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Five Democrats Face Huge Stakes in First Democratic Debate in Vegas; DNC Vice Chair Disinvited from Debate?; Sanders' Secret Weapon: His Wife; Soon: Pretrial Hearings For Officers Begin; Clinton Courts Union Workers, Taunts Trump. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired October 13, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:03] CAMEROTA: Take it away, Carol.

CUOMO: My mother gave me this suit.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: You guys still look amazingly awake.

Have a great day in Vegas. NEWSROOM starts now.

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

The stage is set and the stakes are huge. Five Democrats roll the dice in Las Vegas, squaring off in their first debate of the presidential season. This is the legendary Vegas Strip where fortunes can turn in a moment and a split second decision can last a lifetime. And this is the Wynn Hotel Casino where CNN's debate gets under way just 11 and a half hours.

Hillary Clinton is center stage, Bernie Sanders shares the spot and three underdogs try to step out of their shadows. Tonight in Vegas all bets are off.

Senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta is on the strip this morning. Tell us more, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. One thing we should point out, it's not in the cards for Vice President Joe Biden. The White House says the vice president will be in Washington, not here in Las Vegas for tonight's Democratic debate. But as for the candidates who will be on stage think about Hillary Clinton for a moment. As soon as she arrived here in Las Vegas she wasn't focused on her Democratic rivals. She was firing off on Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice-over): Democratic debate day is here. What happens in Vegas could shake up the next stage of the race for five presidential hopefuls. Seasoned debater Hillary Clinton backed by solid early poll numbers in key states is establishing her presence at these debates. The former secretary of state making an unannounced stop at a union rally at Donald Trump's Vegas hotel, taunting the business tycoon.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Some people think Mr. Trump is entertaining, but I don't think it's entertaining when somebody insults immigrants, insults women. If you are going to run for president, then you should represent all of the people of the United States.

ACOSTA: Bernie Sanders, who has yet to do a mock debate, insists he's going to play nice as long as his competitors do. The Vermont senator continues to pick up traction seeing crowds 13,000 strong in Tucson, Arizona.

BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let's treat each other civilly. Let's treat each other respectfully, and let's not try to demonize people who may have disagreements with us.

ACOSTA: A stark contrast to the strategy of their counterpunching Republican rivals.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'd love to run against her because she is so flawed I think she's very beatable. But she shouldn't even be allowed to run.

ACOSTA: Clinton is prepping for the debate with veteran Washington attorney Bob Barnett. A senior Clinton aide said her main objective -- cutting through the politics. As for Bernie Sanders, he is seeking to convince voters that he's a serious candidate with mainstream views. Meanwhile, Jim Webb, Lincoln Chafee, and Martin O'Malley have a tough road ahead, all looking for a breakout moment on the stage. But in a betting town like Vegas, anything is possible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And as for candidates Martin O'Malley, Jim Webb, and Lincoln Chafee, they will be looking for that memorable moment at tonight's Democratic debate. All they have to do is look to Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio, who had standout performances last GOP debate here on CNN and they saw their poll numbers go up.

So, Carol, as you know, here in Vegas political fortunes certainly could be made -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. Jim Acosta reporting live in Las Vegas this morning. Thank you.

Tonight's audience at the Wynn resort will be there by invitation only. But a lot of attention is being shifted to someone who will not be there. That would be Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. She's the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee and says she was disinvited by the DNC's chair. Her defense she says breaking from the party line and calling for more debates among the Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TULSI GABBARD (D), HAWAII: I've been calling for more debates to give the American people the opportunity to hear from these presidential candidates, to listen to what they've got to say, to hold them accountable for their views and their positions. Because that differentiated from the decision that the chairwoman made from the DNC I was told that I was no longer welcome to come to the debate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So let's bring in CNN political reporter Maeve Reston. She's also live in Las Vegas.

Tell us more, Maeve.

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, I mean, that's actually been a troubling storyline this weekend for the DNC. The DNC is still insisting that she was welcome here but that there were some discussions that they wanted to have before that point. So it's really been a fascinating way of sort of bringing attention away from the candidates. But obviously the focus tonight is on Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. And they are ready to go out here. Hillary was on Trump's doorstep last night. And that they're going to have a showdown tonight.

COSTELLO: They are going to have a showdown. Maeve Reston reporting live from Las Vegas, thanks so much.

[09:05:00] So let's talk strategy. Angela Rye is a political strategist and former executive director for the Congressional Black Caucus and Maria Cardona is a CNN political analyst and a Democratic strategist.

Welcome both of you.

Thank you.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being here. So I'm going to run through four challenges for the contenders. So first up, can Hillary Clinton flip- flop gracefully? Examples, same-sex marriage, trade and immigration. I'll throw that one to you, Maria?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think what the opportunity for Hillary tonight is going to be explained -- to explain those policy positions and why perhaps they have changed. For example when she talked about the trade agreement, let's remember that the last time that she talked about it when she was secretary of state, that was two years before the deal was done.

And I think it will also give her an opportunity to talk about her history with trade agreements. She has never been a rubber stamp for free trade. She has actually voted against some trade agreements. And again, this will be her opportunity to explain and give the background as to why she now believes that this is not a trade agreement that will boost American wages, that will focus on protections for the environment.

And I think that that's an important point because it could be an issue that others on the stage will go after her for. COSTELLO: All right. Up next, the next challenge. Can Bernie

Sanders look like a plausible contender? I say that because if you look at the polls outside of New England where he's from, Hillary Clinton is slaughtering him. Angela?

ANGELE RYE, POLITICAL STRATEGIST: Yes. He absolutely is a serious contender. You've heard from the Clinton campaign with great regularity that they're taking his campaign and his candidacy very seriously. The fact that he's raising so much money from small donors and has done very well over the last two quarters, I think the other thing at play is the fact that he's getting a lot of traction with progressives which is of course what Hillary Clinton calls herself as well.

When you look at the spectrum of that stage, Carol, you see folks who are two former Republicans and you see Martin O'Malley and Hillary Clinton who are to the right of Bernie Sanders but still very progressive, although they both used to support TPP and trade agreements in the past.

COSTELLO: OK. So let's turn our attention to the lesser known contenders like Martin O'Malley. Can he really be a serious contender? Here he is singing to a donor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTIN O'MALLEY (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: (Singing) So thank you for your support, thanks for lending me your hand, thank you, Catherine, for spreading our message of new leadership across the land, of the free and the home of the brave --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK. So there you have it. So Maria, seriously? Can Martin O'Malley --

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: I don't even know what to say.

CARDONA: Bust out as a rocker? Absolutely.

(LAUGHTER)

RYE: The rocker.

CARDONA: No, look, I think tonight -- I think tonight is another big opportunity, probably the first one that Martin O'Malley has had to break out before a tremendously huge audience that he hasn't had before. Let's think about what Martin O'Malley has done. He is a substantive person. He was governor of Maryland. He was mayor of Baltimore. He has a lot of accomplishments under his belt.

And I think tonight he can also go after Hillary on positions that he has had from a long time ago on the progressive side and sort of question, well, you know, you are here now but look at where I have been for quite a while. He, for example, was one of the first to pass the Dream Act in Maryland. That is something that for Latino voters is very important. He can certainly underscore that.

And I think that this is going to be an opportunity for him to present himself, perhaps again for the first time to a much bigger American audience. And I think he's going to have do it in a way that it's going to have to rock the boat a little bit because he is really down in the polls. And again, if he doesn't want to be one of those asterisks that actually falls off the stage he's going to have to try to make some waves.

COSTELLO: OK. So next question. Vice President Joe Biden of course will not be in Vegas. As far as we know he's going to be at his house in Washington. But his ghostly presence certainly will appear in Las Vegas.

So, Angela, how will the candidates handle that? Because they're bound to be asked a question about Joe Biden.

RYE: If candidate's advisers need to advise them to try to punt on that and really go off after another point, which is, you know, here -- you know, we're eager to see if Joe Biden will get in this race but here is my point on the current state of the economy, or whatever. They need to pivot from that. Seriously because he is polling well without even being in the race.

For example, you just talked about Martin O'Malley. In his home state where he was the governor for two terms, the polls say right now he's at 4 percent. He literally can't afford to do anything but tout his campaign positions and why he would be a formidable candidate for president.

[09:10:09] So they really can't afford to let Joe Biden, who is not in the race yet, suck out any of the oxygen in that room.

COSTELLO: So for Martin O'Malley, if you mentioned Joe Biden, Martin O'Malley goes Dream Act.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Right. Got it.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: Exactly.

COSTELLO: Angela Rye, Maria Cardona, thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, spouses are secret weapons. Could these candidates' better halves give them a better shot of the White House?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "TONIGHT SHOW WITH JIMMY FALLON": Get this. They are saying now that if Hillary Clinton actually became president she probably wouldn't have Bill be her first gentlemen.

[09:15:05] It's rumored her daughter Chelsea or her top aide could be named first lady. They still have to come up for a title for Bill. And here's a few options they're looking at. For example, he can go with first ladies man. I mean, if that doesn't work well -- he can also go with "commander in briefs". And finally, there's always "speaker of the dog house". All good choices.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: It got funnier as it went along, right?

Bill Clinton, the target on late night TV. But it doesn't look like he'll even be close to center stage. While the former president did arrive in Las Vegas yesterday with his wife, according a spokesman, Bill has no plans to attend CNN's debate to watch his wife. As for whether Bill Clinton will be in the spin room? A spokesman responded with simply "seriously?"

One person expected to be in attendance though is Jane Sanders, Bernie's wife of 27 years, travels on nearly every campaign trip with the Democratic candidate. And she's in nearly all his senior staff meetings. She may also be his secret weapon in tonight's debate.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUNLEN SERFARTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jane Sander's campaign job is unofficial, but her role is critical.

JANE SANDERS, BERNIE SANDER'S WIFE: Anything that Bernie needs. Basically throughout his career, he'll pull me in and say I need this new area I need some research on, or I need you to go change my airline ticket because I'm running late.

SERFATY: Her influence extends well beyond just support. It's unusually focused on substance.

J. SANDERS: I've always been very interested in policy and always doing a lot of research and thinking and writing. And so, we have -- we have that kind of relationship, where we really discuss things.

I offer advice all the time on almost anything. And he'll say, OK, good. Good. And then I'll know when he goes up to give a speech or if he's in a debate whether or not he agreed or not.

SERFATY: She actively participates in internal meetings, hashing out policy positions, giving him advice in the toughest moments.

When Black Lives Matter protesters took over his campaign event in August it was Jane who stepped up on stage, whispered in his ear directing him how to diffuse the moment. And is on message when asked about her potential future as first lady.

(on camera): You are vying in a way for the same job as Bill Clinton.

J. SANDERS: I think they're both are tremendous. They've done a lot in terms of public service. I think what we're trying to do is move the country in a more progressive way.

SERFATY: Their love story has roots in politics.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Jane and I have been married for 27 years. All right. I don't know how she did it. I really don't. Tough lady.

SERFATY: They first met 1981 in Burlington, Vermont, at his victory rally the night he won his mayoral race. She, nine years his junior, was an activist involved in local politics. He hired her in his office and they fell in love.

Seven years later, they were married with four children, all from each of their previous marriages. They now have seven grandchildren. Over the years, she's remained engaged in policy, focusing on education, working on his congressional office at times and was a former president at Burlington College.

J. SANDERS: I have a background that is really people oriented. What I bring always is the human factor.

SERFATY: Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, it is back to court for the six police officers facing charges in the death of Freddie Gray. The key piece of the trial, the defense is hoping the judge will throw out today.

This case, of course, putting the spotlight on income inequality and that issue is expected to take center stage tonight. But who will come out ahead?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:23:24] COSTELLO: At any moment now, pretrial hearings for the six Baltimore police officers facing a range of charges in the death of Freddie Gray will begin. In the next 48 hours, a judge is expected to decide whether or not statements made by five of those officers will be admissible when the trials begin in earnest next month. The prosecution says the statements are key evidence in their cases. The defense argues they were made under duress, violating the officer's rights.

Jean Casarez is live outside the courtroom.

Good morning, Jean.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. We have all six defendants in the courtroom. They just arrived

moments ago. The hearing is just about to begin. A very important hearing, pretrial hearing. Possibly goes into two days.

But focused front and center is the statements of the officers, because at least some of those officers are not going to want those statements included in the trial. Why? Because they believe it is unfair.

Now, when this all happened in regard to Freddie Gray, immediately an investigation from the police department began and that's when the officers felt that they had to respond to requests for interviews. They believed it was an investigation. They didn't believe it was a criminal probe at that point.

And we do know from legal documents that Lieutenant Porter said this is simply a procedural matter. You will have to come in and just tell us what happened.

We know that William Porter, who is going to be the first officer that's tried. He was told it is not if you are going to come in. It is going to be when you come in to talk to us about what happened. And Alicia White, who we do know who will question her statement coming in, had to come in two times to give a statement.

[09:25:06] So, the fact is now that these officers are going to be tried separately, their statements can come in. But on the other hand, some of the defendants may believe that these statements are actually going to help them because if the prosecution uses them and the defense then argues on their behalf on these statements, then they won't have to take the stand to testify.

Now, with all that, the fact is that a month and a half from now, the first defendant is going to take -- have his trial begin, William Porter. We asked the people how they felt about this, that the try trials are going to happen and right here in Baltimore? Listen to what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE LEWIS, BALTIMORE RESIDENT: We got a lot of racial tension right now in this city from what happened. And my experience from being around them, they want blood. They want these cops to go down. I think the cops should be prosecuted for that. They didn't give the guy proper medical care. So --

CASAREZ: Do you think it was smart to keep the trials here in Baltimore?

LEWIS: Yes, I think so, because it needed to be here. And I think the people wanted it here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And one other thing that we're learning through legal documents is that the prosecutors investigation that they conducted, the defense is getting piecemeal by piecemeal some information on that and they are discovering that there are absolutely new witnesses that no one ever knew about before -- witnesses that actually may help the defense.

And, Carol, we do want to say the prosecution is saying those statements are voluntary. You knew what you were doing. You knew something very serious happened and therefore those statements should now be used against you in a court of law -- Carol.

COSTELLO: We'll see what happens. Jean Casarez, reporting live from Baltimore, thanks.

Freddy Gray's death and the protest that followed shine a spotlight on income inequality. In Baltimore, nearly 24 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. The median household income for African Americans, almost $30,000 less than white households.

Make no mistake: income inequality will be a big talking point at tonight's Democratic debate. Hillary Clinton taking on the topic last night at a union rally in front of Trump's Las Vegas hotel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You have a right to safe working conditions. You have a right to a living wage. And you have to say to all of that and you have to no to efforts to prevent you from organizing, to prevent you from having the kind of working conditions you deserve, the kind of wages that are going to give you a living wage. And that means saying no to Donald Trump.

(CHEERS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Of course, Trump will not be on stage with Clinton but Bernie Sanders who touts his common man credentials will be. Both presidential hopefuls want to raise the federal minimum wage.

When it comes to taxes, Clinton hopes to close loopholes for wealthiest in hedge fund manager. Sanders wants those who earn more than $250,000 to pay a Social Security payroll tax. And he wants to slap a 10 percent surplus tax on billionaires.

So, let's talk about this. I'm joined by senior politics editor for "The Daily Beast", Jackie Kucinich, and Democratic strategist and principal at the Raben Group, Jamal Simmons on his way. I don't know where he is.

Maybe he was gambling in a casino, Jackie. I have no idea.

JACKIE KUCINICH, THE DAILY BEAST: Easy to get lost in Vegas.

COSTELLO: It's a fun, fun city.

OK, back to the matter at hand -- Clinton campaigning in front of Trump's hotel. Genius or meh? KUCINICH: You know, the Clintons have had a long kind of complicated

history with the unions. President Clinton obviously saw, oversaw NAFTA being passed. Hillary Clinton initially supported TPP and now, of course, she's against it and that was sort of seen as an olive branch to unions who really opposed it. So it can't hurt to be on stage with some union representatives really promotes their cause because it's a group that she hasn't always seen eye to eye with.

COSTELLO: OK. So, as an aside, Jackie, there was a tweet from Donald Trump. Quote, "At the request of many and even though I expect --

KUCINICH: Of course.

Here's his tweet, "At the request of many and even though I expect it to be a very, very boring two hours, I will be covering the Democratic debate live on Twitter." Although he said Democrat debate because you know when Republicans mean when they say Democrat.

I think that's smart he is watching the debate. The others not watch, I don't think that's so smart.

KUCINICH: You know, Donald, if you said Donald Trump is not going to be on stage? Donald Trump is going to be on stage in spirit in a way. Someone like Hillary Clinton has made a very careful decision to the keep going after Republican, to keep going after Donald Trump instead of hitting someone like Bernie Sanders, someone like Martin O'Malley, some of the Democrats who might be attacking her.