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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
GOP Candidates Sharpen Debate Attacks; Debate Winners and Losers; Republicans Blast CNBC Moderators; Aired 5:30-6a ET
Aired October 29, 2015 - 05:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:30:02] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: What you're going to hear is Jeb Bush going after Marco Rubio on his voting record.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Just resign and let someone else take the job.
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position. And someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, oh, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He's got very -- that's why he's on the end.
JOHN HARWOOD, CNBC DEBATE MODERATOR: The leading Republican candidate when you look at the average of national polls right now is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country?
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, there's few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one.
CARL QUINTANILLA, CNBC DEBATE MODERATOR: To be fair, you were on the home page of their Web site with the logo over your shoulder.
BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If somebody put me on their home page, they did it without my permission.
QUINTANILLA: Does that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way?
CARSON: No, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those --
(AUDIENCE BOOS)
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We had $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have ISIS and al Qaeda attacking us and we're talking about fantasy football? Can we stop?
(END VIDEO CLIP) BERMAN: Chris Christie does not want to talk about fantasy football.
For the latest, let's bring in Sara Murray in Boulder.
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning, John and Christine.
The stakes were high for a number of the candidates on the stage here in Boulder, Colorado, last night. It was the third Republican debate and they wasted no time. They came out swinging early on. Perhaps the most memorable moment, though, was Jeb Bush, going on the attack against the man he calls his friend, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, for missing votes to run for president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: But, Marco, when you signed up for this, this was a six-year term. And you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate, what is it, like a French work week? You get like three days where you have to show up? You can campaign or just resign and let someone else take the job.
RUBIO: Over the last few weeks, I've listened to Jeb as he walked around the country and said that you're modeling your campaign after John McCain, that you're going to launch a furious comeback the way he did, by fighting hard in New Hampshire and places like that, carrying your own bag at the airport. You know how many votes John McCain missed when he was carrying out that furious comeback that you're now modeling under?
(CROSSTALK)
BUSH: He won --
RUBIO: Now, Jeb, I don't remember -- well, let me tell you. I don't remember you ever complaining about John McCain's vote record. The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position and someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: Now the immediate reaction from that moment was that attack may have backfired on Jeb Bush. Marco Rubio may have actually best capitalized on that moment.
Now even though Donald Trump and Ben Carson are the frontrunners in this Republican field right now, the biggest fireworks actually didn't come from them. You had to look further out on the debate stage to candidates like Senator Ted Cruz. He is running in a very conservative land at the party, looking to pull support from candidates like Trump and Carson. He did that by going after the media.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media.
(APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: This is not a cage match. And if you look at the questions, Donald Trump, are you a comic book villain? Ben Carson, can you do math? John Kasich, will you insult two people over here? Marco Rubio, why don't you resign? Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen? How about talking about the substantive issue people care about?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MURRAY: Cruz wasn't the only candidate who was unhappy with the debate last night. RNC chairman Reince Priebus came to the spin room immediately after saying he is disappointed with CNBC.
Back to you, John and Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Sara Murray, for us, what a night.
Joining us to break down the debate, the winners and the losers, CNN Politics reporter Jeremy Diamond. He's live in our Washington bureau this morning.
Long night for you, Jeremy. So glad you're here. You've got a great piece on CNN.com right now about who the winners and losers are. And top of that list Marco Rubio. A good night for Marco Rubio.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: There is no doubt about it. Marco Rubio did exactly what he needed to do last night. He came across strongly throughout the entire night. It started off with that exchange between Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio where Jeb actually tried to take a swipe at Rubio, and the Florida senator, Marco Rubio, threw it right back at him and he actually came across on top in that exchange according to most people.
And throughout the night, Rubio stayed consistent. You know, he hit all the right notes, feeding red meat to conservative supporters. Knocking the establishment Democrats Hillary Clinton, you name it. So Marco Rubio is certainly set to come out of this night with a strong performance and with something that's going to give him the momentum to kind of go forward and continue to rise in the polls.
BERMAN: You know, one of my favorite quotes on the wire is Omar, who says when you come at the king, you best not miss.
DIAMOND: That's right.
BERMAN: And Jeb Bush went after Marco Rubio there. It did not land. Marco Rubio turned it around and made Jeb suffer. Made Governor Bush suffer a little bit there.
Ana Navarro, our friend, is a big Jeb Bush supporter, said she was glum after the debate. Bush supporters were already nervous heading into this debate. This was not the performance he wanted or needed. And in fact probably the opposite. [05:35:10] DIAMOND: Absolutely. His campaign has been struggling, it
seems, in recent weeks. You know, he came into this race, you know, as a sure bet for the GOP nomination. He was said to be the frontrunner throughout the race or at least one of the top contenders. He came in with, you know, tens of millions of dollars just as he announced already. And now, you know, when Donald Trump came through, you know, he kind of got eclipsed by that huge personality. And then continuing. He sagged in the polls. He struggled to kind of get his numbers up.
And the debate is not his event. You know, he didn't do excellent in any of the other debates either. And last night, he really just kind of faded into the background. Definitely not the performance that he needed. So in the days to come, his campaign is definitely going to try and reassess, you know, what he needs to be able to do in the next debates and what he needs to do on the campaign trail to show voters that he has the enthusiasm, that he has the passion, and that he is the right person to be the standard bearer for the party come November 2016.
ROMANS: Jeremy, what is happening there? He's got a big ground game. He's got a ton of money and super PAC money to buy ads if he needs -- if the super PAC needs to. He raised $13 million in the third quarter. I mean, I know he's been cutting back a little back on the campaign trail. But is he a different campaigner than he is debater? Are there two Jeb Bushes here? Or is he just not lighting a fire, the fire that so many of his supporters had wanted?
DIAMOND: Here's the thing. Jeb Bush is great in smaller settings. You know, in a town hall setting where he is able to connect with voters one-on-one or in that kind of small setting, he does really, really well. The problem is that he doesn't really have that kind of fire in the belly personality that is able to come across well on TV and in larger forums. So, you know, he has shown some enthusiasm recently and a willingness also to attack other candidates like Donald Trump.
He'd shown his frustration and his anger a little bit with the state of politics and the state of the race today where, you know, one of the biggest yellers and screamers is the one doing the best in the race. So, you know, but we didn't see that last night. You just didn't see that passion even when he sat for an interview -- when he spoke with Dana Bash last night, he still could not articulate that passion. He -- you know, he really just struggled with that.
BERMAN: My bet is that Bush will set something up today to get something on camera where he can turn this around or change the narrative. But quickly, Donald Trump last night, maybe not central to the debate, but you argue was still a good night for him.
DIAMOND: Yes. Absolutely. I think that Donald Trump showed Americans that he can be a different kind of candidate. He showed them that he's not just a one-trick pony. But he is also able to, you know, show a little bit of a more reserved side. You know, he took a lot of incoming fire last night. You know, starting with the question from CNBC's John Harwood who asked him if his campaign was a comic book version. You know, that's a tough question. And Donald Trump said that's not very nice, but then he answered the question and he went ahead and pivoted to his message.
He talked about his -- you know, he stayed on message instead of going off on all these tangents like he usually does. And he didn't level personal attacks against other candidates. You know, he did go after John Kasich. It came after he himself was attacked and he went after him on policy grounds, on the fact that he was a Lehman Brothers associate before, and the fact that, you know, top points about the economy in Ohio. So we definitely saw a little bit of a different Donald Trump. Maybe a little bit of a more presidential Donald Trump last night.
BERMAN: Jeremy Diamond, great to have you with us.
Everyone, go check out Jeremy's piece on CNN Politics. Worth reading. Thank you, sir.
DIAMOND: Thanks.
BERMAN: One of the big themes last night, those candidates going after the CNBC moderators.
ROMANS: Yes.
BERMAN: Were the questions fair? Were they fairly distributed? We'll discuss next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:42:32] ROMANS: All right. All the candidates in last night's debate, they seemed to agree on at least one thing. Taking issue with the moderators. Highly critical of the CNBC team during and after the debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUZ: The questions that are being asked shouldn't be trying to get people to tear into each other. It should be what are your substantive solutions.
(CROSSTALK)
CHRISTIE: What we should do is to be investing in all types of energy, John. All types of energy. I've laid out --
HARWOOD: In government?
CHRISTIE: No, John. John, do you want me to answer or do you want to answer?
(LAUGHTER)
CHRISTIE: Because I've got to tell you the truth. Even in New Jersey, what you're doing is called rude.
HARWOOD: Is this a comic book version of a presidential campaign?
TRUMP: No. It's not a comic book. And it's not a very nicely asked question the way you say that.
BUSH: It didn't control the debate. Plain and simple. It was not the -- it was not a fair debate in that regard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Let's bring in Brian Stelter, CNN senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES." That plays well with the Republican base to attack the questioners and say, look, this is the mainstream media. They were asking questions that weren't there.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: For sure. The most effective line about that was -- it was Marco Rubio who said the Democrats have the best super PAC of all. The mainstream media.
Now there are cases where there are questions that might have some liberal bias coming in. I thought there was more of an issue last night, though, with the management of the time, with the management of the candidates. Yes, some of the questions might have seemed staged and might have seemed too personal, they might have been too much about getting candidates to fight with each other. But there was also this chaos, a sense of chaos throughout the debate. It was unclear who was in charge.
And that's a big difference from the FOX and CNN debates. Tapper was in charge of that GOP CNN debate on CNN. Megyn Kelly, Bret Baier, Chris Wallace, they were in charge of the FOX debate. You knew who was leading the show. Last night you didn't know who was leading the show.
BERMAN: No. There's really two separate issues here. The tone of the questions and to whom and how often the questions were going.
STELTER: That's right.
BERMAN: We have I think the debate time. Who got the most talking last night.
STELTER: It is revealing.
BERMAN: And Carly Fiorina spoke the most last night. She had more than 10 minutes of talk time, depending on how you measure it. Jeb Bush and Rand Paul had the least amount of time.
STELTER: Fiorina was very effective about jumping in.
BERMAN: She was.
STELTER: And then making sure the moderators didn't cut her off.
BERMAN: It was interesting, you don't see this much. I guess Jeb Bush's campaign manager, Danny Diaz, was banging on the control room door during the debate. STELTER: Yes.
BERMAN: During the debate, essentially saying, this isn't fair. You're not asking, you know, fair questions and distributing fairly enough.
STELTER: And they're not given enough time. You know, there are 10 candidates on the stage. They wanted a two-hour debate. CNBC would like it to go on a little bit longer. Of course CNN's was three hours long. The candidates didn't like that.
[05:45:06] I honestly wish they had gone on longer, on the one hand. On the other hand, it was so chaotic that it was good it ended at two hours. You know, in a perfect world, I think we wouldn't have 10 candidates on that stage.
ROMANS: Right.
STELTER: Because it can create such a difficult situation. If you can split it up with seven and seven, seven earlier and seven later, randomly, to me that will make a lot more sense. But obviously the top ranking candidates like Donald Trump don't want that to happen. And they do have a lot of leverage in these situations.
ROMANS: One of the big criticisms this morning, you know, of so many of those candidates about the mainstream media, this is a typical mainstream media, it sort of struck me. I don't think of CNBC as, like, quote-unquote, "mainstream media." It's a niche business and economics platform. And that's what they presumably were going for, to talk about the economy.
STELTER: With many conservative commentators.
ROMANS: Right.
STELTER: I think of them as a red network in many way like FOX News.
BERMAN: The founding party of the Tea Party.
STELTER: That's right. Rick Santelli who was up there asking questions last night. The network quickly was portrayed as being part of this liberal bias problem but that is not what it normally is. I think the moderators could have been more prepared for that line of attack. They could have pushed back more on it and expected it more.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Let's show the statement of the network.
STELTER: Yes, let's put on screen. CNBC's one-line statement. They say, "People who want to be president of the United States should be able to answer tough questions." That's their one-line response to all the criticism. But frankly the criticism goes beyond the issue of tough questions, it also goes to the overall management of the stage and the pushback.
ROMANS: And the follow-up. Let's talk quickly about this.
STELTER: Yes.
ROMANS: Becky Quick, a fantastic reporter and anchor, she asked a question to Donald Trump about his position on h-1b visas and immigration, whether he criticized Mark Zuckerberg and Marco Rubio. And he completely disavowed his own platform on immigration and she didn't push him on it.
STELTER: That's right. She in fact kind of acknowledged, kind of, I'm not sure where I read that. Instead of pushing back, showing the evidence that she was right, that she was right to ask the question. It goes to show that being on these stages, moderating these debates is extremely difficult. And frankly, I came away even more -- having more respect for the Jake Tappers and Megyn Kellys of the world because we see how hard it is. And I have a feeling we're going to see changes in the future debates as a result of this.
BERMAN: Right. Yes.
STELTER: I think we're going to see more pushback from the campaigns. They want to have more control of the debates in the future.
BERMAN: Reince Priebus is not happy at all.
STELTER: Yes.
BERMAN: Brian Stelter, great to have you with us. Thank you so much.
ROMANS: Nice to see you.
STELTER: Thanks.
BERMAN: Let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY." Alisyn Camerota joins us now -- Alisyn.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Hey, good morning, guys. We will have much more analysis of last night's Republican debate. Which candidate won, which candidate lost, and which candidate had the best zingers. We will speak with many of the candidates, including the man who some people believe won last night. That's Senator Marco Rubio.
We will also have on "NEW DAY" Carly Fiorina and Governor Chris Christie as well as former governor, Mike Huckabee. What did they think of their performances and where does the presidential race go from here?
We have so much to discuss, me and Michaela will see you in about 13 minutes.
ROMANS: Can't wait.
BERMAN: Where, oh, where does it go from here. Alisyn, great. See you in a few minutes.
Bernie Sanders. His position on marijuana changing. What he is saying now. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:51:38] ROMANS: A historic morning in the House of Representatives. Speaker John Boehner will step down and Paul Ryan will be formally elected to replace him. On Wednesday, House Republicans chose Ryan to be their new leader. He has pledged to unite the Republican conference. The conference that has splintered under Boehner's leadership. Ryan says his nomination begins, quote, "a new day in the House."
The full House passed a compromised budget deal that will help Ryan wipe the slate clean if he takes the speaker's gavel. It removes the threat of a government default next week, it aims to avoid any government shutdown through the year 2017. Conservative opponents call the bill a fiscal monstrosity. It now goes to the Senate where approval is expected before the borrowing deadline runs out on Tuesday.
Bernie Sanders is stumping in Virginia and calling for an end to the federal prohibition on marijuana. The Democratic presidential candidate spoke to students at George Mason University Wednesday. He wants each state to be able to regulate marijuana in the same way state laws now govern sales of alcohol and tobacco. Sanders stopped short of calling for full legalization. It's also a bit of an evolution for Bernie Sanders. He said in an earlier interview that marijuana is a gateway drug that can lead to heroin and cocaine.
All right. The wealth gap is big and getting bigger. And Republican candidates say there is one government organization to blame. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:56:53] ROMANS: Republican candidates attacking the Federal Reserve. Two in particular. Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, they have a long standing battle against the Central Bank. They blame the Fed, its recent policies for growing income inequality.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RAND PAUL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let's bring the Fed forward and talk about Fed policy and how it causes income inequality. Let's also bring the Fed forward and have them explain how they caused the housing boom and the crisis and what they have done to make us better or worse. I think the Fed has been a great problem in our society. What you need to do is free up interest rates. Interest rates and the price of money. And we shouldn't have price control on the price of money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The Fed slashed interest rates to basically zero back in 2008 when the world was in crisis. An unprecedented move to boost an economy that was in freefall. Just yesterday, the Fed decided not to raise rates once again. Keeping those rates near zero. That means there's only maybe one more chance for a rate hike this year. Paul and Cruz argue those actions the Fed has boosted stocks but only benefitted the fat cats on Wall Street.
All right. Republican presidential candidates lashing out at each other and the debate moderators. "NEW DAY" picks up the story, the coverage and the analysis right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He was so nice. He was such a nice guy. But then his poll numbers tanked. That's why he's on the end.
JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Marco, you should be showing up to work. I mean, literally, the Senate, what is it, like, a French workweek?
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Someone has convinced you that attacking me is going to help you.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Make me commander in chief and this crap stops.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The questions that have been asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don't trust the media.
DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: All this too big to fail stuff. This is a bunch of crap.
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have ISIS and al Qaeda attacking us and we're talking about fantasy football?
SEN. RAND PAUL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm worried about bankrupting the American people.
CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm Hillary Clinton's worst nightmare.
MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm wearing a Donald Trump tie tonight. Get over that one. OK.
BUSH: Is it made in China or Mexico?
HUCKABEE: I have no idea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. And welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Thursday, October 29th. 6:00 in the East.
And the GOP race changed last night, my friends. This was not the Trump and Carson show. There was a lot of talk about economic policy and plans, and once again, Marco Rubio distinguished himself on policy and his differences with his pal, Jeb Bush.
Ted Cruz topped up, creating a moment by going after the common enemy of all candidates, the media.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: So, meanwhile, the frontrunners, Ben Carson and Donald Trump, trying to hold on to their leads. Did they do that last night? And where does the race go from here?
This morning, we will speak with four of the candidates. Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee, all joined up live on NEW DAY. But let's begin our comprehensive coverage with John Berman who has the highlights and lowlights of last night's debate.
Good morning, John.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: There was a lot of drama last night. I think what you saw was a coming out party for candidates who have not been central yet in these last couple of debates. A coming out party really at the expense of the media. And also Jeb Bush.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN (voice-over): One stage, 10 candidates, a world of prickly squirm-in-your-seat tension.
GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Folks, we've got to wake up.
