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Bill Clinton Accuses Sanders Supporters of Launching "Sexist" Attacks; Sanders Speech in New Hampshire; Sanders Responds to Bill Clinton's "Sexist" Comments; Madeleine Albright: Women Must Support Clinton; 60 ISIS Fighters Deployed to Europe Before Paris Attacks. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired February 08, 2016 - 13:30   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[13:30:00] BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It bothers me to be in an election where debates is impossible because, if you disagree, you're just part of the establishment. You'll have to forgive me, but I don't think your governor and your Senator, I don't think of them as establishment politicians. Nor do I think of the governor of Vermont, the only governor in the country to try to get single-payer health care, who had to give it up because it would have doubled the budget in the state, it wouldn't pass, that's hardly an establishment credential. I'm grateful that he's supporting Hillary.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: So what Bill Clinton is trying to do is urge young voters to sort of look beyond these easy labels of establishment and anti-establishment and get people to look at their record and what their experience can do here -- Wolf?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Jeff Zeleny, on the campaign trial, thanks for the update.

Just ahead, we'll get more on what's going. Look at the live pictures. There's Bernie Sanders at a rally New Hampshire. How does the campaign feel about Bill Clinton calling his supporters sexists? We'll talk live with Bernie Sanders' campaign manager. A whole lot more when we come back.

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[13:35:29] BLITZER: Bernie Sanders speaking at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire. I want to listen in quickly as well.

BERNIE SANDERS, (I), VERMONT & DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When we talk about the economy, we cannot ignore the elephant in the room, which is the greed, recklessness, and illegal behavior on Wall Street.

(APPLAUSE)

SANDERS: Now, there are a lot of people who would prefer not to talk about it, I will. I was in the House of Representatives, representing Vermont. I was on the House Banking Committee, and I saw the billions of dollar coming in from Wall Street in campaign contributions and lobbying to deregulate Wall Street. I helped lead the opposition against that deregulation. Was not successful. Wall Street got the government off of their backs. They were free to do what they wanted do. And we all know what the results of that freedom were.

(SHOUTING)

(LAUGHTER)

SANDERS: I wouldn't phrase it exactly like that.

(LAUGHER)

But it's close to the truth, OK. What happened is with the freedom that they got, that they bought, they were able to do whatever they wanted. It turns out they developed a business model which was essentially fraudulent. And they brought this economy into the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s. And what happened is millions of people lost their jobs, they lost their homes, and they lost their life savings. And against my vote, Congress bailed them out.

BLITZER: Bernie Sanders delivering his stump speech in these, the final hours before the New Hampshire primary.

As you know, Bill Clinton is accusing some of Bernie Sanders' backers of what he described as "sexist" attacks against Hillary Clinton. The Sanders campaign calling Bill Clinton's remarks, quote, "disappointing."

Jeff Weaver is Bernie Sanders' campaign manager and joins us live from Manchester now.

Give us your reaction to Bill Clinton's comments, what he said yesterday, and what he's saying today.

JEFF WEAVER, CAMPAIGN MANAGER, BERNIE SANDERS PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Wolf, this has been a hard-fought campaign in New Hampshire. We've tried to keep this focused on the important issues facing the people of New Hampshire. A rigged economy held up by a corrupt system of campaign finance, the need make college affordable for people, the need to make sure that people have health care. These are the issues. This is why Senator Sanders is ahead in New Hampshire. Unfortunately, the Clinton campaign, now that they find themselves behind, have really tried to turn this into a much nastier kind of conversation. And it's unfortunate in these final hours of the New Hampshire primary that they've sort of gone down this road.

BLITZER: They're blaming you guys. You know, you heard what she said at the debate last week that Bernie Sanders' campaign was engaged in artful smear in all of this. And they also are suggesting -- and you heard this from the former president, Bill Clinton -- that the Senator is being hypocritical on the Wall Street issue. We did some checking -- when we did some checking -- CNN checked that Bernie Sanders as a Senator hosted the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for retreats for top Democratic Party donors who gave more than $30,000 a year. And among those donors were those associated with Goldman Sachs and other banks, Wall Street banks, and investment houses. What do you say to that?

WEAVER: Well, what you mean to say is that the DSCC, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, hosted these events at Martha's Vineyard. They do it ever year. He showed up as a Democratic Senator. He never solicited money from Wall Street people or made any calls to Wall Street people. I can guarantee you that. Look, this is a distraction. The truth of the matter is that Bernie Sanders is the only one who does not have a super PAC in this race. He's not a wall street-funded candidate. He's not taken millions of dollars from financial interests in speaking fees. And you know, this is really a distraction, Wolf, from the real issues facing this country.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: He was not --

WEAVER: It's just unfortunate.

BLITZER: I want to be precise. That Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, events on Martha's Vineyard, he wasn't listed as a host sponsor of the event?

WEAVER: He -- he may have been listed on some materials. Let me tell you, that's an event that is organized by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee every year. It's an annual thing. They ask Democratic Senators to show up. And so he has done that in the past.

BLITZER: What's your expectation for tomorrow?

[13:40:05] WEAVER: You know, we are slightly ahead here. It is a hard-fought campaign. You know, the secretary has been on TV here since August. As you know, she won this state eight years ago. This is really the fourth Clinton primary election here. President Clinton had two here. This is Secretary Clinton's second. We expect a hard- fought campaign. It's snowing out here in New Hampshire. We don't know what that means. We hope to prevail by turning out the thousands and thousands of people who are rallying to Bernie's call to transform America.

BLITZER: Jeff Weaver, the Bernie Sanders campaign manager. Jeff, thank you very much for joining us.

WEAVER: Happy to be here, Wolf. Thanks.

BLITZER: Thank you.

Coming up, the first female secretary of state tries to elect the first female president of the United States. Will words get in the way? What Madeleine Albright is saying and how the Clinton campaign is responding.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:45:18] BLITZER: Hillary Clinton is strongly defending a remark by the former secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, about women voters. Here's what Albright said over the weekend. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: A lot of you younger women don't think you have to -- it's been done. It's not done. And you have to help. Hillary Clinton will always be there for you. And just remember, there's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Brian Fallon, press secretary for the Hillary Clinton campaign, joining us live from Manchester.

Brian, thank you very much.

You know, that's gotten a lot of buzz, what Madeleine Albright said. Give us your interpretation, your reaction to the criticism being leveled against her.

BRIAN FALLON, PRESS SECRETARY, HILLARY CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Well, I think that that comment by former Secretary Albright has been taken out of context and misinterpreted. It's a line she's used for years. At one point, a few years back, it was featured on a Starbucks coffee cup. She's invoked it over the years to make the point that, throughout her time in professional life, public service, she's encountered sexism and gender bias, and that it's important to realize that for all the gains that have been made, that she's seen there's still stereotypes and gender bias out there. I think that's the point she was attempting to make.

In terms of when it comes to the decision that female voters will make about Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side, we completely respect the fact that Senator Sanders will enjoy some support from women. We're proud of the support that we have from female voters in the Democratic primary. We're continuing to make appeals and talk about how she wants to focus on issues like pay equity, family leave, college affordability, that are important to voters. We know that Hillary Clinton is -- would bring a unique perspective to the Oval Office as the first female president. That's no small thing. And yet on the other hand, we're perfectly aware that no one is going to vote for Hillary Clinton based on her gender, nor should they, nor would we ask them to.

BLITZER: Bill Clinton's gone on the offensive against Bernie Sanders. He's saying stuff that Hillary Clinton has not said, some of the accusations that have been leveled against her. Is this a new strategy to get him more assertive on the campaign trail? FALLON: A lot of what he's said is consistent with points we've made

the last couple of weeks, and even points that Secretary Clinton made herself on the debate stage the other night with Senator Sanders standing right there. Our point is that for much of the campaign, appropriately, the focus was on the issues. We have certainly kept our criticisms of Senator Sanders on the issues. We've talked about his gun record. We've talked about how his health care plan doesn't add up. We've talked about how we disagree with his proposal to tax middle-class households. That's all fair and appropriate. That's a policy based disagreement.

What we've seen from Senator Sanders' campaign in the last weeks is increasingly veering away from policy and into personal style attacks. He's essentially sought to question her integrity by inference and implication, raising the specter of wall street donations and speaking fees, and suggesting at some point she's changed her position or been compromised based on taking contributions. At the same time, though, we've learned in the last couple of days, thanks to some reporting by CNN, among other outlets, that Senator Sanders himself through much of his time in the Senate has raised money and attended the FCC-sponsored fundraisers in Martha's Vineyard every summer, soliciting funds from those same financial services lobbyists that he decries. So I think if Senator Sanders is going to take the discussion in this direction, into personal style attacks of Secretary Clinton, it's fair to apply the same standard to him, and that's our only point. I think that's perfectly fair and appropriate.

BLITZER: You heard Jeff Weaver, the campaign manager for Bernie Sanders, say he attended those Martha's Vineyard fundraisers, and he may have been listed as some sort of host, but these were events put together and sponsored by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. He was just there.

FALLON: Well, I think he has more questions to answer about that, Wolf. Did he speak at these events? At whose invitation was he appearing at these events? And was his travel and his stay at the -- at Martha's Vineyard over these weekends, who was that paid for by? I think there's more questions still on the table they have shirked up until now.

Look, no one faults the -- Senator Sanders for helping the Democratic Party raise the funds necessary to keep the Senate and Democratic camps. That's a cause we all share. But it is Senator Sanders who has acted that -- who has suggested that the mere act of raising money from those tied to the financial services industry is cause for questioning one's integrity. Merely by the standard he has put forward and applied to Secretary Clinton, does it now make it relevant for him to have to answer for it as well?

[13:50:30] BLITZER: Brian Fallon, thanks very much for joining us.

FALLON: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Still to come, there's disturbing new information coming into CNN about the Paris attacks. We're now learning that the French capital wasn't the only target. We have new information when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: There's disturbing new information about the terror attacks in Paris. You remember on the night of November 13th, gunman and suicide bombers hit a concert hall, a major stadium, restaurants, a bar, almost simultaneously, and left 130 people dead and hundreds more wounded. Now, a counterterrorism source tells CNN as many as 60 ISIS fighters were deployed to Europe to attack not only Paris but four other cities.

Our terrorism analyst, Paul Cruickshank, is joining us. He's been getting this information.

Paul, explain to us the significance of this new intelligence information.

[13:55:16] PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Wolf, the significance is it came in before the Paris attacks, that six ISIS operatives had been deployed back to Europe, believed to be potentially on European soil, tasked not only with attacking Paris but also London, Berlin, a city in Belgium, as well as another city in Europe. But the intelligence was fragmentary and it was difficult to verify and it was too vague to act on. Of course, the Paris attacks got through, one of the most deadly attacks in European history.

But the concern that's been expressed to me by intelligence officials is that, say, there were 20 involved in the Paris attacks, in that wider conspiracy, that could mean there's 40 still out there possibly in Europe planning new ways of terrorism. Just yesterday, ISIS said that it might be planning, it's certainly threatened, simultaneous attacks in different parts of Europe, and it's taunting European counterterrorism services, saying perhaps 10 were back, perhaps 50 had been deployed to Europe to launch those attacks. ISIS increasingly pivoting towards international terrorism, focusing on the European members of the anti-ISIS coalition -- Wolf?

BLITZER: What do we know about these individuals? Where are they now?

CRUICKSHANK: They don't have that specificity. That's the concern. This was a very vague intelligence warning that came in. They didn't have any sort of awareness of moving parts of the Paris attacks before the Paris attacks took place. So they really do not know where they could be in Europe. This comes at a time when up to about 2,000 extremists who fought Iraq and Syria are believed to be back on European soil, so grave concern.

BLITZER: And very quickly, the assumption is this is being organized by the highest levels of ISIS, is that right?

CRUICKSHANK: Yes, that this went right to sort of the top of ISIS, one of the top leaders, the head of ISIS external operations division, believed to be behind this plotting, behind the Paris attacks. He was described to me as the very top of the targeting list -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Paul Cruickshank with that reporting. Thanks very much.

That's it for me.

The news continues right after a quick break.

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