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Trump Rallies Thousands in Atlanta; Trump Slams GOP Rival, Pharmaceutical Companies; Democratic Candidates Say They Have Work To Do; UT Athletics Department Sexual Advances Allegations; Fred McNeill Possibly First CTE Diagnosis While Alive. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired February 21, 2016 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:01] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: All right. 7:00 p.m. Eastern, 4:00 p.m. out west. This is CNN, I'm Poppy Harlow. Thank you so much for joining us. Five men, five men now elbowing for the Republican presidential nomination. Jeb Bush suspending his campaign last night. And today, the remaining GOP candidates are looking towards their next contest. Tuesday's caucuses in Nevada. Earlier today, New Hampshire primary winner, South Carolina primary winner Donald Trump speaking at a rally in Atlanta. Saying to them, you're going to get so tired of winning. Big cheers for that.

Our political reporter Jeremy Diamond was at the Trump event. And in Nevada, we have our Sunlen Serfaty with the Cruz campaign.

Jeremy, let me start with you. I know you heard that we saw the weird moment when the lights went out. They ultimately came back on. But we heard Donald Trump say, you're going to get so tired of winning, you spoke with his campaign manager about sort of the strategy going forward from here. What is it?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. Poppy, Donald Trump, you know gave his classic stump speech here today. But his campaign manager talking about how there's going to be a really aggressive schedule coming up as Donald Trump goes first to Nevada. He is flying there tonight. He is on his way right now. And then he'll be on to the Super Tuesday states. A number of states were going to be voting on March 1st. A lot of them in the south. And Donald Trump hoping to make a big win there competing with Texas Senator Ted Cruz who has also staked a lot of his campaign there. Donald Trump tonight though not able to resist hitting one of his former rivals though. I think we have the sound bite. Listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'll give you a story. One of the candidates, I won't say who yet, but you could find out, one of the candidates, the head of a major, major and the owner of major, major pharmaceutical company is in charge of his campaign. Right? You know that, right? In charge of his campaign. Raises hundreds of millions of dollars. They've raised a fortune. They have a fantastic like a lot of money. Pharmaceuticals. So a friend of mine comes up to me, a doctor. He said, Donald I don't understand it. The United States is the biggest purchaser of drugs in the world. They don't negotiate price. They're not allowed to. And I said, what are you talking about, they're not allowed to? So, I said that can't be but let me check it. As soon as I checked it, I realized why -- he's right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: That of course is a line that Donald Trump has used time and again against Jeb Bush who on Saturday already dropped out of the race. So, it looks like Donald Trump may be missing Jeb Bush, one of the key elements of his stump speech. Just a little bit on the campaign trail.

HARLOW: Jeremy, thank you very much. Sunlen to you. I mean, let's talk about Ted Cruz in Las Vegas. Obviously he wished he would have come in ahead of Donald Trump and Marco Rubio there in South Carolina. What are he saying about his chances now especially against Rubio?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the main part of Ted Cruz's messaging going forward is really that he's the only candidate that can and has beaten Donald Trump. Obviously leaning a little bit on his Iowa win. And we've already seen him start to argue that on the ground here in Nevada. He just wrapped up his first rally here and spoke with press and really the Cruz campaign Poppy is really trying to present this image that they are on track after that South Carolina loss. Really trying to say, you know, really in the post mortem, the discussion being in large part about the evangelical vote. What they've always said is the core part of their support. And that he lost that vote to Donald Trump in South Carolina. And he was peppered with questions at a media conference about this earlier today and he just kind of just tried to downplay it. Ted Cruz said, you know, look, this is an ongoing discussion throughout the campaign and then quickly pivoted to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And he was asked, what state did you win? You weren't able to win in Iowa, you weren't able to win in New Hampshire, you weren't able to win in South Carolina. When can you win a state? And the answer he gave is he said, well, I think we could win Florida on March 15th. Now, that's a fairly amazing admission that they don't believe they're going to win here in Nevada. Apparently they don't believe they're going to win any states on Super Tuesday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: So Ted Cruz there wasting no time to pivot away from his loss in South Carolina and pivot to Marco Rubio. Really kind of trying to twist the knife saying, where can he win? This will be such a key and core part of their messaging going forward -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Absolutely, it will be. Sunlen, thank you very much. Jeremy Diamond live for us there in Atlanta. Thank you very much.

So let's also talk about this. The threat of terror obviously huge in this election. An issue number one for a lot of voters and the question is, what does it take to protect the nation in a world of turmoil and terror?

Take a look at this poll from South Carolina. These are the GOP voters who said terror was the most important issue in their minds in the number one spot. Trump followed by Ted Cruz who again was slammed for pledging to quote, "Carpet-bomb them into oblivion." Those are the top two front-runners on that topic. Let's talk more about it with retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, former commander of the U.S. Army in Europe and the seventh army. He's a CNN military analyst. Thank you very much for being with me, General.

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Good evening, Poppy.

[19:05:10] HARLOW: You just wrote a CNN op-ed piece on this which I would direct everyone to. It's fascinating on CNN.com. And you say that there's a key question that one should ask when considering who will be the next commander-in-chief. What is that question?

HERTLING: Well, Poppy, I was asked, I teach a leadership course to a bunch of physicians and one of them approached me and said, how do you judge the candidates, who are you voting for? And I said, I'm not talking, that's very private. But you can judge leadership capability based on three factors. Their character, who they are, how they relate what their value system are, number one. Number two, their presence. How other people see them and not only just people in the United States, but people overseas, foreign leaders. But number three, their intellect. Their ability to understand the situation and the circumstances related to all things both domestically and internationally. So those are the three areas that I'm looking for as I'm evaluating and conducting an analysis of the candidates. And as I said in the article, I am finding some of our candidates very lacking in either one of or many of those areas. And several of them have greater strengths in those areas.

HARLOW: I thought it was interesting, because you actually don't name any of those candidates in your piece. And you write this, you write truly great leaders realize there are some things they just don't know.

HERTLING: Yes.

HARLOW: What -- what former president, I'm interested historically speaking, what former president is a good example of someone who does acknowledge what they don't know?

HERTLING: Well, there are several and I don't want to go into a history lesson here, Poppy. But what I will tell you is all former presidents have had experiences where they just didn't know things. And they call in the experts. And they're humble in their approach to understanding that they don't know all things and they want support from their experts and they build very good teams. Mr. Reagan did that. President Clinton did that on several occasions. So, this is something that occurred on both sides of the aisle.

HARLOW: Uh-hm. HERTLING: But every single president has been required to do that. Because there's such a variety of subjects that will strike the President. And things that are going to be happening, in 2016 when the next president takes office will be very different in 2020 at the end of his or her first term. So, you know, it's not only the things you talk about today, but it's the ability to understand the things that might approach you every single day of the presidency and the surprises that come into being while you are acting as the president. I've had very good friends who have served as advisers to the presidents in both the military and the civilian aspect and they will say that, you know, the topics and the subjects and the variety of the spectrum of things they're asked to determine on a daily basis changes every morning of every day.

HARLOW: I want to you listen to something that Donald Trump said this week. Let's roll it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Earlier in the century, last century. General Pershing, did you ever hear? Rough guy, rough guy. And they had a terrorism problem. And there's a whole thing with swine and animals and pigs and you know the story, OK? They don't like that. They took the 50 terrorists and he took 50 men and he dipped 50 bullets in pig's blood. He had his man load his rifles, and he lined up the 50 people, and they shot 49 of those people. And the 50th person, he said you go back to your people and you tell them what happened. And for 25 years there wasn't a problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: This was followed by the Council on American Islamic Relations which is a leading Muslim rights, civil rights group. They said that this rhetoric, General, has crossed the line from spreading hatred to inciting violence. What's your take on a statement like that the story that he told?

HERTLING: Well, I would first of all agree with that. That it does spread hatred and violence. He's also talking about an action taken by General Pershing close to 100 years ago during the Moro Insurrection, I believe that's what he's talking about. And if we can't say we've advanced a little bit over the last 100 years, shame on us. We're a much more advanced society. You know, I think some of our candidates, I won't he name which ones, are appealing in the greater base of the people there trying to get votes from and this is very unfortunate, because it does spread hatred. The battlefield is is a very complex and complicated thing, Poppy.

You know that very well and to spread these kinds of things, especially any candidate who has not been on the battlefield, suggesting these kinds of techniques in the 21st Century. Is just to me, a professional soldier, appalling. Soldiers live by values. They conduct operations under the law of war. This is not something that would go on in the 21st Century. And I think Mr. Trump in this particular case has been very lapse in his ability to cull out General Pershing's comments on this particular one. And it was a darker side of American history. Not one that I would propose would be one of the better things to talk about.

[19:10:17] HARLOW: All right. Lieutenant General Mark Hertling. Thank you for being with me again. Pointing everyone to your op-ed on all of this on CNN.com.

HERTLING: Thank you, Poppy.

HARLOW: Ahead, it is the last Republican presidential debate before Super Tuesday, join our Wolf Blitzer who is moderating it all live from Texas. On Thursday night, February the 25th, 8:30 p.m. Eastern only right here.

Ahead this hour, we've got a lot of news to get to up next, the Democrats, Hillary Clinton takes the win in Nevada. Is she finally on her way to locking up the democratic nomination?

Also ahead, a member of the Ted Cruz campaign joins me live. I will ask him about the evangelical vote. Why they didn't get most of it in South Carolina.

And accusations of an unfair campaign and how Ted Cruz plans to take on Trump on Super Tuesday.

Also, a CNN exclusive. The University of Tennessee in the spotlight in hot water right now after allegations in a federal lawsuit in which female students claim there is a rape culture on their campus. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:14:01] HARLOW: Is Donald Trump now the inevitable GOP nominee? After his win last night in South Carolina, it should be no really noted and no surprise here, people talk about him as inevitable. Because no GOP primary candidate has ever won New Hampshire and South Carolina and fail to secure the nomination.

Let's talk about all of it with conservative pundit, former CIA counterterrorism analyst Buck Sexton, thank you for being with me.

BUCK SEXTON, FORMER CIA COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: Thank you, Poppy.

HARLOW: You have a very short but to-the-point tweet that did you last night? Let's pull it up. You tweeted, "The GOP establishment is now at Defcon 1 Trump." Tell me more.

SEXTON: Well, South Carolina is a game changer all along we've heard for many months now as you know, Poppy that Donald Trump was going to implode, he is going to go away. He didn't have a ground game.

HARLOW: Right.

SEXTON: He was going to get tired of this. Now we know that not only is that not the case, but he has won in a state where many had thought that for example Ted Cruz would have a leg up.

HARLOW: And Ted Cruz didn't even win the evangelical vote. SEXTON: He didn't even win the evangelical votes. So, this has

turned the conventional wisdom has gone through so many aerations of being wrong here, that there's really no such thing anymore. Other than, Trumpism now has the history behind it as you point out.

HARLOW: Right.

SEXTON: He's won two -- it would be a record-breaking in that sense if he did not going to win the nomination. And also mathematically as you look at the different delegate paths, the math just overwhelmingly favors Trump right now. And that is freaking out people that have been assuming all along that somehow this would not happen. This has become a reality.

HARLOW: But I do want to push back on the math. Because there are those including I would assume that the Trump surrogate who is, Cruz surrogate who is going to join me a little later who say, actually when you look at the math it doesn't really work out that way. Trump holds on about 30 percent right now in a field of what was six, but when you get down to say a field of three, he's not going to be able to secure the 50-plus percent that he needs.

SEXTON: Well, certainly that's what the other two main campaigns are going to say at this point.

(CROSSTALK)

SEXTON: Right. I'm not saying that they can't win. I'm just saying that if you were to look at what's already been done and what's likely.

HARLOW: If the polls are right for the Super Tuesday primary. If the polls are right for the S.E.C. states are coming up. Donald Trump is going to be the prohibitive favorite for anyone else overtaking even by time it becomes winner take all on March 15th. Some on the big states like Ohio or like Florida rather. So there's ways for them to win. But right now Rubio and Cruz are boxing out each other essentially and Donald Trump is going to keep getting first and Rubio and Cruz are going to be fighting it out for second and third. Unless the polls were wrong, which they certainly weren't in South Carolina.

All right. Listen to though what Trump did say this morning on the State of the Union about his ability to bring over non-Republican voters. Let's play it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: As a candidate, I will bring over many, many Dems. We're going to bring over a lot of Democrats. We're going to bring over a lot of Independents. Nobody else will. In all fairness the other candidates will never bring over Independents. They will never bring -- we're talking about the Reagan Democrats. We're going to bring other tremendous numbers, we're going to bring other youth. Bernie is not going to make it. In my opinion. I never thought he would. Hillary won't make it. You know, I mean, frankly if she gets indicted, that's the only way she's going to be stop. And I think it's going to be between Hillary and myself. They say that it will be the largest voter turnout in the history of United States elections.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: For the doubters, should they be about done doubting Trump?

SEXTON: Oh, they should be done doubting that he's not serious and he's not the front-runner. I mean can he actually --

HARLOW: But doubting his ability to take it all the way? I mean, at what point do you stop doing that?

SEXTON: No, I think he showed that recent, one of the big take-aways from South Carolina is not just who is able to win as you point out. He won evangelical voters. Ted Cruz had been courting them for months and had this ground game in place and has been so on message and just also ideologically so much more consistent with the evangelical voters. But apart from that, the results of the aspect of Trump showing that he has learned in this process. He had a better ground game in South Carolina than he did in Iowa. He had put more into this process. People said that he actually was, he's becoming a better candidate as he goes through this.

So, I think that has also to be taken into account. I do think he's going to see this thing through all the way. And I'm not hearing anybody, saying they think he's going to drop for any reason all of then him losing. And as you look it, I guess, the campaigns can point to ways that theoretically if certain things broke in certain ways, Cruz and Rubio could still win. That is true. If you look at their support and you look where they're polling in different states and then you also look at the proportion versus winner take all situations in those states, mathematically Trump right now if you're a betting man or woman looks likes he's the one that's most likely to win this nomination. The same way that look Bernie Sanders could theoretically beat Hillary Clinton. Right? I think at this point most people would put their money on Hillary Clinton winning the nomination.

HARLOW: It's different though because Trump has taken those two states. So --

SEXTON: Look, Trump has taken two states that if you win them, you always ends up being the nominee.

HARLOW: But if we've learned anything this year, this cycle, is anything but history, you know, following the state of history.

All right. I got to leave it there. Buck, thank you very much.

SEXTON: Thank you.

HARLOW: This week, it is the Democrats' turn to face South Carolina voters. Just days before their party primary. The candidates make their case to you, the voter. Do not miss the CNN South Carolina democratic presidential town hall. It is moderated by Chris Cuomo, Tuesday night at 8:00 p.m. Eastern only right here.

Quick break. We're back in a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:22:25] HARLOW: With so many primaries coming up in the next few weeks. There's certainly a lot at stake. Remember we've only had three states decide so far. Democrats acknowledging they have a lot of work to do. Bernie Sanders this morning on CNN's State of the Union with Jake Tapper saying he needs to do better with African- American voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We did badly with the African-American vote. But I think the more the African-American community, hears our message on a broken criminal justice system, which has more people in jail today than any other country on earth, largely African-American and Latino. When they hear our message about the need for an economy that represents all of us, not just the one percent, I think you're going to see us making progress there as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: On State of the Union this morning, as well, Hillary Clinton spoke to Jake Tapper and she talked about her issue of trustworthiness.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I understand that voters have questions, I'm going to do my very best to answer those questions. I think there's an underlying question that maybe is -- really in the back of people's minds, and that is, you know, is she in it for us or is she in it for herself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Well, Clinton did score a very clear victory over Bernie Sanders in Nevada. Team Clinton deployed a huge organizational machine in that state to slow the Sanders surge after his stunning, stunning performance in New Hampshire. Here's a closer look at how Clinton clinched the win.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Hillary! Hillary!

(CROWDS CHEERING)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, are you leaning one way or another at this final moment?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At this final moment, it really is my logic tells me go for Hillary. My heart tells me go for Bernie. I feel as if I'm going to have an affair on Bernie if I go for Hillary though.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, are you -- which way do you feel like you're leaning, head or heart?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll probably most likely go for my head. I'm a little bit more of a logical person than I am emotional person.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm eating your hair.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nonetheless, let's go over what's going to happen here. In this room, the candidates are going to appear. Hillary!

Hillary! Hillary! Hillary!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know.

(INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Should have worn sunglasses, don't let him see me. But I do really believe that if anybody can get stuff down, Hillary more so than Bernie.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you so much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of course, thank you. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right. There you have it. How one woman in that state made the last-minute decision on who to support. Coming up, Ted Cruz says, he can and will beat Donald Trump. That is despite his loss with that critical evangelical vote. Particularly in South Carolina. Trump says it's because he's a quote, "lying basket case." Those words from Donald Trump. And Marco Rubio agrees.

Up next, we will speak to a Ted Cruz surrogate and ask him how can Ted Cruz go all the way. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:29:15] HARLOW: If you heard Ted Cruz last night. You may have mistaken his third place in South Carolina with a victory. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRUZ: We are the only campaign that has beaten and can beat Donald Trump.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

CRUZ: That's why Donald relentlessly attacks us and ignores all the other candidates.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Joining me now is Ron Nehring, Ted Cruz's California campaign chairman and the GOP's former California campaign chairman. And a man who just got off about a 500-mile road trip driving up to D.C. from South Carolina. So thank you for being with me. [19:30:03] RON NEHRING, CALIFORNIA STATE CHAIRMAN, TED CRUZ FOR

PRESIDENT: My pleasure, great to be here.

HARLOW: To many, that sounded last night like a victory speech. And yet you had Cruz about 10 points behind Trump and you had him losing with evangelicals by six points. A lot of folks thought he would have taken the evangelical vote there especially on a week when Donald Trump gets in a spat with the Pope. What happened?

NEHRING: Well, just like in Iowa where Ted Cruz took on everybody and won in this case in South Carolina ted Cruz took on the entire establishment. Marco Rubio had the endorsement of Governor Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott, (INAUDIBLE), the congressman. Just about the entire establishment and then jumping up and down on Ted Cruz' head and he tied Marco Rubio for second place.

HARLOW: He didn't tie Marco Rubio for second place according to the numbers.

NEHRING: Well, it's a virtual tie. Look, it's a difference of about 1,000 votes out of 800,000 votes cast.

HARLOW: But it's not a tie.

NEHRING: Well it's close.

And so we can go back and forth on that but the reality is at the end of the day it was not us who said we had to win South Carolina. It was Marco Rubio who said in his 3-2-1 plan that he shared with all of his donors that he had to come in third in Iowa, which he did. He had to come in second in New Hampshire. Which he didn't. He came in a distant fifth and he had to win in South Carolina. Even with all of the establishment support that he had in South Carolina, he couldn't win.

And so if he couldn't win in South Carolina, in what state is Marco Rubio going to win? In order to become competitive in the nomination? The reality is if you want to defeat Donald Trump you have to go with Ted Cruz. Because we're the only candidate who has defeated Donald Trump so far and we're the only candidate who can go all the way.

HARLOW: I hear you, but at the same time you're talking about winning Iowa, which your camp did. But if you look at the last two elections, look who else won Iowa? You had Huckabee in 2008, Santorum in 2012. That does not a presidential contender and a general make.

NEHRING: Now, but if you take a look at history, what's clear is that in order to win the nomination, you have to be able to win one of the early states. Only two candidates have done that so far. That's Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Marco Rubio hasn't done that and there's only one state left and it's not looking good for him to win in Nevada. If you want to look at history, that's certainly one thing to look at. Being able to win an early state. We're on track with what we've said -- we've said from the outset that Ted Cruz needs to win one of the early states, we've done it and now we're going to go on to March 1st. What's really interesting to me is what Marco Rubio said this morning, which is when he was pressed repeatedly on what state he's able to win. He cited only Florida, which votes on March 15th. But that's not going to work in order to defeat Donald Trump. Because 45 percent of the delegates will already have been chosen by the time we get to the first state which Marco Rubio says he can win. Which sounds like he's already conceding Nevada on Tuesday.

HARLOW: So there are -- let's talk about the issue of trustworthiness. It's important to voters on both sides of the aisle and there are folks increasingly questioning Ted Cruz' trustworthiness. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 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 it's not true, there's no other word for it.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You're a worse liar. You probably are worse than Jeb Bush.

Ted Cruz goes out, you talk about liars.

RUBIO: For a number of weeks now, Ted Cruz has been telling lies, he lied about Ben Carson in Iowa. He lied about (INAUDIBLE). He lies about marriage. He's lying about all sorts of things. And now he makes things up.

TRUMP: I have never ever met a person that lies more than Ted Cruz.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: OK. Granted, a lot of it coming from his competitors, but let's look at what the voters say in this exit poll last night there in South Carolina. You've got who ran the most unfair campaign. Trump, 39 percent followed by Cruz, 33. Are you worried about that? Any credibility problem?

NEHRING: Well, it's no surprise that when you're challenge the Washington cartel, when you come to Washington, D.C. and challenge a leadership in both parties and then you're in a strong position to become the Republican nominee for president, people are going to say bad things about you, that shouldn't be a surprise. What's so surprising is that Marco Rubio reacts so poorly to people challenging him on his record on amnesty.

Look Marco Rubio has a record. He ran for senate in the state of Florida as a tea party candidate, as a conservative candidate. He came to Washington, D.C., he betrayed that by signing onto the authoring the Rubio-Schumer Amnesty bill. Doing Barack Obama's bidding on providing an amnesty that he said he wouldn't do and whenever anyone calls him on his record, he gets mad and he says that's a lie and so on and so forth. Marco Rubio should just stand up and take responsibility for his position which is that he's a liberal on the issue of amnesty. This is an issue that's concern to many people because if anything that goes to the issue of trust. Because he said he wouldn't do that. And then for him to step forward and essentially do Barack Obama's bidding on an issue that's of great concern to Republicans, particularly now. You know is really quite shocking.

HARLOW: But I'm talking about Ted Cruz, your candidate's credibility and concerns there that the voters show in that polling.

NEHRING: Well, I think what my concern is, is that you have Marco Rubio and Donald Trump both, echoing the same line. And of course they're going to say something like that because we're their competition. Of course they're going to -- both of those candidates have one thing in common -- they want to avoid --

[19:35:12]

HARLOW: The voters said it in this poll.

NEHRING: Right. Well certainly look, people have to make their own decisions as we go forward. And ultimately they're listening to all of the candidates. And it's not a surprise that the tactic that our opponents refer to or wind up resorting to is to simply jump up and down and try to call Ted Cruz a liar as a means of diverting attention from their own liberal records.

Donald Trump is a Manhattan liberal who has supported partial birth abortion. He did so in that interview, famous interview with Tim Russert. Where he said he had New York values and so on. And Marco Rubio in terms of his leading the fight for amnesty. And the like, these are candidates who need to try to distract attention from their own records and that's the issue which they're going to try to bring up. We're going to continue to talk about Ted Cruz' record which is a proud record that both in terms of his time in the senate and his time as solicitor general of the state of Texas. He has a record of accomplishment. He has taken on the status quo in Washington and he has taken on the leadership of both parties. That's a record to be proud of.

HARLOW: Ron Nehring, we have to leave it there. Hope you'll come back though. I wish we had more time. Thank you very much.

NEHRING: You bet.

HARLOW: All right. Quick break, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: The University of Tennessee's head football coach denying allegations that there is a rape culture in his football program. Coach Jones responding to multiple women who filed a Title IX federal lawsuit against the university.

Our Nick Valencia travelled there and sat down exclusively to speak with him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the middle of campus at the University of Tennessee stands the torch bearer. The statue is the school's symbol of truth. But for the eight women who have filed a Title IX Sexual Discrimination lawsuit, it is the truth they say that the school helped bury.

[19:40:03]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't feel like they took the proper measures in punishing him.

VALENCIA: CNN does not identify alleged rape victims. That's the voice of Jane Doe number one, a plaintiff in the lawsuit who had accused then-UT basketball player Yami Makanjuola of rape.

YAMI MAKANJUOLA, UT BASKTEBALL PLAYER: My name is Yami Makanjuola.

VALENCIA: Prosecutors did not pursue charges against the former basketball player in the 2013 incident.

But the school found that by a preponderance of evidence Makanjuola was responsible on sexual assault charges. He had already transferred to another university. Don Bosch who has represented Makanjuola and some of the other student athletes mentioned in the suit said allegations against his former clients are false.

Makanjuola is not a defendant in this lawsuit, nor are the other athletes who are mentioned. The suit against the school encompasses what the plaintiffs say is a hostile sexual environment and culture at UT.

DON BOSCH, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: There are women that are sometimes predatory in nature, that are seeking out relationships with these athletes, and later turn those around to allege sexual assault, to allege certain things in hopes for some financial gain.

JENNY WRIGHT, FORMER DIRECTOR OF STUDENT AFFAIRS JUDICIAL AFFAIRS AT UT: To say that the perpetrator in this instance, a student athlete, is a victim of these sexual assault allegations? Is one of the most repulsive and insulting things that anyone could say.

VALENCIA: Jenny Wright is the former director of student judicial affairs. She investigated student misconduct between 2011 and 2013. She claims she was fired from her job after blowing the whistle on the school's athletic department, for allegedly interfering with investigations involving student athletes. UT says she was terminated for failure to cooperate with an investigation into whether she had an inappropriate relationship with a student athlete. An independent investigation later cleared her of any wrongdoing.

WRIGHT: I was worried.

VALENCIA (on camera): About what?

WRIGHT: I still am, about fallout and backlash.

BILL RAMSEY, ATTORNEY FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE: I challenge anyone to find any undue influence by the athletics department.

VALENCIA (voice-over): Bill Ramsey, the lead counsel for Tennessee says the lawsuit is filled with misconceptions, most importantly Ramsey said, the school took the necessary action.

RAMSEY: Of course the university, our heart goes out to any victim. But they can't remedy what happened. They can only take action to enforce the rules on campus. Which is what they did in the situations at hand here.

VALENCIA (on camera): The lawsuit mentions perhaps the most famous athlete ever to come out of the university, Peyton Manning. It was back in the mid '90s that Manning had an inappropriate exchange with a female trainer. While his incident isn't germane to this lawsuit, the lawyer who filed it says it shows there's been a culture of indifference towards women on this campus for decades.

(voice-over): In a lawsuit against the university, a female trainer accused Manning of sitting on her face while naked as she treated him for an injury. Manning claimed he was mooning another athlete and while he said his actions were inappropriate, they were not criminal.

A settlement was reached in the case in 1997. As part of it, the trainer agreed to leave the school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A short skirt does not mean yes.

VALENCIA: In 2014, UT launched a campaign on campus called "Defining Consent" in response to a rise in college sexual assaults across the country.

BUTCH JONES, HEAD FOOTBALL COACH, UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE: It's something that we take very, very seriously here.

VALENCIA: In an exclusive interview with CNN, the school's head football coach, Butch Jones says he educate his players year-round about their ethics and conduct. Several of his players are named in the lawsuit.

JONES: These isolated incidences are not an indication of what we have, the type of character that we have in our football program. And the culture that we have in our football program. We have good people here.

VALENCIA: You will know the truth and the truth shall set you free. It's the University of Tennessee motto. Those involved in the Title IX lawsuit say they can only hope that it's still applies.

Nick Valencia, CNN, Knoxville, Tennessee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Nick, thank you so much for that.

Coming up next, a medical milestone, researchers on a former NFL player, who died last year, well they may have discovered something that may pave the way for other players with a brain injury blamed on the sport. This exclusive report from our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is next.

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[19:47:40]

HARLOW: Well, the season maybe over but the conversation about concussions is not. The NFL reported 271 concussions this season alone. When asked about it, Commissioner Roger Goodell says the higher number reflects a culture shift in which more players are reporting their injuries.

But the game of football continues to be mired in controversy over CTE, a brain disease believed to be caused by repeated blows to the head. The disease has never before been diagnosed in the living. That was thought to have been impossible.

But now an autopsy has confirmed experimental tests that detected CTE in former line backer Fred McNeill, making McNeill potentially the first person in the world to be diagnosed before his death.

Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, sat down exclusively with the McNeill family

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Despite how much of his life football later took from him.

TIA MCNEILL, FRED MCNEILL'S WIFE: Fred did everything he was -- you know, played ball, went to law school, prepared for life after football.

We had kids. It was a good life.

GUPTA: McNeill played in two Super Bowls, was really no ordinary player. His sons say no ordinary man.

FRED MCNEILL, JR., FRED MCNEILL'S SON: He was the best friend of ours, our first best friend. Superman.

TIA MCNEILL: And then it changed.

GUPTA: It changed. CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy entered their lives. Of course, at the time, they had no idea what was happening.

GAVIN MCNEILL, FRED MCNEILL'S SON: It looked like financial issues at first. It looked like marital issues, his personal issues. It was depression and all these things that came with it.

GUPTA: And now we see for the first time the impact it had not just on the man, but his wife, his two sons.

GAVIN MCNEILL: I remember we were playing basketball, me and him. We got into an argument while playing. And he started getting aggressive with me.

[19:50:01]

FRED MCNEILL, JR.: There was maybe two moments where he lost it. And punched holes in the walls.

And it was like -- wow.

GUPTA: CTE can hit hard. And fast. Mcneill just in his 40s lost his job as a lawyer. Filed for bankruptcy. Lost the home.

TIA MCNEILL: I would look at Fred often as crazy. What is going on with you, you know. I remember he was losing job after job.

GAVIN MCNEILL: I thought to myself first, I'm thinking is this a mid- life crisis? What is going on? I had a conversation with my mom and I was like I think something is going on, he needs to go see a doctor, a therapist, something and figure out what it is.

GUPTA: "It" is something I noticed myself when I first met Fred back in 2010.

Just talking I can tell that it's, it's a little bit difficult for him. Do you remember my name?

FRED MCNEILL, FOOTBALL PLAYER: Oh, sanjay.

GUPTA: Got it.

FRED MCNEILL: Right, OK, good.

GUPTA: If I was to see you next week -- if we saw each other again, would you remember me?

FRED MCNEILL: Sanjay, I don't know.

TIA MCNEILL: When Fred was playing, the worst we ever thought an injury would be would be major spinal type thing where they're carried off in paralysis, that was your worst fear sitting in the stands. But this, you know, we didn't know.

GUPTA: Rage, memory loss. Depression.

FRED MCNEILL JR: Yes.

GUPTA: Did your father have all three of those?

FRED MCNEILL JR: Definitely, definitely. Yes, that was another point of worry for us. Because there were times when he would talk about ending it. And we were like no way. Like this is not our dad.

GUPTA (voice-over): But it was their dad. A different dad. And it was easy to be angry with him. After all, they didn't know he had CTE. It couldn't be diagnosed until after his death.

GUPTA (on camera): You also made the decision to have Fred's brain donated after he passed away?

TIA MCNEILL: Well I had made the decision early on. But yes.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: First thing I want to show you is this.

GUPTA: And now for the first time she is seeing her husband's brain. And exactly what football did to it.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: We found blotches you're seeing are tar. Which is the protein we see in CTE.

GUPTA: Dr. Bennett Omalu recently made famous when Will Smith portrayed him in the movie "Concussion."

UNIDENTIFED MALE: If you look at his hypocampus, this is the part of the brain that controls his memory. He has significant memory impairment.

GUPTA: You can see how CTE ravaged McMeill's brain. Perhaps even more remarkable, Dr. Omalu tells us he already knew Fred McNeill had CTE before he died. How?

Using a P.E.T. scan technology that he helped develop and partly owns.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: You can see the red areas is identifying the tao in his brain.

GUPTA: If it is true, Fred McNeill would be the first person in the world to have his CTE diagnosed while still alive and then confirmed with an autopsy after his death.

TIA MCNEILL: It explains a lot. Because I am seeing a lot of that. The tao protein.

GUPTA: But it is early. Too early. Just 14 NFL players, including hall of famer Tony Dorset have been examined using this technology. Only McNeil's diagnosis has been confirmed. The question is, will the test be able to distinguish CTE from other dementias? Like Alzheimer's?

TIA MCNEILL: Fred played in the first 10 years of the league so this is what, Super Bowl 50 is coming. OK. I know there's a huge number of players and families, between that point and now, when Fred first started playing that are going to be experiencing this. And it's important to have information for them to get help and support.

GUPTA: Even if none of it can erase the damage done to Fred McNeill's brain or to his family.

FRED MCNEILL JR.: Always reminder of how he raised us and those reminders keep us on the steady path, for sure.

GUPTA (voice-over): How about you, Gavin, how are you holding up with all this?

GAVIN MCNEILL: Doing all right. Super inspired by his life, you know. Creative you know. Productive. Definitely feeling with this, you know. Good, you know. Good.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Sanjay, thank you so much for this story. It's so important. I mean, look at what we're hearing this week. We're hearing every week about more and more players with this disease. We note that these researchers at Boston University have now identified over 96 percent of NFL players with the disease. Is that an accurate reading? Is it really 96 percent?

[19:55:15]

GUPTA: Yes. Well you know out of the brains that they have examined, 96 percent of them have had CTE. But Poppy, you bring up an important point which I guess is something known as selection bias, that is to say that people who have had their brains donated, families who donated their loved one's brains, had some suspicion, right? Had some suspicion that they had this. Because of the behavior during their lives. So that, you now it's not to say that 96 percent of all NFL players will have this but certainly 96 percent of the players who thought they had something wrong in fact did.

HARLOW: Dr. Sanjay gupta. Thank you so much for that.

Coming up next -- the number.

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HARLOW: For the number tonight, the number is 12, 12 years, to be exact, that is the difference in life expectancy among rich and poor men. Born in 1940, according to a new study out this week from Brookings.

Just 20 years earlier, the life expectancy difference was half that, it was six years. Not only is the wealth gap widening, but those with lower incomes, the study shows, are living shorter lives as well. This isn't just impacting men. The study found that the same trend is happening among women. So what's the actual cause? They looked at obesity, smoking, nutrition, exercise, all of it. They still haven't been able to pinpoint the exact cause. But again, the number tonight, is 12.

Next on CNN, Anderson Cooper hosts a premiere of the race for the White House edition of the "CNN Quiz Show." Three teams of CNN anchors and political personalities test their knowledge. Stick around for that.

I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. Thanks so much for being with us tonight. Have a great week.