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Obama in Spotlight at Democratic Debate; GOP Candidates Blitzing South Carolina; Aired 10-10:30a ET
Aired February 12, 2016 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00] KAREN BASS, ESCAPED FROM ATTACKER: Hitting everybody with something. I don't know. People were bleeding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Police stopped the man after a car chase. They fatally shot him when he lunched at them with that machete and also a knife.
The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, Clinton ties herself to the president.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think President Obama has set a great example. Before it was called Obamacare it was called Hillarycare.
COSTELLO: And excludes Sanders from the circle.
CLINTON: Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test.
COSTELLO: But the Vermont senator has a reminder.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet.
COSTELLO: Also, Donald Trump, Mr. Nice Guy?
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: To have children screaming, we want Trump, that's very nice.
COSTELLO: A change in tone.
TRUMP: I won't use foul language. I'm just not going to do it.
COSTELLO: A shift in ad strategy. Can the frontrunner remain positive?
Let's talk, live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(END VIDEOTAPE) COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. One stage, two candidates and a lot of talk about President Obama. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders battle for the spotlight during the Democratic debate, flexing their muscles on issues like foreign policy and health care, and Sanders wasting no time knocking President Obama's legacy while Hillary Clinton proves she's willing to fight for it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: The American people are tired of establishment politics. They want a political revolution. I have fought my entire life to make sure that healthcare is a right for all people.
CLINTON: Before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare. What President Obama succeeded in doing was to build on the healthcare system we have.
SANDERS: But every proposal that I have introduced has been paid for.
CLINTON: Senator Sanders' plan really rests on making sure that governors Scott Walker contribute $23 billion on the first day to make college free. I'm a little skeptical about your governor actually caring enough about higher education to make any kind of commitment like that.
SANDERS: The proposal that I have outlined, you know, should be familiar to you because it is what essentially President Obama campaigned on in 2008. You opposed them then.
CLINTON: You're mixing apples and oranges. My 750,000 donors have contributed more than a million and a half donations, I'm very proud.
SANDERS: People aren't dumb. Why in God's name does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it.
CLINTON: Journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy. And we have yet to know who that is.
SANDERS: Well, it ain't Henry Kissinger, that's for sure.
CLINTON: That's fine. That's fine. The kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president, I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama.
SANDERS: That is --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Today Clinton and Sanders are back on the campaign trail and we're following all of this with our team of political reporters, CNN Politics executive editor Mark Preston in Washington and CNN senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns is in South Carolina.
I want to begin with you, Mark, with more on the debate. Good morning.
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Good morning, Carol. Yes, the fight for the Democratic base we saw last night in Milwaukee. Hillary Clinton directing her message down to voters in South Carolina where she hopes to build up momentum, specifically with African- American voters while Bernie Sanders is taking a longer game, looking at this as a national campaign and going beyond South Carolina, looking at states out in the Midwest and the west.
But as we saw, sharp exchanges on the idea of income inequality. Hillary Clinton talking pragmatism and trying to criticize Bernie Sanders for lofty promises. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: What I have said is I will not throw us further into debt. I believe I can get the money that I need by taxing the wealthy, by closing loopholes, the things that we are way overdue for doing, and I think once I'm in the White House, we will have enough political capital to be able to do that.
SANDERS: Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PRESTON: And there you have Bernie Sanders right there with a little wind at his back having crushed Hillary Clinton up in New Hampshire pointing out that she may say that she has all these ideas when she gets in the White House, but she isn't quite to the finish line -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Mark Preston, thanks.
Now on to South Carolina and Joe Johns. I know you're at a Clinton rally. What's on tap today?
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's this afternoon, Carol. And Hillary Clinton is coming here to Denmark, South Carolina, to essentially a crumbling schools event. Of course this part of South Carolina has been called the corridor of shame because of the situation, the schools, the predominantly African- American schools with what you can see behind me, the dilapidated play sets, the peeling paint, the bathrooms that don't work, and all that comes along with it.
[10:05:14] So Hillary Clinton is going to try to make the case that she has been with the people of this state and around the nation on this issue for years and for years. Her first job out of law school, we'll probably hear was with the Children's Defense Fund and the now legendary Marian Wright Edelman. So expecting to see her here, talking about an issue very near and dear to the hearts of African- Americans in South Carolina.
Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders is not here as you heard from Mark Preston. He is traveling around the country pushing more of a national campaign. In Minnesota today, but will also be talking about race and economics at a high school in Minneapolis and attending a dinner there.
He's taking a bit of a hit in South Carolina in the newspaper from Clinton supporters who say he ought to be in this state at this time. The campaign says he is eventually going to get here, and it's just a question, sort of, of choosing your battles at this time -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Joe Johns reporting live from South Carolina this morning.
As we've been telling you, Secretary Clinton took every opportunity to link herself to President Obama during last night's debate. And it's not hard to see her strategy. Mr. Obama has an astounding 92 percent approval rating among black voters in South Carolina. That's according to an NBC/Marist poll. And Mrs. Clinton is not far behind him with a 74 percent approval rating from South Carolina minority voters. That's well ahead of Bernie Sanders' 17 percent. And it's support that Mrs. Clinton will need if she wants a decisive victory on the 27th in the South Carolina primary.
With me now to talk about this is Marlon Kimpson, he's a state senator from South Carolina. Welcome, sir.
MARLON KIMPSON (D), SOUTH CAROLINA STATE SENATE: Thank you for having me.
COSTELLO: Thank you for being here. So when both candidates are in South Carolina for that primary campaigning, what do voters want to see from each of them?
KIMPSON: Well, I can tell you that Secretary Clinton is doing the right thing. She is in Denmark, as Joe Johns correctly noted, part of the corridor of shame. We've had a 22-year odd court battle to bring equity funding to those impoverished school districts because the formula is built largely on property taxes.
The people in South Carolina want a realistic candidate who can champion the cause of working class Americans. With respect to the two most major critical issues last year in this state, it was Secretary Clinton who weighed in and that being the body camera bill. She weighed in on how important that is to bring greater transparency to police encounters with citizens, and also the Confederate Flag bill in the aftermath of the Charleston massacre. She was even before the president in calling for serious gun reform.
And the most significant thing about that is why should the gun lobby be immune to liability for intelligence? I think Secretary Clinton has been eloquent on that issue. You know, it's a lot to talk fantasy. I read Doc McStuffins to my little daughter as Doc McStuffins operates on Lambie, and that's fiction. But what we're really talking about when we're talking about making college free is curbing the cost of education. We're talking about not just busting down Wall Street but giving --
COSTELLO: I understand.
KIMPSON: -- black investment entrepreneurs the opportunity to invest that capital.
COSTELLO: Well, let me --
KIMPSON: So I think she has a more pragmatic, realistic approach.
COSTELLO: Yes. And I should tell people you are a Hillary Clinton supporter, correct?
KIMPSON: Correct. Correct.
COSTELLO: Yes. Correct.
KIMPSON: I endorsed her earlier this week.
COSTELLO: All right. I just wanted our viewers to understand that. Let's talk about Bernie Sanders for just a second because his message is resonating, especially among young people, especially among young people in South Carolina. It's no different. Young people, even African-American young people who carried huge amounts of college debt, what Bernie Sanders says resonates with them.
KIMPSON: I don't disagree. The question is, how do we make college free? And I think Secretary Clinton has a plan to curb the costs of education. I'm in the state legislature. And I can tell you these universities, these public universities are having challenging times economically. They're having issues to deal with that, quite frankly, the state is not willing to pony up enough money because we have other priorities.
I think Secretary Clinton has excited young people, so I don't think that that is true.
COSTELLO: Really? Because the polls --
KIMPSON: We have a number --
[10:10:02] COSTELLO: Really? Because the polls don't show that.
KIMPSON: In South Carolina. On yesterday, the majority leader of the House Democrats endorsed her. She has very prominent spokespeople like former state representative, Bakari Sellers. I'm not too old myself, but the point is, is that she is -- she's got a realistic message. I realize in Iowa and New Hampshire, young people gravitated to her, and I appreciate those people being in part of the -- and we welcome them and Secretary Clinton's issues to be more receptive of how she is going to implement some of the plans that, quite frankly, Senator Sanders has so eloquently articulated.
I think Secretary Clinton is the person to take us into the next presidency. The fact that the president chose her to be secretary of state means a lot. We love President Obama.
COSTELLO: OK.
KIMPSON: But let me just underscore one --
COSTELLO: Well, I have to --
KIMPSON: One more point because I think this is crystal.
COSTELLO: I have to leave it there.
KIMPSON: Economic empowerment, she has a plan for increasing business, procurement opportunities for minorities.
COSTELLO: All right. All right. I have to leave it there. Thank you, sir. for joining me this morning.
KIMPSON: Thank you -- thank you for having me.
COSTELLO: Marlon Kimpson, South Carolina state senator. Thank you.
KIMPSON: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Donald Trump questions Ted Cruz's evangelical cred, then calls the senator a liar and crazy on Twitter. A more positive Trump? Maybe not.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:15:45] COSTELLO: GOP presidential candidates canvassing South Carolina ahead of next week's primary. Today a few of them taking part in a faith and family forum in Greenville.
CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is there with more. Good morning.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol. Well, the big prize here in South Carolina is evangelical voters. So today here at Bob Jones University, a Christian university, we'll see many of the candidates really play up their conservative credentials, really talk about their faith in a more personal way than we hear out on the stump.
We'll here from Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson and Ted Cruz all here later today, really going after and trying to woo this very coveted voting bloc. And for Ted Cruz here in South Carolina, he's really trying to recreate his strategy that led to his victory in Iowa, really leaning heavily on the support of evangelicals. So on the campaign trail he's really been laying into his rivals over this issue, really trying to paint his rivals as, in his words, campaign conservatives, phony conservatives.
We've seen Ted Cruz last night in Rock Hill, South Carolina. He brought up the Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriage, really to draw this as a distinction point with his rivals. He didn't mention Marco Rubio or Donald Trump by name, but everyone knew who he was talking about to really try to paint both of his rivals as more in line with President Obama than the conservative base. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One of the more striking things was seeing my two leading competitors in the Republican primary, both publicly say following that decision that the decision is the settled law of the land, we must accept it, surrender and move on. I got to say, those are word for word. The talking points of Barack Obama.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: And of course a lot of pushback from his rivals already on that issue, Carol. This will most certainly come up. There'll be a big flash point likely in Saturday night's debate -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Sunlen Serfaty reporting live for us. I can't believe it's snowing that hard in South Carolina. Wow. It looks pretty, though, Sunlen. Thanks so much.
SERFATY: Sure is.
COSTELLO: Needless to say, Cruz's gay marriage comments did not sit well with Donald Trump. The frontrunner tweeting this morning, quote, "How can Ted Cruz be an evangelical Christian when he lies so much and is so dishonest?" And just hours earlier there was this tweet, quote, "Lying Cruz put out a statement, Trump and Rubio are with Obama on gay marriage. Cruz is the worst liar, crazy, or very dishonest. Perhaps all three?"
Keep in mind these tweets came right after Donald Trump pulled an ad attacking Cruz from the airways because he wanted a more positive campaign.
So let's talk about this with Michael Warren, a staff writer for "The Weekly Standard," a conservative magazine and conservative radio host, Lenny McAllister with the "Get It Right with Lenny McAllister Show."
Thanks to both of you for being with me.
MICHAEL WARREN, STAFF WRITER, THE WEEKLY STANDARD: Good morning.
LENNY MCALLISTER, CONSERVATIVE RADIO HOST: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: Good morning. So, Lenny, Donald Trump was being more positive, but it seems he's not now, is he?
MCALLISTER: Positive for Donald Trump, or positive overall? I mean, that's basically the question. Positive for Donald Trump, he's changed his tone because he's seen that it hasn't really worked with the evangelicals in Ohio. Positive overall? No, because, one, the gloves are coming off for more of the candidates and plus Donald Trump has seen over the last several months he's led in the national polls because he's been so negative, and then, of course, puts his hands up in the air and says, well, I don't really want to say that anymore, kind of like what the P-bomb that he had last week.
He knows that that tactic has worked. He's hoping that that will bring in just enough voters to his side to offset that three to four points that he lost by in Iowa. He saw more of a base that he didn't expect to see in Iowa. He's hoping to add up on that using some of the old, quote-unquote, Trump magic from 2015.
COSTELLO: Although I will say, Michael, the gay marriage issue is probably very important like a state in South Carolina, and he wants to get ahead of what Ted Cruz is accusing him of.
WARREN: Yes, that's right. Let's be honest here. I mean, Cruz is being somewhat shifty on this.
[10:20:01] At least with regard to Marco Rubio, I mean, Rubio came out after that decision and said that while this is the law of the land, that he would appoint court appointments who would seek to overturn this law. So Cruz isn't being quite forthright about this.
As far as Trump is concerned, though, I'm not really sure what Trump's position is today or yesterday on this issue. You know, he said he will change on this. I think Trump is picking up on the fact that in South Carolina voters are a little worried about Trump's, you know, lack of faith or the idea that he might not be as faithful as he says he is. And, of course, all that cursing on the stump probably doesn't sit well with the more conservative crowd in South Carolina. So I think he's definitely trying to get ahead of that criticism from Cruz and any other candidates.
COSTELLO: Well, Lenny, it is interesting that Donald Trump isn't going to appear at this religious forum in South Carolina today like Marco Rubio is and Ted Cruz is. Why do you think he's not?
MCALLISTER: For the same reason why he didn't show up for the debate right before the Iowa caucuses. If you're going to be on the defense in some of these situations, he has made the decision with his strategy not to be on the defense. If you notice, when he has questions that attack him, he tries his best not to say much at the debates. When he can be on the offensive, where he has been extremely successful, taking down Jeb Bush, taking on other competitors including Rand Paul, two people that one is on the fringe and one is out.
He's learned, if I can be on the offensive, I'm fine. If I have to defend something that was either a gaffe or something I really don't want to talk about, including things such as his position on gay marriage. Another other thing he really doesn't want to talk about, it's the Second Amendment. He's a New York guy that's been back and forth on the Second Amendment. He doesn't really want to talk a whole lot about Second Amendment and religious rights in South Carolina as a New Yorker that's been back on forth on this.
So therefore it's easier for him to pull out on some of these issues and not make more fodder that can be in print and eventually be in a campaign ad before next Saturday.
COSTELLO: So. Michael, if Donald Trump needs evangelical support, and there are a lot of evangelicals in South Carolina, why isn't -- do you think we'll see Sarah Palin soon?
WARREN: Maybe. I don't know. I haven't heard if she's coming. But look, I agree with Lenny actually that Trump has a real problem with evangelicals, or sort of more socially conservative voters in South Carolina. Not just for this sort of gay marriage issue but on abortion as well. And you know, you notice he didn't attend that pre- Iowa debate just as questions were coming out about his past positions on abortion, where he is on that issue. It's a very important issue for Republicans in South Carolina voting in a Republican primary.
I would expect if these campaigns have -- you know, are worth their weight, that they would go after him on this. And I think that's exactly why he's not appearing in places like this conference in Greenville.
COSTELLO: So, Lenny, could Ted Cruz win South Carolina because of all this?
MCALLISTER: Ted Cruz should win South Carolina. I've actually written an article on this that's going across Canada as we speak. He should win South Carolina for pretty much the same reason why he won Iowa. Trump has a bump. Rubio is going to be in the mix. Jeb Bush is still fledgling along. Ted Cruz should be the natural person to win South Carolina. However with that said, we said that about Mike Huckabee in 2008 and it ended up being John McCain. We said that about Rick Santorum coming out of Iowa. It ended up being Newt Gingrich, so if somebody can give a strong performance and show mettle on the campaign trail for the next several days, it might not be what we should expect.
However, if we go by expectations, it should be just like Iowa. Cruz sits in second place. At the very end he gets in front of Trump. Much like a NASCAR race down in South Carolina.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Thanks so much. I have to leave it there. Lenny McAllister, Michael Warren.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a possible truce between world leaders over the war in Syria. But what does it mean on the war against ISIS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:28:31] COSTELLO: Nearly 17 years after the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history, the mother of Columbine killer Dylan Kliebold, says she's still haunted almost every day by the memories of those who needlessly died. Dylan and classmate -- Dylan and his classmate, Eric Harris, killed 13 people and injured 24 others at Columbine High School before committing suicide. In her first television interview since the shooting, Sue Kliebold says she feels like she rationalized possible warning signs in her son as normal teenage behavior. She said she never imagined he would do anything so horrific.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUE KLIEBOLD, MOTHER OF COLUMBINE KILLER: I just remember sitting there and reading about them. All these kids and the teacher. And I keep thinking, constantly thought, how I would feel if it were the other way around and one of their children had shot mine. I would feel exactly the way they did. I know I would. I know I would.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Sue Kliebold shares her story in a book to be released next week. She says that she hopes it will help other parents spot potential signs of trouble for their children.
And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. A tentative deal has been reached that could be the first step to stop the fighting inside Syria. Secretary of State John Kerry says it's a cessation of hostilities but he won't go as far as calling it a ceasefire.
Nic Robertson is in Munich where leaders from more than --
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