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Carson Knocks Trump from National Lead; Debate Will Test Candidates on Economy; Paul Ryan Says He'll Back Budget Deal; Decision on S.C. Deputy's Job Expected Today; Kurdish Fighters Trying to Hold Off ISIS. Aired 9-9:30a ET
Aired October 28, 2015 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not appropriate. So if it is appropriate then it sends it out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: Interesting.
CUOMO: Notifies the parents about the message.
CAMEROTA: Wow.
CUOMO: Not only stops messages sent. Filters them out. Of course once parents know, they need to act. Especially those who sometimes defend the kids who are actually doing the bullying.
PEREIRA: Great.
CAMEROTA: Great message. Great to end on. Time now for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello.
Good morning, Carol.
PEREIRA: Good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Great message indeed. Thanks so much. Have a great day.
NEWSROOM starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, oh, the GOP frontrunners.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am a great Christian. But the evangelicals left me down a little bit this last month. I don't know what I did.
Iowa, will you get your numbers up, please?
DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is the right color. That way if you get blood on it you can't tell.
SETH MEYERS, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS": In response to his drop to second in the polls, Donald Trump said today that he will run until the very end and does not mind running from behind. Trump says he knows what it's like to be the underdog because he wears one on his head.
COSTELLO: And Hillary, mom on the Republicans she wants to win.
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I say one or the other it might influence some people. And I don't want to have any influence on them.
COSTELLO: 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.
Donald Trump on the defensive for the first time in months the Republican presidential hopeful scales back his assault on his GOP rivals. Instead Trump is begging for voters support in Iowa after slipping behind Ben Carson in the polls.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Iowa, will you get these numbers up, please? Will you get these numbers up? I promise you, I will do such a good job. By the way before I forget. Will you get the numbers up, Iowa, please? This is ridiculous. And please do me a favor. Let me win, Iowa. I refuse to say, get your asses in gear. I will not say that.
But will you please do me a favor and work with my people and go out on February 1st and vote and give us a victory? Now if I lose Iowa I will never speak to you people again. That I can tell you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Hours from now, the Republican candidate will take center stage at the third presidential debate in Boulder, Colorado. Ben Carson ready to go now he's got he's on top. He's got his boxing gloves on already. So of course late-night had a field day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SETH MEYERS, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS": The latest "New York Times"-CBS News poll has placed Dr. Ben Carson ahead of Donald Trump with Carson leading 26 percent to 22 percent. And with those two leading the GOP polls Hillary Clinton is salivating at 100 percent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Another fascinating night on tap. CNN's national correspondent Sunlen Serfaty is in Colorado.
Good morning, Sunlen. SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you,
Carol. Well, that dynamic you laid out right there is really the thing to watch today. Ben Carson and Donald Trump, how they'll relate to each other up there on the debate stage now that Ben Carson is in the lead. It's been interesting to watch how Donald Trump has really been reacting in the last few days. Really it's starting to squirm a bit.
As you said he really has been begging for Iowa voters. He's also really zeroing in on Ben Carson, hammering him on everything from Medicare, suggesting his religion is extreme and going after him again for being so low energy in Donald Trump's opinion.
Now we know that Ben Carson has been busy preparing. He spent a few days in Florida really prepping for the debate. And aides say he is ready to challenge Donald Trump on tonight's debate stage. Others certainly will be vying for attention up there, too, and we saw a small hint of some of the strategies these candidates will bring, from John Kasich, he's recently taken a much more aggressive tone on the campaign trail. Yesterday really going after all of his Republican opponents.
He says, for their policies and for their ridiculous policies is how he put it. Here's how he said that yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Do you know how crazy this election is? Let me tell you something. I've about had it with these people. But I want you to know I'm fed up. I am sick and tired of listening to this nonsense and I'm going to have to call it like it is as long as I'm in this race.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: Now aides to John Kasich say this does indicate a shift in strategy on his part and one that he intends to bring to tonight's debate. So certainly he is intending to shake things up a bit. We also expect the same potentially from Jeb Bush. Aides say that he is feeling empowered to speak his mind and that's something that could be on display tonight -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Sunlen Serfaty reporting live from Boulder, Colorado. Thank you.
This debate will focus on a single issue. That would be the economy. That means less bluster and lots of substance. The question is, will that matter to voters who like bluster?
[09:05:04] With me now, David Gergen, CNN senior political analysts, and Cheri Jacobus.
Welcome to both of you.
CHERI JACOBUS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Good morning.
COSTELLO: Cherry, I'll start with you. Ben --
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Thanks for being here, David.
So, Cheri, I want to start with you. Ben Carson has already muffed the question on the nation's finances. On NPR, Carson appeared confused between the debt limit and the federal budget. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARSON: If I were the president, I would not sign an increased budget. Absolutely would not do it. They would have to find a place to cut.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So to be clear, it's increasing the debt limit, not the budget. But I want to make sure I understand you. You'd let the United States default rather than raise the debt limit?
CARTON: No. I would provide the kind of leadership that says, get on the stick, guys, and stop messing around, and cut where you need to cut because we're not raising any spending limits, period.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I'm going to try one more time, sir. This is debt that it's already obligated. Would you not favor increasing the debt limit to pay the debts already incurred?
CARSON: What I'm saying is what we have to do is really restructure the way that we create debt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So, Cherry, if Carson does that tonight, will that kill his momentum?
JACOBUS: Well, first of all, I think it's highly unlikely that he will do that tonight. I'm sure that he's been boning up on the economic issues and the -- and what the debt limit means. So that won't happen. Secondly, I don't think that Donald Trump would be the person who would benefit from -- if Carson were to make a blunder or if he has to defend it tonight. I think once you've left Donald Trump and gone to Carson or to another, he may go to somebody else who's not Carson.
But they're not going to go back to Donald Trump. The person -- I'm glad you played the Kasich clip, because the person who can benefit from tonight just the fact that we're talking about economic issues would be John Kasich. He was chairman of the House Budget Committee during the Contract of America, the Republican Revolution. Largely responsible for the first balanced budget in a generation. Then he goes to Ohio and takes care of an $8 billion gap.
So he's really the guy who has everything to gain tonight. It sounds like he's ready to come out swinging after laying kind of low. So I don't think -- I wouldn't really look at this as the contest between Carson and Trump. I think it is an opportunity for some other serious folks. And again if Carson isn't quite up to things on the economic issue, I don't think at all that Trump is the one who benefits from that.
COSTELLO: Well, still, David, since Carson is, you know, now the frontrunner, won't he be the one in the spotlight? He really can't afford to make mistakes, can he?
GERGEN: Yes. I actually do think that the Carson-Trump square-off tonight is going to get an awful lot of attention from all the commentators because this is the first that we've seen Ben Carson not only take a lead in Iowa but very importantly and very surprisingly, actually have a national poll come out and he's ahead nationwide, slightly ahead of Trump. I know it's within the margin of error and all that. But it does mean it's very neck and neck, and everybody else is pretty far back.
And the economy is where Ben Carson has been particularly vague. You know, there's been a lot of discussion about whether he's really for, which he denies getting rid of Medicare or getting rid of Medicaid or replace them with something else. There's a lot of vagueness overall. His economic -- you know, his chief economist is a fellow at George Mason University, Thomas Rustici, not well known and generally in the economic circle has been very well known in conservative circles.
He's, you know, often appears for example with, you know, conservative talk radio Gordon Liddy. He's been in that show a number of times. So -- and he's a very strong sort of free market conservative. And that is where Carson comes out. But if Carson gets vague tonight and Trump can come through that, yes, Trump can get back on top. We will also want to watch these -- I agree, we want to watch Kasich.
We want to watch Bush. Jeb Bush has been the most -- I think the most effective at laying out a set of public policy on the economy. Just hasn't caught fire. But Kasich could catch fire tonight, too. He has a very strong -- he's got a temper, he's angry and Jeb is frustrated. We're going to see a lot of that come out tonight.
COSTELLO: OK. We'll see. I got to leave it there. Cheri Jacobus and David Gergen, thanks to both of you.
JACOBUS: Thanks.
COSTELLO: You're welcome.
After the GOP debate "AC 360" wraps it all up, fact-checking the candidates and asking who really stood out from the pack. A special two-hour "ANDERSON COOPER 360." That's tonight 10:00 p.m. Eastern.
And this just in to CNN. House speaker candidate Paul Ryan says he will vote in support of a budget deal. Issuing a statement that reads in part, quote, "The deal that has been produced will go a long way toward relieving the uncertainty hanging over us and that's why intend to support it."
Senior political reporter Manu Raju is following the story. That's kind of a surprise after what Ryan said yesterday. MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Ryan has really
been trying to distance himself from this deal, saying that he had nothing to do with it, that this has been something that John Boehner has tried to do in his last days of office.
[09:10:08] But Paul Ryan appears to be probably in the minority of the minority of his party who is going to support this deal later today. We do expect it to pass the House but not by a huge margin. Probably comfortable margin enough to get it through over to the Senate which will have to vote on it next week.
Now the really controversial aspects of this deal include an increase of defense and domestic spending. That will be paid for by a number of cuts including cuts to the crop insurance program that has got a lot of rural lawmakers upset. In addition, there is an increase in the national debt limit until March 2017. A lot of Republicans believe they should have gotten a lot more for giving away such a huge issue, that they've used as a fight to battle the administration over the years that John Boehner has been in office.
But Boehner really made no bones about it. He said that after he announced his decision to resign from Congress that he would try to clean the barn up in order to get rid of all these fiscal issues and really define his speakership and keep the -- make the -- let Ryan take the speakership at the time where he can really avoid those kind of fiscal battles that damaged John Boehner.
Now Ryan, even though he distanced himself from it, said that he will support the deal in order to move forward and get back to what he believes will be a regular order of legislating. But we'll see how it affects his speaker vote today. We don't think it will. Later today Republicans will also nominate him to be speaker of the House and that vote will be official tomorrow when the full House puts him in that position.
So really a big day here on Capitol Hill where the House is really passing the torch from the Boehner era to the Ryan era. And it's encapsulated by the vote here to put Ryan in the position in the speaker's chair as well as to get rid of those big fiscal battles that have been dominating Congress over the last couple of years -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Manu Raju reporting live from Capitol Hill this morning.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a deputy tosses a teenage girl in a classroom. It ignites a fierce debate. Next, hear from the second student arrested that day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:16:19] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Some time today, we could find out if an embattled South Carolina cop could lose his job. Cell phone cameras captured this violent arrest of a teenager in her high school classroom.
The FBI and the Justice Department are involved in the investigations. In the meantime, a second teenager also arrested in regards to this case. She talked to CNN about what she wants to hear from officials today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLI)
NIYA KENNY, SECOND STUDENT ARRESTED IN CASE: I really feel like he should lose his job. Because I feel like, not even an officer. No man should put his hands on a child like that. She's 16-year-old. And this man is huge. I feel like he needs to lose his job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: CNN's Martin Savidge joins us now with more on this.
Good morning.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
The sheriff yesterday said he wanted to move very quickly on this case regarding this school resource officer here. I should point out that he is the boss of this particular officer involved. And now we understand there is a press conference that slated for about three hours from now.
This is kind of like a jury coming back really fast. It probably is not good news for Officer Ben Fields.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE (voice-over): The 16-year-old high school student violently thrown to the ground by school resource officer Ben Fields claims she does have injuries to her arm and face, at least according to her attorney. The FBI now is investigating.
SHERIFF LEON LOTT, RICHLAND COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA: She may have had a lot of rug burn or something like that, but she was not injured.
SAVIDGE: In the incident report, the South Carolina sheriff's deputy said she used muscling techniques, after she refused his request to get up. Then according to the report, she hit him in the chest with a closed fist.
LOTT: I don't want anybody to think just the fact that she did strike an officer, that's justifications for some of the actions he took.
NIYA KENNY, STUDENT: We've heard about his reputation and we've heard that he's a really, I guess I could say, dangerous man.
SAVIDGE: The second student arrested, 18-year-old Niya Kenny, says it all started when the 16-year-old refused to hand over her phone to the math teacher and that is when Fields was called in.
Kenny says she was crying, screaming at the officer. Fields then arresting her for disturbing school.
KENNY: He said you got something you want to say? You got something you want too say? You want some of this too? And I was just like no. And I just put my hands behind my back.
SAVIDGE: In 2007, Army veteran Carlos Martin filed a lawsuit in 2007 against Officer Fields, claiming that he used excessive force when questioning him and his wife about the noise complaint. The jury ruled in Fields' favor in 2010. But Martin claims race was a factor in his arrest.
CARLOS MARTIN, SUED BEN FIELDS IN 2007: When I saw the video, it reminds me of al the nightmares and what I've been going through for ten years.
SAVIDGE: A student at the classroom who posted this video wrote that Fields is, quote, "a cool dude and not racist."
Still, many parents of the Richland two school district are outraged, as are school officials.
CHIP JACKSON, SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER, RICHLAND COUNTY DISTRICT TWO: This individual, we've made it clear we do not want him back on our school grounds and in our schools that's been a permanent request that we've made.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAVIDGE: Meanwhile another day is beginning here at the high school that is at the center of this storm, literally and figuratively. Be but all eyes are going to be focused on the sheriff's office later today and waiting to hear what the verdict is from the sheriff himself on the officer -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Martin Savidge reporting live from Columbia, South Carolina.
Let's talk a little bit more about this with CNN legal analyst Paul Callan, along with Laura Coates. She's a former trial attorney for the civil rights division of the Justice Department.
Welcome to you both.
PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning.
LAURA COATES, FMR. ASSISTANT U.S. ATTY FOR DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Good morning.
So, Paul, what do you suppose will happen today?
[09:20:02] CALLAN: Well, I'm very surprised that the talk is that maybe he loses his job so quickly. Usually when it is a public employee involved, there is sort of a due process hearing, extensive process that goes on. He may be suspended while the investigation continues.
But I must say the film here seems to so clearly depict a use of excessive force they suspect in the end he will be facing either termination or at least a lengthy suspension and discipline.
COSTELLO: Laura, people who are standing up for the officer, say the student in question, the 16-year-old girl punched the officer in the chest. She used her fist. Does that justify what the officer then did in your mind?
COATES: Absolutely not. And as a prosecutor the significant time laps between the time that she allegedly punches the officer and what we see in the video does not suggest in any way that her actions provoked the extent of that particular assault.
Remember, police officers are required to do what is right under civil rights law and the Constitution. And just because it happens in a school does not mean the officers can now take liberty with excessive force. An officer can only repel with the force they are actually confronted with.
Here in the video this young girl, if she does. And I don't actually see a shot of her punching the officer. This is an indication where he took liberties and it is excessive force. And being in a school does not change that.
COSTELLO: Yes, well, supposedly, there is this third video out there that shows that. We have yet to see that though. Maybe we will today when the sheriff comes out and talks about this case.
But, Paul, the officer says he was using muscling techniques. What exactly are muscling techniques.
CALLAN: Well, you know, he's a strength training coach for the football team. And a assistant coach for the football team. And, you know, I'm sure he's referring to some kind of it is a leverage move in wrestling I think where you are trying to muscle somebody to get them off balance. And I suspect he'll come forward and say he wasn't trying to tip the seat over and the desk over, that was an accident, and what followed arose from that, as oppose to an excessive use of force.
But I think to be fair to the officer, the school authorities bear some responsibility here, too. You know, I think there is a tendency now to call in the cops way too soon in cases where, all right, you've got a student who should know better and should have turned the phone over. But is it time to call in the police?
I mean, I think school authorities should have dealt with this in a much more measured way before they escalated to police authority.
COATES: You know, I completely agree.
COSTELLO: Go ahead.
COATES: I completely agree. The idea that this has turned into a school discipline problem turning into a criminal matter, to have the officer come in and do this action was unwarranted. But the school district should also be fearful of a lawsuit, because there was I understand the assistant principal was present and the a teacher who were there. They should prepare themselves for an intentional and emotional and distress crime at the very least.
COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. Laura Coates, Paul Callan, thanks to both of you.
Still to come in THE NEWSROOM, Syrian rebels and Kurdish outgunned and outnumbered. CNN goes to the frontlines in the battle against ISIS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:27:39] COSTELLO: Just a couple of hours ago, we learned there is a major new player in Syria. That major new player would be Iran. Iran says it will send its foreign minister to peace talks in Vienna. Russia says it was the United States that invited Iran, which has now emerged as the major player in this conflict, on the battlefield.
The U.S. says it has dropped ammunition to a new rebel alliance that includes Kurdish fighters taking on ISIS and who desperately need more weapons, armor and ammo.
CNN senior international Clarissa Ward has been on the front lines. She joins us now from Erbil in Iraq.
Hi, Clarissa.
CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Good morning, Carol.
Well, we spent times in recent areas that have been liberated from ISIS. But you don't find people celebrating on the ground, and that's because the devastation the fighting has left behind is enormous and the future is still uncertain.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WARD (voice-over): Weeks ago, these dusty planes were held by ISIS. This is what's left of its presence now. The charred remains of a training camp hidden in a pine forest. It's where ISIS trained an elite unit of suicide bombers that attacked Kurdish positions with devastating effect.
Kurdish fighters known as the YPG took this entire area from is in August, but holding it along a front line more than 400 miles long is a huge challenge.
In the shadow of Mt. Abdulazeez, Commander Zinar told us he had lost 30 of his fighters in a recent battle when ISIS came down from the mountain.
CHIEF ZINAR, YPG COMMANDER (through translator): The enemy attacked us with a large number of fighters, using heavy weapons. They took control of three villages and after that, the clashes lasted for hours until we were in control again.
WARD: Zinar is a battalion commander, but this is the size of his battalion, a handful of poorly equipped men. The nearest friendly forces are miles away. The cost of pushing ISIS out has been enormous. Streets here are
draped of the flags of fighters killed in battle, along desolate roads, through abandoned villages, we saw scene upon scene of devastation. The wreckage of months of fierce fighting and relentless coalition airstrikes.
(on camera): Dozens of villages like this one that were liberated from ISIS months ago are now still completely deserted.
