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Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum says he will join Donald Trump at that Veterans event; Front-runner Hillary Clinton has just accepted a challenge from her chief rival, Bernie Sanders, to participate in several more debates; Matthew Trevithick shared his story about what life was like inside an Iranian prison; 3:30-4p ET

Aired January 28, 2016 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: And right now, dozens of people are infected right here in the United States.

CNN is in Brazil. The country considered really ground zero for this particular virus. And our international correspondent Brazil bureau chief Shasta Darlington talked to one mother whose son was born with a birth defect.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): She was so excited. But the birth of her second child left (INAUDIBLE) more alone than she could have imagined. At three months, Louis Felipe has a big appetite, just like her first baby. But he was born with a small head and brain damage, microcephaly.

People here react like he has a contagious disease, she says. People look at him when we're in the street.

There was no warning. Doctors only detected the disorder after Luis Felipe was born.

What gives me strength is the love I feel for him, she says.

Reporter: Luis Felipe will need to be cared for his entire life.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

So she's doing this three timings a week right now taking her son to physical therapy. And yet she goes back to work in March. It's not clear how she's going to do this. And she is the only person in her family who has a job.

Here in the state of (INAUDIBLE), we have seen the heartache and financial burden this is putting on families. More than 4,000 cases of newborn microcephaly have been reported in Brazil since Zika was detected less than a year ago. A third of them are here where babies and moms face endless jabs and tests.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Shasta Darlington now joins me live. So, if Brazil is ground zero, what's being done to stop this?

DARLINGTON: Well, the problem, Brooke, is there's no vaccine, there's no cure, so what Brazil is really focused on and my countries across Latin America is fighting the mosquito that transmits it. And that is (INAUDIBLE) from mosquito. It's the same one that transmits Denge fever and yellow fever. So what they have done, they dedicated 200,000 troops to going door to door looking for the pools of standing water under plants, in water tanks, that's used as a breeding ground for the mosquitoes. They are educating families about how to protect themselves. They are fumigating. It all sounds like a great plan except for the fact this isn't the first time they have done it. And so far, they have pretty much failed.

Denge fever which is carried by that same mosquito is pretty widespread here. Last year was a record year. So you have to ask how really efficient, how effective this will be, Brooke. And, you know, what doctors keep telling us is take a look at Brazil because what you see here may be what's coming your way.

BALDWIN: How frightening for these mothers to be. (INAUDIBLE), Brazil.

Shasta Darlington, thank you. Thank you very much.

Coming up next here on CNN, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum says he will join Donald Trump at that Veterans event this evening. We'll talk to him about why and what to expect. He will join me next live from Iowa.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:36:57] BALDWIN: Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

For the very first time tonight, Republican candidates will get a taste of what their campaign looks like without Donald Trump. As you know, he will not be attending tonight's debate. Instead, just two miles down the road at the very same time, Mr. Trump is hosting a rally that he says will generate money to help Veterans organizations. We now know that two his fellow Republican rivals will also attend this rally after participating in tonight's undercard debate.

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and former senator Rick Santorum who joins me now from a very chilly Des Moines, Iowa.

Senator, great to have you back.

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's beautiful out here. What are you talking about?

BALDWIN: Gorgeous, gorgeous.

All right, so you, sir, actually won the Iowa caucuses four years ago. You are going to this event tonight. Can you please tell me what's happening at this event? Tell me everything you need.

SANTORUM: Well, first off, you know, as you mentioned, we will be debating, governor Huckabee and I and couple of others will be there. We will finish our debate. And you know, we were invited by the Trump campaign to come to a fund-raiser to raise money for Veterans organizations. And you know, as I told a lot of people here, if I didn't have any other plans, I wasn't -- didn't have anything planned during that time. And, you know, if Hillary Clinton would have asked me, will you come to a fund-raiser to where you can participate, to help raise money for veterans. I have two boys at the Citadel. I care about mom and dad who work for our Veterans administration. I care for veterans a lot. And if I can help in any way try to raise money for Veterans organizations who are serving our veterans, I frankly don't really care who is hosting it. I'm happy to participate in it if I have time to do it and I do.

BALDWIN: So I'm sure you have heard some of the criticism especially from some Veterans organizations. Yes, I absolutely agree with you. One I spoke with minute ago. He did multiple deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan. He says, listen this is great. You know, veterans front and center, this is an excellent thing. Paul Reikopf, founder of IAVA would disagree. He tweeted Vets don't need political stunts. We need candidates to present smart specific plans on VA reform, suicide. He says he is not taking a dime from anything you guys might raise tonight. What's your response to that?

SANTORUM: Well, I have presented smart specific plans on how we are going to deal with VA reform. As I mentioned, I'm a VA brat. I grew up the first 18 years of my life, I lived on VA grounds in World War II apartments on a ground. And I saw the deterioration of the VA. I have called for allowing veterans on sort of routine care that the private sector had frankly does better than the VA does to allow our veterans to go and get care in those settings in their community and to transform the veterans administration into a centers of excellence for two areas. One, being exactly what he talked about, PTSD and the high rate of suicide among veterans.

I would love to see the VA be a national center of excellent on mental health and particularly focused on PTSD which is a huge problem unique to our Veterans population. And I would also like to see them be expert a center of excellence and prosthetics.

So, I also have a specific plan. But I also want to help our Veterans organizations. There's a lot of great nonprofits out there that need resources and if I can help them, I will.

[15:40:18] BALDWIN: So, you know, it's veteran organizations who will be front and center this evening presumably, along with you and Governor Huckabee and Mr. Trump. Can you tell me what else you know? Are there other big names being flown in? Is there a concert? Do you know anything else?

SANTORUM: No. I mean, you know, I know that I think all the campaigns are setting up web pages to encourage people to go and contribute. We are talking to some charities right now. Just obviously as sort of we are doing this on the run. But we are talking to charities right now that we can designate for receiving those contributions through our Web site. And, you know, we'll pass on obviously 100 percent of the

contributions on to these organizations. So I look at it as an opportunity to focus attention on something that frankly, you know, has not had as much attention as I would like to see. Although, I will be honest with you, Brooke. There is almost no town meeting I have here in Iowa where I don't get a question about the concerned people have for veterans. We nearly got about 20 veterans everyday who die in suicide. And people are being more and more conscious about this. So, you know, when I saw that idea, I thought, you know, this is an opportunity to take lemons and turn into lemonade.

BALDWIN: Yes, 22 every day.

Let me ask you, though, about the race in general. You and the rest of your Republican colleagues running for president. I mean, the house speaker, Paul Ryan, recently referred to you all as a circular firing squad. You know, here you are all attacking one another. Last time we chatted, we talked about your attack ad on Ted Cruz. What would your response be to the speaker of the house?

SANTORUM: Well, you look at my debate performance, you follow me in my town hall meetings and what I do. I don't attack people other than on substance or lack of experience to do the job. I mean, I think those are incredible areas for contrast. And I do present those contrast where on that. I don't and have not and will not go after people on personal things that a lot of these campaigns are doing. I've never done that. I didn't do that with Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich four years ago. I'm not going to start now.

But I think, you know, the idea, Mr. Speaker, that you are not going to have an election where you draw contrast. I think that's -- that's not much of an election. I think that's what people want to hear. They want to hear the differences on the issues. And the differences on the experience and your record of accomplishment and that's what I speak about.

BALDWIN: So that is the speaker. Now we have this from the vice president. I don't know if you heard this. He was at a retreat in Baltimore today. Here's what Joe Biden has said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: By the way, we may be given a gift from the Lord in the presidential race here. I don't know who to root for Cruz or Bush or -- what's that guy's name? He is having a fund-raiser for veterans tonight I'm told.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Any thought on that?

SANTORUM: He did mention my name so I'm pretty good with that. I think that four years ago, there was a lot of folks on the other side of the aisle that I think didn't want Rick Santorum to be the nominee. And I suspect they don't want Rick Santorum to be the nominee this time. And hopefully that will be a good signal to Iowa caucus voters who they might - who the other side might fear the most. So would appreciate it a vote.

BALDWIN: All right, Senator Rick Santorum in Iowa, nice to see you. Thank you very much.

SANTORUM: Thank you, Brooke. Stay warm.

BALDWIN: I will. Try.

Coming up next, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders agree to new debates as voting is set to begin. We have details on that. We will take you back to Iowa.

And we hear from the first time from an emotional Jason Rezaian just weeks after "the Washington Post" reporter was freed from that Iranian prison. He is back in the newsroom. We'll share that with you coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:48:32] BALDWIN: Turning to the Democratic race for the White House, some big news moments ago from the campaign trail on that side. Front-runner Hillary Clinton has just accepted a challenge from her chief rival, Bernie Sanders, to participate in several more debates. Clinton earlier had pressed Sanders for more rounds on the debate stage.

So let's get right to our CNN senior political correspondent, Brianna Keilar in Newton, Iowa.

So on both sides here now there have been debates about the debates. What do you know?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right.

OK, so Hillary Clinton's campaign now agreeing -- well, I should say Bernie Sanders agreeing to Hillary Clinton saying that she wants there to be a debate in New Hampshire, something Martin O'Malley said that he was game to do. But Bernie Sanders was holding back on that. And the real reason being she is the one with something to gain here. He is ahead of her in the polls in New Hampshire. And this is the culmination, Brooke, of months and months of this debating over debates.

People who support Bernie Sanders have long said why were there only six democratic debates? This was the DNC trying to prop up Hillary Clinton and hurt Bernie Sanders. But in the end I think actually a lot of folks have looked back and said, you know what, maybe it didn't serve Hillary Clinton all that well to not have these debating opportunities. So now Bernie Sanders has said, OK, I'll do New Hampshire but I also want to debate in March. And I want one in April and I don't want them to be on these weekend nights when people aren't watching. The Clinton campaign agreeing.

BALDWIN: OK. So more debates there. Then you have Bernie Sanders releasing a note from his doctor today about his health. Here's what he told your colleague and mine, Jeff Zeleny. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[15:50:06] JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: You're releasing your medical records.

SANDERS: Yes.

ZELENY: You say you are in very good health. How do you feel?

SANDERS: I feel great.

ZELENTY: Are you in good fighting form? It was not as dramatic as Donald trump's.

SANDERS: I know. My doctor is not quite as dramatic. But thank God I am in very good health.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: He's looking strong. Thank goodness he is in good health. If elected, he would be the oldest president ever chosen in the United States. He seems fine.

KEILAR: Yes, that's right. He would be 75 if elected. And you might think, why isn't that kind of a problem for Bernie Sanders? But I tell you, Brooke, it's almost in a way part of his draw even for some of the young people I talked to. They will say maybe it's weird that I like this guy who is (INAUDIBLE), but I do.

It's not really a problem for him and it makes you wonder that maybe part of the reason is because, you know, Hillary Clinton will be 69 come Election Day. So even though he's a little older that her, they're of the same generation. If he were facing against a much younger co-front-runner here in Iowa, maybe it would be more of an issue, but it really hasn't been.

BALDWIN: Septuagenarians rule so say a lot of these young Democrats out for Bernie Sanders.

Brianna Keilar, thank you.

Coming up next, plucked off the streets by Iranian police and held captive.

And don't just a couple of weeks ago, now a freed American is sharing his story about what life was like inside an Iranian prison and how he refused to give in to his captors.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:55:51] BALDWIN: We are hearing now for the very first time from some of the American prisoners who were recently released from Iran. "Washington Post" journalist Jason Rezaian returned to his second home today, his newsroom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JASON REZAIAN, JOURNALIST RECENTLY FREED FROM IRANIAN PRISON: Much of the 18 months I was in prison, my Iranian interrogators told me that "the Washington Post" did not exist. That no one knew of my plight. And that the United States government would not lift a finger for my release. Today, I'm here in this room with the very people who helped prove those Iranians wrong, my mom, Mary, my brother, Ali, and my wife, Yegi. You guys mean everything to me. And I'm just happy to be home with you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Rezaian, one of four Americans swapped in that prisoner exchange deal with Iran. A fifth prisoner, Matthew Trevithick, was also released earlier this month. He was a student studying abroad in Tehran. He spoke to Anderson Cooper about what the interrogations were like after he was tossed in prison.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW TREVITHICK, AMERICAN RELEASED FROM IRANIAN PRISON: Their very first sentence to me is do you know Jason Rezaian? I said of course, the whole world knows Jason Rezaian. Everybody knows that name. And they were pacing behind me, the prayer beads clicking in his happened. And he said he has never leaving and neither are you.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Were they accusing you to your face?

TREVITHICK: Absolutely.

COOPER: Of what?

TREVITHICK: So I was accused of trying to overthrow personally the Iranian (INAUDIBLE), personally trying to overthrow the Iranian government. I was accused of having access to bank accounts of millions of dollars and I was accused of knowing the locations of weapons caches that had been secretly planted around the country to prepare for my work. And, you know, when I pointed out to them that the entire -- the tools I had available to me to accomplish this deed, which I would say would be fairly difficult consisted of some farcy tax books that I purchased in Iran, a newspaper, some flash cards and some pens, they said, well, it's not our plan, it's yours.

COOPER: When did you know you were going to be released?

TREVITHICK: I had no idea I was being released until the minute I was in an SUV with diplomatic plates surrounded by foreigners who were saying next stop is the airport. But, you know, an hour before I was released, you know, it was definitely the most, I think, dangerous two hours probably dangerous and difficult time for me. I was, you know, violently pulled out of my cell, put into the, you know, rushed down to the basement. You make a series of left/right turns that obviously designed to disorient you. You go downstairs. And you know, I could not believe even having spent 41 days there, could not believe what I was looking at. I'm looking at a pitch black room with a single spotlight pointed at a

chair with an ultrahigh definition camera, not dissimilar from the ones you have, pointed at my face and a white sheet next to the camera. I sit down. My interrogator walks in, stands behind a white sheet. I have no idea what they're about to film. The man operating the camera has a surgical mask on. You know, I'm sitting there, spotlight is on me and they say Matthew, Matt, this is your last chance. Admit why you are here. Admit that you are here to overthrow the government. Admit that you work for the U.S. government. Admit, admit it. Admit the truth.

And, you know, this was a particularly proud moment for me. I contemplated it. They said do you need time to think? I said yes. They said we will give you a few minutes. But this is your last offer. This is your last chance. We have been very nice to you thus far. And I believe what they are saying. They come back into the room and I look right in the camera and say I've said everything I have to say and I stand up and turn my back.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Hours later, he was released.

Thank you for watching. I'm Brooke Baldwin. "The LEAD" with Jim Sciutto starts right now.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Brooke Baldwin.

In tonight's performance the role of Donald Trump will be played by Daryl Hammond (ph).

"The LEAD" starts right now.

END