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Trooper Saves Woman's Life; Marco Rubio Desperate For A Big Win; Donald Trump Coming Off Three Massive Wins Yesterday. Aired 3:30- 4p ET

Aired March 09, 2016 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00] SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And one of the interesting things, Brooke, is that if you look at this manifesto it was note the president he was necessarily after. It is a very sad read you about it talks about how he grew up in Idaho, a loving family. That he studied science, that he was an honor student. And essentially went to college, was very stressed out, didn't get enough sleep, started to hear voices - I mean, this is if you believe what he said, started to hear these voices and that this pastor had reach out to him at some point. He felt like he was trying to control him. He felt like he was hearing these voices and others were trying to control him as well.

But he says the president, specifically in this letter says he is doing a great job, that he sympathizes with him, that he wishes him well and that he is sorry that the president is humiliated and controlled by these other people that he believes are really alien to everyone else, Brooke.

So it is bizarre. He is going to be in court later this afternoon facing those charges originally out of Idaho for attempted murder of that pastor. What we did see this morning, Brooke, as well as is more than two dozen or so -- a big secret service presence on the north lawn this morning. This occurred on the south lawn. But that was the north lawn just out of due diligence so see if there was anything they missed, if there were suspicious packages or objects besides what he threw over the south fence. We're toll no that's not the case. That they pretty much wrapped this thing up. That the president as well as some of those representatives were not in any danger. But certainly a bizarre situation last night and this morning as well, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Suzanne Malveaux, at least the pastor is expected to survive. Thank you so much, there at the White House.

Now, to this amazing story of a Missouri trooper who says a driver just moments before her car explodes into a fireball -- the woman had been hit by another driver who was running from police. Now the driver's husband is given CNN his first interview since the heroic rescue was all caught on video.

National correspondent Ryan Young has today as beyond the call of duty.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RYAN YOUNG, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Police dash cam video shows the dramatic moments when a driver running from police strikes another car.

JIM THUSS, MISSOURI STATE POLICE: Both vehicles spin out of control. I just called it in. Just knew I needed to get down here. I could see -- see the fireball. I could see the pretty good sized plume of smoke come up from there.

YOUNG: Missouri state trooper Jim Thuss had clocked the speeding driver at 100 miles per hour.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Car at the center, it's on fire.

YOUNG: The flames spreading fast, the officer ran to the 60-year-old Becky Crawford's totaled Honda civic as gas spilled from its ruptured tank.

THUSS: I knew I had to get her out of there. I've worked probably a thousand plus accidents in my career. And you know once a car catches on fire the time that they are taking to go up is pretty quick.

YOUNG: With at least half a dozen broken bones including a broken back, Crawford lay help unless her car.

THUSS: Climbed inside, undid her seat belt. Asked her if she was OK. She said I hurt. I said I know you do but we've got to get you out of here.

YOUNG: Less than 90 seconds after Thuss carried Crawford away from the scene the car explodes.

When you watch the video what's that like? A little surreal?

THUSS: It is a little surreal. You know, that's not something you capture on your own camera very often. Everything just happened so fast.

YOUNG: The 19-year veteran says he didn't do anything that any fellow officer wouldn't have done.

THUSS: There he is.

YOUNG: But the victim's husband calls the trooper a genuine hero thanking him in person.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God bless you. Good to see you.

THUSS: God to see you.

YOUNG: Crawford says the trooper's disregard for his own life saved his wife's.

RONALD CRAWFORD, SURVIVOR'S HUSBAND: I wouldn't have chosen this way to meet him but I'm glad that we met. THUSS: The accolades are nice but that's not why we do our job. We

don't do our job for accolades. We do our job because, you know, the service and protection that's on our patch. And that was my opportunity to do a little bit of both that day.

YOUNG: Ryan Young, CNN, Kansas City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: How about that. Ryan Young thank you for sharing his story.

Meantime, a bizarre moment during a John Kasich rally minutes ago. Who is this guy? And what did he say? You will hear it.

Plus, kids say the darnedest things. That goes for politics as well. Wait until you hear what a bunch of school kids told CNN about this nasty primary season.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:39:22] BALDWIN: Florida senator Marco Rubio is desperate for a big win. Rubio is woefully trailing his opponents for Republican nomination. And a win next week right here in his home state of Florida is precisely what he wants and what he needs. Question is, will he get it? It is the most important primary really of his campaign.

So here with me, "Sun Sentinel" columnist Michael Mayo.

Michael thank you so much for being with me.

MICHAEL MAYO, COLUMNIST, SUN SENTINEL: Hey Brooke, a pleasure.

BALDWIN: So, I know I chatted with someone from your paper from the editorial board the other day. And she explained to me how, you know, your paper isn't actually endorsing a single candidate. You have never done this before but no one is up to snuff. But there is one candidate particular who you think should quit, that being Marco Rubio. You wrote in a piece that there is one message voters just aren't that into you. Is he not getting the message, Michael?

[15:40:18] MAYO: I suppose that he is not because he is out there actively campaigning all day today with rallies across the state of Florida. He is actually opening a field office in North Carolina tonight. He is not going to be there, but some of his surrogates are. So it's kind of befuddling to me because I think it's more like closing time for Marco than opening time. But he is marching on. And I don't know if it's denial or stubbornness or what, but he thinks he really has a shot to capture the 99 winner take all delegates here in Florida. And I say it's kind of beside the point because even if he gets those 99 delegates, I don't see a path for him to get the nomination.

BALDWIN: So have you heard about this news that has come in and out the last hour or so, the fact that Jeb Bush will be talking to all of the candidates except for Donald Trump ahead of our Republican debate tomorrow night? I'm curious about your thoughts on that and what a conversation between Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio would like look like.

MAYO: I don't know how I guess beneficial Jeb Bush's endorsement would be. It might even be the kiss of death in this campaign season talk, you know, about voters not being that into you, they certainly weren't into Jeb Bush. And right now Marco Rubio's campaign is also in the same kind of utter free fall and collapse. And it's really amazing because you know he was in that neck-and-neck dual with Ted Cruz just two and a half weeks ago. And then all of a sudden as soon as he got into the gutter with Donald Trump -- and it wasn't that debate so much where he actually started really hitting on Donald Trump hard on policy wise, but it was the following day where he was at that rally and he had that whole thing about the big hands. The small hands, and you know what they say about guys with small hands.

BALDWIN: Right.

MAYO: Well, he started going into the gutter there. And Trump really finished him off by -- you know, he ran him over with the trump dump truck, so to speak.

BALDWIN: So let's continue with your analogy, and let's maybe say then what if game could be that the Donald Trump dump truck runs him over right here in Florida March 15th. What are the political repercussions of that for the Florida senator?

MAYO: Well, I mean, that's -- the thing is, if he does not pull out before the actual primary day, which you know now there is there are murmurs all over the place. Obviously CNN had that report earlier this week. The twitter versus also has those rumblings that Marco might be hearing some pressure from his donors to pull out now before he totally loses face. Again, his campaign spokesman denies it 100 percent, says it is fiction. But the more I hear -- you know, the more I hear his people talk and Marco talk I wonder if it's more like Baghdad Bob, you know. He is just saying everything is fine. We are just where we want to be. I don't know how many presidential candidates, successful ones go two for their first 24 and then only in single digits in their last four or six contests. So I mean, it's just -- the floor has obviously fallen out below. In my mind it's not a matter of if his complain is going to end but just a question of when.

BALDWIN: Michael Mayo, someone who would know, "Sun Sentinel" columnist here in the great state of Florida. Thank you so much.

And coming up next, new sound just in from Donald Trump himself. What has he now said? We'll play it for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:48:10] BALDWIN: Donald Trump coming off of three massive wins last night, super Tuesday part two we'll call it. I just sat down with Anderson Cooper in Palm Beach. Here's a piece of that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, AC 360: Huge night last night. Did you have any idea that you were going to win as big as you did?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I felt good. I mean, Mississippi, I was there three or four times and it was like a love- fest and so I felt really good about it. Michigan has been great. It has been great for me for a long time. I have so many friends there. And I had no idea it would be that big.

COOPER: Do you think it's the message on trade particularly in Michigan that was effective? Sanders winning as well there with a very similar message on trade.

TRUMP: I think they want strength. I think they want military. I think they want to take care of vets. I think they hate Obamacare. But I would say ultimately it's about jobs and the economy. And you know, Michigan has been stripped. You look at those empty factories all over the place and nobody hits that message better than me.

COOPER: Two new polls out today, Quinnipiac also CNN, one both showing essentially the same thing. You are way ahead here in Florida. Almost, I think, 2-1 against Rubio and even in Ohio leading Kasich six points and seven points in each poll. If you win Florida, if you win Ohio, is it over?

TRUMP: I think so, yes. I think if I win those two, I think it's over.

COOPER: If you win Ohio, Kasich drops out and you win Florida and Rubio is gone and it's just you and Cruz, if you don't get all the delegates needed to win by the convention --

TRUMP: Well, I think if I win Ohio and I win Florida, pretty much you're going to be assured of doing that.

COOPER: You think you'll get all the delegates?

TRUMP: I think so, yes. I really think so. I don't see the convention going that route. I see probably getting the delegates. You know, it's like the fighters, that's the ultimate way of doing it, you knock them out. If you knock them out, nothing can happen.

COOPER: You want to go for a knockout.

TRUMP: I'd rather go for a knockout, yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[15:50:00] BALDWIN: All right. He wants the knockout. By the way, you can watch the entire interview tonight at "AC 360" 8:00 eastern.

Speaking of delegates here, 461. That is the number of delegates Donald Trump has won thus far in this election process, the majority by 101. Those are the people's votes but this is not a direct election. After Trump supporters cast those votes, those votes then get distributed among what are called pledged delegates. It means Trump will take these votes to the convention floor along with any more that he wins over the next few crucial months. But if he doesn't get to that magic number, 1,237, that he needs to be the party's nominee, it is at that point, people like Mitt Romney have strategized that the only remaining way to beat him is through a contested or brokered convention. So begins a political process that is so very much out of the control of the people.

So joining me now who had this phenomenal piece in "Time" magazine, Zeke Miller, political reporter for "Time," where it was great piece on this.

The questions you're embarrassed to about in regard to a brokered convention is specifically if you can have stop Trump situation. First of all, if he doesn't hit 1237, he says he is, let's say he doesn't. You go to the convention. He needs a majority after round one, correct?

ZEKE MILLER, POLITICAL REPORTER, TIME MAGAZINE: Yes. To win the nomination on the first ballot, you need 1237 pledged on the way in. All but 95, 96 percent of the delegates to a convention are pledged so that means about 90, 95 will go in to the convention unpledged. Yes, so there's a little bit of, you know, flexibility there for Trump. If he's just a few delegate short, he will be fine. If he doesn't hit that number it by a significant margin --

BALDWIN: Then what?

MILLER: That's when things get interesting. And deal with the folks, you know, political force. This is what we have been dreaming about for, you know, for decades. This is we are going for, you know. If we can get multiple ballots, you start seeing Ted Cruz, that's his whole strategy right now, really anyone else in this race right now is betting on getting 1237 at the convention rather than beforehand. It's very, very hard, sort of hitting a perfect shot for them to dot beforehand. They have to do it at the convention.

BALDWIN: But then there's this whole rules committee, right, which is as you point out is incredibly powerful and ultimately they could make or break, like you've pointed out, there was a bit about Ron Paul. And so, they said -- they didn't want Ron Paul to get the nomination and so they threw this little piece in there and they can do that with these candidates.

MILLER: Yes. The rules committee can do anything. Really, at the convention, the delegates run the entire show, so, and then the rules committee sets the agenda for the rest of the convention. The rules committee can come out pass a rule and send it to the full convention that says you must have blue hair to be the Republican nominee for president.

BALDWIN: They can do anything.

MILLER: They can do anything. They can get rid of the whole - of the delegate process. They have that of power of the election process. They have that sort of power. There's no law here. This is a party function. The democracy is secondary to the party.

BALDWIN: So when do you have at some point the potential deals being made, hey, you go this way and we will go this way, assuming Trump doesn't get the majority and it continues into the reality (ph).

MILLER: They will probably start even as soon as March 15th, a week from yesterday, if Donald Trump doesn't win both Florida and Ohio. Then it's going to be very hard for him to start hitting 1237. Even now, he needs to win more than 50 percent of the outstanding delegates and that's a really hard thing to do with three other people in the race. And even with two or one.

BALDWIN: He wants them to stay in.

MILLER: He wants them to stay in a little bit right now. It's very hard for anyone else to do that, you know, for Ted Cruz, maybe try to cut a deal with Marco Rubio or John Kasich, whichever one maybe gets out, see try to get some of their support. And then you have that option of, you know, a white knight coming in. That's very, very unlikely, particularly when you have Ted Cruz, who is very close to Trump in the delegate count right now.

BALDWIN: Do you think you'll be covering a brokered convention? Do you think we'll have this conversation when it's really happening?

MILLER: You know, it's 40 to 60 percent right now. Somewhere down that range. Say 50-50.

BALDWIN: Appreciate the math. We'll talk again I'm sure. Zeke Miller, "Time" magazine, thank you.

You know, and on this race and all the words being thrown out there, even kids know that all of this name calling, the attack ads and the presidential election, they're not a good thing. See what happened when we asked some third and fourth graders to comment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[15:58:11] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me just say this. This is not so much a question, so much as it is a compliment. On behalf of all the American people, I want to thank you for bringing a little class to the Republican debates.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Bring a little class, so says the Bernie Sanders impersonator who John Kasich just brought up to the stage there at a rally in Illinois.

Speaking of keeping it classy, the presidential candidates this year have been compared to children. But maybe even that is an insult to children. Our own great Kelly Wallace sat down with a bunch of third and fourth graders in New Jersey to check in. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Have you noticed there's a lot of fighting?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

WALLACE: What do you think of that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do not like that. It's like they're 10 years old.

WALLACE: Do you fight like that with your friends?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I might like that with my brother.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Any candidate that's running should not yell or anything.

WALLACE: All right. So of all those candidates, who's your favorite and why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not really sure, but I know who my least favorite is. Donald Trump.

WALLACE: Donald Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because I've heard that he might build a wall dividing Mexico and the USA. And he seems like a bully.

WALLACE: Who's your favorite and why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump.

WALLACE: Donald Trump. Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because I feel like he's a strong leader. It's like, you know, even though he yells, yes, but you don't want someone who's just quiet and sits there in the corner.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's not talking about what he's going to do. He's just saying won't believe what you see when I'm president. It will be awesome. It will be amazing. What's going to be so amazing? What's so awesome? What are you going to do? WALLACE: Who's your favorite and why?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hillary Clinton.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Oh, my God. We need more kids on the news. The kids, the kids.

Thank you so much for being with me. I'm Brooke Baldwin here at the University of Miami. We'll be back here same time tomorrow. But don't move a muscle, "THE LEAD" with Jim Sciutto starts right now.