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Senator Ted Cruz's Comments at Private Fundraiser Released; Donald Trump Criticizes Ted Cruz; Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl Breaks His Silence. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired December 11, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] CARL BERNSTEIN, AUTHOR, "A WOMAN IN CHARGE": -- driving it in this election way to the right in places it's never opinion before. Now we're seeing some pull back, some push back, but it is a great opportunity for the Democrats. One of the things I think we probably -- and I've said it before -- might well have a brokered convention, an open convention. I see an article in "The Washington Post" by Bob Gates, the former sect of defense, CIA director under Republicans and Democrats, saying, well, what would the next president really have to look like to be a good president? I can see a movement for Bob Gates being drafted. We're in a place we've never been because of Trump.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Carl Bernstein, thank you very much for the perspective as always.

BERNSTEIN: Good to be here.

CUOMO: Good information there on a very hot topic. There is a lot of news, so let's get to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Anybody killing a police officer, death penalty.

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I like and respect both Donald and Ben. I do not believe either one of them is going to be our nominee.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Top GOP official discussing the possibilities of a brokered Republican convention.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The guy is not a serious man. He's good at -- he's a great politician.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fear of domestic terrorism is at an all- time high.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Investigators say the terrorists were planning an even larger attack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will leave no stone urn turned.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Geneva, Switzerland, on high alert. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The threat level here have been raised. The

security guards are now carrying heavier weapons.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going good grief I'm in over my head.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl's account of his brutal captivity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It really starts to sink in I really did something bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, and Michaela Pereira.

CUOMO: Good morning, welcome to your NEW DAY. It's Friday, December 11th, 8:00 in the east. I have Poppy Harlow here with me this morning.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Happy to be with you, my friend.

CUOMO: I've been abandoned by Alisyn and Michaela who are on vacation. No, rest well-deserved.

We have a lot of news this morning. GOP leaders starting to brace for the idea that fifty primaries and caucuses may not be enough to decide a nominee. No individual candidate may get enough delegates, so they actually had to huddle to discuss the possibility of a brokered convention. This with Donald Trump surging in national polls and Ted Cruz now up as a viable alternative.

HARLOW: Absolutely. The Texas Senator Ted Cruz making waves. Leaked audio of him predicting the demise of the front runner Donald Trump and also Ben Carson. This morning Trump firing back on Twitter. No surprise there. All of this making the next Republican debate days from now, Tuesday night, must-watch television.

Let's get the very latest from CNN's Athena Jones from Washington. So Trump, I don't know when the man sleeps, but he's up and tweeting about this. Two big tweets about Ted Cruz and that audio last night.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. That's right, Poppy, and I'll get to that in a moment. But Trump's spot at the top of the polls makes him a top target for the other GOP contenders. The thing is so far nobody has managed to land any punches on him, and that leaked audio from Ted Cruz is now raising questions about whether he's going to become the latest candidate to try to knock Trump from his perch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Both of them, I like and respect both Donald and Ben. I do not believe either one of them is going to be our nominee. Their campaigns have a naturally arc. JONES: Newly released audio from a private fundraiser provided

to the "New York Times" reveals Texas Senator Ted Cruz questioning the judgment of front runner Donald Trump and Ben Carson.

CRUZ: Who am I comfortable having their finger on the button? I think, look, people run as who they are. I believe that gravity will bring both of those campaigns down.

JONES: Cruz has avoided public criticism of the billionaire. But now just four days away from the next CNN Republican debate, Cruz may not be able to avoid him anymore. The senator now polling second in the latest national GOP poll even though Trump is leading by almost 20 points. This as Trump continues to outline controversial proposals.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Anybody killing a police officer, death penalty. It is going to happen. OK?

JONES: The latest, Trump says if elected president he would sign executive order to mandate the death penalty for convicted cop killers.

TRUMP: Police forces throughout the country have had a hard time. A lot of people killed. A lot of people killed very violently, sitting in a car waiting, sitting in a car watching. And somebody comes from behind.

JONES: And Trump's plan to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S. igniting a fire storm of backlash.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I no longer think he's funny.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes I will say I --

(APPLAUSE)

JONES: And it doesn't appear to be resonating with voters. More than half saying they oppose his controversial ban in a new national poll. Trump's divisive proposals are making the GOP nervous.

Meanwhile CNN has learned that a group of Republican leaders met in private to discuss a plan for a contested convention which would be triggered if no candidate has enough delegates to win the nomination.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[08:05:05] JONES: Now, as you mentioned, Poppy, it doesn't seem like Trump sleeps a lot, and he certainly is a big consumer of news, and so he is aware of these comments Ted Cruz made at that private fundraiser. He's taking to Twitter to make a series of comments this morning. I'll read for you two of them. I believe we can put them up on the screen. Trump saying "Ted Cruz should not make statements behind closed doors to his bosses. He should bring them out into the open. More fun that way." Another tweet from Trump, "Looks like Ted Cruz is getting ready to attack. I am leading by so much, he must. I hope so. He will fall like all the others. Will be easy." So there is Donald Trump weigh into the conversation this morning.

CUOMO: All right, Athena, thank you very much.

Donald Trump, as he likes to say, lots of energy. Joining us on NEW DAY this morning to discuss Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway. Kellyanne runs a super PAC supporting Ted Cruz. Great to have you here. Nobody knows the inside game and numbers better than you. Let's start with the headline, Cruz gets a pop. What's going on?

KELLYANNE CONWAY, REPUBLICAN POLLSTER: He's been working the churches, working the community groups and forums in Iowa for quite a while. Now three or four major endorsements in Iowa from people who aren't just bringing themselves to stand next to Ted Cruz and campaign with him but really bring a political infrastructure per person. Steve King dominates western Iowa. Steve Deace, very popular radio show host there. Bill Sailor has eastern Iowa pretty much locked up.

And I think what Senator Cruz has been able to do in Iowa and now elsewhere, he's even in the top four or five in New Hampshire. Usually you have to compete in Iowa or New Hampshire but not both, and he seems to be trending in both, Chris. He's got the good message. He's got the manpower. Nobody is better organized, has people on the ground. And of course he has money. He has $38 million in super PAC money. He's got $26 million in hard money. Remember, Governors Perry and Walker dropped out of the race early. They had plenty of super PAC money. But you need the hard dollars in smaller increments to be able to fly around and pay your staff.

CUOMO: People underestimate the need and influence of the ground game. Does Senator Cruz have a better ground game than some people may have anticipated?

CONWAY: He has a tremendous ground game. And at the super PAC we've taken a gamble this year. The traditional role in the super PAC in the last four or five years is collect the money, collect the money. And run ad after ad after ad, go zing your opponent, go make people laugh, make the donors happy.

We've take a gamble, Chris, in that we've hired 14 people at our super PAC in South Carolina. I have eight people on the ground in Iowa. This is unheard of for a super PAC. But we know who are candidate is. Our candidate is a bottom up guy. Our candidate is go and talk to the people.

Look at there was a report this week when Senator Rubio showed up at a forum in Michigan. A third of the room was full. When Senator Cruz shows up somewhere the only people mad at him are the fire marshals because they have to open more doors.

CUOMO: Good one. When people talk about, Senator Rubio has gotten more positive appraisal to this point than Senator Ted Cruz. Now, help me understand your head on how you see that match up. Obviously you are for Cruz. But is it -- why do they get lumped together, first of all? Is it just an ethnic identity thing? I guess they are freshmen senators as well, but the family is somewhat similar. What is the compare and contrast as you see it? CONWAY: They do get lumped together. And I think Senator Rubio

is a tremendous public servant. And Senator Cruz and Senator Rubio are five months apart. They come from Cuban immigrant fathers. They have wonderful American dream stories.

But at the same time they slayed dragons, they beat the establishment in their home state, the well-funded establishment backed candidates to win their Senate seats in Florida and in Texas.

But there are true bright line distinctions in their positions. Senator Rubio, it is reported in today's "New York Times" has only been in Washington two days in all of November. He has a day job there. Jeb Bush has a point. He's missed more votes than any senator, according to the "New York Times" in the entire body. He missed a very important national security vote in November and said from a campaign stop in New Hampshire I would have voted yes. Senator Cruz was there voting as such. So I also think they are very different on national security and they are very different on illegal immigration. We found in our polling there are certain deal breakers to the Republican primary caucus base. If you've embraced Common Core, if you've been for amnesty, that is going to be a very difficult measure to walk back for Senator Rubio because he locked arms with Senator Schumer and joined the Democrats to try to have amnesty early on.

CUOMO: That was seen as the step towards progress. You have to balance how you approach the base with how you broaden the tent. If your just a candidate or an extension of a party of no, you wind up in trouble in the general.

So let's take immigration. What does senator Rubio said? We're not going to get it done as one bill. We have to break it up. We have think about different things. Cruz has been seen as an intellectual heavyweight who holds a very hard line. But is that a practical approach to getting that bigger tent of base, you know, beyond just the GOP?

[08:10:03] CONWAY: Senator Cruz just this last year introduced in passed with overwhelming margins in the Senate two bipartisan pieces of legislation. He worked with two female Democratic senators to pass legislation, for example, condemning Hamas for using people as human shields. They had a legislation that would revoke your visa or revoke your passport if you take up with ISIS. You can't go spend a semester abroad with ISIS and then think you are going to come back to this country. So he does go and work with other people.

He very recently broke with his party on a national security and the bulk data collection and the NSA surveillance. And maybe he had a point. We couldn't find these two terrorists whose comment, radicalized comments, were in the public domain. If I was on a dating website looking for people who wanted to have shooting practice, they were on Facebook. There is a point for wanting Americans to have their privacy but us still to be able to snag and stop terrorists.

CUOMO: So I'll leave it for last, but one of the things he's going to have to deal with now is that he has poked the beast. Yes, you were there. He was at a private fundraiser. Surprising maybe that people would record what happens in private. That's a new reality. Everybody has got a phone and they want to use it. But he didn't take a shot at Carson or Trump.

CONWAY: Correct.

CUOMO: But he has been distinguished, Senator Cruz, for really doing nothing negative where Trump was involved. Now he said I don't think they are going to be a nominee. I think there is a naturally arc to them. Trump is coming at him. How do you handle it from a strategy perspective?

CONWAY: We just keep doing what we're doing. And we realize that voters in the end have a reasonable expectation that your day job and your positions put you in the intersection of policy and politics. So it is one thing to run around and talk about what you would do as commander in chief or what you would do about the economy. It is quite another to be one of 100 people who actually votes on the stuff. Senator Cruz had the anti-Iran deal rally in Washington, invited Mr. Trump who was there by his side. He has introduced legislation and voted on things that actually matter to us. So I was in the room. It didn't sound like an attack to me.

CUOMO: Doesn't take much.

CONWAY: Doesn't take much. Sound like a contrast. And I am disappointed that somebody would record it. I do that is bad form. But that said, this is politics, not a tea party. And I do think even though he did attack them, he was reflecting what we hear a lot of voters say, which is, in the end, do I want an outsider or an insider with experience? And am I just trying to send a message to Washington? Or am I trying to elect a president to go to Washington? Those are very different decision that we believe the candidates will make over time. We're happy with the progress we're making, but it is really slow and steady. We're executing. We haven't run a ton of ads because we saw what happened to Jeb Bush's Right to Rise Super PAC. They spent $50 million according to the "Washington Post" this week to move his numbers, Chris, and they did move his numbers, but in the wrong direction.

CUOMO: Down.

Kellyanne Conway, thank you very much. A big, big lead up for the debate on Tuesday for Senator Cruz.

CONWAY: I'll be there.

CUOMO: This is going to be his moment. I'll see you there for sure.

So what do you think about some of the things we discussed. What do you need out of a president? What do you think about Senator Cruz? Four days from now it is all going to come to bear. Wolf Blitzer moderating the final GOP debate of the year right here on CNN. When does coverage start? I'll tell you. It's 6:00 eastern for the undercard, 8:30 for the main one eastern. Poppy? HARLOW: We'll all be watching. Also this, we're watching very

closely disturbing details turning up in the probe of the deadly mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. The "Los Angeles Times" this morning reporting the terrorists were planning an even larger attack as dive teams searching again today in a lake near the crime scene for evidence. What are they looking for? That's where we find our CNN correspondent Ana Cabrera. Good morning, Ana.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Poppy. The FBI saying they will leave no stone unturned. And we're expecting FBI divers back in this lake behind me here as soon as it gets light here on the pacific coast. Now, we under they are looking for evidence that may be connecting to the San Bernardino shootings. Investigators say they are following a couple of leads that the shooters were in this area on the day of the shooting. They have already scoured the park and still need to search the lake. They say that could take days and they are going to be methodical about it.

We're also learning this morning that authorities are taking a closer look at whether Farook, the male in the shooting, whether he was connected to a terror cell that he was broken up here in California a few years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID BOWDITCH, FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR IN CHARGE: We did arrest four individuals back in 2012. They have since been convicted of material support to terrorism. Those individuals were not planning to conduct a terrorist attack in the U.S.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Instead this group was accused of plotting an attack in Afghanistan, of going to fight with Taliban and Al Qaeda forces to blow up a U.S. military base. Now, Farook apparently was in the same social circle, we've learned, according to a source close to the investigation, that Farook was in a social circle with the recruiter of this group that was broken up and busted by authorities.

[08:15:05] Of course, 2012 is also the same year that Enrique Marquez, the friend and neighbor of Farook has said he and Farook were planning an tanking attack of their own right here on the U.S. soil. And Enrique Marquez is the one who provided the gun, the AR-15s the couple used here in the San Bernardino shootings. He is still not facing any charges this morning -- Chris.

CUOMO: Very much a free man, a curious aspect there to the investigation. We'll continue to follow it.

Ana Cabrera, thank you very much.

All right. Let's take a quick break here. We got a story update for you. You remember Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl? Everybody was saying, what was going through his mind? Why did he do that? Why did he put his brothers and sisters in arms in harm's way.

You are going to hear from him for the first time about his desertion. And he's going to compare himself to somebody in this statement that is going to raise some eyebrows.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: Season two of the hit podcast "Serial" premiered yesterday with Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl breaking his silence about the night that he walked away from his platoon members off base in Afghanistan. He was captured by the Taliban.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

SGT. BOWE BERGDAHL, U.S. ARMY: Like doing what I did was me saying I am like, I don't know, Jason Bourne. I had this fantastic idea that I was going to prove to the world that, you know, I was the real thing.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

[08:20:04] HARLOW: Joining me now is his defense attorney for Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, defending him against his desertion charges. His attorney Eugene Fidell joins me now from New Haven, Connecticut. Thank you for being with me, sir.

EUGENE FIDELL, BOWE BERGDAHL'S ATTORNEY: Good morning.

HARLOW: Everyone has been waiting to hear from him. And this is a unique platform, but it's a broadly listened to platform, "Serial" podcast. He did more than 25 hours worth of interviews. So, a lot more to come.

But everyone had been waiting for years and years through his captivity to find out why he left his comrades. Why he left his platoon. Now we know and he compares part of it to a movie character. What should we read into that? What more can you tell us about that.

FIDELL: Well, what I would suggest that people should continue to monitor this podcast. I don't know where the podcast is headed. I'm not familiar with what's in the succeeding segments.

But I would also say it's important that the government release Sergeant Bergdahl's 370-page transcript of the interview that he was subjected to by Lieutenant General Kenneth Doll. That is the best articulation of all of the facts and circumstances that I'm aware of. And unfortunately, the Army has refused to release it, and has refused to permit us to release it. We obviously have a cop.

I think that's really unfortunate. I think people should be entitled to hear it and read it and form their own opinions rather than my trying to spin ore people, you know, who are Sergeant Bergdahl's detractors trying to spin things -- let them see exactly what he said when he was under oath and interviewed for more than a day by General Doll.

HARLOW: All right. So, certainly, not -- you know, you have read it and you have spoken extensively to your clients. Has your client said anything more to you about that, that reference to Jason Bourne or why he walked off?

FIDELL: Well, I can't go into, you know, privileged communications with my client. There is an attorney/client privilege.

HARLOW: Sure.

FIDELL: And he's entitled to have me may not the confidentiality of those conversations.

However, I believe that if viewers of this show take a time to listen themselves to the podcast "Serial", they will get more context rather than cherry pick on particular reference which actually is simply a matter of introspection in Sergeant Bergdahl's part.

HARLOW: All right. So, let's talk more about that day when he walked off because he walked off saying he was trying to go to a larger base to get attention for lack of leadership problems that he thought were putting his platoon members at risk.

But here is the context of it. He was supposed to that. That platoon later that day was supposed to have returned to a larger base where he could have voiced his concerns.

And here is what one of his former comrades said about that and the six soldiers who died in subsequent mission, some of them to find your client after that. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH KORDER, SERVED WITH BOWE BERGDAHL IN AFGHANISTAN: Absolutely. I mean you are going to go out and be Jason Bourne and try and be a super soldier to prove who knows what to who knows who. You left your soldiers behind and men behind and brothers in arms behind, and he put them in the very real danger he was trying to get us out of. So, I see no change in the fact that he's deserting and that he's possibly a traitor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Can you take us at all without violating attorney- client privilege, into his thinking about those comrades?

FIDELL: Well, first of all, I take deep offense at that speaker's casual reference to my client possibly being a traitor. That is a page right out of Donald Trump's playbook and frankly I'm sick and tired of people throwing that term around.

Treason is the only term mentioned in the Constitution. It is a matter of gravest character in society and for people to casually toss that in is really appalling. That's what I have to say on that.

With respect to the rest of it, I think people should listen to the podcast. I think people should be insistent that the Army release the full transcript and then they will form their own opinion rather than taking my spin on it or the spin of the individual that you just put on the air.

HARLOW: Right. I want to play other sound from this first pod cast that aired, talking about whether he said doing something bad or something serious. Let's roll that.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

BERGDAHL: Twenty minutes out, I'm going good grief I'm in over my head. Suddenly it really starts to sink in that I really did something bad. Well, not bad but I really did something serious.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right.

[08:25:00] The case against your client is still open. He potentially faces a life sentence.

Talk to me about the thinking between him talking so openly and putting it all out there like this.

FIDELL: That is something that's sub -- it is a subject that I can't talk about because of the attorney/client privilege. I'm terribly sorry but I think to do that would be violating my abilities as his attorney.

HARLOW: And just tell us, finally, when you became aware of these recordings, I know you've said you haven't heard the whole series. Neither have we.

FIDELL: Right. That also is subject to the attorney/client privilege, so I'm sorry I can't help you on that.

HARLOW: All right. Eugene Fidell, I appreciate you joining us. Thank you very much.

FIDELL: You're welcome.

HARLOW: All right, Chris?

CUOMO: You know, Pop, it is always frustrating when you hear a lawyer assert the privilege but you've got to remember that's why you have a lawyer, right?

HARLOW: Of course.

CUOMO: That means to be kept secret and you have to wait for them to come out in time. Good interview, though, Pop. Thanks for that.

HARLOW: Thanks.

CUOMO: Let's take a quick break. Donald Trump's anti-Muslim rhetoric gets his supporters fired up but also infuriates his detractors. We're going to ask one of the first Muslim American appointed a U.S. ambassador, what they think of the ban? What could it mean to Muslims but also to national security.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Time now for the five things to know for your NEW DAY.