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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
N.H. Tracking Poll: Trump In 1st, Rubio In 2nd; Candidate Confusion; Voters Stumble When Asked To Name Faces; Magnitude 6.4 Earthquake Rattles Taiwan; Deadly Crane Collapse; Ethan Couch Moved To Adult Jail; A Sea Lion Goes Into A Restaurant; Donald Trump is not in New Hampshire to campaign; Trump still leads in the latest poll in New Hampshire; Bernie Sanders leads the Democratic poll in New Hampshire. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired February 05, 2016 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[20:00:13] ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Good evening. Thanks for joining us.
We begin tonight with new polling and late developments for the blizzard of candidates now blanketing New Hampshire whereas the one candidate who is blaming the snow storm for not being there, Donald Trump. There's the candidates and where they were today. The dotted line is for Trump who canceled his appearance today in London Derry. He is in South Carolina tonight. These are live pictures where he is enjoying a warmer temperatures. He's taking heat from rivals he left behind.
Jeb Bush for one tweeting, @realDonaldTrump, my 90-year-old mother made it out to campaign. That's 5-year-old destiny on the left. And here is the former first lady doing pretty well out there in the snow at Mary Anne's diner in Derry, New Hampshire working the room with him. They also sat down today with CNN's Jamie Gangell. She talked about why he isn't doing better in the polls and taking a moment as well to weigh in on Donald Trump. And we will bring it to you at the top of the next hour.
First, though, Donald Trump, late polling, the final push to the nation's first primary. CNN's Jim Acosta who joins us from South Carolina from the town of Florence.
So you are at the Trump event. What were his main points to his voters today? Was he on the attack against specific candidates, or what?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Really, more on President Obama tonight, Anderson. A lot of foreign policy in this speech. Donald Trump slamming the Iran nuclear deal. He also vowed to go after ISIS. And then at one point he talked about a subject that is pretty popular for Republican candidates out on the campaign trail, and that is radical Islam. And it was during that portion of his speech that Donald Trump went after President Obama and mentioned the president's trip to a mosque in Baltimore earlier this week. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But there's an anger out there. When you look at Paris and you have these thugs walk in and kill 130 people with many, many people in hospitals that are so gravely injured, many more will die. When you look at California, a few weeks ago, with the radicalized couple, they say she radicalized him. Who cares? Where do these people come from? Where do they come from? Where do they come from? And then President Obama yesterday goes to a mosque and he apologizes. I mean, what's going on? We have to -- right? No, he goes there and he apologizes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Now, we should point out that President Obama did not apologize at that mosque. It was a speech about religious tolerance -- Anderson.
COOPER: Jim, did he talk at all about not being in New Hampshire because he got some criticism, as I said, for it.
ACOSTA: Not really. He glossed over that subject here. He said that he has focused totally on New Hampshire right now which was an interesting thing to say when he missed his only event in New Hampshire because of the weather. We should point out that if folks don't know the back story, Donald Trump made the decision to go back to New York City last night to sleep at home instead of staying in New Hampshire overnight. And then his plane got stuck at the airport. He couldn't get out of LaGuardia to go back to New Hampshire and go out there on the campaign trail. And so, he was forced to really spend his only event of the day in South Carolina.
But Anderson, you know, Donald Trump just does not like to spend the night overnight in hotel rooms out on the campaign trail. And this was one of those days where it really came back -- that decision really came back to haunt him.
We should point out, though, the Trump campaign is saying that Donald Trump will be out on the campaign trail in New Hampshire for the next four days starting tomorrow all the way to the New Hampshire primary. And Donald Trump did try to make up for his absence in New Hampshire earlier today. He recorded a Facebook video, posted on his Facebook page. He was really hailing the official slogan of New Hampshire, live free or die. He said congratulations to New Hampshire. They did a wonderful job in picking out that slogan, Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Jim Acosta. Jim, thanks.
Now, fresh numbers on how well the candidates are doing in New Hampshire. We just got new data from the ongoing CNN/WMUR tracking poll.
Our Tom Foreman breaking down the numbers joins us with more on that.
So let's talk about this poll. Trump still has a solid lead among the GOP candidates, right? TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Anderson. We will see if this
no-show hurts him. But right now, if you look at our latest daily tracking poll, he is still sitting up here at 28 percent. Iowa does not seem to have hurt him. Rubio is now solidly in second at 17 percent. Iowa does seem to have helped him.
And now look at this. Ted Cruz and John Kasich tied down here at 13 percent. Since yesterday, Trump and Cruz have both moved down just a tiny bit and Kasich has moved up a tiny bit. Our sampling error here is close to six percent. But I want you to keep an eye on Kasich. And the reason you keep an eye on him is he has the lowest negative rating of all of those candidates. So he may have the most room to maneuver out here.
And keep this in mind, too. Out of all the Republicans up there in New Hampshire, 30 percent say they are still deciding whom they are going to vote for. And 26 percent merely say they are leaning toward someone. Only 45 percent are definitely decided, Anderson. So that leaves a lot of wiggling room for all of these candidates to do something in the next couple of days.
[20:05:11] COOPER: Yes. A lot of minds can change between now and the primary. What about the Democrats?
FOREMAN: Well, take a look at the Democrats here. It's really a whopping number here. The Democrats, 16 percent say they are still deciding, 20 percent leaning, but many, many more than the Republicans, 64 percent say they are committed to their candidate. That's really good news for Bernie Sanders and his followers because Bernie Sanders is still sitting on a 30-point lead here. He is holding steady at 61 percent. Hillary Clinton has come up one percent. We have a 5.5 percent margin of error here. One percent up. So even if you took that margin of error and moved it in her favor both ways, she is still way behind in the granite state. And not much room to make it up -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Tom, thanks very much.
Let's head north now to Derry, New Hampshire, and CNN chief national correspondent John King also in Manchester, our chief political analyst Gloria Borger is there along with CNN political director David Chalian.
So Gloria, how much did it hurt Trump to not be in New Hampshire today? Because obviously, the clock is ticking here.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think it doesn't help him at all. You know, just anecdotally, I was at an event talking to some people who were choosing between Trump and Cruz. And the fact that Trump isn't here today doesn't really fit well. You know, people here take their politics seriously. They enjoy it, and they want you to take it as seriously as they do. And deciding to fly home to New York rather than just stick around one more night in New Hampshire, knowing that snow was coming, leaves some voters here sort of scratching their heads, particularly when you have so many undecided, you know. This doesn't help. COOPER: Yes. John, you have been traveling around the state. What's
the sense you are getting about how these different lanes are shaping up heading into the weekend?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, I'll tell you this. Donald Trump called it a big snowstorm. In New Hampshire they call this February. It happens quite a bit. And all the other candidates got about their business today. A lot of people were talking about, why didn't he come? Why didn't he make it? It's not that far from New York.
I will tell you this. Marco Rubio is just finishing up behind me here. He has been waiting patiently for a little more than an hour signing autographs and taking to people after this event. I talked to about 20, 25 people just quickly during and after this event. Five of them told me they were Trump supporters last week who are Rubio supporters tonight. Now, that's not scientific. It's just an anecdotal thing here. And three others told me they were torn between Trump and Rubio and they wanted to come to this event.
So there's no question, there is a lot of fluidity here. There is also no question that Rubio campaign believes it has momentum. Enough momentum to win? Well, they tend to get a little more standoffish about that. But they believe that they continue to grow which, Anderson, raises the stakes dramatically, not only for Marco Rubio but Donald Trump and for the Bush/Kasich and Christie crowd who are trying to stop Marco Rubio. Tomorrow's debate is going to change the dynamic here.
COOPER: David, I mean, it is interesting. The Trump/Cruz feud is quiet a down a bit, what we are seeing Bush and Christie ratchet things up against Marco Rubio. Certainly make sense when you consider they have more or less bet everything on New Hampshire.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: No doubt about it. I was out on the campaign trail with both Governor Christie and Governor Bush. Part of their closing argument to the New Hampshire voters is that Marco Rubio just is too inexperienced and hasn't run anything. Has no proven record of running anything. That was the focus of their closing message. They know that this is sort of do or die for them. They have got to show something here. This is where that battle for that establishment lane has long been set to take place. With Marco Rubio believing he's got some momentum now. You know, still getting endorsements, still getting some bounce in the polls. That spell trouble for the Kasichs, the Bushs and the Christies to really make Tuesday a place where they show something.
COOPER: Gloria, on the Democratic side, I mean, you have these polls showing Hillary Clinton down by 2-1 margins. The CNN/WMUR tracking poll does that again tonight. It does helps lower expectations which is something the Clinton campaign has actually been trying to do. And I guess if she closes the gap, can he significant decrease as frankly she did against Barack Obama in 2008, the campaign, I guess, could try to spin that as momentum.
BORGER: Sure. OK. If we lose by anything less than, say, 20 points, that's actually a win, I guess is the way you can spin it. They can't lower expectations any more than the polls have really for Hillary Clinton. But the thing to remember here is that this state is not exactly inhospitable to her. This is a state she came back and won in 2008. It was by a small two to three-point margin, but she did win it.
The problem for her is, and I was at a Sanders rally today, the problem for her is the passion gap right now here in New Hampshire. And the passion seems to be with Bernie Sanders. And she's working hard. She's doing everything she needs to do. She's a much better candidate than she was when she started, but Bernie Sanders just has that appeal here that she can't quite match.
[20:10:12] COOPER: John, I mean, would it benefit Sanders at some point to say look, I have got this huge lead in New Hampshire. I have to go to South Carolina and Nevada where, you know, I face some tough obstacles from Clinton?
KING: You could think that argument, sure. But then you have to think about the state of New Hampshire and the state of the Sanders campaign. Number one, Anderson, people here don't like to be taken for granted. So if he left now, he might pay a price. Number two, our poll has a 30-point lead. The NBC/Marist poll has a 20-point lead. There is a "Boston Globe" poll out tonight that has Sanders up by only nine points. So there's fluctuation in the polls. And again, New Hampshire changes a lot in the final days. So if you are Bernie Sanders, number one, you have to protect this.
This is your best state, strongest state. You need to protect it and win it, one. And number two, when it comes to South Carolina where he is going to have to make relationships with Latinos, with African- Americans, his best asset is a huge win here. If he can win big here he shows Hillary Clinton might be weak, maybe he gets people to reconsider and take another look at him. So the biggest priority for the Bernie Sanders campaign right now is to run it up here as big as they can.
COOPER: And David, certainly they went after each other pretty hard at the debate last night. If that doesn't help her cut into his lead in New Hampshire, what would?
CHALIAN: Yes, it's not clear other than her ground game here, although I think the Sanders operation here is pretty robust. She clearly believes that she had to show her supporters that she knows the line of attack that is coming her way and that she's not going to take it lying down. She wanted to demonstrate last night that she's going to fight for every vote and fight to push back on this notion that she is somehow completely tied to Wall Street and that somehow she makes policy decisions based that. She pushed back hard on that. And yes, she is hoping that's dense Sanders a little bit at least allows her to dig into his lead a little bit. But I also think the Clinton campaign is looking beyond to the more demographically advantageous state in Nevada and South Carolina.
COOPER: All right. David Chalian, Gloria Borger, John King. All, thank you. Just a reminder, John King is working on a special edition of "INSIDE
POLITICS" live from New Hampshire. You can catch it Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time right here on CNN.
Up next tonight, more on the Democrats. Cold weather or not, the campaign gloves are coming off.
Later, more of my conversation with Donald Trump and his claim that if elected, he will project a very different tone than we have seen so far.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:15:11] COOPER: Well, two days after their CNN town hall and the night after their debate, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are sharing a stage again tonight. They are each speaking in a statewide Democratic Party dinner event in Manchester after a day of doling out of mix and kind words to one another as well as some political punches.
More on that from now from CNN Jeff Zeleny.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am not going to stop fighting for New Hampshire.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In their bitter primary fight, Hillary Clinton extended a hand today to Bernie Sanders.
CLINTON: I will call senator Sanders the first call I will make.
ZELENY: But it sounded like more of a consolation prize than an olive branch.
CLINTON: I look forward to working with him as a partner in the Senate.
ZELENY: Four days before the New Hampshire primary, Clinton is looking beyond Sanders' commanding lead and playing the long card of inevitability.
CLINTON: I'm so fortunate as to get this nomination so we can turn our attention to what we really need to do. Make sure we don't get a Republican back in the White House.
ZELENY: But Sanders is also playing the long game. Armed with a wave of support he never imagined. Putting up a fight that's shaking the Democratic Party.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This campaign is trying to do is to ask the American people to think big and not small.
ZELENY: One thing the campaign is getting is heated. Face-to-face for the first time since the contest became a two-person race, the rancor was clear on last night's debate stage.
CLINTON: Time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth. And I really don't think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you.
ZELENY: She's talking about his charge that she's beholden to Wall Street.
CLINTON: Enough is enough. If you've got something to say, say it directly. But you will not find that I ever changed a view or a vote because of any donation that I ever received.
I think it's time to end the very artful smear that you and your campaign have been carrying out in recent weeks.
SANDERS: Being part of the establishment is in the last quarter having a super PAC that raised $15 million for Wall Street.
ZELENY: Sanders is trying to make money and judgment defining issues in the race.
SANDERS: Experience is not the only point, judgment is. And once again, back in 2002, when we both looked at the same evidence about the wisdom of the war in Iraq, one of us voted the right way, and one of us didn't.
CLINTON: A vote in 2002 is not a plan to defeat ISIS. We have to look at the threats that we face right now. And we have to be prepared to take them on and defeat them.
ZELENY: The acrimony continues but Sanders is taking a brief detour for his turn on "Saturday Night Live" where his doppelganger Larry David is hosting.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't have a super PAC. I don't even have a backpack.
ZELENY: He played along with the resemblance at CNN's presidential town hall with Anderson Cooper.
COOPER: Do you do a Larry David imitation?
SANDERS: Anderson, I know you have been in journalism a long time.
COOPER: Are you doing your Larry David right now?
SANDERS: This is stupid. I am Larry David. And you didn't get it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And Jeff Zeleny joins us now.
So Sanders' "SNL" appearance this weekend, I guess you get - he will bolster standing among young voters. It's got to be worrying a little bit for Clinton, although she did "SNL" earlier. ZELENY: She did "SNL" earlier, Anderson, but they are worried about
young voters. Listen to this number. In Iowa, senator Sanders beat her among voters under 30 by 70 percentage points. Now, it's only one state so it's hard to draw too much information about that. But today, Secretary Clinton had an appeal to young voters. She is like I know you're with senator Sanders now but listen to me. Hear me out. I'll fight for you later. So they know that's one of the biggest things they have to improve on in New Hampshire as this campaign rolls along -- Anderson.
[20:20:14] COOPER: Yes. Jeff Zeleny. Jeff, thanks very much.
Joining us now is Michael Nutter, CNN political contributor, former Democratic mayor of Philadelphia, a Clinton supporter. Also CNN political commentator and Bernie Sanders supporter, Bill Press.
Bill, you say Bernie that Clinton played the victim card at the debate last night. How so?
BILL PRESS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, with this whole idea that they are raising the question about the speaking fees that she took from Goldman Sachs, $675,000. And the enormous amount of money she has received from banks and hedge funds, according to "the Washington Post," $21.4 million through December 2015. The idea that raising that issue is a smear campaign? I mean, would say, please, come on.
This is a campaign. It's a legitimate issue and she should just explain the issue. But to go into this -- how dare you raise that issue. How dare you suggest, you know, that I would be open to these financial institutions because they gave me so much money? I mean, come on. This is politics. She knows better than that.
I think she is great when she talk about the issues. When she talks about policy. When she talks about her vision for America. There's nobody better. When she whines, I think it turns people off.
COOPER: Michael, what about that? I mean, what is wrong with calling into question Secretary Clinton's record on paid speaking engagements from Goldman Sachs? Is that a spear campaign?
MICHAEL NUTTER, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: I think the issue is exactly how Secretary Clinton put it. Senator Sanders wants to go right up to the line without getting chalk on his shoe. He is actually stepped over it a couple of times. And as you said, if you really have something to say, really trying to communicate something, then just say it outright as opposed to trying to get close to the line and just leaving it hanging out there.
But, you know, senator Sanders likes to talk about the secretary's vote back in 2002. So apparently he enjoys history. Let's talk about 2006 when senator Sanders was helping to raise money for the Democratic Senate committee and it received that year $685,000 from Goldman Sachs, money from Citigroup, money from JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley. So, you know, the senator is actually an active part of the establishment. He is an active fund-raiser. He's benefited from the party. And if he really wants to be the outsider, why is he running as a Democrat?
COOPER: But Mayor, do you really believe -- do you really believe Hillary Clinton when she says she wasn't sure if she was going to run? She wasn't really thinking about running for president when she decided to take $675,000 for three speeches from Goldman Sachs? I mean, that seems hard to believe.
NUTTER: Anderson, whatever the number is, I mean, you know, the marketplace pays whatever it is. I don't count other people's money. What I can tell you for a fact, I have known Secretary Clinton for over 20 years. And during those years, I actively asked her and people around her, is she running for president and the absolute truth of the matter is they weren't sure. And she had not made a decision. I have had that kind of conversation with her a number of years ago.
So that's that. She's a private citizen. The amount of money is that. If senator Sanders wants to actually make a charge about her ability to be independent, she asked him and stated, I have never change my view or my vote. And Senator Sanders had no response whatsoever.
COOPER: Bill, do you believe --
NUTTER: It never happened.
COOPER: Bill, do you believe she changed a vote or was influenced by that money?
PRESS: First of all, let me just say, OK, again, just answer the questions, secretary.
NUTTER: What's the question?
PRESS: Wait a minute. The --
NUTTER: What's the question?
PRESS: Wait a minute, Michael. I did not --
COOPER: What's the question?
PRESS: I would like to finish my point, if I may, OK. The question is you took all this money. Does that mean these people are going to have access? Can we really trust you to crack down on Wall Street when you took all this money? So just ask the question. But don't attack Bernie Sanders because he is running as a Democrat. We ought to be grateful he is running as a Democrat. He's running an --
NUTTER: (INAUDIBLE)
PRESS: Please. I would like to finish my point.
COOPER: Bill, do you believe she was influenced by that money?
PRESS: Well, I would point out three things. First of all, I got to say, everybody knew she was thinking about running for president. There was a PAC called ready for Hillary that was out there. This was no secret. One word, George Stephanopoulos said the other morning. Access. You know, that's the way politics works. The people who gave her all that money are going to get their phone calls answered. They are going to get attention.
Number two, look at Glass-Steagall. That's an outrageous law that Bill Clinton signed. It separated -- they let the banks do what happened to drive us into this fiscal disaster in 2008. Bernie Sanders says we ought to get it bring it back. Hillary Clinton is against it. The financial institution is against it.
And thirdly, in Elizabeth Warren's book, I wish I could tell you the exact bill, Elizabeth Warren talks about a bill where Hillary Clinton voted the wrong way because, according to Elizabeth Warren, she was getting money from the big banks on Wall Street. It's a legitimate question. Answer the question.
COOPER: We got to leave it there. Bill Press, Mayor Nutter, good to have you on. Thank you.
Just ahead, before the snowstorm hit in New Hampshire, I interviewed Donald Trump in a restaurant full of voters. Coming up, his in answer to this question.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: You said in the past that as president you'd president different than --
TRUMP: I think I would.
COOPER: Your tone - talking about tone. Your tone - how would it be different --?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:29:37] COOPER: As we said Donald Trump is in South Carolina tonight. Not snowy New Hampshire. He got out before the storm hit and could not make it back. Meantime, his Republican rivals who stayed have been making hay out of it all day.
As we reported at the top of the broadcast with just four days until the primary, the latest CNN/WMUR tracking poll shows Trump still leading, 28 percent. A couple points down from January. The poll, though, has a pretty big margin of error. In addition, nearly a-third of Republican
[20:30:00] voters in New Hampshire, they are still undecided tonight.
I interviewed Donald Trump yesterday at a restaurant in Manchester, New Hampshire where he also took questions from some undecided voters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: You said in the past that as president, you would be president different than you ...
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Oh, I think I would.
COOPER: ... your tone. Talking about tone, your tone -- how would it be different because just -- that's what -- some of your ...
TRUMP: I understand.
COOPER: ... you believe in like your policies are worried about, you know, are you going to be tweeting in the middle of the night ...
TRUMP: No.
COOPER: ... as president, criticizing people? Are you going to be?
TRUMP: Here's what we have to understand. So, I started out with 17 people total. And then if you add a few Democrats, a couple of mine won't even count. But if you had, you know, I had over 20 people. OK.
They were all boom, boom, boom, they kind of -- you have to move fast. You have to -- and Twitter is a wonderful thing. You know it as well as anybody. You do very well with Twitter, too.
But you can get out of -- the other day I put out a message I had on CNN Breaking news. I had put out the Tweet, a good Tweet, positive tweet. And within two minutes, I see Breaking News over CNN.
COOPER: That's why you don't need to spend so much money ...
TRUMP: That's not so bad.
COOPER: ... because people were ...
TRUMP: No, no. It's one of those things.
COOPER: Incredible.
TRUMP: I have, you know, between Twitter and Facebook, I have over 12 million people. It's pretty impressive.
But presidentially, it would be different. I will say this. We need to keep a tough tone though folks. You know, a lot of people get elected, they go to Washington and they fold. They go to Washington because we're going to get rid of ObamaCare, we're going to do this, we're going to do ...
COOPER: So, as president, you're going to be more presidential ...
TRUMP: Anderson, I went to the best schools. I was a good student. I have an uncle who was a professor at MIT for many years. One of the most respected people, Dr. John Trump.
I mean like, I'm like a smart person. I can be -- Anderson, I can be anywhere I want. I own Mar-A-Lago in Palm beach. I have all of the social elite using my ballroom. You know that better that you've been there.
All of the big social ...
COOPER: For charity events. Just for the record.
TRUMP: Oh that's ...
COOPER: I was speaking to -- for free, by the way, also.
TRUMP: I should have clarified. I was hoping you -- but Anderson, all of the big events, the Red Cross, all of them. I have the elite of society come. I have women that come where they, "Oh, Donald, how are you darling? Oh." They love me. And I'm very different.
COOPER: OK.
TRUMP: I talk to them. "How are you? How are you?" Then I leave and that's it. Much different thing, I can be anywhere I want.
Now, as a president, I would be different, I will say. But when I have 17 people coming at me from 15 different angles, you have to go pretty though. You'd have to go pretty hard.
COOPER: You talked about Syria, I want you to meet Andre Wassouf. He's from Syria, moved here in 1988. He's been a police officer in Portsmouth for 17 years.
He said, he's leaning in your favor. Also likes Rubio, though.
TRUMP: OK. You're making a big mistake.
ANDRE WASSOUF, POLICE OFFICER: Mr. Trump, so the war in Syria is obviously horrible and a lot ...
TRUMP: Right.
WASSOUF: ... of Christian Syrians are trying to escape. What are your feelings on this and will you work faster to try to, you know, help these Christians leave that war and ...
TRUMP: Right. Are you Christian?
WASSOUF: I am.
TRUMP: So, one of the horrible things that I've heard very strongly, if you're a Christian from Syria -- and this was before the migration, this was before all of this, you know, it was always, you know, very tough.
But, before the migration, if you were a Christian from Syria, it was virtually impossible to get into the United States. If you were a Muslim from Syria, it was extremely easy. One of the easiest places to come into the United States and become a citizen. Hard to believe.
You would think it would be the other way around because of all the problems that the Christians are having over there. I would work very hard to get the problem solved and I disagree with so many. I listen to Lindsey Graham talking -- no wonder we've been in wars for the last 20 years in the Middle East.
We've got to solve the problem but we've got to take care of the Christians. I mean, where their heads are being cut off. When -- how long have you been over here?
WASSOUF: 28 years.
TRUMP: Oh you, so, you really, I grew up -- in all fairness, you saw a much different Syria it is.
WASSOUF: Yes.
TRUMP: ... as much safer place. So you have images probably that are a little bit different.
WASSOUF: Yes, sir.
TRUMP: We will solve world's problems but with all of that ...
COOPER: Would you allow Syrian refugees who are Christian?
TRUMP: I will ...
COOPER: I though you are banning ...
TRUMP: I'll tell you what, right now, we're having mostly Muslims come in. Right now what I feel and I fear in terms of the migration, I don't want anyone coming in, Anderson. I want to build safe zones in Syria. I want the Gulf States to pay for it because the Gulf States have unlimited money.
You know, before the oil prices went down, Saudi Arabia was making $1 billion a day and we protect Saudi Arabia. And we protect Japan and we protect Germany and we protect South Korea from the maniac who's right next door.
It's unbelievable. We protect everybody. We get peanuts for it. It's got to be different. We're losing a tremendous amount of money on a yearly basis much more money than we can afford to lose. Because you are sitting on a bubble folks, it's going to be a very ugly thing if this happens.
If we're going to protect Germany, Japan, you know that if Japan gets attacked, we have to protect them. I like Japan. I mean, I deal with Japan. I like them. But all the agreements are bad. If Japan gets attacked, we have to protect them.
COOPER: You don't think we should?
TRUMP: No, no. If we get attacked, Japan doesn't have to do anything. OK.
What kind of people makes these deals? If we get attacked, Japan can say, "Gee, whiz," they can send their camera crews, have it on television, right.
[20:35:02] But, if Japan gets attacked, we have to go into World War III or whatever it ends up being. Our deals are no good. We're protecting Germany and you look at Germany as an example with a Mercedes-Benz. Do you have a Mercedes-Benz?
COOPER: No.
TRUMP: OK. Almost everyone else does. They make -- no, they are an ...
COOPER: I'd like one.
TRUMP: They're an economic behemoth. South Korea, I want a television. I buy thousands of television sets a year for different jobs I have, right. They all come out of South Korea. LG, Samsung, I mean Sony which lost its way frankly there in Japan.
But, I buy thousands and thousands of television sets a year. They all come -- we don't make television sets anymore. We don't.
OK. Now, every time the guy in North Korea, the wild man, every time he raises his voice or starts talking nuclear, we start sending our ship. We get nothing for this. We get practically nothing.
You know, we have 28, right now, 28,000 soldiers on the line between North and South Korea. What the hell are we doing? We get nothing out of it and it's an economic -- South Korea is an economic behemoth.
COOPER: You're not saying take those soldiers out. You're just saying get it better ...
TRUMP: No, we have to be reimbursed. We're losing a fortune.
You know, one of the reasons our military has the biggest budget in the world times 10 for the military, it's not because we have a strong military. It's because we're protecting everybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: There're more of our conversations ahead, including why Donald Trump as he made donations to other politicians, including Hillary Clinton, before he became a politician himself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: You were buying access, that's what that was about?
TRUMP: I was buying friends. I was buying, you know, ...
COOPER: You're buying friends?
TRUMP: ... whatever, whatever.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [20:40:24] COOPER: Back now with more of my interview with Donald Trump. It took place yesterday before the snowstorm hit New Hampshire.
As we've said, Mr. Trump got out of town before the weather hit. He's in South Carolina tonight.
The New Hampshire primary now just four days away and the latest CNN/WMUR tracking poll showing nearly a third of Republican voters still undecided.
At Theo's Restaurant in Manchester yesterday, Mr. Trump took question from some of them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: I want you to meet Theirrien -- Susan Theirrien. She's right here. She's from Manchester. She says she's undecided. Susan?
SUSAN THEIRRIEN, UNDECIDED REPUBLICAN VOTER: Yes. Hi, Mr. Trump. My question is, how much of an impact will your Christian faith have upon your decision-making process as president, and I ask that because my husband and I is Born-Again Christians.
TRUMP: Good.
THEIRRIEN: Everything we do is led by the word of God and our faith in Jesus Christ. I want to know that is this going to be an important part of your, you know, administration, as it should be as your life?
TRUMP: That's a great question. I thought, people were a little bit surprised, but I have -- nationwide, I'm leading everybody with evangelicals. You've seen that.
In Iowa I did great with the evangelicals.
COOPER: Cruz did better.
TRUMP: He did, in Iowa, but in ...
COOPER: Right.
TRUMP: ... nationwide I'm actually leading ...
COOPER: That's true.
TRUMP: ...everybody very substantially.
A lot of ministers, a lot of pastors are supporting me. Not because I'm the perfect person in all fairness but because they think I'll be the best leader. They think I'll be best for the economy that, you know, they're very pragmatic. I mean, they're very -- they want something great for the country.
It's very important to me. Christianity is very important to me. By the way, they are doing -- they are chopping and chopping and chopping away of Christianity. They have to form and they have to become stronger. And it all started with Lyndon Johnson where, you know, if you lose your tax status and everything else. They are really chopping away. They're petrified of that because they don't want to take political positions.
If I said some of the things that I said, let say about Muslims that I said about -- if I said that about Christians, I wouldn't have had the same uproar. It's crazy what's going on. Religion plays a very important role in my heart. And Christianity plays a very important role in my life.
COOPER: Why do you think Ted Cruz was able to get evangelicals with the entrance polls in Iowa, you lost to Cruz by 12 points among evangelicals?
TRUMP: I think he just, you know, he had a lot of support from the ministers, but so do I. I have Dr. Jerry Falwell. You know, Jerry is an amazing junior who's on the Jerry Falwell Jr. ...
COOPER: Right.
TRUMP: ... from Liberty University. He's an amazing guy.
I have so many -- Pastor Jefferson, so many different and he had -- I don't know. It was just -- it wasn't a big difference but I was right there. Nationwide, I'm beating ...
COOPER: Yeah.
TRUMP: ... everybody by a lot and I'm very proud of that. Now, religion and Christianity plays a very big role.
COOPER: I want you to meet Ryan Bernier. He's between jobs right. He's driving for Uber. He was supporting Rand Paul, now he says he's undecided.
TRUMP: Hey, Ryan.
RYAN BERNIER, UBER DRIVER: Hello Donald. Thanks for coming to our state.
TRUMP: Sure.
BERNIER: As someone who used to work in health care and health insurance I saw first hand how expensive the premiums are and how expensive drugs are.
I'm concerned about this for my parents, my grandparents and myself ultimately later. So, I just was curious what you thought some steps that Trump administration take to some specifics steps.
TRUMP: The greatest steps. The drug companies, right, and the insurance companies are taken care by politicians. They're not going to take care of me. I'm not taking any -- I could have -- Bush raised $125 million. He had the biggest fund. He wasted the money.
Mine is, I mean, I'd rather have him give it to the wounded warriors or give it to the vets or give it to anybody, OK. Just to wave myself throw it out the window the way he wasted money. But, Bush raised $125 million. Hillary raised $70 million, $80 million, $90 million, right.
Those people that put up that money, all of those people, they have control over these people. If I knock out the insurance companies with the lines, and if I make the -- if I do what I told you about the drugs, the cost of the drugs. With me, the drugs will come way down in price. I don't mean a little bit. I mean way down in price because they're making a fortune.
Now, why are they making a fortune? Check out Johnson & Johnson, right? Look, Woody Johnson is running the campaign of somebody. Do you know who he is running the campaign of?
BERNIER: No.
TRUMP: Right? You know who, Jeb Bush.
Woody Johnson is the chief -- he's Johnson & Johnson. It's Woody Johnson of Johnson & Johnson. He's a nice guy. He's a friend of mine.
Do you think that Jeb Bush is going to hurt Johnson & Johnson? That's not the -- so the way the system works, folks, is rigged against you, OK. It's rigged against you.
I was part of the system. I was -- look, I was total establishment, now I'm total am. The day I announced I became un-establishment but I was -- I gave $350,000 to the Republican governor's associate.
[20:45:00] I gave money to everybody. I get along with everybody.
I get along with -- by the way, Democrats. I got along with the Republicans which is my obligation to do. But, I understand the system better than anybody. The drug companies pay tremendous amounts of money to all of the people you see on stage except me.
The insurance companies, health insurance and all of them pay tremendous money to all of the people you see. And every one of those people is getting a tremendous amount of money.
They'll never change the system. Me, I'll change it in two minutes. I'll tell you what, one of the first things I'll do is we're going to bid out drugs. We'll not take a price where it's like I'm going into a store and taking it off the shelf. We're going to save $300 billion with that one move and it could be more.
COOPER: The fact that you used to give money to Nancy Pelosi, to Hillary Clinton your opponents.
TRUMP: I get along with everybody.
COOPER: I know, but your opponents there are -- or have already used that against you. No doubt will use that against you. More this ...
TRUMP: I don't think success ...
COOPER: ... part of the problem?
TRUMP: No. Yeah in a way I was, sure. I don't successfully. My opponents have used it. But look ...
COOPER: Were you trying, are you buying access?
TRUMP: I was usually called at a certain article, a world class businessman. That's what I am. I'm all over the world. I have jobs in Turnberry, in Scotland. I have jobs all over the world. They're great jobs. Some of the greatest properties in the world. Deals.
I had to get along with everybody.
COOPER: So you were buying access? That's what, that was about.
TRUMP: What I -- I was buying friends. I was buying ...
COOPER: You were buying friends?
TRUMP: You know whatever. Whatever. I mean I owed it to myself. I owed it to myself.
COOPER: As a businessman, that's was your job?
TRUMP: Yeah. If I needed something, I called it like, OK.
Let's say Nancy Pelosi comes up to my office and she says, Donald, could you make a contribution to my, whatever, my PAC. These PACs are totally disgusting by the way, they're disgusting. They're really a problem.
Could you make a contribution? Now, let's say I say no. OK. Then two years later I need her help to get me something in California or something. I call her up and say, hi. It's not one for another. It's much more subtle than that.
So I go, hi. How are you doing? How have you been? She might not take my phone call by the way. But on the assumption that she did and I say, listen remember when you asked for contributions and I said no? I now need some help on getting environmental permits in California where I have a lot of land, OK? She's going to say, they don't even talk to me.
The systems rigged against the people but I know the system better than anybody else.
COOPER: It sounds like Bernie Sanders. He says the systems ...
TRUMP: Well, the difference is Bernie Sanders can't do it. See, Bernie Sanders is right about the one thing trade. The problem is, he can't do anything about it. I can re negotiate with China and make -- because I am a free trader. It's got to be fair trade. I don't want to lose $505 billion a year with China. But I want to keep calm but it's got to be fair trade.
Bernie can't do anything about it because Bernie never created a job in his life. He doesn't know what a job is. OK. He never created a job in his life. I created tens of thousands of jobs over the years.
Look, if I win, I'll be the greatest jobs creator. I mean there'll be nobody even close that God ever created. Nobody is going to be like me for this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, we'll have more in my conversation in our next hour.
Just had group of New Hampshire voters had no trouble identifying Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump when Randi Kaye showed them pictures. And things got a lot hazier when it came to the rest of the candidates.
We'll show you just how confused they were.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:51:52] COOPER: Just four days left until the New Hampshire primary. Not a lot of time left of the candidates to seal the deal after months of campaigning and millions of dollars spent. It's safe to say, all the candidates probably expect voters to at least know what they look like. They'll be disappointed by our next report.
Here's Randi Kaye.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The countdown is on to the New Hampshire primary which means it's time to play candidate trivia.
Are you ready to play?
NICHOLAS MARX, VOTER: I am ready to play.
KAYE: All right. Here's how it works. We show customers at this Manchester diner photos of the presidential candidates to see if they can identify them.
Who is that?
JUSTIN GERALD, VOTER: That is the man with the plan, Bernie Sanders.
KAYE: You feeling the Bern?
GERALD: I'm feeling the Bern.
KAYE: Who's that?
AMANDA HENDERSON, VOTER: That's Marco Rubio.
KAYE: Nice. HENDERSON: That's Donald Trump.
KAYE: If only it was that easy. After a few correct answers, it was pretty much all down hill.
Who's that?
MARX: I have no idea.
KEYE: No idea?
MARX: I've literally only seen his face like two or three times.
KAYE: He's been campaigning around this state for a long time now.
No idea? OK. Do you want to take a guess?
MARX: Is that Ted Cruz?
KAYE: That is not Ted Cruz.
MARX: Who is that?
KAYE: That is Chris Christie.
MARX: Chris Christie.
KAYE: This guy couldn't keep Ted Cruz and Chris Christie straight either.
Want to phone a friend?
GERALD: I want to phone a friend. That is ...
KAYE: Come on, take a guess.
GERALD: Oh with that, his name is -- I'm not -- Chris Christie. No?
KAYE: Not Chris Christie.
GERALD: No.
KAYE: Ted Cruz.
GERALD: Ted -- I was going to say Ted Cruz.
KAYE: Well, you said Chris Christie.
GERALD: I did.
KAYE: Who is this?
GERALD: Oh, my god. I'm terrible, his name Chris, no, that's not Chris Christie either.
KAYE: That is Chris Christie. When we showed this guy a picture of Republican Ben Carson, he shocked us with a blast from the past.
Who is this?
MARX: Herman Cain, I believe. No?
KAYE: No.
MARX: Not Herman Cain. OK.
KAYE: That's Ben Carson.
MARX: Ben Carson.
KAYE: Yeah.
MARX: OK.
KAYE: Carson fooled these guys, too.
Want a hint?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who's that?
KAYE: B.C.? Initials B.C.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ben Chase? No.
KAYE: Oh, you were so close.
The same guys fell apart when I showed them a picture of Bernie Sanders who has a double-digit lead here.
Who's that? Very popular in this state.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bernie Mack?
KAYE: Bernie Mack?
MATT JOHNSON, VOTER: No. My only guess would be Bernie Sanders, but I have no idea.
KAYE: Oh, it's Bernie Sanders. You got it.
JOHNSON: I did. OK.
KAYE: Our group had the toughest time recognizing Ohio Governor John Kasich.
Who is this?
GERALD: Jimmy Carter?
KAYE: Jimmy Carter?
GERALD: Yeah. Right? No?
KAYE: No.
GERALD: No. I'm terrible at this game.
KAYE: That's been close.
Who's that?
STEFAN PHILBROOK, VOTER: Dennis Kucinich.
KAYE: Dennis Kucinich.
PHILBROOK: No, not Dennis Kucinich.
KAYE: Who is this?
JOHNSON: No idea.
KAYE: This guy stumps everybody. Are you sure he's a candidate?
JOHNSON: No. You can show me anybody as a candidate, and I just don't know.
[20:55:00] KAYE: And just 60 seconds later, we showed these guys the same photos again and they still could not name Kasich.
This is classic but you didn't retain any of that information.
JOHNSON: Yeah. I didn't. No.
KAYE: Everyone we asked knew Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
And who is that?
GARALD: Oh, man, the hair piece, I like to call him. Donald Trump.
KAYE: All right. You know you're on fire now, look at you.
And just for fun, we threw in a picture of our very own Anderson Cooper to see what might happen.
MARX: I definitely know his face and I do not remember his name but ...
KAYE: Democrat or Republican.
MARX: He's definitely a Republican.
KAYE: Randi Kaye, CNN, Manchester, New Hampshire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: I don't know how to take that. There's a lot more happening tonight. Deborah Feyerick has a "360 Bullet."
Deborah?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake has rattled Southern Taiwan killing at least two people, including a 10-day old baby girl.
Meanwhile, at least 126 people have been freed from the rubble of a collapsed, 17-story apartment building in the City of Tainan. Throughout the region, there were reports of injuries and power outages.
One person was killed and three others injured when a massive crane collapsed in New York City this morning during a snowstorm. The man killed was sitting in his parked car.
Ethan Couch who used affluenza defense when he killed four people in a drug driving accident is now in an adult jail in Texas tonight awaiting prosecution on parole violation charges. But the judge must still decide if the 18-year-old's case will be heard in adult or juvenile court.
Couch is accused of not checking in with his probation officer. He and his mother were found last month after fleeing to Mexico.
And near San Diego, a hungry baby sea lion wandered into a restaurant and picked a table with a great view of the water. The pup is half the weight she should be and it is now the care of SeaWorld who hopes to eventually return her to the ocean.
COOPER: Thanks very much, Deborah.
Barbara Bush is campaigning with her son in New Hampshire. Jeb Bush calls her, his not so secret weapon.
And today mother and son talks CNN's Jaime Gangel. That's next
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
