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Republican and Democratic Presidential Candidates Campaign in Super Saturday States; Democratic Presidential Candidates to Debate in Flint, Michigan; Flint Water Crisis Examined; Donald Trump Pulls out of CPAC Appearance to Campaign in Kansas; Interview with Omarosa. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired March 05, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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


[14:00:02] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour, 2:00 p.m. Eastern, and it is down to the wire in five states today. Lines are out the door. Crowds are filling caucus locations as voters make their final choice on this Super Saturday. And the Republican candidates are getting in their final jabs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And the way we win this primary and the way we beat Hillary Clinton in November is we tell the truth with a smile.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to make our military so strong, so powerful that nobody, nobody is going to mess with us.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And they won't have a chance, if the conservative movement is hijacked by someone who is not a conservative.

(APPLAUSE)

GOV. JOHN KASICH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I were to just attack Donald Trump now and call him a name, boy, it would be just -- Kasich has resorted to the negative. I'm with Harry Potter. We're not going to the dark side.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: As Flint, Michigan gets ready for the spotlight tomorrow night for a critical debate between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton while this city deals with a horrific water crisis. Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield live at the University of Michigan in Flint.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: And, everyone, I'm Poppy Harlow live in New York. Ashleigh and I will take you through the next hour, and what a day it is in Flint, Ash, and in politics. It is Super Saturday, capping off a busy and chaotic week in the race for the White House. Stakes are higher, the attacks are sharper, and the results of today's voting, very important.

Lines to vote in some Kentucky locations right now, they are long and they are winding. In Kansas thousands showed up to caucus. Five states are holding their contests today on the Republican side, 155 delegates are up for grabs. In Kentucky, Maine, Louisiana, and Kansas, Democrats also holding a primary in Louisiana, they are caucusing in Kentucky and in Nebraska -- in Kansas and Nebraska, I should say. In total, there are 109 delegates at stake for Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Rivals Donald Trump and Marco Rubio are both holding rallies in Florida this hour, and looking ahead to that crucial winner take all primary on March the 15th. They have both already had very busy days. Marco Rubio addressed Republicans at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC this morning. He then sat down for an interview for our Dana Bash. Trump pulled out of his speech that was scheduled to be there last minute. He instead went to Kansas and held events.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz was at the very same caucus location there this morning as Donald Trump, and despite the rival's recent behavior towards one another, Trump and Cruz, they steered clear of each other when addressing the crowd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're here this morning for something a lot more important than politics. We're here because our country's in crisis. We're here because we love our kids and grandkids, and we love freedom and the constitution, and we want our country back.

(APPLAUSE)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They're talking about what we've done as a movement. When I saw the thousands of people that I just spoke to in the other hall, and more than that, more than that, standing outside trying to get in, this has never happened before. The covers of "TIME" magazine four times over the last few months, it's never -- nobody has seen it before. We have a movement going.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: I want to go live to our Chris Frates. He's in Orlando, Florida. We're going to see Trump there. I know they're expecting 25,000 people to be at this Trump rally in Orlando. Marco Rubio is headed there now as well. Look, this is a winner take all state with 99 delegates. This is a state the polls showed Trump ahead of Rubio and that the analysts say if you don't have a win in Florida, Rubio, where is the path forward?

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's exactly right, Poppy. What's so testing, after a week where the Republican establishment hammered Donald Trump, trying to derail him, led by Mitt Romney, you're starting to see that the crowd here booing the establishment. In fact, starting the "stop the establishment" hash-tag. In fact, we heard a speaker introduced, a former fundraiser for Mitt Romney. When he talked about his work he got booed. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jim was a central Florida finance chair for

Mitt Romney's first and unsuccessful presidential bid.

(BOOS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who put that in there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Notice when, when Mitt Romney was running, I looked around --

(BOOS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: So there you go. You have some sense of how this crowd is feeling about the establishment right now. And, of course, Florida, huge, March 15th. One of the first winner-take-all states, about 100 delegates up for grabs.

[14:05:01] Donald Trump spending $2 million in advertising in this state. Marco Rubio getting a big endorsement from the "Orlando Sentinel" just last night. That's huge here in the voter rich I-4 corridor. So they're going to continue to duke it out here in the sunshine state. But, of course, Donald Trump, a big lead. He has a lead of 44, Poppy. Marco Rubio coming in at just 28 percent support. So he has a lot of ground to make up in his native state here. And Donald Trump bringing the crowd out and whipping them up against the establishment, Poppy.

HARLOW: Absolutely. It has been working for him so far. We'll keep watching. Florida is so critical, voting on March the 15th. Chris Frates, thank you.

Republican presidential hopeful who we were just talking about, Marco Rubio, says the stakes could not be higher in this presidential election. He did get a standing ovation from the crowd this morning at the CPAC conference after taking a shot at Donald Trump, who he claims is, quote, "hijacking" the conservative movement. He sat down for a Q&A session with our very own Dana Bash. Here's part of it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One thing you were just talking about struck me I want you to talk about, because I, too, came in through the back, through the kitchen, and, you know, that is definitely how you approach a lot of these events, and people don't really realize that, but for you it is personal.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes. I mean, my parents, this is the jobs they did. I always tell people, my parents were incredibly successful people, because the American dream is not about how much money you make or how many buildings have your name on it.

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: The American dream -- the American dream, I wasn't talking about anybody in particular. I'm just saying.

(LAUGHTER)

RUBIO: The American dream is about achieving happiness. When you become a firefighter or a police officer, or a teacher, or a nurse, you know you're not going to become a billionaire. What you want is what my parents achieved. And what my parents achieved working as a bartender and a maid at a hotel after arriving with nothing, no education, no money. The first words my dad learned in English were "I'm looking for a job." You know what my parents achieved. They owned a home in a safe and stable neighborhood. They retired with dignity, and they left all four of their children better off than themselves. That's the American dream.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: When he was asked what he thought about Donald Trump backing out of his speech at CPAC, Rubio again went after his rival, saying that the conference is usually reserved for conservatives. You can see how this fight is going on and on.

Let's talk about all of it. Ron Brownstein, CNN senior political analyst, is with us, Rebecca Berg is a national political reporter at Real Clear Politics. Ron, let me begin with you. When we talk about the strategy here, you wrote a fascinating piece in the "Atlantic" that I read. Let me pull up part of it for you. You write "After Trump captured states across the GOP's geographic and demographic spectrum, those resisting him are now talking about a strategy of fragmentation." And you say that encourages Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, et cetera, to remain rivals, basically saying their idea is splinter the vote enough. That's one school of thought. The other school of thought is, don't splinter them or you're going to have Trump win. Where do you fall?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. Well, I think the evidence -- the Republican Party right now is at this very precarious moment. Donald Trump clearly has more support in the party than any of these other rivals, but he is, Poppy, a plurality frontrunner. He did not take that big leap forward as expected on Super Tuesday. He only exceeded 40 percent of the vote twice. There's clearly still resistance to him.

The problem is that none of these candidates look big enough on their own to take him down. Ted Cruz's coalition is too narrow. He hasn't won more than 18 percent who are not evangelicals in any state except Texas. Marco Rubio is too shallow, I think, by contrast. His coalition, he's winning a little of everything but he's not winning enough of anything. His bet group should be college educated voters, and he only one them in three of the nine states on Super Tuesday.

HARLOW: We didn't see that in Virginia like we thought we would.

BROWNSTEIN: Right. Virginia was one of the three. So rather than hoping that one of these candidates can emerge to take down Trump, I think the last-ditch strategy of those resisting him, which Mitt Romney voiced as it was moving forward, is that many of them should, all of them to stay in the race, try to contest Trump on different, in different states, the places where they would be the strongest, and simply hope to prevent him from reaching the delegate majority on the first ballot and home that the convention will turn in another direction for a nominee after that.

HARLOW: The 901 that he needs, the a magic number. Rebecca, to you, when you look at that and you look at the juggernaut that has become, or that Trump has become the juggernaut in this party, is it something they can stop with what we've seen thus far? For example, some are pointing to Mitt Romney coming out this week and saying all you're doing is helping Donald Trump because you stand for exactly what he doesn't in terms of the establishment.

REBECCA BERG, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, REAL CLEAR POLITICS: Absolutely. And so what we're seeing right now, Poppy, is really a hail Mary on the part of the Republican Party not only in the sense that they're hoping that they can take this fight to a contested convention and splinter the vote enough to keep Donald Trump from getting 1,237 delegates.

[14:10:04] But having Mitt Romney come out this week and try to prevent Donald Trump from winning, try to attack him, Mitt Romney, as you suggested, for many Republicans and especially Republicans supporting Donald Trump or thinking about supporting Donald Trump who are angry at the establishment, Mitt Romney is one of the least credible messengers you could possibly pick to take on Donald Trump because he's viewed add part of the problem and part of the establishment.

HARLOW: Let's listen to something else Marco Rubio said today onstage at CPAC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBIO: These young Americans are the most technologically advanced people that have ever lived. On the campaign trail, unless you're under 25, no one knows how to use their camera phone.

(LAUGHTER)

RUBIO: These young Americans have the chance to fulfill and incredible potential and destiny. But we have to give them a chance. And they won't have a chance if a Hillary Clinton or a Bernie Sanders is elected. And they won't have a chance --

(APPLAUSE)

RUBIO: Aand they won't have a chance if the conservative movement is hijacked by someone who is not a conservative.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP) HARLOW: Standing ovation for that one. Ron Brownstein, to you, interesting strategy. He did not use the name Trump once on that stage. Why do you think that is, and is it effective?

BROWNSTEIN: First of all, I thought it was really interesting that he has been using this line about millennials more in the last few days and weeks. Millennial, by the way, this is the first election where millennials will equal the baby boom as a share of eligible voters in the country. They won't equal them as a share of actual voters because they don't vote as high a rate. But by 2020 millennials will exceed the baby boom in all likelihood in the actual electorate.

Marco Rubio has generational themes in his argument. He hasn't really played on them very much and he hasn't really established an advantage amongst millennials who are not a big advantage. The Republican primary electorate tilts old, 60 percent over 50 last time. So I do think it is interesting he's making that generational argument. He will go after Donald Trump plenty by name in the weeks ahead, and as I think everybody pointed out, Florida is a do or die situation for Rubio. He only -- he's only run there once statewide. He won in a plurality election there. He doesn't have a huge infrastructure of his own. But ultimately that is the test he's going to be measured against.

HARLOW: Ron Brownstein, Rebecca Berg, wish we had more time. We'll have you both back. Thank you so much.

Coming up, we go live to two caucus sites in Kentucky. Will voters on the Republican side turn up en masse to support Donald Trump or will the anti-Trump movement continue to drive voters on this Super Saturday? A live report, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:15:57] HARLOW: It is Super Saturday, and the polls are open across several states right now. Some critical states in play. In Bowling Green, Kentucky, it has been a steady stream of voters all day long in and out of this site. One caucus site, the lines have been so long, well, they wound out the door. This is a new experience for Kentucky Republicans. This is the first time, the first year they have caucused instead of holding a primary. And by the way, this is much earlier than their primary used to be, which used to be in May.

Let's turn to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where Brian Todd is live for us. And Brian, not only are you talking to all the people there. The lines are out the doors. But then Rand Paul stops by.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Poppy. It was exciting to see him. We thought he might be coming by because we knew he was going to vote in this precinct. This is where people are checking in here. We're not really allowed to go past this point. They're checking in here by alphabetical order and then Raphael Rodriguez and I are going to swing around and start to walk down the line. And as we do that, we're going to talk about Rand Paul. He came by here earlier. One of the reasons these lines are so very long today is because of Rand Paul. We came and saw him here earlier. This is what he had to say to us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: What do you think of this? Great turnout. Are you surprised?

RAND PAUL, (R) FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, a little bit. We're excited about it, though. This is the first time that my vote or any Kentucky Republican's vote will really count because we're right in the middle of the election. Usually we don't vote until late May and a lot of times the election seems to be over. But it's also exciting because we have local candidates out campaigning. Everybody is out here shaking hands, and so it's kind of a, more of an old- fashioned feel to politics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Now, a key question was going to be, who was Rand Paul voting for? I asked him a couple times. He would not tip his hand. Tried to get him to narrow it down. I asked if he'll vote for one of the two senators at the top of the GOP ballot. He still wouldn't bite.

Here's what we're looking at here. This has been the case all day long. Caucus officials here tell us they did not expect this kind of volume. Look at this. All the way down this massive hallway. All the way out the door, hundreds and hundreds of people at a time. This has not let up since the polls opened, what, about three hours ago here and they don't expect it to anytime soon. They're going to actually start counting ballots soon, Poppy, because they don't want to get behind in the count for when the ballots close at 5:00 p.m. eastern time and they have to report the results a couple of hours later, Poppy.

So you can see just a ton of energy here, very exciting. People are really jazzed about these caucuses. They've moved up to March 5th thanks to Rand Paul because he wanted to be able to run for both Senate and president and he couldn't be on both ballots, you know, running for both offices on one ballot. So they had to move it up to March 5th. And so even though Rand Paul dropped out, this is the result of his efforts.

HARLOW: Brian Todd, live for us there in Bowling Green. Thank you so much. We'll check back with you soon.

And coming up next, we're going to take you to Flint, Michigan, where you will see a story of community, how volunteers are helping the residents there in Flint in the midst of a dire water crisis. You'll see that special live coverage from Flint ahead of our debate, the CNN debate there, tomorrow night. That's next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. My name is Vince Swift and my question is for Bernie Sanders. The Flint water crisis was caused by failing infrastructure. How would you as president fix the American foundation so that this doesn't happen anywhere else?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:23:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My is Nasho (ph) Stadien (ph), and my question to Hillary Clinton is this -- how will you as a president protect vulnerable populations and minority cultures in the U.S. and throughout the world?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. We are coming to you live from Flint, Michigan. Tomorrow night CNN's Democratic presidential debate will be held in this city, this city in crisis, and it will no doubt draw a lot more attention to the plight of the residents here. You just heard from one of them throughout the hour. We've been showing you other residents. They are the people directly affected by lead-tainted water that's been running through their pipes, through the city's pipes and into homes, potentially poisoning anyone who drank it.

Today CNN partnered with the relief organization Convoy of Hope to distribute thousands of bottles of clean water to the people of Flint, Michigan and to help them to get the help they need. Molly Erickson is with Convoy of Hope and she's kind enough to join me now to talk a little bit about the work that you've been doing, the work your group has been doing. And thank you for letting us partier in with you to get those 500,000 bottles of CNN water out to the residents. It's really the kind of thing we love doing.

I just want to let you know as well, Anderson Cooper, Don Lemon, I was going to do it as well except I was stuck on the air today, but a lot of our talent and our behind the scenes workers have been working with you. You have been doing this since January door- to-door opening up relief stations. How did you end up coming from your base in Missouri to Flint, Michigan? How did you end up coming here?

MOLLY ERICKSON, PUBLIC RELATIONS DIRECTOR, CONVOY OF HOPE: So as a nonprofit organization one of our initiatives is disaster response. And so while that normally includes natural disasters like tornadoes or earthquakes, hurricanes, this is a disaster. It's a water crisis. There was a need and we wanted to address that. We partnered with local churches here after there was a state of emergency in January, and we've been here ever since distributing water.

BANFIELD: I'm just looking at some of the pictures of my colleagues. I'm so proud of Sara Sidner, one of our correspondents was also out this morning.

[14:25:04] And she said that the relief, the look on the people's faces when they delivered this water, they are struggling. They are still paying for poisoned water to come into their homes. And many of them are saying they're using food budgets to have to pay for bottled water now just so that they can wash their babies, literally bathe their babies. You're an organization that goes around the world. You go to third world countries. You do the disaster relief to places where we might expect that that would be needed. Did you ever think for a minute you would be doing that kind of work in an American city?

ERICKSON: I think it was definitely a wake-up call for us, because like you said we do work all over the world. And so going into Haiti or the Philippines or Tanzania where we're normally working and it's one of our focus countries, I think going somewhere like that you expect something like that. To have this need in our own backyard and have to address it was definitely new for us.

BANFIELD: How are the people, when you're -- when you encounter them, whether it was on the front porch or whether it's at one of the relief stations you've set up, I think there were two of them today that were relief stations that people could come to and two other events I think at 8:00 where you were heading off in this virtual convoy to deliver. What's the reaction been from the people who need this water?

ERICKSON: Just thankfulness, really. It's something they've been dealing with for a long time. But I think just to know that people aren't coming in, seeing the need, responding to it and then leaving, but that we're here ongoing and here for the long haul with them, I think they really appreciate that.

We've heard from a lot of people, you know, they're using bottled water, like you said, to bathe. So families are going through hundreds of bottles of water each week, and so for us to be able to give them a few cases, you know, this week, and then connect them with the local resources that they have where they could go after that is really important.

BANFIELD: Molly Erickson, you're doing awesome work and thank you for that. Thank you for being here today. Again, I have to thank my CNN colleagues for going out for you today and doing this as well, especially because the weather hasn't been particularly helpful. Martin Savidge was out there and Sara Sidner, Anderson Cooper, Don Lemon as I mentioned before. Thanks again, appreciate it. I'm sure I'm speaking on behalf of many of the people you serve today as well.

ERICKSON: Yes. We can't do anything that we do without volunteers.

BANFIELD: Thank you. And by the way, if you're out there, and I know you can't get out maybe into the snow here in Flint, Michigan, but you can go online and you can help the people of Flint, Michigan, by going to CNN.com/Impact. I said it before, I must say it again. They're your fellow Americans and they are in dire need, and it is through no fault of their own. So Google, and then go to that address, and help out.

Coming up, we're going to turn to our other big story today, Super Saturday. Will the splintering of the Republican Party continue, or will people start to rally around one of those leaders still standing? We're going to keep an eye on the voting across the nation, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [14:31:00] HARLOW: It is Super Saturday, and voting is underway in five states right now, and a lot of focus is also on a state that is not voting for another 10 days. That is Florida. We're waiting for two events to get underway there this hour. Senator Marco Rubio will hold a rally in Jacksonville. His home state considered a must-win for Rubio. Earlier today he told our Dana Bash he will win that state and he will take all 99 delegates with him. We shall see, because every oh GOP candidate also wants to take Florida. Donald Trump holding a rally in Orlando this hour.

Voters in Maine and Nebraska are also heading to the polls today. In Maine, it is the Republicans' turn. Democrats caucus there tomorrow. In Nebraska it is the Democrats casting their votes in the caucuses today. We have reporters in both States. Polo Sandoval is in Maine for us. Let's begin, though, with our Miguel Marquez who is live in Nebraska. What are we seeing today in terms of the energy, the excitement, the turnout?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We are seeing huge crowds and lots and lots of Bernie supporters. I want to show you the line outside Bryan High School here in south Omaha.

HARLOW: Wow.

MARQUEZ: It stretches now around the block and is growing by the second. How many of you guys are first-time caucus-goers?

(CHEERS)

MARQUEZ: How many of you for Bernie?

(CHEERS)

MARQUEZ: How many for Hillary?

(CHEERS)

MARQUEZ: I want to show you inside. Check this out. The number of Bernie supporters has been huge at all of his rallies. He was here on Thursday. He got about 4,000 people. They had 1,500 in overflow in order to handle all the Bernie supporters. Bill Clinton was here last night. Chelsea Clinton was here in Nebraska earlier in the week, but they didn't have nearly the crowd.

So they've come in here. They have to check in, in this location. Bryan High School, home of the bears in south Omaha, is home to two different caucus locations, two different legislative districts. So they're going to be filling both an auditorium in here and a gymnasium with about 600 people each. Excuse me. Pardon me. How are you? So this is the location inside where they're actually checking in to go to their respective, either the auditorium or the gym, and I want to show you what this gym looks like right now. How are you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm all right.

MARQUEZ: The two biggest papers in town, the one in Lincoln, and here in Omaha, have both backed Hillary Clinton. The student newspaper has backed -- at least the biggest student newspaper, has backed Bernie Sanders. It gives you an idea of his crowd.

He had at the lead center on Thursday, he had about 3,000 people come into the center and about 1,000 people outside of it. So as these voters come in here, they're going to go either to the auditorium or into this gymnasium here, and they will line up basically Bernie supporters on one side, Hillary supporters on the other, and this is what it looks like, democracy in action here in the cornhusker state.

The people on this side of the room are all Bernie supporters. The people on that side of the room are all Hillary supporters. When this caucus gets doing they'll try to talk each other. Are you guys ready for this?

(CHEERS)

HARLOW: They are, Miguel.

MARQUEZ: What about the Hillary supporters down there? You ready?

(CHEERS)

MARQUEZ: So you can see the signs. You can see the energy. They will begin the caucus process. This will be basically arguing for each other, lining up, trying to get more. Huge turnout throughout the state, Poppy?

HARLOW: Miguel, it's great to see. As you said, it's democracy in play. It's democracy in action. It's interesting, when you look back to 2008, then Senator Obama swept some of these rural states. He swept Nebraska. He swept Kansas. That was a failure on the part of the Clinton campaign, they would say. It sounds like they're taking nothing for granted this time around in this state.

MARQUEZ: They are taking nothing for granted, and a huge point of pride for Democrats here in Nebraska that in 2008 they got one electoral vote for Barack Obama.

[14:35:05] The last time Nebraska ever cast electoral vote for a Democrat, 1964. So they think this caucus process, which was 2008, the first year they had it. This is the year they think they are going to really push Democrats forward here in Nebraska. Poppy?

HARLOW: All right, Miguel, thank you so much live for us in Omaha. Let's go to Polo Sandoval who is in Maine. What are we seeing there?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Poppy, about 22 caucus sites here in Maine, and this is perhaps one of the busiest. It's also where really much of the attention is right now because just a few moments ago Republican Governor Paul LePage taking the stage here, addressing these caucus-goers, supporting Trump. Obviously this is an individual who supported Chris Christie, and then soon after he dropped out of the race quickly attached himself to the Trump campaign. So he took to the stage, reminding caucus-goers why he believes that he's the man who deserves to be in the Oval Office. So now what we see are basically representatives of each campaign.

And just because the governor was on the stage a little while ago Poppy doesn't necessarily mean that the people in this room agree with him. We've spoken to people who support Cruz, and then also Senator Rubio as well, and even a couple as well that support John Kasich.

So I think this is something we could expect. In the next hour or so we have seen a significant turnout as well. Is Maine a critical state? I think many will argue that that may not be the case. Is it important, though? Absolutely as this will be the first time that the Republican outcome will be a binding decision for the delegates of the state. Poppy?

HARLOW: And Polo, such a turnaround for the governor, for LePage there, on Trump.

SANDOVAL: Absolutely. What was interesting here, as I mentioned, as the governor took the stage, basically he went down the list of these candidates, saying that both senators are simply, in this own words, not ready to be president, and in his own words saying that Trump is simply a true blue American, in his own words. And so that's why he called on these caucus-goers to, when they go vote, to move in that direction. Again, we've seen several different opinions here in Maine, and it seems to be the consensus that people want to get involved. There is this energy. There is this feeling that Maine truly does matter, especially if it means perhaps the Cruz folks trying to do well.

HARLOW: Yes. And the fact, though, LePage even a month ago wasn't backing Trump. Now he has come out supporting him. All right, we'll keep watching. Polo, thank you where Republicans are caucusing. Miguel in Nebraska where the Democrats are caucusing. Thank you both.

Coming up, she's out stumping for Trump. What former "Celebrity Apprentice" contestant Omarosa has to say about her old boss. She's live with me, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:41:23] BANFIELD: Live pictures for you in Flint, Michigan. We are coming to you live from Flint, Michigan, today on Super Saturday because perhaps one of the most important issues in this election is, what has happened to the people of Flint, and are they alone? Or wherever you are in America, could you also suffer an infrastructure problem that has almost paralyzed this city and will cost this city hundreds of millions of dollars, and maybe yours, too.

I'm Ashleigh Banfield, everyone. Welcome to Flint, Michigan. I've got the Flint River behind me, the source of so much tragedy in this city. And the work to fix the water problem here in Flint, thank God, has begun. In fact, just yesterday the city began pulling out and replacing those lead contaminated pipes in the water system. The crews are starting in neighborhoods that need the most. The people most at risk of lead poisoning, little kids under the age of six, senior citizens, and, of course, pregnant women.

It is a $55 million program which hasn't yet been approved by the state legislature. Flint's mayor is pushing the state to pass the bill, and there's a lot of politics that are swirling around this filthy bottle of water that you see on your screen. This weekend the Democratic presidential Democratic candidates are heading here, and they'll be debating right here in Flint, Michigan, the city in crisis over this toxic water. It has led to a health crisis and a lot of finger-pointing, too.

I had a chance to speak with a Flint resident just recently. Her name is Rhonda Kelso and she says neither political party seems to have been much help so far.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: Rhonda, do you think that the current Democratic and Republican candidates for president care about you and your neighbors? Do you think that there's someone in that current crop of candidates who can help you?

RHONDA KELSO, JOINED WATER CRISIS CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT: I don't think presently. I'd like to put the political system how it is right now with the Democrats and Republicans, you know, the way that the city of Flint residents were poisoned, it was bipartisan. So it was both Democrat and Republican agents, officials, that had something to do with our water being poisoned.

BANFIELD: But do you see any heroes coming out of the current crop of Democratic and Republican candidates?

KELSO: As far as someone who's going to --

BANFIELD: Who really cares and wants to change this and fix this and help you?

KELSO: I'm not.

BANFIELD: I mean, they come here and they debate here and they visit here and they campaign here, but do you believe any one of them is actually going to do something here, if elected?

KELSO: I can't say that, but I know that Hillary, she came through and she spoke about it. You know, she said she was going to fix it, you know. She was going to, you know, help us. That's what she said. And so I know that she came, and she met with our mayor and other officials, you know. I don't know what they talked about. I don't know what type of remedy she, you know, included, to where it would fix our problems, but I know she spoke about it and I don't think that Bernie Sanders spoke about it, you know. At least -- at least Hillary said something, but Bernie, I don't think Mr. Sanders said anything regarding fixing our water situation, or adding his expertise as far as --

[14:45:03] BANFIELD: The overall --

KELSO: Yes. BANFIELD: Well, I can say without question this is a huge topic.

KELSO: -- on improving or water situation.

BANFIELD: On Sunday, my big guess, and I think it's a good guess, is that this will be a huge topic of conversation between those two candidates on Sunday. And I thank you for talking to me, and I wish you and your daughter the best as you try to navigate this really awful situation you're in at no fault of your own.

KELSO: Yes. It's a challenge. It's a great challenge.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: And our thanks to Rhonda Kelso for joining us live on the set. Don't miss the Democratic debate tomorrow night right here in Flint, Michigan. Everyone in this town is waiting to hear what these two candidates, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, have to say about what they live with every day, their water crisis. Back, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Before he was running for president, and before he became the GOP frontrunner, Donald Trump hosted the reality show "The Apprentice." Contestants competed to be member of Trump's corporation, and those that didn't make it, you know they got fired. Here is one of the more famous firings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You were a project manager, and you not only lost, you got creamed. I've always been a big Omarosa fan, but Omarosa, you're fired. This was not close.

OMAROSA MANIGAULT, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Thank you for bringing me on.

TRUMP: Thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:50:02] HARLOW: If only everyone responded that way when they were fired, right? Omarosa Manigault joins me now. Thank you for being here.

MANIGAULT: Poppy, you showed me getting fired in front of America.

HARLOW: I'm sorry. Can I blame the producers? No. I'm kidding.

(LAUGHTER)

HARLOW: Look, everyone remembers that. Your name is so well known from those days and what you've gone on to do since. You are stumping for Donald Trump, and it's interesting.

MANIGAULT: Absolutely. HARLOW: Because we were looking back, and obviously you worked in the

Clinton administration. You worked for then vice president Al Gore in the '90s. What is it about Trump that has you onboard?

MANIGAULT: Not only did I work for Al Gore. I also worked for Bill Clinton as his deputy associate director of presidential personnel. I spent a lot of time on the Hill. But I'm stumping for Donald Trump because he is truly the best chance that we have of turning America around. I believe it. He has an incredible vision for this nation, and he will move us forward. And that's why I stand by him. Not only is he my friend, but I think he is a great leader, great manager, and he will make a great president.

HARLOW: You are an ordained Baptist minister, in addition to your teaching at the Executive MBA Program at Howard University, you're an ordained minister. And I just want your take from that perspective on some of the language we've seen back and forth. What we saw play out on the debate stage Thursday night, for example, in Detroit. Are you concerned about the tenor of this race?

MANIGAULT: Well, I've been in politics a very long time, as you've pointed out, and all of these races become very contentious. This is the most important -- this is the most important office in the land. It is the highest office you can attain. And so --

HARLOW: But never before have words like this been used.

MANIGAULT: You see the animosity.

HARLOW: But this is in a whole different league, right?

MANIGAULT: Well, I mean things have gotten tense in the past. Let us not forget when Romney was running. Let us not forget when Bush was running. Let us not forget when Obama was running against Hillary Clinton. There were very tense moments. This isn't the first time. But what's the most important is Donald Trump is tough. And we need tough leadership right now. America is losing on all fronts. We're being attacked by ISIS. We're being attacked by terrorists. We need somebody who's going to be tough and who is going to unapologetically set a new course for this nation.

HARLOW: So there's a difference between being tough and a difference between taking these really personal attacks and talking about the size of body parts, et cetera, so much so --

MANIGAULT: I agree. I think what Rubio said about Trump's hands, I agree. What Rubio said about Trump's hands was vulgar.

HARLOW: Trump responded, Omarosa.

MANIGAULT: And I believe that Rubio should be held accountable for what he said. It's so interesting that they're associated Trump with something that Rubio said about him. Rubio should be ashamed of himself, of talking about Donald Trump's hands and the size of other things. Donald Trump has to respond, unfortunately, to all of these attacks from Cruz, from Rubio, and from Romney. It's incredible. He's taking hits and he's still standing. And the voters will show that they support Donald Trump and they're not going to be moved by these attacks by the establishment.

HARLOW: You have been a vocal, outspoken supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement. Trump has come under fire, obviously, for his initial reaction to Jake Tapper's three questions about whether he would disavow the KKK and white supremacist David Duke. Take a look at this. This is what happened yesterday at a protest, protestors at one of Trump's rallies in Louisiana. How do you feel that your candidate, Trump, has handled race relations as a focus during this campaign?

MANIGAULT: Can I just tell you, Poppy, a very personal story. When my brother was murdered in Ohio, in Youngstown, Ohio, the first person on the phone to me was Donald Trump. He was very concerned what was happening in my community, in my family. And that's something that I can share with you personally that I experienced with Donald Trump.

You talked about a lot of different things, so let me first start with Black Lives Matter. I have been very vocal from Trayvon Martin to what's happened in Ferguson, what's happened with Freddie Gray. I have been on the frontline marching, and I can tell you that Donald Trump is very concerned about social justice issues that are happening in all communities, in black communities, in Latino communities, in America.

And so when you ask me about Black Lives Matter, let's deal with that. It's been an important movement. It serves a very important role in this election, and Donald Trump has addressed those things.

Then you start moving over into David Duke, addressing and endorsing Donald Trump. It was an unwarranted one. He has no association nor any relationship with that organization, and he disavowed them.

But moving forward, today the voters will speak out and show that their voice matters and they will not be undermined by the establishment, and hopefully we will be victorious today.

HARLOW: Omarosa, finally, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the new host of "The Apprentice" out on the campaign trail for Kasich. You're stumping for Trump. What do you think Trump thinks of that, his new fill-in, if you will?

(LAUGHTER)

MANIGAULT: What a way to squander your influence. What a waste of time. God bless John Kasich. He's a very nice guy. I am in Ohio and he is the governor, but, man, he has no clear way of becoming the nominee for the Republicans.

[14:55:03] HARLOW: He says he'll take Ohio and it will be a contested convention.

MANIGAULT: That's another way the establishment is trying to undermine the will of the people. But the people will be victorious. Their vote counts. And having this brokered convention undermines the very nature of a democracy. You vote. It matters. The person wins. They go on to represent. Poor Arnold Schwarzenegger. I mean, what a way to squander your support. He should have got behind the winner, and that is going to be Donald J. Trump.

HARLOW: Omarosa, I wish we had more time. Thank you for joining us from Cleveland, Ohio, today.

MANIGAULT: Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: Nice to see you.

MANIGAULT: Thank you.

HARLOW: That will do it for me. So glad you were with us today. Thank you so much. Ashleigh?

BANFIELD: Poppy Harlow, great job. And I'm Ashleigh Banfield live in Flint. Thanks for watching both of us. And stay with CNN. Our special coverage of the caucuses and the primaries starts right after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)