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President Obama Takes Swipes at Trump, Rubio and Cruz; Battle Over Late Justice's Replacement Brews; Trump, Clinton Hold Commanding Lead in South Carolina; Apple Says No to Unlocking Terrorist's iPhone; Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired February 17, 2016 - 09:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[09:00:11] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, the president unleashes. First a supreme scolding.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I intend to do my job between now and January 20th of 2017 and I expect them to do their job as well.

COSTELLO: Will that get Senate Republicans to work with him?

Next up the GOP frontrunner.

OBAMA: I continue to believe Mr. Trump will not be president.

COSTELLO: Trump launching his own attacks.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: President Obama hasn't done a damn thing.

COSTELLO: And tonight will Trump take even more hits at CNN's town hall?

Plus the FBI says it needs Apple's help hacking a San Bernardino shooter's phone.

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: We still have one of those killer's phones that we have not been able to open.

COSTELLO: Why Apple is calling the judge's orders dangerous.

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. We are just hours away. Republicans on one stage for that big CNN town hall answering questions from voters in South Carolina. The candidates will be split tonight and tomorrow and CNN's Anderson Cooper will moderate both nights.

All of this on the heels of brand new CNN poll showing Donald Trump holding a commanding lead in Nevada with 45 percent of the vote and in South Carolina CNN polls showing Trump topping with a 16-point lead over his closest rival Ted Cruz.

But Trump's strong numbers not convincing President Obama he's going to be the next commander-in-chief. The president targeting Trump in his latest press conference, and as you can expect Mr. Trump is firing back.

CNN's Athena Jones live in South Carolina with more on that. Good morning.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Donald Trump is firing back and look, we have been witnessing an all out brawl among the GOP candidates for that, about half of South Carolina voters that our poll shows are still making up their minds. Now you have President Obama jumping in throwing some of his own punches.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OBAMA: I continue to believe Mr. Trump will not be president.

JONES (voice-over): Weighing in just days before the South Carolina primary, President Obama confident Donald Trump won't win the White House.

OBAMA: I have a lot of faith in the American people. And I think they recognize that being president is a serious job. It is not hosting a talk show or a reality show.

JONES: Obama blasting the billionaire Tuesday evening saying Trump panders and lacks even basic foreign policy knowledge.

OBAMA: It requires being able to work with leaders around the world in a way that reflects the importance of the office and gives people confidence that you know the facts. And you know their names. And you know where they are on a map. And you know something about their history. And you're not just going to play to the crowd back home.

JONES: Not one to keep quiet --

TRUMP: He has done such a lousy job as president.

JONES: The GOP frontrunner shot back an hour later.

TRUMP: You look at our budget, you look at our spending, we can't beat ISIS. Obamacare is terrible. You're lucky I didn't run last time when Romney ran because you would have been a one-term president.

JONES: But Obama didn't contain his criticism to Trump's polarizing rhetoric. His rivals were hit, too.

OBAMA: If you look at what the other Republican candidates have said, that's pretty troubling too.

JONES: The president specifically calling out Marco Rubio for his previous support of an immigration bill back in 2013.

OBAMA: You've got a candidate who sponsored a bill, that I supported, to finally solve the immigration problem and he's running away from it as fast as he can.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES: Now we could get a response to all this from Marco Rubio at his event that's getting under way this hour in Mount Pleasant not far from here. But Trump was already tweeting this morning saying, "Interesting how President Obama so haltingly said I would never be president. This from perhaps the worst president in U.S. history."

Meanwhile Jeb Bush is getting some attention for a tweet and photo of a handgun that's engraved with his name. The caption to the tweet? "America" -- Carol.

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

One likely focus at tonight's town hall the partisan showdown over the Supreme Court vacancy. President Obama acknowledging the high stakes and the bitter fight ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: The court is now divided on many issues. This would be a deciding vote. And there are a lot of Republican senators who are going to be under a lot of pressure from various special interests and various constituencies. And many of their voters to not let any nominee go through. No matter who I nominate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:05:09] COSTELLO: CNN's Chris Frates at the White House with more on this. Good morning.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Carol. So President Obama said yesterday that no matter who he nominates, they will be indisputably qualified. And despite this whole election year slug fest between Senate Republicans and Democrat, President Obama made his expectations clear. He said he's going to do his job and nominate a replacement. He expects the Senate will do theirs and vote on one.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OBAMA: The Constitution is pretty clear about what is supposed to happen now.

FRATES (voice-over): President Obama again vowing to nominate a replacement for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, lashing out at Republicans who say the next president should fill the seat.

OBAMA: This will be the opportunity for senators to do their job. Your job doesn't stop until you're voted out. Or until your term expires.

FRATES: In his first comments about the fierce battle brewing over Scalia's replacement, Obama said the vacancy shouldn't get caught in the crosshairs of partisan politics.

OBAMA: I intend to nominate somebody to present them to the American people, to present them to the Senate. I expect them to hold hearings. I expect there to be a vote.

I'm amused when I hear people who claim to be strict interpreters of the Constitution suddenly reading into it a whole series of provisions that are not there.

FRATES: Senate Judiciary chairman Chuck Grassley telling Iowa Radio he hasn't decided if his committee will hold confirmation hearings for the president's nominee.

SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: I would wait until the nominee is made before I would make any decisions, in other words take it a step at the time.

FRATES: But most Senate Republicans are toeing the party line, promising to delay the process until after the election.

SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: There is no doubt that by following what Mitch McConnell, our leader, Republican leader, has said we're not going to bring this nominee up this year, he's doing exactly what Harry Reid would do if he were in the majority at this time.

SEN. ORREN HATCH (R), SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: The Democrats are crying and moaning and groaning, it's highly hypocritical. Literally. We're in the middle of a voting campaign for president of the United States and I think it just makes sense to put this off for the next president.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRATES: So Justice Scalia will lie in repose in the great hall of the Supreme Court on Friday but even as his chair on the bench is draped in black to honor him, the political battle to replace him rages on -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Chris Frates reporting live from Washington this morning.

With me now to talk about all of this, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center Andy Smith. I'm also joined by CNN political analyst and editor in chief of the "Daily Beast" John Avlon.

Welcome to both of you.

ANDY SMITH, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE SURVEY CENTER: Good morning.

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So, Andy, let's talk about the polls first. Trump is leading big in South Carolina. A state that usually votes for establishment candidates. How do you stop Trump if he wins in South Carolina? SMITH: Very difficult. I think the roll that Trump is on right now

has always been difficult to stop. Momentum in the early primary states is very important. However we have had the incidents of 2012, where the establishment didn't really do so well. Remember back then Newt Gingrich was able to win South Carolina and win fairly convincingly there. He got about 40 percent of the vote back in 2012. So, you know, it happens that local conditions can occur.

But the problem that I see with South Carolina this time around for establishment Republicans if they want to try to stop Trump is they still have three candidates dividing the vote between the three, Kasich, Rubio and -- excuse me, and Bush. You're only at about 34 percent of the vote compared to Trump's 45. So you still fall short.

COSTELLO: Interesting. OK, so, John, just I want to go back to the polls for just a second. So -- because Trump is ahead in Nevada, too, by a large margin. And then it's on to Super Tuesday. So if the Republican establishment really does not want Trump as a nominee what's the next step?

AVLON: Well there is no formal backroom process for culling the herd, Carol. Right? I mean, you know, and the point the professor just made is that even if you add up in South Carolina, which is a conservative populous evangelical state with a strong military presence, and while there's advanced establishment Republicans in the past, that's not a given, Trump's support right now because he is a celebrity demagogue who has high name ID and does very well on key issues like the economy and immigration -- it matters for Republican base voters -- is transcending the usual lanes and divisions in the Republican Party.

And while yes, if the process winnows down, if Jeb Bush doesn't do well in South Carolina he's toast. He's at 1 percent in the new CNN poll, right? That is nothing resembling a coalition to victory. But it's unclear that Kasich can actually command support. And Rubio's three-two-one strategy looks more like a three-five-three-four strategy. So you got real problems right now in the, quote-unquote, establishment lane. Trump is sucking up all the oxygen in this race.

[09:10:07] COSTELLO: Yes. OK. So let's look at the Democratic side, Andy. Clinton is up 18 points over Sanders in South Carolina. But in Nevada the two are running neck-and-neck. What does that tell you?

SMITH: Well, it tells me -- first off Nevada is next for the Democrats. We've been concentrating on South Carolina for the Republicans. But it's a caucus state in Nevada. Organization matters, getting the support of some of the unions there who tend to be more progressive unions. This is a spot where Sanders could do quite well. And it's -- again, we talked about momentum with Trump. Momentum with Sanders is definitely there and if he's able to win -- win Nevada for the momentum that he would get, it would be a boost for him going into South Carolina next week.

COSTELLO: OK. So -- go ahead, John.

AVLON: No. This -- the new CNN poll is fascinating out of Nevada and it is causing nervousness down at the Clinton headquarters. Because Nevada was supposed to be the first firewall. Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook organized Nevada for Hillary Clinton last time around and did very well. She had an almost 20-point lead in the recent polls. Now her support has only dimmed a bit but Bernie Sanders has surged. Why? Interesting, a couple of factors. One, some of the key unions in the state that can play disproportionate impact have not endorsed. Two, he's doing very well with first-time voters. Unclear whether they'll turn out in caucus.

And the one issue that he beats Hillary Clinton clearly on in this poll for CNN is who can best solve the problems of the middle class. While Hillary Clinton has tried to say that she represents the concerns of the middle class Bernie Sanders' economic argument seems to be winning the day. And she needs to shore up her support on that key issue if she wants to stem the bleeding.

COSTELLO: OK. So, Andy, Mr. Pollster, everyone outside of the news world comes up to me and says, you know what? We think it's going to be Trump versus Sanders. Is that a real possibility now?

SMITH: I think it is a real possibility but it's important to point out that a lot of voters haven't decided. In Nevada you can see that about 38 percent of Democrats say they haven't firmly decided yet. And in South Carolina it's only about half of Republicans say they firmly decided. So there is still movement here. But that said if the trend continues as it is right now, with momentum both behind Trump and behind Sanders, we could very well see a Trump-Sanders final in November.

The one thing, though, on the Democratic side is that they do have far more super delegates there that can kind of balance the support that Sanders is getting from the -- and the rank and file voters. It will be fascinating to see the politics that go into using those the super delegates against Sanders if it comes to that.

COSTELLO: Yes, it's already become a line of contention, hasn't it? I have to leave it there, guys. Andy Smith, John Avlon, thanks so much.

AVLON: It's OK.

COSTELLO: OK. I got you, John. I got your message.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Apple firing back after a judge orders the company to help the FBI unlock a terrorist iPhone. We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:17:09] COSTELLO: A judge is ordering Apple to help the FBI break into a cell phone that belonged to one of the San Bernardino shooters. A move Apple's CEO calls unprecedented and a threat to the security of customers.

Last December you remember Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife killed 14 people in a San Bernardino terror attack. Authorities recovered Farook's iPhone but could not access it because they don't know his password. Apple CEO Tim Cook called the order by the FBI to help them break into the phone an overreach by the government.

CNN's Evan Perez and Laurie Segall join us with more on this.

Evan, I want to start with you.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, this -- what's at issue here is a feature on this iPhone 5c that was owned by the San Bernardino County Health Department. And if you remember Syed Farook was an employee there and he had the phone in his car. The phone has a feature that if you enter the password incorrectly 10 times it immediately erases the data. And that's what the FBI is asking -- Apple to help. To essentially load software to allow them to be able to use their own technology to break into the phone.

This judge in California has now ordered Apple to help the FBI. Here is what she -- what the judge has ordered, to use reasonable technology assistance to help the FBI to bypass the iPhone pass code. And to help them with the auto erase feature. This is a fight that we've been waiting to happen. There's been a lot of discussion about encryption and technology companies not wanting to help the FBI get into their customers' phone and retrieve their data.

We've been waiting for a case that was going to test that fight and so this is the case that the FBI has decided to make sure that Apple -- whether Apple will comply with this judge's order.

COSTELLO: OK. So, Laurie, why does Apple object so strongly to this?

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECH CORRESPONDENT: I mean, Apple has been -- they've always been at the forefront of user privacy, protecting user privacy. You have Tim Cook, one of the Silicon Valley figures who's been the -- most outspoken when it comes to the encryption debate. He says building this kind of software tool will allow a backdoor, will allow the bad guy to have it.

He actually spoke about this recently on "60 Minutes." Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM COOK, APPLE CEO: There have been people that suggest that we should have a backdoor. But the reality is if you put a backdoor in, that backdoor is for everybody. For good guys and bad guys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Help me understand how you get to the government's dilemma.

COOK: I don't believe that the tradeoff here is privacy versus national security. I think that's an overly simplistic view. We are America. We should have both.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEGALL: You know, we're in this very interesting time. You have Apple now putting out a statement, they adamantly oppose this, saying that, you know, we have our engineers investing in, you know, great technology.

[09:20:07] We don't want them to make this harder. They say the implications that the government demands are chilling. You know, they go on to say the government could extend this breach of privacy and demand Apple build surveillance software to intercept your messages.

So it's the idea that, you know, what could this mean? Could they track your location? Could they turn on your microphone? It's also if you take a step back, you know, up to the public to have this debate about privacy versus protection. How much government oversight is fair. And I think that's what these cases bring up and that's what we're seeing more and more about this interception.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Help us understand what a backdoor is. So help us understand especially me, Laurie. What is -- Evan, go ahead if you want to take that. Go ahead.

PEREZ: Well, yes, I mean, what Apple says the FBI wants it to do is essentially build a new operating system, the IO system which controls the iPhone that would allow them to bypass this limit of 10 times. The FBI does have software that could crack a password by simply trying multiple times, as many times as necessary to be able to essentially guess the password. And so that's what the FBI is asking Apple to do.

There's no doubt here that the FBI has been looking for a case to test this entire issue and they picked this case because they know it's going to be difficult for Apple to defend this. Apple says don't pay attention to the fact that this is a terrorist cell phone. This affects every single person.

And I should add real quickly on this investigation, Carol, the FBI has already got a lot of data that really is connected to this phone. They went to the cell phone company that was the carrier of this phone and they were able to get, for instance, where the phone went. They went to the lake, if you remember, they did a search there. So the FBI already has a lot of data. What they want is what's on the phone in case there's any communications that the terrorist were using that they don't know about yet.

COSTELLO: Right. And Laurie, I liked how you put it in a break when we were talking about this. You said creating a backdoor is kind of like putting a key under the mat. Right? And everybody could have access to the key under the mat. Just like eventually everybody could have access to that backdoor that Apple creates.

SEGALL: Yes, I think -- I think why you see Apple coming out so adamantly against is they say we want to help the FBI, we want to help law enforcement and stop terrorism but if you build this software tool, you know, will -- the good guys needed this, but will the bad guys be able to use it, too, they say yes, that will be case.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. Evan Perez, Laurie Segall, thanks to both of you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, three days until voters head to the polls in South Carolina. Will a state known for its love of the Bush family be the one to push Jeb Bush out of the campaign?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:27:00] COSTELLO: "I'll do my job. You do yours." The president drawing the battle lines over filling the vacant Supreme Court seat and we're already seeing the signs of a fierce fight to come.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: There is more than enough time for the Senate to consider in a thoughtful way the record of a nominee that I present and to make a decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: But a fight like this is not unprecedented. And although some would say it's unseemly, Justice Scalia just died four days, on Friday his body will lie in repose at the Supreme Court. His chair, as you see, already draped in black.

With me now to talk about this is historian and professor at Princeton University Julian Zelizer.

Thanks for joining me.

JULIAN ZELIZER, HISTORIAN AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS PROFESSOR, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: Thanks for having me.

COSTELLO: Glad you're here. So, Julian, the fight over Justice Scalia's seat started the day he died. Is that just a sign of the times?

ZELIZER: Yes. It's not that surprising given how polarized Washington has become and how many Republicans are really dug in against giving Obama anything in his final months. So it is a sign of the times. But it is also now expected.

COSTELLO: OK. So, Republicans, many of them, want to hold off this nominee until the next president gets into office. But the Supreme Court has leaned conservative 5-4 since Sotomayor was confirmed in 2009. With that in mind is there any guarantee any nominee will always rule along ideological lines even if that nominee is nominated by a Republican president?

ZELIZER: Well, there have been many people who have surprised the presidents who originally nominated them. And sometimes a Supreme Court justice could evolve, though we have seen in recent years many of the picks certainly on the Republican side such as Justice Scalia have remained pretty consistent in terms of their ideology. But there is no guarantee. There is room for a justice to change opinion and on particular cases to reach a conclusion that doesn't square with what the party wants at the time. COSTELLO: OK. So one of the justice that you speak of is supposedly

John Roberts. He was appointed by George W. Bush, conservatives absolutely loved him and now Donald Trump is attacking Ted Cruz for supporting John Roberts. Does that mean Roberts is not a conservative judge?

ZELIZER: Well, he is a conservative judge. I think what you see there is the politics of the Republican Party pushes the party to the right. And pushes candidates obviously to attack anything that looks like the establishment. And nothing is more establishment than the Supreme Court -- the Supreme Court and its justices. But I think you know it's fair to say Roberts has been pretty consistently a conservative justice.

COSTELLO: I suppose that the president, President Obama, could nominate someone who doesn't give many speeches, who doesn't have much of a written down history like John Roberts, right? And then he or she might get through, right?