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Donald Trump Mocks Carly Fiorina's Looks; Sanders, Clinton Neck and Neck in Iowa; Freddie Gray Death Trial; Tennis Star James Blake Tackled by New York City Police; Clinton Makes Her Case to Women; Trump Slams Carson's Faith and Abilities; Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired September 10, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[10:00:03] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, leader of the pack.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We will have so much winning if I get elected that you may get bored with winning.

COSTELLO: Trump trounces the competition in a new CNN poll. And in just hours we find out who he will face off with in Wednesday's big debate.

Also, raging flood waters. Dramatic rescues from above. And now major flooding in Japan leading to concerns about a radioactive leak.

Plus, meet a distant member of your family tree.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is like opening up King Tut's tomb.

COSTELLO: How researchers discovered a new human-like species and why it could change the way we think about our ancestors.

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.

We begin with the race for the White House, and today for Hillary Clinton the race winds through the state of Ohio where a Women for Hillary event is the latest stop on the campaign trail.

These are live pictures from Columbus where Clinton is expected to speak to a crowd in just about a half hour. CNN will monitor that event, but we're also keeping an eye on the other frontrunner in the 2016 campaign, and that would be Donald Trump.

A new CNN poll showing Trump pulling away from the pack with 32 percent of the vote. Ben Carson coming in second but still trailing by double digits.

CNN's Sara Murray joins me now. So what's behind the surge? We keep asking that same question.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: With pretty much the same answer.

MURRAY: You're right. We keep thinking, you know, he's definitely hit his ceiling. He can't go any higher and this poll once again shows us we are wrong. Donald Trump at 32 percent support. The first candidate to cross through that 30 percent mark. So that's pretty big deal. And the interesting thing is he's not just getting more support from the same groups he was drawing support from. He's now getting more support from women. He's getting more support from college graduates.

If you take a look at the numbers for women, that in particular is striking. Donald Trump now drawing 33 percent support from women, a 13-point jump from a month ago. He saw a similar jump with college graduates now drawing 28 percent support. A 12-point jump from just a month ago. So it's pretty clear he's sort of broadening the base that he's appealing to, Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, his support from Republican women is kind of surprising because he went ahead and he kind of dissed another Republican woman and that would be Carly Fiorina. In a "Rolling Stone" interview he mocked her look saying, "Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?"

Trump again slammed Fiorina on "NEW DAY." Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, NEW DAY: You had a "there he goes again" moment. First it was Rosie, then it was Megyn. Now you got Carly Fiorina. They've got you in "Rolling Stone" magazine making fun of the way she looks. What do you talk about how women looks so much? You know it's not presidential. It's probably not even kind.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I'm talking about looks. I'm talking about persona. Look, here's another one.

CUOMO: You said look at that face.

TRUMP: Between Carson and Carly --

CUOMO: You said look at that face.

TRUMP: I'll say some nice things about you at least so that they'll say at least he says nice things about some people.

CUOMO: I'll take it.

TRUMP: The fact is -- the fact is that Carly Fiorina has had a terrible past. She was fired viciously from Hewlett-Packard. The dean of the --

CUOMO: But then you should say that.

TRUMP: -- business school who is a highly respected man, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote a paper that was one of the worst papers on CEOs. She goes down as one of the worst ever.

CUOMO: But --

TRUMP: The company practically crated.

CUOMO: But then say that.

TRUMP: But -- excuse me, Chris. Wait. Thousands of jobs gone, stock price gone. Still hasn't recovered. It's a total disaster. But still hasn't recovered. They're trying hard, but she was a disastrous CEO. She had a company before that called Lucent, which in my opinion and in my memory was even a worse catastrophe than Hewlett-Packard. She then gets fired from Hewlett-Packard, she runs for the Senate against somebody that could have been beaten easily. She loses in a landslide and now she's running for president.

Now when I said that and the "Rolling Stone" article had moments of beauty and greatness, and I did like the pictures, actually. One of the few magazines where I actually like the pictures. So the photographer is good. The writer actually called me and he said, I'm so upset, I wrote this great story and Jan Winters screwed it up. He told me that.

CUOMO: All right.

TRUMP: Because they added a lot of stuff, a lot of garish stuff that I think is disgusting.

CUOMO: What I'm saying is this.

TRUMP: But they added it. Excuse me. Wait. So -- but, Carly, the statement with Carly, I'm talking about her persona. Her persona is not going to be -- she's not going to be president.

CUOMO: Yes. But I don't know about that.

TRUMP: She had a terrible, terrible, failed time at --

CUOMO: I don't know about that. I'll tell you why. I hear everything you're saying about the record. They're all legitimate basis for criticism that you can level against one of your opponents. But I'm just reading the quote for what it is. "Look at that face. Why would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that's the face of our next president? I mean, she's a woman, I'm not supposed to say bad things, but really, folks, come on, are we serious?"

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: You're talking about persona?

TRUMP: Chris, I'm talking persona.

CUOMO: How? Where's persona in that?

TRUMP: And when she hits me on my hair, I know that's OK. And you won't defend me.

CUOMO: That's tit-for-tat.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Because my hair is -- by the way, I think you know me well enough it is my hair. But when she hits me on my hair --

[10:05:01] CUOMO: Somebody comes on my air and makes fun about your hair, I'm going to tell him to shut up and move on to something else. If somebody does that to you on my air, and they say the reason he shouldn't be president is because of his hair, look at his hair, I'll say shut up, let's talk about something else.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Well --

CUOMO: It's unkind and it's unpresidential.

TRUMP: You don't have to defend me. I'm not looking for anybody to defend me. I'm just saying when she and other people hit me on things, nobody ever comes to my defense. So I'm just saying this.

CUOMO: You come to your defense.

TRUMP: Carly had a terrible time in business. She destroyed a company. You have to get the report from Jeffrey Sonnenfeld of Yale. He's the expert on Carly. It's a disaster. And check out Lucent beforehand. So you have Ben saying what he said, you have Carly saying, these are two people that will not be president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: That was exhausting, right? But it was kind of fun to listen to, which I think is the main factor here, right? But on a serious note, Carly Fiorina, you know, everybody says she's rising in the polls but in this latest CNN poll she's only at 3 percent, so why is Mr. Trump even bothering?

MURRAY: Well, I think the reason he's bothering is because she sort of punched at him, and we remember this from the last debate, the so- called happy hour debate that she was in. She was one of the people who was toughest on Donald Trump, and that was so interesting because they were on different stages, and I think people kind of forget that. They were in two separate debates last time around.

Now we're still waiting on the final word about who's going to be on the debate stage for our CNN debate, we'll hear that later tonight. But, you know, it looks like Carly has a very good shot of ending up on stage with Donald Trump, and that I think will be really fascinating to see the dynamic between the two of them if they're both on the same stage together. And I can't imagine that you hear Donald Trump going after her looks when it's actually face-to-face, when the cameras are actually rolling.

And you see there, he's not doubling down on these attacks. The idea that he was talking about her persona versus her face is a little bit difficult to believe, and I can't imagine he goes after her looks when he's on, you know, a presidential debate stage.

COSTELLO: Oh, I don't know, Sara. I don't know. All I can say is I can't wait to watch. Thank you so much.

And you can watch along with me that big Republican debate. It will be right here on CNN, Wednesday, September 16th, 6:00 and 8:00 p.m. Eastern. Also tonight at 8:00 Eastern on "AC 360" find out which candidates will be on that main debate stage. Will Carly Fiorina be on the debate stage along with Donald Trump? But before that be sure to check out Jeb Bush today as well. He talks with CNN's Jake Tapper on "THE LEAD." That airs at 4:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

It's not just Republican voters who are in search of outsiders. A new Quinnipiac poll shows Bernie Sanders, the self-described Democratic socialist, he's now in a tie with Hillary Clinton among likely Iowa Democratic caucus-goers. Of course, that's according to a new Quinnipiac poll and it represents an eight-point jump for Sanders since July.

CNN's senior political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson joins me now to talk about this poll. Good morning.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Bad news there for Hillary Clinton at this point. She has seen something of a dip in her sort of appeal there among Iowa caucus- goers, Democratic ones. She was at 52 percent in July. She is at 40 percent now, neck and neck with Sanders, and Biden is there at about 12 percent. He has also seen something of a bump up and this is amid a swirl of speculation that he's at least thinking about joining this race, and it looks like he's got some support there.

If you look at sort of favorability ratings, there's good news there for Clinton because she's essentially in a three-way tie with Sanders and Biden. Biden comes in at about 79 percent. Sanders is at 76 percent, Clinton is at 76 percent.

One of her real strength, though, is among women voters. She's about 49 percent of women choose her. About 35 percent choose Sanders. So I think in the coming days and even today she's really going to try to highlight that aspect, that unique aspect of her candidacy, Women for Hillary groups, meeting around the country, and it's something I think she'll continue to hit on because it gives her an edge over Biden and over Sanders.

She's the one, if there is such thing as sort of the war on women that we've seen from Democrats, this rhetoric against Republicans, she's probably the most capable of playing that sort of strategy that has worked so well for Democrats in the past. COSTELLO: So just a question, so are Democratic insiders really

worried about Hillary Clinton's slipping poll numbers? Are they pushing Joe Biden to get into the race?

HENDERSON: Yes, I think it depends on what you mean by Democratic insiders. I think certainly there is a contingent of Biden supporters, people who are very loyal to him in states like South Carolina and states like Iowa. And his friends who want to see good things for someone they think has been a very good vice president. So those folks do want to see Biden get in there, and they are sort of chattering with us, chattering among themselves and donors certainly want to see him get in there, some of his -- some people who backed Obama and are on Biden's team now.

[10:10:00] But there isn't a real push like you saw in 2008, real top Democrats asking that Obama get in that race in 2008, and, of course, he had sort of a grassroots appeal as well. You don't see that yet with Biden. Other names being floated around, people like Al Gore, people like Elizabeth Warren as well.

I will say this, Democrats are always a nervous bunch, so that is no surprise here, but I think if you look internally at these poll numbers, Clinton still has some real strength among Democratic voters, but she has had some stumbles this summer and I'm sure she's trying to right that ship now.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. Nia-Malika Henderson thanks so much.

HENDERSON: Thank you.

COSTELLO: And make sure you stay with us. Bernie Sanders will join Wolf Blitzer on CNN for a live interview. That airs at 1:00 p.m. Eastern.

Protesters have gathered outside of a Baltimore courthouse yelling, chanting, and demanding justice in the death of Freddie Gray. In the meantime, inside that courthouse, lawyers for both sides are meeting in front of a judge arguing whether a Baltimore jury can be impartial toward the six officers indicted in Gray's death.

Jean Casarez is following this. She's live in Baltimore with more. Good morning.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. You know, that hearing is going on right now. It's gone on for about 40 minutes. We don't know what's being argued at the moment, though. We know it's change of venue for this trial. Should it be here in Baltimore or not? But the judge is not allowing any type of e-mail transmission. We don't know where they are. Each side gets 15 minutes to argue their point, but outside the protesters are very visibly there, peaceful protesting taking place. One protester has a mega horn.

We do know that one was handcuffed probably 30, 40 minutes ago. We don't really know why at this point, but there are some police vans ready to go if necessary. And they are chanting what many in this community believe, keep the trial here in Baltimore, and it's trials because the judge has determined each one of those police officers is going to get an individual trial.

The defense has brought this motion because they say what this community lived through, what these potential jurors went through in May, taints them, and therefore the defendants cannot get a fair and impartial trial here in Baltimore and the trials need to be moved to other locations in the state.

The prosecution is saying you can't make an assumption like that. You've got to believe in the people in this community, and therefore we should try to get that jury right here if we can in Baltimore City -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Jean Casarez reporting live for us. Thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a world-class athlete slammed to the ground by New York City Police. Was James Blake a victim of mistaken identity or excessive police force?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:17:01] COSTELLO: A New York City police officer is on desk duty after he tackled tennis star James Blake in what the NYPD is calling a case of mistaken identity. Officers had been looking for a man suspected of credit card fraud. Earlier Blake told ABC News that he felt, quote, "targeted," and that the situation could have been much worse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES BLAKE, FORMER TENNIS PRO: I feel lucky actually that I didn't because I'm happy that my reaction was I was actually smiling at the person because I could see how if I put my arms up or if I did anything, it could be a sign of showing some sort of resistance and instead of having a -- you know, a little bruise on my leg I might have some broken bones or some actual injuries because it didn't seem like he was slowing down, and he was going to continue that tackle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Boris Sanchez has more on this for you. Good morning.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Blake says that five New York City Police Department officers tackled him as he was waiting for a car outside his Midtown Hotel yesterday. According to the NYPD, this was about an identity fraud ring that they were trying to break up. They say that there was a group of people buying cell phones with stolen credit cards and that at one point a witness pointed to Blake as being involved in that ring.

Officers then approached him. He says that he thought it was a friend from high school coming to give him a hug. That's when he was tackled. He says he was hurt on his arm and his leg. After being questioned for several minutes officers then realized who he was and believed what he was saying. Blake has again implied that this may have something to do with race, but the NYPD says that is not the case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COMMISSIONER BILL BRATTON, NEW YORK POLICE: Race has nothing at all to do with this. If you look at the photograph of the suspect, it looks like the twin brother of Mr. Blake, so let's put that nonsense to rest right now. Race has nothing to do with this. We have a witness who identified Mr. Blake as an individual that he had sold a phone to and had been given a false credit card. The officers acted on that information. The witness was there and pointed him out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: That's Police Commissioner William Bratton speaking to "NEW DAY" this morning. He's supposed to hold a press briefing in just a few minutes. Hopefully we'll see video of what happened, maybe a picture of that suspect they were talking about.

Blake has said he wants an apology from the NYPD. They've said they reached out to himself several times but haven't been able to get ahold of him.

COSTELLO: Yes. They called the hotel and left messages. Well, here's the thing. The officer who tackled James Blake, he's now on desk duty, so if nothing wrong happened, why is that?

SANCHEZ: That's pending the investigation. So what I'm hoping that we'll see some of that video, get a clearer picture from the NYPD if they believe that there was some wrongdoing and then they'll make a decision on that officer.

COSTELLO: Because what James Blake is saying, right, it's like, I was standing there, I wasn't running away.

SANCHEZ: Right.

COSTELLO: I wasn't resisting in any way, and the officer just tackled me.

SANCHEZ: He says that he --

COSTELLO: Why couldn't the officer say, we have a few questions for you, can you provide identification?

SANCHEZ: Right. Right. That's what Blake is saying. He says that he immediately told the officer that he wouldn't fight the arrest, that he would comply. He --

COSTELLO: That was when he was on the ground already.

[10:20:02] SANCHEZ: He also told them that he felt unsafe. He says that no one had apologized to him. That's what he's looking for.

COSTELLO: All right. Boriz Sanchez, I'm sure you'll keep us posted.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, less than a week to go until next week's Republican debate and Donald Trump is leading the pack by a huge margin. Up next we'll hear more from his fiery interview with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It is a busy day for Hillary Clinton. She hits the campaign trail today in Ohio and Wisconsin. Any minute now we're expecting Clinton to step on stage at a Women for Hillary event in Columbus. But as the "Boston Globe" points out, winning the female vote could be a major challenge. Ohio has never had a female governor. It's never -- it's never been represented by a woman in the Senate. And Columbus where Clinton is about to speak has never had a female mayor.

Let's bring in CNN national correspondent Suzanne Malveaux, she's on the campaign trail. Oh, good morning.

[10:25:08] SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. It really just got loud just a second ago here, very loud, this very enthusiastic audience. We expect Hillary Clinton to be on stage momentarily.

You bring up a very good point about women here. Obviously the campaign is trying to bring out her personality, to make her more likable, that this is the thing that they're trying to focus on and emphasize.

We saw earlier in the week dancing with Ellen. She's going to be on Jimmy Fallon as well later in the week. But Iowans, they want you to know that with 2008 they gave her the primary. So the delegates here are highly loyal and highly emotional about their support for her, but Hillary Clinton, quite frankly, as first lady, as senator, as former secretary of state has never really been as comfortable highlighting her personality as opposed to her accomplishments.

She was the one, as you know, back in 2008 said, look, she's the one who can get that 3:00 phone call in the morning and be ready on day one as commander-in-chief. So it's really this delicate balancing act, Carol, that she's going to be doing today.

COSTELLO: OK. Suzanne, I'm going to let you go and let you listen to what Hillary Clinton has to say and then we will check back because it's kind of loud out there.

Thanks so much. Suzanne Malveaux, reporting live from Columbus, Ohio.

Republican hopeful Donald Trump came out swinging this morning against rival Ben Carson during a fiery interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo. Trump not only slammed Carson's face but took some pretty heavy hits against his professional ability as a doctor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I have known Ben Carson, of him, for a long time. I never heard faith was a big thing until just recently when he started running. CUOMO: He's a Seventh Day Adventist. I mean, it's -- it's something

he talks about a lot.

TRUMP: So I don't know about Ben Carson's faith and all of a sudden he becomes this great religious figure. I don't think he's a great religious figure. And I saw him yesterday quoting something and he was quoting on humility and it looked like he had just memorized it about two minutes before he made the quote. So, you know, don't tell me about Ben Carson. Now Carson is another one.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Well, Ben Carson is coming at you, too. He says --

TRUMP: He's starting to hit me so I hit back. I only hit back when I get hit.

CUOMO: I know --

TRUMP: I'm a great counter-puncher.

CUOMO: Let me ask you --

TRUMP: But Ben Carson, you're talking about his faith -- excuse me, Chris.

CUOMO: Please.

TRUMP: Go back and look at his past. Go back and look at his views on abortion and see where he stands. You talk about abortion. I mean, go back and look at his views on abortion. Now all of a sudden he gets on very low key, I mean, frankly he looks like -- he makes Bush look like the Energizer Bunny. He's very low key. He's got a lot of jokes.

CUOMO: Strong words.

TRUMP: A lot of people pushing him. But Ben Carson, you look at his faith and I think you're not going to find so much. And you look at his views on abortion, which were horrendous. And that's, I think, why I'm leading with all of the evangelicals. I'm, as you know in your poll, number one, I'm leading Ben Carson by a lot. You know, you said, Ben Carson is surging. Well, I'm almost double his numbers. So you know, got to remember that.

CUOMO: Absolutely. But I'm saying he came out of nowhere is all I'm saying. He's not a big celebrity. You know, people didn't know about him. He doesn't get anywhere near the attention that you get.

TRUMP: Well, I only bring this up, Chris -- hey, Chris. I only bring it up because I saw him hitting me yesterday. He's questioning my faith.

CUOMO: Let me ask you something.

TRUMP: I happen to be -- CUOMO: He definitely is questioning your faith.

TRUMP: -- a great believer in God, a great believer in the bible.

CUOMO: He is definitely questioning your faith.

TRUMP: Hey, Chris, who is he to question my faith when I am -- you know, I mean, he doesn't even know me. I've met him a few times. But I don't know Ben Carson. He was a doctor, perhaps, you know, an OK doctor, by the way, you can check that out, too. They're not talking about a great -- he was an OK doctor.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: I don't know about OK doctor.

TRUMP: He's just fine.

CUOMO: You know, he was the first man to separate conjoined twins.

TRUMP: He's just fine. And I was -- because he's a doctor and he hired one nurse he's going to end up being the president of the United States? But for him to criticize me on my faith is absolutely -- and for him to read from the bible in his memory, it looked like he memorized it about two minutes before he went on stage.

CUOMO: Do you think you're more a man of faith than he is?

TRUMP: But Ben Carson -- Ben Carson is not going to be your next president. That I can tell you.

CUOMO: You think you're more a man faith than Ben Carson is?

TRUMP: I would say -- I can't quote him. I can only say I am a man of faith. I can't -- I don't know enough about Ben Carson. But if you look at his past, which I've done, he wasn't a big man of faith. All of a sudden he's become this man of faith.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All righty then. So Ben Carson has responded to the Donald Trump "NEW DAY" interview telling the "Washington Post," quote, "I don't want to get into a gladiator fight with Donald Trump," and saying he was not trying to criticize Trump's faith in any way in his comments.

So let's talk about some of this. CNN senior political analyst and editorial director of the "National Journal" Ron Brownstein is here. I'm also joined by Republican strategist Cheri Jacobus.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: I don't even know what to make of this because Ben Carson became famous for speaking at a National Prayer Breakfast where he dissed President Obama. He's put religion front and center from the time I've known he's been in the public eye, Ron. RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, no, look, I mean,

this is kind of a daily -- almost daily occurrence with Donald Trump, you know, kind of lashing out at one of his rivals in this kind of fire hose style of campaign criticism. And look, it really goes to, you know, the ultimate issue. I mean, he's obviously struck a nerve. He's running at roughly one-third of Republican primary voters in your new CNN-ORC poll today.

An incredible number in a field this big, but ultimately I think, you know, between now and when the voters -- voting starts in February, his rivals are going to have to figure out a way to make these questions about his temperament more relevant than they are today for more Republican voters.