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GOP Presidential Debate; Zika Virus Cases Rise. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired January 29, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to ask the people in the audience. I'm standing here. I watched the video of Senator Cruz. I watched the video of Senator Rubio. I heard what they said. And this is why you need to send someone from outside of Washington to Washington.

[10:30:02] I feel like -- I feel like I need a Washington to English dictionary converter, right. I mean I heard what they both said. I saw it on the video.

And the fact is this is what makes a difference when you're a governor. You can change your mind. Ted could change his mind. Marco could change his mind. It's perfectly legal in this country to change your mind.

But when you're a governor, you have to admit it. You can't hide behind parliamentary tricks. That's the difference and that's the kind of leader we need in the White House. Stop the Washington bull and let's get things done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: With me now Kayleigh McEnany, a Republican strategist, and Bob Barr, former Republican congressman from Georgia and a Ted Cruz backer. Welcome to both of you.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Thanks -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being with me. So Bob, when Fox played those video clips, it was clear that pretty much every candidate, including Ted Cruz seems to have changed his position on immigration, so why not as Chris Christie suggested, just admit it?

BOB BARR, TED CRUZ SUPPORTER: Well, Chris Christie is not running the show. It's very easy for Chris Christie as he does in every one of the debates to pull this out of his hat and say, see? I'm the governor. You know, you can't trust those people in Washington. I'm the governor. I'm the governor. I'm the governor. It gets kind of old.

But the fact of the matter is anybody who has been in public office for any period of time, and that includes either Chris Christie or Ted Cruz or Jeb Bush or anybody or myself -- you could take out of the hundreds of hours of air time and coverage from CNN, C-Span, all sorts of other media, and pick and choose little snippets and put them together as they did last night for Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio and say see you changed your position.

And the fact of the matter is that Ted had a very logical explanation. It does take a little bit time to explain what goes on in Washington, but that to me is a sign that he knows what's going on there and he was very comfortable explaining his position.

COSTELLO: I don't know about that -- Bob.

And Kayleigh, I'll pose this question for you because the "Des Moines Register" said Ted Cruz actually had a rough night. I mean that exchange I talked about was just one example. At one point Ted Cruz threatened to walk off the stage. I don't know if he was joking or not. Because he said, you know, I'll walk off the stage if you ask me another mean question, but the audience didn't find it funny, Kaylee.

MCENANY: Yes. You know, I don't think they found funny that nor did they find funny his attacks on Donald Trump right off the top of the debate. You know, I thought that that was kind of a reach and one that didn't work on the part of Ted Cruz.

But you know, on to the "Des Moines Register" saying that Ted Cruz had a rough night. I mean I would hardly look to the "Des Moines Register" for guidance. This is a newspaper that endorsed John Edwards, the newspaper that endorsed Barack Obama and one that endorsed Marco Rubio.

And if you ask me if the "Des Moines Register" endorses you, that's probably a mar on your record as a conservative.

You know, Ted Cruz did a great job standing up for conservative values last night. Usually it's he and Donald Trump as the lone voices for conservatism. Unfortunately it was just Ted last night but Donald Trump had his own rally down the road and it was a raving success.

COSTELLO: Ok. Bob I want to ask you about this because there's been much talk about the divisive rhetoric coming out of the Republicans. That's how some term it, divisive rhetoric.

I want you to listen to something a Democrat said -- Hillary Clinton -- and then respond on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I deeply regret the tone, the rhetoric that you're hearing not only from Mr. Trump but a number of the other candidates. The kinds of insulting remarks they're making about groups of people in our country, their strong opposition to the Affordable Care Act, wanting to defund Planned Parenthood, coming back to trickle-down economics.

You know, it's really a quite disturbing spectacle that we have going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So, Bob, in a general election, will rhetoric like that hurt Republicans in the long run?

BARR: No. It'll actually help them to have an opponent like Hillary Clinton who has made a career out of insulting people and who has made a fortune out of kowtowing to banks and strong-arming money out of companies, including universities to be criticizing you because you're against expansion of big government is not only not going to hurt the Republican nominee and Republican candidates but it's going to help them. I mean it paints a very clear contrast.

COSTELLO: Ok. So my producers, they were listening to Donald Trump's campaign remarks in New Hampshire, and he just hit at Ted Cruz. I haven't heard it yet. So let's all listen to it together, shall we?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So we have a big day coming up. We have a number one, we have February 1st, I think we're going to do really well in Iowa. I think we're going to even surprise. We're leading in the Iowa polls now but -- and leading pretty good.

And Cruz is in second place. He got really pummeled last night. Actually, I'm glad I wasn't there because I guess well, he got pummeled. Wow.

[10:35:04] And you know, they didn't even mention that he was born in Canada. Right? You know, when you're born in Canada, you're not supposed to be running for president of the United States. Prime minister of Canada, no problem. No, no. He can run for Canada. There he is. That's right. He can run prime minister of Canada, no problem.

So he got beaten up pretty badly last night. I don't know what's going to happen to his poll numbers, but probably they're not going up. I was told ours went up because of what we did last night. Isn't that something? You know, it tells you a little bit about risk because risk is interesting.

In theory, I would have rather done the debate. You're leading. You don't want to change the wheels, right? You want to just go, get it done, win and go to the next one, and I took a chance. I mean I took a chance, and it's something you have to do. I took a chance and we did something.

I don't know even what the end result. I heard we went up but whatever the result is, I did the right thing. I did the right thing because I did something great for veterans, and when you think of it, these politicians are --

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: All right. We're going to step away from this.

Kayleigh I'll get to you in a minute but Bob Barr, you support Cruz, and I can almost imagine steam coming out of your ears.

BARR: No, because we hear this all the time. I mean the snide comments from Mr. Trump, the gobbledygook -- if you can figure out what it was that he was saying whether it was in theory or reality or in theory or I would have liked to have done something.

You can never really figure it out. It makes no sense. So no I mean you just shrug this off. And one of the things about last night's debate that made it so enjoyable to watch is there was no Donald Trump there telling us how great Donald Trump is over and over and over again. We actually were able to see more of the other candidates and have them respond to each other and to questions rather than Donald Trump.

COSTELLO: Yet, Kayleigh Donald Trump has already moved on to New Hampshire. He's so confident about Iowa.

MCENANY: He's trying to spread his presence in New Hampshire and Iowa and across the various states which I think is a great move. But I have to disagree with you respectfully, Congressman Barr. Donald Trump is a voice for conservatism, a strong one. He's a fighter. And he has come out swinging like no candidate in modern history with the exception of possibly Ronald Reagan. He has come out and fought for conservative values.

He's fought against the media. He's fought against the accomplishment. He's fought against the Washington cartel as has Cruz, but he's an outsider. And this is an outsider's election because there's a lot of anger in this country and people want someone to fight for them. Donald has done that, is continuing to do that. And he's going to have great success.

I predict he'll be the nominee because he's an outsider with a strong, passionate voice for conservatism.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. Bob Barr, Kayleigh McEnany thanks to both of you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the number of Zika virus cases in the United States is rising. Why one official says it will continue to rise.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:42:02] COSTELLO: The number of Zika virus cases jumps in the United States. This, less than 24 hours after a startling update from the World Health Organization. The CDC says there are now 32 cases across 11 states. It's important to note the virus is not spreading locally here but it's coming in via travelers.

Brazil remains the hardest hit country with more than 4,000 birth defects reported. Officials now fearing the number of people affected in the Americas could eventually reach four million. Rafael Romo was covering the story for us. Good morning.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol -- good morning. the World Health Organization says the Zika virus is circulating with what officials call very high intensity. Officials say it can now be found almost everywhere in the Americas from Argentina to the southern United States with the exception of chili in the south and Canada in the north -- countries Carol where mosquitoes are not prevalent.

As you mentioned here the United Sates. We're talking about 32 cases in 12 states and the District of Columbia. State Health Departments have reported cases and here's the list: Arkansas, California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York; Oregon, Texas, Virginia, and of course D.C. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases says all these cases are people who traveled to the affected areas in Central and South America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: What we're seeing is truly an explosive spread in South America and in parts of the Caribbean. We are having cases that are imported cases in the United States. That's expected and we'll probably see many more, namely people in the United States who travel for a variety of reasons to the Caribbean and South America and then come back to the United States. That's happening, and it will continue to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And part of the problem when it comes to this virus is that there are no medicines available to treat infected people. And Novak seems to prevent it here.

The greatest concern is that it causes microcephaly. Pregnant women who get infected may give birth to babies with abnormally small head -- a condition that causes developmental problems and even death -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Rafael Romo reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM. We know what the "Des Moines Register" thought about the debate, but what about Trump's rally? I'll talk to a reporter who tried to get in but to no avail.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:48:45] COSTELLO: A live look at a Donald Trump rally in Nashua, New Hampshire this morning. The Republican frontrunner holding a town hall. Today's event coming on the heels of last night's rally for veterans in Iowa.

It's an event our next guess tried to cover. I'm joined now by Rekha Bashu, she's a columnist for the "Des Moines Register". Good morning.

REKHA BASHU, DES MOINE REGISTER: Good morning.

Good morning. So you showed up to cover Donald Trump's big event in Des Moines, but you didn't get in. What happened?

BASHU: Well, as you may know, Donald Trump has had a rather fractious relationship with the "Des Moines Register". It started back in June or July when we ran an editorial basically calling upon him to pull out of the race because of some of his sexist statements and anti-immigrant statements.

And he didn't take kindly to that, not surprisingly. Since then he has barred Register reporters from getting in with media credentials. When they have covered his events, they've had to do it by coming in as part of the crowd rather than by media.

Because I'm with the opinion side of the newspaper and not the news reporting side, I had not known that that would apply to me as well. I applied for press credentials and I was turned away at the door when they learned where I was from. They didn't acknowledge it was because I was from the paper, but everybody else that was waiting in line got in for the press. I can only assume that it was.

[10:50:08] Did you hang around outside?

BASHU: I hung around a little bit outside, but at that point, I decided it was better to watch the debate which was also going on simultaneously So I ran home and sort of switched back and forth between the two.

COSTELLO: Your paper's headline this morning said Cruz had a bad night. What do you think?

BASHU: I think that's true. I think, actually, Ted Cruz showed himself to be a little testy around criticism, and I think the low point for him was when he said if you're just going to sit here and criticize me, I'm going to walk off the stage.

I don't think that showed people a lot of character or strength on his part, and I think, yes, you have to expect that if you're the front runner, especially in the absence of Donald Trump, you've got to be able to take some punches and stand up for yourself, and he was just too susceptible to criticism. I think actually , oddly enough, the person who wasn't there was the one who won. I think resoundingly that Donald Trump won that one.

COSTELLO: Interesting. It's interesting to me that Donald Trump has left Iowa. He's already in New Hampshire. It seems like he's very confident he's going to win the Iowa caucuses. Do you think he will?

BASHU: I think he will. I think he will. I think he has got amazing traction here, and it's incredible. As he says, everything he does that is in some way controversial, inflammatory, just sends his poll numbers vaulting up. Why does it do that? Because I think he has been very successful

at positioning himself as the anti-establishment, the alternative candidate. Not part of the Washington establishment, and ironically, not even part of the media establishment when it comes to Fox News, which, obviously, has been very supportive of conservatives.

And so I think that's a narrative he managed to milk last night, that he's not going to be pushed around. He is not going to be told, you know, you're not going to be criticized. If he doesn't want Megyn Kelly to interview him then they should be more respectful of him. And so he's going to go away and have his own party.

I think people really interpret that as a sign of strength. Some would say bluster and some would say entitlement, and some would say even autocracy but for him and for his masses, it's he's calling the shots. And in the same way that he might say we're not going to let is push us around or other countries push us around, people interpret that as this is a man who will stand up for us and our country. I think, actually, more than wanting him to be elected president,

so much, they want to be Donald Trump. I mean look at him. He's wealthy. He's got these beautiful wives and he has this reality TV show. He has kind of everything that people who are struggling and stuck down there don't have and want to have. So they think follow his path and that's how you get to be successful, and that's how America gets to be successful.

Maybe a little bit irony there because actually I think what he was showing was a bit of insecurity. He didn't want to be challenged with tough questions. And yet, you know, by walking away and doing his own thing, he managed to spin that into a kind of sign of strength, which is ironic, but I think people bought it.

COSTELLO: And so at this point --

BASHU: His supporters did and you should have seen the enthusiastic -- I think so at this point.

COSTELLO: I have to leave it there.

BASHU: All right.

COSTELLO: Thank you so much for being with me, Rekha Bashu from the "Des Moines Register".

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Bristol Palin watched Tina Fey mock her mother on Saturday Night Live and she was not amused.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:57:50] COSTELLO: All right. That's Donald Trump talking at a big rally, a town hall meeting in New Hampshire. He's moved on from the state of Iowa. He says he thinks he has it in the bag.

All right. Onto a big supporter of Donald Trump. That would be Sarah Palin and her daughter. Many people agree that Tina Fey's impersonation of Sarah Palin is spot on, but not everyone is a fan and that includes Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol.

Here's CNN's Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You may think Tina Fey has nailed her Sarah Palin impersonation.

TINA FEY, ACTOR: Heads are spinning. Media heads are spinning.

MOOS: But there's one critic who sounds a little bitter.

FEY: Right winging, bitter clinging. Right winging bitter clinging, proud clingers of our guns.

MOOS: Sarah Palin's daughter is clinging proudly to her mother writing ion a blog that "Tina Fey sounds nothing like my mom."

Bristol compared what she called Tina Fey's fake accent to nails on a chalkboard.

Bristol things SNL has been slurping off the Palin gravy train writing "Saturday Night live and Tina Fey have been clinging to this impersonation a little too long. It's getting pathetic.

FEY: You rock and rollers, and holy rollers, pushing stroller, probowler with an abscessed molar.

MOOS: And then there's the glitzy sweater. Bristol says she thought it was funny SNL couldn't get its hands on the same top her mom wore because it's sold out. The costume department had to recreate it which they did in less than a week.

SNL proudly Trumpeted.

MOOS: But when Bristol took a poll who wore it better, Sarah or Tina, it was Fey all the way 87 percent.

That sounds like what Bristol would like to do to Tina.

Jeanne Moos --

Jean: Good Bless the United States of America.

MOOS: CNN.

FEY: Good bless some of the United States of America.

MOOS: New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

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