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GOP Rivals Happen Attacks Ahead of South Carolina Vote; Cruz Unveils New Anti-Trump Ad in S.C. Today; Battle Over Scalia Replacement Intensifies; George W. Bush Fires Back at Trump; Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired February 16, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[10:00:22] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM. And you thought it was ugly before?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have never ever met a person that lies more than Ted Cruz.

COSTELLO: It's only getting worse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: South Carolina cannot trust Donald Trump.

COSTELLO: The days of the Grand Old Party over.

Plus an open Supreme Court seat sets off a political firestorm. And this battle is not going anywhere.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Constitution does not include exemptions for election years.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And it will be filled by the next president.

COSTELLO: But with fighting like this, who'd the job anyway?

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Top Republicans are sharpening their knives and drawing blood. Donald Trump calling Ted Cruz a liar and unstable. Marco Rubio saying Cruz's questionable claims are part of a very disturbing pattern. And Cruz scoffing at this critics saying their insults are just meant to hide their record and their flip-flops. And Bush pleading with voters to reject the politics of division splitting his party.

The free-for-all all intensifying just days ahead of the South Carolina primary, and the word scorched earth now hanging over this brawl and beyond. Right now Senator Ted Cruz is about to hold an event unveiling his

plan to rebuild the military. The military vote critical in the state of South Carolina. I believe that the former Texas governor Rick Perry will be by his side when he rolls out his plan.

Sunlen Serfaty is at that event in Mount Pleasant. Phil Mattingly is in Summerville for a Rubio town hall in just a couple of hours.

Sunlen, start us off.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning to you, Carol. Ted Cruz right now really is in the middle of a multi- front battle on both -- both Donald Trump and Marco Rubio accusing him of being a liar, of distorting their record as he makes the case here to South Carolina voters. And Ted Cruz's closing message in South Carolina is in large part about been defining his opponents, arguing that he is the most conservative candidate of them all.

And really going right after Rubio and Donald Trump's record on abortion, on same-sex marriage, on immigration, to paint himself as the most tried and true conservative of them all, really present them as much more liberal. So that's, in large part, what has prompted this full out pushback from Trump and Rubio, calling Cruz a liar. And I asked Cruz about this pushback yesterday when we were in South Carolina. Here's how he responded, really turning the tables back on them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, you know, it is a curious thing. Two of the candidates in this race, Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, both have the very same pattern. Whenever anyone points out their record, they simply start screaming liar, liar, liar. It's a very odd dynamic. You're right. It brings name calling as not a positive thing in politics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: And today Cruz will try to refocus on the issues. He will release his plan here at the USS Yorktown to rebuild the military. But it really is this nasty bitter fight that is dominating the campaign trail discussion, and especially, Carol, how Ted Cruz is presenting the records of his opponents -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Sunlen Serfaty, reporting live from Mount Pleasant.

Now let's head to Phil Mattingly. He's at that Rubio event. Take it away, Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Donald Trump is the clear frontrunner down in South Carolina. But for Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz is the clear target. In fact at a town hall yesterday, Carol. Marco Rubio was asked by one questioner, to, quote, "expose Donald Trump for the closeted liberal that he is," he largely demurred. No such hesitation when it comes to taking on Ted Cruz. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBIO: I think Ted over the last few weeks has shown a propensity to say things that simply aren't true. And when you say something that's not true, and you know it's not true, it's called a lie. And I just have a problem with it. He's not telling the truth about marriage. He's not telling the truth about the issue of Planned Parenthood, on my stance on life. So this is a problem. And we need to clarify it because it's important for voters to know truth. And so when someone says something about me that's not true and does so repeatedly, as he did for example to Ben Carson when he paid for these robocalls to go into Iowa and say that he was dropping out of the race, it becomes a disturbing pattern.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Now, Carol, obviously the candidates going after one another. This battle also taking out -- coming out over the air waves here in South Carolina. The Rubio campaign scoring a small victory, of sorts, getting one of the dark money, pro-Cruz super PACs to pull one of their ads due to concerns about accuracy in a couple of stations in South Carol. Still the attacks are expected to continue both on the air and on the ground.

[10:05:03] And there's a key reason why Rubio is really targeting Cruz right now. Donald Trump is secure. He's got 30 percent, 35 percent in just about every poll we've seen. But Marco Rubio has steadily started to climb even after that disappointing New Hampshire finish. Ted Cruz is the man in between he and that frontrunner. Ted Cruz, the clear target.

COSTELLO: All right. Phil Mattingly, reporting live for us this morning from South Carolina.

And as the fighting intensifies, as you heard Phil say, it's turning into an all-out ad war. Another case in point, this new ad from the Cruz campaign blasting Donald Trump for changing his political positions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRUZ: I'm Ted Cruz and I approved this message.

TRUMP: I'm very capable of changing to anything I want to change to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's for sure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would President Trump ban partial birth abortions?

TRUMP: Well, I am pro choice and I will respect --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you would not ban it?

TRUMP: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Planned Parenthood?

TRUMP: Planned Parenthood serves a good function.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Hillary Clinton.

TRUMP: I think she does a good job and I like her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: South Carolina cannot trust Donald Trump.

TRUMP: I'm very capable of changing to anything I want to change to.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't give him that chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. With me now, Scottie Nell Hughes, she's the chief political correspondent for USA Radio Networks, she's also a Trump supporter. I'm also joined Ron Nehring, he's the California state chairman for the Ted Cruz campaign.

Welcome to both of you.

RON NEHRING, CALIFORNIA STATE CHAIRMAN, TED CRUZ FOR PRESIDENT: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So, Ron, Mr. Trump said on "Good Morning America" just about two hours ago that Ted Cruz is a liar, that his Iowa win should be rescinded. That he's Canadian and not eligible to run for president. Your thoughts?

NEHRING: I think that whenever Donald Trump gets into trouble he just turns more and more kind of extreme and erratic in terms of many of the things that he says. Who knows what he's going to wind up saying by the time the Saturday vote comes around.

Look, Donald Trump has a long history, 60-year history being a New York City liberal. Now he decides he wants to run for president, now he decides that he's a Republican so he's trying to reinvent himself. He's not doing a good job. Everyone has an opinion about him. Most Republicans do not support Donald Trump. 70 percent plus of Republicans don't support him. That helps him in the six-way race but when this comes down to a two-way race between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, he's in a lot of trouble. He knows that. So he's going to continue to say weirder and weirder things as the election comes closer to try to distract people from his true record as a New York City mineral.

COSTELLO: Scottie, Mr. Trump is threatening to file a lawsuit if Cruz does not admit to lying. Is Senator Cruz lawyering up?

SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, USA RADIO NETWORKS: Well, I don't know if Senator Cruz is, but I'll tell you, Mr. Trump is tired of it. This is a difference of the status quo of the past that we're dealing with today. You know, when you look at the accusation that Mr. Trump is lying and that he's not being truthful, go over and look at what Senator Cruz has been. I mean, just prior to December 15th, he was the person saying that we needed to stay out of Syria, then all of a sudden he wants to carpet bomb them?

And then you said that you take these ads that he put out and he's taking edited clips of Mr. Trump talking about Planned Parenthood, where he said it's typical liberal line to say that abortion is the only thing that deals with women's health. And Mr. Trump pointed out there are great things that Planned Parenthood does except if there was abortion thing involved or the selling of body parts -- or baby parts, then they need to be defunded.

So it's amazing how Senator Cruz has just literally become kind of like the left, selectively pick out what parts he wants to say and doesn't necessarily give the whole truth, which makes him be the real liar on the stage at this point.

COSTELLO: OK. So both candidates are calling one another liars.

Ron, how does this help the voters understand where these candidates stand on the issues, or don't issues matter at this point?

NEHRING: Well, I think issues are very important. As a matter of fact, we need a president who's going to go to Washington, challenge the status quo just as Senator Cruz has, and challenge the corruption on both parties in Washington, D.C. And that's why your record really is important.

I think what Donald Trump is most upset about is the fact that Senator Cruz is not making this up. Senator Cruz's ads and his recitations are exactly of Donald Trump's own words. Unfortunately for Donald Trump, most of those words come from before he decided to run for president and before he decided to reinvent himself and recast himself as something else. And that's what I think Donald Trump is most upset about. And when he talks about going to court, you know, it's really a very liberal notion that when the American people don't do what he wants them to do, that he'll try to turn to a judge to get his way anyway.

This is not unlike what he did with respect to attacking the Republican National Committee because he got booed by so many people who were in that debate audience in South Carolina. The Trump campaign simply didn't do a good job organizing their people. They can't take responsibility for that and so they have to blame somebody else.

(CROSSTALK)

HUGHES: That's a lie right there. You know that's a lie.

NEHRING: Just ridiculous.

HUGHES: That is a lie.

NEHRING: Every candidate at that South Carolina debate got 100 tickets. The Trump people didn't organize. Everybody else in that audience was upset with many of the ridiculous things that Donald Trump said.

HUGHES: That's not true.

COSTELLO: Let me ask you this, guys.

NEHRING: And he got upset with it.

COSTELLO: When the top two GOP candidates, one is calling the other a liar and the other one is basically saying I know you are, but what am I, what is this doing for the GOP as a whole? Isn't it tarnishing the entire Republican Party with a negative brush?

[10:10:02] HUGHES: Carol, you are absolutely correct on that. And that's what I'm worried about in the long game. And I think that's Mr. Trump's strategy. And yes, he's trying to sit there and reduce the damage that Senator Cruz is doing to both him and other campaigns by the lies that he's spreading. But I think you're right. It's that long term game. And how are you going to sit there and go against the Democrats when you've disenfranchised the majority of your base?

It's a catch 22 right now. And this is why what Senator Cruz is doing is so dangerous. Because if he would just sit there and stick to the truth or more importantly his campaign stick to the truth, you wouldn't have Senator -- you wouldn't have Mr. Trump or Marco Rubio or Dr. Carson having to point out that this is a continued pattern of the Ted Cruz campaign to smear and then him go on TV with a smile on his face and say, what? I'm the victim here.

The victim is the card that the Republicans are tired of playing. And when you look at records like voting for TPA, when you look at records for voting for the Corker amendment to the Iran bill, et cetera, all these things, Senator Cruz doesn't have as conservative a record as he likes to sell and is pushed harder by his people.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. Thanks to both of you, Scottie Nell Hughes, Ron Nehring.

Starting tomorrow, with the unique two-night event on CNN, all six Republican presidential candidates will take part in a South Carolina town hall. They'll answer voter's questions. And this will be spread out over two nights because there's still lots of candidates, right? 8:00 p.m. Eastern Wednesday, and 8:00 p.m. Eastern Thursday only on CNN.

All right. In order to bring out the Harlem here in New York City, Hillary Clinton is meeting with civil rights leaders today, this morning. And as you can see, she's also meeting with the Reverend Al Sharpton. As you know, it was just not that long ago that Bernie Sanders sat down with Al Sharpton in Harlem. It seems the two are following each other around in a fight for the African-American vote.

We're monitoring this meeting. We'll keep you posted. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [10:15:53] COSTELLO: The battle over replacing Antonin Scalia is growing ever more intense. President Obama may provide a window in the Supreme Court justice's potential successors when he speaks in a few hours from now. But many Republicans don't care who President Obama picks. They're vowing to block any of his nominees.

And the Senate minority leader Harry Reid, the Democrat, warning the GOP that if they go through with the so-called partisan sabotage it will backfire on them.

CNN's Manu Raju is live in Washington with more on this. Good morning.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Now right now behind the scenes, top Democrats and the White House are plotting their tactics for what will be a major public relations battle with the GOP. On Saturday night soon after the death of Justice Scalia, senior officials on the White House's legal team began holding conference calls, discussing the matter, and top Democrats began discussing the way forward with the White House.

Now I'm told that Harry Reid, the Senate minority leader, had a conversation with Dennis McDonough, the White House chief of staff, and what Reid and many other Senate Democrats are calling for is a nominee who would ordinarily get Republican support. They're trying to show the GOP opposition is unreasonable, and undermine the Republican election year argument that they are good stewards of the government.

Now as part of that PR push, Carol, Reid laid out his most extensive comments to date in a "Washington Post" op-ed saying, quote, "If my Republican colleagues proceed down this reckless path, they should know that this act alone will define their time in the majority. Thinking otherwise is a fantasy."

Now what I've been told also that some Democrats have quoted some of their colleague's names as well beyond those judicial nominees as judges who we've been talking about for the last several days, Carol. Some of those possible colleague, senators include Cory Booker of New Jersey, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar is a name that frequently comes up. It's unclear how seriously those names are being considered by the president, but we are told by the end of the week, expect that list to be narrowed down to three to four names.

But even when they announce a nominee which maybe could come as early as next week, Republicans are confident that voters will side with them, particularly conservative voters who view the Senate as a firewall against a liberal justice -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Manu Raju, reporting live from Washington this morning. Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Hillary Clinton meeting with civil rights leaders right now. Can she -- actually, I'm going to be talking to Reverend Jesse Jackson, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:22:57] COSTELLO: The fight for minority voters is red hot. Right now Hillary Clinton is meeting with civil rights leaders in downtown New York City. In attendance the NAACP president and CEO, Cornell W. Brookes, and you see the Reverend Al Sharpton there. This about a week after her rival, Bernie Sanders, met with Sharpton in Harlem. As for Sanders, he's now campaigning in South Carolina. Later he'll head to Atlanta to tour the historically black colleges there. And just last night he talked up his past support for the Reverend Jesse Jackson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There were three white elected officials in America that endorsed Jackson in 1988. I was one of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: As for what Jesse Jackson says, well, I sat down with him before the show this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Are you endorsing anyone?

JESSE JACKSON: No. I'm focusing really now on voter turnout.

COSTELLO: Did you see Bernie Sanders involved in the civil rights fight?

JACKSON: I did not, but a lot of us didn't see each other. I was in North Carolina, Bernie was in Chicago. They were fighting for open housing on the campuses. Blacks could not live in all the frat house because of restricted privileges. There was a civil rights fight in Chicago, civil rights fight in various parts of the south.

COSTELLO: Was Bernie Sanders involved in any of those fights?

JACKSON: He says he was. And I assume he was. I did not know him. We left Selma and came to Chicago in 1965 or '66. The whole new civil rights movement up north that was in this own way is dynamic as the one in the south.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Does this prove anything about Bernie Sanders?

JACKSON: It proves he's involved. After all, we're in Vermont, and part of laying the ground work for the rainbow coalition at that time, in today's politics, is that could we get white votes, not just black votes. We went to Iowa, where we got (INAUDIBLE). That was our goal. We've been going to Iowa, that was a big deal. We went north to New Hampshire and Bernie Sanders endorsed us in Vermont. We won the whitest state in the country. That was a big deal. [10:25:02] To me the risk of looking in the rear-view mirror about who

did what 40 years ago missed the point of today's data. Today a million people are in poverty who cannot get affordable health care. Today's student loan and credit card debt. The impact of the bank's behavior where 1 percent is controlling the rest of us in ways that's not in our own interest. To me, those interests are fair trade and reciprocal trade, democratizing capital, addressing the issue of poverty. To me that's the bread.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. This was the picture I was showing Jesse Jackson. That's Jesse Jackson back when he was running for president, and that's Bernie Sanders. And they are talking. Sanders did endorse Jesse Jackson's run for president, and as you heard, Jesse Jackson told me he's not endorsing anyone at the moment.

And you know in response to what John Lewis said about Bernie Sanders not being involved in the civil rights movement, Jesse Jackson said, you know what, we shouldn't go back and open old scars. Today is a new fight and we should concentrate on that.

Donald Trump is taking hits from all sides. His GOP rivals trying to chip away at his big lead in South Carolina, and a former president taking his own swings at the frontrunner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Strength is not empty rhetoric. It is not bluster. It is not theatrics. Real strength, strength of purpose comes from integrity and character. And in my experience, the strongest person usually isn't the loudest one in the room.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Athena Jones live in Columbia, South Carolina, where a Jeb Bush event is about to get underway. Good morning.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. At that event last night it was the biggest crowd we've seen at an event for Jeb Bush. Much more of a rally like feel than we're used to seeing at his events. And it's proof that his brother, George W. Bush, is a big draw.

I talked to a lot of folks in the crowd who said they were there to see W. They were big fans of the former president and were there to give Jeb a look, some were choosing between Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, or between Bush, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, they told me.

We saw from W., he made a case for his brother as having the skills to be commander-in-chief, but he also made a not-so-veiled reference to GOP frontrunner, Donald Trump. Several of them. You played one in the intro. Let's take a listen to this one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) G. BUSH: These are tough times, and I understand that Americans are angry and frustrated. But we do not need someone in the Oval Office who mirrors and enflames our anger and frustration. We need someone who can fix the problems that cause their anger and frustration and that's Jeb Bush.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: So there you heard George W. Bush making the case for his brother. The big question is how much it will help Jeb Bush who needs a big boost here? This is a state where Bushes have been popular. Both W. and his father, George H.W. Bush, won the primaries here. And for the Jeb Bush campaign, while there's a lot of focus on this war of words between Bush and Donald Trump, they're also of course keeping their eye on folks like Marco Rubio and like Governor John Kasich.

Talking to Bush aides, they feel that he has to do best among the so- called electable candidates in their words. They believe that doesn't include Trump or Cruz. So while Governor Bush will only say he hopes to beat expectations, it's clear from talking to his aides that they're hoping for a strong finish, meaning at least a third place finish here -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Athena Jones reporting live from Columbia, South Carolina.

You know, George W. Bush was warmly welcomed in South Carolina. Donald Trump did no such thing. He actually doubled down on his attacks against Jeb's famous last name. You know, I'm talking about W. here. Trump once again slamming W. for, in his opinion, endangering Americans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

G. BUSH: I hope the voters take a look and see who's got the clearest view of the world and who's got a plan to deal with those who would do us harm. The other thing that's needed in the White House and Jeb understands this is you set a goal. Defeat ISIS. And then you call upon the people who know how to help you achieve that goal. That would be the military and the intelligence community. And Jeb respects them. And that's what you really want.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: George W. Bush not letting those hits, though, get under his skin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

G. BUSH: And I understand that Americans are angry and frustrated but we do not need someone in the Oval Office who mirrors and enflames our anger and frustration.

(APPLAUSE)

G. BUSH: We need someone who can fix the problems that cause their anger and frustration, and that's Jeb Bush.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: With me now, Van Hipp, he's the chairman of the American Defense International. He's also the former deputy assistant secretary of the army.

Welcome, sir.

VAN HIPP, CHAIRMAN, AMERICAN DEFENSE INTERNATIONAL: Good to be with you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Nice to have you.