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Interview with Senator Mark Warner and Representative Mike McCaul; Can the Republicans Party Accept Donald Trump as Nominee?; Will Minority Votes Help Hillary Clinton Win Again on Super Tuesday?; Second Batch of Bin Laden's Letters Released; Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired March 01, 2016 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:31:21] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. The FBI director James Comey is testifying right now in front of the House Judiciary Committee about the dispute between the U.S. government and Apple over the phone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters. The two -- our two guests want to establish a commission to look into security and technology on these very critically important issues. Mark Warner of Virginia is a Democrat, he's a member of the Intelligence Committee, Mike McCaul is a Republican. He's the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

Gentlemen, thanks very much. It's not very often nowadays we got a Republican and a Democrat working together on a critically important issue like this today. What has motivated the two of you to work together on this issue? First of all, let me start with you, Chairman McCaul.

REP. MIKE MCCAUL (R), CHAIRMAN, HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE: You know, we wanted this to be a bipartisan, bicameral issue. This is not a partisan issue. It's an issue of national security. Great importance to the nation.

I think, Wolf, this is one of the greatest challenges to federal law enforcement against the terrorists. You and I have talked extensively about their ability to use dark platforms and dark space to communicate. And the ability -- if we can't see those communications in real time, we can't stop those attacks.

Particularly the Paris attack comes to mind where they were able to pull this off and we didn't see it coming. We don't want to see this. Mark Warner and I don't want to see this happen in the United States. And I think it's great to see in a partisan climate, too, from different parties coming together on an issue that is so important to the American people.

BLITZER: Senator Mark, this is a huge issue, this fight that's going on between the U.S. government now and Apple. The FBI says it's a one-time request to get that one phone from that San Bernardino terrorist.

Is it really from your perspective a one-time request and why do you need a commission now to study it?

SEN. MARK WARNER (D), VIRGINIA: Well, Wolf, first of all, I hope none of your audience changes channels because you've got bipartisan folks trying to actually rationally address a serious issue of national and international importance. But that's what we're trying to do here. Michael brings a background in law enforcement. I bring a background in technology. And what I think we're seeing now with one court in California taking one approach, another court in New York taking a different approach, is that a lot of folks both in law enforcement and in the tech community are talking past each other.

I think we know that oftentimes commissions don't work. We think we've modeled this commission after the 9/11 Commission, where Congress did take its actions and act on them responsibly. And as Michael said, this is a national security issue, it's an issue that if we get wrong, all we're going to do is push terrorists and criminals to foreign based platforms, foreign based hardware and software. And we think there is a technology and legal solution to get it right.

BLITZER: That's a huge issue right now with lots at stake.

Gentlemen, thanks to both of you for joining us. And as I say, it's always encouraging to see Republicans and Democrats working together, especially on a critically important national security issue like this.

Senator, thanks very much. Congressman, thanks to you as well.

Coming up, as millions head to the polls today, including in Allen, Texas, you're looking at live pictures, will the results from Super Tuesday force the Republican Party to embrace the frontrunner Donald Trump as its potential nominee? We're going to discuss that a whole lot more on this critically important political day here in the United States right after the break.

[13:34:45]

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BLITZER: Welcome back. There you see Donald Trump, he is wrapping up an event -- campaign even in Columbus, Ohio. They vote actually two weeks from today. But he just did a big speech over there as well. If he does win the nomination, though, can the Republican Party accept him?

Let's discuss with CNN political commentator Ana Navarro and Scottie Nell Hughes, she's the chief political correspondent for USA Radio Networks and columnist for WesternJournalism.com. She's a Trump supporter as well.

So you think Trump, Ana, has this race basically tied up?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I'm not ready to concede that yet. Wolf, I think you and I have both seen so many elections where things happen at the last minute where the media wants, you know, a premature narrative and then something happens that may change that. So I think we need to let the process really work itself, or we need to let the voters decide, vote today. And, you know, we need to see how it develops. BLITZER: Scottie, a new CNN poll, you have probably seen it by now,

in a head-to-head hypothetical battle, Hillary Clinton would win over Trump with 52 percent of the vote. Bernie Sanders would win with 55 percent of the vote.

[13:40:09] This is a potential problem for Donald Trump looking ahead, if he gets the Republican nomination to a general election, isn't it?

SCOTTIE NELL HUGHES, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, USA RADIO NETWORKS: Well, in 1988, you had Dukakis versus Bush and coming out of the convention Dukakis was leading Bush by 20 points. We saw how well that worked out for him.

I don't think this is much of a problem at all because like Mr. Trump stated he's not gone against Hillary Clinton yet. And as we've learned, the Trump campaign is a campaign undefined. It's not like anything before. This morning, Donald Trump, Jr. actually called into a sports station, who never talked politics and just talked fun in Nashville, Tennessee, just to get the voters out there. So I think -- there is no definition of what a campaign is going to be like that Hillary Clinton can sit there and try to figure out how she's going to go against because this has been undefined.

BLITZER: As you know, Ana, the New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Friday endorsed Trump on Sunday. The Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions backed Trump. Does that make it easier for the Republican establishment to support Donald Trump if in fact he is the nominee?

NAVARRO: I think you're going to see two factions within the Republican establishment. I think you're going to see a faction, that does come to grips with Donald Trump, that see him as a way to beat Hillary Clinton, that see him if he does become the nominee as the nominee and feel that we have to back him and that, you know, backing Hillary Clinton is just not an option, and I think you're going to see a faction of Republican establishment who just are hell no to Trump, never Trump, there is no way we can ever, you know, come to grips with the idea of supporting Donald Trump who we see as divisive, who we see as bringing a type of hateful rhetoric into this campaign that just has no place in American politics.

I think some people may change their minds, some people may be in the hell no caucus today, and may change their minds, if and when he is the nominee. We'll really have to cross that bridge when we get there. But frankly, for a lot of us, the idea of having to choose between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton is really painful or really, really, really painful.

BLITZER: That set the stage potentially, Scottie, for a third candidate to emerge, someone in between, shall we say, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. You've heard all those suggestions, right?

HUGHES: And if we do that, and you might as well just go on and move Hillary Clinton into the White House because that will not work. Listen, you're talking about almost diversion of the rusted establishment of the Republican Party that refuses to work. I mean, we've had to sit here the last eight years as conservatives and get along with the leadership that we have right now, that Paul Ryan represents, that Mitch McConnell represents. So it's time for them maybe to try something different. I like what Ana just said, actually. I think she put it very, very eloquently what we're dealing with. But you know what -- because I've been there. I had to do it when I went in to vote for Romney. But I still voted for Romney.

The key is going to be tomorrow. The messaging that comes out from all these different campaigns and the pundits about whether we're going to unify, are we going to continue to splinter that ultimately would put Hillary Clinton into that office.

NAVARRO: But actually, Scottie, the messaging isn't going to come from the pundits or from the media. It needs to come from the candidate. If Donald Trump sweeps today in Super Tuesday, it is he who has to start unifying this party. It is starts -- has to start speaking an inclusive speech, inclusive rhetoric that we're yet to hear from him in nine months.

BLITZER: All right.

HUGHES: You know, I think we felt that in New Hampshire.

BLITZER: Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Unfortunately we're out of time but we're going to see what happens if he sweeps or he doesn't sweep. What happens today in the next several hours. We will certainly find out.

Scottie and Ana, guys, thanks very much.

African-American voters showed big support for Hillary Clinton in South Carolina primary. Can they help carry her to victory today or has Bernie Sanders been able to cut into her support? We'll assess that when we come back.

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[13:47:42] BLITZER: Take a look at these live pictures coming in from Ashburn, Virginia, one of 12 states voting this Super Tuesday. If Hillary Clinton is going to pull off a big win across the south today, she certainly will need support from minority voters. Black voters in particular, already helped fuel her huge victory in South Carolina. And this week CNN-ORC poll shows she just might have that wider support nationally.

It shows she has 56 percent support nationally among nonwhite voters. Senator Bernie Sanders on the other hand has 39 percent support nationally.

Let's talk it over with our two guests. Michael Eric Dyson is the author of a brand new very important book entitled "The Black Presidency." He's a professor at Georgetown University here in Washington. And Van Jones is a CNN political commentator.

Gentlemen, guys, thanks very much for joining us.

Michael, let's start with you. Hillary Clinton presumably she's going to carry that momentum from South Carolina across some of these other southern states today. Why is she doing so well with African-American voters?

MICHAEL ERIC DYSON, PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Well, first of all, she's got an extraordinarily long track record. She's been involved with issues that are important to African-American people for quite some time. Even those who disagree with her cannot deny the fact that she has been headstrong about certain critical issues, especially in forging connections with critical black women across the decades.

Secondly, when she began her work with Marianne Wright Edelman, even though they had ideological differences, it set the tone for her appreciation for what kinds of issues are critical to black people. And then thirdly, she's got an incredibly strong ground game. And understanding that, you know, not only South Carolina was the bellwether, and perhaps the benchmark for what was to come, understanding she had to fight strongly for every vote and be out there up front to address the issues that are central to African- American people while linking them to the broader process of democracy. That's why I think she's doing so well.

BLITZER: And then states, Van, as you know, in the south today, whether Georgia or Tennessee, or Alabama, Mississippi, sometimes a majority of the Democrats who are going to vote are African-Americans. Do you see Bernie Sanders making any significant inroads?

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it's going to be hard for him at this point. What you have is the weakness of the white left meeting the weakness of the black left. The white left has tended to be on the coast. It's tend to focus often on class issues. This is a populace wing of the Democratic Party. Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Occupy, but tends to skew very, very white, very coastal.

[13:50:07] The black left, which is probably critical of the Clinton's record, especially in the '90s when you talk about welfare repeal, when you talk about the crime bill, that never trusted Hillary Clinton, have a weakness when it comes to electoral politics. They protest a lot, they critique a lot but in terms of being able to turn out voters, that has not been a big focus for the black left. So you have a weakness on the black left, a weakness on the white left coming together which creates a collapse in the ability of the progressive wing of this party to move black votes away from Hillary Clinton.

BLITZER: As you know, Michael, Hillary Clinton is already saying her campaign is going national with the support on Super Tuesday. They -- she's taking on Donald Trump increasingly. What role will African- American voters in November play should she and Donald Trump be the respective nominees?

DYSON: Well, there will be a huge windfall for her electorally but also the incredible ideological strength they will lend her because obviously in fighting Donald Trump in a broad election, this is about the future of America. What vision we want to see prevail? And do we want to see a broadly-based democratic vision -- small D -- that embraces under its broad tent a variety of ethnicities and races and people of political persuasions within the broad left? Or do you want a nation that is xenophobic, that is resistant to those who are different? Muslim brothers and sisters, Mexican brothers and sisters, and the kind of constant drumbeat of bigotry that has circulated within those camps?

So they will be critical to the election of Mrs. Clinton in November. And certainly providing both the intellectual wherewithal and as Van Jones has so brilliantly captured, the collapse of the left on each side, the white left and the black left, has been of little use to African-American voters who are on the ground dealing with issues that make a difference in their daily lives. The black left supplies some powerful philosophical arguments but doesn't translate those well into the nuts and bolts of what happens when elections take place and imperfect people are elected.

BLITZER: But will they show up, Van, African-Americans, in the numbers, in the turnout, in the enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton as they did two times in a row for President Obama?

JONES: Almost certainly not. However, don't forget, it's not like President Obama's going to get on a spaceship and go to Mars and Michelle Obama's going to spaceship and go to Pluto. The Obamas will still be here. And they will be a part of the general election. Once the primary is resolved in terms of the Democratic selection, which looks like it will be Hillary Clinton, whoever runs against Hillary Clinton will be running against Hillary Clinton, a formidable candidate, plus Bill Clinton, plus Michelle Obama, plus President Obama.

It's going to be a full-court press to preserve his legacy and the argument to be made for all African-Americans will be whoever the Republicans put in there will roll back everything about the Obama presidency including the stuff that you like and that will be a motivator. It will not match but it will come close enough.

BLITZER: Van Jones, thanks very much for joining us. Michael Eric Dyson, thanks to you as well. Once again, Michael's new book is entitled "The Black Presidency." As I said, an important book our viewers probably will want to check it out.

We're going to have much more on the presidential race coming up in a moment, but first there's some breaking news we're following on more than 100 documents seized in the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden at his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has been looking through this new information.

What are you learning, Barbara?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf. Well, you'll remember when the Navy SEALs went into that compound, they grabbed on their way out everything they could. Documents, computers, laptops, hard drives. The intelligence community since the night of that raid has been pouring through all of it. There had been one release of documents. Today we see a second release now to the public of documents from that bin Laden compound.

We see a bin Laden who is isolated. Who is -- trying to still manage everything from his hideout where he's been for years. Writing dozens of letters to other religious people, offering his view of jihad and Islam again, his view of all of that. Writing to his relatives. These documents just go on and on.

Let me read one of the -- a little bit from one of these documents to you. He talks about his will and where he wants to leave his money to. And he says, and let me quote from this, "I hope for my brothers, sisters and maternal aunts to obey my will and to spend all the money that I have left in Sudan on jihad for the sake of Allah." The letter goes on to say that bin Laden has -- he says he has $29 million stashed in the African country of Sudan. We don't really know if that actually proved to be true or not.

Micromanager. He writes a letter to his wife and he talks about her dental work, and let me read some of that to you.

[13:55:09] He says, "I was told that you went to a dentist in Iran and you were concerned about a filling she put in for you. As I previously mentioned to you, they can insert a small chip in it to implant under the skin. The size of the chip is about a length of a grain of wheat and the width of a fine piece of vermicelli." He's obviously worried that there are tracking chips inside dental work and that people might be able to eventually track down his relatives and lead to tips about where he is.

But what this really underscores, you see a bin Laden who is still trying to be relevant, writing letters around the world. He's very concerned about keeping himself and al Qaeda relevant. And you begin to see, even all these years ago, the first hints of the divisions within al Qaeda, especially in Iraq. And little did we know that that would eventually of course lead, today, to the rise of ISIS -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Fascinating material indeed, Barbara, thank you very much.

Let's get back to the world of politics on this important Super Tuesday. Senator Rubio is making a campaign stop right now in Andover, Minnesota, before heading to Florida. I want to listen in.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Who wasn't interested in fixing our problems. We elected a president who wanted to fundamentally change America. Who wanted to make this country more like the rest of the world. He didn't understand, we don't want to be like the rest of the world. We want to be America.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: And so after eight years of extensive damage, this may be our last chance to get it right. Because if we stay on the road we are on right now, then we are going to become the first Americans in our history that leave their kids worse off than themselves. And we will stay on the road we are on right now if the Democrats win this election. We will stay on the road that we're on right now if we elect someone who claims to be a Republican and a conservative but, in fact, is not.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: Now I want to be honest with you, for much of this campaign, I have focused entirely on the policies and the issues and the uplifting message that I want to leave with you today, or at least I hope you find uplifting. But I did not believe that this unusual election would take the turns it's taken. And we need to talk about that a little bit today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Still love you.

RUBIO: Thank you.

(LAUGHTER)

RUBIO: Good.

BLITZER: All right, we're going to continue to watch Marco Rubio on this important day. That's it. Remember, our special Super Tuesday coverage continues right after a quick break.

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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.