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Clinton Aims For Decisive Win In South Carolina; Giffords Makes Emotional Plea In Clinton Campaign Ad; Clinton Has Support From Prominent Democrats In South Carolina; Rubio Kicks Off Multi-State Tour In Georgia; South Carolina Democratic Primary Coverage. Aired 12- 1p ET

Aired February 27, 2016 - 12:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: It is decision day here in South Carolina for the Democrats. Hillary Clinton hoping to pull out a big victory over Bernie Sanders. Each one hoping for that momentum heading into Super Tuesday.

Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. We are live in Columbia, at the University of South Carolina. The polls are open for another seven hours in South Carolina. Up for grabs are 53 delegates in the Democratic primary.

There's a widely held expectation of a big win today for Hillary Clinton. This is a state that she lost to Barack Obama back in 2008 and it helped give him the momentum to become the Democratic nominee.

So what's going to happen this time? Clinton is actually at a get out to vote event in Fairfield, Alabama, not here in South Carolina right now. She will return to the palmetto state tonight for what is expected to be, her camp is hoping will be a victory party.

Our Chris Frates is in Alabama right now where Clinton will be. Chris, what is to be expected there?

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning -- good afternoon, actually, Fred. Hillary Clinton in South Carolina today because it's the end of the road here in South Carolina. The beginning of the sprint to Super Tuesday.

Super Tuesday, of course, the biggest primary day of the year, 11 states going to the polls for Democrats, 20 percent of the delegates that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders need to get that nomination are going to be up for grabs.

That's why she is here in Alabama. She is doing a get out to vote rally and it's no surprise that she is here in the south. She is looking to have a big night on Tuesday, here in the south.

We're talking Alabama, her home state of Arkansas, Georgia, Texas, these are all places where Hillary Clinton feels like she needs to do well and that she can do well largely on the strength of African- American voters. These states look a lot like South Carolina. So that's why it's going to be really important to watch not just Hillary Clinton wins South Carolina.

The Clinton campaign feels very comfortable that they're going to pull out a big win there tonight. But what is the margin of votes that she brings out among African-Americans?

Does she drive to turn that out larger than expected? That will be a big harbinger about good things to come going up into Super Tuesday. They want to run up the score on Bernie Sanders in South Carolina and get a big boost of momentum going into Super Tuesday.

Bernie Sanders for his part not going back to South Carolina, no big surprise there. He's in Texas and then he's going to Missouri.

He is trying to stay even with Clinton in a lot of these states. He wants to fight her into a draw and win where he can. That's his home turf.

We're talking about New England, Massachusetts, Vermont. They feel very good if they can pick up those states. Colorado, they want a fight Hillary Clinton and Texas as well.

But Bernie Sanders still understanding he needs to make inroads with that African-American community because going forward these states have a much bigger constituency.

Unlike Iowa, New Hampshire, much whiter than the rest of the country. He needs to make those inroads, and he spent big in South Carolina to do that, $1.7 million in advertising for Bernie Sanders in South Carolina.

Hillary Clinton spent $2.1 million and he's been talking about African-American issues on the stump. You know, starting to introduce it in New Hampshire going big in South Carolina.

And even when I saw him earlier this week, talking about African- American youth unemployment is higher than whites. African-American women have a bigger wage disparity than white women.

So he's started to talk about this issues of criminal justice reform, racial inequality. That's because he needs to make those inroads going forward.

If he can hold Hillary Clinton and make some inroads among the African-American community in South Carolina that will be good news for him going into the South Carolina race -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, and Chris, former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who barely survived being shot in the head has made an emotional appeal on behalf of Clinton and here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GABBY GIFFORDS: I'm fed up. We have a gun violence problem. So I'm voting for Hillary Clinton. She's tough. She will stand up to the gun lobby. She will stand up to the gun lobby. She will fight to make our families safer. It matters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So, Chris, how does this resonate in Alabama, which is a big second amendment state?

FRATES: Well, that's right. You know, this resonates well with Democrats across the country, but they're not airing it here in Alabama. That ad is airing in Massachusetts. No surprise, the gun control ideas play a lot bigger up there.

[12:05:04]They're trying to take on Bernie Sanders on his home turf. He's soft on gun control according to the Hillary Clinton people that's largely because he's a senator from Vermont.

They have a different gun culture in Vermont so he's been a little more conservative with his record. Hillary Clinton trying to exploit that. When you look at the spending in Massachusetts, you could see that as well, the ads, Hillary Clinton spending $1 million. Bernie Sanders, $2.6 million.

So he's making a stand. Hillary Clinton trying to eat into his lead there so that is part of had his battle and things are getting a little nasty out there -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Nasty indeed. All right, thank you so much, Chris Frates. Appreciate that in Fairfield, Alabama.

So Hillary Clinton has big supporters there at that rally where Chris is, as well as supporters here in South Carolina like Congressman Jim Clyburn, and the mayor of Columbia, Stephen Benjamin, who was featured in an ad released this week in fact.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR STEPHEN BENJAMIN (D), COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA: I'm the mayor of South Carolina's capital city, but this is my most important job. That's why I took the time to write an open letter to my daughters explain why I'm working so hard to elect Hillary Clinton.

Yes, I know she'll get equal pay for women, make college more affordable and stop the Republicans from taking us back. But I also know that she'll fight for America while all our sons and daughters have a chance to reach their God-given potential.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And Mayor Benjamin joining me right now. Last hour, I spoke to State Representative Justin Bamberg, a Bernie Sanders supporter, who justified why he feels like his vision is the vision of the future.

So what's your best argument that you're making to your daughters in that open letter and to the rest of South Carolina, about why it's Hillary Clinton you see as the candidate of the future.

BENJAMIN: Sure, I appreciate that and I appreciate Justin and everyone else who has their opinion. The good thing is that today the voters of South Carolina will be able to express their collective opinion and we believe the message will be clear that Hillary Clinton will win and win big in South Carolina.

It's an indicator of what we need. We need candidates on both sides of the aisle, who can appeal to a broad swath of the American electorate with a unifying message that brings people together, that focuses on the issues that matter.

I don't believe that they're African-American issues, Latino issues or white issues. I think they're American issues. How are we going to educate our children and not leave them sadly with debt?

How are we going to fight for thoughtful criminal justice reforms? Who has a record of working with these issues of health care reform?

I will tell you, the letter I wrote to my daughters was really not just about telling our children what's possible without you showing them what's possible. I saw in 2008 when President Obama won. It's one of the reasons I ran for mayor of the city in 2010.

I want my daughters to see if they work hard, get good grades, and serve their community that they also have a chance to break through the brick ceiling that's been there for women all across America over the course of the lifetime of this great federal Republican which we live.

Hillary is not only the most qualified person in this race, for the nomination or on both sides of the aisle, but she may in fact be the most qualified person who has run in the past century. Usually these elections are determined by who is strong on domestic issues --

WHITFIELD: What makes you say that?

BENJAMIN: Because usually these elections are determined about who is strong on domestic issues, who's strong on foreign policy issues. It's rare that you have a candidate that has a strong demonstrated record on both of those sides. She has been a fantastic secretary --

WHITFIELD: Because of what in her record that you have seen --

BENJAMIN: Well, I'll tell you, hitting the ground here, 45 years ago, with the Children's Defense Fund, working on juvenile justice issues, trying to get young black kids out of adult prisons. Her work on health care reform two decades ago.

The issues regarding women wage issues and the reality that women still in 2016 don't earn what their peers make, across the -- I hear it, believe me, in a houseful of women, I hear that on a regular basis.

But looking forward, how do we actually get thoughtful solutions? Many people forget the narrative when she was a junior senator from New York. When people didn't see her as a threat. That might run for president someday.

Republicans would consciously talk about the hard working disciplined coalition building approach that Hillary Clinton has brought to the table. And that's what it's going to take to move America forward together.

WHITFIELD: So what has happen, you talk about these are American issues that need to be conveyed and you spelled out why she's the candidate of your choice. But when you look at the electorate, it seems like there is a divide.

Whether it will be among religion, race and generation. And I feel like your letter to your daughters might really symbolize the message that underscores the distinction of how these candidates look to the electorate, based on their age?

BENJAMIN: Yes, yes.

WHITFIELD: So you've got the millennials who say I see Bernie Sanders as the one who is speaking to me in terms of hope.

[12:10:08]But then you have a number of elders, those who are older than the millennials who say I can look at the record of a Bernie Sanders or a Hillary Clinton. So what explains that kind of divide, you know, or that gap between generations?

BENJAMIN: Well, you know, I'm a public servant and a mayor whose task of getting things done. I'm not going to pretend to be a psychologist, but I will tell you this, I think that Senator Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump are appeal to the passions of people.

I'm not one who believes that we need to have the press or different demographics not showing up. We need as many people as possible showing up on every Election Day so it makes a better democracy --

WHITFIELD: A record turnout for the Republicans primary, but do you see the same for the Democrats?

BENJAMIN: I feel pretty good. I've been to a few boxes this morning. It's been a pretty brisk turnout and some pretty good absentee turnout more than we had just a few years ago. So I'm encouraged.

But I hope and pray that we're able to continue to have this really thoughtful dialogue on the issues in the Democratic primary, unlike what we're seeing on the other side of the aisle that keeps people encouraged that makes Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders better candidates.

It gets them speaking to the real issues affecting the American public. At the end of the day, whoever the nominee is, they'll come together and push for a real victory in November. I'm hoping and praying it's Hillary Clinton and I want to be in this race until the very last votes cast.

WHITFIELD: All right, Columbia, South Carolina Mayor Stephen Benjamin, thank you so much. It's starting to warm up here. I can take off some of my layers here. Thank you so much. I appreciate your time.

Still to come, the frontrunners in this race have been decided by just four states. But in three days, all of that could be changing, 13 more states will get their say and no campaign is safe. We're breaking down the scenarios next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: What are you going to do when it comes down to the general election? Are you going to support whoever the Republican nominee is or --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

WHITFIELD: No? What will you do?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm an independent.

WHITFIELD: OK. So you could vote Democrat or something else?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most definitely.

WHITFIELD: OK, so, among the Democrats then --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hillary.

WHITFIELD: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's the most qualified and I'd vote for Bill again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. So, very unpredictable race here and you can just hear that from the voters. No question, Hillary Clinton has made her support here in South Carolina, but will that momentum roll into Super Tuesday?

That's when 13 states will choose their nominee awarding more than 1,000 delegates in a matter of hours. It could be a complete game- changer or it could cement both Clinton's and Donald Trump's past two nominations. CNN's John King breaks down the scenarios.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, let's just first set the state of play as we look for the big Super Tuesday. We're finishing February right now. Today is obviously the 27th, South Carolina Democrats are voting today. We'll see the results tonight.

Hillary Clinton is expecting a big win. If she gets it we'll go on to Monday and Super Tuesday. Then we go across the country, the first multistate primary day. A dozen states voting in both the Democratic and the Republican contests. By the time we wake up Wednesday morning, 21 percent, almost were 22 percent of the Democratic delegates will have been chosen. Nearly 30 percent of the Republican delegates.

Let's take a look at what that could mean starting with the Republican race. Donald Trump heads into Super Tuesday, 82 delegates ahead of Senator Cruz, Senator Rubio, and Governor Kasich, need 1273 to clinch on the Republican so everybody can say, well, this is early, right. We are just getting started.

But Trump has now won three or four contests. He clearly has momentum going into Super Tuesday. Look at this scenario for Tuesday night. Trump could run the boards. He could win all 11 states that are actually electing Republican delegates on Tuesday.

If he did that, he would start to pull away. Let's stay in the sake of argument, in the one state where public polling does show Trump losing, that's Ted Cruz, Senator Cruz's home state of Texas so let's give Texas to Cruz, Trump comes in second, Marco Rubio comes in third, and Governor Kasich comes in fourth.

That's the only one where we say that's likely to happen, at least probable to happen. Even then, Trump would win 10 of 11 on Super Tuesday, freed. And look at he would start to pull away.

So the question for opposition to Trump is it looks like he's going to have a big day Tuesday. It's almost guaranteed. He's going to start to pull ahead then how do you stop him heading forward in March? That's likely to be the conversation Wednesday morning.

Let's go over to the Democratic race as we look ahead to Super Tuesday. Again, South Carolina is voting as we speak, but most people assume it's coming out like this, this gives it to Hillary Clinton on 60 percent-40 percent ratio.

If that happens, something like that, she'll pull ahead in the pledged delegates. Remember she has a big lead when you add in the super delegates.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, John King. I don't mean to short-change you. But Marco Rubio now speaking outside of Atlanta. Let's listen --

RUBIO: -- we're going to continue to work with irrespective to feel good about Tuesday. We're going to get a lot. We want to win states on Tuesday. We're going to win states after Tuesday. I don't care if I have to get there like I did around the country, Donald Trump will never be the nominee of the party --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How important is this state for you?

RUBIO: It's very important, we wanted to do well today. We're excited about it and feel good about the momentum.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator (inaudible) -- RUBIO: I think the message for conservatives for the first time in

eight years we're going to have a president who follows the constitution and who embraces free enterprise. You're going to have a president (inaudible) challenges and solve the problems. You're going to have a president that understands the challenges we face and also optimistic about the opportunities that awaits this country in the 21st Century.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator, two questions --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you going to raise the cost of higher education?

RUBIO: Raise the cost? I want it to be lower the cost.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry --

[12:20:09]RUBIO: I apologize, I didn't understand question. The only Republican running that talks about the cost of going to college. I had over $100,000 in student loan debt. We're the only Republican that outlines a plan in how to deal with it. It's all on our website, marcorubio.com.

We offer student investment plans that allows alternative for student loans, alternative of crediting models that allow you to acquire college credit without having to pay for it by sitting in the classroom.

We also have ideas about making income based repayment, the automatic method of repaying loans. Today, people cannot afford to pay back the loan payments that they're facing.

And right to know before you go, which will produce students with more information before they borrow money and take out a degree, they deserve to know how much people make when they graduate from that school with that degree.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator -- Senator, on Tuesday, how do you make a claim to the nomination?

RUBIO: Well again, we're in a proportional part of the process. Here's the bottom line people need to be in on, 1237 delegates. Donald Trump will never have 1,237. It will not let that happen. I'll be this race as far as I need to be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With all due respect, a lot of Republicans think --

RUBIO: Here's the bottom line, as the field continues to narrow down, you'll see more and more people rally. There's a growing concern that we cannot nominate (inaudible) as a party of Lincoln and Reagan and of the conservative movement and individual (inaudible) the Republican primary who stands and agrees with Hillary Clinton on Planned Parenthood -- (inaudible) -- these are their talking points.

And if you don't support government sponsored health care (inaudible) this is a dream for the Democratic Party, to have a Republican nominee like that. You know the media, you guys are sharpening your knives.

As soon as he's the nominee, they're going to be standing around him (inaudible) and they are going to tear him apart for all the horrible things that he's done in his career. We're not going to allow someone like that to be our nominee. We need a conservative to be the head of the party.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator (inaudible) --

RUBIO: We are going to win. We are going to win in Florida.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you going to win on anything else?

RUBIO: We'll find out, this is not a traditional race. Usually in a race like this, people are pushing you. At some point there needs to be said, everybody needs to get out. That's not what's going to happen with Donald Trump.

The majority of Republican voters do not want Donald Trump to be the nominee. They're going to support whoever is left standing that's fighting against him so we do not nominate a con artist in this very important election fight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator, (inaudible) --

RUBIO: They have a right to be in the race. I'm not going to ask anybody to drop out of the race. They have a right to be here as long as they want to be. Ultimately, the race will narrow down and when it does it will be a clear choice.

When voters have a clear choice between two people, that's when Donald Trump will be out. The sooner that happens the better.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).

RUBIO: Well, I think part of it he's not as rich as he says he is. This is a guy who inherited millions of dollars from his father. Had he put that money in an index stock fund he would be the richest person in the world. Richer than Warren Buffet.

Instead he took that money on a bunch of risky business deals. It's part of the fraud that he's perpetuating. He's going around telling people he's this great businessman, successful in business and will do the same for America, I hope not.

He took four companies into total bankruptcy. This is a guy who had his creditors put him on an allowance. He had calls all over the place in the last 48 hours. Bankers calling us.

One of them when he took one of his companies bankrupt, they put Donald Trump on an allowance. It's part of what con artists do. They come to you and help you something that they're not.

That's how he got people into Trump University and they realized it was a con and they lost their money. We're not going to let that happen to the country. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator, could you not have taken that aggressive approach three or four months ago?

RUBIO: Well, look, I hoped that voters would see this as the way it is. Obviously, we live in a different dynamic than before. If we're going to save the Republican Party from being taken over by a con artist, we are going to have to start making the race more aggressive.

WHITFIELD: Marco Rubio outside of an Atlanta suburb in Kennesaw, stumping for votes taking questions from reporters there using language like called Donald Trump a con artist. And even calling attention on the financial history of Donald Trump.

You know this has been going back and forth between Donald Trump and Marco Rubio forever, since that very fiery CNN debate.

[12:25:05]We're going to talk more about that. I'll be joined by some political analysts right after a short break. Again, we continue to watch the road to the White House. Many of the candidates stumping in various states from there, Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Super Tuesday states ahead of Super Tuesday. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My name is Aron (inaudible) and I'm the founder of Dog Vacay. We're the leading online community where people care for your dog instead of leaving it in a kennel when you travel.

My wife and I travel to visit a family on the east coast, and we left our two dogs in a kennel for ten days and came back to a $1400 kennel bill and rocky traumatized dog hiding under my desk for three days. That led us to questioning the whole way people care for their dogs.

[12:30:13] We put up a listing on Yelp called Aaron's Dog Boarding in 2011. We watched over a hundred dogs, made $35,000 in cash and we realized that this was actually a huge opportunity. We moved as pet sitting ourselves to actually getting pet sitters to come on the DogVacay website.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is Fanny, I've known here since she was a teeny, tiny puppy. I have watched her many times, When I got to leave, I try to (inaudible) some of the first letter within the first 15 minutes, just, because of that immediate separation that normally, the humans have a harder time with than the dogs.

AARON HIRSCHHORN, DOG VACAY FOUNDER: The establishing of trust is critical. We have an extensive online application process and we only accept about 15 percent of the applicants. We cover all insurance so your dog is taken care of and 24-hour customer care.

We started the business in Los Angeles in 2012. We're in over 3,000 cities across the U.S. and Canada. We think we're changing the way people care for their pets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Welcome back. Live from South Carolina where the Democratic primary is under way.

Also happening at this hour, Republican candidate Marco Rubio is holding an event in Kennesaw, Georgia, outside of Atlanta. You see the crowds' right there, just moments ago. You heard him talking to reporters. So, when his event there as addresses the crowd begins, we'll listen in and bring that to you live.

Meantime, let's talk to our panelists to talk about what we have heard him say and other that's far.

Here with me in Columbia in South Carolina, Tharon Johnson, former southern regional director for President Obama's 2012 campaign and a former adviser to Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed.

And also joining from us D.C., we have Ford O'Connell, Republican strategist and former McCain-Palin presidential campaign adviser.

And we also have Larry Sabato joining us from Charlottesville Virginia. Larry is the Director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

Hello, and welcome to all of you as we look sat these live pictures out of Kennesaw, Georgia where at any moment Marco Rubio will be emerging there addressing the crowd.

OK, so we did hear Marco Rubio talking to reporters and in exchange there he said, "The majority of Republican voters do not want Trump as the nominee". And I wonder Tharon, since you're with me here in South Carolina, if that's the case, why is it that he keeps winning these primary races?

THARON JOHNSON, FMR. SOUTHERN REGIONAL DIRECTOR, OBAMA 2012: Well, Rubio knows that he's got to win the state. I mean, he is yet to win a state. So, you see the rhetoric from him getting stronger and stronger. But you're right, Fred, on the, "How do you stop this guy". And I think what Rubio knows is while he's in Georgia and he's beginning his sort of trail all across the nation for some of them early states that are going to be coming up. He's got to go hard and, he's got basically get it back to a policy a policy debate. But with the recent endorsement of Chris Christie, who we know is not a Rubio fan, I think Rubio is going to turn up the rhetoric and a bit more harsh as far as his complements on Trump.

WHITFIELD: And Ford, you worked with the Mccain-Palin campaign, if you were advising Marco Rubio, would you recommend that this is the strategy to adopt at this juncture, just days away from Super Tuesday or is it too little too late?

FORD O'CONNELL, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, it maybe a little too late, you have to understand, you're not going to knock Donald Trump by questions conservative bona fide, what you have to do is undermine the vision he's selling, the feeling he's selling and that is to make America great again. So, what you basically have to say, is Donald Trump -- the question in fact, is Donald Trump going to actually help the little guy or is he a con artist? Is he a successful businessman or is it a bi product of a silver spoon birth. The problem is, he's waited too long to knock Trump around and now as he gets more momentum winning just at it's going to bring more voters to Trump and. I think frankly, he's pretty much unstoppable.

WHITFIELD: And so, Larry, at this point, we're seeing that Donald Trump is appealing to the white collar Americans. He's appealing to blue collar Americans and conservatives in upcoming Super Tuesday states, and Ted Cruz is a little concerned now about the outcome potentially in Texas. So, Donald Trump doesn't have any incentive to change his ways, does he?

LARRY SABATO, DIR CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Not at all. And particularly when you have events like Vice President Chris Christie endorsing him or maybe I should say, attorney general Chris Christie endorsing ambitious political officer that's under the Republican side. Probably start moving to him especially after Super Tuesday if indeed he does come close to running the table. I don't think most people think he's going to carry Texas, but he could carry most of the other states, the other Republican contests up.

Here, Fred, let me throw something in here, because I think Ford might have heard some of the same things there's been an adjustment behind the scenes for the anti-Trump votes in the Republic party. Most of them no longer think they can stop him prior to the convention. They now believe the only way to stop him, and this is the Rubio campaign, too is at the convention with a contested convention.

[12:35:10] O'CONNELL: I actually agree. I've heard that, I totally agree with you Dr. Sabato. I'll say this I give Trump as of today a 70 percent of winning. The 30 percent chance out there is more likely to be a contested convention than, say, Marco Rubio, so, yes, I do agree with you.

WHITFIELD: Do, you think that's realistic? You agree with that?

JOHNSON: And I think that's bad news for the Republican establishment. One of the ways Donald Trump has been successful is running against the establishment. So, we're in that Rubio strategies was to get a lot of the Jeb Bush money, Jeb Bush supporters. But I think that listen, Donald Trump is more than likely going to be the Republican Nominee. I think he's going to be stronger and stronger as the contest goes on. And I just don't see how he's going to stopped.

WHITFIELD: And you know, and on that issue of the establishment, wondering whether the Republican establishment is trouble. You had Chris Christie who did represent the assistant, so to speak. Donald Trump not representing the establishment. Chris Christie, even in fact, being quite critical of Donald Trump and it wasn't that long ago. Listen, here's a reminder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: I'm really glad that Donald

noticed me, that's so nice. And I'm happy to take any observations he has even if he can only do them at 140 characters or less which seems to be the only way he can communicates.

I just don't believe the skills that you're talking about that Donald has are transferable to a governmental setting. But you cannot fire the speaker of the house or the senator majority leader because you don't get what you want.

Show time is over, everybody. We're not electing an entertainer in chief.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: OK, so Ford, you first, you know, few things here is it hypocritical on Chris Christie's part of it is just the way politics is?

FORD: Well, now, I think that Chris Christie's opponent Trump's game, understand that Trump got Cuban sandwiched in the debate in Houston on Thursday night. Instead of allowing Marco Rubio to take a victory lap and allow somebody's issue to possibly perculate, he basically snatched away the media narrative from Marco Rubio on Friday and he used Chris Christie to do it who has a big ax to grind with Marco Rubio.

So, basically from a media I.Q stand point, Trump used Christie and it's it media I.Q, literally like Einstein.

WHITFIELD: Oh, boy, all right. Ford, and Johnson, Florida, how can I know how Larry Sabato, we'll, have to leave it there for now, thank you so much. So, the attack in data flying and the race is getting fitted about one accusation getting thrown at Trump might just stick.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So, there are people that borrow $136,000 to go to Trump University and they're suing them now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The Trump University heard that right, what is that? And what could a civil case mean for Donald Trump?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:41:55] WHITFIELD: Welcome back. We're keeping a close watch on this huge turnout for Marco Rubio, outside of Atlanta in Kennesaw, Georgia. Of course, when Marco Rubio emerges, we'll take you there live.

All right. Meantime, let's talk about the controversy over Trump University.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RUBIO: There are people who borrow $36,000 to go to Trump University

and they're suing them now, $36,000 that's a university that's a fake school.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: by the way -- by the way --

RUBIO: And you know what they got, a cardboard cutout of Donald Trump? That's what they got for $36,000.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, how could you forget that moment Thursday night, CNN debate, there they attacks against Donald Trump, well they kept coming particularly from Marco Rubio. Trump facing a civil suit by a number of former Trump University students. They enrolled in the new defunct school, Trump University was set up for people to learn from Donald Trump and build the same kind of wealth that he's amassed.

But several former Trump university students claim, the real estate billionaire is nothing more than a fraud. They might even agree with Rubio calling Trump a con man.

CNN Investigative Correspondent Drew Griffin has been looking into the allegations and filed this report.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Fred, the attacks involve one of Donald Trump's businesses that actually failed. And now, Donald Trump is defending himself, both politically and in court, over his Trump real estate school, that some claim was a fraud.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: This was the promise of Trump University when it launched, direct from the University chairman's own mouth.

TRUMP: At Trump University, we teach success. That's what it's all about. Success. It's going to happen to you.

GRIFFIN: It operated from 2005 through 2010 and enrolled 10,000 students in real estate courses that range from free seminars up t| $35,000 for advanced training and mentoring. Trump University took in an estimated $40 million from people who believed they, too, could some day become successful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put proven Donald Trump secrets to work for you.

GRIFFIN: but it turns out not everything Donald Trump promises comes true. And not all of his businesses lead to success. Trump University is closed.

GRIFFIN: And it ended. Why did it end?

ALAN GARTEN, DONALD TRUMP'S ATTORNEY: Well, the economy crashed. The real estate market crashed and demand fell off a little bit.

GRIFFIN: Alan Garten is Donald Trump's attorney. He's defending three different lawsuits, two class action lawsuits filed in California, and one filed by New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman

It's one of the California casis Donald Trump has been named ad witness. Pretrial motions in May, trial date set for August. But all three cases are similar. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed his in 2013 and then went on CNN to explain it.

ERIC SCHNEIDERMAN, NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL: It was a classic bait and switch scheme. It was a scam, starting with the fact that it was not a university. They promised they were going teach people with hand picked experts by Donald Trump. The teachers were neither hand-picked nor experts.

[12:45:07] GARTEN: He was very involved, from the early stage that he was meeting regularly week, every two weeks with the people who are going to run the day to day, operations of the course.

GRIFFIN: So the allegation that he had nothing do with this that he didn't pick a single expert as the New York Attorney General has claimed you say is completely false?

GARTEN: It's the completely untrue. One hundred percent untrue.

GRIFFIN: The New York Attorney General declined to be interviewed for this report but provided CNN with six of the 150 affidavits he said he's collected from unsatisfied Trump University students who mostly complain their education at the school was worthless.

Those suing claimed they were promised the tools and strategies and mentoring it would take to make them successful in real estate. In reality they claim they learned not much at all.

One student wrote, "I've not been able to get in touch with anyone after I signed up for the Trump "Gold Elite" program."

Another student who paid $25,000 to have special access to high-level mentors claims he hasn't been able to get in touch with his non- existent Power Team.

GARTEN: There's at least 10,000 people who paid. So you can go and pick three to four affidavits from people. Or maybe 20 affidavits, or maybe 30 affidavits, it's still a miniscule amount. I have in my bag and I'm happy to read it to you all the people who loved the course.

GRIFFIN: And he did, providing CNN with 14 affidavits from satisfied students. Garten says Trump will continue to fight all three lawsuits until he eventually wins.

Even if legal fees wipe out any profit he may have made.

Fred, that's a strategy that Donald Trump reiterated in that feisty debate Thursday night. He intends to fight these lawsuits and win, but, yes, there's a real possibility this Republican presidential front-runner could find himself in court smack dab in the middle of a political campaign.

Fred. WHITFIELD: All right, Drew Griffin, thank you so much.

Well now let's bring in law professor and attorney Avery Friedman who's joining us from Cleveland.

So Avery, real quick I'm sorry, I may have to cut you off because Marco Rubio has any moment now in Kennesaw.

So, do you see that Donald Trump could find his way on the stand? He's already said that civil suit's no big deal to him. Is it a big deal?

AVERY FRIEDMAN, LAW PROFESSOR: Yeah there's a big deal, especially, I think the New York case where they have evidence that he created the university-- he knew it wasn't a university because you have to have a charter and New York officials tried to get him to stop it. It took six years, that's correct, there are three cases and indeed there's a final pre-trial in California on the 6th of May.

Of course, Mr. Trump denies it but it deals with ethical-- unethical behavior in business and fraud and deceptive practices. It's a sure in his case.

We saw Trump's lawyer produced 14 affidavits, we the attorney general produced a 150 affidavits. That's a pretty good flavor of where these cases are right now. And it is deadly serious.

WHITFIELD: Oh all right. Avery Friedman, thank you so much for your expertise and of course always your dedication for hanging out with us like this. Thank you so much.

So let's go now to the Atlanta suburb of Kennesaw and listen to Marco Rubio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBIO: But first we have to win this primary. And this primary has been an interesting ride. And we're going to talk about it in a little bit here today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible)

RUBIO: Yes.

Now look, I want to be frank with you, you deserve the truth about what's happening. Here's what's happening, our party today after four states have voted according to all the polls is on the verge of being taken over. The party of Lincoln and Reagan is on the verge of being taken over by a con artist named Donald Trump.

Now, how do con artists work? Here's how a con artist works. A con artist identifies people who are struggling and convinces you that they have something that will help turn that around okay. And Donald Trump has done this before. He had a school, not even a school. He had a thing called Trump University.

And what he would do, is they would go to people who were looking to make more money a lot. They've been calling our office nonstop after the debate.

And literally, e-mails, phone calls from people we're talking to a lot of them. You're going to be hearing from them very soon. People who paid as much as $35,000 because they were told that Donald Trump is great real estate genius was going to give them all the secrets to making money. So they paid a lot of money for these courses.

They were told to max your credit card, you could make even more money if you sign up for the "Gold" course or whatever it is. And they did.

And at the end of the process, the only thing they got was a little paper or certificate and they got to take a picture with a cardboard cutout of Donald Trump. That's what they got, okay?

[12:50:04] That is called a con job, okay? That is what he is doing now to millions of Americans. Millions of Americans who are hurting. People are struggling. You know, you're struggling, some of you are. You're working as hard as you have and you're running in place.

You have trouble moving ahead. You have trouble getting ahead, and because the world has been unfair, because the economy has gone upside down. And here comes this guy and tells you "I am going to help you turn this around because I've been very successful in business."

Not really. He inherited millions of dollars. If he had taken those millions of dollars and put them into the stock market just like a normal person would do just into the stock market, he would have more money today than Warren Buffett.

But instead, he invested in hotels that went bankrupt. He bankrupted a casino-- how do you bankrupt a casino? The House always wins.

Here's what's not funny about that, anytime he bankrupted a business, anytime he bankrupted a business, the people who paid the price were the contractors he had hired.

We're also hearing from them. I told you they are calling non-stop. Small businesses that didn't work and he pulled his money out and he did what he needed to do and they never got paid.

He is not some great businessman. He's taken four companies into bankruptcy. You ever heard of Trump era? It's gone. Four casinos bankrupt in Atlantic City. He is not some genius. He is a guy that inherited hundreds of millions of dollars and had he invested in the stock market he would have been better off.

He says to people, "I'm going to take on illegal immigration." He's the only one running for president that ever hired illegal immigrants to work for him. He hired all Polish workers to help Trump tower.

Oh, no way he's going to protect you from immigrants taking your jobs. Well why doesn't-- why is he hiring foreigners to do the jobs at his hotels that Americans was trying to get. And he's hiring foreigners to do the job.

He's fighting for the little guy, the little guy are the people that he's cheated the whole time that he's been in business. Time and again it is a con job.

He puts himself on "I'm a strong leader." The other day he told the protester I'm going to punch you in the face. He has never punched anyone in the face. Never punched anyone in the face. Okay.

He is a guy that's been protected his whole life and privileged his whole life and insulated his whole life, nothing tough about any of that. This is a massive fraud that he's perpetuating. Here's the problem. The stakes are not just a fake degree. The stakes are giving control of the party of Lincoln and Reagan of the conservative movement and ultimately of the United States over to a con artist.

That will not happen. I make this promise to you today, I will do whatever it takes, I will campaign as long as it takes, I will stay in this race as long as it takes.

Donald Trump, a con artist, will never get control of this party.

And the time has come for you, I know some of your friends have bought into this. Listen, friends don't let friends vote for con artists.

It is time to open our eyes. It is time to open our eyes. We cannot allow a con artist to get access to the nuclear codes of the United States of America.

It's a big fraud. And it's time to open our eyes and we will in the days and weeks to come, I'm confident of it. Now what happens when you attack Donald? He goes on twitter. You guys want to have a little fun today?

All right, all right. Well, last night, he actually was pretty calm after I punched him around a little bit. He kind of-- I think he's--

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Learning how to spell.

RUBIO: Well I think-- yeah, he's learning how to spell, I guess somebody said here.

But he's flying around on hair force one and tweeting. So here's the one tweet he put out. He put out a picture of me having makeup put on me at the debate. Which is amazing to me that the guy with the worst spray tan in America is attacking me for putting on makeup.

Donald Trump likes to sue people. He should sue whoever did that to his face with that-- all right. So, let's move on, because this is an important election. Why am I so fired up about this? This is not just because I want to save the country from a con man. It's not just because I want to save the party from a con artist. But because this election is so important for our future.

What is at stake here is not just who the next president is going to be. What is at stake is what kind of country is America going to be in the 21st century?

[12:55:05] And we have a chance to make this country better than it ever has been. But that is not the road we are on right now. That is not the road we are on right now. The last eight years have placed us on a road that will leave us as the first Americans, who will leave our children, worse off than ourselves.

And that's the road we're going stay on if we nominate someone who cannot win. If you nominate a con artist, I promise the media will take him apart. Listen, watch the media coverage of Donald Trump, they're laying off of him. There's two reasons why they're laying off him.

One, I'm convinced some of these reporters are scared of him. Because they're scared of all the Twitter hate that they got when they say something nasty about him.

But I think the bigger reason is because they're just licking their chops. They're just waiting for him to be the nominee, the day he is the nominee which of course is never going to happen, they're going to tear him to shreds.

And by the Democrats are gleeful about it. They know if I'm nominated, we're going to win.

They attack me more than anyone else in this race. The Democrats attack me more than anyone else in this race because they know that if I'm nominated we will win. Because we will unite this party and we will grow it.

But they're holding back and they know that if we nominate Donald Trump, they're going to win. And they just can't wait to shred him and they will.

We cannot afford to lose this election. Because if we stay on the road we're on right now, if we nominate-- if Bernie Sanders is elected president, we will -- .Bernie Sanders is a socialist.

Now, usually, when you call someone a socialist in American politics, they get mad about it. Bernie said it in his commercials. He's a socialist. We don't want to be a socialist country. If you want to live in a socialist country, move to a socialist country. We want to be America.

Hillary Clinton is unqualified to be president of the United States. Hillary Clinton is unqualified to be the president of the United States because she took classified information, put it on her e-mail server because she thinks she's above the law. No one is above the law.

And Hillary Clinton is disqualified from being commander in chief. Because, because, on September 11th of 2012, four Americans died in the service of our country in Benghazi, Libya. And she knew that they died because of a terrorist attack. And she told their families it was because of a movie.

Anyone who lies to the family of Americans who have lost their lives in the service of our country can never be the commander in chief of the United States of America. We cannot lose this election. We cannot lose this election. And if you

nominate me, we will not lose this election. Because unlike anyone left in this race, I will unite this party. We don't have to agree on everything. We agree on most everything. And we will come together. And we won't just come together, we will grow this party.

We will take our message to people that don't vote for us now. People who live the way I grew up. People living paycheck to paycheck. People struggling with the cost of student loan debt. Like I had student loan debt. Over $100,000 of student loan debt.

Yeah, don't clap for student loan debt. It's not a good thing. I have never met her but I paid Sallie Mae (ph) a lot of money.

Someone asked me to be their prom date. When is the prom, I don't know. The last time I went to the prom I had really had a tacky tuxedo on I don't know if you-- a long time ago.

(Inaudible)

When is the prom? March 12th. I think that's after the primary, but I may come back anyway and do the prom, what do you think, huh?

We are going to win this election, because we will take our message to people that don't vote for us, we'll grow it and we'll win. I know we have so much work to do.

When you make me president of the United States, for the first time in eight years, you are going to have a president that follows the constitution of United States of America.

A president that defends your first amendment right. Your first amendment right to live out the teachings of your fate and every aspect of your life.

A president that defends your second amendment right to protect yourself and your family.

[13:00:14] And a president who believes that our solutions are not found in a big federal government. They are found in our homes and in our communities. And if it's even found in government, it's not the state level. Not in Washington D.C.