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Republicans Battle for Votes in South Carolina; Terror Attack in Turkey Kills at Least 28; Pope Francis' Final Tour Day in Mexico Border Town; Humanitarian Aid Beginning to Reach Syrian Civilians; Poll: Clinton, Sanders Tied in Nevada; Sanders Wants to Model U.S. after Denmark; Sandra Day O'Connor Says Supreme Court Vacancy Needs to be Filled; Apple Fights Order to Unlock Encrypted IPhone; Former Nazi S.S. Guard on Trial in Germany; Kensington Palace Turns Newsroom for Mental Illness. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired February 18, 2016 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:09] ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM from Los Angeles.
JOHN CAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead this hour, three Republican candidates make their final arguments to voters in South Carolina just days before a crucial primary.
SESAY: Plus, Turkey vows to retaliate after a blast kills more than two dozen people in the capital of Ankara.
VAUSE: And later, Apple is fighting a court order to unlock one of its iPhones saying it could pose a dangerous security risk to its customers.
SESAY: Hello, and welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Isha Sesay.
VAUSE: And I'm John Vause. NEWSROOM L.A. starts right now.
We begin with the race for the White House. The increasingly fierce battle for votes for Republican presidential candidates, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Ben Carson to a CNN town hall in South Carolina on Wednesday.
SESAY: With Saturday's primary days away the top two campaigns entered the Legal Arena. Donald Trump sent a cease and desist letter to Cruz's campaign over a Cruz ad highlighting Trump's former position on abortion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This has not been a typical race by any sense and I don't think anyone is surprised that Donald is threatening to sue people. He's done that most of his adult life. But this letter really was -- look, I practiced law 20 years and this letter really pressed the bounds of the most frivolous and ridiculous letters I've ever seen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Mr. Trump had a answer at a separate town hall in Tulsa.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've had great success with lawsuits. I've had great success in things I do and I don't know that we're going to have a lawsuit but we certainly want to keep somebody honest. And you know, when he makes statements about -- like, as an example, I'm pro-life. And he said he's not pro-life. He can't say that. It's like saying --
JOE SCARBOROUGH, MSNBC HOST: But your opponents would say, though, you haven't always a been pro-life.
TRUMP: No, that's true. And Ronald Reagan likewise.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Well, according to a new NBC/"Wall Street Journal" poll Cruz has inched ahead of Trump. He now has support from 28 percent of Republican voters nationwide. That's compared to Trump's 26 percent.
VAUSE: But that two-point lead is well within the poll's margin of error. The Republican pollster who conducted the survey told NBC it's too early to tell if the change is permanent or a blip or temporary shift.
Let's get more on this now to talk about the campaign, Jeff Corless, the former political director for Carly Fiorina, managing director of Venture Strategic.
Jeff, very quickly about this poll. I mean, this goes against every other poll we've seen out there which has Trump ahead. First time he hasn't been ahead nationally in a very, very long time. What do you read in this? Is this an outlier, is this not accurate? What do you make of it?
JEFF CORLESS, FORMER POLITICAL DIRECTOR FOR CARLY FIORINA: You know, it could be a blip on the screen with regard to the comments he made at the town hall last weekend or I should say the debate late weekend regarding George W. Bush and 9/11. However, I think it's an outlier. There's a Quinnipiac University poll that shows Donald Trump now finally breaking 35 percent, which many have said that he couldn't do that. He's at 39 percent. You have Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz virtually tied in that poll. But he's way out in front. And pretty much all the other polls. So if I were Ted Cruz, I wouldn't be getting --
VAUSE: At this point it doesn't matter because it's South Carolina which matters anyway. What's going to happen there, right?
CORLESS: Exactly.
SESAY: But Ted Cruz clearly thinks that these attacks on Trump's position regarding abortion and trying to link him to Planned Parenthood, he clearly thinks he's on a winning streak here with this line of battle or attack. What do you think?
CORLESS: Well, I think he has no other choice. I mean, everybody has, I think, really defined himself and he's defined himself as the most conservative candidate in the race. So he's really trying to pick off pro-life voters one at a time, one by one, I should say. At the end of the day I think we've seen throughout the course of the race that evangelical voters have glommed on to Donald Trump and they're not really going anywhere.
VAUSE: Very quickly, I mean, the Cruz folks say they are going to have the ad out even more now, even more frequently. I mean, legally, you've done campaigns. Isn't there at lot of leeway here? A judge should look at this and say, well, yes, this is in the context of a political campaign. I mean, what recourse do you have?
CORLESS: Well, I think we've seen some states pass laws regarding truth in advertising in campaigns. So I think if he is telling outright lies and Donald Trump can argue that case in court at the end of the day does it really matter whether he wins or not? No, it's just a distraction in the race and it becomes a talking point for Donald Trump that frankly Ted Cruz has to explain away every stage of the game.
SESAY: Well, this issue of lying and the L word is being thrown about liberally in this -- in this whole debate or this whole election cycle. And the attacks between the top three candidates have intensified, all of them using that word. Let's listen to some of that from tonight's town hall.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: You called Ted Cruz a liar. He came out today and said your campaign is, quote, "relying on fabrication, refuted claims point by point." Do you stand by the assertion that he's lying?
MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I said he's been lying because if you say something that isn't true and you say it over and over again and you know that it's not true, there is no other word for it. And when it's about your record you have to clear it up because if you don't then people say well then, it must be true. You didn't dispute it.
[01:05:04] And he's done that a number of times. We saw what he did to Dr. Carson in Iowa, which was wrong. We saw yesterday Trey Gowdy, somebody came up with a fake Facebook post saying Trey Gowdy was no longer endorsing me, a very popular congressman here in South Carolina. So these things are disturbing and they need to be addressed and I'll address them.
CRUZ: Both Donald Trump and Marco Rubio are following this pattern, that whenever anyone points to their actual record, to what they've said, to what they've voted on, to what they've done, they start screaming liar, liar, liar. I mean, it is the oddest thing. I can't think of any precedent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Is anyone emerging the winner from all of this back and forth and using the word liar?
VAUSE: Donald Trump?
(LAUGHTER)
CORLESS: Well, I think we can learn a lesson from the Democratic side of the race. 90 percent of the voters in prior states have gone with Bernie Sanders on the issue of character. They said character was important. They chose him 90 percent of the time over Hillary Clinton. If we apply that to the Republican side of the race, you know, look at the candidates, they are doing everything they can to attack the character of their opponents.
And it's actually I think a very effective strategy, calling into question everything they're saying so that they become less believable.
VAUSE: Jeff, what do you think about the difference in styles between Marco Rubio -- you know, it did sound like his greatest hits from his campaign trail. But he was very confident in delivering it. He didn't talk about and say much. And I thought he was very comfortable, very confident. I thought Ted Cruz was still debating and not many -- there were not a lot of claps when he finished talking.
CORLESS: Yes. I thought Ted Cruz was trying to finish his statements that he never got to finish on the stage while Donald Trump was attacking him at the last debate. But you didn't hear any claps after that. And they were very long winded answers. And I think the problem with that and what you're missing in the town hall is the element of seeing the candidates tested and having to be on their toes. You just don't get that element in the town hall. They give their canned answers, their memorized speeches.
And what does that really tell us about the candidates? I don't think you see the numbers move after these town halls.
VAUSE: Did we learn anything?
CORLESS: I don't think so at all. I think we're hearing talking points.
(CROSSTALK)
SESAY: Did we learn anything new?
VAUSE: We learned that Marco Rubio was color blind, that he likes electronic dance music and rap.
SESAY: But he has never been to a rave.
CORLESS: Ted Cruz says he can't sing. VAUSE: And Ted Cruz can't sing a note and can't deliver a joke. I
mean, you know, when it came to the real victim side, it was music. I mean, we -- Marco Rubio just killed rap.
SESAY: At least Ben Carson didn't sing.
VAUSE: And Ted Cruz, Stevie Wonder is turning -- well, he's not dead yet but he is very upset. Trump wasn't there at this debate but one of Trump's attacks against Cruz came up. It actually came from one of the voters in the audience. And it was about Cruz being a Canadian and why he can't put this to rest.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUZ: If U.S. service members are traveling abroad, if they're defending this country, you know, Bobby mentioned before he had a couple of deployments. If he had a child overseas, that child is a natural born citizen by virtue of the child's parents. Likewise, if American missionaries are traveling overseas, their children are natural born citizens. That's why John McCain was a natural born citizen, even though he was born in Panama because his parents were U.S. citizens.
That's why George Romney, Mitt Romney's dad, was a natural born citizen even though he was born in Mexico when his parents were Mormon missionaries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And again, that was one of those moments when Ted Cruz -- it was almost like he was practicing his filibuster for when President Obama nominates, you know, someone for the Supreme Court. He just went on and on and on and on. And, you know, as a strategist what do you say to a candidate when that happens?
CORLESS: Don't give the audience or your questioner a history lesson. They want the answer so just give them the answer. Just give them a straight answer and that's why you've seen Donald Trump do so well.
SESAY: But is there a straight answer to that? We talked about this last hour and you said that there's an -- there is a better way of handling this. But again, is there a straightforward answer to this other than him showing the previous examples of Mitt Romney's father and John McCain?
CORLESS: Well, probably not from a legal standpoint since it's never been adjudicated by the courts but there has to be some type of document that he can put out there to say yes, see, I really am a U.S. citizen. Maybe there isn't but --
VAUSE: But --
CORLESS: Explaining a way and giving history lessons.
VAUSE: Why can't Ted Cruz, when he's asked, you know, how are you going to counter this accusation that you're not (INAUDIBLE), and you're eligible for president. Why can't you just say, well, I am, and this is a stupid issue and move on?
CORLESS: He could say that and in fact he could ask the courts to adjudicate it.
VAUSE: Yes.
CORLESS: Why not do that? Ask the court to have an expedited adjudication of the case?
SESAY: I just don't know. You know, I feel like -- I just feel like in this time of social media, with everything going on, I don't know that you can simply say, I'm not going to talk about it and let's move on. I think the story has life.
CORLESS: Donald Trump will make sure of it.
(LAUGHTER)
VAUSE: He's good at that. OK.
SESAY: Jeff Corless, a pleasure. Thank you so much.
VAUSE: Thank you.
CORLESS: Thank you both.
SESAY: Well, it is a tight race for Democratic votes in Nevada and later in South Carolina.
VAUSE: And we'll take a closer look at the Clinton and Sanders campaigns. That happens in the next half hour here on CNN NEWSROOM.
In the meantime, we'll move on. Turkey is promising to retaliate for what it calls a vile and dishonorable attack in the Turkish capital of Ankara. At least 28 people were killed in an explosion near a military convoy which was stopped at a traffic light. This all happened near parliament and the arm forced headquarters.
[01:10:06] SESAY: And this video caught the moment of the blast. Turkish officials say it was a car bomb. No one has claimed responsibility but the Turkish military is calling the explosion a terror attack.
The blast comes as Turkey is facing some of the fiercest violence in decades. Our senior international correspondent Ivan Watson joins us now from Hong Kong.
And Ivan, as we make clear, Turkey is facing multiple security threats. Does the targeting of the military right there in the Turkish capital provide any clues as to who is responsible for this attack?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are two main groups that Turkey is currently battling. One is ISIS, which is active across the border in Syria and has also been linked to some horrific suicide bombings in Turkey in -- within the last six months, including within the capital Ankara as recently as last October where close to 100 people, leftists and mostly ethnic Kurds, were killed.
And then you have the Kurdistan Workers Front or PKK. That is a guerilla movement that has been fighting the Turkish state for nearly 30 years. A ceasefire and a peace process collapsed last summer. And now we've had an intensified conflict erupting in predominantly Kurdish parts of southeastern Turkey within the last several months that have claimed the lives of hundreds of people. Those are the two key suspects after a deadly bombing like this -- Isha.
SESAY: Ivan, Turkey's president saying that the attacks will strengthen his country's determination to respond in kind. What might that response actually look like?
WATSON: It's hard to tell right now. If it's against the PKK, what you already have, a conflict that's been going on for 30 years against this guerilla movement that Turkey labels as a terrorist organization. The problem is, is that 20 percent of Turkey's population is ethnic Kurd. The ethnic tensions have spiked in the last several months as the hostilities there have amplified.
The Turkish security forces have imposed very controversial curfews on predominantly Kurdish cities where the fighting is taking place in the southeast of the country. So ramping up -- ramping up the violence on that front, arresting more Kurds, that's probably just going to further deteriorate the security situation with part of your internal population. And the fight against ISIS, well, Turkey is supporting the U.S. led coalition against ISIS across the border in Syria.
Turkey's strategy in Syria is collapsing with the intervention of Russia on the side of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. And Turkey's seeing its proxies, the so-called moderate Sunni Arab rebels, losing ground and being pushed right back to the Turkish border in northern Syria. It's hard to see what Turkey could do against either of these opponents that wouldn't lead to much more violence and instability in Turkey, a country that has seen itself destabilized with a series of these horrific bombings in recent months, including last month where you had German tourists targeted by an ISIS suicide bomber in Istanbul claiming the lives of at least 10 people -- Isha.
SESAY: CNN's international correspondent Ivan Watson joining us there with some perspective on these troubling times for Turkey.
Ivan, thank you.
VAUSE: Whoever it was that carried out this attack in Ankara is likely to determine the response by Turkey. And that could have implications beyond Turkey's border.
For more on that, Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Research Program at the Washington Institute, is with us now.
Soner, good to see speak with you.
SONER CAGAPTAY, DIRECTOR OF TURKISH RESEARCH PROGRAM, WASHINGTON INSTITUTE: My pleasure.
VAUSE: If this attack was in fact carried out by the Kurdish rebels inside Turkey, then what comes next?
CAGAPTAY: Escalation, because Turkey was already in fight with the Kurdish rebels organized within the PKK, which is a group that's on the U.S. State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations. Turkey has been fighting the PKK for a while. And if this is linked to the PKK it's -- there is no doubt that there is going to be serious escalation of Turkish-Kurdish fight inside Turkey and this will probably also spill over into Syria because the Syrian Kurdish organizations are closely linked to the Turkish-Kurdish organizations including the PKK.
VAUSE: This is the bit that it starts getting complicated because you have the Turks going against the Syrian Kurds who are allying themselves with the Russians. But you also have the situation where the Americans are also sort of essentially backing the Kurds as well as an effective fighting force against ISIS.
CAGAPTAY: Right. And it's going to complicate Turkish/U.S. relationship. If the PKK is behind the attack. I think what we will see is Turkey will not only escalate against the PKK but also against the PYD, which is the PKK's affiliate in Syria.
[01:15:05] The United States considers the PYD an ally against the so- called Islamic State. And if Turkey escalates against the PYD, this will sour Turkish/U.S. relations. And this is perhaps exactly what the PKK wants, the group wants to sour Turkish-U.S. relationship so the reasonable choice for Turkey is to not escalate. But they will probably go for what's not reasonable because this is going to be a reaction driven by passions and anger and frustration, and very justified sorrow over the death of so many officers and civilians. And that might unfortunately lead to a deterioration in U.S./Turkish relationship if Turkey starts targeting the Kurds in Syria.
VAUSE: And so of all the skirmishes, of all the proxy wars being fought on Syrian soil right now, this one in the northern part of the country with the Kurds and the Russians and the Turks. This is the one which some analysts have said is most likely to develop into a hot war. Do you believe with that -- do you agree with that, rather?
CAGAPTAY: Russia will probably avoid a hot war with Turkey because Turkey is a NATO ally. And if it does Turkey, the alliance will have to come to Turkey's assistance. I think what we'll more likely see is proxy war, meaning Russia will help the Kurds, who will attack Turkey, Turkey will fight the Kurds who are supported by the Russians.
And I think that the biggest problem here is that so far the Kurdish problem in Turkey has been a domestic issue to which there are domestic solutions. Now the Kurdish problem in Turkey is at the precipice of becoming an internationalized problem with the nefarious actors of the Syrian civil war from the Russians to the Assad regime coming in. If the Kurdish problem in Turkey becomes international, it will become so much more difficult for Turkey to solve that on its own because there will always be foreign spoilers.
So Turkey I think really needs to take a deep breath and take a step back and make sure that the Kurdish problem does not become internationalized, meaning it does not deliver the Kurds into the hands of the Russians.
VAUSE: Soner, thank you for walking us through what is a very complicated situation there.
CAGAPTAY: My pleasure.
VAUSE: In Turkey as well as in Syria. We appreciate it. Thank you.
CAGAPTAY: My pleasure.
VAUSE: Well, critical aid is now arriving in several war torn Syrian cities. Up next we'll look at where the badly needed food and medical supplies are heading.
SESAY: The Pope wraps up his Mexico tour in a town known for its violence. The details of his last days there are just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(SPORTS)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:21:27] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. The fight for a key piece of territory in northern Syria is intensifying. Hundreds of Syrian rebel fighters have moved into the city of Azaz. That's according to a Syrian human rights group. The group says most of the fighters crossed over from Turkey's border under the supervision of Turkish authorities. No comment, though, from Turkey, at least not yet.
SESAY: Azaz has been the scene of fierce clashes between Syrian and Sunni rebels and Syrian Kurds. It's one of the few border areas the rebels still control and many fear the Kurds are trying to make a land grab to bolster their ambition for a state of their own.
Well, as various actors battle on the ground in Syria, sick, hungry and thirsty people are finally getting some help. Aid convoys reached five desperate towns Wednesday bringing the humanitarian supplies that so many need right now. The U.N. says they delivered enough to help nearly 100,000 people.
VAUSE: The U.N. negotiated access to the seven besieged areas in all. You can see five of them on this map in relation to the capital Damascus. Two other towns are due to receive supplies soon.
And CNN's Frederik Pleitgen traveled with a convoy heading to the Madaya, a town where people have literally been starting to death.
SESAY: He filed this update from the road about the conditions there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: After a long time coming, the first convoys have departed central Damascus on their way to get aid to besieged areas here in Damascus area but also in other parts of Syria as well. Now some of the places that these convoys are going to are actually
near the Syrian capital. But one of the places is also Madaya. Of course this place shocked the world when images that showed people they're starving because they simply didn't have any food and also no medicine as well.
Now the United Nations has accused the Syrian government, rebel groups, and first and foremost, ISIS, of using the denial of using food and medicine as a weapon in this ongoing civil war.
Some of the areas that are reached by these convoys today are in areas that are besieged by the government, others are in areas that are besieged by rebel groups. However, one of the main areas is besieged by ISIS. That's the Eastern Syrian town of Deir ez-Zor. The United Nations wants to do there is air drop aid in because of course ISIS is not part of any sort of agreement to get relief to people.
Now the U.N. says this is a positive first step but they also demand that from now on convoys be allowed to get into besieged areas to get people aid there.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, near Madaya, Syria.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: And if you would like to find out how to help those caught up in Syria's civil war, please go to our Web site, CNN.com/impact. There you'll find a list of organizations supporting those most in need.
Pope Francis gets a warm send off as he heads back to Rome. He was mobbed by children in Ciudad Juarez as he made his way on to his plane.
SESAY: The farewell comes after a five-day tour that included meetings with people affected by drug violence and church leaders.
Pope Francis' last event before leaving Mexico was to celebrate mass in a border city known for its drug violence.
VAUSE: His presence there has sparked a lot of talk in the United States as the issue of immigration overshadows this year's presidential election.
CNN's Shasta Darlington has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHASTA DARLINGTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A simple gesture with complicated symbolism. Right before his open air mass in Juarez, Mexico, Pope Francis prays and gives blessing at the American border. Partaking in the moment from the other side of the fence hundreds of so-called Francis VIPs, migrants now living in the U.S.
Here's some of the pontiff's message later at the mass. [01:25:07] POPE FRANCIS, ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH LEADER (Through
Translator): Let us say together in response to the suffering on so many faces in your compassion and mercy, Lord, have pity on us.
DARLINGTON: Immigration has been a major issue in the U.S. presidential race with hardliners calling for deportations. And Donald Trump saying he'll build a huge wall along America's southern border.
The Argentine Pope, meanwhile, has spoken against such barriers evenly calling them a, quote, "form of suicide."
Juarez is a sprawling northern Mexican city plagued by corruption and violence for years and was once the murder capital of the world. The mass, just one part of a busy day for the pontiff. He also spent Wednesday offering blessings and hope to inmates at an area prison.
POPE FRANCIS (Through Translator): From inside here to reverse those situations which generate more explosion.
DARLINGTON: Pope Francis has now departed Mexico and is en route to the Vatican.
Shasta Darlington, Juarez, Mexico.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The White House is expected to announce President Obama will visit Cuba next Monday. A number of sources tell CNN the visit will be short. In the past the White House has said Cuba needs to demonstrate human rights reforms before any visit from the president.
SESAY: The U.S. formally reopened ties with Havana in 2014. And since then a number of high level U.S. officials have visited including Secretary of State John Kerry.
Time for a quick break. The U.S. Democratic presidential candidates head to Las Vegas. But Nevada voters are still undecided as to who is their favorite.
VAUSE: Plus the debate over a judge's order against Apple. The tech company's CEO vowed to fight, saying privacy should not be traded for national security. More on that in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:30:25] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.
SESAY: I'm Isha Sesay.
The headlines this hour --
(HEADLINES)
SESAY: The U.S. presidential Democratic candidates are in Nevada this week ahead of Saturday's caucus. But voters there are split when it comes to Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.
VAUSE: According to a new CNN/ORC poll of likely Democratic caucus goers, 48 percent say they support Clinton, while 47 percent support Sanders.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny has the latest from the campaign trail.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A nail biter in Nevada.
HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Come and caucus for me on Saturday at 11:00 a.m.
ZELENY: Three days before the Democratic caucuses, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are suddenly running neck-and-neck. A new CNN/ORC poll today shows the Clinton/Sanders race at 48/47, a jumped ball in a contest Clinton was once expected to easily win.
(CHANTING)
ZELENY: Sanders' sweeping New Hampshire victory has earned him a fresh look in Nevada.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS, (I), VERMONT & DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Everything in my political gut tells me that we have the momentum here in this state. If people come out in large numbers on caucus day, we're going to win here in Nevada.
(CHEERING)
ZELENY: It's the party's first contest showcasing a diverse electorate where four in 10 Democrats are non-white. The outcome here and next week in South Carolina where Clinton has a commanding lead will help settle the split decision between her win in Iowa and Sanders in New Hampshire. She has campaigned from coffee shops to casinos.
CLINTON: Saturday.
ZELENY: Even posing for pictures with cocktail waitresses.
CLINTON: Thank you so much.
ZELENY: Both sides are working hard to get out the vote. One wild card, same-day voter registration, which many Democrats believe could help Sanders among younger and first-time caucus goers.
SANDERS: We surprised a lot of people in Iowa. We surprised a lot of people in New Hampshire. We're going to surprise a lot of people here in Nevada.
(CHEERING)
ZELENY: Sanders won big with young women in Iowa and New Hampshire. (CHEERING)
ZELENY: Planned Parenthood is trying to prevent that from happening in Nevada, launching an ad today for Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Hillary Clinton is a champion for women's health care.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: A top Sanders supporter, the rapper, Killer Mike --
(SINGING)
ZELENY: -- is under fire for a comment he made at an Atlanta rally Tuesday night. He said he was citing a conversation with a feminist.
KILLER MIKE, RAPPER: James said Michael, a uterus doesn't qualify you to be president of the United States.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the suggestion there is that Hillary Clinton is asking anyone to vote on her because of her gender, that's completely off base.
ZELENY: In Nevada, Clinton still holds strong advantages across the board. The new CNN poll finds on foreign policy, immigration and health care, Clinton holds double-digit advantages over Sanders. But on economy, the issue voters rank as most important, Sanders and Clinton are nearly tied.
CLINTON: We're going to go out and convince people to caucus on Saturday. Then we're going on to South Carolina. Then we're going on to the March states. Then we're going to wrap up the nomination and then we're going to win this election.
ZELENY (on camera): But it may take longer than that to wrap up the nomination fight. A Sanders win in Nevada could up-end Clinton's strategy to wrap up quickly. Those Nevada caucuses on Saturday, the next stop on this long road to the White House.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Las Vegas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Bernie Sanders says he wants to model the U.S. after Denmark, which provides universal health care, free education through college, and guaranteed paid time off of work.
VAUSE: There is a catch. The country also has the highest tax rates in the world.
CNN's Chris Moody explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHRIS MOODY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bernie Sanders has talking about Denmark for years. We came here to find out what the buzz is all about.
Most people say the United States could never be like Denmark. It's too diverse, too big. It just wouldn't work.
BO LIDEGAARD, EXECUTIVE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, POLITIKEN: It's not a paradise or a society free of conflict or social tension. But it is a society where the government takes care of Social Security, health and education, and this is free for all.
[01:35:22] ANDERS AGNER PEDERSEN, EDITOR, KONGRESSEN.COM; The whole part about what kind of role government plays and the whole level of taxes is so different compared to what we do, compared to what you do. So in that sense, it's hard to see that the Danish model could be completely transformed into an American scale, at least not without a massive political fight.
LARS CHRISTENSEN, DANISH ECONOMIST: I think this system is possible because we essentially are all the same. Maybe if you wanted to introduce such a scheme in Utah, then you could do some of that. But doing it across the U.S., I find it completely and utterly impossible just for the sheer fact that Americans are so different.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Chris Moody there on a very cushy assignment in Denmark.
(LAUGHTER)
SESAY: Jealous.
VAUSE: Yeah, I am.
A former member of the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing in on the replacement argument over the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, considered to be a conservative, says the top U.S. court needs someone sooner than later. The call coming as President Obama vowed to nominate a new justice after Antonin Scalia passed away over the weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's unusual to have an opening in an election year.
SANDRA DAY O'CONNER, FORMER U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: It is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there's been a lot of debate.
O'CONNER: And it's unfortunate that it creates too much talk around the thing that isn't necessary. I mean --
(CROSSTALK) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So when you, say, one side saying that they would like to wait until the next president is in office to appoint a justice what do you think about that?
O'CONNER: I don't agree. I think we need somebody there now to do the job. And let's get on with it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Justice O'Connor was nominated by Republican President Ronald Reagan but stepped down in 2006 to care for her ailing husband.
VAUSE: President Obama will visit the Supreme Court on Friday to pay respects to Scalia, whose body will be lying in repose. Mr. Obama will not attend the funeral on Saturday, but instead will attend a wake on Friday.
SESAY: President Barack Obama has a hard choice to make when he nominates a replacement to Justice Antonin Scalia. To find out who may be on his Supreme Court short list or to catch up on the latest news from the campaign trail, head to CNN.com/politics.
Apple is fighting a federal judge's order to help authorities unlock a terrorist iPhone. Apple's CEO Tim Cook says it would set a dangerous precedent and compromise customer security. Google and Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor, who helped kick off the privacy debate, both stand with Apple.
VAUSE: The case centers around a cell phone used by terrorist Syed Farook. He and his wife killed 14 people in December in San Bernardino in California.
Adam Satariano is a business reporter for "Bloomberg." Often reports on Apple. And he joins us from San Francisco via Skype.
Adam, thanks for being with us.
What is the problem for Apple? The issue that they can't do it technically but if they do do it on this one phone, it starts the process of the FBI asks this phone to be unlocked and then it's other phone unlocked, the slippery slope argument?
ADAM SATARIANO, BUSINESS REPORTER, BLOOMBERG: Right, that's their argument. Apple isn't saying it's not technically feasible. Right now Apple says it doesn't have the capabilities to do what the government is asking. But the question is, if the government forces them to do it. Can the government require Apple to write new software for its operating system where the government is able to go in and do things so it can unlock this phone? It is a very politically charged issue and it puts Apple in a bind. But it's a very tough choice for them. And their argument is that if they do this, then they are going to have to do it again and again and again.
SESAY: If the government has a warrant, there is no question that they can actually get into your house. So if they find a safe there that they can't open, can they actually order the safe maker to manufacture a key that could then open every other safe that that company would manufacture. That's essentially what this all comes down to.
SATARIANO: Right. This is a fight that's been brewing sort of quietly for a couple of years now, tracing back to a lot of the revelations that came out from Edward Snowden. And so the government and Apple and other technology companies, behind closed doors, have been debating these issues for quite some time. It spilled out a little bit with the FBI and law enforcement criticizing Apple for this kind of encryption. But this is a high-profile case and it's something a lot of legal experts believe could end up before the Supreme Court.
SESAY: There's a couple of problems for Apple. The first one being that they don't exactly have the best record in protecting the data and the privacy of its customers.
[01:40:08] SATARIANO: They have had a few snafus. There was a famous one in which celebrity photos leaked on. But they have made improvements over the last couple of years. And a lot of the encryption technology on there makes it very, very difficult to get the data off the phone if it's not your phone. And so that is what has led to a lot of this criticism. Law enforcement officials say they want to have these kind of back door entryways in which they can access this, whether it's to prevent a terrorist attack or other sorts of law enforcement investigations.
SESAY: What about the other perception problem that Apple has? It may or may not be right, but it appears at least that Apple is choosing privacy of a dead terrorist over national security.
SATARIANO: This is a difficult case for them. I think some within the headquarters at Apple don't think that the government chose this case on accident. It is very politically charged and allows them to exert a lot of pressure on the company. Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, is taking a stand. And he's saying this is something that Apple will not do. Others in Silicon Valley have started to rally around him. Google's CEO, and some others in the technology industry, have rallied around that. But what's popular in Silicon Valley isn't necessarily what people think is right elsewhere in the country. And so this is going to be a drawn-out fight. It's probably in the early stages yet. It's going to go through a lot of different stages of courts. And Congress might have to get involved. It's something we'll be watching for quite some time.
SESAY: Adam Satariano, from "Bloomberg," thanks for being with us. Appreciate your insight. Thank you.
SATARIANO: Thank you.
VAUSE: We'll take a break. When we come back, a trial set to resume in Germany could be one of the last of its kinds. We'll have more on the 94-year-old defendant and the serious charges he is facing.
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[01:45:17] SESAY: The trial of a former Nazi S.S. guard is set to resume in the next few hours in Germany.
VAUSE: The 94-year-old is charged as an accessory to the murder of at least 170,000 people at the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Here's Nick Glass.
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NICK GLASS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The railway line into Auschwitz, the last journey for over a million people murdered by the Nazis.
The gas chambers were built well out of sight in the whiteness beyond.
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GLASS: 71 years after liberation, we're running out of witnesses. Everybody's old -- men and women.
Auschwitz was the only camp where prisoners were tattooed, were given a number.
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GLASS: One by one, they were escorted into court in the northern German city of Detmold. Erna DePriee (ph) is 92. She was just 21 in Auschwitz, after two months, forced to move camps, leaving her mother behind.
The last thing her mother had said to her was, you will survive and tell what happened to us.
The man on trial is 94, a little fragile on his feet and intent on avoiding all eye contact. Reinhold Hanning was 21 when he became an S.S. guard at Auschwitz. He denies complicity in mass murder.
For the last five years or so, the German justice system has actively sought to widen responsibility for the Holocaust.
John Demanyuk (ph), a guard at another extermination camp. In 2011, aged 90, he was convicted by a German court of being an accessory to murder.
Oscar Gorning (ph), who worked for Auschwitz as a bookkeeper at the age of 21. In 2015, aged 94, he was sentenced to four years in prison for accessory to murder. He admitted moral guilt and pleaded for forgiveness. His case is still under appeal.
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GLASS: Back then, this was the terrifying end of the line. As one survivor remembered, chimneys spewing fire and an unbearable smell of burning human flesh.
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GLASS: Three other cases from Auschwitz are still pending, two men, and one woman, all of them camp guards. The trials are likely to be the last of their kind.
Lyian Schwartzbaum (ph) is 94. He was the youngest on the left in the old photo. He lost his parents and his uncle at Auschwitz.
He and the accused, Reinhold Hanning, are the same age and, as he put it, soon to face our final judge. He simply wants Hanning to tell the truth.
Nick Glass, CNN.
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(WEATHER REPORT)
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[01:52:31] VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. Boxer Manny Pacquiao has lost big again. This time, an endorsement deal of a major sponsor after he made some controversial statements. The eight-time world champion was campaigning for a Senate seat in the Philippines this week when he said gay people are worse than animals, and he went further, saying animals are better because you won't see male to male or female to female animals together.
SESAY: Pacquiao later apologized saying he is sorry he hurt people but stands by his statement against gay marriage because of what the Bible says. Nike called the comments abhorrent and in a statement says they no longer have a relationship with the boxer,
VAUSE: Manny Pacquiao's opponent, Floyd Mayweather also responded, telling TMZ, we should let people live their lives the way they want to live their lives, to each his own.
SESAY: Manny Pacquiao is just one of many athletes who lost their Nike endorsement. In 2014, Nike dropped NFL star Ray Rice after video emerged of him dragging his unconscious fiancee out of a casino elevator. In 2013, Nike suspended its contract with Oscar Pistorius immediately after he was accused of killing his then-girlfriend.
VAUSE: Cyclist Lance Armstrong lost his sponsorship with the athletic retailer after admitting he took performance enhancing drugs. NFL quarterback, Michael Vick, lost his endorsement after he was convicted of involvement in a dog-fighting ring. Vic served time in jail and Nike later resigned him.
One of the Britain's royal palaces turned into a NEWSROOM for a day.
SESAY: For a day. VAUSE: The Duchess of Cambridge appeared as a guest editor for the "Huffington Post, U.K."
VAUSE: She used the role to raise awareness about mental health issues affecting children.
London correspondent, Max Foster, has more.
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MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT: It was the "Huffington Post's" idea but the duchess liked it so much she invited their U.K. team in to Kensington Palace to set up a NEWSROOM. During the course of the day, the duchess commissioned pieces in the likes of Michelle Obama and published them as well on a computer based in the palace. Leading thinkers in the areas of mental illness were involved.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the importance of mental health is parity with physical health. How important it is that when we offer treatments to children as it is well researched and as well evidenced as the treatments that we offer adult.
FOSTER: The #youngmindsmatter quickly started trending on line, much to the gratification of the "Huffington Post" and also much to their surprise. They were really overwhelmed by the amount of impact the duchess had.
[01:55:04] STEPHEN HULL, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, HUFFINGTON POST, U.K.: She is known around the world. She is one of the -- a rare figure that people identify with her. She has a very strong voice and she's using it in a really unique way. It's not just a speech to people. It's actually editing an edition of the "Huffington Post" on a very specific issue.
FOSTER: Meanwhile, the duchess's husband, Prince William, was ominously quiet today. That came after a speech that he made on Tuesday in which he said, for centuries, Britain has been an outward- looking nation. He went on talking about Britain's place in the world. And that was interpreted by the British newspapers as meaning that he was pro Britain staying within the European Union, a highly controversial debate currently underway here in the U.K. Kensington Palace insists he wasn't talking about Europe, but he nevertheless made as many headlines as the duchess today without intending to.
Max Foster, CNN, Kensington Palace.
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SESAY: You are watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.
VAUSE: I'm John Vause. Thanks for joining us.
The NEWSROOM continues with Rosemary Church after a short break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [02:00:09] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Turkey vows to respond after a deadly bomb attack in the capital.
