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Donald Trump Gives a Campaign Speech in Arkansas; Hillary Clinton Gives a Campaign Speech in Alabama; Chris Christie Campaigns with Donald Trump; Marco Rubio's Attacks on Donald Trump Examined; Attacks on Hillary Clinton's Paid Wall Street Speeches Examined. Aired 2-3p ET
Aired February 27, 2016 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:00:00] DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They said -- they said it's a fraud. I mean, it's like a fraud. I would have disqualified him from his victory in Iowa because you can't do business like that. You just can't do it. You can't do it.
Then you take everybody, move them up a notch, now I won four in a row instead of three, I like that. And it doesn't matter. I got almost the same nun of delegates. I got one less, but doesn't matter. But you can't do that stuff. You can't do that stuff.
And frankly -- but Cruz is smarter than Rubio, intellectually he's smarter than Rubio, but both they lie. You know, I deal in the real estate business. I deal in a lot of different businesses. I meet some bad people. I meet much tougher people than a Rubio or a Cruz, much tougher but I've never met people that could lie like these guys. These guys are world class liars. It's unbelievable.
And I was helped in Cruz's case because Rubio looked at him and said "you're a liar," and he was actually right because he did lie about that particular point. But once he said he was a liar I was able to say he's liar. I know politicians very well. I've dealt with them all my life. A lot of them are bad people. You have some good ones, but you have a lot of seedy, horrible people, and I've never -- and I've seen some bad stuff, I've never seen a politician call another politician a liar. When he called him a liar, I said, great, now I can call him a liar because there was so much lying.
But Rubio is probably a worse liar than Cruz. I'll pick at the end of three or four weeks, I'll give you my pick. Does that sound OK?
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: So we have an amazing story. I have decided that, with my life, if I win, I'm going to do something that's going to be so amazing for our country. We're going to have great trade deals. We have the worst trade deals ever made in history. We have trade deals that are so bad. We have deals, period, that are so bad. The Iran deal, we give $150 billion to Iran. They're now spending that money.
(BOOS)
TRUMP: It's one of the worst deals, forget about country to country, one of the dumbest deals I've ever seen. But all of our deals are like that. That's a horror deal. That deal, those hostages should have been back four years ago. They should have been back before you started the negotiations.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: They go in, this guy Kerry, they go in, they go in, it's horrible. They go in, and you say we have to have our hostages back. And they'll say no, the Persians, great negotiators, Persians, always been great negotiators. They'll say no. And you'll say bye-bye, we're leaving, bye, enjoy yourself. Now they're sitting at a table, nobody on the other side of the table. And you let them know we're not going to negotiate until the hostages are released, and then you double up on the sanctions. You just go ratchet, ratchet, ratchet. Within 24 hours you'll be called. You got your hostages back, folks.
Then I go a step further and I tell the story about my father, because my father did not give me $200 million. Believe me -- oh, I told you, my sister, she calls, and I have a great sister, a great brother, they both called after the debate. "Dad never gave -- are you kidding? Where's our piece of it" you know?
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: It's unbelievable. Took $1 million, borrowed it, paid it back and that's morphed into 200. Part of the reason in all fairness to Rubio, he read that in the "New York Times." It was such a false piece the "New York Times," it's going out of business. It's the worst newspaper. It is a dead newspaper going out of business.
I'll tell you why. Unless somebody buys it, like me, as a vanity project, all right, it loses a fortune. But they are the most dishonest people at the "New York Times." They'll write, they will write, they wrote a story about me a couple, few days ago. It was so wrong, they knew it was wrong. I said then pull the story. No, we won't do that. If you know the story is wrong why won't you pull it? And they admitted it's wrong. We won't pull it. They are really dishonest. "New York Times," I call it the "failing New York Times."
It's very interesting, they bought "The Boston Globe." They paid $1.3 billion for "The Boston Globe," right, $1.3 billion. They spent a fortune, hundreds of millions of dollars on modernizing it, right? At the end of a number of years, they just sold it for essentially $1. They lost $1.5 billion. They have no money.
They sell their headquarters, this beautiful, like the cathedral. I used to go there when they had real people running the paper. It's like a cathedral, old, beautiful building on I think West 43rd or 45th, 43rd, beautiful, beautiful building. They used to call it the cathedral to journalism. They sold it to move into a horrible office building that's a horrible office building opposite the Port Authority bus terminal, horrible.
[14:05:00] But they sold the cathedral and they sold it for, I believe, about $150 million. The guy that bought it, they're friends of mine, they flipped it for $525 million a short time later. And I say to myself, so why are we listening to their editorials? They tell you what to do, they tell you this and that. They write stories that are inaccurate. So why does anybody even read the "New York Times"? They lost $1.5 billion on a simple newspaper. They lost hundreds of millions of dollars. They should have never left their cathedral because now you walk into that place and it's like you're walking into, it's like walking down the concrete right here. There's nothing. It's just a very average office building with bars on the front of it. It's terrible.
And I say why? My friend and the group, they made hundreds of millions of dollars just buying it, keeping it for a little while, selling it. And we're supposed to listen to the "New York Times." These people are incompetent, and they're bad people. They have a bad agenda. They're really bad people. That's one of the reasons I want to straighten out the libel laws so that we can go after them because these are really bad people. These are really bad.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: So what we're going to do is we're going to make trade deals that are going to be fantastic. We're going to get our best, and we have the greatest negotiators in the world. We have the best. We use political hacks to negotiate with China. With China, we are losing right now $500 billion, with a "b," a year, billion dollars a year, OK? That's our trade deficit. We have a trade deficit of China, with China, $500 billion. We have a massive trade deficit with Japan. They bring in millions of cars. You look at those boats in Los Angeles, they bring in millions and millions of cars. It never stops. We send them beef. We send them beef, that's the deal, OK, which is a fraction. And they don't take the beef. You know what happens? It goes back and forth, and finally they take it, they call it aged, it's Kobe beef and they sell it for ten times more. That's what happens. That's what happens. But we don't get the price, they get the price.
OK, but with Japan, same thing. With Mexico, they're killing us at the border, they're killing us with trade. You saw the other day Carrier just moved to Mexico, Carrier. It's very sad. Somebody had their cell phone going to take in the shots, everyone is devastated. And 1,400 people gone. Ford moved to Mexico, $2.5 billion plant. Nobody did anything. That was two years ago. Now they're doubling up and going to build more there. I would have let them have it so hard they would never have the guts to build more there, never have the guts.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Nabisco, Nabisco just moved their big plant where they make Oreos which we don't eat anymore, right, no more Oreos. That's a good thing. That's a good thing. But Nabisco just moved their plant from Chicago into Mexico, OK? No more.
Let me tell you about Carrier. I watched it because it just happened a week ago, and I watched these people, they were devastated. They were there for a long time. Good people, good air conditions, I buy a lot of Carrier air conditioners. I'm not buying them anymore, but I buy a lot of Carrier air conditioners. And I saw this executive up front, we're going to close our operations and we're going to move to Mexico. Lots of luck, folks. People are devastated.
So I went to the Wharton School of Finance, which is considered the best business school. You've got to be very smart to get into that school, very smart. The Rubios of the world could not get into that school, believe me. They don't have the capacity. Actually Cruz could, in all fairness, Cruz could. I don't know that he has the temperament. But academically, certainly. But I go to Wharton, I'm smart. You're smart. But you don't have to be smart. How do we solve the problem where all these countries are moving into these places and people like yourselves and friends of yourselves and people that I know are losing all their jobs? We're being devastated.
So here's what we're doing as an example Carrier. I would call Carrier through one of my people, because it's not cool if the president calls. The president is calling an air conditioning company. Listen, I don't like what you're doing. I may make some of the calls. They're going to say it's terribly un-presidential, but I don't care, all right?
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: They'll say it's un-presidential. When Vincente Fox, the former president of Mexico --
(BOOS)
TRUMP: When he used the f-bomb, I thought it would be a national thing, because I know if I used it, it would be the biggest story in the history of the world. So he used it, nobody cares. And then he was so angry. You know why he was angry? Because they're used to getting their way, right? They're used to getting their way. How dare they do this? How dare they say that? And I won't build that, you know what, wall. We will not build that, you know what, wall. See? I've learned.
(LAUGHTER)
[14:10:04] TRUMP: By the way, I don't use that word. The words I use are peanuts compared -- that word I couldn't, I wouldn't be able to get off the airplane. Do you like the plane made in the United States?
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Boeing, made in the United States. Speaking of that, Iran just ordered 118 airbus planes, nothing in the United States. They just ordered a lot of equipment from Italy and all over Europe. They just ordered missiles. I didn't know they could buy missiles with their $150 billion. They just ordered missiles from Russia, nothing from the United States. They capture our 10 wonderful sailors, they put guns to their heads, they put them in a begging position. They were scared and frightened, and they let them go two days later, because, you know what, the money was going to pass. If the money was not going to pass, if they already had the money, the billions and billions of dollars, they would have kept them. But they wouldn't have kept them if I won the race, that I can tell you. They would have been out so fast.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: They would have been out so fast.
So, so with Carrier, I call them up, I say, folks, congratulations on your new plant. I think it's wonderful. I love that you're building it in Mexico, it's great. I hate what you ask with the 1,400 people and more. And this is also United Technologies just to shame them because they laid off additional people where they're going to Mexico. Mexico is becoming the new China. You better be careful folks. And their leaders are much smarter than our leaders, and they are ripping us not only at the border but they're ripping us like crazy with trade.
So I'd say to the head of Carrier, congratulations on the new plant. But here's the story, folks. Every single air conditioner that you make as it passes the border, and we will have a real border, OK?
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: We will have a real border, the illegals will not be able to carry those air conditioners in, OK, because we're going to have a real border, and we're going to have a wall and it's going to be a real wall, folks.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: And by the way, congratulations, Mexico, you're paying for the wall, just so you understand. Congratulations.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: So I would say to them, every air conditioner that you make that goes into the United States and over our border, every single one, you're going to pay a 35 percent tax on, OK?
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: Now some of the stupid people, because I'm a conservative person but I like to say I'm a conservative person with common sense, all right. Some of the stupid people say oh he's not a free trader. No, no, I'm a smart trader. I'm a fair trader. I'm a free trader, but it's got to be fair. When China is making $500 billion on trade deficits, I'm not a free trader, folks, because when you try and do business in China, they charge you tax. I have many friends. They can't do business in China. They can't get their product into China. China dumps it over here. You can't get it over there. When he does get it in, it's a big tax, OK.
So I'd say to Carrier, congratulations, but you're paying the 35 percent tax. Here's what will happen. I'll do it early before they start building, I like to get them -- here's what's going to happen. Mr. President, no, you can't do that. That's not free trade like all these stupid people, they talk about free trade. We want free trade, Mr. President. That's not free trade. I'd say, here's the story. I'm just telling you, every single unit
you make comes over that border, you're paying a 35 percent tax, and that's going to make up for all the jobs we lost and everything else. And I hope it works in your bottom line.
(APPLAUSE)
So here's what will happen. If I am one of these characters like a Rubio, take a look at who is giving him money. Look at the guys giving him money. Take a look at the guys giving Rubio money. Take a look at the guys giving Cruz money. I'm not even blaming them. It's the system. But when those guys need something, it's 100 percent. Look at the lobbyists, look at the special interests giving these characters money -- 100 percent control over them. They have 100 percent control.
Me? I'm self-funding. I'm not doing the money thing.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: So I'm putting -- you know, I think somebody said to me, I said the other day, how much have I got? I was always proud of the fact -- I think I'm in it for over $25 million already. I didn't have to spend any money. I didn't have to spend any money. But within I'll tell you what, and that's a big thing. I don't think I get credit for that. I'm self-funding my campaign. I'm the only one in either party. I'm self-funding my campaign.
(APPLAUSE)
TRUMP: I'll go a step further. I think I'm the only one in many, many years. I mean I don't remember anybody, maybe Ross Perot many, many years ago, but I don't remember anybody self-funding. They all take money from these people.
[14:15:00] And during the debates you probably saw that. Somebody would get up, make a fool out of himself, and they're all standing up clapping like he made a good answer. I'd give a good answer and it was like dead silence in the room.
And I had friends in the room. I said, boy, that's a rich room, because I knew a lot of the guys, lobbyists, special interests. And one of them the other night actually is laughing, having a great time, waving at me. He's a friend of mine, and then booing me when I give an answer. He's boo, boo, boo, and he's like that.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: They're all playing games, folks. In fact I just spoke to him. It's cute, it's fun. It's life. It's the way life is, OK, it's the way life is. But that room, those rooms were packed. They're packed with special interests and they're packed with donors and lobbyists. And those people have total control over the people -
(ENDED IN PROGRESS) FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Donald Trump there on a roll from Bentonville, Arkansas, stumping for votes there ahead of the Super Tuesday primary. Let's also now head over to Alabama where Hillary Clinton is addressing supporters there. There you go, in Alabama.
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I was at another HBCU in South Carolina, Morris College. I met a student who has a 13 percent interest rate. Anybody here have a 13 percent or higher interest rate, this young man right there? My gosh.
I want everybody to understand what we have done to our young people. I don't blame them for being frustrated. We haven't even had interest rates for years now because of the great recession, and even before that. And we're charging young people 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 percent? It is so wrong. So we're going to refinance.
The other thing we're going to do, I'm going to move as many as will move with me into what are called contingency repayment plans. That's what I had when I went to law school where you pay it back as a percentage of your income. So if you're going to be a teacher or a firefighter, police officer, when I got out of law school I was a lawyer working for the children's defense fund. I made maybe $14,000 a year. That's how I could take a job I wanted to do and be able to afford it. That's when I came down to Alabama to investigate segregated academies and was down here gathering information to try to prevent them from getting tax exempt status.
So I did a job I loved and I could afford to do it because I was paying it back as a percentage. That's what I want for everybody. We're going to move as many will go in to these programs, get it refinanced, take what's left, and give it to a contingency program, and then we're going to stop after 20 years, we're not going any further than that.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: And we're going to stop the federal government from making a profit off of lending money to students.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: And I want to say a special word about HBCUs like Miles here, I'll have a special fund that will go to both public and private HBCUs.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: Just look at the numbers. You know, the majority of professionals, doctors, lawyers, academics, leaders, business, everything else came out of HBCUs in the African-American community. So I want them to continue with their mission and I will support that.
Now, look, we have a lot of big challenges in America, and we also have some around the world. And I just want to say a quick word about that. When you go to vote in the primary on Tuesday, you are voting for someone who will be both the president and the commander in chief.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: I was honored to work with President Obama for those first four years of his presidency, and we faced a lot of tough choices. The world is filled with them. The biggest counterterrorism choice we faced is whether or not to go after bin Laden. Now, I had a particular interest in this because I was a senator on 9/11 in New York, and I was there within 24 hours looking at the horror of what Al Qaeda had done killing 3,000 people in our country. So I wanted to do whatever I could to bring him to justice.
So when I was asked to be part of the small group to advise the president about whether the intelligence was strong enough to take action on, it was one of the most intense experiences of my life. His advisers were split.
[14:20:00] I evaluated it. I concluded that it was worth launching a mission, but we knew very well the ultimate decision rested with the president. That's an awesome responsibility. So after we had given our advice, it was up to the president. I believe he made the right choice but there was nothing at all guaranteed about it. When those Navy SEALs went in, we were in the small situation room, the small group of us who had worked on it watching on the video. And we saw one of the helicopters clip the wall getting into the compound, which disabled it. Thankfully every contingency the human mind could imagine had been thought through, so there was another helicopter in waiting that we could get in.
I tell you this because the next president will face some hard choices. You know, if they're not hard, they don't get to the president. Somebody else handles them before they end up in the White House, in the Situation Room. I am very confident about America's leadership, and I believe with all my heart that we can defeat ISIS and the other terrorist networks, working, working in coalition.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: But it does bother me when I hear some of the rhetoric coming out of the Republicans, because I know how hard it is to put together a coalition. We have to go after ISIS from the air, and we're leading an air campaign to do that, take out their infrastructure, take out their leadership. We have to work with Arab and Kurdish fighters to take back territory on the ground. We have to continue to help improve the Iraqi army so that they can continue to try to take back territory inside Iraq. We have to go after foreign fighters, we have to go after foreign money, we have to contest them online. And we have to have partnerships to do that.
And who do we mostly need to make partnerships with? Muslim nations. It does not help us to form a coalition with them when a leading candidate for president spends half his time insulting them.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: You know, when you run for president it's not just Americans who pay attention. And when you are president the entire world listens to every word you say. Markets rise and fall, conflicts go forward or retreat. This is an incredibly important point for America to understand. Yes, we elect our president, but that person becomes in many ways the leader of free people and free markets and opportunity around the world. So you do have to be careful about what you say and how you say it.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: So I want to you imagine the country we can have together, where we do find common ground with people we disagree with. That's the American way.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: I did that. I did that as first lady. I did it as senator. I did it as secretary of state. Sometimes there was only one thing that I agreed with a Republican on, but then, you know, we tried to work together. It's going to happen again. We're going to get up every single day in the White House and try to find that common ground.
Now, I will also stand my ground on behalf of the values, the principles that I believe in and that I represent. But we've got to end this divisiveness. And we do have to encourage people in public responsibility positions to think about what it's like to be a single mom struggling to make enough money to keep a roof over her kids' heads, think about what it's like to be a man who believes with all his heart that he can start a small business and doesn't get access to credit because it's been choked off, think about what it's like for a young person struggling with student debt who is unable to really get out from under it because it is weighing him down, think about what other people are going through. I think that is what we are called to do, and it is time we start recognizing that once again.
[14:25:07] I know it's not particularly expected to talk about kindness, love, fellowship, in the context of running for president, but I think we need more of all of that.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: Because no matter what you care with, what issue or what cause, I see the take a stand folks there, they are trying to protect Social Security. Now for goodness sakes, why do they have to be here? Because the Republicans want to privatize it and turn over the Social Security trust fund to Wall Street. Can you think of a worse idea? I tell you, that will never happen on my watch.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: I know a lot of people here who care about voting rights.
(APPLAUSE)
CLINTON: We've got to do more to protect them from constant encroachment, where too many states are trying to constrict who gets to vote, make it hard for people to vote. What part of democracy are they afraid of? I know that among the barriers we still have to knock down is systemic racism, too many people who feel left out and left behind. And we've got to reform --
WHITFIELD: All right, some contrasting messages on the campaign trail there, something in Super Tuesday states. Hillary Clinton there in Fairfield, Alabama, talking about the assistance she wants to be able to give to college students who are strapped with debt and those who are struggling with health care. Contrast to that we were just in Bentonville, Arkansas, another Super Tuesday state, where Donald Trump was stumping there. And you saw him accompanied by Chris Christie, once an adversary on the stage and now coming across as though they are best friends. Donald Trump still there in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Our Jim Acosta is following Donald Trump there. And Jim, let's talk about the contrasting messages there. You heard Hillary Clinton who is trying to stick with the real substance of the campaign, and she talked about the responsibility of words, and it matters what you say and how you say it. Then we heard from Donald Trump there, and Chris Christie, who are really pounding Marco who has been calling Donald Trump a conman. And it was Donald Trump who said, he called him a light, little nothing. So real stinging language coming from Arkansas there.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN correspondent: That's right. And you know, it was interesting to see Chris Christie walk down this set of stairs behind me with Donald Trump, leaving Trump's plane about an hour ago. They looked like running mates. And typically you tap somebody to be your vice president during a general election campaign and make that person your attack dog. Chris Christie is already that attack dog before even being asked to run as Donald Trump's running mate. He went after Marco Rubio in the run-up to Donald Trump's remarks, saying that Marco Rubio did not show up for his hearings when he was serving on various committees in the United States Senate.
And then we heard Donald Trump really tear into both Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. At one point he said that Marco Rubio has a fresh mouth, and he went off on Ted Cruz, went back to that line of attack about whether Ted Cruz is eligible to be president of the United States because he was born in Canada. We've heard this before from Donald Trump. But this went on and on and on.
But Fredricka, what was interesting to hear from Donald Trump today was that it appears that some of these attacks coming from Marco Rubio are touching a nerve. Donald Trump was really defending himself on a couple of lines of attack from Marco Rubio at that debate the other night. Marco Rubio at one point said during the debate Donald Trump received $200 million in inheritance from his father. Donald Trump for several minutes here talked about the fact that no, he did not receive $200 million from his father. It was $1 million. It was a loan that he paid it back.
And then Fredricka, another line of attack in the news the last 48 hours since Marco Rubio brought it up at the debate is about the started by Trump and his organization called Trump University, and it's essentially a place where people can go and sign up for classes to learn about the Trump model of success. There have been a lot of former students who have said no, that this was just a scam, that they were scammed out of thousands of dollars. And some of those former students are suing Donald Trump in court. Trump really laid out his defense of Trump University during this speech here in Arkansas. You got to wonder whether many people have even heard about this story, but Trump went on for several minutes defending this school. Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[14:30:12] TRUMP: You keep hearing about Trump University. So it's a civil case. It's a sleazebag law firm that firm that does the class action cases, they're very routine. And I will win the case in the end. I just didn't want to be forced to settle, and I could have settled it before I did this. And I knew somebody would try to use it for publicity, but I believe I can turn it around just to show you how dishonest these people are. And that's the case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: We should also mention at another point during the speech Donald Trump went off on the judge handling the Trump University case, and at one point Trump said that the judge should recuse himself because he's been hostile towards Trump. And he noted that the judge handling the case is, quote, "Hispanic, which is fine." So for whatever reason Donald Trump felt it was necessary to note the ethnicity of the judge handling that case.
We should also point out on the same day that the former governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, is endorsing Donald Trump. And Donald Trump is also throwing out a lot of red meat rhetoric about building that wall on the Mexican border. So Donald Trump really unloading all of the red meat rhetoric that he's deployed throughout the course of this campaign.
And you got to wonder, Fredricka, whether Marco Rubio and there's a lot of debate you can see on social media right now as to whether Marco Rubio should be doing this. Is he acting too much like Trump? Is this backfiring for him? But it appears some of the lines of attack have gotten under Trump's skin, and that's why you hearing him give these detailed explanations as to why these are not problems for his campaign.
Fredricka, a lot of this opposition research it's not a secret. It's been out there for years. You can Google it. For whatever reason, much of the Republican establishment has not used it against Donald Trump until this very point in the campaign just a few days before Super Tuesday. It may not be coming in time to safe candidates like Marco Rubio at this stage in the campaign. We have to wait and see, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Right, and there are other questions as it pertains to is Marco Rubio tossing it out there and Donald Trump now taking the bait, now being on the defensive trying to explain these accusations, and where is might go? Is it too late or is the timing still good? Jim Acosta, thank you so much from Bentonville, Arkansas. We'll talk more about this.
Meantime, so what helped get Donald Trump started as he was there stumping there in Bentonville? Well, just moments before Donald Trump's plane actually landed, it was a rally in Georgia outside of Atlanta where Marco Rubio got the crowd on their feet there, calling Donald Trump a conman and saying that conman will never be able to lead the Republican party. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He inherited millions of dollars. If he had taken the millions of dollars and put them into the stock market just like a normal person would do, just into the stock market, he would have more money today than Warren Buffett. But instead he invested it in hotels that went bankrupt. He bankrupted a casino. How do you bankrupt a casino?
(LAUGHTER)
RUBIO: The house always wins. Here's what's not funny about that. Any time he bankrupted a business, any time he bankrupted a business, the people who paid the price were the contractors he had hired. We're also hearing from them. I'm telling you, they are calling nonstop, small businesses that didn't work, and he pulled his money out and he did what he need to do and they never got paid.
He is not some great businessman. He's taken four companies into bankruptcy. You ever heard of Trump Air? It's gone. Four casinos bankrupt in Atlantic City. He is not some genius. He is a guy that inherited hundreds of millions of dollars, and had he invested in the stock market he would have been better off. He says to people "I am going to take on illegal immigration." He's the only one running for president that's ever hired illegal immigrants to work for him. He hired Polish workers to help on Trump Tower. Oh, no, wait he's going to protect you from immigrants taking your jobs. Well, why is he hiring foreigners to do the jobs at his hotels that Americans are trying to get? And he's hiring foreigners to do the job.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Let's talk more about what we have been witnessing in the last hour and a half. Ford O'Connell back with us, Republican strategist and former McCain tailing campaign adviser, and Kayleigh McEnany, a Republican strategist, and Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. All right, good to see all of you.
That was a lot of red meat hurled out there, the back and forth. Larry, you first. So, Marco Rubio, is this Marco Rubio who says you know what, I have nothing to lose. At this point I might as well throw it all out there, the accusations, calling Donald Trump a conman, saying he was a horrible businessperson, and instead of hiring Americans, he was hiring foreigners. [14:35:06] LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CENTER FOR
POLITICS: In a word, yes, that's exactly it, Fred. Here we are on the weekend before Super Tuesday, and a lot of Republican managers and staffers and people who are involved in the process, a lot of them are just waking up to the reality that Donald Trump could very probably be their nominee. And so they're saying to Marco Rubio primarily, because he seems to have the best chance of anyone in stopping Trump, go at it, get savage. Here is your chance. And the sands are running out of the hourglass.
WHITFIELD: So does he, Ford, does he really stand the best chance to undermine, really take on Donald Trump at this point? I mean, we are talking about Super Tuesday, 13 states right around the corner, but if you look at all the polling and if you look at some of the recent contests, Donald Trump, he's the one with the momentum.
FORD O'CONNELL, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Donald Trump absolutely does have the momentum, and the voting window is closing. But I will say this, Marco Rubio is without question getting under Donald Trump's skin, and political scientists like Dr. Sabato are going to wondering for years if Trump's the nominee why they didn't start doing this earlier.
The reason why Rubio is in the best position to do this is because he has the best ability to capture the 65 percent of the vote that is not currently going with Donald Trump. But if Donald Trump keeps winning, more people are going to keep going to Trump. So the hour of need is now and they're trying to throw everything, including the kitchen sink, at Trump.
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CONSERVATIVE COLUMNIST: And, Fred, I just want to --
WHITFIELD: I wonder, Kayleigh, it's as if Marco Rubio really knew how closely Donald Trump would be watching. I mean, here he was on the plane while Marco Rubio was in, you know, Kennesaw, Georgia, and it's as if he knew that Donald Trump would be watching this on the satellite on the plane, because they were off and running, Chris Christie and Donald Trump right away responding to everything and all that Marco Rubio said.
MCENANY: Sure, I think he knows that Donald Trump was watching. I don't know that he necessarily took the bait, though, because he attacks anyone who attacks him. That's just what he's proven to do, be it Carly Fiorina or Carson or anyone who attacks him, he will attack back. Jeb Bush is another good example. And on the contrary I disagree --
WHITFIELD: Everyone knows that by now.
MCENANY: Right, everyone knows that by now. But I think Donald Trump looks calmer than ever. I think he looks like a front-runner. In the debate he did not get flustered when he was flanked on two sides by both Cruz and Rubio.
O'CONNELL: Sorry here, I've got to completely disagree with you. WHITFIELD: OK, go, please, Ford, go ahead.
O'CONNELL: The reason why he got crushed in the debate is the reason why Chris Christie had to endorse him the very next day, to change the media narrative, to get a pit bull who could attack Marco Rubio before anything Marco Rubio ever said actually blemished Donald Trump. And trust me, some of those cuts hurt, whether it's the business dealings or a lot of other things. All the other candidates that Kayleigh named, Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz and the others, went after him on issues. They didn't go after Trump's business record. They didn't go after his personal character. Remember, Trump is selling a vision. If you want to undermine that vision you have to undermine Trump.
MCENANY: It was an act of desperation.
WHITFIELD: Go ahead, Kayleigh, real quick, respond to that.
MCENANY: Trump said three to four times in the debate this was a great debate. I had a lot of fun. He came out looking cheerful. And Marco Rubio is desperate, which is why he bringing up the fact that a subcontractor of Donald Trump hired Polish illegal immigrants 36 years ago. That's all he can come up with and it's pretty. Cruz's attacks are more viable if you ask me.
WHITFIELD: And so Larry, what do you see are the resounding messages here? Because you have Donald Trump, who is responding to Marco Rubio who went to an area where we haven't seen him before. But then you had Chris Christie coming out first for Donald Trump, almost like he's going to be the tough guy to kind of lay the groundwork for Donald Trump, who might be the statesmen? What did you see there?
SABATO: Fred, I've learned two lessons. The first is that it takes weeks, if not months, to develop good arguments in a campaign, especially a primary campaign. And the anti-Trump Republicans simply failed to do so for whatever combination of reasons.
The second think I have learned is when you're in a tough spot, and some think Trump was in a tough spot after that debate, you have to have something in your pocket ready to pull out to change the circumstances. And the shiny object for Donald Trump was Chris Christie, and it's worked.
WHITFIELD: And Ford, is it too late for the Donald Trump momentum, you know, to be stopped?
O'CONNELL: It may be too late. Look, the question really is going to be, does Marco Rubio win Florida or does Ted Cruz on Super Tuesday win the most delegates out there? He obviously has to win the state of Texas.
[14:40:02] That's the only way you're going to change this is by throwing up w's on the board. I have to say, time is running out, and every time Trump picks up a w, it's just one less chance the other Republicans have to take him down.
All right, Ford O'Connell, Larry Sabato, Kayleigh McEnany, thanks so much to all of you, appreciate it.
All right, straight ahead we'll go live back to Alabama, where Hillary Clinton has just wrapped up a rally there in Fairfield ahead of Super Tuesday.
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WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Columbia, South Carolina. Hillary Clinton is not in this state. She's in Alabama right now even though the Democratic primary is underway right here in South Carolina. Clinton holding a get out the vote rally in the city of Fairfield, Alabama. Our Chris Frates is there. So Chris, the Clinton camp is looking for a big win in South Carolina. What is the psychology why Clinton feels it's important to talk to people there in that Super Tuesday state of Alabama before making her way back to South Carolina tonight?
CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well that's right, Fred. There's a lot of excitement here in Alabama. Hillary Clinton just finishing up her speech, looking very loose, very relaxed, very confident. And the speech had a very forward-looking feel to it, almost an "I got this" because the Clinton people feel good about what they'll be able to do in South Carolina. So that's why they're here in Alabama, because the race to Super Tuesday starts today. And she wants to do very well in the south. She's looking at doing well here in Alabama, her home state of Arkansas, Georgia, Texas. She wants to run the table on Bernie Sanders in the south, and she's going to do that largely based on the support she has within the African-American community.
So tonight the Clinton folks are looking for a big one. But I would say watch the turnout. Does Hillary Clinton bring out more black voters than were expected, because if that's the case, and she's bringing that excitement to the campaign trail, that could bode very well for her on Super Tuesday.
[14:45:005] Now, Bernie Sanders no surprise here, he's not going back to South Carolina. He was in Texas today. He's going to go to Minnesota. He's looking to stay even and fight Clinton to a draw on the states where she has an advantage, and he wants to put some wins on the board for himself in his home turf, New England. He's a senator from Vermont. He wants to do well in his home state. He wants to do well in Massachusetts as well. They think they can do well in Colorado and Texas. So he's trying to live another day on Tuesday to get to the big contest on March 15th. We're looking at Florida, Ohio, Illinois, and he has been all around there.
But he has not given up on the African-American vote either. If you look the South Carolina, Bernie Sanders competed very hard there. He spent $1.7 million in advertising compared to Hillary Clinton at $2.1 million. He's trying to make inroads because going forward, Fred, he needs to cut into Hillary Clinton's lead among African-Americans. Iowa, New Hampshire, much whiter than the states that are coming in this primary contest. South Carolina is just the start, Fred.
WHITFIELD: He spent a lot of time in South Carolina. Let's see if there's any payoff for Bernie Sanders. Chris Frates, thanks so much, traveling with Hillary Clinton there in Fairfield, Alabama. And stay with CNN throughout the day for our special coverage of the South Carolina Democratic primary.
Plus, in just three days, count them, three, we'll have complete coverage of Super Tuesday all day long right here on CNN. We'll be right back.
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[14:50:08] WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Columbia, South Carolina. Today Bernie Sanders is not here in South Carolina. He's instead campaigning in the delegate-rich state of Texas ahead of Super Tuesday. Hillary Clinton, well, she just wrapped up a rally in another Super Tuesday state of Alabama and will now head to this state, the palmetto state, South Carolina tonight for what is expected to be her victory party, that's her hope, in this state's Democratic primary. All of this as her campaign released a new ad featuring former congresswoman Gabby Giffords who barely survived a mass shooting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GABBY GIFFORDS, (D) FORMER CONGRESSWOMAN: I'm fed up. We have a gun violence problem. So I'm voting for Hillary Clinton. She's tough. She will stand up to the gun lobby. She will fight to make our families safer. It matters.
CLINTON: I'm Hillary Clinton and I approve this message.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Let me bring in Nomiki Konst, Democratic strategist and Bernie Sanders supporter, and with me here in South Carolina is Tharon Johnson who is a former southern regional director for Obama's 2012 campaign and now a supporter of Hillary Clinton. So your thoughts on the campaign ad involving Gabby Giffords?
THARON JOHNSON, FORMER SOUTHERN REGIONAL DIRECTOR, OBAMA 2012: What better person to really talk about the issue that really is a prevalent issue in our country, and that is the issue of gun violence. I think the ad was very, very touching. I think people all across the country who has been either violent -- people who have been a victim of gun violence or have family members who are a victim of gun violence is really going to take a very emotional approach to that ad. And I think it was a really good strategy for the Hillary campaign to continue to put that issue forward as this campaign continues to go on.
WHITFIELD: And Nomiki, we are down to the wire three days ahead of the Super Tuesday and the Democratic primary here under way right now in South Carolina. And is it your feeling that Bernie Sanders is working especially hard now to distinguish himself up against a Hillary Clinton when right now both of them from many voters' perspectives seem to share the same approach on many issues.
NOMIKI KONST, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I think that they share an approach on many issues. I think their records are very different. There's a stark difference. Bernie Sanders has been completely transparent about his record, about where he accepts money from the people, about what he's going to do on behalf of the people. His record is out there. He's passed more legislation than any other Democrat with Republicans in the House and the Senate.
And Hillary Clinton has not been transparent. To be completely fair here, we have not heard about her transcripts. The "New York Times" wrote a scathing editorial today about the Wall Street transcripts, those speeches that she earned $11 million for in the past 16 months before she decided to run for president. I mean, she and her husband earned $168 million since 2002 alone from Wall Street giving speeches. These are things that do not match the record that she is running on. And while gun issues are incredibly important --
WHITFIELD: But Nomiki, you've heard from Hillary Clinton who says but the standard seems to be different. There's a real double standard for her in releasing that kind of information when other presidential candidates have not been asked to do that.
KONST: She is the only one, I mean, she cannot be held to a different standard than the Republicans, of course. But the Republicans are not running on breaking up the big banks. Hillary Clinton is the only one in the race on the Democratic side who is running to break up the big banks who is accepting money from Wall Street. And that's why the "New York Times" who previously endorsed her said this just doesn't cut it. These excuses do not work. If you're going to be a leader, you have to be transparent. It's about judgment. That is what voters are looking for, judgment.
WHITFIELD: So Tharon, is there a conflicting message if she says break up big banks, or she wants to hit Wall Street hard but at the same time she's been compensated by speaking to big banks, Wall Street?
JOHNSON: Listen, this is a very big stretch for the Bernie Sanders campaign. They're basically pushing this ad, they are attacking Hillary Clinton because they're losing. Listen, she said very early on, if you want me to release the transcripts of my speech, why don't we make that a standard, a policy for everyone who is running? And so Bernie Sanders two weeks ago basically said he was not going to attack Secretary Clinton on that issue, and he turned around because he's going to lose today in South Carolina, he's going to lose a lot of states on Super Tuesday. And so this is a very negative attack.
WHITFIELD: So Nomiki, what is behind that, that he would change his tune on what he'd be placing demands on?
KONST: He's always said he's going to talk about the issues and records and this is all he's talking about, is a record of transparency.
[14:55:003] And just to be clear here, she did not say that early on. Early on she said that she went to Wall Street to talk about 9/11. Well, then why was she talking about these things, these speeches a month before she announced her presidency? Even last week she said she was going to look into it, and now she's saying that she is not being held to an equal standard as Republicans. She's not running as the Republican nominee and Republicans aren't running to be Democrats. We have different standards on both sides. It's not a fair cut. Also, that is not a Bernie Sanders ad. That is a conservative ad. I want to make that very clear.
WHITFIELD: OK, let's listen to this recent ad by Bernie Sanders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hillary Clinton gave speeches to the biggest banks on Wall Street after one of the worst financial crises in American history. But Hillary won't tell us what she said to those banks who paid her over $1 million and are contributing millions more to elect her. So before you promise your vote to Hillary, don't you deserve to know what she promised them?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right, so this is a Republican super PAC ad, so, and this is what you are referring to Nomiki. So Tharon, how does Hillary Clinton combat this? How does she respond to this?
JOHNSON: She continues to be transparent. What she said all along, listen, I'm OK with releasing my transcripts, but let's not just focus on my campaign. Let's open this up to Bernie Sanders and all of the Republican guys who are left in the field.
But again, listen, this is a desperate stunt on behalf of the Bernie Sanders campaign. Hillary Clinton has got the momentum right now. She just gave a really, really good speech in Alabama. She's looking forward to basically winning here tonight, and she just wants to close this race out on Super Tuesday so she can go ahead and take on Donald Trump.
WHITFIELD: Nomiki, last response on this. Is this a change of tone, you know, or strategy from Bernie Sanders?
KONST: No. I think that we are just talking about the issues here, and we want to go and attack Bernie Sanders for his record as a D- minus rated NRA rated on gun issues, then Bernie Sanders has to talk about Hillary Clinton's records. Voters can connect the dots. They want to know who has the best judgment. They want to know why Hillary Clinton claims she can break up the big banks but she can accept $11 million from Wall Street for speeches in a 16-month period. That's what she's asking.
WHITFIELD: We're going to leave it right there. Nomiki Konst, Tharon Johnson, thank so much to both of you, appreciate it. Thanks so much everybody home for being with me all day long. I'm Fredricka Whitfield here in Columbia, South Carolina. The next hour of CNN Newsroom begins right after this short break.
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