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Trump Uses Vulgar Term To Attack Clinton; Manhunt Intensifies For "Affluenza" Teen And Mother. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired December 22, 2015 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:31:33] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, so here's the situation. Last night, town hall in Michigan, Donald Trump slams Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, but this was different. This was personal.

This was intense even more him, certainly vulgar by any definition. Is it a preview of what's going to happen if these two face off? Is it some ugly reflection of what's actually working in politics?

Let's bring in CNN political commentator and former Reagan White House political director, Mr. Jeffrey Lord, and Trump supporter and CNN commentator, Democratic strategist, Mr. Bob Beckel. Let me play you the sound and then we will commence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Everything that's been involved in Hillary has been losses. You take a look, even a race to Obama. She was going to beat Obama. I don't know who would be worse. I don't know, how does it get worse? She was favored to win and she got schlonged. She lost.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Schlonged was the word that he just used. He also went on calling her going to the bathroom disgusting and then saying that we shouldn't talk about it after he just talked about it. Mr. Jeffrey Lord, will you please defend --

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Merry Christmas to you, too, Chris.

CUOMO: I have nothing but respect and admiration for you. You help me all the time. Let's see if you can do it today. Can you explain how you use these types of terms and still be called presidential?

LORD: Chris, look, you know, Donald Trump, has this amazing ability to reach the average guy who is thinking some of the same things. This bathroom story I find very interesting. "The Boston Globe" has a report that she wouldn't go in there because there was another woman in there, a staffer for Governor O'Malley.

All that kind of thing does is contribute to her reputation is what our friend, Hugh Hewitt, calls the queen. That she doesn't want to deal with normal folks. So what Donald Trump is really doing here is poking at that image, which everybody is well aware of after all these years.

[07:35:04]ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Bathroom habits, Bob, that is what this campaign has come down to. You are a veteran at this. Have you seen language and subject matter like this?

BOB BECKEL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good try, Jeffrey. Good try. You know, you can't -- this kind of thing seems to have bounced off him over and over again. You're getting very close. Five weeks from the Iowa caucuses.

Where he's got some serious obstacles in front of him, not the least of which is the Ted Cruz -- I was out in Iowa for three days, Ted Cruz has a very strong organization. I couldn't find a Trump organization.

That maybe he defies gravity out there. Maybe without an organization he can get these usually nonvoters who support him and come to the polls. I'm not convinced of that yet. You better be very careful before you take on Hillary Clinton in this kind of language and not worry about Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio.

CAMEROTA: Jeffrey? I mean, isn't there a possible risk at taking on Hillary Clinton in this kind of language? Not just because she's a formidable candidate but because, do women like this? Do women like this sort of vulgarity?

LORD: Well, you know, Hillary Clinton is married to Bill and we all know the episodes there. She defended him fairly well. I don't want to repeat on air what was done in the little room adjacent to the oval office.

There's a considerable reputation here on the Clinton side of the ledger. In terms of Iowa, let's just recall here that you can lose the Iowa caucuses and still become president. You can win the Iowa caucuses and never become president.

So we're going to have a long, long way to go here. Iowa is but the beginning. What interests me is that between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, you have over 50 percent of the vote as I'm looking at this latest poll, which really says this outsider element is very much alive and well.

BECKEL: Jeffrey, bringing Hillary Clinton and tying her up for Bill Clinton's past is really not -- I mean, come on.

LORD: Come on, Bob.

BECKEL: There's nothing in her background -- she defended her husband. That's true. I understand that. But to try to relate the two of those --

CUOMO: One at a time. Go ahead, Bob.

BECKEL: I was going to say to try to bring these two together, that's a typical Trumpism thing. You can't do something like that. She's running on her own now and she's doing a good job of it I might add.

She's been beat up from every direction, but she still survives and is a stronger frontrunner coming out of '15 than going in so I think to try to connect those two.

Trump out ought to stick to issues and things that he cares about, his people care about. He's got that. He's a populist. Why does he need to go into the bathroom?

I don't understand that. It just doesn't -- it doesn't comport with everything we know about a presidential candidate and the standing and stature of a presidential candidate.

CAMEROTA: Jeffrey, explain that.

LORD: She wants to be treated as an equal. What other candidate for president gets to, you know, sashe back on to the debate stage after the debate has started. This is her personality.

CUOMO: You can't say the delay coming back is indicative of a personality flaw.

CAMEROTA: The women's bathroom was much farther in that locale.

CUOMO: It was a mistake for her to be late. Whatever it is, it is. You are tied to a man, you have pictures behind you. Ronald Reagan, people can disagree with the deficit and the politics all they want. This is a man who tried to make America better, who took it at its best, who won people over --

LORD: His slogan was, make America great again, where have we heard that?

CUOMO: What I'm asking you, Jeffrey, is how can you defend these kinds of tactics? Would you ever suggest if you were running a race, you should talk about her going to the bathroom, say it's disgusting and say you don't want to talk about it, use the word schlong, because people dig it?

LORD: Chris, when you as a candidate do something that is as obvious and public as she did, this wouldn't be a subject of discussion --

CUOMO: You make her going to the restroom as an insult, a tactic and a front.

LORD: Chris, it is endemic of her personality.

CUOMO: How she goes to the bathroom is a reflection of who she is? What does that say about me?

(CROSSTALK)

BECKEL: Jeffrey, trump and his people have a tendency to deflect into something like this, the point was in the beginning of this discussion was what Trump said and whether she was late getting back from the bathroom or whatever is not the point. It's what he said publicly. LORD: It is the point, Bob.

BECKEL: What, what Trump has to use the word schlong? Come on. What does that mean? Ronald Reagan would be appalled at that. He would never have done that.

LORD: Donald Trump is not Ronald Reagan.

BECKEL: That's for sure.

[07:40:05]LORD: But he is Donald Trump and a lot of people like him for his plain spokenness. That's for sure.

BECKEL: But his plain spokenness about going to the bathroom --

LORD: All right --

BECKEL: Maybe he continues to get away with this but at some point the weight of this over and over and over again, I think is going to catch up with him.

CAMEROTA: All right, gentlemen, on that prediction, Bob Beckel, Jeffrey Lord, thank you.

LORD: Merry Christmas.

CAMEROTA: You as well.

CUOMO: We always appreciate. You make us better, guys. Thank you very much.

So what is your take? Ever heard that expression? You know everything about a man when you see him go to the bathroom. Nobody has ever said that. Does it translate into this campaign, something is working and very well for Donald Trump? Tweet us @newday or post your comment on facebook.com/newday.

CAMEROTA: Thank you. All right, meanwhile, another developing story, investigators expanding their search for the notorious affluenza teenager. His mother believed to be helping him on the lam. HLN's Nancy Grace will join us with her take on what's happening.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:45:05]

CUOMO: What do you want for Christmas? Hoverboard, not happening, kids, not mine anyway. You know what drivers are getting? A really nice holiday gift this season, the lowest gas prices in six years.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CUOMO: CNN chief business correspondent, Christine Romans, told me that and explains how long they'll be here.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I'm getting you a gallon of gas for Christmas. There is money in your gas tank this year. The nationwide average got to 2 bucks yesterday is 2.01, now officially there, the 2 buck zone. The timing could not be any better, Chris.

AAA predicts a record holiday travel by car this year. You'll save money. So what's driving down prices is the price of oil. Crude is the biggest component in gasoline. Oil prices haven't been this low since 2009, down roughly 70 percent over the last 18 months. Why?

Oil producers are pumping like crazy at the time global demand is slowing, supply, demand that means prices down at 2 bucks. How long will it last? Probably through January. Refinery maintenance starts in maintenance.

That will take some gasoline supply off line and prices could start ticking higher. It's big savings for drivers. How much? It's 540 bucks this year you saved because of low gas prices. From the tank to the bank, that's about $10 per fill up. You can expect to have those prices again early this year.

CUOMO: What a cute little piggy you have in that graphic.

ROMANS: People are spending a lot of their gas savings. Pay down your Christmas debt with your gas savings.

CUOMO: That is the bah humbug part of it. We don't really understand why oil prices are going down. It's not about supply and demand. This could last even longer than expected on the demand curve, right?

ROMANS: We'll have to see. The whole world is pumping so much oil, Chris, that literally, there are tankered cars full of oil just sitting there waiting for customers.

CUOMO: Christine Romans, thank you very much and thank you for the gift of gas. Please do not pour it over my head -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: I don't know how much that interest that piggy bank bears.

Meanwhile, we'll be talking about the search for the infamous affluenza teenager. He and his mother are apparently on the run. HLN's Nancy Grace will join us with her take, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:50:48]

CAMEROTA: The man hunt for the affluenza teenager, Ethan Couch, and his mother is heating up this morning. Couch received probation after killing four people in a drunk-driving accident, his defense argued he was too wealthy to know right from wrong.

And police are now asking for the public's help in locating the pickup truck seen on the screen. Authorities believed Couch and his mom fled after this video surfaced allegedly showing Couch playing beer pong, which would violate his probation. Joining us now is host of "Nancy Grace" from our sister network, HLN, Nancy Grace. Nancy, thanks so much for being with us this morning. I know you have been following this case for a long time. Any idea where Couch and his mother would run to?

NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST, "NANCY GRACE": Well, we've got a lot of indications. We don't know yet. But where they live is about a six and a half hour drive to the Mexican border. That is what they have that most people who go on the lamb don't have that I have hunted down in the past.

They have money and a lot of it. They had multiple homes. We found out the father owns homes in different state, owns properties in different states. That is going to make a lot more difficult for police to find him.

The money is the thing. Think about it. How can Ethan Couch make a living say, for instance, in Mexico? Probably not. So they have to get funded probably through the father. The father has a very, very lucrative sheet metal business.

He is cooperating with authorities, but I guarantee you they are watching because the mom if the mom is with him is going to need money. But they could easily hop a private jet out of this country.

CAMEROTA: They have the resources which most fugitives do not. And for those who don't remember what happened in this case, can you explain again how it was that this kid was able to dodge any jail time? How did he just get probation?

GRACE: I'll tell you how he did it. He's rich and he's white. That is how he did it and the judge who conveniently retired when all of this hit the fan, so he kills four people. He and his buddies have been partying at his father's second home and he's hide on weed, Xanax.

They go the local Walmart and steal a bunch of booze. It is caught on video. Then goes out and gets drunk and gets in his red truck ad mows down four people, four people. And I'm going to address that in a moment.

A mother and a daughter who are out helping a girl come up to change their tire, the girl and a youth pastor comes up to try to help them just mows them down. Four are dead. Another is permanently paralyzed. They can't speak, move, they can only see. Can you imagine that?

He goes to the judge. I hope you are sitting down. You may need to lay down for this. They tell the judge that he has been coddled, is too rich, never faced any consequences, he has affluenza, and they let him get straight probation.

Judge Gene Boyd. So then fast forward, video shows up of him apparently having a beer pong game and never once did he say to these people "I'm sorry," I feel awfully about what happened, never showed remorse. Now apparently his mother has taken him on the run. And just so you know FYI, if she is charged with obstruction she can get the same sentence as him.

CAMEROTA: We have a moment from the deposition in 2013 where his mother was asked about this affluenza defense and if she in fact did sort of ever teach him right and wrong. And it's a telling moment. So watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[07:55:12]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You understand, did you not, that he was likely to continue the drinking and driving if there weren't consequences.

TONYA COUCH, ETHAN COUCH'S MOTHER: I should have known that, yes. I really didn't think that that would happen again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you recall ever disciplining Ethan for anything.

COUCH: Sometimes I would take little things away from him or we would just discuss the problems.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When is the last time you recall disciplining Ethan for anything?

COUCH: I don't remember.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Nancy, what is their relationship, Couch and his mother?

GRACE: Well, it is very, very close. The mother and father divorced, separated. They got back together. Apparently they are estranged right now. I guess so with all of this going on. Apparently there are reports that the mother actually brought a bed into her room and he would sleep in the same room with her as a teen. Not judging.

But I'm telling you they have a very, very close relationship. Police are not saying she's being charged with a crime. They are just saying she's missing and her own reports her missing that.

That means she is now in a national database so authorities all over the country and abroad can pull up her picture. I imagine they have changed their appearance, possibly dyed or cut their hair. They probably ditched the vehicle.

It was a souped up Ford F150 black. I say they may have left the country. And one last thing about the victims, it's Christmas time. Everybody and approaching that moment and now this has really reopened the wounds of everything's happened, right before Christmas.

The guy who gets straight probation for killing their mother, their sister, their loved one is walking free and on the lamb? I'm telling you as a crime victim myself, it's like it all happened all over again. And that is the part I really hate of this. What they are going through, those families.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. I'm glad that you're focused on the victims. These two can't hide forever. They can't blend in very well. Let's hope that authorities get them sooner than later. Nancy Grace, thank you. Merry Christmas to you.

GRACE: Merry Christmas, friend.

CAMEROTA: Thank you. Let's get over to Chris.

CUOMO: Christmas is coming and many are dreaming of a warm one. And if you live in the Eastern U.S., that dream may come true. CNN meteorologist, Chad Myers live in Atlanta.

(WEATHER REPORT)

CUOMO: I hope you get better and soon my friend. A lot of news this morning. We have Team Trump coming in to defend the latest. Let's get to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: Everybody that goes against me is like, ex, ex. Hillary, that's not a president. Donald Trump is on video. She's a liar.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Found dead in her cell three days after she was arrested for failing to use her turn signal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Grand jury did not return an indictment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We feel the grand jury process and the secretiveness of it is reflective of our experience.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two guys on the wind shield and they are banging trying to get the car to stop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The suspect repeatedly drove her car over pedestrians.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The 24-year-old woman from Oregon been charged with murder.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The big question here for a lot of people is why do this have to happen?

(END VIDEOTAPE)