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GOP Rivals Gearing Up for Nevada Caucuses; Democrats Looking Ahead to South Carolina Primary; Six Killed, Two Wounded in Uber Driver Shooting Spree; San Bernardino Victims May Join Government Against Apple; Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired February 22, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:03] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, Donald Trump looking to hit the jackpot in Nevada.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I love to win. Don't we love to win?

COSTELLO: Is he unstoppable?

TRUMP: I'll tell you what, we're just going one after another.

COSTELLO: But not so fast. Sanders says he is the guy to stop the GOP frontrunner.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And you want a candidate who is going to defeat Donald Trump. You're looking at that candidate.

COSTELLO: And Clinton tackles voters' trust issues .

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, is she in it for us or is she in it for herself?

COSTELLO: Can she keep momentum rolling into South Carolina?

Plus an Uber driver accused in a deadly shooting rampage in Michigan.

JEFF GETTING, KALAMAZOO COUNTY PROSECUTING ATTORNEY: They were intentional, deliberate. Coldly done is what I want to say.

COSTELLO: Allegedly picking up passengers between killings.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're kind of driving through medians, driving through the lawn.

COSTELLO: What we're learning about this suspect and the six victims.

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Fresh off a big win in the south, Donald Trump takes his high rolling

campaign to Nevada. And he's not alone. Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio also trying to lock in last-minute support today as they rally voters across the state. But for Trump, it's all about basking in that sweeping victory in South Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We won with everything. We won with women. I love the women. We won with women.

(CHEERS)

TRUMP: We won with men. I'd rather win with women to be honest but that's OK. We won with evangelicals. Unbelievable. We won with the military. We won with highly educated, pretty well educated and poorly educated. But we won with everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And with Jeb Bush out, the race is on to capture his supporters and his donors. The big question now, will it be enough to slow Trump's momentum?

Let's bring in CNN's Chris Frates, he's live in Vegas this morning. Hi, Chris.

CHRIS FRATES. CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Carol. So all three of the top finishers in South Carolina in Nevada today, trying to get that last-minute support. Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio all trying to get their message out to voters here in a state that is always tough to poll. It's hard to know who's going to come out to these caucuses and you had Donald Trump telling everybody that he is the frontrunner. He wants to cement that status with a win here in Nevada and be atop the polls.

Of course Ted Cruz saying he's the only real conservative in this race, and Marco Rubio's message, that he's the only Republican who can unite all of the Republicans and defeat Democrats in November.

Let's take a listen to how Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are making their pitch to voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you vote for me, I will unite this party. If you vote for me, I will grow this party. If you vote for me, we will win this election. The Democrats do not want to run against me. But I cannot wait to run against them.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: For folks who are concerned that Donald Trump is not the best candidate to go head-to- head with Hillary Clinton in November, it is becoming clearer and clearer that we are the one campaign that can beat Donald Trump, indeed we're the only campaign that has beaten Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: So there you have the rationale behind Cruz and Rubio, but the attacks continue to come by Donald Trump even though he's the frontrunner in Nevada. He's not taking any chances saying that maybe -- maybe Rubio is not eligible to run for president because his parents were Cuban immigrants. That's an attack familiar from Donald Trump right out of his play book. He used it on Ted Cruz in Iowa to some effect. Now he's taking aim at Rubio as he ascends and was essentially tied for second place in South Carolina with Ted Cruz.

So Donald Trump taking some fire on Marco Rubio. Marco Rubio of course saying that's nonsense and just kind of sloughing it off, not saying that it's any kind of deal. So it's getting nasty here with only hours left to go before voting starts tomorrow -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Chris Frates reporting live from Vegas.

And by the way Marco Rubio, he was born in Miami, Florida.

Trump, though, is on a roll, seemingly unstoppable. Consider this. The Republican establishment spent $220 million so far and Trump is still the frontrunner.

Conservative talker and Cruz supporter Glenn Beck is so despondent that he's calling on his three million Facebook followers to fast. He writes, quote, "I pray and fast not for Ted Cruz to win but for his will to be done and that our will and wants will align with his.

With me now to talk about all of this, Larry Sabato, he's the director for the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia and CNN political commentator Tara Setmayer is also with me. Welcome.

So, Larry, is that all that's left to stop Trump, prayer?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Look, praying and fasting are two terrific things, but I've never seen them win a political campaign. So, no, it's not going to happen. It can happen if the establishment which has been incredibly in disarray and unable to organize itself, finally gets together with Jeb Bush's withdrawal and decides to back a candidate. Obviously they would pick Rubio at this point, but it may be too little too late. They waited too long. And it's almost as though with Bush's withdrawal, they woke up and they realized, my god, Trump is almost the nominee.

COSTELLO: So, Tara, let's talk about endorsements because there is some talk that Jeb Bush ought to endorse Marco Rubio. But it was such a contentious fight between the two men that I just can't see how that's possible.

TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, that was the fear, you know, for months leading up to Jeb Bush's ultimate demise. Donors were very frustrated by the fact that his Right to Rise PAC was spending all of this money going after Marco Rubio. I think that folks saw months ago that Jeb Bush was not the guy, this was not his year, and that Rubio was the next great hope for the establishment if that was going to be the case. So they were very perplexed by the fact that Jeb went after Rubio so hard and spent so much money going after him and damaging him.

Now how do you bridge that gap and have this unified front that Marco Rubio is now trying to message? That's the thing.

COSTELLO: Sure.

SETMAYER: I can bring everybody together. I think they ultimately will. You know, there's a lot of trepidation going on within the power elites in Washington about what's happening with Donald Trump. And Larry is right. I think finally with Bush out, they're looking at South Carolina, the fact that Trump won all of the delegates. He won every demographic and they're going, holy smokes, this is becoming a real thing. What are we going to do about this?

COSTELLO: OK.

SETMAYER: Yes.

COSTELLO: OK. So John Kasich is campaigning this morning. Where exactly is he? Tell me, Michelle. He's in Virginia campaigning.

Larry, you had an interesting strategy for the establishment. You say the only hope is if Marco Rubio reaches out to John Kasich and convinces him to be his VP. Why would that work?

SABATO: Well, this was tried once before. The great stratagem was approved by none other than Ronald Reagan. They all claimed to be Reagan's successor. Reagan did this in 1976 when he was trying to beat President Ford. He came incredibly close. The stratagem didn't work, but it might have. So it's an option.

If anti-Trump forces play by the set of rules they have in front of them, they will lose. They had better come up with some new stratagems, and this is an old one that they can convert into a new one. Whether Kasich would do it, I don't know. Doesn't have to be Kasich. Do something different.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Do something different. Well, I think, Tara, there's some interest in that because according to "Columbus Dispatch," which is the local paper, right, for John Kasich as he's Ohio's governor, Kasich's Colorado campaign co-chair says she's going to endorse Rubio. She says Kasich is a great guy, but even she says it's time.

SETMAYER: Yes. The John Kasich factor is quite interesting, but -- excuse me, he's staying in this because he thinks he's going to have a Midwest strategy because he's Ohio -- you know, the Ohio governor. Ohio is so important, and I believe it's a winner take all state. Also the convention is there. So what Kasich is doing, I think, is going to determine a lot of what happens moving forward. We'll see.

I mean, he has people in Michigan, in Colorado, in Ohio. The Kasich factor is an interesting one, but we'll see what happens.

COSTELLO: Yes. OK. I'll let you get a drink of water. SETMAYER: Thank you.

COSTELLO: You're suffering what Hillary Clinton does on the campaign trail. This coughing attacks are awful. I have to leave it there.

Tara Setmayer, Larry Sabato, thanks to both of you.

Bernie Sanders is setting his sights on a South Carolina miracle. This after a tough loss in Nevada.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: South Carolina has the opportunity to make American history, and I hope you will. This campaign has taken on the economic establishment, all of the big money interest and let me tell you, Wall Street is getting nervous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Clinton holds a commanding lead, though, among Democrats in South Carolina with 57 percent support in the latest CNN poll of polls.

[10:10:02] Jeff Zeleny live in Charleston with more. Hi, Jeff.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Carol.

There's no question that Hillary Clinton is coming to South Carolina with a commanding lead and the energy of this campaign behind her. But, you know, Bernie Sanders was out campaigning in Greenville yesterday. You heard him talking right there. He's trying to make this economic argument that you can trust him more on income inequality, you can trust him more on breaking up the establishment, but the Clinton campaign has a considerable muscle here. She's going to be campaigning beginning tomorrow through Saturday.

Now Bernie Sanders is -- has his eye on other Super Tuesday states. He's in Massachusetts this evening. He's going to be in Virginia tomorrow before coming to South Carolina. So they're not putting all their eggs in the South Carolina basket because the Clinton campaign has so many strengths here. But she is still trying to define him, trying to show that he is a single issue candidate.

Listen to what Hillary Clinton said early Sunday morning in Houston, Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: I don't think it's right to look a person in the eye who is hurting and needs help and tell them that if they vote for you, you will get $5,000 of healthcare but only have to pay $500 for it. You shouldn't say that unless you can really deliver it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ZELENY: So Hillary Clinton is trying to sort of be a fact-checker, if you will, on Bernie Sanders' plan and trying to point out that some of the things he's talking about, about universal health care and free college, are just simply not workable in this kind of Washington. So that's the dynamic going into what's going to be surely an interesting town meeting tomorrow night in Columbia, South Carolina, when both of these candidates take questions from voters who are going to have their say just on Saturday in this South Carolina primary -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Jeff Zeleny, reporting live from Charleston, South Carolina.

And as Jeff said, Clinton and Sanders will come face-to-face with the voters of South Carolina for the final time this Tuesday night right here on CNN. The Democratic town hall live from Columbia, South Carolina, 8:00 p.m. Eastern. It will be moderated by Chris Cuomo.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, an Uber driver under arrest accused in a shooting rampage that killed six people. Now we're hearing from passengers he allegedly picked up during his shooting spree.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:16:24] COSTELLO: All right. We have some new interviews from Uber passengers who say they got rides from suspected killer, Jason Dalton, on the day he massacred six -- allegedly massacred six people in Kalamazoo, Michigan. One witness says he was with the 46-year-old before Saturday's rampage. The other witness was with Dalton after the murder spree and even asked Dalton if he was the killer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT MELLON, UBER PASSENGER: He got maybe a mile from my house. He got a telephone call. After that telephone call he started driving really erratically. We were kind of driving through medians, driving through the lawn, speeding along and then finally once he came to a stop, I jumped out of the car and ran away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He didn't seem like the type -- I mean, our interaction with him was very basic. It was like a five-minute ride. And I said you're not the shooter, are you? And he said no. And I said, are you sure? And he kind of just said, no. I'm just tired. I've been driving for seven hours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN's Ryan Young live in Kalamazoo where Dalton will soon face a judge. Good morning.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Of course we moved here into the courthouse where that proceeding will happen. I can tell you so many people are just feeling chilled by the idea that he was doing the Uber rides in between these shootings. Of course, no motive yet shared with us.

We also want to focus on the victims in this case because obviously so many people picked at random, shot. You know, we have eight victims and you have six of them that were killed. We'll show you the first person, Barbara Hawthorne. She was killed. She used to work for Kellogg. And there was another woman, Mary Jo Nye. She was 60 years old. She used to be an English teacher in this community.

As we move through this community, so many people talking about the tragic loss that happened here. The young 14-year-old girl who was also shot, who somehow survived after they thought she was dead. People are talking about not only trying to move forward, but they really want to desperately dig into this man's background to figure out exactly what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GETTING: As soon as we identified the suspect, we also were able to put together his affiliation with weapons. That was already known. On the other hand, he didn't have any prior criminal history. There wasn't anything that would put him on the police's radar as someone who would be likely to do something like this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: And Carol, that's something to point out, the fact that he did not have a criminal background. And in fact, people in the neighborhood where he lived also said, look, he was a normal guy who was outside working on his car all the time. Had a family. They never thought this would happen. Now we know he will face several serious charges, six murder accounts that he will face.

Also we should talked about when we went and shot two people in that parking lot, at a car dealership, they were able to review that video and they knew they were looking for that Chevy HHR. And that was something that was broadcast out to so many people. Where he was captured? At that bar. There were people who were in the bar who were scared because they saw that car outside, and, obviously, as the story continues to develop, people just want to know what set this man off.

COSTELLO: All right. Ryan Young reporting live from Kalamazoo, Michigan, this morning.

Taking a look at some other top stories for you at 19 minutes past.

In just a few hours a judge will hold a hearing on whether to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the families of Sandy Hook families. The families want to sue the company that manufactures and sells the AR-15 rifle used in the 2012 shootings. The case has the potential to make history if it goes to trial. A law passed in 2005 grants gun manufacturers immunity from any lawsuit related to injuries that result from criminal misuse of their product.

[10:20:09] Within the last hour, lawyers for Camille Cosby arrived in Springfield, Massachusetts. A district judge is forcing Bill Cosby's wife to give a deposition there this morning, denying a last-minute attempt to stop it over the weekend. That was filed of course for lawyers for Camille Cosby. Eight women are suing Bill Cosby for defamation. They say his legal team made them look like liars when they accused the comedian of sexual assault.

ISIS now claiming responsibility for several suicide bombings in Syria. The attacks have reportedly killed nearly 200 people. That would make these attacks the deadliest in Syria since the uprising there. This attack seen as the U.S. tries to make progress on a ceasefire agreement. More than a dozen other countries agreed to back the deal, but apparently the terrorist groups did not.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the fight is becoming more than just Apple versus the FBI. Victims of the San Bernardino terror attack are reportedly preparing to demand that Apple break into an iPhone used by one of the killers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:25:38] COSTELLO: Apple may have to fight more than just the FBI. Some victims of the San Bernardino terror attack are now expected to throw their support behind the government and call on Apple to break into an iPhone used by one of the killers.

CNN justice reporter, Evan Perez, and CNN Money technology correspondent Laurie Segall join me with more on this.

Evan, I want to start with you. Good morning.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Well, we have some of the victims' family that are planning to file a legal brief there in the central district of California to join the side of the government urging Apple to help the FBI break into this terrorist cell phone.

I spoke to a lawyer, Stephen Larson, he's a former federal judge, now says he represents several of the victims' families, and he says he expects to file this brief later this week. We have the first comments, however, on the record from the FBI director, James Comey. He's been silent until now. And he sent a -- issued a blog post on the Law Fair blog, and he says the following, Carol. He says, "The San Bernardino litigation isn't about trying to set a precedent or send any kind of message. It is about the victims and justice. 14 people were slaughtered and many more had their lives and bodies ruined. We owe them a thorough and professional investigation under the law."

Carol, the FBI says that this is a case that's very narrowly written. It's not intended to endanger the security of everyone's iPhone. Apple's point is, however, that you can already see state and local governments saying that they plan to use this precedent as a way for them to get their other phones unlocked as well. So it won't stop with this phone, Carol.

COSTELLO: And Apple is continuing to fight, right, Laurie? Because the CEO, Tim Cook, e-mailed his employees this morning.

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECH CORRESPONDENT: He did. And in his e- mail was titled, "Thank you for your support." And it addressed a lot. It addressed what a lot of people have been asking about this dispute.

I want to read you a bit of what was in that letter. He said this case is about much more than a single phone or single investigation. At stake is the data security of hundreds of millions of law-abiding people and setting a dangerous precedent that threatens everyone's civil liberties. So, you know, this isn't knew. We saw Tim Cook put this out there in an open letter last week. But we're really seeing him kind of hone in on this point.

Also part of this letter, Carol, he suggested the FBI withdraw the demand and they form a commission with civil liberties experts. Apple said they would get involved with law enforcement to really have a conversation and work through some of these issues in a different way.

And one point that I thought was interesting because they also put out a public Q and A that people can look and have some of their questions on this case answered. They spoke about it in this committee, essentially saying that they could technically break into this phone if they wanted to by building out that new operating system. But what Tim Cook wrote is technically it's possible to do this, but the only way to guarantee such a powerful tool into an abuse and doesn't fall into the wrong hands is to never create it, which -- you know, which is something he's been saying before, but something you're seeing them really hone in on. So you can see there's so much back and forth here.

And, Carol, something that's interesting to me is we're seeing Silicon Valley come forward, CEOs offering tweets, the WhatsApp CEO putting out a Facebook messages. But we haven't really seen anyone besides Tim Cook come out in a very big way and speak publicly on this because there's so much at stake in Silicon Valley. You better bet they're having these closed door meetings about how this -- the precedent of this case could affect all major tech companies -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. Laurie Segall, Evan Perez, thanks to both of you.

And good morning. I'm carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Hillary Clinton plotting out a new strategy to comfort voters with trust issues. She's addressing those issues head on.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: 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. I think that's, you know, a question that people are trying to sort through. And I'm going to demonstrate that I've always been the same person fighting for the same values, fighting to make a real difference in people's lives long before I was ever in elected office, even before my husband was in the presidency.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: So how does Clinton go about convincing voters she's in their corner, not just fighting for personal glory? Well, step one appears to be talk about we instead of me.