILAR: Throughout the night one message was clear. Dump Trump.

O'MALLEY: We are far better than the sort of fascist rhetoric that you hear spewed out by Donald Trump.

KEILAR: Clinton taking it a step further.

[12:35:03] CLINTON: We need a coalition that includes Muslim nations to defeat ISIS. And it's pretty hard to figure out how you are going to make a coalition with the very nations you need if you spend your time insulting their religion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Our thanks to Brianna Keilar for filing that report for us. A Town Hall comes just as a Fox News poll, brand new, in Iowa shows the race tighter than ever, Hillary Clinton up by six percentage points over Senator Bernie Sanders. Clinton, 48. Sanders, 42. Yes, remember, last week it was different. The Iowa poll numbers shows Sanders ahead by eight points, that's what you call a horse race folks.

Nationally Mrs. Clinton's lead is a lot wider, though. Our new CNN/ORC poll reveals that Democrats back Mrs. Clinton 52 to 38 for Bernie Sanders. She's dropped two points since our last survey, but still has a 14 percentage point lead. Our poll also finds that women and people above the age of 50 are among Senator Clinton's biggest supporters, while independents and young voters lean towards Senator Sanders.

Here with me Democratic strategist Nomiki Konst and Republican strategist Cheri Jacobus. So Nomiki, I'm going to start with you. Did you see the needle move at

all last night for anybody, because they're just jockeying at this point, at least of the two front runners.

NOMIKI KONST, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think all three of them did an extraordinary job, including Martin O'Malley who really stepped up his game. They all want a trophy. I don't think any of them really convinced the Iowa voters one way or another. It will be interesting to see the polls come out in the next couple of days.

You know, I think if Hillary Clinton explained her foreign policy experience a little bit more, and that was fantastic. But Bernie Sanders did a really good job on two fronts that I think are notable. One is how he is going to get things done in the senate. When he says that he is the Democratic senator who has the most experience and the most accomplishment working with the other side that stood out to me as his reasoning how he can be a Democratic socialist that gets things passed and a Democratic socialist president who gets things passed in the senate and the congress.

BANFIELD: So, Cheri, I want to ask you a little bit about the style and what draws people to these candidates. A lot of people have said they just think Bernie is a straight shooter and that he connects with them. Others have said that Mrs. Clinton looks like a politician many times. And I want to draw your attention to this one moment when he was asked about his age and his family and then he said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: And my brother and I and mom and dad, grew up in a 3.5 room, rent controlled apartment in Brooklyn New York. And we didn't have a whole lot of money. If you ask me, you know Chris, if --this would be so unimaginable, the fact that I'm a United States senator would have been beyond, really, anything that they would have thought possible. The fact that I'm running for the president of the United States, you know, I do think about it. And think they're very proud, but it's certainly something that I don't think they ever believed would have happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Cheri, he is very likable. That's a moment where no matter what your politics are, you like that guy. In head-to-head match ups in a general election, Bernie Sanders does very well. He wins against Trump. He wins against Rubio. He wins against Cruz.

CHERI JACOBUS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, I think that Marco Rubio also has a story that people can like. So, you know, we haven't set into that point. And look, that there's no question that Sanders comes off as -- he's a communicator, and he is authentic. And that he's better than Hillary Clinton even though I think she was probably better than she usually is. I think the problem is when you listen to what he says. He really is a socialist.

And unlike most Democrats and even some Republicans, you know that put out all these promises. It sounds so glorious. He actually said that he is going to raise tax on the middle class and most people don't like to admit that. So, I don't think that's going to apply, Hillary Clinton that is to win Iowa because she's going to get blown away in New Hampshire.

So, it seems like this is closing in day by day as the (inaudible) days before to put a speed up the clock or, you know, stop and I don't think she succeeded in doing that last night. He was just better. She ran into some problem talking about her e-mails saying she didn't do anything wrong, I mean, she -- I'm surprised at the stage in the game that she does not have that defense down better and it seems like she won't.

KONST: (inaudible) don't care about that.

JACOBUS: That she was like -- she was -- she seemed to be yelling at the young guy too, and he was saying, you know, we think you're not honest. I don't think she helped herself. Other than that, she did better than she usually does, but Sanders is just more authentic.

BANFIELD: OK, what? It was great T.V. I have watched every debate and every Town Hall.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a great format.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It really good format.

BANFIELD: It was a great format?

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chris did a great job.

BANFIELD: I like the (inaudible) without the interruptions, et cetera, and I have really enjoyed the Republican debate. So no matter what you say, the interest is really up in this election.

KONST: Yeah. Reality show.

BANFIELD: Nomiki and Cheri, thank you so much for coming, and appreciate it.

Coming up next not too long ago Hillary Clinton and other democratic candidates were practically begging for a November match up with Donald Trump. But their dream opponent now might become their biggest nightmare. Who is getting more worried about this guy for different reasons? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:44:06] BANFIELD: I want to update you on the situation in San Diego that we have been following for the last 45 minutes. In fact, about an hour and 15 minutes ago there was a report from a witness that shots had been fired in Building 26 of the naval -- the Naval Medical Center in San Diego. As a result of this, a perimeter was set by the California highway patrol and three schools in that vicinity were shut down. We have not had the all clear yet. In fact, anything but, we're seeing a lot of activity outside of Building 26 as they continue to look for what they call an active shooter, and also caution all occupants to run, hide or fight.

And yet the lock downs of three schools in the area have now been lifted. We can tell you that it was Roosevelt Middle School, San Diego High School and Garfield High School. They were under lock down for a short time. We are told now they are no longer under lock down.

[12:45:02] So, that's the most recent development there. We're going to continue to watch the story and let you know, they are interviewing the person who had the report first of the sound of three gunshots in the basement, as soon as that more information from that interview is available to us, we would certainly bring it to you.

In the meantime, we're back to the other big story and that is politics.

When your closest rival says you are "unstoppable" I think can you call that a good day in politics. Such is the state of the GOP race for president.

Six days out of the Iowa caucuses, Ted Cruz is warning Iowa, in fact, the pastors in Iowa, that if they want anybody other than Donald Trump to carry the party's banner in November, time is already running out. The Christian broadcasting network somehow able to get this clip from a private meeting yesterday with Cruz in Cedar Rapids.

(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 is a very good chance he could be unstoppable and be our nominee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Very good chance, he could be unstoppable. Listen, Iowa is very much up for grabs right now. This is the brand new poll from Quinnipiac showing Trump is just two points ahead of the Texas senator. And that's well within the poll sampling error I can remind you.

Cruz is right about New Hampshire, though. A poll out today from Franklin Pierce University in the Boston Herald shows Trump far out in front of Cruz and every body else. But wait, there's more. There always is.

Our own CNN/ORC poll of Republicans nationwide puts Donald Trump at a new high water mark, and you can see if for your self folks, 41 percent. Way back behind is Cruz. Take a look at the numbers. Nobody else even cracks the double digits right there. There's a 22 point spread between Cruz and Trump. Not much change from a month ago either if you look at those numbers. But then we ask who Republicans they think is most likely to win the nomination. And 68 percent of them said, Trump. Barely one five said Cruz. Last fall, roughly half of GOP voters saw Trump as the most likely and

the second most likely choice was actually Governor Bush. I'm going to stop here and bring in my CNN colleague Sunlen Serfaty who is covering the Cruz campaign in the Iowa town of Osceola.

You cannot ignore what is going on the T.V sets and radio stations where you are. The purchases are fast and furious for ads, mean and nasty, and positive and all the rest. The one that Cruz launched today against Trump falls into the mean and nasty. I want to play it Sunlen, and then I want to get your response on the other side. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I lived in New York City and Manhattan all my life. OK, so you know, my views are a little different than if I lived in Iowa.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are different. Like on abortion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would President Trump ban partial with the abort (ph)?

TRUMP: 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 values. Not ours.

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

I'm Ted Cruz, and I approve this message.

BANFIELD: That falls into the category of ouch. That's got to be pretty strong stuff. How widespread is that ad airing, and how many people who support Donald Trump even care about stuff like that?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting when you talk to voters. I think they're very aware here, Ashleigh, of this line of attack Ted Cruz has on Donald Trump. I think it is resonating to some voters' ears. It's likely because this is at the very core of Ted Cruz's closing argument about Donald Trump. Really painting him as a phony Conservative, a phony evangelical, something is very important here in Iowa.

And we've seen of across the board intensified campaign to really hammer this down, not only from the Ted Cruz campaign today in that ad but also a series of three ads released just this week, not only here in Iowa but in other states like South Carolina from the Super Pac that supporting Ted Cruz all with the same message. Bringing up times in the past where Donald Trump really represents more progressive values in all of that is boiling down here on the ground here Ashleigh to the emblematic (ph) of the theme that the Cruz campaign wants to create. That Donald Trump is not align with Iowa's value. BANFIELD: All right, Sunlen, stand by, if you will, I want to bring in

Mark Preston, our executive editor of CNN Politics to talk more about the GOP race.

Listen everything seems to be really upside down. And I fell like this is an Alice in Wonderland conversation that I'm going to have with you with you here Mark, but it wasn't long ago that a lot of Republicans were really worried about Donald Trump winning that nomination because they felt they just couldn't win a general election with him at the helm. I'm wondering if they fell same message.

I'm wondering if anything they feel very differently now especially when they see the unstoppable comment from Ted Cruz, especially when they see that water mark of 41 percent. And then I'm just going to throw that on to that. The Democrats were thrilled with the idea of going up against Trump because they thought it would be an absolute cake walk. Are they so sure about that anymore? How about it, Mark?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Well, I got to tell you what, Ashleigh, that is a lot to unpack. But let's first start with the Republicans. This certainly has slipped right now in the Republican Party as to who would be better at the top of the ticket, would it be Donald Trump, or Ted Cruz.

For many, perhaps, most establishment Republicans, they don't want any of them. What they would like to see is Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie to collapse into one candidate so they can start pulling all their money behind that candidate to be the establishment candidate going forward.

But to your point Ted Cruz has made no friends in Washington. He went there as an outsider. He never tried to get accepted. He shut down the government much to the chagrin of the Republican establishment in congress. Certainly his efforts were to shut down the government. So, they don't want to see Ted Cruz. So, when they're looking around right now, they say which one would be better for us, and I think that's the internal debate going on in the Republican Party.

As to the Democrats, Donald Trump in many ways would be a great person and take some of the things he has said and run advertisements against him because certainly some of them would be rich fodder for that. However, Ashleigh, as you said, we're in an Alice in Wonderland kind of moment because every time Donald Trump says something that seems to be outrageous, his poll numbers go up. So, as we're heading into this first set (ph) to this campaign heading into Iowa onto New Hampshire, who knows what's going to happen. However something we have never seen happen before is likely to come up.

BANFIELD: The rules don't seem to abide, the typical rules of politics here. OK, so real quickly, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr. has just endorsed Donald Trump which is again a bit Alice in Wonderland considering he barely goes to church, except to one a little cracker, 2 Corinthians and have been married three times kind of guy.

Is that going to be important for him? Will that seal the deal for the Christian right who may have been, you know, questioning his background a little bit?

PRESTON: It won't seal the deal, but what it does is that it's going show that there will be a fissure somewhere along wide ending [0:02:41] and who they're going to support. Ted Cruz, has been heavily courting his way into the [0:02:45]. He needs them to win Iowa. You know, Donald trump getting to other endorsements, and that's where you could see where Donald Trump could hurt Ted Cruz here in Iowa next Monday.

BANFIELD: OK, Mark Preston, thank you for that. And thank you for running with my Alice in Wonderland description. I can't seem to get past it, our Mark Preston for it.

Coming up next, an Illinois police shooting that triggered a massive manhunt and rallied an entire town around the slain officer. That is until the truth came out about how he died. The disturbing details you had not yet heard. Coming up a preview of our CNN special report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:55:58] BANFIELD: It was the presumed murder that shocked a small town north of Chicago. Investigators try desperately to figure out who gunned down one of their own cops, a guy locally known as G.I. Joe, Joe Gliniewicz.

But it was later officials would find thousands of erased text messages that would reveal pretty disturbing stuff. Information about the man everyone considered a hero. CNN justice correspondent Pam Brown has the full story tonight in her CNN special report. The Secret Life of G.I Joe. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The messages that intrigue investigators the most are the ones that suggest the Fox Lake's hero, law enforcement officer may have dried to a range of hit on the new village administrator, a woman named Ann Marrin. BROWN: When you read the text and saw he wanted to put a hit on the

village administrator, what was your reaction to that?

GOERGE FILENKO: Holy crap.

BROWN: Commander Filenko was talking about a Facebook message from early April of 2015.

In it Gliniewicz, writes to a woman "being forced to retire by new village administrator. Work life has been a living hell the last two months. Close to entertaining a meeting with a mutual acquaintance of ours with the word White in their nickname".

Investigators claim White is code for a high ranking gang member. Authority said when they interviewed the woman Gliniewicz was messaging, she says the lieutenant told her, he wanted a gang member to make a hit on Marrin.

FILENKO: We actually located the person that we believe there is an attempt to recruit to do the hit.

BROWN: What did that person tell you all?

FILENKO: That he was familiar with the area. That he knew who Gliniewicz was but we interviewed him in as attorney's office, and he denied any knowledge, any hits or anything like that.

BROWN: Authorities say there is no additional evidence he pursued a hit on the administrator.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: And Pamela Brown joins me live now, so when did they get wise? Because the rest of us really all thought this was a hero who was shot by bad guys.

BROWN: What's interesting here, Ashleigh, is that the first week of Lieutenant Gliniewicz's death, doubt was starting to creep in among FBI investigators who are working this and others in the task force because the fact that Lieutenant Gliniewicz, that his body didn't show any signs of a struggle. His uniform was in roll call order. It didn't really add up.

In addition to that, he had been at the scene 30 minutes prior. Around 30 minutes prior before he radioed in to dispatchers, and so that eliminated some of initial people they were looking at in the investigation. So, those things didn't add up and AI asked the chief investigator, if you were having suspicions that early on, why did you let this hero's funeral going on like it did?

BANFIELD: Yeah.

BROWN: With thousands of people pouring in and ...

BANFIELD: As you were saying is that ...

BROWN: Within a week they had -- they didn't say (inaudiblie).

BANFIELD: They had the doubt.

BROWN: Yeah. They had doubts but, the chief investigator who I interviewed said, look, who shoots himself twice? I think they really believe that the most plausible scenario here was homicide, that these three people really did exist. And it turns out as we now after they look these text messages and all the evidence, they said, we chasing ghost for all this time and he committed suicide.

BANFIELD: And as weird as it is, I'm going to be honest with you I cover the case work, who shot himself five times. And kill his wife, and he's sitting in prison in Florida for it. So if that happen, it is the hell of a cover ups to be able to pull that off.

BROWN: Absolutely.

BANFIELD: I can't wait to see your piece tonight. This was one that really mystified me. Secret Life of G.I. Joe. Great work. BROWN: Thank you.

BANFIELD: As always. Pamela Brown, she start this stuff, she gets all the good stuff.

So, here it is folks, about the The Secret Life of G.I Joe it airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time right here on CNN. Thanks, everyone for watching, I do appreciate your sticking with us especially through all that breaking news.

[13:00:04] You'll get an update on what's happening at that medical center in San Diego, but my colleague Wolf Blitzer's going to take over the helm right now.