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Cruz And Rubio Sharpen Attacks Against Trump; GOP Candidates Face Off In CNN Debate Tonight; Romney Warns Of Bombshell In Trump's Taxes; Nominee Will Need RNC To Win In November; Clinton In South Carolina; Sanders Stumps In Ohio; GOP Lawmaker Wants Cruz And Rubio Ticket; South Carolina Primary; Supreme Court Nomination; Interview with Sen. Al Franken. Aired 1-1:30p ET
Aired February 25, 2016 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: So, Jake Tapper is going to sit in for him and he's up next.
JAKE TAPPER CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Jake Tapper. Wolf Blitzer is on assignment. He's getting ready for tonight's big CNN Republican debate in just a few hours.
Right now, it's 12:00 p.m. here in Houston; Texas 1:00 p.m. in Washington, D.C.; 9:00 p.m. in Baghdad. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks for joining us.
Up first, we're counting down to the last Republican debate before Super Tuesday. It could also be the last chance for Donald Trump's rivals to try to slow his momentum towards the Republican presidential nomination. The stage is set for this evening's showdown.
You're looking right now at live pictures from inside the debate hall at the University of Houston. Donald Trump will be front and center coming off three straight primary or caucus victories. He'll be flanked by Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, and Senator Ted Cruz of this home state of Texas, along with Dr. Ben Carson and Ohio Governor John Kasich.
On the campaign trail, Rubio and Cruz are already sharpening their attacks on the front runner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We can't be fooled by P.T. Barnum. The time for the clowns and the acrobats and the dancing bears has passed.
MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The front runner in this race, Donald Trump, is actually alluded to the fact he thinks parts of Obamacare are pretty good. I can tell you, everybody running for president tells you, I want to get rid of Obamacare. I want to get -- I'm the only one that's ever done anything about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: It remains to be seen, of course, just how aggressively either Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz will go after Donald Trump this evening. Also, how will Trump respond to new questions about his tax returns, questions raised by the previous Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney. And can Ted Cruz bounce back after three disappointing third-place finishes in a row?
To talk about that, let's bring in CNN Political Reporter Sara Murray and Senior White House Correspondent Jim Acosta. It is an understatement to say that people who are in the Cruz camp and the Rubio camp are hoping that the candidates will take on Donald Trump and in an effective manner. How likely is it, do you think?
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, that's a great question because they really go in, if you are Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, with two goals tonight. One is to slow Donald Trump's momentum but the other is to kill each other off. Both of these campaigns are saying, we need this other guy to get out of the race so that we can take on Donald Trump one on one and win.
So, I think you're going to see a couple things tonight. One, like you saw there, Marco Rubio foreshadowing these attacks on Donald Trump. He also went after him last night on Israel and on not being suitable to be commander in chief. We can see some of that.
For Ted Cruz, I think he's going to hit back hard at Marco Rubio and at Donald Trump, and try to beat back this narrative that he is running a campaign of dirty tricks, that he is a liar. He really needs to put that to bed if he is able to sort of revive this campaign. And instead of turning in those third-place finishes, start turning in some first-place finishes -- Jake.
TAPPER: And, Sara, it's -- obviously CNN is excited about this debate. But it's not hype to say that this debate really could be pivotal. We saw the importance of the debate before New Hampshire when Marco Rubio didn't have a good night. And that clearly affected the trajectory of his campaign. How high do you think the stakes are this evening?
MURRAY: I think it's kind of impossible to overstate them at this point, Jake. Look, this is the biggest moment ahead of Super Tuesday, to slow down Donald Trump and for Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz to prove that they're an alternative.
Look, we also have to remember that John Kasich is going to be on this stage tonight. He's heading into the March first states, much like Marco Rubio, not well-positioned to win any number of them. So, he's going to go on stage tonight and try to beat back the narrative that Marco is the only guy who can take on Donald Trump.
The campaign just tells me they picked up another billionaire backer from California, Steve Poizner. And so, they're hoping that they can craft this narrative that they are still in it.
But the reality is, one of these candidates is going to have to prove that they can, one, take on Donald Trump and beat him. And, two, that they can actually win in these states and not just on the debate stage. And I think that that really sets up what we're going to see tonight -- Jake.
TAPPER: And, Jim, former presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, he said that all of the Republicans should release previous years' tax returns. But it really seemed to be a criticism that was sharply aimed at Donald Trump. Take a listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY: I think there's something there. Either he's not anywhere near as wealthy as he says he is, or he hasn't been paying the kind of taxes we would expect him to pay or perhaps he hasn't been giving money to the vets or to the disabled like he's been telling us he's been doing.
[13:05:07] And I think that's -- the reason that I think there's a bombshell in there is because every time he's asked by -- about his taxes, he dodges and delays and says, well, we're working on it.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
TAPPER: Jim, walk us through what you think the meaning of this broadside from Mitt Romney is. Is this a symbol of the panic that the Republican establishment is feeling?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Jake, I think it's a symptom of it, no question about it. But we should point out to our viewers, in just the last several minutes, Mitt Romney has been putting up a tweet that really responds to the sharp criticism from Donald Trump. You know, earlier this morning, Donald Trump was saying Mitt Romney should just come out and endorse Marco Rubio already, going to that notion you just mentioned, Jake, perhaps the establishment freak-out that we're witnessing here.
But Mitt Romney just tweeted in the last several minutes, me thinks that Donald doth protest too much. Show voters your back taxes, hashtag, what is he hiding? You know, that's pretty sharp words from Mitt Romney, given the fact that he was the last standard bear for the Republican Party heading into the presidential general election back in 2012.
The fact that he is going after Donald Trump now and asking him to release his taxes is quite something, given the fact that Donald Trump right now is looking very much like he might be the Republican nominee this time around.
And, you know -- you know, there is no love lost, it appears, between these two figures which is also remarkable, given the fact that Donald Trump endorsed Mitt Romney four years ago. I remember, you know, Donald Trump had some very kind words to say about Mitt Romney four years ago.
Now, Donald Trump is tweeting this morning, you know, I will do what Mitt Romney could not do four years ago and that is win. So, this may be a symptom of the establishment starting to have some really serious jitters about the prospect of Donald Trump being the nominee -- Jake.
TAPPER: Jim Acosta, Sara Murray, thanks so much.
The Republican National Committee says it is not up to the organization to choose the nominee. That's up to the Republican voters. But the RNC director, Sean Spicer, says the nominee will need the organization, need the RNC to win in November.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN SPICER, DIRECTOR, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: No nominee can win without the party. Reince Priebus has put four years of data and field staff out there, building this party, making relationships, ensuring that whomever that nominee is, is prepared to go.
It's a relationship. And you don't go into any relationship and tell anybody you will do this or that. That's false. What I do believe is important is that, like any relationship, we need the nominee. The nominee needs us. And we're going to be proud participants in helping them win back the White House.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Let's bring in CNN Political Commentators Amanda Carpenter and Kevin Madden. He's a Republican strategist with no dog in the hunt. She's a conservative writer and former communications director for Senator Ted Cruz.
Amanda, let me start with you. What do you make of how the RNC is trying to negotiate this tricky terrain with Mr. Trump?
AMANDA CARPENTER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATER: Hi. I mean, Sean Spicer has an incredibly hard job to do. But, at this point, I think we really have to look at the wisdom that RNC has exercised thus far. They intentionally accelerated the primary schedule and designed it that way so that they could protect the front runner for being criticized too much.
Now, we're seeing, like, people like Mitt Romney coming out, saying this guy needs to be vetted a little bit more. So, that decision is looking very poor, at this point in time.
And also, we should be revisiting the postmortem report they put out after the last election, where they encourage everyone, Republicans, to do something, anything, on comprehensive immigration reform because we have to reach out to Hispanic voters. That was a brutal mistake.
It's probably damaged Marco Rubio more than anything, the fact that he did gain a debate. And the reason that Republicans have no credibility on immigration led to the rise of Donald Trump itself. So, the RNC has something to answer for.
TAPPER: Kevin, you used to work for Mitt Romney. This is some really sharp, sharp criticism.
KEVIN MADDEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I'm kind of rubbing my eyes, too, like, wait a minute.
TAPPER: Hash tag, what is he hiding.
MADDEN: Yes.
TAPPER: From Mitt Romney about the Republican -- about the Republican frontrunner.
MADDEN: Right.
TAPPER: That's wrong.
MADDEN: I think at the -- at the heart of this is a desire by Mitt Romney to see people take Donald Trump head on. I think the second part of it is that he recognizes the effectiveness of this attack because it was effective towards him.
He also knows that this is something that the Democrats are going to do. And I think he's sort of exposed one thing that Donald Trump has as a weakness which is Donald Trump doesn't like when people ask him questions that he doesn't like to answer. This is one of those instances.
And last night, he dodged and we've had on it by saying, you know, my taxes are very complex. There's a lot of work involved in putting them together. But we're not talking about taxes going forward.
TAPPER: We're not talking about 2015.
MADDEN: We're talking about returns that he took a picture with today and tweeted out. He can release those today.
TAPPER: Right.
MADDEN: And Democrats are going to make this attack. I think other -- his opponents in this campaign are probably likely to take up this line of attack. So, if he doesn't have anything to hide, he should put them out there.
[13:10:03] CARPENTER: And one thing on that front, I've heard some people suggest this isn't fair to do. Of course it's fair to do. Donald Trump has made his wealth one of his -- the reason why he should be trusted to be president. But also, there's been the ongoing question of what organizations has he donated to. You know, what is his value, you know, net worth. But also, what are his values? Those returns will show us.
MADDEN: It's also a standard threshold disclosure. Most every single candidate for the president releases two years of tax returns.
TAPPER: And the -- and the argument is that this stuff should come out. And this is what the argument was against Mitt Romney in 2012. Release it now --
MADDEN: Right.
TAPPER: -- while Republican voters are still --
CARPENTER: Yes.
TAPPER: -- making their estimations and see if there's anything there that could hurt the Republicans in November. Do it now so Republicans can make their judgment now.
MADDEN: Yes, and there were many Republicans that privately communicated to the campaign in 2012 that holding back, when Governor Romney initially resisted or at least took his time in releasing those tax returns, that it was a mistake. And to put it out, disclose it, and go on.
TAPPER: And he did that. And it ended up -- and it ended up not hurting him at all.
MADDEN: He eventually did. He eventually did. And if you remember during the general election, what the Democrats did was make requests for additional disclosures. And when those additional disclosures didn't come, the Democrats framed it as this is somebody you can't trust. What is he hiding? Now, even though there was nothing to hide and he could be trusted, those questions in the voters' minds were, often times, crucial in whether or not people decided --
(CROSSTALK)
TAPPER: But what's so interesting about it is Mitt Romney is doing the exact same thing to Donald Trump that was done to him, including, you know, engaging in hypotheticals about this might be in there or this might be in there.
MADDEN: Right.
TAPPER: A lot of people called it dirty pool and now Mitt Romney is doing it to his own party.
MADDEN: And I think there are fair critiques of that.
TAPPER: Yes.
MADDEN: That he's making an unsubstantiated claim like that. But there's only one way to dispute it which is --
TAPPER: To release the returns. Kevin Madden, Amanda Carpenter, thanks so much.
Tonight's the night. Join my colleague, Wolf Blitzer, as he moderates the final Republican debate before Super Tuesday. The Republicans square off this evening, 8:30 Eastern, 7:30 Central, on CNN and CNN International.
Bill and Hillary Clinton holding several events in South Carolina today ahead of the Democratic Party's primary in that state. Noticeably absent from South Carolina, Bernie Sanders. We'll discuss coming up.
Plus, one senior Republican is calling for Senators Cruz and Rubio to team up, to take down Donald Trump. But to do so, one of them, of course, needs to drop out. The details just ahead.
[13:12:38]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:16:32] TAPPER: Welcome back. We're on the campus of the University of Houston, getting ready for tonight's Republican debate.
But let's turn to the Democrats for a second. With only two days until the South Carolina primary, Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are going with very different strategies. Despite a large lead, Clinton is hitting South Carolina hard. She's crisscrossing through the palmetto state today, making four campaign stops. Absent from the palmetto state today is rival Bernie Sanders. He's in Ohio right now, with planned stops in Michigan and Illinois. Sanders' schedule is raising questions on whether or not he's written off South Carolina.
Let's discuss it. I'm joined by senior Washington correspondent, Joe Johns. He's in Columbia, South Carolina, and CNN correspondent Chris Frates, who is in Berea, Ohio.
Joe, Hillary Clinton getting some help from her husband on the trail today.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Getting a lot of help from her husband, Bill Clinton. And, yes, all here in the palmetto state. They are crisscrossing this state today, going to several different cities. And, look, the strategy certainly right now is to run up the vote in South Carolina in hopes of demonstrating what the Hillary Clinton campaign can do when the broader demographics of the Democratic Party are at play, opposed to what we saw in Iowa and New Hampshire earlier this year. Hillary Clinton right here in Columbia, South Carolina, earlier today, articulating some of the core themes of her campaign as we approach final arguments. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So we've got work to do to help more people, to be able to knock down those barriers that stand in their way, to an education, to health care, to economic opportunity. And that includes taking on systemic racism, which is still a problem in America. It includes reforming the criminal justice system. It includes providing alternatives to jail and prison.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: So, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, all over the palmetto state. They will be joined by Chelsea Clinton tomorrow, campaigning in advance of the primary for Saturday. But I also have to say, Jake, there's going to be a very quick pivot on Saturday. Hillary Clinton headed out to Alabama and then on Sunday on to Arkansas. So once the primary gets started, the voting gets started, they're going to move very quickly to the Super Tuesday states.
TAPPER: And, Chris, in Ohio, with the Sanders' campaign, just a simple question, is the Sanders' campaign writing off South Carolina?
CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'll tell you, Jake, when you talk to the Sanders campaign, they definitely say that they are not writing off South Carolina. They point to the fact that he's been campaigning there for months and he's going to go back on Friday. But when you look at all the time and money that they have spent in South Carolina, they still haven't really been able to eat into Secretary Clinton's lead. And that's largely because she has such a strong well of support among the African-American community.
And that kind of brings us to why Bernie Sanders is in Ohio today, because he's looking at the map across the country and making sure he can stay competitive throughout the primaries that are coming up. And you really heard him start to talk about African-American issues in a way that you didn't hear him in New Hampshire. He talked about how he's been listening to African-Americans talk about why unarmed blacks are being shot by police. He made the point that young African- Americans are -- have a higher unemployment rate and that African- American women have a higher wage gap than whites.
[13:20:02] In fact, let's take a listen to how he talked about criminal justice reform just a few moments ago, Jake.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have talked to people in the African-American community, people with PhDs, who say, you know, if I'm driving across the country, I get kind of nervous. I get kind of nervous. And the reason for that is that African-Americans are stopped a lot more for traffic issues than are whites. We have got to take on this issue of institutional racism and a broken criminal justice system.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRATES: So there you have Bernie Sanders talking about institutional racism, a broken criminal justice system. And that's largely because even when he leaves South Carolina on Saturday, he needs to build support with African-Americans going through into Super Tuesday and beyond. And that's part of what you're hearing in that stump speech and I would expect, Jake, to continue to hear it moving forward into March.
TAPPER: All right, Joe and Chris, thanks so much.
Coming up, the battle over the next Supreme Court justice. Senate Republicans have promised no hearings, no vote. They won't even meet with the potential nominee. President Obama says he's going to go ahead with the process and send them one. We'll get Democratic Senator Al Franken to weigh in on the fight. He'll join me live, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:25:48] TAPPER: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and indeed around the world. The White House and Senate Republicans may be one step closer to a
meeting about the Supreme Court vacancy. But the big question, of course, will it make a difference? Case in point, Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, he wrote an op-ed in "USA Today" about withholding consent. "Our decision is based on the principle that in an American democracy, in a divided nation," Grassley writes, "the people should be empowered to weigh in on such a consequential decision."
It's an extremely contentious issue between Senate Republicans and Democrats. Let's discuss it with Democratic Senator Al Franken of Minnesota, who joins us now from Capitol Hill. He's also a member of the key committee, the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Senator Franken, thanks for joining us.
SEN. AL FRANKEN (D-MN), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: You bet.
TAPPER: So the Obama administration had floated the notion that they were vetting Nevada Republican Governor Brian Sandoval to fill the Supreme Court seat left empty by the passing of Antonin Scalia. But just minutes ago, Sandoval issued a statement saying that he had notified the White House and senators, Democrats and Republicans, that he is withdrawing his name from consideration. What do you make of this?
FRANKEN: You know, whoever the president submits in line with his constitutional obligation and duties, we will consider. And I'm on the Judiciary Committee, and that means having hearings, which is -- which we've had every time a nominee has been offered by the president since they first started having hearings in 1916. Over 100 Supreme Court nominees have had hearings. Nine didn't, but those were all confirmed within 11 days. So this is unprecedented, what they're talking about doing. And it's irresponsible. And I -- it's without precedent, and this is very destructive, I believe.
TAPPER: Do you think that the White House was seriously considering Sandoval, or do you think it was about more making a point of, look, even if we nominate a Republican governor, the Republicans are such obstructionists?
FRANKEN: I don't know what the White House was thinking. I'm sure they're trying to find someone who would be a very good Supreme Court justice and who could pass through the Senate if -- you know, once they have a hearing.
TAPPER: You are -- you're friends with Senator Grassley, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
FRANKEN: Yes.
TAPPER: At first he said that he hadn't made up his mind about whether or not he would hold hearings. And then, all of a sudden, he was very firmly against it, writing in an op-ed with Mitch McConnell saying there wouldn't be any hearings. Writing another op-ed today in "USA Today." A similar situation played out with Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski from Alaska. She said that she thought there should be hearings and then later that evening somebody tweeting from her account, maybe her, tweeting that there should not be hearings. What's going on?
FRANKEN: Well, they're obviously falling in line. This is very disappointing. The Constitution is very clear that when you have a vacancy, in this case caused by Justice Scalia's death, that the president has a responsibility to nominate a prospective justice and we, in the Senate, have the obligation to provide advice and consent if we so -- you know, on the consent side, if we consent. And the Constitution also says that the president has a four-year term. And scientists tell us that there are almost 11 months left in the president's second term.
[13:30:05] TAPPER: Right. Senator Joe Biden, when he was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee back in '92, you were not even in the Senate at the time. I don't hold you responsible for what Senator -- then Senator Biden --
