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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

The Fight for Delegates; Clintons Campaign in New Hampshire; Trump and Bush Fight; Clinton Brings Family. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired February 08, 2016 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00] PEYTON MANNING, BRONCOS QUARTERBACK: I'll be at peace with it, whichever way it goes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS: Peyton Manning having won one Super Bowl title with the Colts and now one with the Broncos, he becomes the first quarterback in NFL history to win the big game with two different teams. And if this season is the final chapter of Peyton Manning's unfathomable football story, it now has a fairytale ending, one of the greatest figures in American sports history. What a privilege it has been to watch Peyton Manning's storied NFL career.

I'm Coy Wire with CNN Sports. "LEGAL VIEW" with Ashleigh Banfield takes it from here.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. Welcome to LEGAL VIEW.

It is finally here, the last chance for people who want to be president to line up, vote in America's first presidential primary. From 8:00 in the morning until 8:00 at night, literally every hour of New Hampshire primary eve is filled with candidate rallies and town hall meet and greets, you name it. If you stand still pretty much anywhere in the southern half of the granite state today, one or more candidates may just brush by you. You might even run across certain candidates' husbands who -- for whom New Hampshire voters really -- they know him. They helped to put him in the White House back in 1992.

So, why the last-minute frenzy? Here's why. The latest CNN/MUR poll shows less than half of New Hampshire's likely GOP voters have made up their minds. A quarter of them are leaning one way or another. But three in 10 at this late date are wide open. Perhaps because the Democratic field is down to two, fewer voters on that side seem to be up for grabs. Six in ten have made up their minds. Only 16 percent said they could still go either way.

And as you listen to a sampling of presidential pitches from just the last couple of hours, don't forget the very first New Hampshire ballots are actually set to be cast at midnight, a mere 12 hours from right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In this Republican field, I think there's a president, a potential vice president, cabinet people, future presidents. We have a very -- we're blessed to have a very talented field. It's just made it for a very messy and competitive process in the short term. But in the long term, I think it will serve our country very well.

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We'll get it done. I have no doubt we're going to get it done. But I've got to get through New Hampshire. So -- and, you know, this whole message of fixing the country and unifying and lifting everybody, I want to take this to the whole country. So if I don't get to do it, it's your fault. So let's just leave it right there.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have to get rid of the Bushs of the world. And, you know, we -- guys like that will never straighten out this country. They'll never straighten out the country. They're weak, they're ineffective, and, you know, it's just not going to happen. We do have a couple of pretty good people running. I won't name them because I don't want to tell them, you know, now. I'll tell --

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The fact is that you need to have some experience in doing this. You know, because, it's nothing like the United States Senate. The United States Senate, they tell you when to show up, and where to sit, and what to do and they give you the list of questions beforehand and you vote yes or no on them. That's not the way it is being governor or being president. The crises come in when you least expect it.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When the Reagan coalition comes together, when the liberty movement is standing with Tea Partiers and is standing with small business owners, is standing with Republican women, is standing with evangelicals, is standing with conservatives, that becomes a potent move from the people that scares the living daylight out of Washington, D.C.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Jeb Bush is about to speak live at a luncheon in New Hampshire in the town of Nashua, in fact. We're going to listen in and dip into that just as soon as his mike goes live.

So in the meantime, I want to bring in my CNN colleagues who are standing by at their live mikes. Manu Raju is in Salem, and it is really a fantastic picture of you. It is such a New Hampshire shot.

Manu, you're covered in snow. And I know you just brushed off like a minute before air.

MANU RAJU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I am.

BANFIELD: Yes. And Jeremy Diamond gets the way better assignment. He's at the indoor rally in Londonderry.

OK, Manu, I'm going to let you sit there and see how much snow accumulates on you for a moment while I ask Jeremy instead the first question.

Jeremy, listen, I think Governor Bush said it himself, that it is a battle right now for the jump ball, for the second-place finish. Give me a bit of a taste of today and how it feels out there on the trail with that jump ball, say, up in the air.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, well, absolutely. Certainly this morning we saw Donald Trump really making his case to finish in first here. He had a really small event this morning. And as far as the jump ball for second, you know that's what Jeb Bush said just a few weeks in an interview, himself suggesting that he and other candidates like Marco Rubio and Chris Christie and John Kasich are competing for second.

[12:05:01] And also this week you had the Rubio campaign saying in effect that they are fighting for second place. They're not really going for first place. That's because Donald Trump, for weeks now, for months even, has had a real lock on the first place positioning in the polls. So Donald Trump, though, downplaying expectations a little bit, but yesterday he told CNN's Dana Bash that he wouldn't be happy if he didn't come in first. The other candidates, though, certainly will be happy with a second-place finish.

BANFIELD: OK, let's check out Manu and see how he's doing. Yes, it's still snowing out there, Manu. Listen, you and I had an interview on this program almost at the exact same time on Friday in which I gave you huge props for a piece that you wrote talking about Marco Rubio sticking to the script on the campaign trail. Lots of pros and cons for doing that. Other candidates have done very well by doing that. But it really came back to bite him in the you know what on Saturday night. Walk me through what's going on there now after Chris Christie ravaged him for repeating campaign lines over and over.

RAJU: Well, Ashleigh, Marco Rubio has been unapologetic about using those lines. He's been actually staying -- actually using those same comments on the campaign trail, saying, look, this is why I ran, because of my concern that Barack Obama is changing America. He does not believe this to be a negative. They actually sent out a fundraising solicitation today to their supporters saying that the media is bashing them, painting themselves as a victim from a -- an unrelenting press. And also they raised about $600,000 after that debate on Saturday night, to try to say that, you know, it wasn't so bad.

Now, I spent a lot of time talking to voters over the past day and the view is sort of mixed. There are a lot of voters who are undecided, they're uncertain. They thought that Rubio was rattled over this, but they're not necessarily sure if that will be the decisive factor come Tuesday. But as we know, this state is famous for its late deciding voters. Their -- and we'll see if that really stopped Marco Rubio's momentum heading into Tuesday because if he falls behind Jeb Bush or John Kasich or Chris Christie, less likely Chris Christie, but possibly Jeb Bush and John Kasich here in New Hampshire, that could be a real problem for him heading into South Carolina, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Well, if they look at the "Boston Herald" headlines in that state, it's got "choke" with Marco Rubio's picture full on, on the front page from yesterday. And may I just say, even your eyebrows have snow on them. I do think that's the story only in that if it's voting day, you know, it starts -- voting day starts at midnight tonight. Weather makes a difference, you know, in New Hampshire. So I know there's a lot of snow headed your way. I think maybe we'll have you as the snow monitor, as well as the politics monitor.

Manu, thank you. And, Jeremy, you -- you got the -- you got the good straw today, my friend. You lucky man. What a difference in New Hampshire. Thanks, guys.

RAJU: Thanks, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Coming up in the next hour, Donald Trump is going to join Wolf Blitzer to weigh in on this feud that he's got with Jeb Bush. Did you see this on Saturday night? Ooh-wee, it was -- there was a whole shush going on. There were boos. There was the whole, "you're not nice to old ladies." Boy, oh, boy. What is that going to do to the chances in New Hampshire for either of them? So that interview, do not miss it live right here, 1:00 p.m. I -- I could watch it over and over again.

Not one, but two, but three, in fact, Clintons are out stomping this hour in Manchester, New Hampshire. Rowdy rally. It looks like it's underway there. My fellow CNN anchor, John Berman, got that straw, and he's picking up the coverage from there.

Hi, John.

JOHN BERMAN, ANCHOR, CNN'S "AT THIS HOUR": Hey, thanks so much, Ashleigh.

You know, this will be a really interesting event. As you said, all the Clintons on stage. And for the first time in this campaign, Bill Clinton is naming names. He went right after Bernie Sanders in an event on Sunday. And the question at this event you were just looking at right there, will he do it again today? That is what we are waiting to see. What will he say? What will Hillary Clinton say about this sharpened line of attack?

On the other side, the Bernie Sanders side, this is what the New Hampshire frontrunner is saying today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If this campaign is about anything, it is about revitalizing American democracy, making sure that every American knows how powerful he or she is to determine the future of this country. That's what this campaign is about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. That's Bernie Sanders right there.

Let's get back to this Clinton event. Senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny is hopefully there.

Jeff Zeleny, are you, in fact, there?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I am indeed here, John, and thankfully I am inside and thankfully this rally is inside because it is snowing outside, like we saw from our colleague Manu Raju's report just a second ago. But you can see all the people behind me here. A few hundred people or so have gathered to see the Clintons. And a lot of these people are volunteers, campaign activists who will be trying to get out the vote later on today and tomorrow, of course, here in New Hampshire.

[12:10:02] BERMAN: And, Jeff, what about the statement from Bill Clinton? Raised a lot of eyebrows because up until this weekend, he won't even mention Bernie Sanders by name. Now all of a sudden he's talking about Sanders. The Sanders campaign misrepresenting endorsements. He's talking about Bernie Sanders, you know, his health care plan, attacking it directly. He's even saying that Bernie Sanders' supporters are out and out sexist.

ZELENY: No doubt about it. I mean this is something that Bill Clinton is watching very carefully. He's reading a lot. He's studying a lot about this campaign. That's why we saw him yesterday out talking about, you know, regional newspapers, calling them out by name, the ones that have endorsed his wife, and saying that Bernie Sanders has been appropriating some of their language.

He, you know, has also been reading other things about Bernie Sanders' record. It seems that Bernie Sanders is indeed in President Clinton's head. Now, I do not expect him to talk about Bernie Sanders at this rally today. He is simply introducing Hillary Clinton here. Chelsea Clinton is also going to be on stage. But there's no question he has injected this into the atmosphere, if you will here. And by design. I mean if it was intended to be that message or not, that's exactly what he's done. He knows what he's doing. And he's urging voters to give Bernie Sanders' record just a little bit of a closer look, if you will, scrutinize him just a little bit more, really calling on all those Democrats here in New Hampshire who have been so supportive of the Clintons in all the years to now be there for Hillary Clinton.

John.

BERMAN: Jeff Zeleny at the Clinton times three rally here in Manchester, New Hampshire. Thanks so much, Jeff.

ZELENY: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: Coming up for us, we're going to have representatives of both campaigns, they're going to join me live to discuss the situation. The back and forth over Bill Clinton.

Plus, what about Jeb Bush? What about John Kasich? Both campaigns, they tell me they have new life here in New Hampshire. That the Marco Rubio debate performance has opened up a path for them to finish strong here, continue on past New Hampshire. They say this race, much more wide open, much more interesting than you might ever think.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [12:15:53] BANFIELD: I want to take you to some live pictures of Jeb Bush, who's campaigning at a luncheon right now in Nashua, New Hampshire, fresh off a pretty strong showing at the Saturday night debate. Let's listen in.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, it's the largest mobile home, manufactured home community in the world. It's like 5,000 units. And the storm, one of the -- Frances (ph) or Gene (ph) hit it, hit it hard. More than three quarters of the houses were completely destroyed.

So I show up at the community center and this woman wearing a Salvation Army t-shirt comes and hugs me. I'm a hugger. I like hugs. But she kept hugging me and hugging me. And she didn't want to let go. I mean she literally just wanted a long embrace by someone who was a leader.

And it worked. We recovered faster than anybody could imagine. And she actually was a volunteer for the Salvation Army even though she had her house completely wiped out. She lost everything. And her response was to be able to help other people that were in even worse conditions than she was.

I was inspired by this. I hope you want a leader that has a servant's heart, that has the skills of organization. No one ever heard me complain about FEMA. There were reasons --

BANFIELD: One thing he was complaining about, though, was Donald Trump, without question. Listen, Jeb Bush had one heck of an exchange with Donald Trump on the stage. If you were watching that debate on Saturday, a lot of people said he finally showed a lot of strength against that guy. Even got shushed at one point. But then the boos came in for Donald Trump from the audience.

He's getting ready to make a campaign stop not only in Nashua, New Hampshire, but he also might be gaining some of those momentum, which is so critical as we head now 12 -- a little less than 12 hours until the very first actual votes begin in New Hampshire.

Latest poll, I'm going to just read this to you. You know, keep in mind, folks, keep in mind, there's been no polling that shows up since the debate. So take these with a grain of salt. But the latest poll shows him with 10 percent support in the battle for second. Battle for second. That jump ball that he keeps talking. It's only a few points behind Rubio and Cruz. Here is what he said about his chances a little early -- actually, well, we just heard, you know, him talking, so I'm not going to throw to another part there.

But for his part, Governor John Kasich is also making his last-minute pitch to voters. He said that New Hampshire is a make-or-break state for him. He didn't spend as much time in Iowa and instead is dumping a lot of his resources into making a very strong showing in the granite state.

Let's go live now to Dana Bash, who's following the Bush campaign, Chris Frates, who's with Governor John Kasich. And, Dana, let me start with you. Really strong stuff going back and

forth between Trump and Governor Bush today. The tweets have been downright nasty between them. I want to read for you the first one that went out. And it had to do with -- kind of standard Trump actually. He said this about Jeb Bush. "Jeb Bush has zero communication skills, so he spent a fortune of special interest money on a Super Bowl ad. He is a weak candidate." But then Jeb Bush roared right back and said, "you aren't just a loser, are you a liar and a whiner. John McCain is a hero. Over and out." Has Jeb Bush found what he thinks is going to work in New Hampshire and beyond, Dana?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, he hopes so. I actually just sat down moment ago with Jeb Bush. I'm around the corner from him speaking live. We didn't want to interrupt him. But right before he began to speak, I talked to him because -- and I asked him about that, but also about just kind of the broader idea that he came into this campaign saying that he really only wanted to run if he could do so joyfully and does that really square with tweeting that somebody is a whiner, a loser, and a liar, the tweet that you just read to the viewers. And his answer was, look, I'm the guy who's standing up to Donald Trump. You know, he said, I'm going to be joyful, but I'm also a warrior.

[12:20:04] So he genuinely feels -- and we've seen this over the past I think month or two now, and it's only escalated, that he feels that he is the guy who can and wants to stand up, not just against Trump, who he calls a bully, but for conservative principles. So you have that part of it, but then you also have what he's trying to do and his final pitch. His closing argument to voters here, which is, remember, guys, I am the one who has done things, gotten things done in Florida. I've led. So it's kind of the two-tiered pitch because he's trying to bring down the guy at the top of the polls, Donald Trump, but also make sure that he doesn't allow people like Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz, who are senators and haven't been governors and haven't, from his perspective, been like the CEO of a state, make sure that they don't rise.

BANFIELD: Well, you know, every time someone's gone after Trump in this way, it's not, you know, it's not worked out well for them.

BASH: That's right.

BANFIELD: But he has called those other folks in the witness protection program for not, you know, saying something, anything about Donald Trump.

Chris Frates, let me turn it over to you about the candidate you're covering today, John Kasich. You know, he did well in the debate. He has spent a lot of money and time and he's been doing well in New Hampshire. But what does New Hampshire mean? What is make or break? What does it mean to say it's a make-or-break state for John Kasich? How well does he have to do before he needs to decide whether to stay or go home?

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'll tell you, Ashleigh, when you talk to the Kasich people, they make the point that they need to be a big story coming out of New Hampshire, much the same way that Marco Rubio was a big story coming out of Iowa. But they're also telling everybody that they believe that they're in second place right now. And that's pretty huge for the Kasich guys. So they are raising expectations here by saying that they think they can finish second and that's going to propel them forward in this race.

And they're doing it largely on a positive message. If you talk to John Kasich in New -- and we even asked him not to even attack a Jeb Bush or a Marco Rubio, but just contrast himself with his opponents, he kind of bristles at it. He doesn't believe that that's what voters want to hear. In fact, we talked to him a little bit earlier today on CNN about his positive campaign. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOHN KASICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Anybody that wants to stand on that stage, under those lights, with all those people yelling and screaming, working day and night, being away from their family, you know, having the anxiety of having to raise money and, you know, 50,000 polls come out and all that. You know, anybody that goes through that, why would you want to call them a name? There are some people you might want to call a name to, but they're not the people that are -- that are competing against you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: So there you have it. You know, running a very positive campaign here. And when you talk to him, he'll say that the reason that he's taking punches from Chris Christie or Jeb Bush is because he's in the lead. And, in fact, Jeb Bush today released a video contrasting his record with Governor Kasich, saying that, you know, Bush believes he's stronger on guns, on the military, on governing. And, you know, the Kasich people not really responding, just saying that Jeb is, you know, taking the low road to the highest office in the land. So, you know, don't expect to hear much contrasting from John Kasich out here on the trail. He's -- he's keeping it very, very positive, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Well, he's fourth in the CNN poll of polls, you know, behind Trump, Rubio, and Cruz, but it would be fascinating to find out what the next poll has to say after what happened Saturday.

Dana, thank you. Chris, thank you. Appreciate it from both of you.

Coming up in the next hour here on CNN, we're going to have that sit down interview with Jeb Bush. It will be on Wolf's show. And also in the next hour, Donald Trump is going to join us live right here on CNN. Back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:28:18] BERMAN: All right, we have some live pictures to show you from right here in Manchester, New Hampshire. Inside that hall any moment, Chelsea Clinton, Bill Clinton, and Hillary Clinton, they will be addressing supporters right there at a rally just one day before the first in the nation primary right here in the state of New Hampshire.

This is Hillary Clinton's final pitch, here. She's got some more events today, as well, trying to finish strong here in a state where she has been trailing consistently to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

I'm joined right now by Karen Finney, senior adviser, senior spokesperson for the Clinton campaign.

Karen, thanks so much for being with us.

KAREN FINNEY, SENIOR ADVISOR, CLINTON CAMPAIGN: Great to be with you.

BERMAN: Bill Clinton will be on this stage in just a few minutes.

FINNEY: Yes, he will. Yes, he will.

BERMAN: (INAUDIBLE) was on a different stage within the last 24-hours and really for the first time speaking directly about Bernie Sanders, talking about his health care plan directly, talking about what he considers to be disingenuous messages from his campaign and talking about Sanders' supporters --

FINNEY: Yes.

BERMAN: Being out and out sexist.

FINNEY: Yes.

BERMAN: So why is Bill Clinton saying that now where he hadn't said it before?

FINNEY: Well, I have heard him talk about health care because there have been reports out for some time that sort of question the math and how the numbers and how much it's really going to cost.

BERMAN: But the other thing was a shift.

FINNEY: Right. Yes.

BERMAN: I mean this is a total difference.

FINNEY: Well, look, I think there's been a lot of frustration. I can tell you. I mean I have certainly been the target of some of the Bernie bros (ph) online and, you know what, it is sexist and it -- and it's -- some of the things that they say you can't repeat. And its -- and it has really I think frustrated a lot of women who feel like -- and frankly a lot of supporters who feel like, I should be able to speak out.

BERMAN: It's not the campaign. That is not from the campaign itself.

FINNEY: True.

BERMAN: You know, Tad Devine was here. He said it's out of bounds, off -- you know, (INAUDIBLE) shouldn't be happening. Bernie Sanders has said it shouldn't be happening. FINNEY: Yes.

BERMAN: It's not like it's paid staffers doing it.

[12:29:57] FINNEY: Well, but I think the point is, you know, I think he was speaking to something that is true, which is the level of sexism that we have seen in some of those comments and just the attacks are disconcerting.