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Democratic Race; Belgium Raid; North Korea Fires Missiles; March Madness. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired March 18, 2016 - 09:30   ET

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


[09:30:00] HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (voice-over): Immigration from Mexico has dropped considerably. It's just not happening anymore. There has not been net migration over our border from Mexico.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, Carol, you can tell she's itching for a fight with Republicans over immigration. She's coming off a five-state sweep from Tuesday night. We're talking about 16, 28 delegates in her pocket. That is after yesterday Bernie Sanders conceding Missouri.

So the next battleground that we are seeing here is the west. This is on Tuesday. One hundred and thirty-one delegates up for grabs in Idaho, Utah, as well as Arizona. And that is where we saw Sanders last night at a rally in Flagstaff.

Now, he argued with his 850 delegates that he still has a path towards victory. He believes this. And he believes that he's going to have a friendlier audience on Tuesday and the months ahead. We're talking about California, Washington state and Oregon, and he is focusing on what is most important in those states that he believes is immigration.

So he began his speech going after somebody that you and I, Carol, have both talked to numerous times. This is that immigration hard- liner Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who's made a name for himself arresting, detaining and deporting undocumented workers. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But maybe I just begin by saying to your sheriff here, Mr. Arpaio, why don't you pick on people who have the power to fight back? Stop picking on children, like Katherine (ph) and others. And let me begin by saying, as I have said before, that if elected president, we are going to pass comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Not surprising, Arpaio endorsing Trump, who's vowed to build a wall at the border, keeping out all illegal immigrants in Arizona. More than 30 percent, Carol, of the population, as you know, Latino. And you can tell that there's a fierce battle going on for their support.

Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: You've got that right. Suzanne Malveaux reporting live for us this morning, thank you.

Sorry about that. I have a little cold this morning.

"The New York Times" reports that President Obama recently told DNC donors that it will soon be time to coalesce around Hillary Clinton and stop a Republican from taking the White House, but the president also told those donors about a challenge Clinton faces from inside her own party. "The Times" writes, quote, "Mr. Obama acknowledged that some Democrats did not view Clinton as authentic, but he played down the importance of authenticity, noting that President George W. Bush, whose record he ran aggressively against in 2008, was once praised for his authenticity." And, of course, you know what happened next.

Now the White House is pushing back on that "New York Times" report and says the president actually remains neutral.

So let's talk about this. Andy Smith is the director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center and Marc Lamont Hill is a CNN political commentator.

Welcome to you both.

ANDY SMITH, DIR., UNIV. OF NEW HAMPSHIRE SURVEY CENTER: Good morning.

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good to be here.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

So, Marc, the White House confirmed the comments, but says the president hasn't endorsed Clinton. Here's what Press Secretary Josh Earnest said about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president did not indicate or specify a preference in the race.

QUESTION: So nothing's changed? He's still neutral, can't make up his mind?

EARNEST: Well, no, I didn't - I didn't -

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) taking a - taking a -

EARNEST: I did not say that he couldn't make up his mind. The president's cast a ballot. The president has voted in the Illinois Democratic primary.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) voted for?

EARNEST: We have not indicated that - that preference. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So, Marc, what's the deal?

HILL: Well, first of all, no president publicly says who they voted for prior - at all really. They make an endorsement at some point. I'm not shy - I suspect I know who the president voted for, but that's neither here nor there. I think the key here is that until there is a clear-cut winner in the Democratic primary, President Obama is not going to a - not going to announce a preference here. He - he sees all signs pointing to Hillary. He wants the party to swiftly move behind Hillary at some point if she wins, but he doesn't want to alienate Bernie Sanders' supporters. And that's something that the entire party has to be mindful of.

COSTELLO: Well, but, Marc, it appears she's going to win. Bernie Sanders can't catch up mathematically, can he?

HILL: Here's - well, absolutely not and we're not going to GOP tracking to contest the election or invent new math. But how - there is a chunk of Bernie supporters who believe that Bernie still has a message and that Bernie does have a path. And even though we disagree with him, the key here is that you don't want that base to sit home. You don't want that base to feel disrespected. Because if they feel disrespected, they're not going to go Trump, but they are going to go home. And if they go home, that makes the road a lot tougher for the - for the Democratic Party.

COSTELLO: OK. So, Andy, there's a new Gallup poll out. It shows that President Obama's approval rating at - at about 50 percent. That's the highest level in three years. And Gallup says that's due in part to the increasing popularity with Democrats. So the question is, will that roll over to Hillary Clinton just in case President Obama decides to throw his support behind Clinton?

[09:35:10] SMITH: Well, I agree with Marc, first of all. Presidents generally don't endorse their successors until pretty late in the campaign, in the primary campaign. For example, Ronald Reagan didn't formally endorse George Bush until May of 1988. And they do that for the reasons, they don't want to antagonize the party. But Obama's approval rating has been - has been going up, but that doesn't mean that it's going up in the right places.

For example, I just looked at the battleground states that are out there. And he - and in all of those battleground states, he's currently under water. Let's take some examples. Ohio, 45 percent approve, 48 percent disapprove. Florida, 45 percent approve, 49 percent disapprove. So it's those states that are going to make the difference and those are the places that Obama's going to have to work to get his own approval rating, especially since Clinton is running for essentially his third term. He's got to get his approval rating up among people within those states and really work to make sure that the coalitions that got him elected in those states in 2008 come out to vote, as Marc said, in 2016.

COSTELLO: So with that in mind, Marc, is it, you know, will the candidates welcome Obama's support wholeheartedly?

HILL: Well, it will be a sharp contrast from 2008 when Republicans were running from George W. Bush at the very same time that Democrats were beating up on him. It will be much different here. Obama, even when people disagree with policy, tend to like him. He's not going to be anathema on the - on the campaign trail. So I think you'll see him galvanizing southern voters, galvanizing black voters to come out and vote and say, hey, this is a high-stakes election even when I'm not on the ballot. Obviously there are going to be some - there are going to be some concerns with white working class male voters who have not felt benefited from the Obama administration in the same way and aren't necessarily going to vote - inclined to follow Obama's lead on this. That's where Bernie Sanders is actually more important. So I think Obama will be very important on the campaign trail to keep the energy up and to defend his own legacy.

But you're going to need, at some point, Bernie Sanders on that campaign trail, in places like Michigan, in places like Illinois, in places like Ohio, where workers are going to say, hey, we want a fair shake here and Trump is going to have a populist, economic message that's compelling and persuasive. Unless you have Bernie Sanders on the other side screaming into the microphone "vote Hillary," then Hillary's going to have a tough time. I'm not saying Bernie's going to do it, but that is absolutely an issue here. And they - it won't happen if he feels disrespected.

COSTELLO: OK. OK, I'm just curious, and our time is running out, but I'm going to pose this question to you, Andy. What endorsement would be most important for Hillary Clinton to get, President Obama's, Bernie Sanders', or Senator Elizabeth Warren's?

SMITH: I think Elizabeth Warren, actually. That would do more to nail down the more progressive wing of the Democratic Party, because historically the president always endorses the nominee of their party or the favored nominee. And usually there's a coming together, a meeting of the minds between the top two candidates to support one another. That's expected. The Warren endorsement, I think, is the one that's a little bit unexpected right now and that would do a lot to solidify Clinton's bonafides among progressive Democrats.

COSTELLO: Interesting. OK, I have to leave it there. Marc Lamont Hill -

HILL: I think Bernie.

COSTELLO: Marc Lamont Hill, Andy Smith, thanks to both of you.

SMITH: Thanks.

COSTELLO: All right, I do have some breaking news to impart right now. A counterterrorism official confirms to CNN that fingerprints and DNA of Salah Abdeslam, one of the Paris terror suspects, were found in a Brussels apartment raided by police this week. It's believed he used the apartment after the attacks as a hideout. So let's get right to CNN's senior international correspondent Nima Elbagir. She's in London. Tell us more.

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

Well, this is the first new lead for quite some time in the case of Salah Abdeslam, who really is being characterized at the moment as Europe's most wanted man. We were at the site of this raid and the sense that you got is that police almost stumbled on to this. They openly admitted that they weren't expecting the level of fire power that they found at this premise.

In fact, it went on for some three hours with two of the alleged militants holding off Belgian police officers with automatic weapons, while two others disappeared out the back. It is unclear yet whether Salah Abdeslam was amongst those two who managed to escape from the premise. That is, at least, what the Belgian local media seems to believe, but we haven't as yet confirmed that.

What is known is that really this is the latest proof of life for this investigation and that there is now an even more intensified manhunt through the streets of both the Belgian capital and across the country, if not even beyond Belgian's borders for Salah Abdeslam now, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Nima Elbagir reporting live this morning. Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, tensions at a boiling point on the Korean peninsula. And it looks like it just got worse.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:43:57] COSTELLO: North Korea released this new video used to convict an American student of crimes against the regime. These images purportedly show Otto Warmbier. He was sentenced to 15 years hard labor for ripping down a political banner from a hotel. You see this video was used as evidence in the 21-year-old's trial. CNN cannot verify the authenticity of these pictures, but the State Department says Warmbier's punishment is, quote, "unduly harsh," and has called for his release based on humanitarian grounds.

In the meantime, the Pentagon confirms North Korea has fired off two ballistic missiles. It happened earlier today off the west coast of the Korean peninsula. This brash move comes as President Obama slaps North Korea with a new round of sanctions and as the U.S. and South Korea conduct annual joint military exercises in the region. Barbara Starr is at the Pentagon with more.

Good morning.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

[09:44:49] It seems every day tensions rising with North Korea. This launch of two missiles especially interesting right now. These were two essentially medium-ranged missiles. They fell into the Sea of Japan off North Korea's eastern coast, but - and there are lots of buts on this - this was a very interesting launch. The missiles were launched off mobile launchers. Essentially, huge trucks that can move around the North Korean countryside. That means in times of war a country like North Korea could shoot these missiles, move the launcher very quickly and U.S. satellites might not be able to track it as fast as they want. There could be launches that the U.S. would only see at the very last minute.

So when they test this kind of capability, as they did earlier today, it does cause a lot of concern. The big issue, of course, is these were medium-range. What if North Korea could eventually do this with a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead on top? That's the big if. That's the capability the U.S. does not want to see North Korea get.

Earlier today, Defense Secretary Ash Carter raising the pressure on another key nation in the region to do something about pressing North Korea. Have a listen to what the secretary of defense had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

ASH CARTER, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: By far and away, the most --the country that has the most influence over North Korea, because of proximity and its economic relationship and also its interests, because there it is, right next to North Korea, exercising these provocations, pursuing these weapons programs, is China, and so China could do a lot more.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

STARR: Blunt and very precise words from the U.S. defense secretary. China could do a lot more. China, very much not happy with the U.S. position about increasing unilateral sanctions on North Korea. The Chinese also not able to really change North Korea's mind at this point, it appears. And that's really the big question.

Nothing seems to be stopping Kim Jong-un's cycle of provocation. A lot of it is rhetoric, a lot of it is provocation. But ultimately, if North Korea could achieve its military goals, that would really up-end security calculations in the Pacific and really around the globe.

Carol?

COSTELLO: All right. Barbara Starr, reporting live from the Pentagon. Thank you.

Checking some other stop stories for you at 47 minutes past.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (voice-over): The former CIA director, David Petraeus, will be making a second appearance before the House Select Committee on Benghazi. A source telling CNN he'll face the panel tomorrow in a closed session. Petraeus first testified before the committee behind closed doors in January He led the CIA when a terrorist attack killed four Americans in Libya in 2012. A construction worker is dead after plummeting 53 floors from an L.A.

skyscraper. The man, who was in his second day on the job, hit a moving vehicle after he fell. The driver of that vehicle is in the hospital. The company at the site says the man was not doing anything work-related at the time of the accident.

And a player, a cornerback for the Baltimore Ravens, is in critical condition in a Miami hospital this morning after a motorcycle crash. Police say Tray Walker was not wearing a helmet when he collided with a Ford Escape. They do not suspect alcohol or drugs as factors in this accident and noted that Walker's bike did not have lights and that he was wearing dark clothing. Walker was drafted by the Ravens in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL draft.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (on camera): Still to come in the NEWSROOM, March madness is back and last night's competition was hot, literally. The players and coaches sweating it out to score the first-round wins.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:53:03] COSTELLO: March madness tips off, and if your bracket is already busted, you're certainly not alone. Although my bracket's not busted. Get this, Yahoo! and ESPN both say 99.99 percent of brackets are already tanking. Andy Scholes, your bracket is doing pretty good too.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm not in bad shape, Carol, but, you know, I'm definitely not perfect.

COSTELLO: You're in first. You're so modest.

SCHOLES: I'm not in first, I think John Berman's in first because he wins everything, right? Quiz shows and CNN brackets and everything. He actually tweeted...

COSTELLO: (inaudible)

SCHOLES: ... tweeted earlier this morning, winning is so exhausting. But what a great first day of the tournament we had yesterday, Carol. And there's just something about being a 12 seed that just brings out the best in teams.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCHOLES (voice-over): You know, we had two 12 seeds win on the very first day of the tournament. Yale was one of them. They - they waited 54 years to get back in the big dance and they made the best of it. Makai Mason, 31 points. Had Baylor frustrated all game, two players for the Bears actually getting into it there in the second half. With two and a half minutes to go, Justin Sears here for Yale, the lay-in. That put them up by six, and Baylor had one last chance but fumbled it away, and Yale, the big win, 54 years in the making, they beat Baylor 79-75. Now, the other 12 seed upset we saw yesterday came from Little Rock.

They made a huge comeback against Purdue in the final three minutes of their game. In the closing seconds, Josh Hagins hit that amazing step back three with four seconds left, sends the game into over time. Actually, it went to double overtime and Little Rock would hold on to win 85-83. That was their first tournament win in 30 years.

Now, one seed Virginia had no problem with Hampton yesterday, but there was a scary moment for the team. Coach Tony Bennett actually collapsed during the final seconds of the first half. Turns out he was just dehydrated and after the game he actually joked that he drank a ton of Powerade to fix the problem. Now during the game, Tony Bennett started trending on social media, prompting the singer Tony Bennett to clear things up on Twitter. He tweeted, "I want to let all my fans know that I'm okay. Glad to hear UVA Coach Tony Bennett is fine after his fall. Congrats to UVA men's hoops on the win.

Now, also trending on social media last night was Arizona Wildcat's head coach, Sean Miller, and I'm guessing you can tell why. His dress shirt completely drenched with sweat, and this was in the first half of the game. At half time, a team manager actually had to go back to the hotel to get him another shirt for the second half. And that second shirt might actually be covered in tears now because Arizona was upset by Wichita State.

Now, as we just discussed, Carol, if new look at the challenge bracket standings, John Berman in first place, because, as you said, he wins everything. But Carol, not doing too bad , fourth place right now. I'm middle of the pack.

COSTELLO (voice-over): Oh, no baby (ph).

SCHOLES: Middle of the pack, in eighth.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHOLES (on camera): So, I mean, of course we have 16 more games today, Carol, across our sister networks, TNT, TBS, truTV and of course CBS. So, another exciting full day of action gets started a little bit after noon Eastern. Best time in sports, right, Carol? You get to watch basketball for, what, 12 hours a day.

COSTELLO: It's - it's very true, although I'd rather watch football, I'll be honest with you. But it is fun and I hope I win the big CNN cup. Andy Scholes, thanks so much.

SCHOLES: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)