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New Day Sunday

Bernie Sanders Makes SNL Debut; GOP Candidates Clash Before New Hampshire Primary; South Korea, U.S. to Discuss Missile Defense Plan; Super Bowl 50 Just Hours Away. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired February 07, 2016 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00] VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Also, live from New York, it's Bernie Sanders. He's joined Larry David on "SNL", and you certainly want to take a moment and watch this. We'll have it for you in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. John Berman here live in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Just two days to go before the first in the nation primary, and overnight, the leading Democratic candidate here, Bernie Sanders, he was not in New Hampshire, he was in New York and, yes, he was in fact live in New York.

Bernie Sanders appeared on "Saturday Night Live", along with the host last night, Larry David, who frequently does a pretty spot on Bernie Sanders imitation.

This is a look at two of them in a sketch on the Titanic. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hold on. Hold on. Wait a second.

(APPLAUSE)

I am so sick of the 1 percent getting this preferential treatment. Enough is enough. We need to unite and work together if we're all going to get through in this.

LARRY DAVID, COMEDIAN: Sounds like socialism to me.

SANDERS: Democratic socialism.

DAVID: What's the difference?

SANDERS: Huge difference.

DAVID: Huge?

SANDERS: Huge.

DAVID: Huge with a y, eh? Who are you?

SANDERS: I'm Bernie Sanders-witsky, but we're going change it when we get to America so it doesn't sound quite so Jewish.

[07:35:06] DAVID: Yes, that will trick them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold on, everyone. I've got great news. What we crossed into was Liberty Island. We're in New York. Everyone to the boat.

SANDERS: Look at that.

Share a cab?

DAVID: Eh, I think we've talked enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. Join us to talk about that performance, CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter, the host of "RELIABLE SOURCES".

And, Brian, if you're Bernie Sanders there is no amount of money that can buy publicity like that.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: You are right absolutely, John. The ratings are coming in a couple of hours and they will show this is a very high-rated episode of "SNL". Some people like you and I watching the GOP debate and flipping right over to "SNL" for this, and Sanders was clearly on brand and on message.

And I think a lot of people if they knew anything about him, they know about his views towards millionaires and billionaires. And that is exactly what he had a couple of minutes to talk about on "SNL". So he was very much on message, driving home the main point of his campaign in front of viewers that otherwise may not care quite so much about what he's campaigning for.

BERMAN: No, though, obviously, "Saturday Night Live" plays well among younger viewers and that younger audience is exactly the target audience for Bernie Sanders.

STELTER: Yes, I think that's true. You know, even if he doesn't woo a lot of voters through this, and I think he probably also does on the margin, he also makes his fans more loyal to him. They like him even more when they see him outside of his comfort zone in an appearance like "SNL". And I think part of what last night was about was about raising money from those fans.

If you look at berniesanders.com last night, there was a big picture of Larry David playing Bernie Sanders and there was a call for contribution to vacuum up your vacuum pennies. I remember that line from an earlier "SNL" skit where Larry David was playing Sanders. So, they were taking advantage of the moment on "SNL" spotlight to raise money from the fans they already had.

And I think even Bernie Sanders Twitter account today is a Larry David picture. This is the best part of the show by the way. This is a sketch they had done ahead of time where they made up all the excuses for where Sanders came ahead a few votes behind Hillary Clinton in Iowa. It was classic "Curb Your Enthusiasm". They called "Bern Your Enthusiasm".

BERMAN: You know, it was interesting, obviously, Donald Trump hosted "Saturday Night Live" quite controversially earlier this year. Hillary Clinton appeared on "Saturday Night Live" earlier this year. She did one sketch. Trump did, what, 12 or 13 minutes.

Bernie Sanders did a little bit in the middle. He was actually quite a presence on the show last night despite the fact that Larry David was the host.

STELTER: Yes, he was. It may have been a sort of -- you know, I don't want to call it a breakout moment for someone who has been in the Senate for debates. But when Ben Carson was an obscure Vermont senator, he was not getting invitations to SNL. This is a reminder of what the presidential campaign has done for Sanders, one of many reminders of how his stature has really risen as a result of this campaign.

BERMAN: You say, out of his element, outside that normal --

STELTER: Yes, a little bit. Yes.

BERMAN: But it was a pretty comfortable place for him to be last night. "Saturday Night Live" I think obviously tried to set it up to make him look as good as possible.

All right. Brian Stelter, great to have you with us. Thanks so much.

STELTER: Thanks.

BERMAN: Coming up for us, much more of our political coverage. Much more on the big debate last night.

Victor, Christi back you do in Atlanta.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:42:01] BERMAN: All right. John Berman here live in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Just two days to go now until this state, this famously independent and unpredictable state votes, the first in the nation primary. And we are just one morning after a really interesting Republican debate that may have reshuffled this field going forward.

So, what does it mean going forward?

I'm joined by the executive editor of CNN Politics, Mark Preston.

Mark, great to have you here.

You know, the Super Bowl is tonight.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Right.

BERMAN: Right.

So, in a sense, we may be frozen here to an extent in New Hampshire. What happens to the next two days here?

PRESTON: Well, we're certainly frozen for the next couple of hours. But certainly, as you said, the undeclared voters here, who have never -- not Republican, not Democrat, and also the undecideds.

This is what these Republicans going after. Chris Christie last night was going after those voters and did so very effectively. I think you are going to see this mad sprint to the finish right now going into Tuesday, because it really is do or die for several candidates.

BERMAN: What they needed to do is they needed to knock Marco Rubio off balance. That's what seemed to happen. An off-balance Marco Rubio allows an avenue for whom exactly?

PRESTON: Well, I mean, look, it opens up the door for Jeb Bush again, who had a fairly decent debate.

It opens up the door for Chris Christie again, who really needs New Hampshire to move forward. He has an organization in South Carolina I'm told by his folks. So, he can move forward even though he doesn't have much money.

And then, John Kasich, it was interesting, John Kasich last night who's been combative in past debates was a lot more conciliatory, really reaching out to those moderate Republicans.

BERMAN: Right, Bunny Rabbit and unicorns with John Kasich. He didn't want anything to do with that mix up there.

It is interesting, though, you know, you have the three governors. You have Christie, Kasich and Jeb Bush, none of whom went after each other at all. The conventional wisdom and that maybe wrong --

PRESTON: Right.

BERMAN: The conventional has been that only one can emerge from New Hampshire. You would think that would mean they have to go after each other. They didn't do that.

PRESTON: So, let's just think of three lanes, OK? We have the Donald Trump lane. That is his lane. We have the social conservative, real conservative lane, that's the Ted Cruz lane, and then we have the centrist lane. And really, to your point, we thought what Marco Rubio and one of the governors come out.

But after last night, there's a possibility we're going to see two of these governors come out. I can't imagine three will come out now but I think two will come in behind the middle lane.

BERMAN: Up until last night, it was this thing maybe getting less muddled by the minute. We had all these drop-outs. But you get the sense this morning we're back to muddle-ville, back to muddled perhaps going out of New Hampshire.

PRESTON: Which shows you how intense this race has been up to this point. Really shows you the Donald Trump effect who has sucked so much oxygen out of this race that didn't allow another candidate to emerge and they're all playing for second place.

BERMAN: So, we're looking about New Hampshire two days from now, but we have South Carolina, you know, a week and a half from now. That's different from New Hampshire, how?

PRESTON: Well, it's different because it's a different type of voter. You're going back to a more socially conservative voter. Ted Cruz is expected to do well down there.

What you expected to do well down there is Donald Trump, at least that's what we think, or at least that's what polling tells us. Now, who knows what happens after the New Hampshire primary? But, look the tough talk from Chris Christie last night could help him.

[07:45:01] And Jeb Bush has strong ties in South Carolina.

It just goes to show you how this race is up in the air.

BERMAN: And a family history down there.

PRESTON: Right.

BERMAN: And, again, not to -- not to test the conventional wisdom too much, but the Rubio people had been spreading talks about the fact that Jeb Bush donors want to leave Jeb Bush and go to Marco Rubio. People are just waiting for a chance to abandon that ship.

But now, with Jeb Bush having a good debate performance, we were on the debate event yesterday, looking stronger in New Hampshire. Bush may be holding that support for longer.

PRESTON: I -- absolutely. I think if you were a deep pocketed Republican donor who is thinking of jumping -- to jump ship to go over to Rubio, you are now holding your fire right now when you're saying, let's see how this plays out a few more days.

You know, one person we haven't seen throw his money in and we thought he was going to throw it towards Marco Rubio is Sheldon Adelson out -- the casino magnate out in Las Vegas-- he is still holding on.

BERMAN: And again, just to explain why this is so up in the air here in New Hampshire. You know, 30 percent decide at the last minute at least when they walk in that booth. And anyone can vote Democrats, Republican, you can vote on either side. So, so much unknown, which is why a big debate what seems to, you know, change the scene a little bit can make such a difference. Mark Preston, great to have you with us. Thank you so much.

But important programming night: a very special "STATE OF THE UNION" coming up with Jake Tapper here from Manchester, 9:00 a.m.

Check out the lineup of guests he has on the show, Donald Trump, John Kasich, Chris Christie, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders. Wow! A special commercial-free "STATE OF THE UNION", 9:00 a.m. Eastern, only here on CNN.

That is the scene from the beautiful state of New Hampshire. The uncertainty in here. We know nothing two days into the primary, which makes it all the more exciting.

Victor, Christie, back to you in Atlanta.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Very good point. Thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: John, thanks so much.

Hey, we've got this developing story we're following this morning. The U.S. condemning North Korea's rocket launch. Secretary of State John Kerry calling it a major provocation and we know the U.N. Security Council will hold an emergency meeting in just a few hours.

PAUL: We also know the Super Bowl 50 is today. Attention won't just be on the game though. Details on Beyonce's surprise announcement just before her halftime performance with Coldplay.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:50:50] BLACKWELL: Ten minutes until the top of the hour this morning. Let's turn now to our coverage of the North Korean rocket launch.

South Korea and the U.S. are to formally discuss deploying the THAAD missile system -- the defense system, rather, after North Korea successfully launched a rocket into space, and North Korea claims that it carried a satellite.

PAUL: Well, the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the launch deeply deplorable and a violation of the Security Council resolutions.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is live from Seoul.

So, Paula, here's the thing -- we've got the U.K., France, South Korea, Japan, all coming out condemning this, saying that they believe -- I mean, this is seen as a front for a ballistic missile test, not a satellite, per se.

So, wondering what the U.S. and these other countries are willing to do actionably after this?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the question, Christie and Victor. There has been condemnation, as you say, from around the world. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is clearly unconcerned by that. He

has gone against all the requests not to do the satellite launch and he has carried it out. And the North Korean state-run media has shown today as being a very successful day, shown photos of the North Korean leader looking happy. Scientists applauding the rocket launching and have said that that satellite is, in fact, in space.

Now, we do now from the South Korean defense minister, he believes the satellite may well be in orbit, but he doesn't know if it's functioning. So, of course, what can the U.S. and other allies do?

There's a limit to what they can do. What they've done in the past is they have had strong sanctions and that is what they're going to do again. But up until now, it has not prevented these launches.

BLACKWELL: All right, Paula Hancocks for us there in Seoul -- Paula, thank you so much.

All right. Still ahead, it is the big Sunday. Everybody has their nachos and their wings ready. Jerseys all ready.

PAUL: Even at 8:00, we're talking about it.

BLACKWELL: Yes, tailgating begins soon.

Now, Peyton Manning is trying for that last Super Bowl victory.

PAUL: Yes, but the honors just keep coming for Cam Newton, is the thing. Super Bowl 50 just hours away and we are taking you there live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:56:24] BLACKWELL: The accolades keep piling up for Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, named the NFL MVP last night.

PAUL: Of course, we're just hours away from Super Bowl 50. And a lot of people are saying, can he complete the nearly perfect season with a win?

BLACKWELL: Maybe.

PAUL: Nothing like some pressure there. Andy Scholes in Santa Clara, California, joining us now.

What are you hearing, Andy?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, guys. We're less than 11 hours away until kickoff. It's expected to be a beautiful day here in Santa Clara, California.

And what a match-up we've got here for Super Bowl 50, Broncos versus Panthers, Peyton Manning versus Cam Newton. As we just talk about, Cam Newton bringing home the NFL's MVP award last night, first MVP award for him. And you know what? Cam Newton, he's bold and brash. Earlier this

week, he said if the Panthers are playing their game at their best, they will win Super Bowl 50.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAM NEWTON, CAROLINA PANTHERS: If we're at our best and the other team is at their best, not just speaking on the Denver Broncos, just any other team, if we're at our best and another team is at their best, we'll still win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Now, the big question coming into today is, will Super Bowl 50 be the last game of Peyton Manning's legendary career?

Peyton now -- he wouldn't admit it this week when he was talking with the media that he's going to hang up the cleats after this one, but he did talk about how special it is to get another shot at a Super Bowl.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEYTON MANNING, DENVER BRONCOS: It's a special week. It's an exciting week. And it makes you very grateful for the opportunity, to have a chance to play in this game, Super Bowl 50. It's a special opportunity. I think our players understand that. We're embracing that. At the same time, we're getting prepared to play a really good team.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: If you want to get into the stadium for today's game, you better have some deep pockets. The cheapest ticket on StubHub going for just under $3,000. A ticket broker I spoke with said a pair of club seats for today's game he saw go for $27,000 each.

This game is going to go down as one of the most expensive tickets in sports history, guys. I hope just for those people who spent thousands of dollars on tickets that this is a close game and they get their money's worth.

PAUL: They would need to at that price.

BLACKWELL: I've got a free seat at my home.

PAUL: I know.

BLACKWELL: I'm going to take that one.

PAUL: With the nachos.

Andy Scholes, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Also, a big announcement from Beyonce. She dropped a new single late yesterday and video. If you didn't know, go find it. Beyonce says she will debut that brand-new single during her halftime performance at the Super Bowl.

(MUSIC VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

BLACKWELL: All right, other stories making headlines now.

Five people from the Czech Republic are dead after an avalanche in western Austria on Saturday. The 12 other skiers survived. This is the latest in a series of fatal avalanches in the French Alps. Last month, two students and one adult died when they skied on closed slopes.

PAUL: And Phoenix police are trying to find a mother and her child this morning. They say Veronica Brown and her 1-year-old son could be in danger. According to CNN affiliate KPHO, they were in a car when a man walked up, shot the driver, then got in the car and drove away with them. Police are not sure of the relationship between the shooter and the woman, but they are asking for the public's help to find them.

BLACKWELL: After 72 hours stuck in a sinkhole and two hours of digging by rescuers, Maverick is back home with his family in Missouri. They spent days searching for the 12-year-old German shepherd after he ran away from home and they heard a howl and they found him in that hole.

Thanks for watching this morning.

PAUL: Yes. Special edition of "INSIDE POLITICS" is with you now.