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GOP Debate in Houston; Super Tuesday Preview; President Obama Expresses Reasons for Skepticism oveer Syria Ceasefire; FIFA to Elect New President; Oscar Night Preview; Shootings in Kansas Detailed; North Korea Sanction Efforts. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired February 26, 2016 - 03:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:00] GEORGE HOWELL, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: And then there were five. And a whole lot of fireworks. We'll bring you the latest from Houston, Texas, where CNN hosted the last republican presidential showdown before Super Tuesday.

NATALIE ALLEN, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: Plus, Barack Obama warns of plenty of reasons for skepticism as the so-called cessation of hostilities is due to take effect in Syria. We'll have that.

HOWELL: And a fresh start for FIFA. World football's governing body is set to elect the new leader, with a very tough task ahead of them, to rebuild its reputation.

ALLEN: All that ahead here. Plus, a preview of Hollywood's biggest night of the year coming up this weekend. We are all across the Oscars.

I'm Natalie Allen.

HOWELL: And I'm George Howell. From CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, Newsroom starts right now.

And a good day to you. We begin this hour in the State of Texas. The debate there, the attacks, and the insults. The republican presidential candidates met in Houston, Texas, on Thursday night. Their last debate before Super Tuesday. Twelve states will hold primaries and caucuses on March 1st.

ALLEN: And it did not take long for Marco Rubio to go after frontrunner Donald Trump. He and Ted Cruz are battling for second place behind the billionaire. And each one tried to make his mark. Cruz urged Trump to release his tax returns and challenged his plans for replacing Obamacare.

HOWELL: And Rubio took shots at Trump's business record and his immigration policies.

CNN's Ryan Nobles has our rap.

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump's momentum made him a target for his two closest challengers on the debate stage. Marco Rubio hit him hard on immigration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO Rubio, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You're the only person on the stage that's been fined for hiring people to work on your projects illegally. You hired some workers from Poland.

DONALD Trump, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, I'm the only one on the stage who's hired people. You haven't hired anybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: Rubio hammered the frontrunner saying that Trump's campaign platform is short on specifics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN'S CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Talk about the plans.

RUBIO: He says five things, everyone's dumb, he's going to make America great again, we're going to win, win, win.

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: Senator Rubio. Senator Rubio.

RUBIO: He's winning in the polls.

BASH: Senator Rubio, please.

RUBIO: And the lines around the stage.

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: Every night. Same thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: Ted Cruz took aim at Trump's background.

TED CRUZ, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And in 2013, when I was leading the fight against the gang of eight amnesty bill, where was Donald? He was firing Dennis Rodman on "Celebrity Apprentice."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: The front-runner seemed to relish his role in the debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUGH HEWITT, RADIO HUGH HEWITT SHOW HOST: I will discuss it between you and me.

BEN CARSON, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Amen. Amen.

TRUMP: Every single pricing comes to me. HEWITT: Mr. Trump.

TRUMP: I know I'm here for the ratings, but the celebrity? It's a little bit ridiculous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: Cruz and Rubio are struggling to close the gap after Trump's three wins. That makes Tuesday a potential GOP game changer, 11 stakes, 595 delegates at stake. Big wins could put fresh momentum on the backs of Rubio or Cruz or cement Trump as the frontrunner for the nomination.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRUZ: If we've got to win this election and we can't do it with a candidate who agrees with Hillary Clinton and can't take it to her and beat her on the debate stage and at the polls.

(APPLAUSE)

WOLF BLITZER, THE SITUATION ROOM SHOW HOST: Mr. Trump. Hold on. Mr. Trump.

TRUMP: He's talking about the polls. I'm beating him awfully badly in the polls.

CRUZ: But you're not beating Hillary.

TRUMP: Well, I don't know. I don't -- well, then if I can't -- hey, if I can't beat her, you're really going to get killed, aren't you? So, let me ask...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NOBLES: After that Texas size the showdown it's back to the trail. And time is running out for the challengers to catch up to the frontrunner.

In Houston, Texas, I'm Ryan Nobles reporting.

HOWELL: No doubt about it. This was a fiery debate. To talk about it let's bring in a Ron Brownstein, he is a CNN senior political analyst and senior editor at The Atlantic. Ron, good to have you.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Good evening.

HOWELL: So, we saw Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio both take on Donald Trump very, very fiery rhetoric here. Did it work for them?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, where has that been? A lot of republicans wondering why it has taken three consecutive victories for Donald Trump and leads in virtually all of the Super Tuesday states to awaken his rivals to this extent.

But yes, I thought it was pretty effective because in many ways their attacks were complimentary. Ted Cruz challenged his kind of ideological consistencies, his ideological bonafides. And Marco Rubio really went after him on a whole series of really personal qualities.

Essentially accusing him of being a hypocrite in arguing that he was going to stand up for American workers but importing foreign workers at point and also questioning his true business skill and arguing that he essentially benefitted from, you know, a handout from his father.

So, I think it was an effective one-two kind of punch. I think Trump looked more rattled than we have seen him in most debates. The big question of course is whether it is too little too late with Super Tuesday approaching and Mr. Trump leading in most states.

HOWELL: That is the question many people are raising, why did it take this long, you know, to see these candidates really go after Donald Trump on these issues and as for substance, for Ted Cruz when it comes to Tuesday, how important is it for him to win the State of Texas?

[03:05:12] BROWNSTEIN: I think it's not only important to win the State of Texas. Texas is necessary but not sufficient. I mean, Tuesday is really the biggest concentration of states that are friendly to Ted Cruz because you have not only Texas but you also have Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Oklahoma.

And all five of those states, George, Evangelical Christians are already 60 percent of the vote in the most recent exit poll for which we, you know, either 2008 or 2012. So, if Cruz cannot win most of those states on Tuesday, the list of states where he is naturally favored really starts to diminish pretty quickly.

And what we have seen is that Ted Cruz is not getting the numbers he needs from Evangelical Christians who are projected to be his core constituency. Because Donald Trump is making significant inroads among the Evangelicals who are also blue collar or working class voters.

He's appealing to them on the immigration and trade issues that are appealing to other blue collar voters. And if Ted Cruz can't reverse that by Tuesday even if he does all Texas he's going to be in a very marginal position by Wednesday morning.

HOWELL: Ron, there were two other candidates on that stage, John Kasich and Ben Carson. Carson complaining that he didn't feel he got enough questions and really, you know, Kasich kind of staying out of the fray when it came to the teaming up on Donald Trump.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

HOWELL: Was that a good plan strategy, or did they miss an opportunity here?

BROWNSTEIN: I think Kasich actually had a good plan. Carson, you know, Carson's in that kind of dynamic where every time they finally ask you a question you complain they don't ask you more questions, and you kind of, you know, use up your time essentially whining about the way you're being treated. Look, you are not, at this point, he is not really a serious contender

for the nomination anymore. I don't think it's unreasonable to give him less time. Kasich is also kind of at the fringes of the race but he has more of a directed strategy where he is clearly trying to appeal to voters, more centrists, mainstream conservative voters, moderate voters, maybe crossover democrats and independents.

By arguing that he is someone who is not kind of descend into this political slugfest and is able to bring together the parties to put together real solutions in Washington. And I thought he was he was actually pretty effective at that tonight. I mean, of course, and every vote that he gets at this point probably comes directly out of Marco Rubio because Rubio, even though he's pitching himself more to the right than Kasich, really is relying on that same group of mainstream conservative voters who have shown the most resistance to Donald Trump through this process.

But Trump is really fighting a two front war with the opportunity to weaken both sets of his rivals. On the one hand you got the southern heavily Evangelical, heavily blue collar states I mentioned where Trump has the opportunity to really undermine Ted Cruz.

And on the other hand, you've got places like Vermont, Massachusetts, and Virginia which are much less Evangelical much less white collar and where he is leading as well. You know, the last two republican nominees, John McCain and Mitt Romney could not cross that divide. If Donald Trump does win states on both sides of that democratic fissure, then he is I think in a very strong position going forward.

HOWELL: Ron Brownstein with us. Ron, thank you so much for your insight?

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

ALLEN: And if you missed Thursday nights republican debate, we guarantee you its well worth watching and you'll see it again here. If you tune in to CNN a little less than two hours from now we're broadcasting the event again in full. That's 10 a.m. in London, 6 p.m. in Hong Kong. A reminder, this was the last debate before the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses coming up next week.

A new Quinnipiac University poll conducted before CNN's debate Thursday shows Donald Trump has a commanding lead in Florida's republican primary. He leads with 44 percent. Marco Rubio is at 28 percent while the others trail far behind.

And a Monmouth University poll shows Ted Cruz leads in his home State of Texas with 38 percent support. Donald Trump follows with 23 percent. Marco Rubio third place at 21 percent. The others are polling in single digits.

Meanwhile, democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has a very strong lead in Texas right now. This also according to the Monmouth poll. She is polling at 64 percent while her opponent Bernie Sanders trails at 30 percent. Other news we're following, police are investigating a series of

shootings in a small U.S. town that left three people dead. It happened Thursday ending at Excel Industries in Hesston, Kansas. Official say the suspect an employee at the lawn care manufacturing company wounded 14 other people, 10 of them critically. One eye witness described what he saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Just metal falling on the ground, and then the doors opened, people start screaming coming out saying go to the front, go to the front and everybody turned around. You know, he said, no, he's out front. So, everybody started going to the back right over here and then, yes, me, my boss and the other employee that we work with, we was just standing back there. You know, we really didn't know what was going on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:09:59] ALLEN: The gunman was shot and killed by police. The sheriff's office hasn't released the name of the shooter but he's been identified as this man here as Cedric Ford, by friend and co-worker Matt Gerald. Official say the shooting was not terror related. Some other reason.

HOWELL: This is CNN Newsroom. Still ahead, the U.S. president is voicing his concerns about the planned ceasefire for Syria. Up next, we're live in the Middle East with what he had to say at the meeting with his national security team.

Plus, the U.N. is considering new sanctions on North Korea, the toughest in decades against the country. We'll go live to Seoul, South Korea for reaction there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOWELL: Huge crowds seen here gathering in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Friday morning. A show of solidarity against ISIS. Radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for a peaceful million man march in the city's Tahrir Square to demonstrate against the terror group and government corruption.

ALLEN: And this demonstration comes as the world watches neighboring Syria. In the coming hours a ceasefire is set to take effect, however, many world leaders, including U.S. President Obama skeptical of its success.

Ian Lee is following the story for us from Cairo. Ian, let's dig down into the myriad of reasons for the skepticism.

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Natalie, it seems like everyone is skeptical. But really the stakes are quite high. More than 300,000 people have been killed in the fighting. Half of the country has been uprooted. This is what U.S. President Barack Obama had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PRESIDENT: Now none of us are under any illusions. We're all aware of the many potential pitfalls, and there are plenty of reasons for skepticism. But history would judge us harshly if we did not do our part in at least trying to end this terrible conflict with diplomacy.

If implemented, and that's a significant if, the cessation could reduce the violence and get more food and aid to Syrians who are suffering and desperately need it. It could save lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:15:12] LEE: And, Natalie, the ceasefire is supposed to go into effect in about 14 hours from now. It is going to be between the Syrian regime and their allies and the Syrian opposition. Now that is the big question at this hour, who qualifies as being part of the Syrian opposition.

There are about 160 different factions fighting, but the two big groups that are noticeably absent from the ceasefire are ISIS and the Al Qaeda affiliated al-Nusra front. And Secretary Kerry has said that he hoped with the ceasefire if it can remain in effect, the cessation of hostilities, rather, remains in effect, that more focus could be put on ISIS to defeat them.

ALLEN: And has Assad had any remarks in the days leading up to this alleged cessation we might see?

LEE: Well, they have agreed to it, and this was really the real sticking point for negotiators is getting both sides to agree, both sides saying that they will abide by it but, again, that will be difficult because the definition of who is under this umbrella of being part of the opposition.

Now if there is a violation there is a bit of an agreement that appropriate response in proportion can -- will happen, but there is hope that they can keep the ceasefire -- the ceasefire in place so that they can continue the negotiations and ultimately come to some sort of agreement that goes along the U.N.'s plan.

But right now everyone's going to be watching once a ceasefire takes place every hour to see if it actually does take hold.

ALLEN: Hoping for a miracle that maybe it could. Ian Lee for us there in Cairo. Thank you, Ian.

HOWELL: Great deal of people are hoping for sure. These are some grim numbers -- gram -- grim numbers, I should say, to share with you, but important reminders of the staggering toll of Syria's Civil War.

More than 300,000 people have been killed since 2011 according to the United Nations. And more than 11 million people have been forced from their homes. That's nearly half of the population. Many have fled to neighboring countries, like Turkey and Lebanon, and 13 million more are in need of protection and humanitarian aid. This, according to U.N. officials. ALLEN: Iran, a key Syrian ally is criticizing the ceasefire. The

Iranian president says that terrorists could take advantage of the pause in fighting something. We just heard Ian Lee report about there.

Syria has repeatedly deemed anti-regime rebels as terrorists. And in a phone call with the Russian President Hassan Rouhani is quoted, saying in part, "This agreement has ample ambiguities and deficiencies, elimination of which are essential for assuaging concerns."

HOWELL: Right now Iranians are voting in elections that could drastically shape the future of that country. Conservatives and reformers are battling it out to control parliament and the influential assembly of experts.

ALLEN: At assembly elects the influential supreme leader. The vote is seen as a referendum on the agreement that limits Iran's nuclear program.

HOWELL: Let's go live to Tehran. CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins us on the phone there. Fred, thanks for being with us. So, is there any sense at this point, any initial sense of which way this election could go?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, it's absolutely unclear at this point, George, which way the election will go, but what it does seem to be shaping up is that there seems to be pretty high turnout.

Hassad Rouhani, the President, just a couple of minutes ago went to the polls himself and voted and there apparently says that the early indications daunt that many people they aren't going to the polls. We were at a polling station just a couple of minutes ago, and there were certainly a lot of people cuing outside there waiting to get registered and then cast their ballots in these two very, very important elections.

Then certainly if you look at the campaigning that's been going on over the past couple of days over the past couple of weeks, it was fierce. You could sense the key political sides that there are in this country between the moderates and the conservatives between the reformers and the hard liners. And certainly seems to be something that is also playing out as the polls today.

Most people that we've spoken to say that they're very optimistic about the selection. They see it as a very, very important one in their country's history, of course also because it comes so close after the nuclear agreements were signed, and also in a time when you're also seeing a lot of foreign investment taking shape here in this country which it hasn't done for such a long time.

[03:19:59] HOWELL: I want to push forward on that just a bit more, Fred. The nuclear deal. You now, the result has been a great deal of money has poured into Iran, but here's the question. Are people seeing it right now? And will it, can it make a difference in this particular vote?

PLEITGEN: Well, yes, you know, that's a very good question, because at this point this time people haven't seen it yet. You know, they see on the television channels here, they see on media here the big deals getting signed, you know, big deals between the Iranian government and, for instance, French automakers.

Iran buying airplanes, however, it hasn't really translated into a better life for many people or jobs for many people, and that's something that the people want to see happen fairly quickly after this nuclear agreement has been signed.

So, certainly the election now will be a referendum on Hassan Rouhani's policies so far. But also, of course, what people believe this nuclear deal will achieve for them in the future. So far many of them are betting on the future. They see it shaping up. They hope that it will take more concrete form in the not too distant future and that they will benefit and be able to unleash what they feel has been their economic potential that's been dormant for such a long time.

HOWELL: Fred Pleitgen on the line with us from Tehran. And Fred also sharing some really interesting images on his Instagram channel. If you want to check that out. Fred, I've been looking at those at Fred Pleitgen CNN. Fred, thanks for your reporting there.

ALLEN: Well, North Korea could face the toughest sanctions it has seen in two decades. The U.S. worked with China to unveil what is being called an unprecedented U.N. resolution packed with new sanctions aimed at stopping North Korea's nuclear program.

Senior U.N. correspondent, Richard Roth has more for us.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR U.N. CORRESPONDENT: The Security Council is once again choosing more sanctions to go after the regime of North Korea following another nuclear test and rocket launch. North Korea has defied the Security Council for years.

The ambassadors here are quite frustrated over the refusal of Pyongyang to obey various Security Council resolutions banning missile and nuclear test. Now the Security Council will consider a new resolution packed with additional sanctions attacking North Korea's banking and financial system, plus dual use military hardware.

Anything that could be used for the nuclear or missile program. Plus, luxury goods will be banned, such as jet skis, snowmobiles and more luxury watches. U.S. Ambassador of the U.N. Samantha Power described what she hopes the message to be heard in Pyongyang is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAMANTHA POWER, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: These sanctions, if adopted, would send an unambiguous and unyielding message to the DPRK regime. The world will not accept your proliferation. There will be consequences for your actions, and we will work relentlessly and collectively to stop your nuclear program.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: After weeks of negotiating, China and the U.S. are on board together, however, China, as North Korea's main trading partner and neighbor, has to prove it will, indeed, stop goods from being smuggled in to North Korea.

Richard Roth, CNN, United Nations.

HOWELL: For the very latest on these sanctions let's go live to Seoul. Paula Hancocks joins us now this hour.

Paula, good to have you. So, we have seen so many rounds of sanctions hit North Korea time after time after time again but still they've been able to improve their nuclear technology. So, explain to our viewers how this round of sanctions is tougher, will it be effective?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, George, suddenly it seems to be a broader set of sanctions. It goes further than sanctions have before, and it's basically expanding on many of the restrictions that the previous resolutions had put in place.

Of course, whether or not it will be effective really does depend on firstly whether it passes within the general -- within the Security Council over the weekend or early next week, and of course whether it is implemented to the letter, whether or not things are still able to be smuggled across the border with China despite the sanctions.

But we are hearing from one U.S. Official who's familiar with this resolution. He says it will be felt. It will have an impact. So, the assumption certainly from the United States is that it's broader than it has been in the past, that the strongest sanctions in two decades we're hearing from Samantha Power, and certainly they're hopeful that it will have an impact. George.

HOWELL: And, Paula, could you just kind of paint a picture in general of what difference it will make there on the ground in North Korea? How will things be different?

HANCOCKS: Well, one of the -- one of the aspects, which is interesting, is that the sanctions would ban exports of coal, of minerals, of iron, gold, titanium, exports that North Korea does rely on to secure some hard currency.

[03:25:05] We heard from the unification ministry here in South Korea. They said it's known to be about 40 percent of all exports for North Korea so inevitably that will have an impact. And certainly this is what the resolution is geared towards, to try and curb any money that goes towards the nuclear or the missile program.

So, the hope is certainly from the United States that this will be the case and the significant point, of course, is that China has signed on to this as well, which we have seen them dragging their feet in the past.

Just at the end of last month when Secretary of State John Kerry went to visit his Chinese counterpart, the distance between them was significant, but now we are seeing that they both agree that the sanctions have to be stronger, probably most notably because just after that meeting on February 7th, North Korea then carried out a satellite launch widely believed to be a missile test. And so, that suddenly played into Washington's hands and pushed Beijing most likely to wanting stronger sanctions. George.

HOWELL: Paula Hancocks, live in Seoul, South Korea. Paula, thank you for your report.

ALLEN: The republican presidential candidates take aim at Donald Trump's in CNN's latest debate. We'll see whether the frontrunner was able to hold his own under attack in a moment here.

HOWELL: He was, indeed, under attack there.

And world football's governing body has a severe branding crisis. But FIFA is hoping a vote in a few hours, could help it regain the trust of its fans. That story ahead. This is CNN Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:30:00] ALLEN: And welcome back to CNN Newsroom. We're live in Atlanta. I'm Natalie Allen.

HOWELL: And I'm George Howell.

The headlines we're following this hour. In Syria, the cessation of hostilities is set to go into effect this weekend. The deal calls for the Syrian regime, Russia, and opposition forces to stop fighting. The U.S. President says it is a long shot the plan will succeed, but the world has to help save Syrian lives.

ALLEN: In the State of Kansas, police say a gunman killed three people in a series of shootings in a small town there. It happened on Thursday ending at Excel Industries in Hesston, Kansas. Officials say the suspect, an employee at the lawn care company, wounded 14 other people. Police shot and killed the gunman.

HOWELL: The race for the White House, republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, he took fire from his main rivals during the latest CNN debate. Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz hit Trump hard on his plans for replacing Obamacare, his record on immigration and even some of his failed business ventures.

ALLEN: All those candidates want to replace Obamacare, but they just don't like how each other is doing it.

HOWELL: Right.

ALLEN: Donald Trump wasted no time in firing off some shots of his own. We're not surprised. Calling Marco Rubio a choke artist and Ted Cruz a basket case.

HOWELL: He is known as a master brander. Here is a look at the republican presidential debate in 90 seconds.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome the republican candidates for President of the United States.

CRUZ: Welcome to Texas.

RUBIO: Are you the only person on this stage that's ever been fine for hiring people to work on your projects illegally. You hired some workers from Poland...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: No, no. I'm the only one on the stage that's hired people. You haven't hired anybody.

CRUZ: But let me say, Wolf, I really find it amazing that Donald believes that he is the one who discovered the issue of illegal immigration.

TRUMP: First of all, I don't believe anything Telemundo says, number one.

MARIA CELESTE ARRARAS, TELEMUNDO ANCHOR: You used to say that you don't...

BLITZER: Let me get Governor Kasich in. He's been waiting patiently. Governor Kasich...

BASH: Well, then let's talk about your plans.

RUBIO: I see him what he's been every night. It says five things. Everyone's dumb.

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: Senator Rubio.

RUBIO: He's going to make America again.

BASH: Senator Rubio.

RUBIO: We're going to win, win, win. He's winning in the polls.

BASH: Senator Rubio, please.

RUBIO: And the line around the stage.

BEN CARSON, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: People say that I whine a lot because I don't get time. I'm going to whine.

TRUMP: You get along with nobody.

CRUZ: If you want to be liked in Washington, that's not a good attribute for a president.

TRUMP: You don't learn anything about somebody's wealth with a tax return.

WOLF: Gentlemen, please, I want to move on. I want to talk about... RUBIO: This is our republican debate, right?

WOLF: I want to talk about the economy.

RUBIO: Because that attack is playing the people in the government.

(CROSSTALK)

CRUZ: This is a critical answer. He's for the answer...

WOLF: Gentlemen, gentlemen, all of you have agreed.

TRUMP: I mean, first of all, this guy's a choke artist and this guy's a liar, OK? They may even be comfort...

RUBIO: The Palestinians are not a real estate deal, Donald.

TRUMP: OK. No, no, no, a deal -- a deal is a deal.

RUBIO: A deal is not when you're dealing with the terrorists.

TRUMP: You are not a negotiator.

RUBIO: Have you ever negotiated a terrorist?

CRUZ: OK. Now...

BLITZER: The latest debate...

CRUZ: Wait, hold on, I want to get my answer. He doesn't need to yell the whole time.

BLITZER: Gentlemen, please. I want to move on. These are the rules. You will have a response but I promised Governor Kasich he can respond.

CARSON: Can somebody attack me, please.

KASICH: Wolf, Wolf...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Can somebody attack me please. Well, that voice that you heard at the end, that was ben Carson who felt a little left out, a little sidelined during the debate. And as usual, Donald Trump was front and center there. But as we heard earlier from political journalist Jonathan Swan, Trump did not get away with his own way throughout.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN SWAN, THE HILL NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: What you saw tonight was some really extended exchanges which we've never seen before with Donald Trump, and in many ways he came up quite vulnerable so Rubio, Marco Rubio, the Florida Senator, really pressed him on detail. He said, well, what's your health care plan? And instead of being able to give a glib one-liner as Donald Trump has

done in the past, he actually -- you know, Rubio kept coming back. And because it was this smaller setting, it actually seem to rattle Donald Trump, so it was very interesting to watch.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Swan also said that Trump's refusal to release his tax returns because they are still being audited could become a major factor in the campaign.

ALLEN: Donald Trump's rivals in the race for the White House aren't the only people he needs to worry about. Just look at this. The cover of Friday's New York Daily News, quotes, "The former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan is saying Trump has the same kind of mindset as the white supremacist group."

David Duke used his radio show to announce his support for Trump. Listen to what Trump told our Don Lemon last year about the issue of racism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON LEMON, CNN TONIGHT SHOW HOST: When I asked you last time I said -- and people -- some were shocked if you were racist. You knew why I was asking you that. Are you racist?

TRUMP: I am the least racist person that you have ever met. I am the least racist person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: Apple says that a court order from the FBI to hack into its iPhone is unconstitutional. The government wants Apple to write special code that would help it to unlock the phone of Syed Farook. He was one of the shooters in the San Bernardino terror attack.

[03:34:58] Apple laid out its formal legal defense Thursday stating the following, quote, "When Apple designed iOS 8 it wrote code that announced the value it placed on data security and the privacy of citizens by omitting a back door. The government wants to compel Apple to create and crippled an insecure -- and insecure product."

ALLEN: Well, joining us now from London is CNN money business correspondent Samuel Burke from London. And this is certainly a kind of duke it out fight between the government and Apple. And Tim Cook is coming across quite bold.

SAMUEL BURKE, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Natalie, I think for so long all around the world from the States to here in London people have been talking about what they think Apple should do. We've all been weighing in with our opinions, but now we actually see the legal argument that Apple is going to put forth in front of this court and possibly all the way going up to the Supreme Court.

A lot of people have just said, well, Apple should go in and type in the code and get in that way. Of course, they can't get in that way. They actually have to write code that would hack into the system, and the argument that Apple is going to use is that this would be a violation of their freedom of speech.

And while that might sound odd to some people because code doesn't sound like speech, something that comes out of your mouth, the truth is Supreme Court observers have seen over and over again this argument of equating money with freedom of speech and maybe even this time coding with freedom of speech has been a very successful argument at the Supreme Court. And everybody thinks this looks like it has all of the elements to go all the way up to the highest court in the land over there in the U.S.

ALLEN: And if so, it will face a court that's split right now for the most part or is expected to be split. So, it will be interesting to see when it might come up for the Supreme Court, and whether there is a new person on the court or not by then. We'll certainly be watching it. Samuel, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

HOWELL: Samuel might actually want to take cover in London because there's a powerful storm that is taking aim at Western Europe. Meteorologist Karen Maginnis is joins us now with details on that.

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hello, Natalie and George. Yes, we do have a very powerful storm system that is making its way across western sections of Europe with plenty of wind, rain, and snow.

Now the snow is going to be confined to those higher elevations, but pretty much from the Pyrenees towards the Alps over the next several days. This is not going to be a one day and we're done. This looks to be a two and three day event.

So, it's not going to be cut off in the atmosphere, but nonetheless, it moves across the Iberian Peninsula and then meets with another upper level disturbance right across the north central Mediterranean.

So, there we can see across the god portion of Italy in the next coming days. That's where we'll expect some of the heaviest rainfall, maybe between 50 and 100 millimeters but also the potential for rainfall from Lisbon to Madrid and then to Marseilles and then across the eastern sections of the Adriatic.

Can't rule out the potential for maybe an isolated thunderstorm. Now we'll talk about the big wave. This happened in Waimea Bay, this along the northern shore in Hawaii. They only invited 28 of the most elite big wave surfers. They wait for this during some winter months, generally between December and about February when we see these deep Pacific storm systems.

Now down here is Hawaii, but we have back-to-back storm systems and not every year is a good year, so they've had to skip a few. The last time that they had this big wave surfing event happened in 2009. So, it's been some years, and they've already crowned a winner.

I want to take a look and show you what's happened with these big waves. By big waves we do mean big waves. Between 6 and 9 meters. If you can imagine staring that down and the elite surfers certainly were up to the challenge.

Now the wave heights, as I've mentioned, typically are the highest, not just here in Hawaii, but around the world. They have these big wave events. And the wave actually shoots out some people once they make that wave. There you see some folks riding it down. It shoots them out further, so if they can survive that and the winner did.

John John Florence was a 23 years old. Natalie and George, a braver 23-year-old. I haven't known that you can stare down what would be the equivalent of a multi-story building with these wave heights across the north shore of Hawaii. Take a look at that. Back to you guys.

ALLEN: Somebody wipes out right there behind you.

HOWELL: Right.

ALLEN: He fell a long way, and thank goodness the surf board went the other way. But, yes, pretty cool.

HOWELL: He's better than me, man.

ALLEN: Just fine here. Just fine here. Thanks, Karen.

HOWELL: Karen, thank you.

ALLEN: Well, in a few hours, football's governing body is expected to elect a new president. FIFA hopes the new leader could help it recover from its various corruption scandals. Will it? We'll have a live report about that next.

[03:40:05] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALLEN: Will FIFA fix itself? The member nations will soon vote on proposals to reform world's football governing body, FIFA hopes to fix its reputation after various corruption scandal.

HOWELL: Delegates will also elect a new president for the first time in nearly two decades. These are the five candidates. Sheikh Salman of Bahrain here second from the right is considered the favorite.

ALLEN: Here's how the voting is expected to work, around 1 p.m. in Zurich, more than three hours from now, the five presidential candidates will speak to the Congress for 15 minutes each. An hour and a half later, member states will vote in a secret ballot.

That should take about two hours. To win, a candidate needs more than two-thirds of the votes. If no one reaches that threshold, there is a second round of voting where a straight majority wins. The new FIFA president will serve an initial four-year term and no longer than 12 years.

HOWELL: World sports correspondent Amanda Davies joins us now live from London. Amanda, the big question everyone has here, who's going to win?

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT CORRESPONDENT: Hi, George. Well, the word coming out of Zurich is that it's going to be very, very tight. Yes, between Sheikh Salman, the head of the Asian Football Confederation as you mentioned, but also the UEFA general secretary, Gianni Infantino. The feeling is that over recent days and recent weeks, he has been closing the gap on Sheikh Salman.

All of the messages that I've been getting out of the Infantino camp over the last couple of days is that they are confident. They feel that they've got the momentum. What we do know, though, George, is that we are in for a long, long day.

All the candidates and the members of the National Associations of World Football have now arrived at the Congress hall in Zurich, where there is not only the FIFA presidential elections taking place today, but also a number of other FIFA football decisions to be made.

[03:45:13] And there has been a lot of lobbying in recent times going lot late, late into the night with the regional confederations of world football. And the word from Sheik Salman's camp is that he feels very confident that he has the big block vote from Asia, his confederation also from Africa. The African confederation, one of the biggest world football bodies have publically said that they will vote for Sheikh Salman.

But the problem with this is that these confederations don't actually vote in block. It is up to the individual representatives from each of the national associations to cast their vote. So, Gianni Infantino, on the other hand, says he feels he actually has half of Africa's vote.

He does also have that important European vote. But Infantino's problem is that the view of European football in large parts of the world is there's quite a resentment that European football has so much money, it's so powerful, it's so wealthy. So, that might well act against Gianni Infantino.

The difference here, though, compared to the U.S. presidential election, for example, it doesn't matter what we the media say or what people at home think, it is ultimately down to those members of the national associations.

As you said, what we know is that for the first time since 1998, by the end of play on Friday there will be a new president that isn't Seth Blatter. The question is how different from Sepp Blatter will the new person be. When you look by Sheikh Salman and Gianni Infantino, they started this campaign backing Michel Platini the now disgrace head of European Footbal who himself has been banned for wrongdoing.

HOWELL: Amanda, just briefly here, I mean, look, this is just not another election. This is really a statement about world football and whether it can really regain the trust of its fans.

DAVIES: Yes. And people within FIFA are seeing this as a once in a lifetime opportunity. The first time in 112 years, where all of these situations have collided, not just the voting for a new president, but also the FBI and Swiss investigations into the wrongdoing and corruption in football. And there is also this reform vote that is taking place, the reform

vote that people within FIFA have been working really, really hard to push, not just in the public eye but also within the national associations going around saying, you need to vote for this.

This is our chance to regain people's trust and to really move football forward. The national associations need 75 percent to vote in favor of those reforms, and many are saying that arguably, that is a bigger vote than the one this afternoon which will see the new president.

HOWELL: Such a wonderful sport. Loved around the world. You just hate to see this cloud hanging over it and the hope, you know, that new leadership can turn things around. Amanda Davies, live for us in London. Thank you for your reporting.

CNN will bring the FIFA election to you as it happens. As we mentioned, the candidates will start presenting their cases at 1 p.m. Zurich Time. That's mid-day in London. The election will take place later in the afternoon. Of course, stay with CNN for live coverage.

ALLEN: Well, little boy certainly had an effect on his football hero, Lionel Messi. The 5-year-old, Murtaza Ahmadi. He's from a poor village in Afghanistan. In this video showed him wearing a homemade shirt with Messi's number. It was made from plastic bags. And the video went viral.

HOWELL: And it's beautiful. I mean, he's got skills there. Messi heard the story and he sent little Murtaza two real shirts, both autographed.

ALLEN: Lucky.

HOWELL: Absolutely. They were relayed through the children's agency UNICEF. A snazzy looking ball is also a gift from Messi and also well reserved -- deserved.

ALLEN: And wait, let him score there.

HOWELL: No. He got it! Nice, nice.

ALLEN: We're just a couple of days away from Oscar's big night. Coming up, a look at the controversy surrounding the ceremony this year, the nominees and a veteran actor many hope will win his first Academy Award.

[03:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MAGINNIS: Hello, everyone. I'm CNN meteorologist Karen Maginnis.

This is your ski watch. And as we look into eastern Canada, a little clipper system moving through some areas. And higher peaks might pick up some more significant snowfall. But overall, we're not looking much in the way of forecast snowfall totals.

Minuscule amounts at least at some of those lower elevations. How about some forecast conditions from Blue Mountain, 4 degrees. So, there you can see the temperature running the freezing mark. A little further to the north some snow expected for Charlevoix. We'll expect those snow showers to materialize then towards the evening. Minus 7 the expected temperature there.

Sugarbush with partly cloudy skies, and zero degrees, this is in northern New England. Saddleback, minus 1. Just about everybody looking at varying amounts of cloud cover and sunshine. Nothing terribly significant because we just don't have any significant storm systems expected to push through the region.

Well, there we go. For Killington in Vermont, the base is now at 24 inches. And most of the trails have been groomed, at least 45 percent of the trails are open at this time. Then across the Western United States doesn't look like much expected in the forecast for the great basin. Maybe a little bit into the northern Rockies. That will be about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOWELL: Well, are you ready for Hollywood's biggest night of the year? It is Sunday, the 2016 Academy Awards.

ALLEN: Critics say that this year's race for the best picture award is very close, and many hope one of Hollywood's leading men snags his first Oscar. You probably know who that is by now. Here's Stephanie Elam.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A mother and son trapped in captivity at this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Child, listen to me. This is our chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: An Irish immigrant finding love and independence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wish I could stop feeling that I want to be an Irish girl in Ireland.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: A frontiers man seeking revenge. "Room," "Brooklyn," and "The Revenant" are just three of the films nominated for the best picture at the 88th Academy Awards. The Leo DiCaprio led drama is at the top of the heap with 12 nominations.

Other films in the hunt for best picture include "The Big Short," "Bridge of Spice," "Mad Max Fiery Road," "The Martian," and "Spotlight" in one of the highest races in Oscar history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MATTHEW BELLONI, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER: There are legitimately three, maybe four potential best picture winners. So, you know, it's very rare that you come down to that last envelope and people don't know what's going to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: The best actor category is full of a-list talent like Bryan Cranston for "Trumbo," Matt Damon for "The Martian," Michael Fassbender for "Steve Jobs," and last year's winner, Eddie Redmayne.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Oscar, wow!

ELAM: This time for the Danish girl but the focus is on DiCaprio and whether this role will get the six-time nominee his first Oscar win.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's had so many great performances and nominations, this is going to be the year that he'll take it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: The best actress race has previous winners Cate Blanchett for "Carol" and Jennifer Lawrence for "Joy" going up against Saoirse Una Ronan for "Brooklyn" and first time nominee Charlotte Rampling for "45 Years," and Brie Larson for "Room."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[03:55:06] BRIE LARSON, ACTRESS: It feels like I'm part of some tribe. It feels so good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: Having already snagged a Golden Globe and Saga Award for her performance, Larson has the momentum heading in to Hollywood's biggest night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's do this.

ELAM: And returning for second time as host of the Oscars is Chris Rock known for his in your face comedy, many are wondering how the comedian will deal with the elephant in the room.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BELLONI: The one thing that everyone is expecting is how is he going to handle this all white nominee issue and is he going to be merciless with the academy?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: a congratulatory ceremony filled with lots of controversy? It must be Hollywood.

Stephanie Elam, CNN.

HOWELL: Will it be DiCaprio's night?

ALLEN: Oh, yes. I think it's a shoe in. It will be the only embarrassing at this point.

HOWELL: He has to get it.

ALLEN: Well, if any stars are worried about not looking clumsy on the red carpet, they may take some tips from a penguin on how to walk or waddle end pressure. Check it out. This chubby penguin, like a story for me to ask this. He's getting a workout. Thanks to researchers at the University of London. They put penguins on a treadmill to monitor how body weight affects how they walk.

HOWELL: I feel bad for the penguin.

ALLEN: Me, too.

HOWELL: Well, many penguins eat a lot of fish, gain weight. It protects them from the cold and provides food for the chicks. But researchers found that those extra pounds also make it more difficult for them to walk. The scientist concluded that fat penguins are unsteady and struggle to stay upright compared to thinner penguins.

ALLEN: That was their scientific conclusion. I don't know. Poor penguin.

All right. Thanks for joining us this hour, I'm Natalie Allen.

HOWELL: And I'm George Howell. Stay with CNN. My colleague Max Foster is live from London with another edition of CNN Newsroom. Stay with us.

[04:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)