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Clinton and Sanders Debate in New Hampshire; Trump Stumps for Votes in New Hampshire; Interview with Donald Trump; Former Drug CEO Pleads the Fifth; China Cracks Down on Critics Beyond Mainland; New No-Nude "Playboy" Hits Stands. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired February 05, 2016 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:12] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.
Ahead this hour, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton turn up the heat trading blows during a fiery debate days before the New Hampshire primary.
The so-called most hated man in America smokes, laughs and yawns his way through a Washington hearing, dodging questions about a massive hike in prescription drug prices.
And "Playboy" magazine reveals a new look. Now it really is all about the articles.
Hello, and welcome, everybody. Thanks for joining us. I'm John Vause. NEWSROOM L.A. starts now.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton says she wants Bernie Sanders to end the smear campaign against her and to start talking about the issues. Sanders and Clinton met on stage at an MSNBC debate in Durham, New Hampshire, arguing this time over who is the establishment candidate.
Sanders railed on Clinton for her ties to big banks and Wall Street. Clinton says she may have taken money but never sold her vote.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly, but you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received. And I have stood up and I have represented my constituents to the best of my ability, and I'm very proud of that.
So I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out in recent weeks, and let's talk -- let's talk about the issues.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let's talk about why in the 1990s Wall Street got deregulated. Did it have anything to do with the fact that Wall Street provided -- spent billions of dollars on lobbying and campaign contributions? Well, some people might think, yes, that's had some influence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Well, joining me now here in Los Angeles, Democratic strategist Matthew Littman and "L.A. Times" political writer Seema Mehta.
So thank you, guys, for being with us again this hour. You know, let's just start with the big picture here. This was such a different debate because I guess somewhere in a living room, Martin O'Malley is saying, 30 more seconds, just -- you know, he wasn't really in the other two debates but he did kind of change the dynamics when he was there. So this time we really saw them going sort of one on one.
SEEMA MEHTA, POLITICAL WRITER, LOS ANGELES TIMES: We saw them confronting each other one on one which I think is what everyone has been waiting. Now this race is focused on the two of them. And they're trying to draw the differences. Hillary in particular is going into New Hampshire with just barely winning Iowa, and she's trailing Senator Sanders in the polls by quite a bit there. So she clearly went into this debate like needing to present the differences between herself and Senator Sanders.
VAUSE: Yes, Matt, obviously, the strategy for Hillary Clinton is try and narrow that gap. It's like at 30 points right now which I don't think is right. But I think it's a lot closer. But she needs to come close to Sanders. But is there a danger that by going after Bernie in such a sort of strong way that she alienates his supporters who she will need come the general election?
MATTHEW LITTMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think that she has to show that she stands for certain things. And the idea that Hillary is a moderate and not a liberal is absolutely ridiculous. I'm surprised a little bit that Sanders is making that argument. But also more surprised that he almost pretends that he's not making that argument when he makes it. As if Hillary is the one who did the whole health care program 20 years ago that didn't pass but that was a huge thing.
She was the first one out of the box doing that. Is that a moderate idea? Of course not. It's a liberal idea. Remember, during the Clinton presidency, Hillary was known as the liberal one.
MEHTA: Right.
VAUSE: Yes.
LITTMAN: Bill was the moderate one. She was the liberal one. So I don't --
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: He was the centrist. Yes.
LITTMAN: Right.
VAUSE: You know, this debate, you know, we haven't really seen Hillary Clinton throwing those haymakers like she was tonight. You know, Bernie hitting back. You know, and that exchange that ended about, you know, on the Iraq war, again, this is sort of Bernie's go- to foreign policy thing. And I think we talked about this last night with the town hall how Hillary Clinton didn't really have a very good answer yet again for the whole Iraq war vote. But tonight she did. This is what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: Where we have a different background on this issue is we differed on the war in Iraq which created barbaric organizations like ISIS. Not only did I vote against that war, I helped lead the opposition.
CLINTON: We did differ. A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat ISIS. We have to look at the threats we face right now, and we have to be prepared to take them on and defeat them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So finally, do you think this is the right answer for Secretary Clinton?
LITTMAN: Yes, I think that, you know, Hillary is right. The Iraq war vote was a mistake. I mean, we all know at this point --
VAUSE: Yes.
LITTMAN: Except Jeb Bush doesn't realize it, but I think everybody else --
[01:05:02] VAUSE: He's using his brother now in a campaign ad. Yes.
LITTMAN: Yes, exactly. You know, since they didn't attack the Republicans tonight, I think that's my job.
VAUSE: Right.
LITTMAN: But I think, you know, also Hillary has a long record on foreign policy. She was a very good secretary of state. She's much more comfortable in that arena. Bernie really just wants to talk about Wall Street. Very important to note for the audience that Bernie has no foreign policy advisers at all.
VAUSE: Has he done a major -- he's done one major foreign policy speech?
MEHTA: He really hasn't.
VAUSE: Nothing?
MEHTA: But I would just add that, I mean, in terms of Hillary Clinton, I think we saw this also in the town hall she did in Iowa last week with the other candidates where it seems like she's frustrated that look at what I've been doing for the past 30 years of my life.
VAUSE: Right.
MEHTA: It's when that student asked her the question, saying some people didn't find her honest and, you know, perhaps didn't believe her liberal credentials. And she's sort of like look at what I've been doing for the past three decades or four decades of my life. She just -- it seems like the frustration is reaching a peak.
VAUSE: So she's bristling.
LITTMAN: She is. And she's frustrated. That is the campaign's fault. They need to do a much better job of explaining where Hillary came from.
VAUSE: Right.
LITTMAN: Thirty years ago, how she was -- 20 years ago how she was fighting for things that weren't popular all of that time, which are liberal causes, some of which we take for granted now.
VAUSE: Isn't this the problem that Secretary Clinton has is that her campaign is all about her and what she's done and her record on policy whereas Sanders is painting these big pictures, wants to give, you know, free health care for all and universal education?
MEHTA: Well, he is like Donald Trump. I mean, he and Donald Trump are two completely different people.
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: But they both have very big visions.
MEHTA: They have -- they both tapped in this frustration that people on both sides of the aisle are feeling that -- you know, that the government elite, the media elite, the political elite are not looking out for them. I mean, they both tapped into it.
LITTMAN: There's a level of this that's not fair. I understand attacking Wall Street. The whole economic disaster affected the whole world. But Wall Street is not the answer in every issue. Immigration reform, the reason it didn't pass has nothing to do with Wall Street. Wall Street wanted immigration reform. Global warming. The reason why the Republicans aren't doing something, a lot of them, that has nothing to do with Wall Street either. So that's kind of a simple explanation. But there are real reasons where I think you have to be able to work with the Republicans on these issues. Immigration reform was a -- "Wall Street Journal" wrote about it every day how much they wanted immigration reform.
So I think Sanders needs to move on past Wall Street. It can't be the only thing that he talks about.
VAUSE: Right. LITTMAN: He's got to talk about something else.
VAUSE: Well, that -- but that's his main, that's his passion that where, you know, that's where his campaign has been going.
You know, three-quarters of this debate was on domestic issues, on the economy, a quarter was on foreign policy. I thought that was interesting. Very different from what the Republicans talk about.
MEHTA: It really is.
VAUSE: And the tone was very different.
MEHTA: In the Republican debates, you know, the first questions, the first opening statements are about foreign policy, national security.
VAUSE: We should out-Trump each other.
MEHTA: Feeling not safe in the world. Right. And just a general like, you know, feeling that we're not safe in the world and the next commander-in-chief has to be prepared to deal with these issues. The Democratic side, not only in this debate, but I mean, several debates and town halls that we've got this.
VAUSE: Yes.
MEHTA: It almost -- I don't want to say it's not an afterthought but it's certainly way down the priority list.
VAUSE: We talked about the debate over who's progressive, who's the moderate, who's the liberal. Tonight it was, who's part of the establishment. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: Secretary Clinton does represent the establishment. I represent, I hope, ordinary Americans, and by the way, who are not all that enamored with the establishment.
CLINTON: Honestly, Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me a woman running to be the first woman president as exemplifying the establishment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And that's, to your point earlier, she is getting frustrated, she's getting angry about the fact that, you know, everything that she's done isn't really being recognized here and it's not getting out there.
LITTMAN: But I think that that's the wrong argument.
VAUSE: Right.
LITTMAN: The fact that she might be the first woman president, I think most people in this country really at this point, as hard as it believed, take it for granted that we're going to have a woman president at some point.
VAUSE: Maybe not Hillary Clinton.
LITTMAN: Maybe not but it's not the same way it was eight years ago.
VAUSE: Right.
LITTMAN: What she needs to concentrate on is her record. She has an amazing record. The things she wants to do are very strong. She shouldn't be defensive. And the idea that we're electing a woman so that doesn't make her part of the establishment, I don't think that resonates.
MEHTA: And she has like a really good response, I thought, which argued, well, under your definition of who is a progressive, Barack Obama is not a progressive.
VAUSE: Yes.
MEHTA: Joe Biden is not a progressive.
LITTMAN: Right.
VAUSE: Yes.
MEHTA: Paul Wellstone, who's like, you know, an icon in the liberal movement is not a progressive.
VAUSE: Yes. Essentially you're setting the bar so high.
MEHTA: Right. Exactly.
VAUSE: That you're the only group --
MEHTA: Nothing. You're the only person qualified.
LITTMAN: Can only be free health care or free college, then no one is going to fit into that.
VAUSE: No one. This is -- you know, the case that Clinton is trying to make, and she tried to do this tonight, and said, I agree with all that stuff that Bernie wants but it's just not going to happen.
MEHTA: Right.
LITTMAN: Well, the best part that she did I think was on the health care thing.
VAUSE: Yes.
LITTMAN: Passing this health care bill was impossible. It should really be called Pelosi-care because really Nancy Pelosi got it through Congress. It was an impossible task. We're going to do that all over again with a whole new health care system? That seems crazy. That will paralyze the government.
MEHTA: She's trying to paint herself as a -- I'm sorry, pragmatic progressive.
VAUSE: Yes.
LITTMAN: Yes.
MEHTA: The one who has these ideals but can get stuff done.
LITTMAN: Right.
VAUSE: Well, George W. Bush said in 2000, a reformer who gets results.
MEHTA: Right. Right.
LITTMAN: Right.
VAUSE: Yes. We come back to it. I thought what was, again, you know, I don't want to compare too much to the Republican debates because we got one coming up on Saturday, but again there's no mention of a Republican candidate in this debate by name.
MEHTA: Well, that shows how much the race has turned, I think, because before she was talking about all the Republicans. Now she has a race on her hands.
VAUSE: Right.
MEHTA: And she's focused on Bernie Sanders.
[01:10:01] LITTMAN: Do the Republicans ever mention Hillary?
VAUSE: No, just --
MEHTA: All the time.
(LAUGHTER)
VAUSE: Hillary and Obama, Obama and Hillary. You know, and there was this other moment where Bernie Sanders -- because there's some question about the results in Iowa. You know, the "Des Moines Register" has raised some questions about whether there should be this investigation. You know, what was going on with these coin tosses, that kind of stuff. Bernie Sanders was asked about it very, very sort of magnanimous if you like.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: I think where we now stand, correct me if I'm wrong, you have 22 delegates, I have 20 delegates. We need 2500 delegates to win the nomination. You know, this is not -- this is not the biggest deal in the world. We think, by the way, based on talking to our precinct captains we may have at least two more delegates. What the "Des Moines Register" said, you know, there were coin -- I think there were half a dozen coin flips. A fairly chaotic type situation. At the end of the day, no matter how it's recounted, it will break roughly even.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You know, this is my -- this moment also went on. It was like, we don't care about her damn e-mails and then he also went on I get asked about that every day about the e-mails to attack you. You know, I don't do it. She was sort of invited to attack him about some of his campaign tactics, she declined. So what's sort of going on here?
LITTMAN: Well, I think they both want to concentrate. There are big differences on the issues. And I appreciate the fact, I thought this was a great debate. Let them concentrate on the issues, there are differences between the two of them. That's -- who can get things done is really what it comes down to for whatever your agenda is, the voter's agenda is. Who's going to get things done. Let the voters decide.
VAUSE: Do you think it shows like Bernie Sanders is very confident?
MEHTA: I think they're both very confident and Senator Sanders should certainly be confident after that Iowa finish because she had such a huge advantage, you know, double -- large double-digit advantage, you know, six months ago. So the fact that he came up just shy of her is a victory for him.
VAUSE: OK. Guys, thanks for coming in. Appreciate it. Good chat.
MEHTA: Thank you.
VAUSE: Thank you.
OK. Hillary Clinton has been dogged throughout this campaign by the e-mail scandal. No one has been brewing for -- this one has been brewing for Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice. The U.S. State Department says Powell and top staffers for Rice received now classified information through personal e-mail accounts.
As for Clinton, investigators say the e-mail were not marked at the time. Powell released a statement saying, "The State Department cannot now say they were classified then because they weren't. If the Department wishes to stay a dozen years later they should have been classified, that is an opinion of the Department that I do not share."
OK. The Republican presidential candidates are also looking ahead to the New Hampshire primary. After his loss in Iowa, Donald Trump is changing his campaign strategy.
CNN political correspondent Sara Murray has more from Portsmouth in New Hampshire.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump is kicking his campaign up a notch.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have you votes, right? Do I have people's votes in here? Right? MURRAY: Unwilling to let another victory slip from his grasp.
TRUMP: I'm actually starting to spend good money. And the reason is, number one, I don't want to take a chance. OK? Number two, I don't want to blow it.
MURRAY: On top of spending on the airwaves, today Trump doubled his schedule from two events to four.
TRUMP: Got to do it. It's called crunch time, right?
MURRAY: But with just five days until New Hampshire. Trump's campaign schedule is still relatively light, including today Trump had just six events planned before the primary. After losing Iowa, Trump, loathed to admit mistakes, acknowledged he could have built a more solid ground operation.
TRUMP: In retrospect, we could have done much better with the ground game.
MURRAY: In the days since, he's made a point of stopping by his campaign offices to rally the troops.
TRUMP: I'll see you in a little while. I'm going to stay here for a while.
MURRAY: One thing he's not doing? Downplaying expectations, making it clear he's playing to win in New Hampshire.
TRUMP: I like to win. I've been here a lot. I have a great relationship with the people of New Hampshire. I love them.
MURRAY: A new CNN/WMUR poll shows for now Trump is well-positioned. He leads in New Hampshire with 29 percent support from Republican primary voters, compared to 18 percent for Marco Rubio, who's moved into second. Meanwhile Ted Cruz at 13 percent is nearly tied for third with John Kasich at 12 percent.
Trump's position on top has Cruz, the Iowa victor, sharpening his knives.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump is very rattled right now. He told the entire world he was going to win Iowa and then he didn't win.
MURRAY: And accusing Trump of being a sore loser after Iowa.
CRUZ: You could call it a Trumper-tantrum.
MURRAY: And after Jimmy Carter suggested he would prefer a President Trump over Cruz, the Texas senator turned that around on Trump, as well.
CRUZ: Jimmy Carter said the reason is simple. Donald's views -- this is almost a quote. It's not verbatim but it's close. Donald's views are malleable. He has no core beliefs on anything. MURRAY: But Trump's vowing to New Hampshire voters, one way or
another, he is ending up on Pennsylvania Avenue.
[01:15:03] TRUMP: No, seriously. Who would want to live in the White House? Although I'm building a hotel right next door, which is also located on Pennsylvania Avenue. But I'll still be on Pennsylvania Avenue one way or the other.
MURRAY (on camera): Now Donald Trump has just a couple of days until the New Hampshire primary. And his number one goal is making sure people don't eat into his lead. A big part of that is making sure he's visible here in New Hampshire. To that end, the campaign is already adding more events.
Sara Murray, CNN, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, still to come here, U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump accused GOP rival Ted Cruz of voter fraud after the Iowa caucuses this week. He was asked about that controversy during a one-on-one interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: You came in second in Iowa to Ted Cruz. Let's talk about Cruz. You have basically accused him of fraud, of stealing the election in Iowa. You talk about wanting a new election there. Have you actually spoken to Republican Party officials about that?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(SPORTS)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is still leading in the opinion polls ahead of the primary in New Hampshire next week.
[01:20:04] CNN/WMUR poll finds 29 percent of likely Republican voters in New Hampshire support Mr. Trump. Marco Rubio second place with 18 percent. Followed by Ted Cruz. He won the Iowa caucuses this week.
Anderson Cooper sat down with Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: There's a new CNN poll out shows you're doing well here in New Hampshire. How does it feel?
TRUMP: It feels great. The people are amazing. I've been to New Hampshire so many times and have so many friends up here aside from this. And they are amazing people. It's a great place. I just like it. Feel comfortable.
COOPER: You're doing more in New Hampshire. You're doing more smaller events. You've doing more events. I think you've had four or five already today.
TRUMP: Yes.
COOPER: Events like this with kind of people up close asking you questions. Is that a change in strategy? If so why?
TRUMP: I don't think so. I just feel very comfortable up here and I love being here. And you know, I've just been embraced. I have friends that have nice houses and they invite me over to dinner and they would anyway whether I was doing this or not. But there's a great level of comfort in New Hampshire for me.
COOPER: In this poll, Marco Rubio has also now jumped to second place. Do you think he's more of a threat than Ted Cruz?
TRUMP: I don't know. I mean, it could be somebody ahead of the pack. You know, I'm watching your stuff every night and I'm saying, wow, who is going to be moving? I've been doing well. I guess in the polls we do pretty well. But I don't know who's second. I really don't. Are you saying that Rubio came in second now?
COOPER: Yes, he did. He came in second.
TRUMP: Yes. It was sort of funny. Because in Iowa, he was third and I was second and they said he did fantastically well and me, they were sort of disappointed. I don't even know why they were disappointed because I got actually the most votes in the history of the Iowa -- you know, for the Republicans.
COOPER: Huge turnout.
TRUMP: And we had a huge turnout. It was really a tremendous -- I mean, I really, I must say, I really enjoyed Iowa. But this is -- there's a different feeling here. This is an amazing feeling with the people, with the crowds. You probably saw the crowd ahead this morning. It was just incredible.
COOPER: How important is it for you to win here?
TRUMP: Well, I'd love to win because I like to win. I mean, my life is about winning.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: You know, I don't like --
COOPER: I've heard that about you. I --
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: You know, your definition of win, when you come in second out of 11 people, and actually 17 because we started off with 17. Many dropped out. So let's say you're second out of 17. You know, I mean, I would consider that good, but, no, I would love to be number one in New Hampshire. I think it would send a great signal. And you know, my whole thing is make America great again, Anderson. That's what I want to do. I want to make America great. And there's so many things we can do to take back our country. Because we're losing our country. I mean, we're doing deals that are so ridiculous. The deal with Iran where we're giving -- handing over $150 billion. And we get nothing. It's not like we get. We get nothing.
So many horrible things are taking place. If you look at trade with China, we're going to make -- we're going to -- we're going to make for them this year $500 billion. We can't do it. We can't afford this. Mexico. Japan. Vietnam. That's another one coming on very strong. They're coming on so strong. Vietnam, you don't believe what's going on over there. They are taking our jobs, they're taking our money, they're taking our base, they're taking everything from us and it's not going to happen if I get elected president. It's not going to happen.
COOPER: You came in second in Iowa to Ted Cruz. Let's talk about Cruz. You've basically accused him of fraud, of stealing the election in Iowa. You talk about wanting a new election there. Have you actually spoken to Republican Party officials about that?
TRUMP: Now, look, I'm into New Hampshire now. It's just one of those things. It was sort of a lot of strange things. And you know, I like Ben Carson very much. And he got pretty roughed up, frankly, although it affected me maybe more than Ben. But I'm so much -- because I've now here for two days, I'm so much into -- into this, into New Hampshire that I just -- I don't care about that anymore.
COOPER: But do you think Ted Cruz intentionally was spreading false information --
TRUMP: I don't care. I mean, I don't want to even say let's see what happens. I guess people are looking at it, who cares? We're -- I picked up a lot of delegates. You know, I was second, I picked up one less than he did. So that's not going to be even a factor. But this is the place that I'm focused.
COOPER: Are you going to be focusing on Rubio in speeches?
TRUMP: I may. I mean, I may, but I don't think so much. I think the people have to make up their mind. Look, I'm going to do things that nobody else can do, because I'm really good at trade. I built an unbelievable company. You saw that. Everybody went down there. Look, they never saw my numbers before.
My company that I built, very little debt. Tremendous cash flow. Some of the greatest assets in the world. And I say that not in a braggadocios way. I said, that's the kind of thinking we need in this country. We have $19 trillion in debt. Nobody even knows what trillion means. We have $19 trillion in debt. Now with this horrible deal they just negotiated with -- you know, with the budget two weeks ago, that's going to add another $2 trillion in debt. We need somebody that has the kind of thinking that I have, whether we
like that thinking or don't like thinking, it's really good for what we're talking about.
COOPER: One more on Ted Cruz. He did say that you basically had a Trumper tantrum. Have you ever heard that phrase before?
TRUMP: No.
(LAUGHTER)
[01:25:01] TRUMP: I haven't actually. I love that phrase. I think that's great. I love that phrase.
COOPER: You can trademark that phrase.
TRUMP: I actually like that. I may have to. That's good. I'm going to trademark it before he does.
COOPER: Right.
TRUMP: Look. We need a strong tone nowadays. You know when you talk about tantrum, I don't have tantrums. You can't build good businesses and have the relationships that I have if you have tantrums. But I will say this. We need somebody with a strong tone. I remember when, on the same day, Hillary and Jeb Bush. Jeb spent like $100 million and he's nowhere. And he likes Common Core and he's weak on immigration, and he's -- I mean, where is he coming from?
And Hillary, the same day they said Donald Trump's tone, my tone is tough. And I said, you know, they are chopping off heads of Christians in the Middle East, all over the Middle East, ISIS. They are doing all sorts of things that haven't happened, it doesn't seem to me like since Medieval times. When you know, I used to read Medieval times they chopped off heads. I haven't seen that.
And then, you know, you look at what's happening in this world, how mean, how vicious it's become. And I have these people saying, well, Donald Trump's tone is tough. And the problem we have is everybody is so politically correct that our country is going to hell. So we're going to turn it around and hopefully we're going to do a great job. And -- by the way, I know we're going to do a great job. It's so easy. We're going to have the greatest business people.
Carl Icahn endorsed me the other day, all of the great business leaders. We're going to lose a lot of companies. You know, Pfizer is leaving and others are leaving that corporate inversions. They can't get their money back into the country because of stupidity. Everybody agrees they should get it back. Democrats and Republicans. They can't take it back. They are leaving the country. We're losing some of our greatest companies. They're leaving.
You know, Pfizer is going to Ireland. But they're going to Europe. They're going to Asia. I will stop that in two seconds.
(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: Donald Trump there speaking with Anderson Cooper.
Coming up here next on CNN NEWSROOM, the former U.S. pharmaceutical executive who famously raised the price of a life-saving drug refuses to talk about it at a congressional hearing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JASON CHAFFETZ (R), UTAH: Do you think you've done anything wrong?
MARTIN SHKRELI, FORMER PHARMACEUTICAL EXECUTIVE: On the advice of counsel, I invoke my Fifth Amendment privilege against self- incrimination and respectfully decline to answer your questions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:30:38] VAUSE: Welcome back. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause, with the headlines this hour.
(HEADLINES)
VAUSE: A former drug CEO, who once defended his decision to hike the price of a life-saving medicine by 5,000 percent, is now keeping quiet. On Thursday, Martin Shkreli refused to answer questions about his business during a U.S. congressional hearing.
CNN's Claire Sebastian has more on what was a day of smirks on Capitol Hill.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARTIN SHKRELI, FORMER DRUG CEO: On the advice of counsel, I invoke my Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and respectfully decline to answer your question.
CLAIRE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For a man whose outspoken nature earned him the nickname Pharma Bro, this was an usual display of restraint. During an increasingly tense exchange on Capitol Hill, members of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform tried to provoke Shkreli.
REP. TRY GOWDY, (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Is it pronounced Shkreli?
SHKRELI: Yes, sir.
GOWDY: See there, you can answer some questions. That one didn't incriminate you.
SEBASTIAN: They tried to distract him.
GOWDY: We can even talk about the purchase of -- is it Lutanclan (ph)?
SEBASTIAN: They even tried to appeal to his better nature.
REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS, (D), MARYLAND: You can go down in history as the poster boy for greedy drug company executives, or you can change the system.
SEBASTIAN: Martin Shkreli earned that poster boy notoriety as a CEO at Turing when he raised the price of Daraprim, a drug used to treat AIDS patients by 5,000 percent.
In an e-mail obtained by Congress it's clear Shkreli immediately saw the profit potential in acquiring the drug, writing to the chairman, "Nice work as usual. $1 billion, here we come."
BENJAMIN BRAFMAN, LAWYER FOR MARTIN SHKRELI: I think it's extraordinarily unfair that Turing has been singled out for the unfair publicity they've received. And when all of the facts about Daraprim and Turing are ultimately disclosed, everyone will recognize that Mr. Shkreli is not a villain. He's not the bad boy. At the end of this story, he's a hero.
Excuse me.
SEBASTIAN: The reason behind his Fifth Amendment plea, he's currently on bail on securities fraud charges, facing a possible 20-year prison sentence.
And while he has spent much of his time cultivating support on Twitter, live streaming on YouTube and giving interviews, his new legal team has other ideas.
BRAFMAN: One of the conditions of my engagement was that from, hence forward, he does not speak to any member of the press at all until the criminal charges are resolved. We want to try this case in the courtroom and not in the media.
SEBASTIAN: Still, having exercised his Fifth Amendment rights Thursday, Martin Shkreli then employed the First. "He tweeted hard to accept that these imbeciles represent the people in our government."
Claire Sebastian, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Let's bring in a criminal defense attorney, Darren Kavinoky, for more.
(LAUGHTER)
DARREN KAVINOKY, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It's not like he has hoards of fans.
(LAUGHTER)
VAUSE: There's no hate mail coming your way.
KAVINOKY: Yes. VAUSE: He's not plenty going his way.
VAUSE: Let's start with taking the Fifth. There are two legal issues here. Congress subpoenaed Shkreli for price gouging for drugs. That's different from the other. The committee tried to make the case the two aren't related, therefore, he could actually testify.
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: Does that carry any weight?
KAVINOKY: No, not really. Ultimately, their pleas were great in terms of trying to invite him to talk because that's what they wanted. And that's what makes them look good.
In terms of legally what was in his best interest was to keep his mouths shut and, sadly, it seems like he has his moments where he fails there. And I really feel for Mr. Brafman, who is an excellent lawyer, but there's nothing more frustrating for a lawyer than when your client undoes all of your good work by failing to zip it.
[01:35:18] VAUSE: He kept his mouth closed but HE smirked and made ridiculous faces all throughout and looked like a -- you know. So --
(CROSSTALK)
KAVINOKY: There was -- it was inappropriate, yes. There were definitely some socially inappropriate reactions.
And what's really problematic for him ultimately is that he is facing these criminal charges. And the jurors that come to hear those criminal charges in a court of law are drawn from the court of public opinion where he is definitely a person on the most hated list.
(CROSSTALK)
KAVINOKY: Yes.
VAUSE: One of the members of the committee brought that up. He said, your clients should not behave this way because he could be facing a jury trial here.
KAVINOKY: Right. The way that it's going certainly he's under indictment now. So that's heading his way. That's heading his way. But in the meantime, this is very troubling for him and he's not making any friends.
VAUSE: He's the current poster boy for corporate greed.
(LAUGHTER)
KAVINOKY: Yes.
VAUSE: He didn't say a lot. But a day earlier, he was on the radio. This is something no defense lawyer likes to hear about. He told this radio show he could have been prosecuted for not maximizing the profits of his company.
(CROSSTALK)
KAVINOKY: For not maximizing the profits.
VAUSE: Yes. Where is that coming from?
KAVINOKY: It's almost like urban myth that executives say my obligations tor the shareholders and I owe them a fiduciary duty to maximize profits. That's a kernel of truth and then goes way afoul of what really -- there's no law that says you have to wring every penny out of potential profits. As a matter of fact, many corporations believe in doing corporate good. There's been a shift in the marketplace that recognizes that. So the notion that an executive would be somehow legally obligated to pursue every potential profit, it's really just misguided.
VAUSE: If he is sort of depending on this as a defense in any way --
(CROSSTALK)
KAVINOKY: He won't find any authority to back him up and he'll instead find smart, prudent business people have done the opposite where there's more prized about the authenticity. And look at what happens, for example, with the major pharmaceutical companies that say, hey, no more cigarettes. We're not going to sell cigarettes. Obviously, that cost them a lot of money but it creates more good will.
VAUSE: On the other side of the coin, hiking the price 5,000 percent, that's not illegal either.
KAVINOKY: No, no, it's not illegal to raise prices. Maybe in poor taste and --
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: Totally immoral.
KAVINOKY: And we can argue about the morality of it. But when we're talking about the legality, that's a very different conversation. That's why we saw Ben Brafman saying we're going to try this in a court of law, not the court of public opinion, because he loses mightily there.
VAUSE: If someone called him a dirtbag, could that person be sued for defamation?
KAVINOKY: I don't think so.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: You'll defend me?
KAVINOKY: A nice round figure for the fees, of course.
VAUSE: Appreciate it. Thank you.
KAVINOKY: You bet.
VAUSE: A short break here. There are growing concerns that officials on China's mainland of cracking down on critics well beyond their borders. Coming up, we'll hear from dissidents in foreign countries who say they no longer feel safe.
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(HEADLINES)
[01:43:33] VAUSE: The days of China's critics feeling safe in foreign lands may be coming to an end. A disturbing number of arrests, extraditions and mysterious disappearance of Chinese dissidents have recently taken place outside the country's border.
Let's get more from CNN senior international correspondent, Ivan Watson, live in Hong Kong.
Ivan, it seems China is showing that its reach stretches way beyond the mainland.
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. And a mystery has been solved overnight, John. The Hong Kong police got a letter from the police in the Chinese city of Guangdong accounting for the disappearance of three Hong Kong booksellers who went missing nearly four months ago. The police in Guangdong saying that these three men are under investigation right now for, quote, "illegal activities on the mainland."
And they are just part of a much broader trend of critics of the Chinese government who just keep disappearing in neighboring countries and in cities like Hong Kong only to resurface months later in the hands of Chinese authorities.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WATSON (voice-over): A desperate appeal from a wife to her husband imprisoned halfway around the world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): I want to tell my husband I hope we will see each other soon. I hope our family will reunite soon.
WATSON: Her husband is a former police officer in China who became a pro-democracy activist. Authorities threw him in prison several times for participating in protests. Last year, he fled with his wife and child to Thailand where they thought they'd be safe. He was suddenly arrested last October and, weeks later, despite objections from the United Nations, he and another Chinese exiles were extradited back to China where they appeared in this confession broadcast on Chinese state tv.
Gushuwah (ph) was left in shock.
[01:45:32] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): The Chinese government pressured him for so long that he ran away. Why did they still need to chase us?
WATSON (on camera): For decades, critics of the ruling Communist party ran across the border seeking refuge in Thailand. But now Chinese dissidents in Bangkok tell me they live in constant fear of being snatched and dragged back home by Chinese security services.
(voice-over): This is another Chinese activist who ran away to Thailand. She hasn't been back to her Bangkok apartment in days. Too frightened, she says, after at least four Chinese dissidents day peered from Thailand in less than four months.
(on camera): These are your UNHCR documents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
WATSON (voice-over): She and a fellow Chinese dissident have applied for asylum as political refugees with the U.N. in an effort to escape the long arm of the Chinese law.
(on camera): The decision to run away from your country, that's a very difficult and very big decision to make.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): I thought I would get protection in Bangkok and wouldn't have to live in fear of arrest all the time.
WATSON (voice-over): Most frightening for Chinese exiles, the case of this man. A well-known Swedish publisher of books critical of the leadership. He mysteriously disappeared from his condominium in October and was next shown on state TV in China in January in police custody. Police in Thailand say they have no record that he ever officially left the country. And they are investigating his possible kidnapping.
MIKE CHINOY, SENIOR FELLOW, U.S./CHINA INSTITUTE, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: The Chinese government is trying to extend its reach to intimidate and silence critics outside of China.
WATSON: China expert Mike Chinoy argues the cross-border crackdown is part of a broader campaign by Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, to remove any threat to the Chinese Communist Party.
(SHOUTING)
CHINOY: The message is, if you cross us, our reach is so great that we'll get you wherever and it has, therefore, a deterrent on people who might think of doing the same thing.
WATSON: The Chinese government insists it's simply upholding the rule of law, adding that anyone who breaks the law will be punished.
A punishment she says her husband does not deserve. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (through translation): My husband told me he
needs to see democracy in China. He will fight until the end.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATSON: Now, John, there's another disturbing trend we've seen in some of these cases that gives you a sense of the immense pressure the families feel. In several of the mysterious disappearances, after someone goes missing for weeks, then suddenly, let's say, a wife will get either text messages or written messages or a phone call from their missing loved one who will be rather cryptic. Say they are in China and say, I'm OK, please stop looking for me. Stop telling other people that I'm missing and I'll be in touch. And we can presume that that missing person is in the custody of the Chinese government, which is not always being very transparent about the treatment or whereabouts of these missing dissidents -- John?
VAUSE: Ivan, thank you. Ivan Watson with that lengthy report, but we appreciate it. Thank you. Ivan Watson live in Hong Kong.
Next here on CNN NEWSROOM, it's not your father's "Playboy." The men's magazine and the very big cover-up. We'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[01:53:15] MATT LEBLANC, ACTOR: So, how you doing?
(LAUGHTER)
Hey. How you doing?
(LAUGHTER)
How you doing?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Joey is doing pretty good. The American actor and star of "Friends" has a new gig. The BBC announced Matt LeBlanc will join the show "Top Gear." The BBC did not renew the contract of the previous host, Jeremy Clarkson, after he allegedly hit a producer. Leblanc appeared twice on the show and holds the record for the fastest celebrity lap. He's the first non-British host in "Top Gear's" 39- year history. "Top Gear" is slated to return in May.
It's been a running joke since Hugh Hefner started "Playboy" in 1953, "We're just reading it for the articles."
But now, as Alison Kosik tells us, it's no longer a joke. "Playboy" has gone nude-free. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to add more mystery to the pages of "Playboy."
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "Playboy's" radical reinvention is on newsstands now. What's changed? The models are keeping their clothes on.
Getting the first-ever non-nude issue of "Playboy" ready for primetime hasn't been easy.
(on camera): You've had to re-conceptualize a whole new "Playboy."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's true. We've been putting out four or five months of issues while also really tearing the magazine down to its core DNA.
KOSIK: Gone from the magazine, the tagline entertainment for men along with the stodgy jokes page. The magazine even feels different. It's bigger with thicker paper. And the photography leaves a little more to the imagination.
Like other magazines, "Playboy" is struggling. Internet porn has sapped "Playboy's" circulation, but no nudity opens the door to new advertisers like Dodge.
But "Playboy's" critics say the strategy is a mistake.
[01:55:12] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know Hefner is getting old because he's 90. Id didn't know he had lost his mind.
I thought "Playboy" felt they had to go in another direction. The problem is there is not another direction.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hef has not lost his mind. Hef is leading the creative repositioning of "Playboy" to make it as relevant for today. We think we've transcended beyond the need for nudity.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: And Alison Kosik with that report.
You have been watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause. Stay with us.
The news continues with Natalie Allen and George Howell at the CNN Center right after this.
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