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Candidates Barnstorm Iowa Ahead of Caucuses; Candidates Hustle To Excite Caucus-Goers; Governor Takes Responsibility For Flint Crisis; Detroit Pistons' Owner Helps Flint Residents; 22nd Screen Actors Guild Awards Tonight. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired January 30, 2016 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[17:00:02] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: To California now, where all three inmates who escaped from an Orange County jail last week are now back behind bars, two of them were arrested this morning in San Francisco, more than 400 miles from the jail they broke out of. They were found in this white van after a woman pointed it out to police saying that it looked a lot like the one that they were looking for. The third man turned himself in yesterday to authorities. The sheriff says, the entire state of California now can breathe a sigh of relief.
To politics now, the all-important Iowa caucuses, the countdown to the very first votes of the 2016 presidential election happening just two days in Iowa. That's where virtually every candidate is this weekend. Look at the map. You can see all of the Republican events that are happening just this afternoon and tonight. The Democrats also fanning out across the state. We have two major rallies that we are watching this hour. We'll bring them to you live, one is for Jeb Bush, another for Hillary Clinton. That will be led by her husband former President Bill Clinton.
Let's get straight to Brooke Baldwin, she is live in Des Moines, Iowa. It is the final countdown. People are reared up there excited. And what I love about Iowans, they're such an engaged electorate, they love this stuff.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: They do. I was out and about last night. Went out of my way to talk to people who are from here, who are from Des Moines, and you know, they started talking about? Not a particular candidate but about potential snow. About snow potentially Monday night just in time for the caucuses. I kid you not. We're going to talk about snow here coming up. And they can handle it, but some of these caucus goers may not. And that is one of the crucial questions is to whether or not folks will come out. That said, you saw the map, you saw all of the busy buttons. And all these seven candidates crisscrossing the state. Let's go and listen in to Marco Rubio in Ames, Iowa.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I look forward with passion to making that argument. I look forward to reaching out to Americans for example that are living paycheck to paycheck, because I grew up paycheck to paycheck. My father was a bartender, my mother a stock clerk at Kmart, she was a maid, she was a cashier. I know what it's like to live paycheck to paycheck because I grew up paycheck to paycheck. I have lived paycheck to paycheck. And people in my family still live paycheck to paycheck. They are teachers, nurses, firefighters. And they struggle. Because everything costs more.
And the jobs just don't pay enough anymore. Hillary Clinton can't lecture me about people living paycheck to paycheck. I can't wait for that debate. I intend to go out and talk to young Americans, staggering under the weight of student loans, a 500 percent increase in student loans in the last 10 years. People graduating with thousands and thousands of dollars that they borrowed to pay for a degree that didn't lead to a job. They cannot lecture me about student loans, you know why? Because I had a student loan, I had a student loan like three years ago. I never thought I'd pay it off. The only way to get rid of a student loan is you either you pay it --
BALDWIN: All right. We're going to pull away from this, Marco Rubio here saying, sort of his story which is what we heard on many a debate stage, many a stump speech. Marco Rubio there who is someone who is definitely been coming up and up especially since his strong debate performance Thursday night. That Trump-free debate performance.
Let me bring in my political panel for the hour. Patti Solis Doyle is with me, a former campaign manager for Hillary Clinton. And Ana Navarro is here as well. Jeb Bush supporter and good friend of Marco Rubio.
So, ladies, nice to see both of you. Welcome to Iowa. And first question, on the snow notion, I mean, we can talk about all of these different candidates but something that could throw it like an October surprise, keep calling it the potential caucus surprise. Who would be Ana most affected if it really does snow?
ANA NAVARRO, JEB BUSH SUPPORTER: Of course. You're going to ask the Miami girl.
BALDWIN: Yes.
NAVARRO: You know. About the effect of snow. You realize, this was Miami, none of us would be leaving our house if there was so much of a flurry. But, you know, there is something we know about the people of Iowa is they are hardy, they are used to this. Right now, you know, we're all bundled up. It's 50 degrees here right now. It is practically a summer day in Des Moines, they are expecting a beautiful weekend. And yes, they're expecting some snow but I don't think it's supposed to be, you know, the kind of snow that we saw in Washington and New York --
BALDWIN: Sure.
NAVARRO: -- 10 days ago. So, you know, I think people are pumped up. This is an election that's going to be a photo finish on both sides. People don't know what's going to happen and they know that their votes are going to matter. So, I don't think the snow is going to make that much of a difference.
PATTI SOLIS DOYLE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think if it snows on Monday night and the turnout is lower than expected that affects Bernie Sanders.
BALDWIN: Why?
DOYLE: Because he needs a high turnout in order to win here. I mean, his whole theory is expanding that field --
BALDWIN: Yes.
DOYLE: -- bringing first time caucus goers so he needs a big turnout. So, if it's a big snowstorm, that could hurt Bernie Sanders. On the other side, though, you know, a lot of Hillary's support is older women. And you know, they don't particularly like to go out in the snow, they could slip, they could fall. So it's kind of a toss-up.
[17:05:08] BALDWIN: On that notion, this is why I find fascinating, when you talk to these folks at different rallies on the Bernie Sanders versus Hillary Clinton, you see a lot of young people at this Bernie Sanders rally. You see a lot of young women. When you say to them, don't you want to see a female president, they, these young millennials say, oh, we will. We will. Right now we're into Bernie Sanders. You go to some of these Hillary Clinton rallies and you see some of these, you know, 60, 70-year-old women who want to see this
DOYLE: In their lifetime.
BALDWIN: In their lifetime.
DOYLE: Right. Right.
BALDWIN: I find it fascinating.
DOYLE: It is. It is.
BALDWIN: On the Hillary Clinton, you know --
NAVARRO: I think it's so telling because I think so often people think that women are in a niche because we're a gender. That's just a simplistic thinking.
DOYLE: Simplistic thinking.
NAVARRO: And one of the things I find really fascinating about Bernie Sanders is, who would have thunk that young people could identify and you know, he could appeal. We're talking about a 74-year-old from Vermont.
BALDWIN: Who would be the oldest president --
NAVARRO: And yet, I think that they are seeing his authenticity and his passion and somehow that is cutting through the cynicism that young people can often have.
BALDWIN: Stay with me, ladies. We only scratched the surface of the story in Iowa and Patti, when we go to break though, let me just show you this. Donald Trump speaking in of all places, Clinton, Iowa. Here he is. DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And he came back, was missing one leg, and he talked about his life and how tough it was when he came back and how he's acclimated. And it was an amazing thing. I don't know how many people heard it. But it was an amazing story from a great young man. So we're helping a lot of people and we have to help our vets. I always talk about that. We're going to build our military so strong, so powerful, so good, hopefully never use it. Hopefully never have to use it.
But you know right now our military is in bad shape. One of the soldiers came back and told me that the son of a friend of mine, said you know, Mr. Trump what so sad to me is that they have better equipment than we do. I said, what do you mean? We have the best equipment. No. They take it away. We give it to our so called, you know, whoever we are fighting with, we who don't even know who they are, Mr. Trump. We don't even know who these people are. Like, you know, if you look at Syria.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:10:38] BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin live here in Des Moines, Iowa. Hillary Clinton goes into Monday night's Iowa caucuses just three points ahead of Bernie Sanders. This is according to the latest Wall Street Journal poll. That was unheard of just a couple of months ago when Sanders trailed by double digits. The outcome here on Monday could hinge upon something as simple as weather and how it affects the caucus turnout. On the flip side on the Republican side, you have Donald Trump who seems to have his own play book of course when it comes to presidential politics, to the unending frustration of every other Republican candidate.
So, let's bring back Patti Solis Doyle, former campaign manager for Hillary Clinton and CNN political commentator Ana Navarro, a supporter of Jeb Bush. So, on the notion of, I think it's fascinating when you look at the paradigm shift as we were talking at the commercial break between the traditional campaigning and the untraditional. The traditional being on the Republican side, you're Ted Cruz, untraditional being Trump. And you said to a degree, Marco Rubio and that would be the true teller.
NAVARRO: I think on Monday what we will see is a contest between untraditional campaigning which is something that, you know, Donald Trump have been untraditional about everything. Right? They keep saying that they've got all these ground troops. I keep hearing about these Donald Trump ground troops. But I have been here on the ground now for a couple of hours, I have asked folks if they've encountered anybody. And understand when you're in Iowa, you know, you run into an organizer, a campaign staffer, campaign worker. I mean, everywhere, right? It's like flies.
And people say, well, you know, we haven't seen one. We haven't met one. And so, you know, you've got Trump who is running a very untraditional campaign really based on his persona, on his celebrity status, on his stardom, on his name ID, national name ID and on the character that we all know from TV. You've got Ted Cruz who was running a very traditional campaign. He has checked off all of the boxes. Stump retailing. Has been all over the place on bus tours in Iowa. You know, has spent a lot of time here on TV on ground operations, data mining. He really is checking off all of the boxes. And then you have Marco Rubio who has really cherry-picked some places in Iowa, he is, you know, being very strategic of where he puts his resources and time. And he's putting a lot of emphasis on TV.
BALDWIN: Half hour special this weekend --
NAVARRO: Special on Marco Rubio that they're paying for. They paid for --
BALDWIN: Today and tomorrow.
NAVARRO: That they are leaning heavy on. So, I think you've got three different types of campaigns, strategically. We'll going to see who wins.
BALDWIN: On the traditional side I think Democrats are still running more traditional campaigns as Hillary Clinton specifically in Bernie Sanders. Although it is so so close we now know that Clinton has agreed to this four additional debates which is something you don't necessarily want to do if you are way, way ahead. You want to, you know, don't expose yourself as much. But at this point, it could help her.
DOYLE: It could definitely help her. And you know, the DNC only sanctioned six debates, and you know, the word on the street is they were trying to help Hillary Clinton but in the end she is such a great debater it didn't help her at all. You know, she needs a debate now in New Hampshire I think because she clearly wins these debates when she's up there with Bernie Sanders and she's up there with Martin O'Malley. And I think moving forward past New Hampshire, it's only frosting on the cake. You know, people --
BALDWIN: They're thinking long game. That Clinton camp, they have to now.
DOYLE: They have to now. You know, I think it's very close in Iowa. We're going to see this Des Moines Register poll to see what happens. And we'll definitely see on Monday, what happens on Monday night. But whether win or lose in Iowa, Bernie Sanders now has the money and he will continue to raise the money to go on through all of the primary states and he is going to be there for the long haul so it's a long game.
NAVARRO: The DNC decision to have only six debates and not only was it only six debates, it was six debates on weekend nights you know, on Saturday night. So it was almost like -- like how do we schedule these debates so that the least amount of people possible will watch them. And I think they realize it was a mistake. And frankly, I think both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have done well at the debate and have laid out their cases and it raises enthusiasm.
BALDWIN: Ana Navarro, Patti Solis Doyle, thank you. It is all about --
NAVARRO: Can we go inside now?
BALDWIN: You can go inside.
(LAUGHTER)
Come on, come on Miss Miami. It's downright balmy here in Des Moines.
NAVARRO: You used to be a southern girl. And then you moved to New York.
BALDWIN: I have a thick jacket on me.
(CROSSTALK)
Works all the way around. Ladies, thank you. Obviously we're watching live pictures of Hillary Clinton at an event here. Let me send it back to my friend in New York, Poppy Harlow.
Poppy, to you.
[17:15:10] HARLOW: Fifty degrees, Brooke, that is pretty astonishing for Iowa this time of year. I think Ana needs to get a little bit more used to the cold.
(LAUGHTER)
Sorry, Ana. Coming from --
NAVARRO: Poppy, good news is -- Poppy, the good news is that the debate, the next CNN debate is going to be in Miami.
HARLOW: Miami. I know. I know. I know.
NAVARRO: -- Sandals.
(LAUGHTER)
HARLOW: All right. Thank you so much. We'll be back live to Iowa in just a moment. Coming up, though, switching gears here, a public health crisis that everyone agrees was manmade. Frightening images of brown cloudy water tainted with lead, and it was coming straight from the tap in Flint, Michigan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Talk directly to the parents of Flint right now who have a child that is going to live with this.
GOVERNOR RICK SNYDER (R), MICHIGAN: Yes. This is awful. And again, our goal is to do whatever possible to minimize the damage, to help support them through that. This shouldn't have happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: This week, I sat down with the man in-charge, Governor Rick Snyder, many have called for his resignation. I asked him why more was not done to prevent this tragedy, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:20:18] HARLOW: To Flint, Michigan now. Ground zero of a public health crisis that everyone agrees was manmade. Michigan's governor signed a bill yesterday to provide $28 million in funding to try to cope with the ramification of the poisoned water there. Corroded lead pipes and health problems for those who drank the tap water before the alarm was sounded. This as President Obama announced $80 million in funding for Flint and as three members of Congress propose legislation that would include, $400 million in federal funding to resolve the issue and $200 million to address health issues.
There is no guarantee that Congress will approve that funding though. In just a moment, the CNN exclusive interview you will hear from the man many hold responsible, Michigan's Governor Rick Snyder. It is his first national interview about the crisis and calls for him to step down. Flint's drinking water became contaminated on his watch and while the city was in dire financial straits, an emergency manager that was appointed by the Governor switched the city's water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River. That did save money, but look what has happened. The river water was corrosive it caused lead and other toxins to leech from pipes and for months, residents of Flint rang alarm bells but officials assured them the water was safe to drink.
CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta recently showed us how one family with four-year-old twins has been affected, their tap water tested off the charts for lead. Here is what the doctor who exposed the disaster told Sanjay.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MONNA HANNA-ATTISHA, EXPOSED LEAD POISONING IN FLINT: The percentage of children with lead poisoning doubled in the city of Flint. And in some neighborhoods it actually tripled. If you were to think of something to put in a population to keep them down for this generation and generations to come it would be lead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: That's because the damage that lead does to the body is irreversible, especially in children. Medical experts say there is no safe level of lead in humans. Investigations have been launched, lawsuits have been filed. A federal official with the EPA has resigned as for Governor Snyder he is apologizing to the people of Flint. He said, he is not living office, I sat down with him this week.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: Can the people of Flint today as we sit here, can they drink the water?
SNYDER: No. We don't want them to. And that's the terrible tragedy of all this. HARLOW (voice-over): As the people of Flint wait and wonder if they
have been poisoned by the lead in their water, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder admits he failed them and promises to fix the crisis.
(on camera): All medical experts agree no level of lead ingestion by anyone especially children under the age of six is OK.
SNYDER: That's correct.
HARLOW: Flint is not there yet.
SNYDER: No.
HARLOW (voice-over): State officials now seeing progress, saying unofficial water samples by residents show 93 percent of Flint's water is below 15 parts per billion lead the legal threshold.
(on camera): To be clear these are nonscientific tests, these are done by residents. What do your scientists tell you from their tests are the lead levels?
SNYDER: That's the protocol we're trying to establish because if you look at this part of the issue we had were we had different experts coming out with different answers. And that's a bad answer.
HARLOW: But why not on your top guy to the homes, just get it done. And just find out what the numbers are.
SNYDER: Well, there is a trust issue at this point. And so, what we're doing now and we -- we're being very I think thoughtful and careful about this given the circumstance in particular, is state people have come up with what they think is a good protocol.
HARLOW: And every day that is protocol, protocol, protocol is another day that people here can't drink their water, the mother of three at the coffee shop down the road this morning told me she and her children go bathe at their church. Can this be sped up so they can get back to their life?
SNYDER: This is one of the hugely frustrating parts particularly for the citizens. This is a terrible experience for them. The point is, is you can't just do it based on the calendar. You captain just say it's X days. We want to make sure it is safe.
HARLOW: You said last week over 100 children here in Flint have high levels of lead in their blood. How many kids is it as we sit here today?
SNYDER: It's about 100 and some if you go back over the last couple of years. And so, that's the problem here is, we know the ones that have higher levels to do appropriate follow-up care. It's really we need to establish the right medical protocols, the public health pieces, the educational process things. To watch these kids for years that didn't have higher blood levels in terms of a blood test because they could be affected.
HARLOW: You're saying there is the 100 children as of now, there may be many, many more.
SNYDER: There could be many more. We're assuming that.
HARLOW: A decline in the child's IQ forever, affect their behavior, it has linked to criminality and it has multigenerational impacts. It can be passed on. Talk directly to the parents of Flint right now who have a child that is going to live with this.
SNYDER: Yes. This is awful. And again, our goal is to do whatever possible to minimize the damage. To help support them through that. This shouldn't have happened. Again, this is where there was a failure in government. In terms of people not using common sense enough to prevent this from happening. And identifying it.
HARLOW (voice-over): No level of lead in the body is safe, it is especially detrimental to children under the age of six. Dr. Monna Hanna-Attisha one of the first to discover the lead in the water here calls the impact on children irreversible and multigenerational.
(on camera): For those parents that are sitting here today and wondering is my kid going to not reach their potential because of this, and that's going to happen with some of these kids, we know that. Dr. Monna Hanna-Attisha told me what can be done is that you can minimize the impact through early literature programs, universal preschool, access to healthy foods that have calcium binds instead to the lead to the child's bones, et cetera, mental health services. She put a price tag on that, Governor and she told me it's going to cost $100 million just to do that. Will you make sure they get $100 million?
SNYDER: I'm not sure she would know how to put the price tag. I have reviewed recommendations she's made. And actually a number of those actions we were already working on doing in Flint but we're going to enhance those. Ideas like preschool, in terms of making sure that's accessible to everyone. We've been a leader in the country in that but we need to do more here in Flint. So, we're going to look at all of these things. I mean, that's the point of getting good feedback from health experts and we can actually --
HARLOW: She is the expert who found the lead --
SNYDER: Yes.
HARLOW: -- in the water, and she's done the analysis and she says $100 million is what it's going to take. I'm asking you again, $100 million, will you make sure they get that if that's what they need?
SNYDER: Well, we're making sure they get what they need. Again, I haven't reviewed her number. I'm happy to do that.
HARLOW (voice-over): A 2011 study fond water from the Flint River would have to be treated with an anti-corrosive agent to be safe to drink. To do that would have only cost $100 a day, but that was never done.
(on camera): I was speaking with a young man this morning, and he said to me, they put money over people. And he said, the black lives and the poor white lives weren't worth it. When you look at the numbers, $100 a day, what happened?
SNYDER: Well, that's the failure point. I mean, in terms of cost structures, $100 a day, this is where the huge error was, is people, there were people that were subject matter experts in this that didn't believe that needed to be done. That was a huge mistake. That was part of the fundamental mistakes of this whole situation.
HARLOW: Why?
SNYDER: Well, again --
HARLOW: That money was given --
SNYDER: No. Not on that point.
HARLOW: Priority here, over these people?
SNYDER: Not at all. This is where the investigations will follow up and all those in terms of the details of all that. We're cooperating with all of those investigations. Because I want to find out what went on. I want the facts out there. Because we want to make sure this never happens again. But in terms of saying it happened because of the nature of the community here, absolutely not.
HARLOW: When you look at the demographics here in Flint, more than 40 percent of residents here live below the poverty line, many of them are African-American, minorities, this morning a white middle class university professor here said to me, Flint has always been marginalized. And he said this would not have happened down the road in Grand Blanc. And this would not happen in gross point. Is he right?
SNYDER: No. In terms of doing that, in terms of the commitment I've made to Flint and our administration and what we've been doing in Flint, Flint has been a challenged community for a long time. But I made a massive -- no, but I made a massive investment in Detroit and we've -- we made a major commitment to Flint that we need to do even more on now. If we look at what we've done in Flint we've seen a 45 percent reduction in violent crime in this community by putting additional resources. We actually pay for the lock up for the city. In addition to many other law enforcement efforts in this community. In terms of kids, we've done healthy kids dental to get dental care to the kids of Flint and around the state that are lower income. Healthy Michigan in terms of getting health care to people.
HARLOW: But the kids were being poisoned by the water they were drinking here. The EPA knew about it.
SNYDER: It doesn't.
HARLOW: Your former spokesman knew about it in July 2015 and sent an e-mail about it. And you didn't declare a state of emergency until January of this year. Why did it take so long? SNYDER: Actually, I learned about it in October. And I took action
immediately then, offering filters, working with people on getting water on doing water testing, again we needed to do more though. So, as soon as I learned about it, we took dramatic action. The failure was is people --
[17:30:03] HARLOW: Was it a dramatic action? Because the mother this morning said to me, no one came to my house immediately back in October and knocked on the door.
SNYDER: That's why I said we needed to do more. So, this point in time, all of the other efforts weren't as much as I would have liked. So the point is, now that was the point of calling the National Guard out, about making attempts to visit every home in Flint.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: Up next, the e-mail: "I'm frustrated by the water issue in Flint. These folks are scared and worried about health impacts and they are basically getting blown off by us."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: You have said since then that you knew about that e-mail. And that you were made aware of that. Why not act then?
SNYDER: The experts came back from both Department of Environmental Quality and Health and Human Services to say they didn't see a problem with lead in the water or lead in the blood and --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: Folks here did. They were getting rashes.
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: Their kids were having rashes. The water was discolored.
SNYDER: Let me finish, Poppy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Ahead, more from the governor on that. He tells me he will fix the problem, and is not resigning.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: Welcome back. Even after officials acknowledged that water from the Flint River was not safe to drink, there is still not a long- term solution. The problem, untreated corrosive water flowing from a river that caused the pipes to leech lead into the drinking water. Putting blame aside, we know the problem. So why is it taking so long to fix it?
This week, I went to Michigan to sit down with the man in charge, Governor Rick Snyder, to ask him that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: Why not just immediately replace all of the lead pipes?
SNYDER: That's a question you can ask across the country. The challenge of that is, that's not --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: I'm asking you because Flint --
(CROSSTALK)
SNYDER: That's not a short-term project.
HARLOW: Flint has had people --
(CROSSTALK)
SNYDER: That's not a short-term project in terms of ripping up all of the infrastructure, replacing all that. That can take an extended period of time.
[17:35:10] HARLOW: So, say we're sitting back here in five years, will those lead pipes be replaced?
SNYDER: I hope a lot of work has been done on that topic. It's too soon to tell. I can't tell you how many pipes and where they are. But as a practical matter, we should e working on that.
HARLOW: But wouldn't you do the safest thing, Governor, I mean, given what they have been through?
SNYDER: It's the safest thing. It's the question of how to work through it and the best fashion to make sure we're getting all of the resources. I view this lead infrastructure -- the water system is --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: Well, what would stand in the way of that, other than money? What would stand in the way of replacing them?
SNYDER: Well, we've got a statewide issue, too, in terms of lead pipes. We need to make sure we address all of Michigan. That's why I'm calling for a review of all of that.
HARLOW: Your former spokesman wrote an e-mail in July of 2015. Here's part of it, "I'm frustrated by the water issue in Flint. These folks are scared and worried about health impacts and they are basically getting blown off by us."
You have said, since then, that you knew about that e-mail. And that you were made aware of that. Why not ask then?
SNYDER: The experts came back from both the Department of Environmental Quality and Health and Human Services to say they didn't see a problem with lead in the water or lead in the blood and --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: Folks here did. They were getting rashes.
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: Their kids were having rashes. The water was discolored.
SNYDER: Let me finish, Poppy. That makes me feel terrible. I wish we'd have done something different. That's the tragedy of this. That's I part revisit all the time. You wish one more thing could have happened that it would have gotten caught. This is awful.
So, when you say that, I appreciate in hindsight it's always hard to say, but there are all of these permutations, and that's something I'll have to live with. But we're focused in on solving the problem today.
HARLOW: When it comes to the money to get this done, to get it all done, the money to invest in the children's future, the money for the pipes, all of it, you're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars. You have a $500 million surplus now in the state. You cut corporate taxes by about $1.7 billion a year. How do you square it all?
SNYDER: Well again, it's helped generate Michigan's economy coming back in terms of making the state stronger. We have places we need to work extra efforts. Flint is clearly one of those places.
HARLOW: Do you feel like, Governor, looking back now, the cuts were made in the wrong places? That perhaps with $1.7 billion in corporate tax cuts, maybe more could have gone to, say, Flint, to fix stuff like this?
SNYDER: Actually, it's not just about moving money. This is a case of a handful of government officials making extremely poor decisions that had massive consequences for people. This raises a cultural question.
HARLOW: You bring up culture, and you said, in a recent interview, one of the problems was, quote, "not having the culture of asking common-sense questions." Doesn't that culture come from your office down?
SNYDER: I'd say we've got a lot of wonderful people in many parts of the state governments that are common-sense people. This was a place common sense was missing.
HARLOW (voice-over): As this scope of the crisis has grown, residents have rallied demanding the governor step down.
(on camera): A number of residents I have spoken with said ultimately they want accountability. Governor, will you resign?
SNYDER: No! Again, I think it's normal that right action is, if you have a problem that happens from people that you were responsible for, you go solve it. You don't walk away from it. You take it head on. And that's what I've been doing.
HARLOW: To those that say, we trusted you, we trusted those you hired, you let us down, let someone else lead the fix, what do you say to them about why you believe you should keep your job?
SNYDER: Because I believe I'm the best person to do that. I'm focused in on this. This is something that happened on my watch. And I want to take responsibility for addressing it.
This is just -- this is a terrible tragedy. This is a disaster in the sense that a handful of people let people down. This could have been avoided in many steps. And this is something you always second guess. What could have been done differently or how we ended up here. And that's why I apologized. In my State of the State, I made it very clear that when someone's working for you, that doesn't do the right thing, you're responsible, and I am. And I am truly committed, both short, intermediate and long term, as long as I'm governor, to solving this problem.
HARLOW: A number of the people that you appointed or worked for you that are responsible, have resigned. But you're keeping your job. Explain that to people.
SNYDER: I want to solve this problem. And again, I got bad information, I addressed it quickly. There is more to be done and I'm going to focus on commitment, committing to solve it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[13:40:07] HARLOW: My thanks to Governor Snyder for sitting down to talk to us about this. We'll stay on this story.
Now the key is solving the crisis. Is government help enough? The billionaire owner of the Detroit Pistons says, no, the private sector has to step up. He is pledging to raise millions for his hometown of Flint. He joins me live, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: The outcry over the desperation in Flint is not confined to the city or even the state. It is striking nerves throughout this country and is driving people to take action. This "Time" cover of a boy covered in rashes after bathing in toxic water moved a firefighter in Chicago to raise $20,000 to help. And the funding site, GoFundMe, says, as of last night, nearly 9,000 people donated money to help Flint.
One of those people moved to help is the owner of the NBA team the Detroit Pistons, a Flint native, Tom Gores. He's pledged to raise at least 10 million.
He joins me now.
Thank you for being with me. TOM GORES, OWNER, DETROIT PISTONS: Hi, Poppy. Thank you.
HARLOW: Look, this is so close to your heart. You moved to America from the Middle East. You were born in Nazareth. Your mom came, didn't speak a word of English. Your father opened a store. Flint is where you guys sort of realized the American dream. Now you're a billionaire owner of an NBA team. What is it like for you to see Flint go through this?
[17:45:11] GORES: Well, it's been hard, Poppy. And the best thing that I could think to do about it was to use it as a catalyst to bring Flint back. Flint's had a hard time in the past years with the auto industry and so on. It has been an important city I think to America, given manufacturing and auto. It's been tough to see. But I really want to use the crisis as a catalyst to revitalize Flint. It has been very close to me and my family. I grew up there, played sports there. My brother started a business there. I worked for my dad at a grocery store. So, it's been difficult to see. I want to do something about it.
HARLOW: So you've said, look, we're going to raise $10 million, we're going to help in any way we can. I understand that a big bank called you today offering to help.
GORES: Yes. We had an outpouring. I think they like the fact we're organized and we want to go after this. Today, we had a big bank out of Michigan call us and talk about maybe potential business loans, new mortgages. This is beyond now the water crisis. Of course, that's at the forefront. But really, there's going to be many, many problems coming out of this, and I think we've got to prepare ourselves.
HARLOW: When you think about this crisis -- and we're looking at images of the kids, all these kids being tested for lead poisoning. I was there. It breaks your heart to hear from these mothers and fathers who don't know if their child has been poisoned yet or not. Is there one image, one story, one thing, Tom, that affected you so much to say I got to do something?
GORES: Interesting, I was there about six months ago and, you know, at the time, obviously nothing was out on this, but it really did impact me how Flint was not moving forward. And then this crisis and seeing the pictures with the kids and so on, that could have been me 20, 20-some years ago. I think Flint has been so good to me and my family that it's an opportunity for me to give back. And if there are going to be kids struggling, I want to be there for them, like Flint was there for me.
HARLOW: It's interesting you say that because when I sat down with Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan he said to me, look, Flint has been challenged for a long time. When you look at the numbers, it's just -- it's so evident over 40 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. They have been struggling for long. They lost a ton of that auto manufacturing. Do you feel like having been from there, knowing it well, still having family there, that Flint in some ways has sort of been given the short end of the stick or forgotten or not helped as much as it should have been? GORES: Maybe, Poppy, "forgotten" is not a terrible word. It's really
been an important city to our economy in the auto industry and has been decimated over the years economically. Then to have this happen to them is really, really difficult to see. I think just bringing Flint to our attention is a good idea. And what I want to try to do, not mobilize just myself, but mobilize really important people to come in and help I think a city that's been good to our country.
HARLOW: Where is this money going to go, $10 million? Where does it go? How does it help? A lot of the folks there, they are getting the bottled water, et cetera, but that doesn't help the mother who told me she still takes the kids to the church to shower everyday because she is scared to have them shower in the water, even though she is told that's safe. Where does --
(CROSSTALK)
HARLOW: -- the long-term solution?
GORES: I think mostly to the economy, education, and kids. The state and our government have to really fix the water problem. We're not going to be able to fix that problem. I think we're going to be able to help with the problems that come out of it. But I think the state has got to move a bit faster in fixing that problem first.
For us, we're organizing ourselves right now. We -- on Friday, I think we did the United Way, and the doctor there that uncovered all of this stuff on Friday. And, look, I don't limit this to 10 million bucks. I actually think we're going to do a lot more. We're going to combine the money and the resources we have with the care and emotion we have for the city and attempt to revitalize it. I'm not going to be able to do that alone. I think --
(CROSSTALK)
GORES: Sorry.
HARLOW: So quickly, before I let you go, 30 seconds left, how can people help?
GORES: I think we need some hope. We need some energy. We're in a crisis. And I know Flint people well enough that they should step up. They got to get -- somehow step up here and get their energy, keep the kids having hope. And I think people around the country understanding how important Flint has been and, you know, do something for Flint.
[17:50:00] HARLOW: Help their fellow Americans.
And, folks, go to -- Flint Now is the name of the fund, #flintnow.
Thank you so much for what you're doing.
Tom Gores, I appreciate it, sir.
GORES: Yeah. Thank you, Poppy.
HARLOW: Good luck to you.
A quick break. We'll be right back.
GORES: Thank you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: All eyes right now on Iowa, but if you're in Hollywood, maybe you're taking your eyes off Iowa and you're watching the Screen Actors Guild Awards. They are tonight.
Here's our Isha Sesay.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISHA SESAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's actors honoring actors.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: It's a bunch of actors getting together and drinking free booze.
SESAY: The 22nd Screen Actors Guild Awards will be handed out Saturday night, celebrating the year's best performances in both TV and film.
LEONARDO DECAPRIO, ACTOR: It's very rewarding.
SESAY: After a best actor win at the Golden Globes and the Critics' Choice Awards, all eyes are on Leonard DeCaprio to see if he can claim his first SAG trophy for "The Revenant."
(SHOUTING)
SESAY: The Oscar nominee is up against Bryan Cranston in "Trumbo," Johnny Depp in "Mad Max," Michael Fassbender in "Steve Jobs," and last year's winner, Eddie Redmayne, this time, for "The Danish Girl."
EDDIE REDMAYNE, ACTOR: It's kind of a --
SESAY: "The Big Short" is up for best cast in a motion picture, joining the likes of "Beast of No Nation," "Spotlight," "Straight Outta Compton" and "Trumbo."
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Refuse to dream.
SESAY: On the TV side, it's "Game of Thrones" versus "Homeland."
With three nominations apiece, including best ensemble in a drama series, alongside "Downton Abbey," "House of Cards," and a final nomination of the cast of "Mad Men."
[17:55:17] UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: I'm really nervous.
SESAY: "The Big Bang Theory" is for best ensemble in a comedy series with SAG favorites "Modern Family," "Veep" and "Orange is the New Black," as well as first-times nominees "Transparent" and "Key and Peal."
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Yo, you can do anything! Anything is possible! The world is yours!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: Take a look at this, because it is the final push in Iowa ahead of the big day, the big night, caucus night, Monday night. You have Marco Rubio there speaking to voters, Hillary Clinton addressing voters, her husband, former President Bill Clinton; Jeb Bush, Donald Trump, all of them making that final push in the key state of Iowa.
I'm Poppy Harlow. I'll be back in one hour with breaking news out of Iowa. The last poll before the caucus, the "Des Moines Register," those numbers coming out in one hour, considered the gold standard. These numbers that give us a sneak peek of who will win, come Monday night. One hour from now, 7:00 p.m. eastern.
Before that, "SMERCONISH" starts right now.
