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Lessons Learned From Benghazi Attack; Flood derails Freight Train Near Dallas; Trump: I'm Not Doing So Well With Women; Bush Campaign Drastically Cuts Spending; Accusations Force Former Coach To Quit His Job; 23 Million Americans Under Major Flooding Threat; Trump in Second Place for the First Time since June; Dems to Fight for Support at Historic Dinner; Body of Slain Soldier Returns to U.S. Today. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired October 24, 2015 - 11:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:11] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello -- everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Welcome to the NEWSROOM.

We begin with breaking news: 23 million Americans now under the threat of major flooding triggered by remnants of Hurricane Patricia which has now just been downgraded to a tropical depression.

The fast-moving system dumping heavy rains on parts of Texas already waterlogged from days of rain. Floodwaters washed out train tracks, in fact, and derailed this freight train south of Dallas. The rising waters have also stranded drivers who needed to be rescued from their cars.

I'm joined now on the phone by Jeff DeGraff, he is the public information officer of Union Pacific, the company that owns that train that we just showed that had been washed away or at least toppled over from train tracks that were submerged.

What is your best understanding of what happened, Jeff?

JEFF DEGRAFF, UNION PACIFIC: Well, as our crews were headed south on the track, our conductor saw the water start to accumulate over the track in that area. He immediately put the train into an emergency stop. Once the train did come to a full stop, they were in the water and they noticed that it was starting to rise.

Apparently, this was a flash flood area. There was a creek that was overflowing. And fortunately, the conductor and the engineer were able to get out of the locomotives and swim through the water to some higher ground where they were picked up by the Navarro County water rescue team.

WHITFIELD: So you said they got out. The conductors got out -- there were two, correct? They got out. They swam on their own and got to higher ground. It is not that they had to be rescued in the water?

DEGRAFF: Correct. They found some higher ground there in the area where they waited for rescue teams to come get them. But, yes that whole area was inundated with water and there wasn't much they could do.

WHITFIELD: And tell me about the cargo that this train was carrying. Is it -- my understanding is it was cement -- is that the case?

DEGRAFF: Yes. This is what we call a unit train -- 64 cars all hauling cement.

WHITFIELD: Now what about diesel fuel, however, from the trains, from the locomotives? Is that, indeed, seeping into the water there?

DEGRAFF: That is certainly something that we are concerned about and keeping an eye on. We have our environmental contractors nearby that are working right now to lay out some protective boom through the area just to make sure if there are any leaks that we will be able to collect that and protect the waterways.

WHITFIELD: And then Jeff, what's your understanding as to the dynamics of making a decision about keeping that train on the track knowing that the storm was making its way in as you all try to assess now what happened. How much do you reflect on perhaps how it could have been prevented, whether it was a wise decision to have this train on the tracks in the first place?

DEGRAFF: Well certainly, this is a storm event that Union Pacific has been monitoring for the last couple of days in advance of all of this. And over the last 24 hours, we have deployed our track inspectors in the areas that we thought would be impacted including this area, and we had inspectors that actually traveled this track just a couple of hours before this train went through there.

And at that time, it was deemed passable and so we continued our train traffic. Unfortunately in this particular area, it seemed to be some flash flood event that overflowed the creek and took out the section of track.

WHITFIELD: Got it. All right. Jeff DeGraff -- thank you so much for your input from Union Pacific -- appreciate it.

DEGRAFF: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: Our Ed Lavandera is also in that region. He had been traveling a good amount of time trying to get to that train derailment scene. So Ed, you are there now in front of a camera. Describe what you are seeing and what are you learning?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, we have made our way. You can see the train here in the background. That is the front end of the train and the two cars that derailed and toppled over by the floodwaters.

We are about a quarter mile off of Interstate 45. And this is as close as we could get. We've managed to make our way down a muddy dirt road until you just can't walk any further. Just covered with water here for the next 300 yards or so before we can get to what's left of the train there. But you can see how it toppled over the first two cars, the yellow and black there toppled over. And then you see the long lines. I think the UP officials say they're 62 or 64 cars long. And it kind of comes back this way toward the north and you can see that it starts going behind the tree lines or behind that berm right over there.

We do know that the UP official had mentioned that there were teams out here. We do see a number of officials that are walking up and down the rail line. They are kind of tucked behind some of the cars where you can't see them from our vantage point here.

[11:05:09] But I have seen them walking up and down the train line probably about five or six different people that I've seen here since we arrived just a short while ago.

But we can also tell you that this is the water. It was definitely rushing from the other side of that train line back over this way. And we have seen that on the other side of Interstate 45, that that creek that the water has come out of its banks has been rushing with an incredible amount of intensity. We saw that just over here on the other side of the interstate where the water is now rushing and flowing extremely heavily.

So you can imagine the kind of force the water had to have had here just a short while ago to make this incredibly heavy train come off the track -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: So a couple of things -- Ed. You know, you talked about how you are off I-45 and you're able to get to that location but you are still a distance from the train. You see officials there who are responding to it. But what's your best understanding as to how they will be able to either get this train back on the track or haul it out? What is the next plan?

LAVANDERA: I'll tell you -- hard to say. This is -- where I am standing here now, you can kind of zoom out a little bit here and you can see. This is a dirt road that would lead you directly pretty close to that rail line right over there.

But right now, it is completely under water. We do know. I know that there was a car, one of those -- a truck that's outfitted to be able to drive along the train track. I saw one of those trucks just a short while ago coming up from the south toward the front-end of this train.

What they do next, I am not really sure exactly what the layout of the other roadways around here that would allow crews to get as close as possible and do the work that they need to do to clean up this situation.

So I think that's what's being assessed now. In fact, the teams that had gotten here, they have had to make their way back over this way. If you look, this is a big, open cow pasture here. They have had to walk their way around the water here and come back at the train from this tree line over here. So really, no quick way to access it as far as I can tell right now

although there have been some vehicles on that rail line already here this morning obviously. But that hasn't -- the vehicles that are on there don't seem like they are capable in any way of doing the heavy lifting that's needed to clean up this situation. Clearly, that's vehicles that are being used to assess what is going on.

But right now, the officials that we have seen out here really having to access that situation and that scene by foot at this point.

WHITFIELD: And so Ed, you said -- and you showed us that that is a cow pasture. So this is, in large part, farmland area. What about that body of water? Where does all of that water really originate before this flash flood?

LAVANDERA: This is all the flash flooding here. This is runoff from the creek that has come out of its banks. This is clearly not supposed to be here at this point. All of this water was, you know, pointing back toward the west and all of this water was going from west to east and rushing back over this way.

It has gone down considerably. But there is definitely a strong channel of water that is making its way back out here toward the left of the screen here. That is the brunt of the water, the force of the water that knocked the train off its rails.

WHITFIELD: Wow, that is incredible. All right. Ed Lavandera -- thank you so much there in Navarro County where you see, you know, right behind Ed there is that train. 64-car train that toppled over when all of that water from that flash flooding just simply inundated the tracks.

Let's get more now on what is next for this storm and what is next for the people there in Texas who continue to feel the remnants of what was a very powerful hurricane Patricia and now a tropical depression -- Jennifer Gray?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's right -- Fred, now, a tropical depression. This storm intensified rapidly and it has also weakened rapidly as well, which is good news. We want this storm to weaken as fast as it can because it was a powerful Category 5 storm at landfall -- 165-mile-per-hour winds. The strongest winds ever recorded within a hurricane in the western hemisphere.

We have yet to see pictures from the towns right where that eye crossed over. The storm was small so hurricane force winds only extended about 35 miles from the center. Those Category 5 winds only a couple of miles from the center. So we will see pictures out of there within the next couple of hours.

With that said, the storm is weakening. We are still going to see a lot of moisture from this storm. Rain is still a threat. We could still see some mudslides across the mountainous terrain of Mexico. But because o the mountains and the wind sheer the storm is just shredding to pieces. [11:10:08] It is extremely disorganized, tropical depression -- most likely we'll be issuing its last advisory coming up in the next couple of hours.

So this moisture though, this plume of moisture is going to head to Texas and that's what you're seeing right now. All of that rainfall, the flooding, the flash flooding -- we have seen incredible rainfall totals so far.

And we are still in the middle of this. More rain is to come. We could see an additional six to ten inches in places around Dallas on top of what we've already seen and a lot of these areas around Corsicana have seen rainfall totals more than ten inches. The highest rainfall total we have seen so far, Palo, Texas -- 20 inches of rain.

And Fred, I can't stress to you enough how dangerous this situation is. The flash flooding, the water can come up in an instant.

WHITFIELD: Wow. And we can see that very seriously. And it is hard to believe when Ed was describing that. That was a creek. And as a result of a flash flood, you saw that amount of water. And then when you talk about the 10 inches potentially in some parts of Texas. I think people can really understand the gravity of it all here.

GRAY: Right. And several days to go. This will continue today and tomorrow as well as Monday.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jennifer Gray -- thanks so much. We will check back with you. Appreciate it.

All right Coming up, Donald Trump, speaking live in less than an hour after a new poll shows that he is now trailing Ben Carson in `Iowa for the first time.

Plus all three remaining Democratic candidates will be rallying support at a major fund-raiser tonight. Why this event is making history.

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[11:14:43] WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. Let's talk politics now. Donald Trump, downplaying the results of two Iowa polls that show him slipping to second place behind Ben Carson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have a breaking story. Donald Trump has fallen to second place behind Ben Carson. We informed Ben but he was sleeping.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oh, boy. All right. So, here is the news, I guess in this. Trump is in the second place for the first time in two key Iowa polls since joining the race back in June. Carson is leading with 28 percent of Republican voters. You see it right there. Our Alina Machado is in Jacksonville, Florida, where Donald Trump is set to speak at that rally there for him within the next hour. So what's happening there? What's the tone especially as a result of these two Iowa polls?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, there is a sizeable crowd gathered here waiting eagerly to hear and see Donald Trump. I'm going to move out of the way so you can see just how many people have gathered here. Some of these people were lined up since early this morning.

And when they opened up the gate we even saw some of them running toward the front of the stage to make sure they had the best spot possible.

We are not just talking about Republicans here. I spoke to a woman who is from Jacksonville. She is a registered Democrat. And she told me that she is still on the fence about who she is going to support. So she decided to come out here and listen to Donald Trump in person before making her decision.

Even though Trump is still lead the national, he is starting to trail behind Ben Carson, in those key poles that you mentioned in Iowa. And he addressed that during last night's rally in south Florida. Here's what he had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: So what happened is the poll comes out, right? And the press was so happy -- Headline. Just so you understand, if I was in first place, it wouldn't even be discussed. Nobody would mention it.

Here it is all day long, oh, my head, I have turned on the television. Headline, bigger than Hillary's talk yesterday on Benghazi.

So headline, here is the headline. Headline -- the biggest story -- you see it. Am I right? Trump falls to second place in Iowa. I said, no way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACHADO: Now, we did see Donald Trump start to go after Ben Carson during last night's rally. It will be interesting to see if he ramps up those attacks during this rally here today.

It is also worth noting that his rally last night was interrupted three times on three different occasions by protesters. Those protesters were immediately confronted by several Trump supporters who started shouting several things, started booing. They started chanting, "USA". Those protesters were escorted out of the venue and we are told no arrests were made.

Fredricka, it still remains to be seen if there are any protesters at this event.

WHITFIELD: Ok, Alina Machado, keep us posted when any activity there does happen.

All right, meantime let's talk Iowa tonight. Keith Harry is kicking off a big night for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

All right. Clinton is holding a rally before the Jefferson Jackson dinner where she will be joined by Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley for the first time since Jim Webb and Lincoln Chafee out of the race.

The dinner is a chance for all three candidates to make their In front of key party activists and elected officials. In fact in 2007 it was seen as a big moment for then Senator Barack Obama, giving him the momentum he needed to outshine Clinton and John Edwards in the caucus.

Let's turn now to Mark Preston in Washington. So Mark -- good see you. How much pressure is there to perform well at the dinner tonight for any of the candidates?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS, EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Well no question. Not only for Hillary Clinton, who seems to have the wind at her back, but Bernie Sanders, who is trying to push his whole idea of this income inequality and the fact that there needs to be a political revolution. And, of course, you have Martin O'Malley who really needs a big night tonight in order to stay in the race.

But if you are looking at the race right now, Fred, it really is between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Now Sanders has been drawing large crowds for the past several months all across the country. But he has acknowledged that it is critical for his campaign to be successful for him to win in Iowa. He said as much last night in Davenport, Iowa -- Fred.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If we win here in Iowa, and I think we have got a good chance to do it.

[11:19:59] And if we win in New Hampshire, and I think we have a good chance to do that, we have a road to victory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PRESTON: Now, what Bernie Sanders is facing, though, is that Hillary Clinton nationally is leading in the polls. She is leading in the polls in Iowa. However, they are trading back and forth in the key state of New Hampshire depending on what poll you look at.

Now, Bernie Sanders doesn't seem to have the organization in place that Hillary Clinton does. But he is doing very well fundraising -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: You know, it's interesting Mark because Clinton has had one heck of a week. And yes, she is on top with the polling. If you look at today's "Washington Post", it is, you know, David Axelrod who says she is particularly great when her back is against the wall. But sometimes she might potentially become too complacent when everything seems to be going in her favor. So is there still that kind of pressure on her this evening not to feel like she had this week a victory, you know, after the debate, after her performance during the testimony that she has to go into that dinner as though she is an underdog, even though she is not?

PRESTON: Well, certainly heading into the Iowa caucus, the New Hampshire primary and the succeeding primaries after that Hillary Clinton has to take Bernie Sanders seriously. He has an excitement and energy. He's getting thousands of people to show up at his rallies.

But I think that if you are a supporter of the Clinton campaign and you had doubts about whether she was in it to win it, so to speak, I think this past week was a very good week for Hillary Clinton. Not only did she do well in the debate as you said, not only did Joe Biden decide to take a pass on running for president. And many people Fred think that he did so because Hillary Clinton did well in the debate but she did face 11 hours of accusations during that house committee and she did well.

In many ways, Hillary Clinton tonight can go in, in a victory lap in some ways and try to build on the momentum. It will be up to Bernie Sanders however to try to offer a different vision and try to tell Democratic voters that he is the best choice for nominee in 2016.

WHITFIELD: All right. Anything can happen. We know that that dinner also has a history of turning points taking place. We'll see how it goes.

Mark -- thank you so much.

PRESTON: Thanks -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Tomorrow, Jake Tapper talks to Donald Trump, Marco Rubio and Bernie Sanders on CNN "STATE OF THE UNION" and that's at 9:00 a.m. and noon Eastern.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The remains of Master Sergeant Joshua Wheeler returned to the U.S. today. The 39-year-old from Oklahoma is the first American to die in combat on Iraqi soil since 2011. He was killed while a special operations team rescued about 70 hostages from an ISIS- controlled prison.

Defense Secretary Ash Carter, told reporters that we should expect to see more missions like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHTON CARTER, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: But we'll do more raids. Remember, we did -- if you remember, the raid that took down Abu Sayyaf -- we have this capability. It is a great-American strength. It doesn't represent us assuming a combat role. It represents a continuation of our advise-and-assist mission.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's bring in Joe Wilson, the former deputy ambassador to Iraq. Ambassador Wilson, -- good to see you.

So Defense Secretary Ash Carter says --

JOE WILSON, FORMER AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: Nice to be with you Fred.

WHITFIELD: -- that it is likely that we are going to see more raids like this one in Iraq. What are the dynamics in your view that have changed?

WILSON: Well, I am not sure the dynamics have changed except to the extent to which the Iraqis are now prepared to counter attack in a meaningful way -- the Iraqis and their allies, the Kurds, in this battle.

I think the U.S. is providing a support role. It strikes me as I look at this that what happened was the Iraqi troops got in some difficulty and in extremis the U.S. military reacted by putting people on the ground. I'm not surprised at that. Usually the rules of engagement permit that.

I hope that it doesn't presage a ground role for U.S. troops. I just don't see the up side of that. I do think we should be trying to kill as many of these ISIS troops as we can. I don't think it needs to be our soldiers on the ground doing it.

WHITFIELD: But even in a supportive role as we understand, according to Ash Carter, that's how it happened. The only reason why U.S. forces did eventually engage is because they were fired upon but ordinarily, they would be there essentially to escort the Iraqi troops.

So Ash Carter says that, you know, what's very important here is that intelligence, documents, computers is gathered from raids like this. So how do you see that this intelligence is potentially revealing in terms of how or where ISIS is operating in Iraq?

WILSON: Well, presumably, the intelligence that they are able to gather gives them some sense of the order of battle in command and control, stations and sort of rank and file of the troops and their commanders. So that should give them locations and a better understanding of their methodology, their communication strategies and their battlefield tactics and strategies.

So all that is good if you are planning a counter attack, you are trying to outflank them or you're trying to defeat them. So that is helpful for us. It is helpful for the Iraqis and other troops that are fighting against them.

WHITFIELD: And we see how U.S. military, you know, plays a role there, continues to in Iraq. But in your view, how does diplomacy play a role or what's the evolving way in which diplomacy will play a role there in stabilizing Iraq?

WILSON: Well, I think the bigger part of what we can do is to try and use our good offices to forge a coalition of the willing to actually put forces on the ground to go after ISIS. There are a number of competing agendas at play, which don't seem to be very common right now.

[11:30:00] So you've got the Turks who have an agenda. You have the Saudis with a different agenda and how do we marry those up in such a way that focuses the attention on the threat to their countries that ISIS poses.

That is, I think, a very difficult diplomatic task but one that we should be putting our shoulder to. The other I think we should really be spending a lot of time in doing is using our funds and military ability to support the refugee camps and communities that have grown up on the borders of the area that's in turmoil right now.

You can see already the extent which refugee outflows are impacting Europe. You can see also the extent to which they are destabilizing countries like Lebanon and potentially Jordan and the one thing you want to do is you want to shrink the zone of conflict rather than allow it to kind of grow through the mass displacement of civilians.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Let me ask you quickly about Benghazi, Libya, after this week and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifying for you, 11 hours. Did you hear anything that will lead to new security measures or reinforcements at U.S. posts across the world, particularly at a very vulnerable time for any and all U.S. presence abroad?

WILSON: Let me say, first of all, I was very proud of a secretary of state and particularly Secretary Clinton coming to the defense of the mission of diplomacy and of our diplomats overseas.

At the same time, I was absolutely mortified to be a middle-aged white male by the abysmal ignorance shown by those members of Congress and by the absolute disrespect and total rudeness with which they treated the former secretary.

I think the diplomacy is by definition a rather dangerous profession. There have been more ambassadors killed since the end of the Second World War than flag officers or generals.

So that needs to be understood. What this committee has done has made it more difficult for a diplomat to do his job or her job, which is to go out into the community, get to know the people, understand their concerns, understand what drives their behavior and report that.

You are not going to do that if your sense is that if something goes wrong, and things do go wrong in life. If something goes wrong, you are going to have some clown like Trey Gowdy calling the secretary of state and yelling at her.

WHITFIELD: I know you've had the experience of having plenty of close calls during your years of diplomacy overseas as well. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

All right, be sure to watch CNN Monday night for a Fareed Zakaria special, "The Long Road To Hell" that looks at how America got involved in Iraq and what we can learn from the mistakes that were made. It airs 9 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:36:15]

WHITFIELD: All right, parts of Texas submerged in floodwaters after the storm once named Patricia as a hurricane now a tropical depression brought heavy rains to the already water-logged state.

Floodwaters washed out train tracks and derailed this freight train south of Dallas. The rising waters have also been stranding drivers, some of whom had to be rescued from their cars.

Twenty three million Americans are under the threat of a major flooding event because of the remnants of that storm. I want to bring in Gilbert Rodriguez, a photographer with CNN affiliate, KSAT 12 TV in San Antonio. So how much flooding are you seeing, Gilbert?

GILBERT RODRIGUEZ, PHOTOGRAPHER, KSAT 12 TV (via telephone): It has been a crazy morning today. I have been driving around town all morning long doing traffic cam shots. It has been steady rain nonstop. I have seen a lot while I was driving around, a lot of high water, a lot of barricades being put up around different low-lying areas here in San Antonio.

Right now, I am sitting at the river, kind of close to the downtown area here in San Antonio. Water is starting to come over the banks. Out here in the park area, starting to flood over. It is a constant rain. We are expecting a lot more later on in the afternoon and through the night.

WHITFIELD: My goodness and then what is your understanding about what people are doing. I mean, going to high ground is not something, you know, customary for folks there in Texas. We are looking at pictures where we are seeing some cars are submerged nearly to the roof tops. So what is the plan for many of the residents there?

RODRIGUEZ: Well, all the emergency personal here in San Antonio are asking people to stay home if they can. People are still driving around.

WHITFIELD: You said people are still driving around?

RODRIGUEZ: Well, you know, they need to get around wherever they need to. Some will eventually see a car roll over off of I-35 just south of the downtown area San Antonio. You know, people are still out and about trying to get to do whatever they need to do. More rain coming our way.

WHITFIELD: Yes, they have to be careful because of the flash floods. That's why they are named that. They come in an instant and without warning and the suddenly you are caught in high water. Be careful yourself. Gilbert Rodriguez, thank you so much.

All right, coming up, Donald Trump asking for help, he says he is not doing that great with women in the polls. He doesn't know why. We asked some women who might know.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:43:15]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back, as Donald Trump down plays his slide to second place in Iowa now, Jeb Bush is on South Carolina, a barrier island off Charleston after announcing that he is drastically cutting campaign spending.

On the Democratic side, the candidates are now down to three and all of them will be in Iowa tonight for the Jefferson-Jackson dinner, a fundraiser that can historically make or break a political campaign.

So let's bring in our political panel, Nomiki Konst is a Democratic strategist and the executive director for the Accountability Project, plus Kayleigh McEnany, a Republican strategist. Good to see you, ladies.

This ladies hour that we have, let's begin with this, Donald Trump says that he is not doing well with women in the polls. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So I'm leading on the economy. I'm leading with men big-league. I am not doing as well with women. Will you help me? What's going on?

Nobody respects women more than me. Greatest person ever was my mother. Believe me, the greatest. Nobody is going to be better or do more for women than Donald Trump, that, I can tell you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: OK, so, Kayleigh, what happened? You heard him. He is the one who said he cherishes women.

KAYLEIGH MCENANY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, some of those comments that he made, particularly the ones about Carly Fiorina, I think, hurt him with women. I would encourage people to step back and realize, this is Donald Trump being Donald Trump.

The remarks he made about Carly Fiorina are no different really than remarks he's made about other candidates in the race. So in that sense, Donald Trump, for better or worse, is an equal opportunity offender.

But the one thing I will say in Donald Trump's favor is that he doesn't treat women as a faction. He doesn't treat them as a base or a group that only cares about contraception and abortion. [11:45:02] He treats women like everyday voters and he talks to them about the economy and the national security. I think in the long run, that will help him. They are not a faction, just everyday voters like male voters.

WHITFIELD: But Nomiki, does the campaign or even he seem to recognize that? He just said, help me out. What's going on? It doesn't sound as though he has a clear understanding based on what Kayleigh said.

NOMIKI KONST, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I don't think he has elevated women up to a faction of the voting population. He has tweeted things like, Hillary can't be president. She didn't please Bill Clinton. That was an actual tweet from him.

He said that women are only aesthetically pleasing in many of his books. He told his apprentice women to rely on sex appeal, not their minds. He doesn't see women as equals. He sees them as a fantasy, a visual objectified aid to his campaign and that's about it.

He realizes that women are voters and he has to elevate to a certain number in Iowa, which Carson is now winning with women in Iowa and that's why Carson is beating him in Iowa. He has to treat them with respect and see them as equals beyond voters.

WHITFIELD: All right, let's talk about Jeb Bush, his campaign having struggles of a different kind. The announcement that they are slashing payroll by 40 percent now and also cutting travel costs. Here is what Jeb Bush said about those cuts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've made an adjustment to harness the resources of our campaign, which are probably more than other campaigns. We are going to be all in. In Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada and the SEC primary states and that's where you are going to see the team and I am going to run with heart and I am going to run to win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, Nomiki, he says he is going to run to win. Is this a prelude to a big problem?

KONST: You know, the problem with Jeb Bush is that obviously he has raised more money than anybody else. Ted Cruz is coming in second where Ted Cruz has raised just as much in super PACs and individual voters.

Jeb Bush has been raising big money. The problem is his burn rate. He is spending as much as anybody else and has as much cash as Marco Rubio, who right now is his biggest threat, and most likely from the Democratic perspective, a serious contender and our biggest obstacle for the general election.

WHITFIELD: Kayleigh, Jeb Bush says it is hard to raise money but he has the name, Bush, that would seem believable for any of the other candidates, but that would hard to believe from Jeb Bush. What's going on?

MCENANY: Yes, you know, in the end, what we are seeing is that the Bush name is hurting him. It is so interesting, when you look at the polls, when Jeb Bush initially started his campaign, Republican voters, preferred by a large majority, someone with political experience.

When Donald Trump entered the race, that changed and voters by 2-1 preferred an outsider over someone with political experience. We have seen that materialize in the polls.

We have seen Jeb Bush fall to fifth place in Iowa, third place in New Hampshire. We have seen Carson, Fiorina rise. It is really the age of the outsider among Republican voters.

WHITFIELD: All right, Kayleigh McEnany, Nomiki Konst, thanks so much, Ladies. Appreciate it.

Tomorrow, there is more, Jake Tapper talks to Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, and Bernie Sanders on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION." That is at 9 a.m. and noon Eastern. We'll be right back.

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[11:52:18]

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ANTHONY BOURDAIN, CNN HOST, "PARTS UNKNOWN": This is a very misunderstood country. For instance, did you know that Christianity was in Ethiopia like before Europe? That it's not an arid desert. That it's in fact mostly green. That there's a construction boom going on here that rivals China and Dubai. It's a country filled with great cooks, great music. Ethiopia is absolutely unique, little understood. We're looking to shed a little light.

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WHITFIELD: All right, stunning accusations of strippers and prostitution being used to recruit players for one of the top basketball programs in the nation. It costs the man at the center of the scandal his job, former Louisville coach, Andre McGee, has resigned from his job as the assistant coach of the University of Missouri, Kansas City. He had been on administrative leave.

CNN sports anchor, Andy Scholes, has more on this scandal tarnishing the university.

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ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR (voice-over): The University of Louisville is one of the most successful college basketball programs in the country. They won a national championship in 2013, but now the program has a dark cloud hanging over it.

In a new book titled "Breaking Cardinal Rules, Basketball and The Escort Queen," Katina Powell, gives the sorted details of more than 20 different recruiting parties that took place at the athletic dorm between 2010 and 2014.

On ESPN's "Outside The Lines," Powell said former Louisville Graduate Assistant Coach Andre McGee would pay her to bring strippers to the parties and in some cases the dancers, including Powell's own daughters would have sex with the recruits.

KATINA POWELL: He would start the music and usually girls would come out one by one and dance for the recruit. He'd ask me if there's any girls that want to make extra money, pretty much side deal with the players. And I was like I'll ask. So I asked the girls, you know, anybody want to make extra money and their eyes just lit up like, well, yes.

SCHOLES: Powell says she would even have sex with the recruits' parents and guardians in order to get players to sign with the school. On "Outside The Lines" Powell said it's hard to believe that Patino didn't know what was going on.

POWELL: Four years, a boat load of recruits, a boat load of dancers, loud music, alcohol, security, cameras, basketball players who came in at will.

[11:55:04] You got players that are so loyal to Patino, who wouldn't go back and be like, we got dancers and sex and all that going on. My thing is how could he not know?

SCHOLES: At Louisville's tipoff luncheon, Coach Patino, said he knew nothing about the allegations, but he would get to the bottom of it.

RICK PATINO, LOUISVILLE BASKETBALL HEAD COACH: If there was any wrongdoing, it's a big if, and people have to pay for their crimes, and that's an "if," I hope those ifs are not true because that building means a great deal to me.

SCHOLES: Patino has since said he has no plans to step down. In a public letter to fans he said, quote, "I will not resign and let you down. Someday I will walk away celebration of many memorable years. But that time is not now."

While the allegations at Louisville are shocking, former Blue Chip recruit, Jalen Rose who ended up signing with Michigan says this type of activity is not uncommon on recruiting trips.

JALEN ROSE, FORMER COLLEGE AND NBA PLAYER (via telephone): What you see at a bachelor or bachelorette party is what happens on a recruiting visit. And as a 17-year-old kid first off if I'm not getting laid, I'm not coming. I'm not signing.

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SCHOLES: Coach Patino has called for Andre McGee to come out and tell the truth. So far McGee has declined to comment on the allegations, but his attorney says they are untrue. Fredricka, the big question remains, if these allegations are true, where was all the money coming from to pay for all of this?

WHITFIELD: My -- I'm picking up my jaw off the floor because I am speechless.

SCHOLES: Shocking allegations.

WHITFIELD: Stunned, absolutely shocking. Whoa. All right, I only want to say thanks for bringing that to us, but, wow, you enlightened many. Andy, always good to see you and I'm glad that we are going to see more of you on the weekends. All right, we've got so much more, straight ahead.

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