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Rubio Urged to Drop Out; Flint Water Crisis Affects Youth.; North Korea Threatens a Preemptive and Offensive Nuclear Strike; Peyton Manning to Formally Announce Retirement. Aired 9:30-10a ET
Aired March 07, 2016 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[09:33:47] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Marco Rubio's quest to stop Donald Trump from grapping the GOP nomination has run into a bit of a hurdle. That hurdle is named Ted Cruz. Because while the Florida senator throws jabs at the GOP frontrunner, his Texas counterpart is racking up wins. Cruz now just 87 delegates behind Trump, as Rubio trails far behind. And after another set of losses on Super Saturday, some of the party, including Cruz and Trump, say it is time for Rubio to bow out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As long as the field remains divided, it gives Donald an advantage. If you're not able to prevail, if you're not able to amass enough delegates to have any plausible path to 1,237, there comes a point where other candidates, other campaigns have to reflect, prayerfully consider, do I have a path going forward.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Marco Rubio had a very, very bad night. And, personally, I'd call for him to drop out of the race. I think it's time now that he drop out of the race. I really think so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: All right, so should he drop out of the race? With me now to talk about that, Brian Morgenstern, a Rubio supporter and Republican strategist, and Buck Sexton, a CNN political commentator.
Welcome to both of you.
BRIAN MORGENSTERN, MARCO RUBIO SUPPORTER: Thank you.
BUCK SEXTON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you.
COSTELLO: So, Brian, should -- is it time for Rubio to drop out? He's not doing very well.
[09:35:01] MORGENSTERN: Oh, what a surprise, his political opponents want him to stop running against them, you know? No, it's not time to drop out because nobody has even 25 percent of what you need to get to the nomination. Florida is a winner take all state. He is barnstorming that state. There are lots of very effective attacks on Trump. Rubio has got as good a chance as any of fulfilling his promise to win Florida, which would be 99 delegates, which would change the race overnight. The race to -- think about this, the race today is fundamentally different from what it was a week ago when everybody started exposing Trump as a fraud. It will be fundamentally different a week from now after Super Tuesday.
COSTELLO: So, Buck, some analysts say that Trump wants Rubio to drop out because Rubio's the guy that can actually beat Trump, not Ted Cruz. Your thoughts?
SEXTON: What we've seen so far is that Ted Cruz is the guy who can beat Trump, not Rubio. Rubio is essentially betting it all on Florida. Ted Cruz is actually trying to help take away that possibility from Rubio by putting a little more campaign -- a little more of his campaign resources into Florida. But this is a big roll of the dice. I mean essentially this becomes the Rubio campaign's waterloo. If they lose Florida, I think everybody expects that not only should he drop out of the race, but also he will now have suffered a major political defeat for his future, for whatever else he has planned in his home state.
So he's not going to drop out. Those analysts who were saying that there should be some kind of a Rubio/Cruz unity ticket are --
COSTELLO: I was going to ask about that.
SEXTON: Oh, well, well, they're correct in that if you want somebody who can get ahead of Donald Trump, not necessarily even get all the delegates needed to clinch the nomination ahead of -- ahead of the convention. But if you want somebody to get ahead, it's going to have to be a two person race. And the longer this thing drags out with Cruz, Rubio and Kasich, the longer Donald Trump is going to be the frontrunner. Which means, by the way, if this goes to a brokered convention, all this stuff about how -- oh, maybe they can take it away from Trump then, that is disastrous for the party. People are going to be very upset if Donald Trump loses because of the so-called smoke filled room.
COSTELLO: Oh, my goodness, it will be high drama, right? So let me -- let me read Erik Erikson's strategy for you, Buck and Brian. So, Erik Erikson, he's a conservative columnist, he's called for unity ticket between Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. He writes in part, quote, "Cruz needs Rubio in an alliance. Together they keep the wings of the Republican Party from splitting. Together, Rubio can throw the personal punches at Trump that have so thrown Trump off his game and Cruz can throw the policy punches that show how shallow Trump really is."
Brian?
MORGENSTERN: Well, look, I'm a Republican. I like both of these guys. But Rubio is -- there is no way that he should be dropping out right now and joining up with anybody else because he still has a lot more to show people. And he's been showing the people that Trump is a fraud and the fact remains that Rubio is the best candidate for uniting the party at the top of the ticket and growing the party going forward. We saw that in Puerto Rico, where he routed the other candidates. So --
COSTELLO: But it's Puerto Rico.
MORGENSTERN: What's the matter with Puerto Rico?
COSTELLO: Well, I mean --
MORGENSTERN: It's lovely. It is beautiful.
SEXTON: Minnesota, Puerto Rico. He -- look, you can't add up a whole bunch of bronze medals and get a gold medal, right? He's not winning in important states. I think the idea of a unity ticket strategically makes a lot of sense. Realistically it's not going to happen because both of these candidates, Cruz and Rubio, have their own donors, they have their own egos, they have their own aspirations to be the next commander in chief. So they're going to drag this thing out.
But time is not on the side of either of those candidates. Either Rubio or Cruz -- and I'd be fine with either, by the way -- either Rubio or Cruz needs to be the sole alternative to Donald Trump or else Donald Trump is going to continue to pick up enough proportional delegates in major states that he's the frontrunner going into the convention.
COSTELLO: Well, all -- I --
SEXTON: There's just -- this is just math.
COSTELLO: Although I have heard that Rubio supporters are largely mad at John Kasich because they think he's just sucking the air (ph) out of Rubio's campaign for his own good and he aren't going anywhere.
MORGENSTERN: That's right. That's -- that's accurate. He's -- he's been -- he's been, you know, clawing away and getting these like 9 percent, 4 percent or whatever. And there's some data showing that upwards of 60 percent of Kasich supporters have Rubio as their second choice. So there is some evidence to back that up.
But to Buck's point about the convention, the goal of these never Trump candidates, the not Donald Trumps, is to stop him from getting 1,237. And in order to do that, he has to be losing states. And Ted Cruz, the others argue I think rightly, he is not the best position to beat Donald enough to keep him from getting that nomination. These guys have to stay in it. Again, Rubio's the guy who --
COSTELLO: Yes, and (INAUDIBLE) --
SEXTON: I'd have to disagree with my friend and colleague --
COSTELLO: No, no, no --
SEXTON: But so far that hasn't been the case. Cruz has been the one winning states.
COSTELLO: I know but -- but the Midwest is coming up and I don't know how good Ted Cruz is (INAUDIBLE) the states of Ohio and Michigan, but --
MORGENSTERN: Right, the calendar going forward is (INAUDIBLE).
COSTELLO: I've got to end it there, though. I do.
Thanks to both of you, Brian Morgenstern and Buck Sexton.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the lifelong impacts of Flint's water crisis. We'll hear from the city's youngest victims, next.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This water, poison in it, if I drink it, I'm going to die. And I don't want to die.
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[09:43:49] COSTELLO: Flint, Michigan, and its water crisis front and center on the political stage. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders facing tough questions from people who unknowingly drank lead contaminated water for months. Last night largely focusing on the distrust Flint residents have toward the government. Sara Sidner in Flint with more.
Good morning, Sara.
SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
You know, we had no idea the mental strain this is putting on the children until we sat down and talked to them. Yes, there's a physical strain, but the mental strain is really, really strong for kids as young as eight years old.
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DOMINIQUE ABSELL, HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: Because I wanted to serve our country and --
SIDNER (voice-over): Dominique Absell is only 18, but his lifelong dream for his future is dead.
DOMINIQUE ABSELL: That was my dream to go to the Army and now I can't.
SIDNER: The city he loves is now a source of anxiety, partly because of the water crisis and what has happened to his body since.
ABSELL: I start like getting headaches and passing out, seizure.
[09:45:00] SIDNER: His family says doctors can't point exactly why he began blacking out, sometimes several times a week. It means medically he can't qualify for the Army. He isn't even allowed to drive. His blood tests show very low levels of lead, convincing his mother the contaminates in Flint's water are to blame, but there's no medical proof. SIDNER (on camera): You said you don't know if it's the water. What
do you think it is?
BEVERLY DAVIS, MOTHER: It has to be the water. He just stopped passing out because I just stopped cooking with the water.
SIDNER (voice-over): Absell (ph) is one of the children who will inherit the city of Flint, a city that is now a shell of its former self. Realty Trac estimates one in 14 homes has been abandoned. For three consecutive years ending in 2013, Flint has had the most violent crimes per capita and about 40 percent of the residents live beneath the poverty line.
Then came the decision by government officials to save money by switching the water supply. It end up creating a major health hazard. The biggest potential harm hitting Flint's future generations, like 8- year-olds Julianne (ph) and Nadia who play like children but speak in extremes about the water.
SIDNER (on camera): What's wrong with the water?
NADIA BAYLOR, 8-YEAR-OLD: They have lead in it and they have poison in it because the pipes are dirty.
SIDNER: Do you know what lead does to people who drink lead?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kill people.
SIDNER: At eight, they notice everything, like the number of times they've had to practice sheltering in place in case there's a shooter and the number of boarded up houses in their neighborhood. If it was up to them, their future won't be in Flint.
What about you? Why would you leave Flint?
BAYLOR: Because this water is poisonous and if I drink it I'm going to die. And I don't want to die. Nobody want to die.
SIDNER (voice-over): From eight to 18, many of Flint's children and their families worry the town is dying. The burly (ph), soft hearted young man beside himself because he truly believes he has no future at all.
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SIDNER (on camera): It was so hard seeing that 18-year-old young man with his whole life ahead of him just break down in front of our cameras crying because he really doesn't think that he has a future, not here, and potentially not anywhere.
I do want to give you some idea of what we're dealing with here, because it really isn't just about the water. And even if the water isn't causing some of the problems that he's having and other children are having, it's the anxiety that it is. They can't use it to brush their teeth, they can't take showers in it, they can't drink, but they're also driving around their neighborhoods and they're seeing this.
We're just on a typical street here in Flint, and you're seeing a house there, gorgeous old house, but it's abandoned. And just across the street, another gorgeous, big house that was once someone's family inside, and that's been abandoned too.
And this is a pretty typical street. One in 14 houses are vacant, and in some areas 1 in 5. People can see that their town is dying and they want someone to do something about it and they're looking to the presidential candidates to see what they say about it.
Carol?
COSTELLO: All right, and we're going to get into what the presidential candidates said in the NEWSROOM, you know, about Flint's water crisis. Sara Sidner, reporting live from Flint this morning.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, North Korea threatens a preemptive nuclear strike. We'll talk about that next.
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[09:52:40] COSTELLO: North Korea is threatening a, quote, "preemptive and offensive nuclear strike," all in response to the United States and South Korea staging joint military exercises.
(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)
COSTELLO (voice-over): Tensions are already running high on the Korean Peninsula due to the recent U.N. sanctions, the toughest sanctions in years, but the way.
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COSTELLO (on camera): Barbara Starr live at the Pentagon with more. Good morning.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Those sanctions, of course, aimed at crippling North Korea's ability to develop weapons, but right now the -- you're right. I mean, the rhetoric is extremely high out of Pyongyang. The U.S. feels it is due to these regular exercises, two of them actually underway right now between the U.S. and South Korea. They won't wind up until the end of April.
So, we're potentially in for several weeks of very hot rhetoric out of the North. The U.S. view, of course, the exercises are aimed at demonstrating the U.S. commitment to the defense of South Korea. So, what's the assessment? What is Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, really up to with all of this talk?
Clearly the U.S. view is that they hope it's just talk., but there's a lot of concern. The North Koreans recently conducted an underground nuclear test. They launched a satellite that gave them the ability to test the equivalent of a long range missile. They're sensitive about the sanctions right now. So, you have all three of these things coming together in the North Korean regime.
From the U.S. point of view, they're watching very carefully. Right now they don't see any military moves by the north, just talk.
Carol?
COSTELLO: All right. Barbara Starr reporting live this morning. Thank you.
[09:54:14] Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Peyton Manning hanging up his helmet for good.
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COSTELLO: Peyton Manning is calling it quits after 18 seasons. He'll make it official later this afternoon. Coy Water (sic) -- Wire has more for us this morning. Good morning, Coy.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol. Peyton wasn't just the face of the franchises for whom he played or the multimillion dollar companies he endorsed, he was the face of the entire NFL, and in my mind as a former player, he's the face of what any athlete in America should aspire to be.
Through all of his success he's retained a humility that's not often seen from athletes, or celebrities for that matter. He's an inspiring role model for kids who in today's sports world need them desperately. Now, as a former NFL player, it was a privilege to play against Peyton Manning. He was one of those rare opponents that actually turned you into a fan of the game during the game. As a lifelong special teams player, I'd usually sit on the bench to catch my breath for the next snap as the opposing offense was on the field.
Well, with him, with Manning, I'd stand right up there on the sideline as close as I could get to catch a glimpse of a maestro, a master of his craft. He'll go down as one of the greatest American sports figures of all time, Carol.
Now, at the end of his career, Peyton's body was falling apart. He was an empty shell physically of what he used to be. 18 seasons in the league is a long time when you consider the average is only about 3.5. Three neck surgeries through a career. He persevered and still went on to become the winningest quarterback in NFL history with a Super Bowl title to boot.
COSTELLO: I think we'll see him on television, don't you?
(CROSSTALK)
WIRE: I want to see him in a movie, I can see him, he's the next Will Ferrell, Carol.
COSTELLO: I know. He's funny, too. He could have his own comedy show.
Coy Water (sic) - Coy Wire, thanks so much. WIRE: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.
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