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Super Tuesday Results; Republicans Battle It Out; Andrews Sues Marriott For $75 Million In Peeping Tom Case. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired March 01, 2016 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: You see these demonstrators holding hands, chanting, black lives matter, and I was talking to a couple of our folks who have been on the trail for so long and they say to me, Brooke, this is the most heated, most volatile we have seen any event period thus far. How did you feel watching that?
MICHAEL SKOLNIK, FILM PRODUCER: It's shameful that this candidate is running for president. He's anti-women, he's has a war against Muslims, a war against immigrants, and now he's made it very clear, a war against black people. I think the only people he hasn't had a war against is his friends, the KKK. I think it's important, he has denounced David Duke but he has not denounced the KKK. He has said, I don't want his support, but how about the supporters of all those who follow the KKK? Does he want their support? I think he has to make it very clear. Bigotry on both sides, any side, both sides, middle of the aisle, both sides of the aisle, that's not in part of our country. We don't want it. There's young people who are fighting against him at his rallies. They're heroes, they're American heroes, and they should keep doing it.
BALDWIN: You know Donald Trump personally, "Celebrity Apprentice," you've spent time with him. I've had people on, Ben Stein yesterday, who was the speech writer for Richard Nixon saying, listen, I don't think Donald Trump's racist, he just likes to stir the pot.
CLAY AIKEN, FORMER NORTH CAROLINA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: I say, if Bernie Sanders is the grandfather, Donald Trump's the uncle who gets drunk at a wedding and embarrasses you. But you still sort of -- knowing him, I don't think Ben Stein's wrong and I don't agree with Ted Cruz on anything at all except for the fact that I don't think Donald Trump's conservative bona fides are that of Ted Cruz's and I think certainly it upsets me that he's not able to come out and specifically denounce the KKK or those racist groups, but, at the same time, I think you'll see him in a general really moderate towards probably the positions that he really holds more true to himself.
BALDWIN: Do you think that's sort of his M.O.?
AIKEN: It is but it's dangerous. How are you going to do that?
SKOLNIK: You're up 20 points. What is the KKK, a tenth of a point? Like how many -- why not just say, I don't want their vote? And don't take their vote?
AIKEN: Well, it could very potentially backfire on him in a general when you've gone so far right to try to be able to moderate. And that's where I think the Democrats are going to have an advantage.
BALDWIN: You mentioned the general. We have some fascinating numbers. We have a CNN poll. Hypothetical general election matchup show that in a race between Marco Rubio and Hillary Clinton, that would lead to a virtual tie. Clinton beats Donald Trump. Would you be surprised that -- by these numbers and that she's sort of, I don't know --
AIKEN: I think I'm the only Democrat who thinks that -- or one of few Democrats who thinks that Marco Rubio is not nearly as strong a candidate against Hillary Clinton as the polls suggest.
BALDWIN: You don't?
AIKEN: I don't think he is.
BALDWIN: Why?
AIKEN: You see him in these GOP debates, he comes across as a kid. He's not ready. When he gets attacked by the Clinton machine, they will chew him up.
SKOLNIK: I also think there's reason why the establishment of the Republican Party is panicking. Because they know Trump has no chance against Hillary Clinton. And even as Clay said, Marco Rubio I don't think has a chance either and neither does Ted Cruz. They have put no one -- I mean, Mitt Romney might be waiting in the wings ready to jump in at the last minute, or Paul Ryan. They have nobody, the front- runner, second place, third place, who has a chance against Hillary Clinton in the general election and they're scrambling.
AIKEN: Where I'll disagree is, I am more afraid of Donald Trump as a nominee than most are simply because A, I think Democrats can get really complacent and assume that he's easy to beat and he has surprised us time and time again.
BALDWIN: There was, listen, I remember seeing a clip of Hillary Clinton a couple of months ago sort of laughing about the idea, I would love to debate him in a general election debate, and then, fast forward to today and all this reporting about like legitimate plans on how they would take down Donald Trump. He is a serious contender.
AIKEN: But he's a surprise candidate. He surprises us constantly.
SKOLNIK: But I would never, I never doubted Donald Trump but he's stirring up the angry --
BALDWIN: Did you not?
SKOLNIK: No, because I think he's stirring up the angry white man who is afraid of where this country is going, and he knows how to do it. He attacks Muslims, he attacks immigrants, he attacks women, he attacks Black people, he attacks Latinos. He knows what he's doing to get --
BALDWIN: Speaking -- look at the huge numbers he has. AIKEN: The election is going to be decided in those swing states of
Ohio, Michigan, even North Carolina, and Donald Trump's arguments possibly will appeal to some of those middle class, working class white voters in those states and we forget, you know, the poll numbers are national but it's going to come down to those swing states where his appeal may actually have some impact in those Ohio's and Michigan's.
BALDWIN: Before I let you go, I know we have an upcoming debate this weekend in Flint and you were, I was so moved by your Facebook post that I read this morning from an event. You were there Sunday night and you said you were moved to tears, this is a Justice For Flint event, you were moved to tears by the children. Can you tell me about it?
[14:34:42] SKOLNIK: Yes. I mean, there's amazing artists doing work around this country. Ryan Coogler, Ava DuVernay, Jesse Williams, the Blackout Collective organized a benefit concert in Flint. Janelle Monae, Stevie Wonder showed up and played, but you heard these stories from young people. These kids in elementary school, one young man got up and talked about how his body is covered in spots. He has seizures, he has headaches, he has short-term memory loss. He was 11 years old. These young folks have been poisoned, really poisoned by our government and they're still suffering. The amazing part, Brooke, is there's a resilience of the people of Flint. They are fighting back. They need our help. They need -- Republican, Democrat, Independent, they need our help. Lead poisoning is incurable but it can be mitigated through education, through nutrition, so we need to continue to support the people of Flint. But Sunday night was a remarkable evening, a powerful evening, a painful evening but also an evening of resilience.
BALDWIN: I just had to ask you about it. It's incredible, it's horrifying to hear what's happened there for years but thank you for sharing. Michael Skolnik and Clay Aiken, thank you both so much. Happy Super Bowl to you.
(LAUGHTER)
Just a reminder, the next Democratic debate live from Flint, Michigan. The CNN Democratic presidential debate this Sunday night at 8:00 Eastern only here on CNN.
Coming up next, Marco Rubio says Donald Trump has small hands, that he wets his pants, and that Trump wants to turn America orange. OK. What does one of his most high-profile supporters think of this new rhetoric? We'll ask, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:40:37] BALDWIN: Today is called Super Tuesday for a reason. Millions of voters will be going to the polls as Republican and Democratic candidates battle for a huge share of the delegate count. It is a big, big day all across the board, but especially for any Republicans hoping to stop Donald Trump.
On that note, let me bring in former U.S. Senator Norm Coleman. Senator Coleman, welcome.
NORM COLEMAN, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: Brooke, I'm pleased to be here. By the way, I want you to know that my ear piece is working fine, I can hear you clearly. Probably just as clearly as Donald Trump could have heard Jake Tapper when Trump refused to renounce David Duke and the KKK.
BALDWIN: Out of the gates, senator. There we go. I see where this is going. Let me just begin with this. Listen. You were a Jeb Bush supporter. Before that, you were a Lindsey Graham supporter. One of the candidates you have lobbied for, they have been eclipsed by the shadow of Trump. They've dropped out. Now you're a Marco Rubio supporter. I think you see where I'm going with this. Depending on how tonight's Super Tuesday goes, senator, do you have a fourth choice in your back pocket?
COLEMAN: Listen, the choice is going to be between Marco Rubio and Donald Trump. It's not Donald Trump, no way whatsoever. Listen, the consistency, by the way, between Lindsay and Jeb and Marco all on national foreign policy, each of them understood that Assad is a magnet for ISIS. You've got Donald Trump who wanted to subcontract, taking care of ISIS to the Russians until after San Bernardino and Paris. You've got Ted Cruz who wants to carpet bomb ISIS, and that doesn't work, and you've got Kasich all over. So, those guys are all pretty strong on national security. I can't tell you that my support has brought in a winner yet but there's no doubt that Marco's the guy who can win and in the end this is between him and Trump and Republicans can't choose Donald Trump. Disaster for the party, disaster for the country.
BALDWIN: Now I hear you on your point about foreign policy, but Marco Rubio has yet to win and there's a possibility tonight he might not win a single state.
COLEMAN: So Brooke, up to this point in time, I think we've had 6 percent of the delegates chosen. By the way, Donald Trump has done phenomenal, you know, won by 20 points or something, you know, doubled up on his opponents in both South Carolina and New Hampshire, we'll see if he keeps that pace or whether his KKK comments an other things slow it up --
BALDWIN: Where does he win tonight?
COLEMAN: It's not about winning tonight. We're going to get to Florida on March 15, and then also maybe see where we go after that.
BALDWIN: You're down 20 points, sir.
COLEMAN: Right now, but he's not that down in terms of delegates that much, it's all about delegates, Brooke. We've got a long way to go. Republicans typically choose their nominee when 68 percent of our delegates are chosen. That's April 19 in this process, so we've got a long way. Catch your breath, let's see how things play out. We'll get through tonight and then we'll get through March 15. March 15 will be important. Florida will be important, but I think we'll be in the game tonight. BALDWIN: Let me ask you about Chris Christie, the fact that you have
a sitting governor now endorsing Donald Trump. You talk about the state of the Republican Party, I'd love to hear your response to that.
COLEMAN: If Chris Christie were dead, I'd say he'd be rolling in his grave after Trump's comments about the KKK. I can't explain Chris. I've actually kind of admired Chris in some ways and I don't know whether this was -- I can't tell what it was, whether he was angry at the other folks in the race, whether it was opportunism, I just don't know because I have admired him in the past. But the bottom line is that the one guy that can unite this party is Marco Rubio. He came out of the tea party. He's got folks across the board. Donald Trump is destroying this party. We're not the party of, you know, calling women fat pigs, we're not the party of not denouncing the KKK, we're not the party of defaming the last Republican commander in chief. That's not who we are. We're better than that. Marco represents a positive vision. Donald Trump doesn't. And so, Chris made his choice. I think it was the wrong choice. I feel very badly for him that he's now -- he was on the other trying to defend his policies being totally different from Trump's in any number of key areas, he had a very tough time doing that.
BALDWIN: Yes. Let me play some sound for you, Senator Coleman.
This is Doug Heye, former RNC communications director. He was on CNN just a short while ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOUG HEYE, FORMER REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: The stakes right now are so high. It's a very dangerous time for Republicans. To use very blunt language with you, if we nominate Donald Trump and put him on a glide path to the nomination, Republicans will be committing an abortion on their own party and it will be the end of the Republican Party as we know it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: That is some very strong language, senator. Donald Trump is set to dominate today, tonight. What happens to the Republican Party if he becomes the nominee?
[14:45:01] COLEMAN: I don't know if I would say the end of the Republican Party but will the Republican Party kind of be cast in kind of back in the dark ages, where we have to find a way to rebuild? I have no doubt we will. The things that Donald Trump represents, the bullying, the misogyny, the, again, not denouncing KKK -- we're going to ban Muslims, we're going to have Mexicans pay for a wall that they're not going to pay for? The whole sense of it is something that, it's not conservativism, it's not Republicanism. And I've got to say this, Brooke, he's a fraud, he's not real. Whether it's Trump University or Trump Mortgage or Trump Vodka or Trump Airlines, he's left in his wake, he's had success, no doubt about it, but there's been a lot of stuff left in his wake that's garbage. And in the end, if you've got somebody who's not a Republican and not a conservative, a guy that defends Planned Parenthood and imminent domain, if he's our candidate, then it's going to be a difficult time. We saw what the Democrats did with George McGovern in '72, they got wiped out. You had a poll on just recently where you had Marco Rubio beating Hillary Clinton, yet Donald Trump losing. When the Clinton attack machine gets focused on Trump, I think it's going to be brutal for our party. We can't let him be the nominee. It's not going to be Trump. Strong words to follow.
BALDWIN: There you go, I appreciate it. Senator Nome Coleman, thank you so much. We shall see. The people will speak. Coming up next, another difficult day for sportscaster Erin Andrews. She testified today in her $75 million lawsuit against Marriott Hotels after a stalker videotaped her naked in her hotel room. She spoke tearfully about how after more than six years it still affects her today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIN ANDREWS, ESPN: I feel sad because I think he would have loved the girl more that was there before this happened and I feel very guilty about that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:50:56] BALDWIN: Sportscaster Erin Andrews told a jury she is constantly on guard now whenever she stays in a hotel. The 37-year- old has been testifying in her civil suit against Marriott and the man who videotaped her as she was naked inside her hotel room through a peep hole and then posted it online for the whole world to see. That was back in 2008. She is now seeking $75 million in damages. She sat there on that stand tearfully talking about the moment she realized her privacy had been violated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREWS: He said, yes, there's naked video of you on the internet. And I said, no there's not, I don't do that. What are you talking about? And I could just feel my chest like starting -- I could feel it in my head. And he's like, you got to check it out immediately. So I grabbed my laptop and flipped it open. Like, you know your body, and I saw it for two seconds and I was like, oh my god, and I shut it down and I just said, I have to call you back and I called my parents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened when you called your parents?
ANDREWS: I was just screaming that I was naked all over the internet and I didn't know what it was. My dad was like, he thought I had been in a car accident and he was like, why are you screaming? And I'm just like, dad, I'm naked all over the internet and I don't know what it is and I don't know where I am. It was -- yes, I even got a call from the hotel I was staying at because they wanted to know if everything was OK because I was screaming so loud.
It was everywhere and it was publicity stunt, you know. ESPN scandal. She's doing this to herself. My naked body was on the front page of "The New York Post" like they put bars over my body parts. My girlfriend was calling me telling me she was running around New York City throwing coffee on all the papers because she felt so bad. It's just crazy.
I don't think anyone in my mind really believed me until Barrett was arrested. I remember watching one of those entertainment shows and we knew an FBI investigation was going on but we couldn't say that because they didn't want us to let it off because they didn't want him to go run and hide evidence or destroy evidence and so they made it very clear to our family, like, do not say there is an investigation. Do not say you're working with the FBI. And I remember watching some show and saying how, you know, there's still no word and still no word on an investigation like it was a big joke.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Let me bring in Nancy Grace. Nancy, my heart is enraged for her. It was when the story first broke. It weeps for her. But I know a lot of people are asking you, is it really worth $75 million in damages?
NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST: I really can't believe you even asked me that question. But yes, it is, and I'll tell you why. Number one, I can just feel it boiling up, watching her on the stand. Because, listen, one day, she may go on to have a family, to have beautiful children, and one day they're going to log on to the internet because you can't stop them. I can tell you that right now. They're going to log on and they're going to see mommy naked. They're going to read all these stories where people say that this was some publicity stunt. Like, what, she's Kim Kardashian with a sex tape? Oh, no, this is the tomboy turned all American girl next door. She clawed her way up the ranks in a male dominated field to become accepted and excelled and then this. And the Marriott, the only thing that makes me even angrier is the Marriott. I think they should go to jail too just like Michael David Barrett.
BALDWIN: What do you think happens?
[14:54:52] GRACE: Well, I think that a lot is going to depend on Michael David Barrett, of all people, sworn statement. Because he says he called and he asked to be placed next to Erin Andrews. Now, did that make its way to the reservation desk? Also, he engaged in some trickery on the Marriott as well. He found out where her room was. He went up. He saw the room next to her was being made up. He went down to a hotel phone and called from within the hotel and asked for that room. But certainly, as Erin Andrews points out on the stand, the Marriott never told her there was a man trying to get into the room next to her, nothing. And the way he did it, he basically unscrewed the peephole and held a cell phone up. Don't they have video surveillance in the hallways? Didn't they catch any of this?
BALDWIN: I feel for her. I am right there with you. Nancy Grace, thank you so much. And make sure you watch Nancy weeknights on our sister network HLN at 8:00 Eastern. Thank you, thank you.
Coming up next, moments ago, the senate's top Republican with some harsh words against front-runner here in this presidential race for his party. Why Mitch McConnell is now joining house speaker Paul Ryan, speaking out against Donald Trump. This is a big deal. Stay with me. Super Tuesday under way.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: And we continue on. You're watching CNN, I'm Brooke Baldwin.
