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2016 Politics; Taking Aim at Rubio; Russian Crash Mystery; TSA Programs. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired November 03, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Back 5:00 p.m. Eastern in "The Situation Room." For our international viewers, "Amanpour" is next. For our viewers in North America, "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf Blitzer, thank you so much.

Great to be with you all on this Tuesday. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN.

Three little words, classic Donald Trump. At a press conference just a while ago today to push his new book, there was a lot of talking. Not a ton of talking about the book necessarily, but a lot about everyone and everything else.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Every country, no matter what country you talk about, you can just pick a name out of a hat, they're beating us in trade.

I think I'm going to win the Hispanic vote. I predict, yes, I think I'm going to get the nomination and I will win the White House. I think beating Hillary Clinton is going to be easy because her record is so bad.

Do I think it's time to have some of the other Republican candidates drop out? Yes. There are too many people. Marco doesn't show up to the United States Senate. He's representing the people of Florida, which, by the way, that poll just came out today and I'm way up in Florida.

Well, he has a very bad record of finances if you look at what happened with his houses, with his - you know, he certainly lives above his means, there's no question about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: On the Republican side, it is clear that Senator Marco Rubio is Trump's primary target number one today. His finances, his immigration plan, his work in the U.S. Senate, his experience. And, listen, it's not a coincidence. Take a look at the polling here and you can see Senator Rubio polling much better. New Hampshire, for example, everyone is about the same standing except for him. Rubio tripled his support there since September. And on the Democratic side of things here in New Hampshire, news made

here as well. Hillary Clinton polling quite a bit ahead of Bernie Sanders. really right next door, of course, to his home state. She is surging now that Vice President Joe Biden said he is not going to run.

So a lot of news out there politically speaking. We have a lot to chat about with my friend, CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Beginning with Donald Trump today. You know, he did have a lot to say, but it did seem like the focus was on Marco Rubio.

BASH: Book? What book? Yes, exactly right.

BALDWIN: What book? Did he write a book?

BASH: Apparently he wrote a book and it's going to be a big, big, big hit. A huge sellout. But, yes, it's sort of the enemy of my enemy is my friend situation. Perhaps just for like a nanosecond if you're Jeb Bush today because, yes, you just played a part of when Donald Trump really ripped into Marco Rubio. No surprise, it's because Rubio is doing better in the polls, especially in New Hampshire, as you just pointed out there. And so because of that, you know, he's sort of in Donald Trump's crosshairs. And it was interesting to hear what he said about the man who he used to go after, Jeb Bush. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: No, I think that really Marco is overrated. Frankly had Bush been a better messenger, he has the better message. I mean if that was me delivering that message, it would have been a much different -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Don't worry, he wasn't lobotomized, though. He still does think that Jeb Bush should drop out of the race and everybody else who is below 1 percent, I think he said, because he's actually very candid about it, Brooke. He says he wants more time to talk.

But this press conference he gave today was vintage Donald Trump. A lot of talking about, you know, other people, other candidates, about the reporters in front of him, about the news organizations they were from, about how he's going to make everything great. But, again, you know, in his defense, he didn't get a lot of substantive questions, but not a lot of substance in his answers either.

BALDWIN: Listen, a lot of talking, although he's been clear, he doesn't want to do a three-hour debate. And we've been talking a lot about, you know, the revolt and now sort of this revolt within the revolt. Just quickly, where does - where does all that stand as far as certain campaigns, you know, breaking ranks with others with regard to those debate demands?

BASH: A handful of the candidates did not sign this letter that was supposed to be going from all of the candidates to the networks and to the Republican National Committee with, as you said, that we talked about yesterday, this list - list of demands. And you know what, why is that? Because, look, at the end of the day, they are competitors and they all have different needs politically and other needs in ways that they need to get ahead of the others.

So Donald Trump, as you said, he's doing very well. He doesn't need some of the other demands. He just wants fewer people there. Carly Fiorina wants different things. So it's not a surprise, but I think at the end of the day what our viewers need to know is, it's probably not going to affect them and affect what they see on the debate stage, whether it's our network or others.

BALDWIN: OK, Dana Bash, thank you very much.

And, you know, one issue that Donald Trump and Jeb Bush definitely agree on here, and Dana hit on this, Marco Rubio. Marco Rubio is a threat. Both are coming out hard against the Florida senator.

[14:05:07] Let me bring in two strong conservative voices. I have Al Cardenas, he's a senior adviser to Jeb Bush, also the former chairman of the Florida Republican Party and he passed the torch on to my other guest, Matt Schlapp, who is also the director - former - I should say former political director for George W. Bush.

So, gentlemen, welcome to both of you.

MATT SCHLAPP, FORMER GEORGE W. BUSH POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Great to be here.

AL CARDENAS< SENIOR ADVISER TO JEB BUSH: Hey, good to be with you and with my pal Matt, who's doing a great job as my successor at ACU.

BALDWIN: There we go. Feeling the love, gentlemen.

SCHLAPP: Thanks, Al.

BALDWIN: This is - this is good.

Al - Al, let -

SCHLAPP: It ends there. It ends there.

BALDWIN: OK. Well, let's see where this goes.

Al, you have, you know, known Marco Rubio for years and years. Jeb Bush is your guy. But when you look at the numbers today, the majority of Americans, 52 percent, this is according to "The Wall Street Journal"/NBC poll, say they will not vote for Jeb. The poll was taken four days before the debate, one day after. That has to worry you.

CARDENAS: Well, yes, it's not been good and I'll bet you it won't be good for another 10 days or so. We've got another debate coming up in a week and if Jeb performs as he's capable of, he'll change that narrative. Look, these debates only last temporarily in terms of the bump. Carly Fiorina did a great job in the first debate, tripled her numbers like Marco did after the last debate in New Hampshire and now she's back to 3 or 4 or 5 points. And so the same with Jeb. You know, he's getting hit hard but -

BALDWIN: Where's the Jeb bump then?

CARDENAS: Well, I think we'll tune in in a week and see it happen. But, look, Jeb's got the best infrastructure, lasting infrastructure. The only thing missing in this whole narrative is a good debate performance and he needs to do that. And he - he knows it and he's capable of it. I've seen him on the stump. If he just performs in a debate as he does on the stump, he'll do great. I mean, look, Jeb's message is one of vision, opportunity, rising tide. I mean it's a - it's a great time for a Jeb Bush. A man of big ideas, a big heard and he needs to show it.

BALDWIN: OK. There is someone who would disagree with you, and that person being Donald Trump. Here's what he said about Jeb Bush in reference to his big night ahead on "Saturday Night Live." Here you go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: This evening I'm meeting with Lauren Michaels and the whole staff and we'll start the preparation. We'll pick our skits. Am I nervous? Not too nervous. Not too nervous. But we're going to - we'll do a good job and we're going to have a fantastic show. We're going to all have a lot of fun.

(INAUDIBLE)

TRUMP: My Jeb impression? No, I don't want to do that. I don't like showing a person sleeping at a podium.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Ouch! Al's not laughing. Matt, does he have a smidge of a point there?

SCHLAPP: Look, I think what's happened to Jeb Bush in the last several days is, he's unshackled himself and he has, you know, a new plan, a new strategy for his campaign. I've seen Jeb Bush campaign in Florida. This is a person with big intellect and big ideas. And for whatever reason, it's not translating. If you look at these polls, Brooke, if you look at people's first and second choices, the candidates who are the strongest when you look at that, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio. So Jeb's not just failing on the first ballot, he's failing on the second ballot. But I feel like he's going to get his energy back and he's going to have a chance here and we're going to see the type of Jeb Bush that's been successful in Florida. We're going to see if it works.

BALDWIN: All right, we shall see.

Let's - Al, let me talk about these debates with you. We mentioned it with Dana Bash, the sort of revolt and revolt within the revolt (ph) of these candidates. I mean you used to chair, you know, RNC there in Florida or the Republican Party in Florida, I should say. You know, nationally speaking, how does the RNC, how does Reince Priebus, you know, regain control and organize all these different candidates in this splintering with regard to these debate demands?

CARDENAS: Look, it's not easy. I was on Reince's committee in 2012 to try to bring some reason to these debates and we ended up with too many, it hurt our chances against the incumbent Democrat and so he wanted to make it better this time. To a large degree he succeeded. But, you know, the key here is these moderators. I don't care as much about your philosophy if you're a moderator as I care about the fact that the only people who should be heard on that podium are the contestants, not the moderator. And the best moderator is the one that at the end of a program, people look at each other and say, hey, who moderated that? And -

SCHLAPP: That's right, Al. Al, you know, the moderators spoke more than any other candidate in the most recent debate.

CARDENAS: Yes.

SCHLAPP: And if you look at the number of moderators, we don't have a problem with too many candidates. We actually do have a problem in some of these debates with way too many moderators. It's like watching players being shoved into a basketball game.

BALDWIN: We can't throw the moderates, gentlemen, totally under the bus here. I mean these candidates -

SCHLAPP: Too many.

BALDWIN: They're creative and they know how to pivot and, you know, answer whatever they really want ultimately and they throw each other under the bus on the campaign trail and here they are blaming the moderators. But while I have you, just quickly I want to ask you about this because I read this fascinating column in "The Wall Street Journal," Matt, I want to end with you. This is a quote from Democratic pollster Peter Hart. He wrote this. "So many are waiting for something to happen. But maybe that something has already happened and we must be too immersed in conventional wisdom to see it. For now, we know the angry voters are milling around like a herd of cattle; the question is: is a stampede about to occur?"

[14:10:14] You know, conventional wisdom, everyone thought, no way would a Donald Trump or a Ben Carson make it. Could they possibly be president? Is it possible conventional wisdom is wrong, Matt?

SCHLAPP: Sure. Sure. And there's no question that the party changes each election. If you look at these polls, what base Republican voters are looking for is strong characteristics. Somebody with the type of strength to come to Washington and really take on these entrenched interests. So they're locking for characteristics and I think that is a brand new dynamic in this particular nominating contest.

BALDWIN: Matt Schlapp -

CARDENAS: Yes, look, Brooke, it's a -

BALDWIN: Yes, quickly, quickly, Al. CARDENAS: Yes. Yes, the - this is not an evolution like Ronald Reagan. This is a reaction to what we thought this president that's abused his powers and created a gridlock. And so people are angry and they're looking for a candidate who will stand up to that. But at the end of the day, they're going to look for a problem solver and a visionary and that's - that's what we hope Jeb Bush is all about.

BALDWIN: We shall see. Al Cardenas and Matt Schlapp, thank you both so, so much.

SCHLAPP: Thanks.

CARDENAS: Thanks.

BALDWIN: Ahead, we mentioned "Saturday Night Live." The big weekend for them. Should the show fire Donald Trump as a host? We'll talk with a member of Congress who is calling out Lauren Michaels and the network ahead of Trump's appearance this weekend.

Also, was it a midair blast? Satellite data, black boxes, evidence on the ground, offering new clues today into a mysterious midair heat flash in the downing of a Russian passenger plane. Richard Quest joins me with new developments there.

And it is one of the closest watched votes on this election day, whether to legalize marijuana in the state of Ohio. Why some are comparing the measure to a legal cartel and how a superhero pro marijuana mascot with six pack abs, might I add, has become the face of this heated debate. Don't go anywhere.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:16:12] BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Black boxes, satellite data shedding new light on the mystery downing of this Russian airliner, this passenger plane. Russia's Interfax news agency now reporting, quote/unquote uncharacteristic sounds were heard on the cockpit voice recorder just before it crashed killing 224 people on board. This coming in as U.S. officials say their satellites detected a heat flash raising new questions about a possible bomb on board this passenger plane.

So joining me now from Cairo, CNN's Ian Lee, and from London, Richard Quest, our CNN aviation correspondent.

So, Ian, let me just - first to you. All these different claims coming in. I mean fact wise, what is all of this pointing to?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, a lot of the claims that have come out have also been contradicting themselves. So we've heard from the Egyptian and the Russian officials. They stuck by the line that this is still a mechanical issue and they have played down really the terrorist threat that this was a cause of terror, but we are hearing now - we've heard from the U.S. government, an official there, saying that the heat flash occurred while the plane was in air. Now this could be a couple of things. It could have been that the engine of the plane exploded somehow and caused that heat flash, or it could have been a bomb.

Now, the one thing to note when you look at the bomb scenario is that in the past here in Egypt, when we've seen ISIS carry out attacks, we've usually seen them play videos in the lead - or that show the lead up to the attack and also them praising it. We haven't seen those type of videos come out yet. They love to celebrate this sort of - of an attack. So that puts a little bit of a damper on that claim. But it is still very much a possibility.

Right now, though, we do not know what brought down this airplane. They are listening to those black boxes. They have experts from Airbus there as well. And the Egyptians have promised that this would be a thorough and transparent investigation.

BALDWIN: Richard, I want you to jump in. And I also heard you earlier talking about, you know, how their - this uncharacteristic sound, you were comparing it to MH-17, the plane that was downed over Ukraine. Can you explain that?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Yes. If you listen to the cockpit voice recorder and if you look at the MH-17 report, it goes into some detail because although - I mean in 17's case that was over Ukraine - when the missile exploded next to the left off (ph) side of the aircraft, there was a pressure wave and the noise. And on the CVR, the cockpit voice recorder, there is just a millisecond before obviously the aircraft is hit, the power is cut and the plane is destroyed. And I'm guessing that what you're talking about on this particular cockpit voice recorder is something similar.

It's quite common. We had it with TWA 800. We've got it - we've had it with MH-17. If there was an explosion, be it bomb or fuel or whatever it might be, the cockpit voice recorder, the microphones, three or four of them in there, would have picked up that scintilla of a moment just before everything came to an end.

BALDWIN: What scenarios could cause that kind of heat flash scene on satellites?

QUEST: Right. Yes. Obviously, the first time, because it's at altitude, it's in the cruise, planes don't fall out of the sky for no reason, you are looking - or one is looking at an explosive device. That is where - and there's nothing alarmist about saying that. It's just normally where you would go. It is, in many ways, the most obvious answer for a plane being - falling out of the sky in the cruise.

[14:20:08] But thereafter, for that flash, for that heat flash to take place that would be seen on a satellite, you're looking at an explosion. And remember you're talking about fuel. When MH-17 fell out of the sky, the missile was registered on satellite but the fuel didn't explode until it hit the ground. There was no fuel fire with that plane on the way down. Now here they're going to be looking at, was that heat flash an explosion. Something. An engine explosion. Who knows what it could be. And I can't even speculate the reasons or causes that might lead to a fuel tank explosion, but that's the sort of thing that would give you the heat flash. BALDWIN: OK. Richard Quest, thank you very much. Ian Lee in Cairo,

thank you as well.

Coming up next here on CNN, a government watchdog agency says the TSA has not tested how effective its methods are in keeping air travel safe. So what does this mean for all of us standing in those long lines and checking liquids and taking our shoes off. We'll get into that.

Also ahead, one of the latest victims of gun violence in the city of Chicago, a 9-year-old little boy killed, shot and killed near his grandmother's home, putting the spotlight once again on the problems of gun deaths there. Hillary Clinton just in Chicago to meet with the parents of the victims of gun violence. We'll speak with a mother who lost her son as well.

Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:25:43] BALDWIN: Well, they're in charge of keeping you safe when you fly, but questions raised today on Capitol Hill about exactly how effective some of the TSA programs are in detecting terrorists. A government watchdog group says the TSA has not properly tested or analyzed, you know, hard data, and not only to gauge effectiveness, but also identify ways to strengthen and improve airport security.

So joining me now, Rene Marsh, CNN aviation and government regulation correspondent.

Listen, we all, you know, wait in those lines and everything else, you know, with the - with the TSA screenings. I mean I know there have been similar accusations about TSA before. What's new about this?

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVT. REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, the Government Accountability Office, they are an independent group and they're coming before Congress and they're essentially highlighting several trends that they've seen through their past investigations. And some of the highlights of the shortcomings involving this agency include TSA not evaluating the effectiveness of new screening technologies, TSA not being consistent in evaluating performance measures of its secure flight programs, which is essentially gives them the ability to match passenger's names against the terror watch list. And the GAO also says that TSA failed to use data that they have to identify opportunities to improve their system.

Brooke, as you know, since September 11th, billions of dollars have been spent on aviation security and the GAO told Congress today the bottom line is, many, not all, but many of the agency's screening methods are simply being propped up as effective without a measure of effectiveness. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER GROVER, DIRECTOR, GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICER: But at the end of the day for GAO it comes down to a very simple question, which is, does the program work and how do you know?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARSH: In other words they're saying there's no hard data to support that their systems are effective. The TSA, though, pushing back. They say they've trained their entire front lines, retrained them, and they say they'll continue to improve their training.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK, Rene Marsh, thank you very much.

Coming up next, one of just the latest victims of gun violence in the city of Chicago, this nine-year-old boy, shot and killed in an alley near his grandmother's home. How could something like this happen? We'll take you live to Chicago.

Also, this putting a spotlight once again on the problems with gun deaths in this city. In particular, Hillary Clinton was just there yesterday speaking and meeting with the parents of a number of victims of gun violence. We'll talk with one mother who met with her right after this break.

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