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Republicans Gear Up for South Carolina Debate as Primary Looms; Nevada Critical Test for Clinton and Sanders; Pope Francis Visits Mexico; Al-Shabaab Claims Responsibility on Plane Bombing; Six Women Sue University of Tennessee; Supervisor Warned Water in Flint Not Ready for Drinking; Attacks Between GOP Candidates Flying. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired February 13, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:11] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, again, everyone, thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Just one week until one of the most influential and contentious Republican presidential primaries in South Carolina. And today is a critical day for the six remaining candidates who will face off tonight at a debate in Greenville. And as we saw in New Hampshire and Iowa, a debate can be a major game changer.

Republican presidential hopefuls are fired up and we are expected to hear a lot about three major topics. The split views on immigration, winning the evangelical vote, and in a state saturated with military men and women, they will be sparring for their vote, with military spending and veteran's affairs likely at the front and center of tonight's debate.

So let's talk more about what we can expect from tonight's Republican debate in South Carolina with CNN political commentator and Washington correspondent for the "New Yorker," Ryan Lizza, CNN Politics reporter MJ Lee, the director at the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia Larry Sabato, and politics editor at TheRoot.com and professor of political science at Hiram College, Jason Johnson.

All right. Good to see all of you.

JASON JOHNSON, POLITICS EDITOR, THEROOT.COM: Good to be here.

WHITFIELD: See if I can do good traffic copping here.

All right, so, MJ, you first. Ted Cruz releasing an ad attacking Trump using the word sleaze. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trump bankrolled politicians to steamroll the little guy. A pattern of sleaze stretching back decades.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: OK. So much for being more positive, MJ? MJ LEE, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, not seeing a lot of that

around here just a week away from the South Carolina primary. And this is because Donald Trump and Ted Cruz both badly want to win this state. The first southern primary of the 2016 race.

And look, they have had some tensions brewing for a while. And this is really crunch time. They each have one victory under -- under their belt, heading into South Carolina, and now they want to show that they really are the anti-establishment candidate. And so there's a lot at stake for the two of them.

And Donald Trump, of course, who doesn't like to be criticized, showing some frustration, tweeting yesterday that if Cruz keeps this up, maybe he'll just launch a lawsuit because Cruz is not a natural born citizen.

WHITFIELD: All right. And meantime, Trump then pulled an ad attacking Cruz and replaced it with a more positive message. Let's look at that one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have a country that we're proud of and that we love and that we're not going to lose. There's an assault on everything that we stand for and we're going to stop the assault. We will make America great again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Ryan, how influential are these ads really? I mean, do voters feel like they already know these candidates or are these ads designed to supplement that imagery or give a new image of who they might be?

RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, you know, so far this race spending money on ads has been a little bit of a mixed record. Look, Donald Trump shot to the head of the polls without running much advertising at all. He's changed that strategy a little bit. He put some money into Iowa, a little bit of money into New Hampshire.

In New Hampshire the guy that was the victim of the most negative ads was probably Marco Rubio. And they certainly had some impact. But as you pointed out in the setup, Rubio's problem may have been that last debate right before the voting in New Hampshire.

Jeb Bush has spent millions of dollars on positive ads to boost his name -- to boost his poll numbers and they didn't do much at all, so I think overall in this campaign we have seen a bit of a decline in the impact of TV advertising and you have one candidate, Donald Trump, who absolutely dominated the campaign so far, almost only through the use of so-called earned media, just getting on CNN and FOX and MSNBC all the time.

WHITFIELD: And looking at the polling, you know, Trump dominating particularly over Cruz in South Carolina. And so I wonder, Jason, this evangelical vote, quite influential, very important for that state and other places. Ted Cruz has been kind of going into this thinking, you know, that represents a good bit of his backing. But then there's Trump.

JOHNSON Look, Trump is going to do well with people who are conservative, he's going to do well with people who are angry at the government, he's going to do well with people who want outsiders.

The evangelical vote, you know, they were supposed to be split with Huckabee and Santorum and Cruz, and that didn't happen. Trump does well with evangelical vote as well. So what Cruz is really looking to do in South Carolina is keep himself from being blown out of the water. And for all of those Republicans who were like, I will never vote for Donald Trump, I think he's an actual embarrassment to the party, he's hoping he can get them and evangelicals to make it a Trump-Cruz race for the next couple of months.

WHITFIELD: And then, Larry, you know, let's talk about spontaneity.

[13:05:03] When any of these candidates are on stage at a debate, it really is a test of, you know, just how quick of a thinker they can be. And we saw, you know, it was the demise of Rubio in New Hampshire, he didn't do so great. So how much pressure is on all of those candidates tonight to look unscripted?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Well, I think there's considerable pressure, particularly on the ones who need to win South Carolina or who are supposed to win South Carolina, maybe a little less pressure on John Kasich. This isn't his state, it isn't his territory.

But look, I celebrate the fact that real events, even if they're staged like debates and news coverage, that are having more impact on the results of the campaign than television advertising. That is always very scripted and it's manipulative. Some of the things that are said in debates are manipulative, too. But as we've learned unless you don't go to the debate even because you haven't qualified or like Donald Trump did once, you decide that you don't need to, unless you don't show up, then you have that opportunity to either make a terrific positive impression or to hurt your candidacy by doing poorly.

WHITFIELD: And, Ryan, you know, during that debate in New Hampshire it was Chris Christie who really kind of redirected everything and everyone.

LIZZA: Yes.

WHITFIELD: He will be absent, he's not there. He suspended, you know, his participation here in the race for the White House. How do you see this impacting the dynamics here tonight?

LIZZA: Well, I think the biggest thing to come out of New Hampshire is that New Hampshire did not quite do its traditional role in winnowing the field closer to a two or three-person race. And this is benefitting Donald Trump because Trump has a, you know, 25 percent to 35 percent support in most states and nationally, and the alternatives to him, who are drawing from the same pool of voters are divided.

And so, you know, we only got -- Chris Christie is the only major candidate that dropped out after New Hampshire. Carly Fiorina did also but she wasn't really a player anymore. And so Trump is in cat bird seat right now. A close second place in Iowa, a smashing victory in New Hampshire, and a divided opposition. And I don't see any reason to think that South Carolina is going to be a whole lot different than what happened in New Hampshire. So he's in very good shape right now.

WHITFIELD: And, MJ, what about Ben Carson?

LEE: Yes. The one candidate that we haven't been talking about a lot. Look, this is a candidate who briefly had a moment at the top of the polls, he was doing very well in Iowa because of the constituency that makes up the voters in that state. He was appealing to evangelicals, he was appealing to conservatives, and then his moment just sort of passed. And look, if he were doing as well as he was in Iowa at one point, South Carolina is a state that, you know, he could theoretically be doing very well. But I think the question for him going forward is, is there a path for him when, you know, this is a race now really dominated by Donald Trump and Ted Cruz and, you know, three or four other candidates that are really vying to be the establishment candidate. What is really the path for Ben Carson when he doesn't seem to have a momentum?

WHITFIELD: And then a distinguishing, you know, part of the criteria could be on immigration, you know, Jason. How any of these candidates kind of distinguish themselves as having a plan that is palpable, particularly for South Carolinians?

JOHNSON Well, it's really hard because Trump moved that immigration conversation so far to the right, and so now you have Cruz trying to follow him, you have different people talking about how you're going to build a wall. And what this really kind of boils down to is this, and this is something Larry sort of mentioned, you know, there was this belief that after New Hampshire that eventually all of the establishment candidates, the Chris Christies and the Jeb Bushes that would drop out, they get around Rubio like the Power Rangers or something, he'd be the big Republican who can finally take out Donald Trump. And it didn't work that way.

What we see is people like Chris Christie and Ben Carson, they're now supporting Trump. And when Carson drops out, he'll probably support Trump. So I think Trump is going to be more powerful. And his immigration plan will be the default for Republicans going forward.

WHITFIELD: Wow. All right, Jason Johnson, Larry Sabato, MJ Lee, Ryan Lizza, thanks to all of you. Good to see you. Thanks so much.

And of course CNN has special coverage of tonight's GOP debate. Tune in immediately following the debate with CNN's Erin Burnett. And that should be around 11:00 p.m. Eastern tonight.

Now coming up, historically, Hillary Clinton has polled high with minority voters, but with Bernie Sanders' growing popularity, a super PAC is cracking open its war chest for Hillary Clinton, reallocating millions specifically for the South Carolina primary.

What does all of that mean next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:12:53] WHITFIELD: All right. Ahead of the Nevada caucuses, you see the crowd right there very excited. It was Bernie Sanders who was center stage there in Reno, Nevada, talking about trying to better secure a free college education for people. And you could see the backdrop there mostly very young people. A segment of the voting populace that Bernie Sanders does not want to take for granted. In fact in large part his campaign is crediting the younger vote for having to help him catapult a win in New Hampshire.

All right. Also in Nevada, Hillary Clinton also stumping for some support there. Let's take a look at some live pictures at a rally that is about to get under way very soon there in Henderson. Can we take a look? All right. Well, when that happens, we'll be able to take you there to Henderson, Nevada. There are some still images.

Clinton will be shaking hands with voters again. Her campaign is more invested in South Carolina, but right now she's spending a little time in Nevada because that caucus also right around the corner.

CNN is learning that a Clinton super PAC is launching a $4.5 million effort into gaining more minority voters in South Carolina. This was funding originally reserved for the general election.

So let's talk more about this with Democratic strategist Bill Carrick.

So how are the tea leaves being read there? How are you?

BILL CARRICK, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I'm fine. Well, that's obviously good news for the Clinton campaign, and clearly in South Carolina which in 2008 had African-American participation of 55 percent of the total primary electorate. It is very significant. So obviously we're now getting away from the almost all white constituencies in Iowa and New Hampshire and both Nevada and South Carolina, we're going to see actually how African-Americans and Latino voters play a role in this campaign, and whether we're going to continue to see the same age split among these voters that we've seen in Iowa and New Hampshire.

[13:15:05] WHITFIELD: I mean, these are very different states, but as far as you know, you know, about the electorate, while we know in New Hampshire younger voters were believed to be very active in the primary. What do we know about Nevada and South Carolina as to whether the younger voters do like to be politically involved, whether they will be, you know, going to the polling stations in big numbers?

CARRICK: Well, you know, I grew up in South Carolina. And I have a lot of friends there. And the ones I talk to see a lot of interest among younger voters, particularly on the college campuses. South Carolina has a lot of them.

And I think Nevada is obviously -- in 2008, both in Nevada and in South Carolina, there was pretty high turnout in Nevada caucuses and South Carolina primary, and it was a pretty high turnout among younger voters. We'll see if that keeps up. I mean, obviously President Obama set records for turnout in many places. We will see if that -- we see that same kind of participation that we saw in '08.

WHITFIELD: And, you know, by mid January, Sanders had hired twice the number of staffers on the ground in Nevada, you know, according to Politico reporting, similar to New Hampshire where in 2008 Clinton won. In Nevada, she picked up the -- you know, the popular vote over Obama. He got the most delegates. So, you know, she is going into this saying while history may indicate she did well to a certain extent, she's not going to take any of this for granted. She is feeling like she really has to work for every vote.

How unusual would that be in your view?

CARRICK: Well, I think, you know, first of all, the Sanders campaign is smart to invest a lot of resources and putting people on the ground in Nevada, 1700 precincts. So that is a complex system just like Iowa, except you have less time to get it done, so they're smart to do it, and Secretary Clinton is smart to campaign there and to be there today.

It's a very retail system. A lot of door knocking, a lot of getting people out to vote. So it's very important to have those resources. Having young volunteers is a big edge because they'll spend a lot of time working on it, they can be pretty passionate.

WHITFIELD: All right. Bill Carrick, thank you so much. Good to see you. Appreciate it.

CARRICK: Allrighty. Thanks so much.

WHITFIELD: All right. Former secretary of state Madeleine Albright is now apologizing for comments that she made a week ago at a Clinton campaign event in New Hampshire. Albright used one of her most well- known quotes when voicing her support for Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: We can tell our story about how we climbed the ladder, and a lot of you younger women don't think you have -- 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Well, those comments didn't sit well with a lot of female voters and a conversation about which candidate best represented women erupted on the campaign trail. In today's "New York Times," Albright writes this, quote, "I absolutely believe what I said, that women should help one another, but this was the wrong context and the wrong time to use that line. I did not mean to argue that women should support a particular candidate based solely on gender, but I understand that I came across as condemning those who disagree with my political preferences. If heaven were open only to those who agree on politics, I imagine it would be largely unoccupied."

All right. Pope Francis giving some tough love in Mexico. He's challenging the nation to end human trafficking and disrupt organized crime.

And these live pictures of the Pope's visit there in Mexico City.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:22:41] WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Strong words this morning from Russia's prime minister saying the strained relationship between Russia and the West could be described as a new Cold War.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DMITRY MEDVEDEV, RUSSIAN PRIME MINISTER: NATO's policy with regard to Russia remains unfriendly and opaque. One could go as far as to say that we have sled back to a new Cold War, almost on an everyday basis we are called one of the most terrible threats either to NATO as a whole or to Europe or to the United States. Sometimes I wonder whether it is 2016 we live in or 1962.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: NATO supreme allied commander in Europe has since told CNN that he does not agree with Russia's assessment that NATO and Russia have slid into a new Cold War.

And large adoring crowds greet Pope Francis on his first full day in Mexico.

Always a great scene when he's kissing the little babies. He is there for five days to address key issues. Top on his agenda, warring cartels that devastated the country. Just in the past nine years in Mexico, a staggering 80,000 murders have been attributed to organized crime.

CNN correspondent Shasta Darlington is in Mexico City for us.

So, Shasta, people clearly extremely excited to see the Pope. And what about his message? Are they, you know, inspired by his message as well?

SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They really are, Fredricka. That's part of the reason you're seeing all of these people turning out.

I just want to show you here, these people are lining up just one point along the papal route because they expect Pope Francis to pass by in about half an hour on his way to lunch at the Vatican residence. And they are thrilled. They are ecstatic that somebody is paying attention to them, highlighting the problems here.

We have seen people holding up flags that say "I love Paquito." Calling him a brother. A real Mexican. And you know, this -- they're also getting news about the speeches that he is giving. He just spoke to the bishops saying you just can't underestimate the importance of fighting against drug trafficking. Before that, he spoke to the president of Mexico and had some pretty harsh words there. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[13:25:05] POPE FRANCIS, CATHOLIC CHURCH LEADER (Through Translator): Experience teaches us that each time we seek the path of privileges or benefits for a few to the detriment of the good of all, sooner or later the life of society becomes fertile soil for corruption, drug trade, the exclusion of different cultures, violence, and also human trafficking, kidnapping and death bringing suffering and slowing down development.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DARLINGTON: Definitely tough love. We expect to hear more of that during his five days here -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Shasta Darlington, thank you so much in Mexico City.

And this just in, in this country 5.1 magnitude earthquake just hit Oklahoma. The epicenter was about 20 miles north of the city of Fairview. The shaking was followed by another 3.9 quake just 10 minutes after. Local sheriff's officials say there are no reports of damage as of yet, but they did get a pretty good shake. In the past month, Oklahoma has experienced dozens of smaller earthquakes. But today's 5.1 had the largest magnitude this year.

All right. Still to come. A terrorist blown out of the sky by his own bomb. Now terror group al Shabaab is taking responsibility. Why they're admitting things didn't go as planned.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Mortgage rates keep dropping. They have fallen for six straight weeks. Take a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:30:14] WHITFIELD: Hello, again, everyone. And thanks so much for joining me, I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Terror organization al-Shabaab now is claiming responsibility for setting off a bomb on a Somalia airliner. A laptop rigged with military grade TNT exploded mid-flight. The bomber was the only one to die in the attack after falling from a hole in that plane. Al- Shabaab admits that bombing did not go as planned, but the terror group vows to continue targeting Western intelligence teams operating in Somalia. CNN's Brian Todd has more on the suicide attack and how the bomber

managed to get explosives on the plane.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Crucial new evidence in a horrifying terror attack. Closed Circuit TV footage from the Mogadishu airport. On the right side of the screen, two airport employees who are now suspects. One of them is holding what appears to be a laptop computer. Just seconds later, one of the men hands the computer to a third man. The computer, a source says, was packed with explosives.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: It's chilling, frankly, to see this, you know, because this is -- you know, if you and I were in this lounge right now, you'd see these people and you can see them handing off that laptop, you wouldn't think twice of it.

TODD: The man the laptop bomb was handed to, Abdullahi Abdisalam Borleh. And what he did with it, according to Somali sources, was try to blow up the Somali passenger jet.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, the moment the Somalis clearly suspect that he was a willing participant, that he planned to be a suicide bomber, that he positioned himself on the aircraft at a place where he could create the maximum amount of damage.

TODD: The bomb ripped a hole in the fuselage. Borleh was killed when he was blown out of the hole. His right hand and right foot are missing. The pilot made an emergency landing. Amazingly, no one else was killed in the February 2nd attack.

Now a source close to the investigation tells CNN correspondent Robyn Kriel the laptop bomb was sophisticated and got passed a fairly advanced x-ray machine at the Mogadishu airport.

CNN is told one of those airport employees who were suspects placed the laptop on an x-ray belt before it was handed to the bomber in the departure lounge.

O'BRIEN: The capabilities that they would have to get through security by doing a little bit of social engineering, just distracting or saying, hey, I got this one, open up all kinds of sinister possibilities.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Brian Todd, thank you for that report. Very disturbing.

Al-Shabaab says the attack targeted Western intelligence officials and Turkish NATO forces before the airplane -- boarding that airplane bound for Djibouti.

All right. Six women are suing the University of Tennessee, alleging the school protected the football and basketball teams instead of investigating rape accusations. We talk to one of the women who filed suit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:36:35] WHITFIELD: The University of Tennessee is facing a rape scandal. On Tuesday, six women filed a federal lawsuit against the school saying it created a culture that allowed rape. The lawsuit points specifically at the university's failure to investigate sexual assault allegations made against players on the football and basketball teams.

CNN correspondent Nick Valencia talked to one of the women suing the school.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The allegations in the lawsuit are staggering. Six women, each of them current or former students at the University of Tennessee, each one alleges that they were sexually discriminated after reporting a rape by a university student athlete between 2013 and 2015.

In the Title 9 lawsuit filed against the University of Tennessee this week, the plaintiffs say the university created a, quote, "hostile sexual environment to female students." The culture of indifference was so bad, the women say, that the university interfered with getting justice against their alleged attackers.

Two of the athletes named in the lawsuit are currently awaiting trial for their rape charges. But in the other cases, the victims claim, the school did nothing to help.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We came together to change the environment, to change what is done about sexual assault.

VALENCIA: It's CNN's policy not to name the victims of a sexual assault or rape. One of the women identified in the lawsuit as Jane Doe 1, spoke to CNN by phone. She describes what happened the night of her alleged assault.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We started by watching a movie. And then he forced me to give him oral sex. And then he took my clothes off and he got on top of me and restrained me by my wrist and started raping me. And then he looked me in the face. His face changed, and he looked at me and he said, "Let me tell you something. I don't like you, do you hear me? I don't like you."

VALENCIA: She says that she went immediately to the police after the incident and even went to the hospital the next day where a rape kit test was done. She says the results of that exam were never tested by police or the district attorney.

Responding to the allegation, the district attorney's office told CNN that there were several reasons they declined to prosecute. They went on to say, "Ethical rules prohibit the district attorney general's office from making extrajudicial statements about pending cases." Ultimately CNN legal analyst Phil Holloway says the victims will have

to prove that a culture of indifference existed at the University of Tennessee.

PHIL HOLLOWAY, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: That creates this environment on campus that is hostile towards women and therefore treats women who are victims of sexual assault differently than it treats everybody else.

VALENCIA: As for the university, it released a statement to CNN that read in part, "In the situations identified in the lawsuit filed today, the university acted lawfully and in good faith, and we expect a court to agree. Any assertion that we do not take sexual assault seriously enough is simply not true. To claim that we have allowed a culture to exist contrary to our institutional commitment to providing a safe environment for our students or that we do not support those who report sexual assault is just false."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. I'm joined now by Nick Valencia and CNN legal analyst Philip Holloway.

All right. Good to see both of you. Now is there a feeling that, you know, trying to go after the university, that it's, you know, a cultural problem, that they have kind of the legal I guess legs in which to stand on?

[13:40:13] Do they have the kind of evidence necessary to really pursue this case? Is there confidence?

VALENCIA: What these Jane Does are saying is they're saying there's nothing that's going to be done about our rape, so we're not going to pursue criminal charges because we've already tried that and nothing has happened. The university didn't help us out, they don't feel the local police did enough, certainly not the district attorney in the cases of Jane Doe one through six.

So what they're saying now, Fred, is they want a cultural shift on campus. They don't want women, female students that come after them to go through the same things because they feel their voices are not heard. So yes, they are seeking monetary damages. But most importantly, they want this cultural mind shift there at the campus.

WHITFIELD: This sounds like a tough case to battle, or is it not?

HOLLOWAY: Well, they've certainly got a lot of evidence in terms of the testimonial evidence that will be given by all of the Jane Does. They also have circumstantial evidence, Fred, about incidents that have occurred in the past, and they point to that in the 64, 65-page complaint, it's very lengthy.

Now we don't have the response to it, but on its face it makes out a prima facie case of the Title 9 violation. Title 9 is a federal statute that protects against sex discrimination by any university that accepts federal funding. So that's why we're in federal court. WHITFIELD: To literally level the playing field particularly as it

pertains to athletics on campus.

HOLLOWAY: It has to do -- yes, it has to do with access to educational programs and opportunities and you cannot discriminate on the basis of sex. And then that includes sexual assault.

WHITFIELD: So how does that intertwined -- and how is that intertwined to here then?

HOLLOWAY: Well, these ladies are claiming that the school engaged in a pattern and practice of indifference essentially that they would do things like manipulate the internal grievance system so that it favors the athletes or the accused persons, and basically moves everything over into this administrative system and forgets about the criminal system. So if the university has its sort of thumb on the scale that makes this thing one sided in favor of the accused, that is a problem under Title 9 and it can cost them big.

WHITFIELD: And would it be up the university's contention, though, that it would be up to local authorities to further investigate not necessarily the university, and so the university would be able to say, you know, well, the culture is not within the campus, but perhaps if there is a culture, you bring those accusations against a local police department that may have began this investigation first or did not follow through it with the investigation?

VALENCIA: Well, the allegations listed in this lawsuit. They're going after individuals. They're going after the coach at the University of Tennessee saying he knows his players on the football team have engaged in these kinds of actions. The chancellor, saying that the vice chancellor actually went to the chancellor and the president at one point in 2013 and said let me address these issues, this rape culture so to speak on campus because there's a lot of issues going on.

As a matter of fact, the attorney for these defendants, they're saying that this is not right to have this guy who is a head of Board of Athletics at the University of Tennessee, a past athlete who may have influence with the district attorney or police department to make sure the athletes aren't held accountable for their actions. They just feel like they were done wrong and justice wasn't served in these cases, despite the physical evidence being there.

You see Jane Doe's case, number one, who says I went to the hospital, I went to the police. I had a rape kit test done and those results, that exam, was never tested by the district attorney. They're throwing their hands up and saying, why did that not happen? Physical evidence is there. This person did rape me.

WHITFIELD: And is this -- an issue or case that may take a matter of months in which to really get some traction or is this something, because you're talking about a -- you know, the accusations involving, you know, cultural change on a college campus or is this something that's going to be prolonged over a period of time? HOLLOWAY: The litigation could take awhile. But we've seen in the

last several years or maybe decade or so, claims under Title 9 are becoming more and more prevalent. University of Georgia got hit in 2007 and then we saw the James Winston settlement for almost $1 million not too long ago at the Florida State. So the U.S. Department of Education and Office of Civil Rights has published these documents that they distribute to all the Title 9 schools basically saying look, we are going to make sure that you people follow these rules because if you're going to accept federal money, you have got to delineate a specific internal process that you've got to treat these claims fairly, you've got to adjudicate them timely, and it's got to be a fair process, and you cannot discriminate on the basis of sex, and that includes sexual assault.

WHITFIELD: All right. Philip Holloway, Nick Valencia, thanks so much, gentlemen. Appreciate it.

HOLLOWAY: You bet.

VALENCIA: All right.

WHITFIELD: All right. The whole Flint water disaster could have been avoided. We have an e-mail from the city's water supervisor sent eight days before the city switched its supply, warning that the water was not ready for drinking yet. That is next.

[13:45:01]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

New concerns are emerging today about the Flint water system and whether the city in Michigan was prepared to switch to a new water source. E-mails just released from the city's former laboratory and water supply supervisor sent to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality are dated eight days before officials switched the city's water source from the Great Lakes to the Flint River.

The e-mails are part of a large data dump by the State Department last night. Here's what was written in the e-mail by the Michigan's water quality supervisor, saying, quote, "I do not anticipate giving the OK to begin sending water out any time soon. If water is distributed from this plant in the next couple of weeks, it will be against my direction. I need time to adequately train additional staff and to update our monitoring plans before I will feel we are ready. I will reiterate this to management above me, but they seem to have their own agenda," end quote.

We've reached out to the water supervisor for more information, but haven't heard back, and we don't know what response he received after this e-mail. We do know that switching that water supply has proven to be disastrous for Flint, Michigan.

[13:50:02] In a CNN exclusive, CNN correspondent Sara Ganim spoke to a county health official who says the state deliberately prevented him from investigating an outbreak of Legionnaires'.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA GANIM, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the summer of 2014, people in Flint started dying in what would become one of the worse outbreaks of Legionnaire's disease in U.S. history.

JIM HENRY, DIRECTOR, GENESEE COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT: We're suspecting the city of Flint water supply.

GANIM: After the city began drawing from the highly corrosive Flint River, brown water started flowing from taps.

HENRY: That was the big red flag.

GANIM: Eventually toxic lead would be discovered. But that summer, the county health director hadn't found the source of the Legionnaire's disease, which by that point was already killing people, so we got in touch with the CDC.

(On camera): When you reached out, what did you expect to happen?

HENRY: We expected that we would have a team of people that would help us identify the source of this bacteria, the source of this illness, to stop it.

GANIM (voice-over): But that didn't happen. The Centers for Disease Control, the federal agency tasked with investigating outbreaks, didn't show up. And the county health director, Jim Henry, says Michigan state officials purposely kept them away.

HENRY: Our whole team was angry. It was -- you could see that it was an intentional, deliberate method to prevent us from doing our job.

GANIM: According to CDC protocol, a state must invite the CDC to investigate an outbreak. And Michigan did not do that.

HENRY: The state stopped our investigation by prohibiting us to communicate. They prohibited communication between the Center for Disease Control and Genesee County Health Department. They prevented that team to come here and help us find the source.

GANIM: Legionella thrives in warm weather and Henry says he was racing against the clock trying to prevent another outbreak from happening the following summer. Still hoping the CDC would come and pinpoint the cause.

HENRY: It was infuriating.

GANIM: Michigan state officials did provide assistance but never found the cause of the outbreak. The state would not agree to an interview, saying only this, "We were able to meet the epidemiological case investigation need in the county. CDC was a part of these conversations as they were involved in many aspects of the investigations." But the CDC tells CNN that it felt a comprehensive investigation was

warranted and offered to further assist Michigan. In this case, Michigan felt that they had the skills and resources needed to perform the investigation themselves.

As the weather warmed in 2015 just as Henry had feared, there was a second wave of cases. But to Henry's astonishment, the state had already declared the Legionnaires' outbreak over.

(On camera): When you read that, what did you think?

HENRY: There must be a mistake. We had two new cases in June, we had multiple cases, and to determine the outbreak over must have been some sort of mistake.

GANIM: That's what you thought at the time?

HENRY: That's what I thought at the time.

GANIM: What do you think now?

HENRY: It was intentional, to stop the investigation. That would implicate the Flint water system in this outbreak.

GANIM (voice-over): By summer's end, four more people would die, including 58-year-old Deborah Kidd. Her son Troy says she got sick after visiting the E.R. for a migraine. She didn't know there were high levels of Legionella in the hospital water supply. His family is now suing the hospital and the state.

TROY KIDD, MOTHER DIED OF LEGIONNAIRES' DISEASE: I think it's a cover-up. I think it stinks. I think they knew there was something more going on than what they wanted to really let on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GANIM: Fred, the CDC did finally make it to Flint last week but experts tell us it's likely too late to make any kind of scientific link. So to this day they still don't know the exact cause of that outbreak and they may never know.

WHITFIELD: My goodness. All right. Sara Ganim, thank you so much for that report.

And we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:57:53] WHITFIELD: Welcome back. Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are both quiet on the campaign trail today as they prepare for tonight's GOP debate, but the war of words between them has turned nastier than ever.

Here's CNN's Sunlen Serfaty.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump's pledge to stay above the fray in South Carolina short lived. Trump blasting rival Ted Cruz on Twitter writing, quote, "If Ted Cruz doesn't clean up his act, stop cheating and doing negative ads I'm standing to sue him for not being a natural born citizen."

Just hours after posting this, quote, "How can Ted Cruz be an evangelical Christian when he lied so much and is so dishonest?"

Cruz returning fire.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's more than a little irony in Donald accusing anyone of being nasty, given the amazing torrent of insults and obscenities and vulgarities that come out of his mouth.

SERFATY: This new offensive comes a day after Trump showed up a lighter side in Louisiana, even autographing a baby and suggesting he was ready to go positive.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I won't use foul language. I'm just not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. They're all saying do it, do it. No. I'm not.

SERFATY: But Trump couldn't stay out of the all-out fight breaking out in the South Carolina trenches.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's nothing conservative about giving money to the Clintons. There's nothing conservative about Donald Trump.

SERFATY: The airwaves plastered with negative ads.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ted Cruz voted to undermine our national defense and weaken our ability to track terrorists. Marco Rubio is different.

SERFATY: The attacks between the candidates are flying back and forth with a dizzying pace.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maybe you should vote for more than just a pretty face next time?

SERFATY: That ad is backfiring on Cruz. His campaign is pulling it off the air after it was revealed that actress is also an adult film star.

CRUZ: It was designed to be a fun, light, cute ad. It happened that one of the actresses who was there had a -- had a more colorful film history than we were aware.

SERFATY: Cruz's team is re-focusing today with a new ad directing fire instead at Hillary Clinton.

In a spoof of the movie "Office Space."