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Voters In Super Tuesday States Prepare To Pick Nominees; Police At Greek-Macedonian Border Use Tear Gas On Women And Children; Wounded Veteran Takes On Child Predators; Woman Waves Around Severed Head Of Young Child At Moscow Metro Station; India Surpasses China As Most Polluted Country In The World. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired March 01, 2016 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:00:00] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: Decision 2016. U.S. voters in more than a dozen states prepare to pick their nominee in the biggest primary prize yet.
ERROL BARNETT, CNN NEWSROOM SHOW HOST: Border bottleneck Macedonian police use tear gas on women and children after migrants break down a border fence with Greece.
CHURCH: And later, a wounded veteran returns to the battlefield, this time taking on child predators.
Hello and welcome to our viewers across the globe, I'm Rosemary Church.
And I'm Errol Barnett. Thanks for joining our second hour of CNN Newsroom.
You know what that music means, we're beginning with the race for the White House and the most important day so far in determining which candidates will meet in November's presidential election. You see the 12 states highlighted here holding primaries or caucuses on Super Tuesday.
CHURCH: Donald Trump is expected to win a majority of the republican contests with Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz battling for second place. Hillary Clinton is favored in most of the democratic contests but Bernie Sanders a sure thing in his home State of Vermont.
BARNETT: Now the latest CNN/ORC national poll shows Trump with a massive lead among the republicans. Forty nine percent say they support the celebrity billionaire. And as you see there, 16 percent behind Marco Rubio, 15 percent behind Ted Cruz.
Trump is also dealing with the fallout from a CNN interview where he refused to disavow support from former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and other white supremacist group.
CHURCH: He's trying to set the record straight but the damage may already be done. Sunlen Serfaty reports.
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: On the eve of Super Tuesday, a chaotic close to campaigning. Trump's raucous rally in Virginia interrupted by protesters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now get them out of here, please. Get them out. Are you from Mexico? Are you from Mexico?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: And a violent scuffle between Secret Service and a news photographer slammed to the ground after trying to get a shot of the chaos. All while Trump deals with his latest controversy, refusing to disavow former KKK grand wizard David Duke and other white supremacists backing his campaign.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, THE LEAD SHOW HOST: Will you unequivocally condemn David Duke and say that you don't want his vote or that of other white supremacists in this election?
Trump: Well, just so you understand, I don't know anything about David Duke, OK? I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. so I don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: Trump attempting some damage control tweeting a video from a previous press conference Friday when he did disavow Duke support and pointing to that fact today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: When we looked at it I looked at the question, I disavowed David Duke. So, I disavowed David Duke all weekend long, on Facebook and Twitter and obviously it's never enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: All of this giving Marco Rubio another opening to pounce.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCO RUBIO, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You say David Duke to me, I say racist immediately.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: Rubio with his voice hoarse.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUBIO: Trying to get my very white voice going here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: And Cruz, both keeping up their all-out assault on Trump.
TED CRUZ, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Where was Donald in the gang of eight? Not only was he nowhere to be found, Donald Trump was funding the gang of eight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SERFATY: Meanwhile, despite pressure from some party elders to exit the race, John Kasich says even though he has no hope of winning any states tomorrow, he is staying put.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KASICH, (R) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Marco Rubio is trailing in Florida by 17 points. You know what, why aren't they telling him to get out and get behind me. I have a better chance of winning in Ohio than he does in Florida.
SERFATY: A new CNN/ORC poll shows Trump with a commanding leading off the field nationally. Trump 33 points ahead of his closest rival beating his four remaining opponents combined. Faced with this, the Republican Party establishment is now in full on panic mode fearing that Trump is well on his way to becoming the likely GOP nominee.
And Super Tuesday is so important to so many of these candidates, especially Senator Ted Cruz who has banked so much of his strategy on today, on Super Tuesday. He must do well here in his home State of Texas. It's widely seen as do or dies for his campaign.
Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, San Antonio, Texas.
CHURCH: Larry Sabato is the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. He joins me now to talk more about the infighting within the GOP in the lead up to Super Tuesday. Thank you, sir, for being with us.
[03:04:58] Now it appears to be all out war between Donald Trump particularly and Marco Rubio, but the latest CNN national poll shows Trump leading the GOP pack by more than 30 points. So, is it all over for Rubio and, indeed, Ted Cruz?
LARRY SABATO, VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR POLITICS DIRECTOR: It's too early to say it's over, but I would say this. Donald Trump is in a commanding position and Marco Rubio or for that matter Ted Cruz has to do something to change the dynamics drastically and quickly.
CHURCH: A number of top conservatives are speaking out against Trump including sitting republican Senator Ben Sasse. Let's just listen for a moment to see what he had to say to CNN's Jake Tapper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BEN SASSE, (R) U.S. SENATOR: I'm not going to vote for Hillary Clinton. And given what we know about Donald Trump, I can't vote for that guy either. I believe in the Constitution. I've taken an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution. And if you got to a place where those are the two major party nominees, and I certainly hope that they are not, I have to look for a third party option.
TAPPER: Do you have somebody in mind, is there somebody you would?
SASSE: No. But I believe that there will be more candidates that will enter this race. That's the only choices that we get are two dishonest join the race.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Now Larry Sabato, refusing to support the party nominee. That's pretty unusual, isn't it? But this election is very unusual. How likely is it that we will see this third party scenario player?
SABATO: I think Senator Sasse is exactly correct. It is probable. In fact, I would go further and say there could be more than one. I think republicans are so divided they may not be able to agree on just one candidate.
CHURCH: And, Larry, Marco Rubio and others are calling Donald Trump's delay in disavowing the KKK's David Duke a disqualifying moment. How damaging was that moment for Trump? And has it rattled him?
SABATO: It is damaging in a general election. I don't know that it hurts Trump at all with his constituency, which is the most energized and which is dominating the republican field during this primary session.
CHURCH: And I want to talk about Marco Rubio, too, because he was very buttoned down in all of the republican debates until now. He unleashed on Donald Trump in the last debate and he hasn't stopped ever since out on the campaign trail. That might be working with some, but there are a lot of republicans who are looking saying what is going on here.
SABATO: I believe Senator Rubio has been given some very bad advice. He has decided to descend into the gutter in terms of his campaign tactics and language to match Donald Trump. Now, maybe fighting fire with fireworks in some contexts. In this context it cheapens Rubio and makes people question what the alternative is.
CHURCH: All right. Larry Sabato, thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate it.
SABATO: Thank you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: And democrats will also be getting their say on Super Tuesday. Coming up, we will ask if time is running out for Bernie Sanders to overtake Hillary Clinton.
And do stay with CNN for extensive coverage of all the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses. We have reporters spanned out across the country following the candidates on a day that could change the landscape of this election so stay with us throughout the day here on CNN.
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BARNETT: We're seeing frustration and anger boiling over at a migrant camp in Northern Greece. Refugees are trying to break and make their way to Macedonia just across the border.
CHURCH: But the migrants, including women and children, ran into tear gas and rubber bullets.
Atika Shubert has their story.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thousands camped on the border between Greece and Macedonia demanding a way into Europe. Protesters managed to briefly ram down the border fence and tried to push their way through. They were stopped with tear gas and border police in riot gear.
Dozens were injured in the chaos including a number of children. This is exactly what Greece has been warning other E.U. states, that if borders close and Greece is left on its own, the refugee crisis will reach boiling point.
On Sunday night, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that the U.U must not abandon Greece or it will face disaster. What has happened is exactly what we feared, she said. That a country is now left alone with its problems, and we cannot allow that.
Greece is the doorway to Europe. A short boat ride from Turkey, it is the easiest way for asylum seekers especially from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan to cross into Europe through the Balkan states.
[03:10:02] But the staggering number of arrivals has led individual states to crack down as pressure builds to accommodate asylum seekers. Macedonia has closed its borders to all but Syrian and Iraqi refugees, and anyone coming through must have valid photo I.D., something few refugees have.
That has left tens of thousands stranded in Greece, many of them from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Morocco, and other states. At the border, police have brought in reinforcements and restored the border fence. There is now an uneasy calm. Still, as long as the gates to Europe remain locked, the frustration and anger of thousands will continue to grow.
Atika Shubert, CNN, Berlin.
CHURCH: Migrants also clash with police in Northern France on Monday. It happened as authorities moved in to take down shacks and tents and part of the sprawling refugee camp known as the jungle.
BARNETT: Now the camp sits near the City of Calais and it's been plague by unsanitary conditions. Most of the migrants there hope to make their way into the U.K. CHURCH: A fragile truce in Syria has opened the way for aide trucks to
get through. The Syrian Arab Red Cross said trucks carrying blankets, soap and other supplies have started deliveries to civilians in a besieged rebel-held town southwest of Damascus.
Nearly half a million Syrians are living in besieged areas and are in desperate need of aide, but it's not clear how much longer the ceasefire will hold. Rebel groups say sporadic airstrikes on their positions may unravel the shaky peace.
Just ahead, Apple logs a legal win in its battle to keep the U.S. government's hands off its iPhones.
BARNETT: Also, a new chapter in a still baffling case. Five Hong Kong book sellers who vanished last year re-emerge on Chinese T.V. Details about where they say they've been after this.
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CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN WORLD SPORTS ANCHOR: I'm Christina Macfarlane with your CNN World Sport headlines.
High flying Leicester City will have the chance to open up a five- point gap at the top of the table in England on Tuesday. The Foxes will lead to have Bromwich Albion at home and surely they don't want to leave it as late as they did against Norwich this past weekend.
Leicester manager Clauido Ranieri has confirmed his team will be midfielder N'Golo Kante due to a hamstring injury. He's played in every Premier League fixes so far this season and is expected to miss two games.
[03:15:00] Team FIFA were out in full force as Gianni Infantino marks his first day on the job as FIFA president by staging a friendly football match with his staff and supporters in Zurich. After days of negotiating his way to the top of world's football, Infantino seemed happy to let his feet do the talking. This match was something of symbolic return to FIFA's primary focus, football after allegations of corruption has dogged the organization.
A scary moment in theory is off the pitch. Napoli player striker Lorenzo Insigne reportedly robbed at gunpoint then asked by the thief to score a goal. While the midfielder may have failed to get on the score sheet this Monday, but his teammate did after Florentina struck first.
Marcos Alonzo was the early goal. Only to be canceled out moments later by Gonzalo Higuain, one all at end.
That's a look at your sports headlines. I'm Christina Macfarlane.
CHURCH: Score one for Apple in the battle over protected encryption on your cell phone. A federal judge ruled Monday that the U.S. government cannot force the tech giant to give federal agents access to an iPhone linked to a drug case. BARNETT: Now I want to make an important note here, this case is
separate from the one in which the FBI wants Apple to hack the iPhone of a terrorist the one on the killing spree in San Bernardino, California. A different court delivered a conflicting decision, in that case, it says Apple must unlock the phone.
CHURCH: All right. We turn now to a shocking and disturbing story out of Russia. Terrified onlookers at a Moscow metro station saw a woman waiving the severed head of a young child. The gruesome incident in battling police and the public alike.
Matthew Chance joins us now live from Moscow. So, Matthew, the details horrifying and had many onlookers fearing they were witnessing terrorism. Has that been ruled out at this point? What do we know on that?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that it hasn't been ruled out at this point, but at this point also the police are not designating this as a terrorist event or an atrocity. It was certainly an appalling crime.
This woman is pictured, caught on cell phone video all dressed in black. She's wearing a hijab, an Islamic sort of a head covering. She's in the streets of central Moscow outside a key metro station in the Russian capitol. And she's brandishing the head of a child and it's dripping bloods and it's absolutely gruesome and she's shouting, I am a terrorist. She's shouting I am your death and all sorts of other expressions.
But apart from that, the police are saying that, look, they've taken her into custody. She's been charged with murder of a child, of a minor, and they're assessing at this point whether or not she's, you know, she's sane enough to understand what she's done.
And certainly no explosives were found on this woman even though she was saying in the streets according to eye witnesses that she was a suicide bomber. They obviously were very cautious before they brought her down and checked her for explosives. None were found.
And so, on that basis at this stage while they wait for the tests of the assessment of whether or not she's sane, they're holding back on calling this a terrorist event. But it was truly outrageous whatever it is.
CHURCH: It certainly is. And what all do we know about this woman and, indeed, the young child that she was baby-sitting?
CHANCE: What we know some sketchy information, some basic sort of biographical details. The woman is said to have been from Uzbekistan. She was born in 1977. And so that makes her about 38 years old. She's been named in the state media as Gyulchehra Bobokulova from Uzbekistan, as I say.
And as I mentioned, she worked as the nanny for this family, this Russian family that has apparently two children, a 15-year-old son and this girl who was named Anastasia. She's just 4 years old. Apparently, according to the media reports she had learning difficulties, the little girl.
And it seems that when the parents went out with the 15-year-old son leaving the 4-year-old in the care of the nanny, the nanny then apparently decapitated the child and burned down the apartment, which is also in central Moscow, and then went out into the streets to that metro station and just outside of it and began brandishing the severed head.
So, you know, again, a really appalling crime in the streets of the Russian capital.
CHURCH: Chilling details for sure there. Matthew Chance bringing us up to date on that story that shocked people across Russia, bringing us that live from Moscow. Many thanks.
[03:20:03] BARNETT: Now we have a much different type of mystery to tell you about. They vanished without a trace last year and now five missing Hong Kong book sellers have re-emerged.
CHURCH: They all appeared on Chinese television and four of them appear to have admitted to what they call illegal book trading.
BARNETT: Our Ivan Watson joins us now from Hong Kong with the latest on all of this. Ivan, the whereabouts of one of the book sellers, Lee Bo, and the suspicion that he and others have been abducted caused massive protests there. Why have these men received so much attention?
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they were publishing books that criticize the leadership of China and then they all disappeared months ago, and they have started reappearing in these interviews where they say, you know what, we willingly voluntarily took ourselves to China to turn ourselves in to participate in police investigations in China.
And those claims are being met with some skepticism here. For instance, this most recent man, Lee Bo, who had British residence, he in his interview alleged that he smuggled himself across the border from Hong Kong into China to participate in an investigation.
And then he went on to renounce his British residence and to call on the authorities here in Hong Kong to please stop searching for him. Take a listen to his excerpt from his interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEE BOO, BOOKSELLER (TRANSLATED): I have made it clear through the Hong Kong police and my wife that I have voluntarily come back to the mainland to cooperate with the investigation. It was my personal acts. I have never been kidnapped or been missed nor have I been coerced or bribed.
WATSON: The disappearance of these men, Errol, it has prompted protests here in Hong Kong with some residents here concerned that China is breaking down jurisdiction which is supposed to have a different legal system and different freedoms between mainland China and this former British colony. There have also been expressions of concern from the British and the
U.S. governments. Lee Bo in that interview said, please, stop all of these questions. And the Hong Kong police have announced that they're going to continue pursuing this case. Errol?
BARNETT: And one thing we should note is the types of materials that they were publishing. These aren't your average books. Tell us what was so controversial about what they were selling.
WATSON: All of these men work with a company that's called Mighty Current. And they published books like this. I'm going to show it to you right here. Its title is "Conflict Inside the 19th Police Bureau of the Communist Party of China."
A lot of these books were basically slinging mud at the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. And what was remarkable is that you had a little industry here where people from mainland China would travel to Hong Kong, buy these books at these book stores and then smuggle them back into China.
And one of the crimes allegedly that some of these men have confessed to on television is of smuggling these books into China. And I think that comes down to the crux of this. China still heavily censors not only the internet, not only its own television and newspapers, but also the publication of books.
So, it's not unusual to fly to Chinese airports and actually see Chinese customs officials in the 21st century confiscating books. And that seems to be at the heart of this matter. These people are effectively confessing to a crime which is little more than smuggling books across borders. Errol.
BARNETT: And you wonder if a book was written about this story, would it be available in China? It's quite a mystery.
Ivan Watson, live for us in Hong Kong. Just past 4.23 there. Thanks.
CHURCH: A new study shows for the first time in this century, India has surpassed China as the most polluted country in the world.
BARNETT: Yes. It's the kind of title nobody wants. Our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins us from the International Weather Center with more. Pedram?
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: There it goes. And you know, we know how we got to this point as well. So, the study also goes on that the consumption of fossil fuels as we saw across China for many, many years and are still seeing, the consumption of fossil fuels across portions of India have really led to the increase here of the greenhouse gas emissions, of course, the pollutants being at an all- time high. And now based on satellite imagery exceeding what is occurring across China.
In fact, in Delhi at this hour, they are sitting at beyond index levels, 25 times higher than what is considered as fit to breathe. This is what the core index is. That's just confine the Delhi. Satellite images going in towards Delhi often shows us the prevalent. The prevalent area when it comes to the problem are going to be right there on Northern India, we know the top of our planet, the Himalayas blocks in the pollutants here. Of course, heavy industry blocked in across the northern portion of the south continent, but also it doesn't help the matter as well.
But we take a look at the top 20 most polluted cities in the world. We know 13 of them now reside across India.
[03:25:01] And go for a closer perspective, in India in particular, there are 32 national air quality index stations that are in place. Twenty of them are reporting air qualities that are 70 percent of the national standard. So, it's very widespread when it comes to the air quality concern across this region.
In fact, if you take a look at places around the world, we know in China in particular, of course, renewable energy was being invested in greatly. We know driving restrictions are in place, as well as in India in recent years. And factory research has actually occurred and seen that it begin to peak as far as air quality issues across portions of India. That's fantastic news.
Of course, when you take a look at the size of smog, in particular, very small. Grain of sand, 90 microns in diameter, human hair up to 70 microns in diameter. The combustion particles that are suspended in the air are some 30 times, nearly 30 times smaller than the diameter of an average size of a human hair.
And of course, it goes beyond that as well. When we take a look at iconic landmarks across portions of India, of course we have the Taj Mahal. We know studies now suggesting that Taj Mahal itself is becoming tainted by this in the colors of brown and yellow stains because of the suspended particulates that are locked in the environment as well beginning to impact these landmarks.
Even the agriculture industry is taking this severe hit. The grains in the agriculture industry where millions of farmers rely on, about half of them are beginning to dies of now because of the pollution across this region of the world.
So, again, wide reaching impacts. Of course, we know also air quality impacting the livelihood of people when it comes to just expectancy of life across India lessening by about three years now compared to decades in the past. Those are the big issue across this region of the world.
BARNETT: Yes. Absolutely. Pedram, thank you.
CHURCH: Thank you. We'll take a short break here, but when we come back, the biggest days on the U.S. presidential primary calendar is almost here. Just ahead, a look at the democratic candidates' final pitch before Super Tuesday.
BARNETT: Plus, injuries left a war veteran feeling like he hit rock bottom, then he found a cause that is giving him a chance to fight a different kind of enemy. This story next.
[03:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARNETT: A warm welcome back. Those of you watching from all around the world, this is CNN Newsroom. I'm Errol Barnett.
CHURCH: I'm Rosemary Church. It is of course time to check the headlines for you.
And we are just hours away from the biggest day so far in the 2016 U.S. election calendar. Super Tuesday. Twelve states will hold primaries or caucuses. Donald Trump is expected to dominate the republican contest. Hillary Clinton is favored to win most of the democratic vote.
BARNETT: Desperation and anger reached a tipping point for migrants stranded at a camp in northern Greece. They ran through a barbed wire fence. They were trying to break out and make their way into neighboring Macedonia. Police pushed them back with tear gas and rubber bullets.
CHURCH: Researchers have linked the Zika virus to a rare neurological syndrome called Guillain-Barre. It causes muscle weakness and paralysis. Patients often need months to recover. It would still only affect about 1 in 4,000 Zika patients, but even that would be an uptick in case.
BARNETT: Now Super Tuesday is expected to be a game changer for the U.S. democratic presidential race.
CHURCH: Hillary Clinton's landslide in the South Carolina primary has given her a bump in the latest CNN/ORC poll.
BARNETT: And you see it there, it shows Clinton leading Bernie Sanders nationwide by 17 points. Now Hillary Clinton may have momentum from her recent win, but Bernie Sanders says he's in this race for the long haul.
CHURCH: CNN's senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny reports from the campaign trail in Virginia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, (D) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Tomorrow is Super Tuesday. Massachusetts is right in the middle of it, and I need your help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hillary Clinton is riding a wave hoping her South Carolina landslide becomes an even bigger Super Tuesday victory lap.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: I will work as hard as I can every single day. I will get up and go to work for you and fight for you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: The delegate fight with Bernie Sanders will go on, but a strong finish could make Clinton all but unstoppable, at least mathematically. Politically, it's a long race ahead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: If I were grading some of those republicans, remember the little box that used to be on your kids' report cards, play well with others? I'd have to put a big no. Democracy requires that we play well with others!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: She's steadily shifting her focus from Sanders to republicans, one in particular.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Yes, I don't think America has ever stopped being great. What we need to do now is make America whole.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: In battleground Virginia, the early outlines of a potential general election fight starting today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Bernie Sanders is over unless he gets indicted.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: Sanders isn't sugar coating his 48-point blowout in South Carolina.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERNIE SANDERS, (D) U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We got decimated, George. We got decimated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: But he says the race is just getting started. He's drawing big crowds from Oklahoma to Colorado with thousands of supporters entering his call for a political revolution. And he's making it clear he's far from finished with Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: We are listening to the American people and their pain and their needs rather than hustling all over the country collecting millions of dollars from the 1 percent. ZELENY: A new CNN/ORC poll today shows a majority of democrats across
the country favored Clinton 55 to 38 percent over Sanders, but it also shows warning signs. Fifty nine percent say Sanders is more honest and trustworthy compared to 36 percent who say Clinton is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Hello, Virginia. Hello, George Mason.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: Tonight in Virginia, Clinton sounded like she had the general election on her mind.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Because at some point you can't just say whatever pops into your head if you want to be the President of the United States of America.
(CROWD CHEERING)
People around the world will actually listen to what people running for president say.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: Now Hillary Clinton is counting on a big night on Super Tuesday. She's rallying crowds like this here in Virginia and in other states. Eleven states specifically will be voting on Tuesday. That will determine whether she or Bernie Sanders have the lead going into the month of March.
Now 56 percent of the delegates are selected in March. That is the most key period here. The next two weeks could determine who becomes the democratic nominee.
[03:35:03] Jeff Zeleny, Fairfax, Virginia.
BARNETT: CNN political analyst, Josh Rogin joins us now to discuss the state of the race among the democrats. Josh, always good to see you. Thanks for joining us today.
JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: My pleasure.
BARNETT: The narrative at this point is that Hillary Clinton has shown to be more popular among diverse groups of democrats than Bernie Sanders and it's all about to pay off on Super Tuesday. But her believability has proven to be her Achilles heel. How has this latest dump of her e-mails by the State Department changed that?
ROGIN: Well, this is the last of the tranches of e-mails that will be released from her time as Secretary of State. Most of the revelations in the e-mails are already out. There are over 1500 e-mails that were subsequently marked as classified or having sensitive information. There is questions about her aides and whether or not they committed
errors in sending her those e-mails. But Bernie Sanders has been very clear that he does not believe this to be an issue between him and Hillary Clinton in the primary campaign.
This is something that will be the focus of a general election contest something that republican candidates are sure to hone in on but is not likely to move democrats who largely see this as a distraction and who have bought into the Clinton campaign's narrative that this is largely a part of an attack against her.
BARNETT: And I want to ask you about the wisdom of Bernie Sanders in this approach in a moment. But first, do we have a U.S. Attorney General, Loretta Lynch was asked on Fox News about when the investigation into Clinton's e-mails will be complete. I just want to watch that exchange here with our viewers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRET BAIER, SPECIAL REPORT SHOW HOST: Shouldn't American voters know Hillary Clinton's legal status as they get prepared to head to the polls?
LORETTA LYNCH, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, what they should know and what I hope that they do know is that any case that the Department of Justice looks at is going to be handled efficiently, fairly, thoroughly without any intent or artificial deadline on it.
Because what's important is to follow the facts, follow the law and come to an independent conclusion as to what may or may not have happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: All right. That may all be well. But, Josh, how could republicans force this issue somehow? Maybe sue for more information, for example, in the lead up to election night. Because it won't be -- it will continue to be an issue for them.
ROGIN: Well, what we know is that the team man is working on this at FBI headquarters. It's the national security team and some of the top law enforcement investigators in the FBI. They are apolitical.
They have a strong record of not following the political winds while making these types of decisions. But ultimately, the decision to prosecute lies with the attorney general.
BARNETT: Now Bernie Sanders, we should note, he's struggling to get the same amount of national support among the diverse groups as Hillary Clinton is.
But if you look at his campaign stump speeches, his biggest complaint lately is that he wants Clinton to release transcripts of her Goldman Sachs speeches in which she was paid more than $200,000. He long ago, as you mentioned, said he didn't care about, quote, "damn e-mails." Was that a strategic mistake? Is this a mistake? ROGIN: Well, I think Bernie Sanders calculated correctly at the time that democratic voters are not likely to buy into the narrative that Hillary Clinton's e-mail server is a big political problem. At the same time because of the number of other issues, including the speeches that you mentioned, her marks on honesty and trustworthiness are way down.
And that's something that Sanders campaign is trying to capitalize on. But they're running out of time. As we head into Super Tuesday the Sanders campaign is down in every single state at votes. They're even down right now according to the latest poll in Massachusetts which is next to Sanders home state in Massachusetts, in Vermont rather. So, no matter which way you cut it, the Sanders campaign is out of options.
BARNETT: Yes. And of course hindsight is 20-20. But we'll see how this next chapter unfolds, Super Tuesday is something to watch.
ROGIN: Exactly.
BARNETT: Our political analyst, Josh Rogin joining us from D.C. Good to see you. Thanks for your time.
ROGIN: Thanks, Errol.
CHURCH: And still to come, rapid fire zingers from Marco Rubio.
BARNETT: We'll see why some say he and Donald Trump have taken the campaign to a new low. I'm not saying something.
Now to a surprising moment in America's highest court. A U.S. Supreme Court justice known for staying silent spoke from the bench for the first time in a decade.
CHURCH: Justice Clarence Thomas asked questions to a government attorney during oral arguments on Monday. His questions came in the wake of the death of his colleague, Justice Antonin Scalia. The men were seen as ideological soul mates.
BARNETT: Now it's not clear why Thomas decided to break his silence but it may speak volumes about the impact of Scalia's death.
Now a wounded war veteran says he's been given a second chance to fight a new battle that is taking place in the cyber world against child predators. Hear his story next on CNN Newsroom.
[03:40:02] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: Now to CNN's freedom project which is introducing you to a different type of hero. Shannon Krieger was a member of the U.S. Army's elite Delta Force.
BARNETT: That's right. He said he hit rock bottom after he was injured and medically discharged. Well, now he's found a new battle to fight. Tracking online predators who target children.
CNN's Paula Newton brings us his story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHANNON KRIEGER, HERO CHILD RESCUE CORPS: You've got costumes. You've got character. You've got culture. You've got tradition. You know, Mardi Gras is wild and crazy and we some fun things, but it brings a lot of bad things to the city sometimes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Shannon Krieger is a computer forensics analyst for Homeland Security investigation. In his hometown of New Orleans he works in the cybercrimes division tracking child predators online.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRIEGER: As child exploitation people we're busy this time of the year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: For example, monitoring chat rooms to identify people planning to come to Mardi Gras to have sex with children.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRIEGER: There's a lot to do because of Mardi Gras, because a lot of people are here that aren't normally here, and they bring some really bad habits with them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Krieger has been doing this work for the past four years, but it's his experience from many years earlier that makes him especially suited for the job. He was a member of the U.S. Army Special operations command Delta Force. Krieger was on the front line.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[03:45:02] KRIEGER: That particular type of work is empowering, it really is. And you get on the tip of a spear and you get this really giant sense of accomplishment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: All that changed in a heartbeat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRIEGER: Shortly after 9/11, I was involved in a retaliatory strike against al-Qaeda, and I was in a helicopter crash that pretty much took my body and decided that I couldn't do this work anymore. I was -- you know, didn't know if I was going to walk normal ever again.
(END VIDEO CLIP) NEWTON: Krieger was medically discharged from the army in 2004.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRIEGER: And when I left, I just hit rock bottom. I got taken out of something that I loved more than anything, and surprisingly enough, when I got involved with the HERO corps, it replaced a lot of what I had missed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: HERO corps is an initiative that takes disabled Special Forces veterans, trains them in computer forensics, and puts them in field labs across the country where they work on child exploitation cases.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRIEGER: I get to fight again. I get to be involved in a cause that matters.
JOHN SCHMIDT, HOMELAND SECURITY INVESTIGATIONS: He is part of our team now and that he is now from the battlefield to a cyber warrior and it does a lot for us on an inspirational side that he's able to give that extra little notch and click of, you know, a true hero and patriot as part of our team.
KRIEGER: I'm starting to feel like I used to feel. I'm starting to feel empowered. I'm starting to feel motivated again. I'm starting to want to push because, you know, while it is a new battlefield, it's still a battlefield.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: As a husband and father of a 3-year-old, Krieger says doing this work has had an impact on his personal life as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRIEGER: I don't know if I'll ever sleep again. The toughest ones are the 3-year-old boys. Those are the ones that just hurt me the most.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: The satisfaction he gets putting predators behind bars, he says, makes it all worth it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRIEGER: I try not to go, oh, the HERO corps saved me. But it really kind of did in a sense because when you get something back that you never thought you would ever get again, it's a second chance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: What a story. He's doing incredible work there.
BARNETT: Definitely.
CHURCH: Well, next you will meet former U.S. Air Force Master Sergeant Steven Blackstone.
BARNETT: Now, he may be retired but he's found a very personal reason to take on this new mission.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVEN BLACKSTONE, RETIRED U.S. AIR FORCE MASTER SERGEANT: What motivates me is my 9-year-old and 4-year-old kids, and this HERO program was the perfect opportunity for me to be involved in this kind of work trying to stop child sexual exploitation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: Hear Blackstone's message to the predators he tracks when our look at "Heroes at Home" continues all part of our CNN "Freedom Project" only here on CNN.
CHURCH: And we'll take a break right here, but still to come, the insults are flying fast and furious ahead of Super Tuesday as Donald Trump and Marco Rubio try to come up with the best zingers. The battle for a name-caller-in-chief just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:50:00] PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGIST: Here on, this is Pedram Javaheri with you on "Weather Watch" right now.
This is what we're tracking across the United States. How about some snow showers around Chicago to start off the month of March? Minus one looks to be a high temperature.
Winnipeg makes it up to about 12 below zero. We have mild temperature getting kind of across the Southwestern U.S. As you work your way towards the Southeast, much the same sitting at 22 degrees.
But big changes in the forecast across portions of the Eastern U.S. We are watching a couple of disturbances. One to the south around Oklahoma, another one to the north working its way across the Great Lakes.
In northern Princeton, quite to bring in snowy showers across this area, generally going to be light in nature, 15 to 20 centimeters for the heaviest amounts.
But it is that southern storm that has a lot of people across the United States talking. As we know, of course, the primaries, the caucuses and Super Tuesday in place, at least 20 million people dealing with some severe weather, potentially the main threat being for damaging winds across the area.
We know historically when you take a look at elections, voter turnout, when it comes to rough weather about 1/3 of the turnout is left behind when it comes to severe weather, in particular ice storms, of course, and blizzard-like conditions.
That's not in the forecast, but the severe aspect's certainly in place and we'll see how this plays out when it comes to voter turnout across the United States.
To the west, how about rain showers, heavy of which across portions of the northwestern corner of the U.S., The Olympic Peninsula gets some heavy rains, and we'll leave you with the forecast across the south.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BARNETT: A U.S. Navy SEAL who helped rescue a hostage from the Taliban was awarded the prestigious Medal of Honor on Monday.
CHURCH: Edward Byers became the sixth Navy SEAL to ever receive the nation's highest medal for valor in combat. Byers and his team were rescuing this man, Dr. Dilip Joseph, in Afghanistan with hand-to-hand combat. Byers fended off the Taliban guards in the dark while calling out for the doctor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: Voices called out his name. He answered, "I'm right here." Hearing English, Ed leapt across the room and threw himself on the hostage using his own body to shield him from the bullets.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BARNETT: But there's more. During the operation, Chief Petty Officer Nicolas Checque was shot on the flight back to base. Byers gave him CPR to try and save him but it was too late. Byers paid tribute to his friend, Monday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EDWARD BYERS, U.S. NAVY SEAL: My teammate, friend and brother, Nick Checque, the award is truly his. He was an American hero and he was a hero in that operation. He was killed during that operation. He died a warrior and he died to bring back another American and I believe our nation owes him a debt of gratitude.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And Checque was awarded the Navy Cross.
BARNETT: Such brave souls.
Now, there's no denying the race for the U.S. Republican presidential nomination has devolved into a mudslinging, name-calling free-for-all in recent days.
CHURCH: Yes, and if it wasn't a contest to pick the potential leader of the country, we might all be laughing right now. Here's Jeanne Moos.
JEANNE MOOS, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Which of the following is not an actual 2016 campaign insult?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Maybe he'll make sure his pants weren't wet. A guy like Rubio is a baby.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What, are you going to cry now? Come on, cry, baby, cry for me.
MOOS: The answer is C. The electorates should be crying over what's become.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch it, jerk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shut up, idiot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Moron.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Scab eater.
MOOS: A school boy fight for the presidency.
MARCO RUBIO, U.S. PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I call him little Marco. That's what he is, he's little Marco.
TRUMP: He's always calling me little Marco.
RUBIO: Little Marco Rubio.
TRUMP: Have you seen his hands? They're like this. Little mouth on him. Bing, bing, bing. Bing, bing, bing, bing, bing.
RUBIO: And you know what they say about men with small hands, you can't trust them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who started this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. You started it!
[03:55:00] MOOS: But instead of flinging mud ...
TRUMP: It's Rubio!
MOOS: The Donald is flinging water bottles imitating a dry mouth Rubio with a tendency to sweat bullets.
TRUMP: And I looked at the puddle on the ground and I said, what is that?
RUBIO: What is it?
TRUMP: He doesn't sweat because his pores are clogged from the spray tan that he uses.
RUBIO: Donald is not going to make America great, he's going to make America orange. MOOS: Some compare the race to mean girls.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're plastic. Cold, shiny, hard plastic.
MOOS: What's next, will the bitter rival start rapping their insults? The candidates may hate the press, but they're starting to sound like anchormen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your hair looks stupid.
RUBIO: But he's flying around on Hair Force 1.
MOOS: At least Rubio and Trump aren't whacking each other with antennas, yet. Jeanne Moos ...
RUBIO: Donald Trump likes to sue people. He should sue whoever did that to his face.
MOOS: ... CNN.
TRUMP: He was putting on makeup with a trowel.
MOOS: New York.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: So immature, aren't they? And CNN is of course the place for extensive coverage of the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses.
BARNETT: And surely you know by now we'll bring you the latest from the candidates and voters throughout the day and of course all throughout the night.
CHURCH: That's right. And that is it for us. Remember, you can connect with us any time on Instagram or Twitter. I'm Rosemary Church.
BARNETT: And I'm Errol Barnett. Another edition of "Newsroom" is straight ahead.
CHURCH: Have a great day.
[04:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
