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Scalia Casket in Great Hall of Supreme Court; GOP Candidates Making Final Push in South Carolina; Review of GOP Town Hall; Preview of CNN Quiz Show. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired February 19, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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

ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN SUPREME COURT REPORTER: The public is just -- I think about to start going in. We just saw Brian Garner. He was a co-author with Scalia in one of his last books and he actually traveled with the justice to Singapore just before his death. He made his way into the line.

[10:30:18] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I can see people that are starting to file by Justice Scalia's casket. The lines are very long, Ariane.

DE VOGUE: Why the long line?

COSTELLO: No, the line is extremely long. It's very cold outside today. It's just a little surprising.

DE VOGUE: Yeah, it curled around the block, and the first person came at 6:15 in order to come in, and it's cold here in Washington. That was the first person in line wanting to be there, a member of the public at 6:15.

We see long lines for arguments, but this line is longer than any of those that I've seen.

COSTELLO: I want to go to Joan Biskupic right now because it was vert moving to see Justice Scalia's family inside the Great Hall, very moving to see his son performing a blessing over his father's casket.

JOAN BISKUPIC, ANTONIN SCALIA BIOGRAPHER: It was, and that's his sixth child, I should say, Paul, and he was, obviously, quite proud when Paul joined the priesthood, and he used to kid that the other sons said Paul took one for the team with the idea being that in a large Catholic family of the tradition that Justice Scalia was part of that there should be one member of the clergy, but I think that was probably very consoling to the family at this time that there was one of their own praying over the father's casket.

COSTELLO: It was very moving. And Jonathan Turney, President Obama, and the first lady are expected to pay their respects some time -- Jonathan Turney? Douglas Frankly is here. Jonathan Turley will join me a little bit later.

Douglas Brinkley, though, perhaps you can answer this question as well. The president and first lady will pay their respects later this morning. Much has been made that they won't be at the church service tomorrow. Is that unusual?

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, when Justice Scalia died, President Obama issued a very beautiful, you know, memo of loss, and what it meant to the country. I think he was quite appropriate with that. I think he -- we have to be honest. These are not close friends, President Obama and Justice Scalia.

I don't think the justice would ever expect Barack Obama to be eulogizing him. Their political views are so different. So it's raised some eyebrows that the president isn't doing this, but I think he's probably correct not to. He would heat up the whole day would be about President Obama being there and what he says or doesn't say, and i think it's better to keep it within the family and close friends of the former justice.

COSTELLO: Joan, do you agree with that?

BISKUPIC: I would say that there's certainly plenty of precedent for the president not attending. George W. Bush attended when William Rehnquist died in 2005, but, you know, that was a tighter relationship.

I don't think the president is trying to send any big signal, and the Scalia family is very close, and this will be a very catholic ceremony and people who are close to the Scalia family have expressed some appreciation, because, you know, think of the security detail that would be there for the president. It's a little bit lighter for the vice president, Joe Biden who Scalia was friendly with.

There was a couple of times I talk to the justice where he would recall conversations with -- then Senator Biden, now Vice President Biden.

So, I think, you know, that's enough, although I'm not trying to express any g opinion on this. I just think it's -- for the funeral service itself, it is of a different nature here.

COSTELLO: All right. Stand by. I have to take another break. Ariane De Vogue, Joan Biskupic, and Douglas Brinkley, thanks to all of you.

Still to come in the Newsroom the clock is ticking on conservative in South Carolina, and Marco Rubio is going after every last vote. Taking a break from jabbing his Republican rivals and knocking Bernie Sanders.

[10:34:11] We'll have more on that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A lawsuit challenging Ted Cruz's eligibility to run for president and he's having his day in court. A Chicago will give arguments alleging Ted Cruz is not an actual born citizen and not eligible to be president.

GOP front runner Donald Trump has threatened a similar lawsuit. Cruz says that while he was born in Canada, his mother is an American citizen which makes him a natural born citizen.

Less than 24 hours until the polls open in South Carolina and Marco Rubio is not wasting a minute. He's on the campaign trail today along side South Carolina's Governor Nikki Haley and Senator Tim Scott and appears to take a dig at Bernie Sanders. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to embrace free enterprise. I love free enterprise. It is the only economic model and system in the world where you can make poor people richer without having to make rich people poorer. It is the only economic model in the world where you're judged by your work, your merit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Phil Mattingly was there at that rally. He joins us now live. Good morning, Phil.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. The swipe at Bernie Sanders, the briefest of respites between the ongoing war between Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.

Now, Carol, we talked about this yesterday. Yesterday the issue was a photo shopped picture of Marco Rubio that was on a website paid for my Ted Cruz. The latest salvo going back and forth is now from the Cruz campaign. Marco Rubio's decision last night to not attend a a conservative review event.

[10:40:05] Cruz's spokesman Rick Tyler saying that was proof that Marco Rubio was not a conservative. So certainly fighting words coming out of the Cruz camp that followed fighting words coming out of the Rubio camp.

But Carol, what this all really underscores is just the urgency of the moment for both candidates. Marco Rubio especially, he has been trying to pick himself off the floor after a rough performance in New Hampshire. The endorsement of Nikki Haley, as you mention, campaigning with him today a huge moment for this campaign, but also a moment that raises expectations.

Ted Cruz's campaign saying anything less than first place would be a failure for Marco Rubio. I can tell you, Carol, Marco Rubio's team not exactly echoing that. But do they think there is a shot for second place coming up to challenge Ted Cruz and hopefully move themselves in the super Tuesday with some momentum, a little bit of wind at their backs. Carol.

COSTELLO: So I'm just curious. If Ted Cruz does come in third, would that be devastating?

MATTINGLY: It would be a difficult moment for the Cruz campaign. Look, there's a lot of people right now speculating what tickets come out of South Carolina. The reality is this. Marco Rubio needs to beat Jeb Bush. He needs to beat John Kasich to move forward. Ted Cruz losing to Marco Rubio particularly after this week, if the two of them attacking back and forth would not be a good look by any means, but he has money. He has organization. And he is particularly well situated in the south, in those March 1st super Tuesday states campaign been paying a lot of attention to those.

The owness right now, Carol, is really on Marco Rubio to perform well here. There's been a lot of questions obviously after that big Iowa performance, where is Marco Rubio, when does he turn the race into his own? It needs to start in South Carolina to move that forward. Super Tuesday is not a place where he's favored in a lot of states. But this sets him up to get to the March 8th, March 15th contest in the Midwest where he could really make a dent, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Phil Mattingly reporting live from South Carolina this morning. Thank you. So for more on the South Carolina race, I'm joined by the Matt Moore. He is the chair of the South Carolina Republican Party. Welcome, Matt.

MATT MOORE, CHAIRMAN, SOUTH CAROLINA REPUBLICAN PARTY: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So what do you think is going to happen? Could Ted Cruz come in third?

MOORE: Oh, boy. We are 20 hours away in the South Carolina primary getting started here. There are so many questions. That's one of then. I'm in the literal center of the state right here on USC's campus. Candidates are swarming around me as we speak.

That is the big question. Who will finish second, who will finish third and fourth, who can emerge here, what are those proverbial (ph) tickets. We're talking about into Nevada next week but more importantly onto the south in March 1st and to March 15th.

COSTELLO: Well, yeah, but Rubio seems to have, you know, a lot of energy right now, you know, with getting the endorsement of Nikki Haley. How valuable is that?

MOORE: It's a undoubtedly a boost. I think his campaign is wisely managing expectations. Look, Donald Trump is going to win South Carolina tomorrow unless something happens tonight to change his momentum. I think Senator Rubio is at a great spot with momentum here in South Carolina (inaudible) Governor Haley, Senator Tim Scott, Congressman Trey Gowdy, of course, Governor Bush has Lindsey Graham herein South Carolina. And Ted Cruz has some of the other congressmen here in South Carolina. So it's a sprint to the finish.

COSTELLO: OK. Well, let's talk about Donald Trump. You said unless something happens. Well something big did happen yesterday with Pope Francis coming out and implying that Donald Trump wasn't so Christian and then Donald Trump kind of down playing the Pope's remarks in CNN's town hall. Do you think that will have more of an effect than it seems right now?

MOORE: No. Nothing that Donald Trump has said or done throughout this campaign has had any effect. He's going to get his 30 percent, 35 percent, maybe even 40 percent here in South Carolina. And he'll go on from here I think with a boost of momentum.

COSTELLO: OK. So, you've been around politics for a long time. And I'm just going to begin asking people this question. What has been the most strange, exciting, thing about this election campaign season so far?

MOORE: It is very unpredictable. No one has any idea what's going to happen tomorrow much less in two weeks. Anyone who thinks there's going to be a nominee that's going to emerge by mid March may be wrong as well. People forget it -- that Mitt Romney did not have enough rights the nomination in terms of delegate numbers by April 24th in 2012.

There's a long way to go in this process, Carol.

COSTELLO: There is a long way to go, and we're excited to see how the South Carolina primaries come out. Matt Moore, thanks for stopping by. You're welcome. Still to come in the News room, as Republicans go down to the wire in South Carolina, could it be undecided voters who will make a difference in tomorrow's primary?

[10:44:33] I'll talk with one of them, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: In South Carolina it's a sprint to the finish line for the Republicans in the hunt for the White House. Marco Rubio and his GOP rivals fanning out across the state today greeting supporters and hoping (inaudible) those undecided voters to their side.

One of those undecided voters joins me now. Her name is Anna Chapman. She's in the chairwoman of the College Republican at the University of South Carolina. She said she's deciding between Donald Trump and John Kasich.

Anna, thanks for being with me.

ANNA CHAPMAN, CHAIRWOMAN, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA COLLEGE REPUBLICAN: Thank you for having me.

COSTELLO: So you're at the CNN town hall last night, and I have to ask you. Did you hear anything that helped you make up your mind?

CHAPMAN: I'm actually more undecided now than I was before I went to the town hall. Before I went to the town hall, I was leaning a lot more heavily toward Donald Trump. But after the town hall I'm torn between Kasich and Trump. For sure.

COSTELLO: What is it about John Kasich that's swaying you a little more?

CHAPMAN: His compassionate conservatism. I think he has a great message, and I think enough people -- there's not enough people hearing his message. And he's also a moderate which I really like. But he just seems like a really, really, really, really good person.

COSTELLO: What that touching moment he had, you know, when the voter hugged him both grew teary eyed?

CHAPMAN: Yes. That, I actually broke a tear last night at the town hall whenever they replayed that.

[10:50:04] COSTELLO: I did too.

CHAPMAN: It was very, very emotional.

COSTELLO: It was. You know, John Kasich and Donald Trump...

CHAPMAN: Yeah.

COSTELLO: ... are very different candidates, though. You say you like the compassionate conservative side of John Kasich, but Donald Trump is very much a tough guy.

CHAPMAN: Yeah. I really like Trump, though, because I like the fact that he's not funded by anybody. And, you know, I think special interests in politics, there's a lot of -- it's like you never really know where a candidate stands, like really stands on something because there's -- most of people speak for their donors. And I feel like with Trump, that's not the case at all. It's not the case at all.

COSTELLO: Interesting. So I'm curious about Marco Rubio, because some analysts say that young people are drawn to the Rubio campaign because he brings a different face to the GOP with Nikki Haley's endorsement and Tim Scott's endorsement. What do you see?

CHAPMAN: Rubio is actually very polar within our -- my organization here at USC. I actually sent out a poll the other day and had 175 people respond to it, and Rubio was overwhelmingly the winner of that with 35 percent. And Donald Trump was a distant 23 percent, I believe and everybody else is about played evenly.

Yeah, Rubio is definitely very popular here on campus and I think nationwide with the (inaudible).

COSTELLO: So I'm also curious about this. Do you think the best candidates are running on the Republican side this time around? Do you feel confident that one of them will make a great president?

CHAPMAN: I do. I really do. I think any of them would be better than Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, for sure.

COSTELLO: Anna Chapman, thank you for being with me. I appreciate it.

CHAPMAN: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come. You're welcome. Still to come in the Newsroom, a helicopter crashes at Pearl Harbor and it's caught on camera. Everyone survived. We'll tell you more about it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:56:17] COSTELLO: On Monday three teams of CNN anchors go head to head testing their knowledge in all things presidential from debates to running mates in the CNN quiz race for the White House edition. Here's a look at how the teams match up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, A.C. 360 & CNN QUIZ SHOW: It's a big election year, and this is the race everybody is watching.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Ask not what your "Quiz Show" will do for you.

COOPER: Jake Tapper and S.E. Cupp. I think that's the powerhouse team.

TAPPER: John Quincy Adams?

COOPER: That is correct.

S.E. CUPP, CNN ANCHOR: That's right.

COOPER: Jake won the first one.

TAPPER: I'm undefeated.

COOPER: He basically dropped the mic, walked off and never came back.

TAPPER: I've never lost.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Seriously, Tapper. Seriously.

COOPER: You have John Berman, Kate Bolduan. Kate's experienced on this. She knows what to expect.

BOLDUAN: Oh dear god, you're starting like that?

COOPER: John Berman is a three-time winner, a jeopardy champion. He's going to be tough to beat.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Berman, Berman, Berman.

COOPER: New entries to the game, John King and Van Jones.

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: We are the outsiders.

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Exactly.

COOPER: First-time player.

JONES: We've got them right where we want them.

COOPER: John King has been on the magic wall, but is he good at a game show?

It's still anybody's game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. So tune in Monday, 9:00 p.m. Eastern for the CNN Quiz Show, Race for the White House edition and see who comes out on top.

All right, let's check top stories for you. Two women are dead and a man hospitalized after an overnight shooting off the Las Vegas strip. A man hunt is currently underway. Police believe the deadly incident began with a fight in the parking garage of Planet Hollywood. A fight that was broken up by security. Officials say they're working with security to review surveillance video of that fight.

The trials of five officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray have been put on hold. This is Maryland's highest court decide whether the sixth officer charged can testify against his colleagues. Jury selection and trial of Officer Edward Nero was slated for monday.

A helicopter crashed in Pearl Harbor, and it was caught on camera. Five people were on board the chopper when it went down. Four of the passengers were rescued quickly by bystanders. He jumped into the water to rescue them. The fifth passenger, a 16-year-old boy had to be cut out of his seat belt. He remains in critical condition this morning.

Affluenza teen Ethan Couch is appearing before a judge right now. The judge's set to reveal whether his case will be move to adult court. Couch was 16 when he was sentenced to probation after driving drunk and causing a crash that killed four people. As we know he fled to Mexico last year to reportedly avoid being arrested for violating his probation.

And as you can see I'm out here outside of the U.S. Supreme court where a moving ceremony took place for Justice Antonin Scalia. His casket is in the Great Hall of the U.S. Supreme Court right now. You can see the people filing into pay their respects.

The four people standing around the casket are former law clerks. These law clerks and other law clerks will take their place around the casket and stay in honor of Justice Scalia throughout the day and into the night.

We do expect the President and Mrs. Obama to pay their respects to Justice Scalia sometime this afternoon. They will not appear at the church service tomorrow which will take place at the basilica here. And a very moving ceremony is predicted at the basilica, because Father Paul Scalia, Justice Scalia's son will say the homily.

And as he did earlier in the Great Hall, he will bless his father's casket.

That's for it more me from here. I'm Carol Castello. Thanks for joining me.

[10:59:54] At this hour with Berman and Bolduan starts now.