Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Super Tuesday Voting; Biggest Prize in Texas; Clinton Hopes for Sweep. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired March 01, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You are watching CNN.

And make no mistakes, today is the most critical day of this election thus far. Super Tuesday is officially here. And millions of Americans all across this country and the world, by the way, they are casting their votes right now. Eleven states on each side are holding contests. Let me tell you off the top here what is at stake today.

First for Republicans, you have 595 delegates. Almost half the number needed to win the nomination. Democrats are fighting for 865 delegates. That is more than a third of what's required to clinch the nomination on their side. And I can tell you for a fact that our CNN reporters are fanned out all across the country. We will be checking in with them as these crucial votes are cast today.

Jim Acosta is at the Trump event today. We've also got CNN's Brian Todd standing by for us in Virginia. George Howell is live in Georgia.

But, Jim Acosta, let's kick it off with you here, our CNN senior White House correspondent, live for us with the Trump campaign right now. A lot of states up for grabs in terms of delegates today. Ohio not one of them, but that is precisely where Donald Trump is today.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right.

BALDWIN: Tell me why.

ACOSTA: Yes, he's feeling so confident about his prospects on Super Tuesday, he's not even campaigning in a Super Tuesday state. Instead, he's here in Ohio, which votes later on this month. It's also the home of one of his rival, Ohio Governor John Kasich. So a little bit of an in your face move to John Kasich here from Donald Trump.

You know, he's not only feeling confident about his chances on Super Tuesday, Brooke, he's also declaring victory in his war of words with Marco Rubio. You know, Rubio, in the last several days, has really tried to out-trump Trump, trading insult for insult as you saw out on the campaign trail. And Donald Trump took issue with one specific line of attack from Marco Rubio about the size of Donald Trump's hands, saying he doesn't have small hands. You know, Marco Rubio, over the weekend, said, you know what they say about men with small hands, and he sort of left it out there rhetorically for everyone to use their imagination. Well, Donald Trump here in front of this big crowd in Columbus, Ohio, defended - yes, defended the size of his hands. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But he said I had small hands. They're not small, are they? I never heard - I never heard that one before. I've always had people say, Donald, you have the most beautiful hands, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: So you can tell with that reaction, Brooke, he sort of had the crowd in the palm of his hands, you might say. And, you know, one thing that was left unsaid, I will say, at this event, Donald Trump did not address one of the big elephants in the room right now. This is normally a time when the party rallies around a GOP frontrunner like this. That is not really happening. Instead, there's a huge divide.

Mitt Romney, earlier last week you saw him going after Donald Trump. And now Paul Ryan today, you know, criticizing Donald Trump for not making it very clear where he stands on the KKK and David Duke. Paul Ryan saying, as a party we shouldn't have any part of that. Donald Trump did not talk about that at this rally today. So perhaps he'll deal with that later on tonight. He's scheduled to have a news conference down in Florida later tonight, Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right, we'll look forward. Jim Acosta, for now, thank you, sir.

Let's go now to Brian Todd, who is at a polling station. This is just outside of our nation's capital.

Brian Todd, what are those voters there telling you?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of different reasons for coming out to the polls today, Brooke, but a lot of them are very interesting because so many of these people that we've - are kind of doing our informal sampling of are first-time primary voters. They're checking in here at the check-in table, showing a photo I.D. We'll swing it around here. Jeremy Harlan (ph), our photojournalist and I, are going to take you through the process here.

Here's a lady voting. It's all paper balloting here. They vote behind these partitions. This is what really - is really cool, what we love to show you, the voting in real time as it's in progress. Once she votes, once all these other people vote, they put it into the scanner right here and then these votes are tabulated at the very end of the day.

We're going to take you this way, toward the door, because talk about the first time primary voters. A lot of them, fully a third of the people we sampled, are first-time voters. And all sorts of reasons that they're coming out to the polls. A lot of them have favored Marco Rubio in this primary, Brooke, and a lot of them are telling us that that is kind of an anti-Trump vote. Now, what we're going to show you here as we - as we head outside,

we're under kind of a restriction here in Virginia. Reporters are not allowed to talk to voters inside a 40-foot demarcation line from this line into the polling place. So we have to walk out here to talk to a lady who we ran into here. This is Tara Franzonello (ph) and she's here with her four-year-old son James. I think James has kind of had it for the day. But, Tara, you - you said you voted for Rubio.

TARA FRANZONELLO, VIRGINIA VOTER: I did.

TODD: And it was kind of a late decision for you. Why? What drove you to vote for Marco Rubio?

FRANZONELLO: It was. You know, we were on the fence, Trump/Rubio. But as my husband and I, we were kind of both in the same position. And as we evaluated who we could see as our next president, we felt like Rubio was the candidate that would best represent us.

[14:05:04] TODD: A lot of voters we talk to say they - on the Republican side say they're voting for Marco Rubio because they think he has the best chance of beating presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton in the fall. Is that kind of the way you were thinking as well?

FRANZONELLO: Absolutely. That was a main consideration for us, is who would be the most likely Republican candidate to get elected.

TODD: All right, well, Tara, thank you very much for talking to us. We appreciate it. Good luck to you.

FRANZONELLO: Thank you.

TODD: All right, thanks a lot.

So really the story here, Brooke, a lot of first-time primary voters. A lot of people who made up their minds at the last minute. A lot of those people going for Marco Rubio, like the lady we just talked to.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: And that little boy is like, mom, no more politics, take me home.

Brian Todd, thank you so much, for us in Virginia.

Let's go now to Georgia, to Marietta, Georgia, and George Howell is at a polling station there.

George, we know that the polls in Georgia, they show Donald Trump well ahead of his rivals there. How's turnout today?

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, that's the thing, Brooke, we just heard from Brian a moment ago saying you can't talk to voters within a certain distance of the polling centers. Well, here, we can't take you inside the actual polling center.

But what I can tell you is according to the Georgia secretary of state's office, the voter turnout in the state of Georgia is high. Very important here because the state of Georgia has a high number of delegates that are up for grabs. It's not a winner take all. It's winner take most, depending upon how the candidates fare.

And what we know so far, at this polling center, 700 people have voted so far. I want to get a quick sampling. At least 700 have voted so far. A quick sampling of some.

Thank you so much. Who'd you vote for?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Marco Rubio.

HOWELL: OK. And yourself?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hillary Clinton.

HOWELL: We see divisions there. And here's the other thing. We didn't hear from Donald Trump supporters, but let me tell you, we've heard plenty out here, people who are here to support Donald Trump, Brooke. At the same time, we've heard people who - who have been here, who are upset to see Donald Trump signs here, who are voting against Donald Trump, however that may be for Democrats or for his rivals. So it is a very busy time here in Marietta in Cobb County, Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right, George, thank you so much. We'll check back in. Georgia one of the states where delegates are up for grabs on this Super Tuesday.

Let's broaden this out. Joining me now, CNN political commentator Kayleigh McEnany, who supports Donald Trump, I have Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, and Susan Del Percio, a Republican strategist. She also served in the administration of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Thank you all so much for being with me.

SUSAN DEL PERCIO, FORMER ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL UNVER NYC MAYOR GIULIANI: Thank you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And, Susan, let me turn to you first.

DEL PERCIO: Yes.

BALDWIN: Since you are sitting with me here in New York. Let me just ask you, I mean, listen, we've heard over and over Donald Trump is saying, I'm going to run the table. When all the states, let's say specifically for Super Tuesday, a, do you think he can do it tonight, and, b, when we wake up tomorrow morning, will it essentially be a done deal?

DEL PERCIO: I think he will most likely win all the states tomorrow - this evening. And tomorrow we will wake up, but it will not be a done deal. There's still a lot more games to be had in this. It depends what happens between now and March 15th when we move to winner take all. It also depends on how Marco Rubio, if, in fact, he does come in two, how he comes in with these proportional delegates.

BALDWIN: Right.

DEL PERCIO: Does he come in strong or is it such a distant second place.

BALDWIN: As in, will he have a threshold in some of these states?

DEL PERCIO: Correct. Yes, for example, in Texas, if he doesn't hit 20 percent, he gets nothing.

BALDWIN: Right.

DEL PERCIO: And he's knocked out of it. So in Minnesota, how does he do? That's his most likely state. He really needs to win something to show some form of momentum going forward.

BALDWIN: Dr. Moore, to you. You know, as we've been talking so much about the Republican Party and the fractions as a result of Donald Trump, we heard from the U.S. speaker of the House. We heard from Paul Ryan today. Here is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: If a person wants to be the nominee of the Republican Party, there can be no evasion and no games. They must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry. This party does not prey on people's prejudices.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You agree with that, sir?

RUSSELL MOORE, PRESIDENT, SOUTHERN BAPTIST ETHICS & RELIGIOUS LIBERTY COMMISSION: I completely agree with that and I wish that there were more people standing up and saying that. The sort of thing that we've seen this weekend ought to horrify every American. It's not a very hard thing to do to stand up and say the Ku Klux Klan is the most violent and virulent domestic terrorist organization the United States has ever faced and racial bigotry has no part in the American conversation. And so the sort of race bating and dog whistles that we've seen over the past several months ought to really chill us and concern us. And it ought to chill us how much more work we have to do within American society (INAUDIBLE).

BALDWIN: What about the fact that he set all of that up and made that point, but at the end, you know, said, listen, but I will support whoever the nominee is?

MOORE: Well, I mean, that's the speaker's decision to make. I can't speak to the political calculations. I can just speak to the moral calculus here. And racial bigotry is not just a political problem, it is a moral problem. It's a sin against God and deserving of the judgment of God. And we as the American people ought to be better than this and we ought to stand up to people who want to use racism and bigotry in order to pursue power of any kind. [14:10:15] BALDWIN: Kayleigh, you support Mr. Trump. You want to

respond?

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. Of course bigotry is a problem. Everyone knows that. It should be dismissed out of hand. And Donald Trump did so. He has disowned the KKK at this point seven times. Go back to 2000 when he said David Duke is, quote, "a racist, a bigot, a problem." Donald Trump has continually done so. He says he had a problem with his ear piece in the interview Sunday. I believe him because that statement was out of line with every other statement that he has made thus far. He has rejected racial bigotry. And to suggest that he somehow hasn't and that he's a racist, I mean it's confounding, it's wrong and I think it's unethical to make an accusation that someone's a racist when they said that they had a problem with their earpiece and has denounced racism at every single turn for the 70 years of his life.

BALDWIN: OK, I want to -

MOORE: You know, I've got some earpieces that haven't fit perfectly before -

BALDWIN: Go - go ahead.

MOORE: But I've never affirmed the KKK as a result of it and - or had to say I need more - to do more research on David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan before I can speak to it. That - that just does not ring true to me.

MCENANY: He said he had to do -

BALDWIN: OK.

MCENANY: He said he had to do research on the group. He heard various groups. He said he would do research on these various groups. He didn't know which groups Jake was speaking of.

MOORE: And Jake Tapper said the Klu Klux Klan, David -

DEL PERCIO: Kayleigh, you should know that when you're - when you're defending these type of statements, you're losing this argument and it's just not playing well for Donald Trump right now.

BALDWIN: Can we just - can we just all agree -

MCENANY: He - his earpiece is not something -

BALDWIN: Hang on, hang on, hang on.

DEL PERCIO: Sure.

BALDWIN: I don't want to talk about earpieces. I just want to move past this. It's a piece. It's a piece of this whole puzzle, but it's just a piece.

Let me move on and talk about, beyond Donald Trump, the number - the potential, you know, runner ups, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz. Susan, to you, you know, the question is - and we were talking before the show start and you really do think that Cruz could win Texas and I'm fascinated about the Texas story. Got a whole segment on that coming up. Do - but beyond Texas, do you think Cruz can win? And, two, does Rubio win anything tonight?

DEL PERCIO: It doesn't look like Cruz is in position to really take on any other states, whereas Rubio perhaps could take Minnesota. They are both potentially looking at Arkansas where, for example, the Club for Growth is doing so many negative ads against Donald Trump. Both Rubio and Cruz are fighting for it. But it really does depend on who comes in second and how they finish. It looks like momentum's on Rubio's side.

But that being said, you can't keep winning - giving victory speeches with second and third place finishes. You have to win something. And that's critical.

BALDWIN: Marco Rubio was just speaking a moment ago. Let's hear what he said today here on Super Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to talk to you about a different direction for our country. Not electing a con artist. And, by the way, if any state in the country has experience with electing someone who runs on the promise of being some great celebrity, this tough-talking celebrity, well, how did that work out with Jesse Ventura?

Jesse Ventura was an embarrassment. No, no, let me rephrase that. Jesse Ventura is an embarrassment. But Donald Trump will be an embarrassment to America, will be an embarrassment to anyone who sported him. What he will do to our foreign policy will embarrass anyone in this room, anyone who's supporting him now. This can't happen. And if any state knows that, it's Minnesota, because of experience you had.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Kayleigh, you heard that, con artist, celebrity, anyone who supports Donald Trump would be an embarrassment. You support Donald Trump. I want - I want you to respond.

MCENANY: I think it's rather naive to compare Jesse Ventura to Donald Trump, who took a $1 million loan and built a $10 billion brand. This is someone who's been remarkably successful in business life. And Marco Rubio has tried to paint Donald Trump as a flip-flopper first, a con man second, a sexist third and now a racist. He is none of those things. And the reason that Marco Rubio is trying desperately to dub him as one of those things is because he is desperate and he is trying whatever he can possibly do to topple Donald Trump, but it's not working. The American people will speak later on today.

BALDWIN: Russell Moore, do you think this language is appropriate? MOORE: Well, I think it's finally time that people actually start

engaging Donald Trump. I mean what we've seen over the past several months are a group of people who seem to be scared to - to address the issues that Donald Trump is raising.

BALDWIN: Isn't it a little too - too little too late though?

MOORE: Well, we'll see. We'll see tonight and we'll see over the next couple of weeks. But for so long there have been people just - just silent and scared and I'm not simply talking about candidates, but I'm talking about leaders all over country. And so if we're going to have a genuine debate in this country, that means people courageous enough to stand up and to say some of these issues are transcendent, moral issues that need to be addressed.

BALDWIN: Russell Moore, Susan Del Percio and Kayleigh McEnany, thank you all so much.

MCENANY: Thanks, Brooke.

DEL PERCIO: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

Coming up next, how could Donald Trump potentially lock all of this up tonight? Really the bigger question, can he? We will show you the map and his potential path to victory.

[14:15:05] Also ahead, Bernie Sanders says he is taking this fight all the way to the Democratic National Convention, but Hillary Clinton's new strategy doesn't seem to include him.

And new incredibly emotional testimony from Erin Andrews against the man who filmed her naked in her own hotel room. What she does now when she stays anywhere in any hotel. Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Happy Super Tuesday.

You know what, everything is bigger in Texas, including the delegate prize pool. A whopping 222 Democratic delegate are up for grabs and 155 for Republicans. Listen, folks, this is the crown jewel in this Super Tuesday fight.

So let's go straight to Texas, to Houston, and Todd Gillman, Washington bureau chief with "The Dallas Morning News."

Welcome back, sir. Nice to have you on.

TODD GILLMAN, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS: Always good to be with you, Brooke.

[14:20:02] BALDWIN: First up, Texas. This is - this is home turf for Ted Cruz. Do you think it is his to lose? GILLMAN: It is his to lose, yes. Ted Cruz, as far as I can tell, has gotten the most votes of anyone on a Texas ballot who wasn't running for president, that is, you know, Mitt Romney or someone like that. He is, therefore, the most popular politician in Texas. It would be pretty extraordinary if he loses. If he does lose, he really has no viable way forward. But he's pretty popular. He was elected -

BALDWIN: Do you think he would drop - do you think - do you think he would drop out for sure if he lost Texas?

GILLMAN: I - I think it would - the pressure would be enormous on him to drop, yes.

BALDWIN: OK. You know we talk -

GILLMAN: I think it would be hard to resist. I don't know if he would, but it would be hard for him to resist.

BALDWIN: We talked so much about the importance of delegates, but to me I am fascinated by Texas, how it bleeds a deep red. You know, this - this is - this is a bastion of the Republican Party. This is the home of George W. Bush and Rick Perry and, of course, Ted Cruz, all of whom Donald Trump is attacked viciously along his campaign. And my question to you, if Trump were to win Texas, what would that say about the state of the Republican Party right now?

GILLMAN: Oh, I think it would say that the party is in complete disarray. That this is - or at least it is in transition. That this is no longer the party of the Bushs, the party of Ted Cruz and John Cornyn and Greg Abbott. It would mean that the party is spinning out of control of all the elites and non-elites and that Trump is a phenomenon that really they can't stop.

BALDWIN: Let's play the what if game, Todd. What if Ted Cruz were to win Texas, but Rubio comes in second, you know, elsewhere? How strong do you think Ted Cruz's argument would be, you know, if he were to - he would like to, perhaps, tell Marco Rubio, you know, scram because I'm the only one who could actually beat Donald Trump in a single state on Super Tuesday?

GILLMAN: He did. Cruz actually laid down that marker today after voting here in Houston. He said anybody who hasn't won a state after tonight really needs to think about dropping out so that we can beat Donald Trump. And that's a pretty plausible scenario that Rubio doesn't win any state. It is a delegate count. You know, it's a delegate game going forward. I - you know, I think it is an entirely plausible scenario that Cruz only wins Texas, that he and Rubio trade second and third everywhere else, and that Trump wins everywhere. It's a - it's a hard road forward both for Cruz and Rubio. And Rubio, obviously, is going to stick it out until - until we get to Florida to see if he can get that, you know, winner take all delegate haul. If Cruz can get enough delegates in Texas to remain viable, he'll stick it out for weeks and he might go to the convention, although he says that his game is not about fighting it out at the convention.

BALDWIN: Ted Gillman, to be continued, Washington bureau chief of "The Dallas Morning News." Thank you very much.

Coming up next, if Donald Trump wins the primary, can he survive the Democrats? We have some new numbers that show exactly how he stacks up and some hypotheticals against either Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton.

And is Hillary Clinton already looking past Super Tuesday, preparing herself for a showdown against the Republican frontrunner? We will talk to someone who knows Donald Trump himself, former Congressional Candidate Clay Akin (ph) will join me here live on set.

You are watching CNN's special live coverage on this Super Tuesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:28:01] BALDWIN: Super Tuesday, not just about the Republicans. Democratic voters in 11 states are going to the polls as well. Hillary Clinton, she is hoping for a sweep in the deep south, while Senator Bernie Sanders is eyeing states like Colorado, Oklahoma and, of course, his home state of Vermont.

Joining me now, entrepreneur and activist Michael Skolnik and former North Carolina Congressional Candidate Clay Aiken.

Great to have both of you on the show.

MICHAEL SKOLNIK, ENTREPRENEUR AND ACTIVIST: Thank you.

BALDWIN: So awesome.

Clay Aiken to you. I mean we've chatted politics before. You were saying in commercial you're geeked out and this is your Super Bowl of politics.

CLAY AIKEN (D), FORMER NORTH CAROLINA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Right.

BALDWIN: So do you think - you haven't endorsed anyone yet. Do you think that Hillary Clinton is the nominee?

AIKEN: I think she - I think she's certainly probably going to have it locked up by the end of the night tonight.

BALDWIN: Certainly probably?

AIKEN: Well, you know, I mean, I - listen, I think her challenge going forward is going to be trying to make sure she's got the nomination and not alienated Bernie's supporter -

BALDWIN: Yes.

AIKEN: Because they're supporting him for a very specific reason, he's not establishment, he inspires them in certain ways. And I've said to people several times that he's kind of like a grandfather, you know he's fighting for you. And so when someone insults him, you sort of have to back away. And I think she's fought so hard in past primaries and other states that she has - she's run the risk of alienating some of those people who are supporting Bernie Sanders because they're - they know he's fighting for them. So she's got a long road ahead of her in the primary because I don't think he's going anywhere. I think he's going to stick around in making sure she doesn't alienate those folks going forward.

BALDWIN: What do you think, same question?

SKOLNIK: I think Bernie's run an amazing campaign. I think he's pushed Secretary Clinton to be more progressive. I think she's also run a damn good campaign. I think, end of the night, she will be the nominee.

BALDWIN: Yes.

SKOLNIK: I hope Bernie stays in it until the end of the - of the primary to continue to have these rigorous debates about what is the Democratic Party and who are we moving forward. I think it's a healthy debate and a healthy conversation. But he's run a hell of a campaign.

[14:29:49] BALDWIN: I really wanted to talk to you too because you're incredible on all issues when we talk about race. And when we see these pictures today in I think it was Columbus, Ohio, it was Radcliff University in Virginia yesterday, these Trump events. And you see these demonstrators holding hands, you know, chanting "black lives matter." And I was talking to a couple of different - of our folks who have been on the trail for so long and they said to me, Brooke, this is the most heated, most volatile we have seen any event period thus far. What