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Scalia's Death Leaves Questions About Court's Future; Trump Says Bush Should Have Used Family Sooner; George W. Bush Hits The Campaign Trail; Republican President Town Halls Live From South Carolina; GOP Senators Vow To Block Obama Nominee; Hillary Clinton Adds A Day In Nevada; Interview with Sen. Patrick Leahy. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired February 15, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's noon in Mexico City, 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 8:00 p.m. in Damascus, Syria. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We're keeping an eye on two major developing stories right now. First, the fallout from the surprise passing of the U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Antonin Scalia. And the political battle between the White House and the Republican-controlled Senate over his possible replacement.

Also today, former President George W. Bush makes his much-anticipated return to the political spotlight. He'll hit the campaign trail in South Carolina to support his brother, Jeb Bush, who spent a good part of the weekend defending the family name.

But we start on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court where the flags are now at half-staff in honor of the dean of the current lineup of justices. Thirty-year veteran Antonin Scalia passed away over the weekend.

Our Senior Washington Correspondent Joe Johns is at the court for us right now. Joe, first of all, what do we know about memorial plans?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: The -- frankly, I've talked to them just a little while ago, still no word on what is going to happen here at the court or elsewhere. Waiting for word. You know, he does have a large family, nine children, the Scalia family does. So, we're waiting for word on that, Wolf.

We know, also, that justice Scalia was a devout catholic, in his own words, attended mass at a church in Falls Church, Virginia. We know, also, that previous justices have had memorial services right here at the court.

In fact, in 2005, John Roberts, who was later confirmed as the chief justice of the Supreme Court was one of the pallbearers. So, there are options for a memorial service here, something at a church, maybe both, just waiting for word. Haven't heard anything yet -- Wolf.

BLITZER: What about -- as far as the courts business is concerned right now. Do they move ahead? Will there be a delay in the schedule with just eight justices on the -- on the court right now?

JOHNS: Well, as you know, the court works much better with an odd number of justices so that in the event of a close case, there's one person who can break the tie. With eight justices, it becomes a lot more difficult. The court is expected to go forward with its business to the extent its possible.

If there is a close case and a four-four tie, then that case would not be presidential. In other words, the lower court's ruling would hold.

So, other options would be for John Roberts and the other justices to rehear cases at a later date or simply put them off until a nominee is confirmed. That could be some time given the posture on Capitol Hill right now -- Wolf.

BLITZER: It certainly could be. All right, Joe, thank you.

Let's get to the presidential race right now. A familiar face on the Republican campaign trail today. The former president, George W. Bush makes his return to the campaign trail today in South Carolina. The big event is an evening rally with his brother, Jeb Bush.

Our Athena Jones is joining us live from North Charleston in South Carolina right now. Athena, this is the former president's first time on the campaign trail at his brother's side. Why now?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf. That's a very good question. Governor Bush was asked that question on State of the Union. And he said, this is the right time, when the interest level is high, when people are watching. He also, interestingly, said, we're nearing the beginning of this process.

Now, a lot of folks might say, look people have been interested in the GOP race for the nomination for months. And they've been watching closely for months. And we are far from the beginning of this process. We're at the third contest coming up on Saturday, and that's what this is all about. Governor Bush finished sixth in Iowa, had fourth in New Hampshire. He really wants to have a strong showing here in South Carolina. And he's hoping to bring out -- his brother is going to help him do that.

But, of course, as we saw on the debate stage on Saturday, on the Sunday morning -- Sunday talk shows. Also, on Twitter, Donald Trump has been relentless in going after both Jeb Bush and his brother, George W. Bush. Take a listen to him talking just now in Mt. Pleasant just a few miles from here. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Jeb Bush, who I don't think is going to do very well, even though his brother is coming into town which is, of course, lovely. Ever ask yourself why his brother went silent for all these years? No, don't ask yourself that. But his brother's coming in. And it's nice. I mean, he -- frankly, I think he should have used his family a long time ago. I think he would've done better. I told him, I said, why didn't you use the last name? You'll do better. Believe me, it's better than a hyphen. It's better than exclamation points.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: So, there Donald Trump offering Jeb Bush a little bit of advice. Here's the thing, this state has been very good to the Bushes in the past, both George W. Bush and his father, George H. W. Bush, won primary victories here. And so, that is why we're seeing the former president coming out tonight at his brother's side -- Wolf.

[13:05:15] BLITZER: As you know, Athena, South Carolina is a stronghold for veteran military -- military veterans. In the 2012 Republican primary, 21 percent of the voters then identified themselves as military veterans. Does president Bush help secure at least a bigger chunk of that veteran vote for his brother?

JONES: Well, the hope is that he'll help at least somewhat. And one of the Bush aides described this race in South Carolina as a demander in chief test. Where a lot of the voters here will care a great deal about that commander-in-chief role, the head of the military, with such a strong, such a big military and former military population here.

The Bush campaign's chief strategist, David Kochel, told me that they expect Bush to do well here because he has the skills to be commander in chief. It's one thing that Governor Bush said he expected his brother to make -- to make the case for, that he knows what it takes to be commander in chief and that Jeb Bush, from his years as governor, has the skills to do it. And so, that is certainly the hope of the campaign.

And aid also told me that the fact that Governor Bush is one of the first candidates to spell out a plan -- maybe the first candidate to spell out a plan for defeating ISIS is something that could be helpful to him here in this state.

And so, they're pulling out all the stops, this is, in many ways, another stage, a new stage in the race for Jeb Bush -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Athena, for that report.

And reminder to our viewers, you'll be able to see president George W. Bush's campaign stop. We'll have live coverage coming up later today in the "SITUATION ROOM" 6:00 p.m. Eastern.

While George W. Bush has stayed out of the race until now, his name was invoked plenty of times in Saturday night's Republican presidential debate. Senator Marco Rubio offered praise but Donald Trump fired insults, blaming the former president for the U.S. not being prepared for the 911 attacks and for the war in Iraq. Jeb Bush fired back but that didn't stop Trump. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am sick and tired of him going after my family. My dad is the greatest man alive in my mind. And while Donald Trump was building a reality T.V. show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe. And I'm proud of what he did. And he's had the gall to go after my brother.

TRUMP: The World Trade Center came down --

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, let's discuss. Joining us now from Manchester, New Hampshire is Andrew Card. He was the former White House chief of staff under President George W. Bush. He's now the president of the Franklin Pierce University. Andy Card, thanks very much for joining us. I want to get your reaction to the Trump attacks that we heard Saturday night at that debate. He said -- basically, he said that 911, you can blame President Bush because there were warnings. He didn't do anything about it to prevent 911 from happening. What's your reaction to that?

ANDREW CARD, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF, GEORGE W. BUSH: That denies the reality of the situation. I was there. And I did read the intelligence. And I did know about Al Qaeda. I did know about Osama Bin Laden. And no one took the expectation that there was going to be a plane used as a weapon of mass destruction on September 11, 2001. It did happen.

And president Bush demonstrated phenomenal discipline and great leadership to guide our country after that attack. And it was an attack. It wasn't just a terrorist attack. It was a massive attack on this country.

And George W. Bush did a phenomenal of providing strong leadership. He rallied the world. He didn't do it to make friends. He did it to protect us. And the effort that he put in to gaining the respect of our allies, gaining the admiration of the neutrals and introducing fear to our enemies was very critical. And he did a very good job of uniting the country in that effort. And he did put the infrastructure in place to protect us, and we've been very fortunate that infrastructure has been there.

BLITZER: The argument that Trump makes, and others make it as well, is that in the months leading up to 911, there were intelligence reports of Bin Laden determined to attack the United States. In the United States, the president had that daily briefing in Texas during the summer leading up to 911. But you guys never connected the dots, could never figure out what was going on. What do you say to that argument?

BRUCHARD: Well, it is true that during the previous administrations to George W. Bush, the government had put barriers between the FBI and the CIA, and some other intelligence agencies. So, it was very difficult to be able to find the dots never mind connect them. And that was addressed by the reforms that were put in place after 911. And President Bush led that reform effort.

It was very critically important that President Bush provide the leadership that he did. He did it. It didn't fit with the priority that he had when he ran for office. He thought he was going to be talking about restoring our economy, which he also did, and leaving no child left behind in education, which he tried to do.

[13:10:13] But the reality is the world changed on that September 11, 2001 day that was a spectacular day. And I whispered into his ear, a second plane hit the second tower. America was under attack. That's when the president of the United States had to step up and keep the oath of office that he took.

And this is about picking a president right now, and I want to have a president that will have the courage to protect us, to make the tough decisions that must be made. And I'm convinced Jeb Bush is the right person to do that. And I believe that it's not the issue that you debate right now in a primary campaign or even in a general election campaign aren't necessarily going to be the issues that a president will face. I witnessed a president making the tough decisions that had to be made when you couldn't have anticipated the challenge. And that's why I think --

BLITZER: Do you --

CARD: -- Jeb and his background qualify him to be president.

BLITZER: The other argument that Trump makes, as far as the war in Iraq is concerned, the war that started March 2003, while you were White House chief of staff, the president -- President Bush was president of the United States, was that there was evidence that there may have been some weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but there was a lot of evidence suggesting there wasn't. It wasn't clear cut and that the war turned out to be a disaster. He basically said, he said, and very bluntly, that President Bush lied about that. Your response.

CARD: Well, first of all, most of the world -- in fact, I'm not aware of anyone in the world at that time, that didn't believe Saddam Hussein either had weapons of mass destruction or could constitute them quite quickly. There was a debate about so what? Would he do it? And then, the French didn't think he would do anything. But the world thought that he had weapons of mass destruction. After all, he used them on his own people. He also is not complying with United Nations. Sixteen times he was given the chance to comply with the United Nations. He didn't do it. There should be consequences to that.

President Bush put a coalition together that challenged Saddam Hussein to do the right thing. He still refused to do it. And the coalition that President Bush led brought a consequence to Saddam Hussein and that was important.

It did change the world. We did not find weapons of mass destruction. We did find a world that was challenged and troubled, and we're still living with that challenge and trouble. I think president Bush exercised phenomenal courage by putting a surge in place that helped us do much better in that war against Iraq and created a climate where a government could be installed there and start to work towards peace.

And then, President Obama let that whole situation attrite (ph) to the point that we now have ISIS and that's a challenge. And that's why Jeb Bush would be a good president. So, he sees both sides of it. He saw the work that George W. Bush did and he saw the work that Barack Obama didn't do. And I think he'll put a good plan together. He announced that in South Carolina. Go back and read the speech. It was a very good speech.

BLITZER: Very quickly because Jeb Bush now says, with hindsight, the war was a mistake. The U.S. should not have invaded Iraq. Do you agree with him?

CARD: You know, again, you don't have that luxury. You have to deal with the cards you're dealt. At the time, I was confident that President Bush was doing the right thing. I still think he exercised the right kind of leadership. But the weapons of mass destruction have not shown up. Saddam Hussein was a menace to the world. And if we hadn't gone in, I think he would've been even a greater menace and might have complicated the situation much more significantly, especially for our great allies in the region that were, and still should be, Israel and the Saudi Arabian government and the responsible leadership in the Middle East that was also not comfortable with Saddam Hussein's leadership. So, it was much bigger than just the weapons of mass destruction.

And, remember, Saddam Hussein had a chance to be an ally in the war on terror and he never stepped up and said that he would be.

BLITZER: Andy Card is the former White House chief of staff under President George W. Bush. Andy Card, thanks very much for joining us.

CARD: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And for the first time in this campaign, all six of the Republican presidential candidates want to answer questions from the voters of South Carolina in two town halls only here on CNN. They'll be live Wednesday and Thursday night at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, moderated by our own Anderson Cooper. Ben Carson, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz kick it off Wednesday night. John Kasich, Jeb Bush and Donald Trump will field questions Thursday night. That live beginning at 8:00 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday nights, only here on CNN, 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

Coming up, the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, says the next president should get to Justice Scholia's replacement, not president Obama. But do all of his Republican colleagues agree?

And Hillary Clinton adds another day in Nevada to reschedule.

[13:15:00] We're going to talk about how important a win there is to her campaign.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: It promises to be an epic fight between President Obama and Senate Republicans. The outcome could determine the future direction of the United States Supreme Court and possibly control of the United States Senate. The president says he will appoint a Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, but Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vows not to confirm an Obama nominee.

Our senior political reporter, Manu Raju, is with me right now. We're watching what's going on.

How does this play out, at least in the short term?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, it looks like Republicans are digging in. You know, it's interesting, when you look at the -- the Republican conference, 54 members, and you break it down, you have people who are dead set against doing anything. People who are running for president specifically, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, et cetera. Then you have folks who are in the middle, uncertain about what to do. People who are moderates, who are not saying whether or not they would even want a vote on a nominee.

And then you also have these vulnerable, blue-state Republicans, people like Pat Toomey from Pennsylvania, Kelly Ayotte from New Hampshire, Mark Kirk from Illinois, who will be at the center of this political storm that Democrats are really, really going to go after and hope that they can revolt and push the party leadership to at least have a vote on a nominee. And right now Mitch McConnell, that -- the minority leader who sets the schedule, says that the next president should decide who to choose, but he has not said yet whether or not he would deny a vote altogether. That's what we're going to have to look out for here.

[13:20:15] BLITZER: Because the Democrats would need 60 votes to break a filibuster. They have 46 -- 44 Democrats, two independents, Angus King of Maine, Bernie Sanders of Vermont. They would need another 14 Republicans to join them. That's a pretty high hurdle.

RAJU: That's a very high hurdle. And they'll have to look at not just those blue state senators, and there are not that many of them, but also some of those moderates and some people who could seem to be gettable votes.

Now, one of those gettable votes, Wolf, is Lindsey Graham. He voted for Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor. I had a chance to talk to him this morning by phone and he told me that the president can only really get a nominee through who's viewed as a consensus nominee. And when I said, well, who is that consensus nominee, he said, Orrin Hatch. That's the Republican senator from Utah. And there's probably virtually no chance --

BLITZER: Yes.

RAJU: The president's going to nominate Orrin Hatch. But that -- the message is saying that it's going to be very hard to get anybody through in this environment.

BLITZER: And even someone like Susan Collins of Maine, a Republican, it would -- it will be tough to get her support I assume, although she may be one of those who might be open to it.

RAJU: She may be. I've tried to reach out to her -- get her -- the response for her from her office. No word yet. So we'll see. I'm sure the White House will target her as well.

BLITZER: But they need 14 and that's going to be a high -- high hurdle.

All right, Manu, thanks very much.

The Senate's top Democrat is calling for Justice Scalia's seat on the high court to be filled right away. The Senate Majority Leader Garry Reid says, and I'm quoting now, "with so many important issues pending before the Supreme Court, the Senate has a responsibility to fill vacancies as soon as possible. It would be unprecedented in recent history for the Supreme Court to go a year with a vacant seat."

The Vermont senator, Patrick Leahy, is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He's joining us now from Burlington, Vermont.

Senator, first of all, do you agree that it's almost impossible to get to that 60 vote threshold?

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), VERMONT: I don't know where the 60 votes comes from. The Constitution law says the majority, and that's 50 plus one in the -- in the Senate.

BLITZER: But if -- but if they decide to filibuster, if they decide to filibuster, you need 60.

LEAHY: Well, yes, but if they decide to filibuster, it'd be totally unprecedented. And we -- I think Clarence Thomas had a close vote, but certainly less than 60 votes in the Senate. We've had a lot of nominees less than 60.

I think what we have to do is stop, look at some of these things. The Republicans are talking about the Republican playbook, not what the country needs, but what the Republican playbook says. This is the playbook we should follow. The Constitution of the United States. And the Constitution makes it very clear, there's a vacancy, the president nominates somebody, and then the Senate votes them up or down. That's always been the way.

You know, we've only had one time in this country that we've had a vacancy for a year in a Supreme Court. And that was civil war times. And certainly that was an entirely different time. We don't want to be -- use that precedent. Heck, when the Democrats were in charge of the Senate, and it was Ronald Reagan's last year, we put through his nominee to the Supreme Court. Its been done I think seven or eight times since the beginning of the country. It is totally irresponsible to suggest you go -- would actually amount to 15 or 16 months.

BLITZER: Well, let me -- let me -- well, let me just -- you're the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. If the Republicans, one or two or three of them, decide to filibuster, you would need 60 votes, getting from 46 to 60, that would be almost impossible, right?

LEAHY: Oh, if there's a filibuster? Yes. You're right. They could. And that would be irresponsible. We've had show filibusters before. You know, for -- (INAUDIBLE) on somebody for an hour and then go on to it just to express displeasure with a nominee. But in the 40 years I've been there, nobody, nobody has actually worked seriously to block a vote on a Supreme Court nominee, be it the Republicans or the Democrats. It would be irresponsible.

And the -- some -- I heard one Republican say, well, we don't have time. Oh, come on. The Republican leadership has sat (ph) -- more recesses, more vacations this year than I've seen in my years in the Senate.

BLITZER: Well, let me ask you another question, senator.

LEAHY: Just cancel -- cancel one of those and do this.

BLITZER: What if Senator Grassley, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, just says, you know what, we're not going to have any hearings and delays it like that?

LEAHY: Well, he has -- he has that power. I mean, Orrin Hatch killed, I think, 65 or 70 of Bill Clinton's judges, an unprecedented number, more than ever done before in history, by just refusing to have hearings on them when he was chairman, is one of the reasons why I did an unprecedented number of hearings for George W. Bush to try to break that cycle, bring it back to the way it should be.

[13:25:21] BLITZER: Here's a -- it's -- it may be in the weeds, but there's been some speculation the president, in his frustration, in his final year in office, could just try to do a recess appointment for a Supreme Court justice. Is that realistic?

LEAHY: That shouldn't even be a question. The question should be, are the United States senators, all of whom get good salaries, good staffs, good offices, have a lot of time, are they going to do the duty? Are they going to do what their oath of office calls for? Are they going to show responsibility to the country and vote? Have a real vote on a presidential nominee? Now I know a lot of them are afraid to because they're afraid it might hurt their re-election. So what? We all cast difficult votes.

BLITZER: Fifty-four Republicans, 44 Democrats, two independents. Let me quickly play a little clip. This is Ted Cruz, who knows a lot about the Supreme Court, once clerked for the Supreme Court, was a solicitor general in Texas. Listen to what he says the responsibility is right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The Senate's duty is to advice and consent. You know what, the Senate is advising right now. We are advising that a lame duck president, in an election year, is not going to be able to tip the balance of the Supreme Court, that we're going to have an election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, go ahead and respond to Senator Cruz.

LEAHY: Well, he also said that we've never had a vote on a -- on a Supreme Court nominee in a -- presidential election year. Of course we've done it a dozen times. The most recently for President Reagan. He's running for election. He'll say a whole lot of thing. Everybody in those debates is saying a whole lot of things. The Constitution says one thing, and that is the president shall nominate and then the Senate should give advice and consent. Let's have the nomination. Let's have the courage to stand up and vote, put your name on how you vote, and let the American people know how you voted. A lot of them don't want to do that. I don't think that's being very senatorial.

BLITZER: Senator Patrick Leahy is the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. Senator, thanks so much for joining us.

LEAHY: Thank you.

BLITZER: Democratic presidential candidates, they're spreading out to campaign today. Bernie Sanders, by the way, he's in Michigan. We're going to hear why Hillary Clinton is spending some extra time right now in Nevada.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)