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Mississippi Primary; Michigan Primary; U.S. Tourist Killed In Israel; Protests At Trump Rallies. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired March 08, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:06] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, thank you so much. Great to be with you on this Tuesday. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You, of course, are watching CNN.

We'll call it Super Tuesday the sequel. Right now voters are hitting the polls, which means we are mere hours away from knowing the answer to this question, will Donald Trump break away with an even bigger lead or could another candidate break out and slow Trump's surge toward the - ultimately the party's nomination? Ted Cruz showed that was possible just a couple of days ago.

Today on the Republican side, you have Hawaii caucusing and then you have Idaho, Mississippi and Michigan, all of those states are holding primaries. A total of 150 delegates are at stake. But keep in mind, it's also a big day for Democrats as well in both Michigan and Mississippi. Voters there are choosing between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton with 166 delegates up for grabs there.

So, let's check in and see what's happening on the ground level at two - two states. I have CNN's Jean Casarez. She is at a polling place in the city of Warren, Michigan. But let's begin with CNN's Polo Sandoval, who is live in Jackson, Mississippi.

Polo, sounds pretty busy.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. Actually it comes in waves too, Brooke. No question that this primary is heavy on the minds of people here and also in the headlines. In fact, the local paper today, you can see the whole lineup here from both sides of the aisle. You've got Rubio, Clinton, Sander, Kasich, Cruz. But, Brooke, you may have noticed somebody is missing and that's because the Republican frontrunner, Mr. Donald Trump, is actually taking up most of the headline, which has been really - or most of the front page, rather, which really has been the case most of this election cycle.

And this is because he actually visited this area just yesterday. He had a big rally only about 15 miles just north of where we are here in this polling location where, again, we continue to see people come and go. We've seen people of all walks of life, Brooke. We've seen people of all ages as well. One 90-year-old woman that I met a little while ago said that she had never missed out in voting in a presidential election and, of course, this time it's not going to be any different. And, of course, there are many people that want to do it because of tradition, because they feel it's their duty. And then what's interesting, too, it's almost a certain strategy that

some people are turning to. I spoke to one woman who traditionally votes Democrat, except today when she walked in, she, instead, picked up her ballot from the Republican table. She said it's not so much about who she wants to win, Brooke, but more about who she wants not to win. She voted for Kasich today because she fears that perhaps Trump has obviously too much support. But come the general election, she said she'll be picking up her ballot from the Democratic side.

So a lot of turnout here, Brooke. It's something that it's going to be interesting to see who exactly comes out on top, which candidate can claim Mississippi later today.

BALDWIN: Appreciate the note on the 90-year-old woman. Listen, if you can, you should.

Polo, thank you so much.

From Mississippi we go to Michigan where, as we mentioned, 150 Republican delegates are available today. This is really the biggest grab bag here both in Mississippi and Michigan. Jean Casarez is at a polling place in Warren.

Jean, how are - how are things looking right now?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I tell you, people are coming in. I mean, it's just streaming all day. From - and such a diverse community we're seeing. Along with younger voters, older voters, and everyone in between.

You know, this is Warren, Michigan. This is the heart of the auto industry. It is the largest suburb outside of Detroit. And this is a community that truly knows what it's like to suffer with the auto industry and all the struggles that they have had. It is predominately Democratic. However, the Reagan Democrats were born right here in 1980 and 1984.

So we've been talking to a lot of people and we're hearing the names on the Republican side of Donald Trump and John Kasich. Those are the names we're hearing. We have not heard at all Marco Rubio or Cruz at all, although one lone person was standing out there for Cruz, handing out brochures as people were coming in. But we're not hearing that people are voting for him.

On the side of the Democrats, we're hearing Clinton. We're also hearing Bernie Sanders. More Bernie Sanders, though, than Hillary Clinton because they believe Bernie is for the people and with the people.

But something we're learning right now, which is highly unusual, they say even for here. I've been told by someone who is working with the polling here that at least 30 voters today, over 30 have come in, they have said that they are registered to vote but they don't know what party. And so they're trying to say anything they can so they can tell them and remember what party they're with. They don't know that, but they have the name of a candidate. One name and that's the person they know they're going to vote for. And they can't refuse them to vote because they are registered to vote, but they - but they are aware of this are a bit concerned and just want the education out there that this is happening right here in Warren, Michigan.

[14:05:00] BALDWIN: OK. Jean Casarez, thank you so much. We'll check back in with you.

Meantime, on these candidates, we know today Ted Cruz responded to a fresh attack from Donald Trump, who said Senator Cruz, quote, "comes in Bible high," end quote, and then lies. Here's a response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Typically, when he goes down to attacking people's faith, it's a sign that Donald is really, really worried. I understand, the last election day, Super Saturday, was a very bad day for Donald. He came in proudly expecting to sweep all four contests. Instead, he got clobbered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's bring in our panel to talk about that potential clobbering and what this could mean moving forward. I have the author of "George H.W. Bush," the American president series, and also a professor at NYU, Tim Naftali, who was also the director of the Nixon Presidential Library. Also with us, back with us, former North Carolina Congressional Candidate Clay Aiken and Susan Del Percio, a Republican strategist who just joined the committee to draft Speaker Ryan, which is trying to get Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House, to join the race for the White House, which we will definitely get into in a second.

Great to see all of you all here.

But first, beginning with - we just heard from Ted Cruz and I'm looking at you, Tim, I want to begin with you. You know, after this weekend and seeing it was two and two with regard to wins for both Trump and Cruz, the question is, is this the beginning of sort of Trump losing any kind of ground game or is this finally like this coalescing against the non-Trump candidate?

TIM NAFTALI, FORMER DIRECTOR, NIXON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY: I think it's all about how reality is different from expectations.

BALDWIN: How do you mean?

NAFTALI: Before Saturday, pollster, pundits were - they expected Trump to win Maine, and he didn't. Cruz - Cruz won Maine.

BALDWIN: He was supposed to be the favorite.

NAFTALI: They thought that Trump -

BALDWIN: Kansas.

NAFTALI: And Kansas. Some people actually said that Rubio might win, and others said Cruz - said Trump. Cruz was a surprise. The margin was a surprise. And then the other thing is that Trump was supposed to win Louisiana big. And, in fact, it was called - BALDWIN: Because he did well in the south on Super Tuesday.

NAFTALI: And it was called for him early, but his lead went from 22 percent down to four by the end of the evening.

BALDWIN: Yes.

NAFTALI: Let's - and it turns out that later voters were voting for other people. They were voting for Cruz. They were not voting for Trump. So it's all about the expectations.

These are still proportional delegates. So you can win a couple of states and end the night with fewer delegates than the next person. And that's the key today, which is, who is going to end up with more than 50 percent of the delegates. Saturday, Cruz got more delegates than Trump. So that's what we're looking at today.

BALDWIN: So, looking at Cruz.

Also though I'm thinking - you can just rip that out of your ear. You don't even -

NAFTALI: I don't need it.

BALDWIN: There you go.

Looking - Susan, Michigan, it's an important state. And I know it's all proportional, but the big delegate grab bags are Michigan and Mississippi. And we know Kasich, for example, has really, really - this is a neighboring state, this is - this is sort of more his wheelhouse. He's put a lot of muscle into Michigan we know. Might that be a name who could surprise us after today and what about Trump in Michigan?

SUSAN DEL PERCIO, SENIOR ADVISER, COMMITTEE TO DRAFT SPEAKER RYAN: Well, at this point, it doesn't look like Kasich's on target to actually win the state -

BALDWIN: Yes.

DEL PERCIO: But he certainly is going to stop Trump from hitting that 50 percent, which is - makes it - in which case Trump would have all the delegates if he reaches 50 percent. What's also interesting is that Rubio may not hit 15 and he may get nothing to the point about proportional delegates.

BALDWIN: I'm reading Kasich is grabbing some of the Rubio supporters.

DEL PERCIO: Yes. But Kasich - Kasich is really interesting to watch because, don't forget, after New Hampshire he said, I'm going to go to the Midwest. This is my strategy.

BALDWIN: Yes. DEL PERCIO: I'm not going to do the Super Tuesday, not worry about the southern primaries. So to look alive and look good for Ohio next week, he must, must, must do very well in Michigan.

BALDWIN: Rubio has been promising that he will win his home state of Florida. This is obviously an incredible, incredible, important win for him. I'm wondering, though, if you think, Clay, that he's put so many eggs in the Florida basket, he hasn't spent enough time in some of these other states.

CLAY AIKEN (D), FORMER NORTH CAROLINA CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Well, I mean he's put a lot of eggs in Florida, but he's certainly is right now still not on track to win Florida. I mean he's still polling below Trump. To your point earlier, I think not only will Trump not get - I don't - you're being generous to - to say Kasich is keeping Trump from getting 50 percent. Trump is keeping Trump from getting 50 percent. He's hovering around that 35 to 40 percent everywhere. And even in Louisiana, his numbers haven't dropped. He - Cruz picked up Rubio supporters. Cruz picked up Rubio supporters in Louisiana on the day of voting, so I think Cruz -

BALDWIN: Do you think that's because of Trump being Trump or Cruz being Cruz?

AIKEN: I think - well, Cruz - Cruz is - Cruz is certainly making an aggressive push to take Rubio's people, I think, at this point. Trump's not - his numbers aren't changing. They're not going down.

BALDWIN: Yes.

AIKEN: And I don't think they'll change in Florida. I think Rubio's trouble in Florida is going to be Cruz. He's not going to get - he's not going to get Trump voters to move to him. And Cruz is making a big push for Florida right now.

DEL PERCIO: He is.

AIKEN: And Rubio's spent all his time there and I don't know that it's going to pay off for him because of Cruz's work.

BALDWIN: Let me play a piece of this ad. This is from a conservative super PAC. This is American Future Fund. And this is an effort to oust Trump. Here you go.

[14:10:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I went to an ivy league school. I'm very highly educated. I know words. I have the best words. Listen you (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

He gets the nomination, they're going to sue his (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

She said he's a (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I don't give a (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

We'll beat the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of them. They're ripping the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of the sea.

Bull (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

What the hell are we doing?

You're going to raise that (EXPLETIVE DELETED) price.

I have the best words.

And you can tell them to go (EXPLETIVE DELETED) themselves.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): American Future Fund Political Action is responsible for the content of this advertising.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So this is an idea. When I fly to Florida tonight, I can't wait to turn on my TV to really see like the barrage of ads that Floridians are getting, you know, pounded by. And here's one example of an anti-Trump ad. You think a lot of times though negative ads backfire.

NAFTALI: Yes, but I think the issue here is whether Trump has a ceiling or not. I mean Clay just talked about, his problem is, he's hovering around 34, 35 percent.

BALDWIN: Yes.

NAFTALI: You cannot be the nominee of a major party if you're just winning 34, 35, or 40 percent of the delegates. The reason in the past that you - we saw people win after perhaps a third of the primaries was that the - the organization of the party coalesced around this person. We're not seeing that and we're not - no one's predicting that around Trump.

BALDWIN: There's no one coalescing. Yes.

NAFTALI: Now, they might coalesce around Cruz, but we'll see. The fact of the matter is, these ads may not and probably won't affect the people who vote for Trump, but they'll affect the people who are undecided or looking for a winner. Remember, Trump's big argument is that he is the winner. If he's -

AIKEN: I don't - I feel like -

DEL PERCIO: And there's just one other thing, and you say you're going to go down to Florida tonight -

BALDWIN: Yes.

DEL PERCIO: And you're going to see all the ads.

BALDWIN: When I turn on the TV.

DEL PERCIO: One thing that you're not going to see or Floridians are just starting to see are a response to these attack ads. Trump has not gone - just recently went on the air. He sees the gaps closing. He went from 16 points ahead to eight. Depending on this debate on Thursday, it's - that's going to be very significant.

BALDWIN: Yes.

DEL PERCIO: And Rubio can change numbers. Eight points in a week with a debate and other things happening, absolutely Rubio can close that gap.

BALDWIN: What were you going to say?

AIKEN: You can't - you can't underestimate that fact that - I mean to me that - to some people it's going to look like a pro-Trump ad. A lot of the people who are supporting Trump are supporting him because he's not a typical -

BALDWIN: Precisely what they were bleeping.

AIKEN: He's not a typical politician.

BALDWIN: Yes. Yes.

AIKEN: And the attacks against him, I think, have backfired as well. I mean my mother is - is - is a - she votes Republican typically. She's not necessarily thrilled with Donald Trump as a candidate because he fired me on "Apprentice," but -

DEL PERCIO: That's not fair.

(CROSS TALK)

BALDWIN: We've moved past that.

AIKEN: On top of that, she watched - she watched the debate -

NAFTALI: Well, that alone is reason enough.

AIKEN: She watched the debates, the most recent debate, and decided - and a number of people in North Carolina who I've spoken to -

BALDWIN: Yes.

AIKEN: Have decided to vote for Trump because the establishment is attacking him and they're tired of typical politicians. He's not a typical politician and the typical politicians are attacking him. And I think that - I think that it's certainly not going to raise him above 40, 45 percent at the most -

BALDWIN: Let me -

AIKEN: But it's going to help him in some way.

DEL PERCIO: Well, because he - where can he grow? How does he grow a base? And there's no one that's going to go to him who isn't already there. BALDWIN: Let me - let me move off of Republicans just quickly, and I

do want to ask you about Paul Ryan because it's super important. But, quickly, Tim, what do you think of Dems, Michigan in particular, do or die for Bernie Sanders?

NAFTALI: It's all about the margin. How close does Senator Sanders get? Secretary of State Clinton is going to win Michigan. I mean at least if the polls are right. So how close is he? And - -- and - and when they -

BALDWIN: He says he's in this. He calls it a movement. He's got lots of money.

NAFTALI: But - but - but it's also -

DEL PERCIO: Not going anywhere, right.

NAFTALI: It's also when they take apart the votes to see if his base - if he's expanded his base at all. And take in some of the people that he would have to take to be a national candidate. So Michigan's important. He's going to lose Mississippi, again, if the polls are right. But it's Michigan. It's really the margin by which he loses. And the kind of voters he's picking up. Is he just sticking with millennials? Has he - is he getting older people?

BALDWIN: Right.

NAFTALI: We'll just see that (INAUDIBLE).

BALDWIN: Right. Right.

DEL PERCIO: But he's raised millions of dollars and he's going to go to the convention.

AIKEN: Right.

DEL PERCIO: Whether he's losing - if it's 90/10, if he's still going to the convention, he's not going to let Hillary Clinton off the hook and go center, which is where she desperately wants to be. And that's a really important thing to remember when we're dealing with Bernie Sanders.

BALDWIN: Final thoughts from you.

AIKEN: I think it's possible that Bernie Sanders started his campaign to send a message, to make a statement. He was surprised with success and thought, wait, maybe I can win this. And now I think he's moving back to what his central purpose was at the beginning, to go to the convention, to have some influence on the platform, to get Hillary Clinton to move a little bit to the left.

DEL PERCIO: Yes.

AIKEN: So I think he's getting what I think he always hoped he would.

BALDWIN: OK. We have a little time before Cleveland and we're going to talk to you about this whole draft Paul Ryan notion.

Tim and Susan and Clay, thank you all so much on this Super Tuesday, the sequel.

NAFTALI: Thank you.

BALDWIN: It is a huge week for politics here on CNN. We have full coverage of today's four-state contests. And then tomorrow night, 9:00 Eastern, CNN will simulcast a Democratic presidential debate hosted by Univision and "The Washington Post." So that's the Dems. And then it's Miami. It is the CNN Republican presidential debate down in Miami, Florida, five days ahead of a massive primary contest winner take all there.

[14:15:08] Next, they could be the wildest rallies in the history of presidential campaigns, pushing, yelling, protests, threats from the candidate himself. We will take you behind the scenes of a Donald Trump event.

Plus, word of a secret meeting from some of America's top business giants and powerful lawmakers. The topic? Trump, of course. Find out why, what was said.

And breaking news, a top ISIS leader believed to have been killed by an American airstrike. Hear who the target was and where.

You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We're getting some breaking news into us here at CNN. An American tourist has been killed in a stabbing attack in Israel. The attack happened along an oceanfront boardwalk near Tel Aviv. All of this happening miles from where U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was meeting with Israeli officials. So let's take you now live to Jerusalem to CNN's Oren Liebermann.

And, Oren, tell me what you know.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not even mile, much closer to where Vice President Joe Biden was meeting with former Israeli president and prime minister Shimon Peres. Vice President Biden had just arrived in Israel, landing at the Tel Aviv Airport. When he went to this meeting, the attack, according to Shimon Peres and his spokespeople, happened just a short time later.

[14:20:11] Police say an attacker with a knife stabbed four people right at the Jaffa (ph) port, which, on a nice night like tonight, is a very full place. Then police say the attacker moved northward, stabbing people as he went. We've seen video from Israel's Channel 10 that shows the attacker running along the street, reaching into cars, apparently with a knife, and trying to stab people who have open windows. You then see police following the attacker. Police say they approached the attacker and they shot and killed him.

Police haven't released too much information about the attacker, but they say he is a 22-year-old from the northern West Bank. So as it stands right now, in this attack, one has been killed, an American tourist, and at least ten more have been injured. We're still getting information about this and we'll absolutely keep you posted.

BALDWIN: Absolutely horrendous. Please do. We'll stay in close contact with you. Oren Liebermann, thank you, in Jerusalem.

Coming up, back to politics. All in on Florida. Despite trailing in the polls here, Marco Rubio guaranteeing a victory in his home state, saying he's under pressure to stay in the race.

Plus, Mitt Romney, still using his voice, now working the phones in four primary states today on behalf of the stop Trump movement. We'll talk with the RNC's Henry Barber (ph).

And, next, they could be the wildest, angriest rallies in the history of American presidential politics. CNN will take you behind the scenes of a Donald Trump event.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:26:08] BALDWIN: If you have watched a Donald Trump rally any time lately, you have probably heard these three words, get them out. It's become a bit of a cry as of late. At a recent event, CNN witnessed at least nine different groups of people being kicked out during a speech from Mr. Trump. They were physically ejected by security while being verbally scolded by Trump. Here is CNN's Gary Tuchman reporting from the Trump campaign trial.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A Donald Trump rally about to begin, Concord, North Carolina. The crowd eagerly anticipating his arrival. And in the back of the room, a man wearing this t-shirt.

MICHAEL MORTON, TRUMP RALLY PROTESTER: This man doesn't deserve to have the launch code for nuclear weapons. He can't even control his Twitter account.

TUCHMAN: It would have been likely this protester would get booted out during this rally, but it didn't happen because he got booted out before the rally. Call it a preemptive strike against one of the increasing number of Donald Trump demonstrators. It's happening at Trump rallies with increasing frequency, and often playing out quite dramatically.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, get that guy out of here, police. Thank you. Get him out. Come on.

Get him out.

Get him out of here. Out.

Get out of here, please. Get him out.

Out, out, out, out.

TUCHMAN: At today's event, Trump spoke for 40 minutes and was interrupted from the beginning to the end.

TRUMP: Oh, we have a protester. We have a protester. We have a pro - out. Out. Bye. Go home to mommy. Go home to mommy. Tell her to tuck you in bed. Bye-bye.

TUCHMAN: The U.S. Secret Service protects Trump, but private security is increasingly evident at the rallies to keep a check on outside agitators, with local law enforcement in place to aid private security when people are kicked out. The sheriff's department here saying this is considered a private event and the campaign has the right to do this.

TUCHMAN (on camera): What do you think of that, that he wants to get people out of here who -

MARIA COLEMAN, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Oh, I loved his comment on - well, back in the old days, when you could fight and punch them right in the nose and then carried out on a stretcher. That's fine with me.

TRUMP: Bye-bye. Good job, fella. I'd like to punch him in the face, I'll tell you.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): Other presidential candidates have people kicked out their rallies too. But the Trump campaign takes it to a whole new level. And the real estate mogul who says he will, quote, "be a unifier as president," seems to revel in egging on his supporters who boo and cheer those getting the heave-ho.

TRUMP: So if you see somebody getting really to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you, seriously.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're not going to not -

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Donald Trump's a leader. He can do what he wants.

TUCHMAN (on camera): There are many people who find it rather unlikely that Donald Trump will ever be a unifier. But in a sense, he has already proven he is. At this rally and many others, he has unified the majority of people who love him against the minority of people most avidly don't.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): At this rally, we saw at least nine different groups of people kicked out during Trump's speech, an average of one every four and a half minutes.

KITTY RICHARDSON, TRUMP SUPPORTER: If you're going to vote - demonstrate against him, yes, you need to do.

TUCHMAN (on camera): So you think it's OK for Donald Trump to encourage (INAUDIBLE) -

RICHARDSON: Yes, he can do anything he wants to, he's our future president. TUCHMAN (voice-over): The final ejection, during Trump's final words.

TRUMP: So we're going to start winning again. We're going to win a lot. I love you. go out and vote.

TUCHMAN: Gary Tuchman, CNN, Concord, North Carolina.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Gary, thank you.

Let's talk to two of our folks who have covered many, many Donald Trump rallies. I have CNN political reporter MJ Lee with me here in New York and CNN investigative correspondent Chris Frates, who is with the Cruz campaign there in Raleigh. But, you know, I know that, as I've mentioned, you've been at Trump events. You've covered them.

[14:29:57] MJ, just turning you, two main themes of, you know, who is attending these rallies, the people who are angry and the people who are extraordinarily loyal, yes?

MJ LEE, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Right. And having covered Trump and some of the other Republican candidates, I think it's completely fair to say that there is this electric energy.