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Nevada Caucuses; GOP Race; Sanders' Endorsement. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired February 23, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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


[14:00:00] KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: As they continue to work this out.

It's great to see you, Nick. Thanks so much.

Thank you all for joining us. For our international viewers, "Amanpour" is coming up next. For our viewers here in North America, "Newsroom" with Poppy Harlow starts now.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: All right, top of the hour, 2:00 p.m. Eastern, I'm Poppy Harlow, in today for my good friend Brooke Baldwin.

We are hours, just hours away from the start of the Nevada caucuses to select the Republican nominee for president. The stakes are high, but the suspense - the suspense is likely even higher. Will Nevada play out as the polls show with Donald Trump earning a third win in a row, or will the silver state fulfill its reputation as a tough state to read and deliver a surprise finish? Certainly some of the candidates hoping for that surprise.

What is certain at this point is that the GOP contenders are using these final hours to pick up as much support as they can. In moments, Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump will speak live. We will bring you their remarks live as well.

CNN national political reporter Maeve Reston is in Sparks, Nevada, right by Reno, where Trump is about to speak.

And, you know, it's interesting, when you look at the polls, they've got him way ahead, but the voters you're talking about say that this battle, Maeve, is really for second place in their state.

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: That's right. We've been traveling all over Nevada over the last week, and, honestly, of the many Republican voters that we've met, most of them are for Trump and say they're firmly for Trump. But what that's meant is that there's been a brutal battle here for second place between Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, as we've seen play out in other states as well. They've been traveling around the rural areas. Yesterday, for example, trying to make that last minute push for delegates, and going really hard against - at each other.

HARLOW: Certainly going after each other, Maeve, but also when you talk about sort of the, you know, the hopes for a surprise here, how realistic do they think that is? RESTON: I mean, it doesn't seem particularly realistic. This is an

incredibly hard state to organize in. You know, in Iowa, for example, caution state, people have been caucusing there forever.

HARLOW: Right.

RESTON: It's a fairly new procedure here. And so the campaigns, like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio's campaign have been trying to organize, do caucus trainings over the last year to really pump up the turnout. Because if you think about turnout in 2012 here, it was only 33,000 voters. That's 7 percent of Republican voters here.

And the political strategists that I've talked to aren't expecting a much higher turnout than that -

HARLOW: Wow.

RESTON: Probably only about 40,000 people. So the best that these campaigns can hope for, the Rubio and Cruz campaign, is that Trump's people stay home. And from the enthusiasm that we're seeing here, I don't necessarily think that's going to be the case.

HARLOW: All right, we'll see. Again, Trump about to speak live. We'll bring that to you. Ted Cruz also.

Maeve Reston in Sparks, Nevada, thank you so much.

Let's talk more about this because today Trump had a stinging reaction to recent troubles for Ted Cruz. The senator firing his communications director last night for spreading a false story about their opponent, Marco Rubio. Trump, today, tweeting, "Ted Cruz does not have the, quote, right temperament to be president. Take a look at the way he totally panicked in firing his director of communications. Bad." That tweet today from Donald Trump.

That is not the only firestorm that Cruz is facing right now. He apparently has changed his mind about the use of deportation forces to deal with undocumented immigrants in this country. Last month he told our Jake Tapper that he wasn't for, quote/unquote, "jack boots going home to home," but Cruz said something very different this week. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I don't intend to send jack boots to knock on your door and every door in America. That's not how we enforce the law for any crime.

BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS: Mr. Trump would look for that to get them out. Would you do that if you were president?

CRUZ: Look, Bill, of course you would. That's what ICE exists for. We have law enforcement that looks for people who are violating the law, that apprehends them and deports them.

O'REILLY: OK, just let me get this straight - (END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right, so you heard him with Jake and then you heard him last night with Bill O'Reilly. Moments ago Cruz said this about Donald Trump changing his position. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I frankly don't care what position Donald decides to support today or tomorrow or the next day. They change every day. I don't care what they are. But pick one and defend it and don't pretend whenever people suddenly point out what you said, oh, never mind. And, look, part of the reason someone vacillates from position to position to position is they're not starting from a core set of principles and beliefs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: So he's accusing Trump of changing positions.

Let's go through all of it. With me now, Pastor Darrell Scott of Cleveland's New Spirit Revival Center. He supports Donald Trump. Also, he's the author of "God and Government: Why Christians Must be Involved in the Political Process." Conservative blogger Krystal Heath is with me. She plans to caucus for Senator Ted Cruz. And James Pindell, political reporter for "The Boston Globe."

[14:05:18] Thank you all for being here.

Krystal, let me begin with you. Our viewers just heard it, the change in position that Cruz has clearly taken on deportation forces in this country. Is that something you're going to bring up when you caucus for him tonight as a positive thing or are you concerned it's seen as a flip-flop?

KRYSTAL HEATH, CONSERVATIVE BLOGGER: I honestly - I'm not concerned that it's seen as a flip-flop. I don't think that it is a flip-flop. I think with his interview with Jake Tapper he was asked specifically about sending people door to door to round people up in a mass deportation effort -

HARLOW: Right.

HEATH: Which isn't something he supported. What he talked about last night was that he does support ICE and enforcing the laws that we already have. This isn't a new concept. It's not something that we've just come up with. Under President Obama in 2011, we deported 400,000 people through ICE. So ICE is not something new. It's not something Mr. Trump invented or Senator Cruz invented. It's just something that is part of our laws and some people don't like it, some people do, but that's what - how it's written into our laws.

HARLOW: So, Krystal, it's really important that we clarify here because, yes, he did talk about ICE in that interview with Bill O'Reilly last night.

HEATH: Sure.

HARLOW: But let me read you what else he said. Bill O'Reilly said -

HEATH: Sure.

HARLOW: And you, President Cruz, are going to send the feds to his house, take him out, put him on a plane back to Ireland, talking about a hypothetical scenario of someone here illegally from Ireland. And Cruz said, quote, "you better believe it." So he was talking about going door to door last night.

HEATH: Sure, but if you look at his response, he said that's what ICE is for. He wasn't advocating creating some new avenue or him personally going door to door. He was saying, this is what ICE is for, this is their job.

HARLOW: Yes, but isn't that semantics? Isn't - isn't that semantics? It's about who goes to the door?

HEATH: Sure. I think you could say that. But I think that is what both Trump and Cruz have advocated, is for ICE to do its job and enforce the laws that we already have.

HARLOW: All right, let's move on. James, to you. "The Boston Globe" today, your paper, granted the editorial board - to be fair, you're a reporter - they have endorsed John Kasich. And I want to read this to you. "The highly qualified governor of Ohio and urged unenrolled voters" - what they did is that they endorsed John Kasich. They have supported what they call highly qualified governor of Ohio urging unenrolled voters to cast a Republican ballot for him instead of voting in the Democratic primary on the same day. They went on to write, "each vote counts more so here than in some other states. One feature of the Massachusetts Republican primary is that it is not a winner take all race." Give us the context of this. You're coming to us from Massachusetts. Give us the context in which the editorial board wrote this and why right now?

JAMES PINDELL, POLITICAL REPORTER, "BOSTON GLOBE": Right. So the Massachusetts primary is on Super Tuesday, therefore it's next week, it's on Tuesday. One of 11 states that votes. In Massachusetts, like in many other states, you can either be a registered Republican, a Democrat or unenrolled or basically independent, one who does not pick that party. In Massachusetts, that growth of - that share of those who are unenrolled has grown and grown. It's now the largest voting bloc. And they can pick a Republican ballot or a Democratic ballot. And while the Democratic race here has been very heated, Bernie Sanders was just in the state for a couple of stops just yesterday, what "The Globes'" editorial board, which I am not a member of, what they're arguing for is to not pick up that Democratic ballot, to try to stop Trump.

I think we're in a position right now where this race is either - it's going to become more inevitable for Trump. If he wins tonight by double digits, even more so. So the question is whether or not in one place, in one state, can unenrolled or independent voters go along with the idea of stopping Trump. The problem here, of course, is that polling in every single state that we've seen is that these unenrolled or independent voters are going to Trump. So that this whole argument "The Globe" is pushing may actually not be - actually happening in reality.

HARLOW: Yes, and there are many that say, pastor, to you, you're a Trump supporter, look, it is, you know, if you're one who wants to stop Trump, that train has already taken off. But I do want you to listen to this. I want to play you some sound from Donald Trump talking about protesters last night, et cetera. Let's roll it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I love the old days. You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They'd be carried out on a stretcher, folks. Here's a guy, throwing punches, nasty as hell, screaming at everything else when we're talking, and he's walking out and we're not allowed - you know, the guards are very gentle with him. He's walking out, like big high- fives, smiling, laughing. I'd like to punch him in the face, I'll tell you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right, so when you hear that, I know you're a supporter of Trump. You're also a man of faith. Do you support that rhetoric, that language? Does it bother you at all?

DARRELL SCOTT, FOUNDER & SENIOR PASTOR, NEW SPIRIT RENEWAL CENTER: Well, what I don't support is the behavior of the protester. You - I think it's very wrong for -

[14:10:04] HARLOW: No, but I'm asking you - look, we'll get to that in a moment.

SCOTT: OK.

HARLOW: But I - I just want to ask you about the language of the man you're supporting to be commander in chief. Do you support it?

SCOTT: I'm not going to say I support it. I'm not going to say I don't support it. It is what it is. Those are Trump's feelings. I can't dictate and determine how he feels about a situation. Would I have handled it that way? I don't know, I wasn't in that situation. I don't know what I would have said. But if I was trying to address a crowd at a meeting that I coordinated and I had someone that continued to try to disrupt what I was saying, that they came to my meeting with bad intent, then they would have to be dealt with.

HARLOW: All right, James, to you. It's interesting because you - you say, as all of us look towards Super Tuesday and the delegates that will be allotted then, if you will, you say actually look past Super Tuesday, look to March 15th, why?

PINDELL: Yes. And so March 15th is the first time when you have winner take all states. That's where the real prizes are. And there are huge states at play. And, by the way, this is the Marco Rubio argument. So you have states like Florida and Missouri and Ohio and Illinois. And while on - up until then, including on Super Tuesday on March 1st, it's all proportional, winning does matter, there's no question about it, but you're splitting up the pie. When you start having 99 delegates, like in the case of Florida, all going to one candidate, you not only have momentum behind a candidate, but you actually have raw delegates. What's really - what this is all about, of course, is getting enough delegates as possible to become that party's nominee. So basically this race could be over in 20 days.

SCOTT: Yes, it could.

HARLOW: Well, we'll see. It's certainly been anything but normal.

Pastor, back to you. As a supper of Trump, we were talking, our team earlier, and found it sort of fascinating and a little confounding as to why we're not seeing Trump go after Rubio harder. Why do you think that is?

SCOTT: Well, first of all, here's what I find amusing. It's the fact that when Trump first began his campaign, the national sentiment was that of amusement. It's went from amusement, to a concern, to fear, to panic. Everyone's in a panic. Now it's almost a national alert. We're going to have to start putting colors on like, are we at orange, are we at amber? What alert are we at for Trump's candidacy?

The reason he's going after Cruz more so is because, in my opinion, Cruz won the battle in Iowa, but the winner of that battle might have cost him the war because he irreparably damaged his credibility and he comes across nationally as a liar and it's almost as if every time he opens his mouth or every time someone in this campaign engaged in a type of action, it further damages him. So he's wounded. And as a wounded lion, Mr. Trump is finishing off - finishing him off. He's wounded. He's going to finish him off. You can almost stick a fork in Cruz, he's just about done. Rubio, he's next on the list.

HARLOW: All right, Krystal, to you. You have said that you would support any Republican besides Trump. What would it take for you to change your mind?

HEATH: Well, honestly, I don't know if I can change my mind at this point. Possibly if he picks a very conservative vice presidential candidate to run alongside him, that would be possible. But right now I just don't see a path to that. I don't think that his record -

HARLOW: So would you sit out?

HEATH: I love the things that Donald Trump says - I love what he says, but there's just not the history there. There's not the record to back it up. It just doesn't exist.

HARLOW: Would you - if you didn't like his VP choice and let's say he got the nomination, quickly, would you sit out a general? Would you not vote? Or would you vote for the Democrat?

HEATH: Well, I would vote. I wouldn't probably vote for the president. Or I would write someone in. But I would definitely - everyone should always show up to vote, whether it's a primary, a caucus or a general election. Even if there's not a candidate on the ballot that you want to support, there's other candidates there. There's down ballot races that definitely need our consideration. So I would always show up to vote. But whether or not I'd vote for Donald Trump, if he's the nominee, which I don't think this is over yet, I think we're jumping the gun just a little bit. We've got a long way to go to all the delegates that Mr. Trump needs. But, we'll see. We'll see. I'll keep you posted on that.

HARLOW: OK, please do. Krystal, thank you. James Pindell, thank you.

HEATH: Yes, thank you.

HARLOW: And Pastor Darrell Scott, I appreciate the time.

Coming up, just before Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders face off in tonight's CNN town hall, Spike Lee revealing which candidate he is backing. Hear why the director is telling voters to, quote, "wake up."

Also, Ben Carson raising eyebrows for saying that President Obama was, quote, "raised white." We will speak live with Carson on this show.

Also, President Obama finally revealing his plan to close Gitmo and the backlash erupts almost immediately. Where he says the detainees would go once on American soil.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what I think of the president's plan to send terrorists to the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:18:54] HARLOW: In just a few hours, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will speak directly to the voters of South Carolina. Tonight's CNN town hall event with both candidates, they are making their case to get those final votes. They are also locked in a major battle for celebrity endorsements with both courting Hollywood heavyweights. Clinton last night visiting the set of the TV hit "Scandal." The show's star, Kerry Washington, uploading pictures with her together with Clinton on Twitter and Instagram. She appeared to give Clinton her support with the #imwithher. Not to be outdone, Bernie Sanders releasing a new campaign ad today with the endorsement of actor/director Spike Lee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPIKE LEE, ACTOR/DIRECTOR: Wake up! Wake up, South Carolina, this is your dude, Spike Lee. And I know that you know the system is rigged. I'm officially endorsing my brother Bernie Sanders. Bernie takes no money from corporations. Nada. Which means he is not on the take. And when Bernie gets in the White House, he will do the right thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HARLOW: All right, let's talk about celebrity endorsements. Do they really matter or are they just fun for us in the media to talk about? Joining me is Chuck Nice, a comedian, also host of the podcast "Nice Advice." I like that. I like the ring of that. And also with us is Bakari Sellers, CNN commentator, former South Carolina representative. He is endorsing Clinton.

[14:20:17] Thank you both for being with me, gentlemen.

Chuck, let me begin with you.

CHUCK NICE, COMEDIAN: Sure.

HARLOW: This Spike Lee endorsement -

NICE: Yes.

HARLOW: In terms of Bernie Sanders, the thought would be, oh, can this help him with the minority vote, especially where he's way behind in getting the African-American vote in South Carolina. Does it help?

NICE: No, I think that it might help raise some awareness. It might help raise some - you know, it might help raise his visibility. But I don't think it helps influence somebody to say, oh, I'm now going to vote for Bernie Sanders. And I don't feel that the same thing - I feel the same thing happens on the other side no matter who it is. I think people suffer from confirmation bias when it comes to things like this. And it's not that anyone is swayed one way or the other. What happens is, when a - when somebody says, I endorse you, and the person already agrees with them, that's when they're like, oh, yes, see, yes, that's - that's great, see, I agree with that person, they're like me.

HARLOW: They're famous.

NICE: Yes, they're famous and they're like me. But I don't think it works the other way around as much.

HARLOW: I should note, by the way, Spike Lee's wife, OK, she sent out a tweet just a short time ago. Let me read it. "Just to be clear, while my husband supports Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton is my candidate. We need Hillary to be the next POTUS." So, you know, you don't have to agree on politics in the household, clearly, as they represent here.

Bakari, to you. You were tweeting and tweeting with Kerry Washington last night following what she sent out about, I am with her, regarding Clinton. Do you think the celebrity endorsements matter really when it comes down to voters?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN COMMENTATOR: Well, I think there are two different type of endorsements. And the answer to the question is, yes, they matter. They matter more than people give them credit for. You have endorsements like Keith Ellison (ph), who is a celebrity in his own right. He's an elected official. You have an endorsement like Congressman Clyburn. They have - they have apparatuses that can actually turn out the vote in respective areas. But then you have these celebrities like Katy Perry, like Spike Lee,

and Morgan Freeman, and oftentimes it's not necessarily the message that sets you back, sometimes it's the messenger. And what we're seeing is Spike Lee can go into different households, use different language, speak to different people. I'm a big fan of Spike Lee. I consider Spike Lee a fan and a friend. So I think that sometime it's the messenger. And when you have Spike Lee delivering your message, sometimes people's ears will perk up and people who would normally shut you out will now hear you.

HARLOW: I think, Chuck, what I question is, Hillary Clinton has a lot of female, young, famous women supporting her.

NICE: Right.

HARLOW: Demi Lovato. I mean there's a long list. Lena Dunham. And yet she's struggling so much with the young vote.

NICE: And this is exactly what I'm talking about because although those young women may be fans of Lena Dunham or even fans of Katy Perry, it doesn't - they're not swayed by them. They're not going to change their politics. If anything, it may make them like that person less. It's like, wow, you don't agree with my politics, I really don't like you as much as I thought I did. Me, personally, when I go into a voting booth, I always think, what would Kylie Jenner do.

HARLOW: Bakari, I want you to one up that. Who do - who do you think about celebrity wise when you go into the voting booth?

SELLERS: Well - well, I'm definitely watching whatever Kanye West tweets right now. I'm waiting to see who Kanye endorses. I think it's a close race between Bernie and probably Rubio. No, I just - I think that we're missing the point a little bit because we're looking at a wide swath of people. I think that certain endorsements speak to certain people. For example, Kerry Washington is a great endorsement for Hillary Clinton because she speaks to African-American women. You have Spike Lee as a great endorsement for Bernie Sanders because of the simple fact that Bernie Sanders is having a hard time cracking into the African-American community. So who better to go to than Mr. Do The Right Thing, Mr. School Days. So I think that they do serve their own purpose and we have to look at each group that we're talking about differently. We can't think of people as a monolith, because we're not.

HARLOW: Absolutely. Bakari Sellers, Chuck Nice, Kylie Jenner, never going to forget that, thank you, both, very much. Good to have you on.

SELLERS: Thanks.

HARLOW: Tonight's final Democratic town hall before the South Carolina Democratic primary is only right here on CNN. It all starts at 8:00 p.m., moderated by our very own Chris Cuomo. Stay with us for that.

Coming up next, delivering on a promise made seven years ago. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have ordered the closing of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay and will seek swift and certain justice for captured terrorists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: That was back in 2009, do you remember, right after he became president. Well, today, President Obama outlined his plan to finally try to actually shut down Gitmo. Is it easier said than done? I think that's been made very clear over the last seven years. One Republican senator already weighing in this way.

[14:25:05] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what I think of the president's plan to send terrorists to the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: All right, throughout his presidency, Barack Obama has vowed to shut down the prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, and this morning he delivered that plan to Congress. The president laying out how he plans to end this chapter of U.S. history. At this point, there are 91 detainees left at Guantanamo Bay. The president's plan involves sending some of them to other countries for those countries to watch over them, then moving the rest, those who cannot be transferred abroad because they have been deemed too dangerous, to prisons and DOD facilities here in the United States.

[14:30:13]