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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Trump: Cruz Stole Iowa; Clinton Fights in New Hampshire; Sanders Lead in New Hampshire; Rubio in New Hampshire. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired February 03, 2016 - 12:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:00:27] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. And welcome to LEGAL VIEW.

With the New Hampshire primary just six days away, Donald Trump is tweeting up a storm. And he's laying into his rival, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, by starting bright and early this morning with this claim. And I'll quote The Donald. "Ted Cruz didn't win Iowa. He stole it." Wow. "That is why all the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad!"

Wow. How does exactly one steal the vote as Trump claims? Well, his attack on Cruz is stemming partly from a little plan by Ben Carson to get some R&R right after Iowa. And now this whole issue of getting some R&R is caught in the middle of a nasty mess. And Carson's quick trip home to Florida before the next primary contests begin, some people took it as an indication that maybe he was quitting the race. And Trump is taking aim at some folks in Cruz's camp, as well as some tactics that Cruz employed in Iowa.

I want to bring in CNN's senior media correspondent Brian Stelter, host of "Reliable Sources," to sort this whole mess out. And may I just add off the top of that the tweet that I just read was not the original tweet.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: No.

BANFIELD: The original tweet came out and said, "Ted Cruz didn't win Iowa. He illegally stole it." And then he deleted it and reissued it without the word "illegally." So start from there. What is he talking about when it comes to Ben Carson?

STELTER: Humble, magnanimous Trump. Remember him from Monday? He's gone. That guy's gone. This is a new Trump. Same as the old Trump. In this Twitter storm he's using words like stole. On the campaign trail this morning he's using words like voter fraud. And a lot of it has to do with this Ben Carson issue.

So CNN reported on Monday evening, as the caucuses were getting started, that Ben Carson was going to take a break from the campaign trail and then get back on the campaign trail. CNN reported that part accurately. That - that part was right. But some people took that out of context. Some Ted Cruz campaign supporters took it out of context and said maybe Ben Carson was dropping out of the race.

Now, you could make the case that maybe that hurt Ben Carson a little bit in the caucuses. To be clear here, the CNN reporting was right. CNN said that Carson was going to take a deep breath, go home to Florida, and that did happen and Carson's back in Florida now. But because of the way it was taken out of context, kind of like a terrible game of telephone, Ted Cruz - Ted Cruz may have benefited a little bit. Now Donald Trump can say Cruz was doing that on purpose, trying to manipulate the election.

Now, Donald Trump is citing other ways that he says that - that Ted Cruz messed around here. He says that over the weekend that mailing that went out, you know, that voter violation form -

BANFIELD: Yes, it looked like a -

STELTER: Some Iowa voters got this.

BANFIELD: It looked like a parking ticket.

STELTER: Yes. It said, you got an "f" because you haven't voted. You better go out and vote this week or you're going to get in trouble.

BANFIELD: And it had the people's names and their - their neighbors' names.

STELTER: That's right, and their neighbors. And the Iowa secretary of state's office said, this is not quite appropriate. You know, there was chastising going on there. Does anybody really think that the votes in Iowa were different because of it? We can leave that to political experts. Clearly Trump says that there was some - some bad behavior here on he is on the offense now demanding - and this is the crazy part maybe - a new election. They look at the most recent tweet from Donald Trump where he says, "because of the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa caucuses, either a new election to take place or the Cruz results nullified."

Now I say that's crazy, Ashleigh, because that's not going to happen. There's not going to be another Iowa caucus. These results have been certified and ratified and we're on to New Hampshire. But, once again here, Donald Trump's trying to change the rules as he goes along. And we know, as this election's gone on, he has been able to bend the rules and kind of create a new reality around his campaign.

BANFIELD: Well, Ted Cruz was quick. He wasn't going to let that sit on -

STELTER: Oh, this is a wild statement from the Cruz camp, yes.

BANFIELD: Wow. The tweet war has begun in honest. Can I - can I read this? I want to just - it's amazing. Here's Cruz's campaign hitting back with the tweet.

STELTER: Yes.

BANFIELD: "Reality hit the reality TV star in Iowa, so nobody is talking about him now, so he's trying to regain some attention on Twitter." This is coming from the communications director -

STELTER: Yes, Rick Tyler.

BANFIELD: Rick Tyler.

STELTER: Yes.

BANFIELD: To CNN here. "There are Twitter addiction support groups, so he should seek out his local chapter." I should say, that's not a tweet. That was directly to CNN. But -

STELTER: That's a pretty barbing statement there from the Cruz campaign.

BANFIELD: It's pretty - pretty - pretty striking.

STELTER: And going right at what Trump is known kind of best for, which is his use of social media here as well as television to become the story, to maintain and control the story. There are times, though, where Trump uses Twitter in a way that backfires on him. Remember how after the Iowa caucuses he went quiet. He did what you're supposed to do when you're mad at your boss or your spouse, you don't respond for a while. You don't send the e-mail while you're angry. Well, now Trump is, once again, sending those messages and he does seem angry about the results of Iowa. We'll see what he says up in Arkansas later today at a campaign rally.

[12:05:11] BANFIELD: You know, you learn that in marriage, you never, you know, hit send -

STELTER: Right. Right.

BANFIELD: When you're angry.

STELTER: Right.

BANFIELD: It's kind of a simple lesson in life. Probably good for presidential candidates, too.

Brian Stelter, thank you for that.

STELTER: Thanks.

BANFIELD: And, by the way, Brian's not the only one who's going to be weighing in on this. In just a couple of minutes, Donald Trump's campaign spokesperson, Katrina Peerson (ph), is going to join us live to talk about it and I'm going to ask her specifically about this comment in the second tweet, "either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified." I want to know if that's just a tweet or if that's actually a threat. If there's going to be some attempt at action here.

The two surviving Democratic hopefuls get two more hours tonight to win friends and influence voters in New Hampshire and right across the nation too because six days out from the nation's first presidential primary, a CNN Democratic town hall is airing live from the town of Derry, New Hampshire, starting at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time. That's 6:00 p.m. if you're in the Pacific region. Our latest poll of polls is suggesting the neck and neck finish in Iowa is highly unlikely to be repeated next Tuesday because the numbers speak for themselves. Bernie Sanders, from neighboring Vermont, is running a whopping 18 points ahead of Hillary Clinton, who rallied supporters last hour in the first of three such events that she's holding ahead of tonight's town hall. And she says that she's not giving an inch despite advice to the contrary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Their argument is, and it's got - it's got some strength to it. Their argument is, look, you're behind here. I am. You're in your opponent's backyard. New Hampshire always favors neighbors, which I think is neighborly. And, you know, maybe you should have just moved on to some of these other states where everybody says you've got big leads and all of that. I have to tell you, I just could not ever skip New Hampshire. I cannot even imagine not being here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Well, I'm joined by the chief strategist for Hillary for America. It's Joel Benenson.

Thank you so much, Joel, for taking the time to be with us.

There is some reporting out there that it was actually her own husband that might have been part of that counsel to say, look, move on. New Hampshire is looking really rough. Let's focus on other states. But the truth of the matter is, Joel, I don't know that she could have done that anyway. She's got an event tonight on CNN, a town hall. There's a debate tomorrow on MSNBC. There's a big, important dinner on Friday. So she's kind of there for the week anyway. Did it just make sense logistically for her to stay there?

JOEL BENENSON, CHIEF STRATEGIST, HILLARY FOR AMERICA: Well, it made sense because Hillary said from the beginning she's going to compete in New Hampshire. And nothing's going to, you know, scare her off from that because she believes that she can help the people of New Hampshire most.

And I think in addition to that, Ashleigh, it's important to remember that in 2008, you know, three, four days out, a lot of the polls had her down anywhere from 10 to 15 points and three days later she, you know, had a close win over then Senator Obama. So I think she knows firsthand what it takes to win here.

She loves campaigning here. She's out with people in New Hampshire today, all day, and leading up to the forum tonight. So we've got a lot of opportunity here to have a full debate about which one of these candidates can make a real difference in people's lives. And we believe it's Hillary Clinton and that folks here in New Hampshire are going to come that way later on this week and on primary day.

BANFIELD: Joel, you are wise and you have a good memory from '08 and I'm glad you brought that issue up. That just a few days later, she actually closed that poll, that big spread in the poll. You were - you know where I'm going with this, don't you? You know exactly what happened. You know that television moment that was played over and over and over in '08 and so many people attribute that moment when she broke down and her true emotions came out. The real Hillary from the inside was there on television for everyone to see. I want to play that and then I want to get you to respond to that in a moment. Here's Hillary in New Hampshire in '08.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is very personal for me. It's not just political. It's not just public. I see what's happening. We have to reverse it. And some people think elections are a game. They think it's like when's up or who's down. It's about our country. It's about our kids' futures. And it's really about all of us together.

You know, some of us put ourselves out there and do this against some pretty difficult odds. And we do it, each one of us, because we care about our country. But some of us are right and some of us are wrong. Some of us are ready and some of us are not. Some of us know what we will do on day one and some of us haven't really thought that through enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:10:10] BANFIELD: Joel, her numbers really took a dramatic turn up after that moment and a lot of people this time around, eight years later, are saying she has an authenticity problem. Not in that sound bite. Not in that moment. Where is that Hillary Clinton?

BENENSON: Well, first, let me remind you, I was polling for senator Obama then, so her numbers didn't take a big turn up before then. They took a big turn coming out of Friday and then a debate on Saturday. It was building up to that. And she was very personal and honest there and she has been throughout this campaign.

But if you look at what she said there that night and what she's been saying across this country, and what's at stake for the American people and voters coming out of this terrible crisis eight years ago, it's very much the same thing she's saying now. And, frankly, she is connecting. We are just coming off a win in Iowa. We always knew this state in Senator Sanders' backyard, we're kind of play on his home turf here, we always expect this to be tough. And we're ready to keep going on here and do well here on Tuesday and then go to Nevada, South Carolina and then all the states in March where there are about 1,200 delegates up for grabs. And we're going to be fighting for those -

BANFIELD: And, look, I - I hear you. She's doing well.

BENENSON: Because we think we're connecting with the American people.

BANFIELD: She's got good numbers going to South Carolina without question. But let's just talk for a minute where we are right now. And that's coming out of Iowa and going into New Hampshire. Her numbers among the youth, which are critical in this election, pale in comparison. If you look at those entrance polls in Iowa, Bernie Sanders had 84 percent of the youth vote compared to Hillary Clinton's 14. Even back in '08, Obama had 57 compared to her 11. What is the problem with the youth issue? And please don't just tell me it's Bernie Sanders' free college and free medicine because those numbers were pretty similar for - for the race against Obama.

BENENSON: Well, let - let - since you wanted to compare it to President Obama, everybody talked about the energy and enthusiasm. And there's no question that Senator Sanders won in Iowa among the young voters and I'm not trying to diminish that at all. But he drew 30 percent fewer 18 to 29-year-olds than Senator Obama did eight years earlier.

Look, this is a part of his core base and he had to win that big. But if you look at every other group in that poll, we dominated among voters over 45 who constitute a much bigger share of the electorate than those 18 to 29.

We've got to compete for those younger voters. We think we have a better vision for the future for them. And, you know, Senator Sanders has been doing very well with them. There's no question about it. But, you know, you don't just slice up one group or the other and say, well, he's doing well there. You could ask the same question of Senator Sanders, why is he trailing among the two thirds of voters who are over the age of 45 in most of these states.

So I think it's a fair question either way, but I think you have to get to a majority, and that's what we're fighting to do. We're going to fight for every vote, whether they're 18 to 29, 45, 55 or seniors over 65.

BANFIELD: All right, Joel, it's great to have you. I'd love to have you back any time. In fact, if you're free tomorrow and every other day, that would be great.

BENENSON: Thanks, Ashleigh. Good to be here.

BANFIELD: Thank you, Joel. Joel Benenson joining us live from New Hampshire. A busy place, indeed.

And be sure to tune in tonight, 9:00 p.m., when the two Democratic candidates - yes, I said two, O'Malley has suspended - they are going to be mono-e-mono trying to be president. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. New Hampshire. Voters all asking the questions and our Anderson Cooper. The Democratic presidential town hall in Derry, New Hampshire. The moderation should be great with Anderson. Tonight, 9:00 Eastern. Folks, anything can happen because it's the voter that get the mike and it is live.

For his part, the Democratic socialist who fought Hillary Clinton to a virtual tie in Iowa appears to be taking nothing for granted in New Hampshire. Bernie Sanders certainly can afford to fight on. His campaign says it raised $3 million yesterday. You heard me right. 24 hours, $3 million. This is the biggest one-day haul to date. We're going to talk with our political reporter about that. And also that question about those differences in those voters.

Maeve Reston joining me live now from New Hampshire.

We just had Joel Benenson talking about how many Hillary's struggling with the young vote, but she's doing really well with the older vote. I don't know if the dynamics are playing the same where you are right now or whether all that money makes a difference. But, look, $3 million in 24 hours, that's nothing to sneeze at. It's just that Hillary has a lot of money, too, Maeve.

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: That's absolutely true. But what it shows about Bernie Sanders support is that he's got this incredibly broad support, particularly small dollar donations. People across the country, that money just pouring in. I mean you think about $20 million just in - in January alone. That shows in - in hard numbers the enthusiasm that's behind his campaign. You know, a lot of those young voters, but older voters too.

[12:15:04] And so it's really fascinating here. He's got a huge advantage in New Hampshire. A lot of young people really excited about his campaign. He, you know, was out here in the dark as soon as he got off the plane and you just have this sense here that he's rolling into yet another victory, which is going to put Hillary Clinton in a tough position as she rolls into those later states.

BANFIELD: So, quick question for you about closing the book on Iowa. It was such a -

RESTON: Right.

BANFIELD: A squeaker, right? And there were all these talks about having every page from every precinct looked at again. But I'm not hearing that today. Are we moving on?

RESTON: I don't think that we're moving on quite yet. I think that that was much too razor thin for Bernie Sanders' campaign to let it go. It's interesting that you should mention that because he was, of course, asked about this this morning on the "Today" show and I'm not quite sure which way his answer went. At first saying that he was - he was all right with - with having lost, but then saying perhaps it's not closed book. So let's take a listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She ends up getting about 22 delegates. We get about 20 delegates. We started that campaign about 40 or 50 points down. We ended up losing it by 0.2 percent. Although to tell you the truth, the Iowa caucus is so complicated it's not 100 percent sure that we didn't win it. But we feel fantastic. We came a long, long way in Iowa. And now we're in New Hampshire. We have a lot of momentum.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Real quickly, would you contest those results?

SANDERS: We're looking at it right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RESTON: So, Ashleigh, it looks like there may be another chapter in the Iowa story and we'll have to be watching for that as this race rolls forward.

BANFIELD: Oh, shades of election 2000. Well, actually, no, shades of Rick Santorum in Iowa. Maeve Reston, thank you.

RESTON: Exactly. Exactly.

BANFIELD: Appreciate it.

Yes, it took weeks to find out who won Iowa last time around.

RESTON: Thank you.

BANFIELD: I want you to stick around, folks, if you will. We've got something really special for you the next hour. Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders himself is going to join Wolf Blitzer for a live interview, 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Don't go anywhere.

Up next, where the individual candidates are today could tell us a lot about what their strategy is going forward. Believe it or not, geography matters. You heard that in school, didn't you?

Also, where, when and why. All the issues. A top aide for Senator Marco Rubio, fresh off his strong showing in Iowa, tells us, now what?

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[12:21:30] BANFIELD: With Iowa in the books, hopefully the history books but we're not really sure about that yet, the presidential battleground of the day is New Hampshire. Look at the coverage and this is only today. Wow. Most of the remaining candidates are appearing at support events. Notably absent, though, Donald Trump. He decided to skip New Hampshire today and hold a rally in Arkansas.

The one face that you did not see on that map, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, because a couple of hours ago, key race alert, he made it official, he is out of the race. He is the first post-Iowa dropout. He finished fifth in the Republican caucus. He's expected to focus now on his bid for re-election to the Senate. Rand Paul released this statement this morning telling supporters, quote, "it's been an incredible honor to run a principled campaign for the White House."

Iowa's third place finisher on the Republican side is the target of a fresh wave of attack ads from fellow GOP candidates. Senator Marco Rubio is one of those all over the New Hampshire map today. He - his rivals today are tearing into what they see, what they see as his lack of political experience and the perceived kid gloves treatment by the media so far. Rubio talked to CNN this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What people are going to start realizing is, I give us the best chance. My - my candidacy gives us the best chance to nominate a real conservative who can unite the party, grow the party, take our message to people that haven't voted for us in the past and ultimately defeat Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. The Democrats know this. They admit that I am the one they don't want to run against. And that's why I think ultimately I'll be our nominee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: I should say, Governor Huckabee also dropped out. It was sort of the - before the hangover of Iowa. But there are two post- Iowa dropouts.

Drew Cline is Marco Rubio's surrogate and the former front page editor at "The New Hampshire Union Leader." And Drew joins me live now.

Thank you so much for - for being a part of the program today.

I - I want to ask you about some of the news of the day, Drew, if I can, and that is Donald Trump -

DREW CLINE, RUBIO SUPPORTER: Sure.

BANFIELD: Tweeting up a storm and saying that Ted Cruz stole the results and the election and all these other words in - in Iowa. He's calling for a redo. He's not being super specific. He's tweeting about it. He hasn't filed any paperwork, if there is such a thing you can do. This is really uncharted territory. There's never been a re-do of a caucus before. But how would this affect Marco Rubio? How does it affect him? Does he care?

CLINE: I don't think it affects him at all. I - you know, it's not - it's not an issue. There won't be a recount. And it's - it's silly. I don't think we - I don't pay - really pay a lot of attention to Donald Trump's tweets and I don't think a lot of people in New Hampshire do either.

BANFIELD: But do you think anything - there's anything to the issue of - of Cruz's folks standing up in caucuses and suggesting that Carson may be out? Even though Carson wasn't? Just because Carson decided to take a vacation, they were saying Carson's out.

CLINE: I wasn't in Iowa. I - you know, I'm a New Hampshire guy, so I think that's really for Iowa people to talk about. You know, for me, Trump is playing a game here. He needs an excuse for not coming in first. So his excuse is, well, the other guy stole it. So let's have a recount. It's very childish. And, you know, New Hampshire voters are looking right now at which one of these more serious candidates they're going to choose. And, you know, as you know, New Hampshire voters decide late. They really do make up their minds in these last few days and -

[12:25:08] BANFIELD: Yes.

CLINE: They're going to be going to these events and trying to pick, you know, from among the more serious candidates. BANFIELD: So if they make their minds up in the last few days, do you

think that all this name calling that's coming from the likes of Chris Christie, who I think called your guy "the boy in the bubble, on a little stage with canned speeches."

CLINE: Right.

BANFIELD: And I think Jeb Bush said something akin to, he doesn't have life experience. Do you think that's going to resonate with folks in New Hampshire in these last few days?

CLINE: I find it interesting that candidates who claim to have maturity are starting to resort to school yard taunts, you know? It shows that Rubio's in the - he's in the best position to win New Hampshire. He's in the best position to be the nominee. And the knives are coming out because when you aren't getting traction in New Hampshire - and, look, Christie has been here since the spring. He's held so many town halls. I don't know if anybody can keep count. And he's still not really getting traction. People go to Christie events. They come out and they go, yes, you know, he was interesting, he was funny but I'm still looking.

BANFIELD: Well, he's still - he's still in it to win it. He's -

CLINE: So he's trying to find some way to gain traction.

BANFIELD: He's not dropping out. But I do want to show you -

CLINE: Sure. Yes, I mean he's -

BANFIELD: When I put up this list -

CLINE: Yes.

BANFIELD: I'm not sure if it will surprise you because you live in this every day, but it might surprise our viewers how many folks have dropped out. It goes like this, Perry, Walker, Jindal, Graham, Pataki -

CLINE: Yes.

BANFIELD: Huckabee and now Ron Paul is added to that list as well. I have to ask you, who's next? Rand Paul. I'm sorry, Rand Paul. Who's next?

CLINE: Oh, you know, I learned a long time ago in New Hampshire not to make predictions. But if I were to guess, and it's not a prediction but just a total guess, I don't see a path for Ben Carson at this point and -

BANFIELD: Would you get his voters?

CLINE: I'm not saying he's dropped out. Let me say, I'm not saying he's dropped out. But - but - but, you know, you don't see - there's no - there's no Ben Carson movement in New Hampshire at all.

BANFIELD: OK.

CLINE: I don't hear anybody talking about him. That would be my guess. But, again, just a guess.

BANFIELD: And I - and I'm really glad that you, for emphasis, reminded everybody you're not saying he dropped out, because that's caused a lot of problems, suggesting that he dropped out.

CLINE: Right.

BANFIELD: Hey, Drew Cline, nice to have you. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

CLINE: A pleasure.

BANFIELD: Coming up next, we're going to ask Donald Trump's campaign spokesperson about today's Twitter tirade. Does Trump really believe that Cruz stole Iowa? And what about that whole illegally thing that was deleted? What does Trump say now that he should have done to come out a winner in Iowa instead? That's next.

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