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Donald Trump Increases Lead Over GOP Rivals in National Poll; Woman Accused of Driving Car onto Sidewalk on Las Vegas Strip to Appear in Court; Iraq Forces Battle To Retake Key City of Ramadi. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired December 23, 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] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: The next three in the field don't match him combined.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile Hillary Clinton now responding to Trump's vulgar language about her this week. Trump surprisingly standing his ground. CNN's senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns with more this morning. Good morning, Joe. Tell us the background here.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, afternoon. The new CNN-ORC poll very much about Donald Trump's huge lead as the choice of Republicans for the presidential nomination. Looking at the numbers, Trump at 39 percent. Then look at the next three candidates. Ted Cruz in second at 18 percent, Ben Carson at 10, Marco Rubio at 10. That's right, Donald Trump's number bigger than the number two, three, and four candidates combined. And there's consistency here at the top for the Trump campaign over the last seven months, his largest margin.

Now, let's take a look at the favorability rating. Trump in third place, but even there he's seen a 20 percent jump, suggesting the voters are perhaps getting more comfortable with him on the Republican side. Ted Cruz is first and Marco Rubio second.

Now taking a look at some of the issues voters care about, Trump running strong, as well. Well over half of Republican voters say Trump is best at handling the economy and illegal immigration, and 47 percent, that's not a bad number either, say he would be best at handling ISIS. And finally, Republican voters more optimistic about their chances in 2016 with Trump in the picture. That number has jumped since August by eight percentage points.

Meanwhile there is more about the rhetoric on the campaign trail this morning after Trump's latest blast against Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner, talking about Trump in an interview with "The Des Moines, Iowa Register," though she refused to address his comments directly. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I really deplore the tone of his campaign and the inflammatory rhetoric that he is using to divide people. (END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: Donald Trump for his part tweeting overnight, quote, "When I said that Hillary Clinton got schlonged by Obama, it meant got beaten badly. The media knows this, often used word this politics." So I assume when he says often used, he's talking about privately used.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: You can't find a trace of it publicly. OK, thank you, Joe.

So we're joined how by CNN political director David Chalian, and senior contributor for "The Daily Caller" Matt Lewis who is also the author of the new book "Too Dumb to Fail, How the GOP Betrayed the Reagan Revolution to Win Elections." Guys, great to have you with us.

As we walk through these polls number, David, let's start with you. It's interesting to look again at what has happened in just the last month. So let's put up the poll that shows where all the GOP candidates were in November versus today. Donald Trump once again ticking up from 36 percent to 39 percent, as did Ted Cruz. Not so for Ben Carson, who has gone down to 10 percent, Rubio 10 percent. And then you see the remainders, Christie, Paul, Bush. What do you see here, David?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I see Donald Trump closing out the year in as strong fashion as possible. And listen, you are right to look at those trends. Obviously Cruz is on the rise. Rubio is having a little slippage. Clearly I think Cruz sort of got the upper hand with Rubio out of our debate. But remember, Donald Trump has more than twice the level of support as Ted Cruz, his closest competitor. He is occupying a universe of support in this race all by himself, and then there is another race happening underneath him right now. And that is the dynamic as we head into the final month homestretch before the caucuses.

CUOMO: Matt, make sense of this. White evangelicals, Republicans choice for nominee in 2016, even though Cruz has made his greatest progress there arguably stealing the bacon from Ben Carson, 45 percent of them say Trump. This is a group that he does not have a natural connection with. What do you read into this strength?

MATT LEWIS, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR, "THE DAILY CALLER": Yes, it's really interesting. Remember Donald Trump is a guy who said that he doesn't ask God for forgiveness. He later walked that back. But again, this is a guy, a New York casino magnate, right, not exactly tailor made for evangelicals. I think Ted Cruz is much more made for them and I think Cruz will win Iowa.

But, look, it is interesting. It's fascinating. And I think what this shows you is that culture and class matters much more than political ideology or theology. And I think that explains it, Trump is resonating with working class white voters who probably also happen to -- the Venn diagram with evangelicals is probably pretty strong in the Republican primary. [08:05:00] CAMEROTA: David, let's look at the impression of the CNN

debate last week. So it's always interesting after the punditry weighs in to hear what the real viewers and voters felt. This is who did best at the debate. Among GOP voters, they believed, 33 percent of them, that Trump won that CNN debate, 28 percent thought that Cruz did. And look at this, remember Rubio and Cruz famously sort of went at each other and who was for legalization of immigrants, look, Rubio did not fair that well in that mano-a-mano moment. He got 13 percent. And Fiorina, who people thought had won back in September during that CNN debate, now at four percent.

CHALIAN: Right. And Alisyn, you make a good point about Rubio and Cruz there about immigration specifically, because when we also look at who do you trust to handle immigration, Cruz bests Rubio there. Cruz's numbers going up there, Rubio struggling a little bit more there. Then you look at how the voters responded to the debate itself, it is clear although in the immediate aftermath of the debate the Rubio campaign really tried to muddy the waters about Cruz on immigration, he had a couple rough interviews, it is clear when you are talking about immigration and that is front and center, that is an Achilles' heel for Marco Rubio. Because of his support of that path to citizenship, he is out of sync with where the party is right now. So no matter how much they want to muddy Ted Cruz's record, just having immigration front and center and Marco Rubio part of that conversation is tricky territory for him.

CUOMO: It's certainly proof of where the conservative base of the party is, and there's no question that this campaign is moving the party that way. But of all of the different reasons that I hear from GOP people, Matt, to discount what is going on with Trump, I think only one really works at this point, which is once we get to Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and on, it does become a situation where his margins will have to be much smaller. He may well win these at least two or three of those primaries, but the margins won't be as big, and that will then become a catalyst for a new round of evaluation. Do you buy that?

LEWIS: Yes. I don't want to dismiss these numbers because they are amazing. They are stark. You cannot look at these numbers and think anything other than Trump is dominating. But at this point in 2004, Howard Dean appeared to be the Democratic nominee. So we have to put that in perspective. We do not have a national election. We have a series of state elections. And when Ted Cruz wins Iowa and Donald Trump is a loser by definition there, what will that do to Trump's image and maybe even to his numbers.

So these factors, we have to take them. And the other point, too, is there a question about polling, whether or not there is a theory that we actually are underestimating Trump's support and there is a theory that we're overestimating it. Will Trump supporters actually show up in caucus? We don't know that yet.

CAMEROTA: David, back to the after math of the CNN debate last week for a second before, Jeb Bush, so many pundits said he turned in his best debate performance, he finally stepped it up.

CUOMO: That's why I'm not a pundit.

CAMEROTA: The biggest pundit being wrong. Wow. He has not registered in the polls and in fact if we look back at that how people thought that he did, his number went down after the debate.

CHALIAN: Yes, one percent of the people said he did best I think in that debate. That is not a number you want from a debate performance.

Listen, Jeb Bush, if you just look at the favorable/unfavorable among Republicans in the poll, Joe Johns referenced this, that Donald Trump's favorable rating has grown by 20 points in September, Jeb Bush, a majority of Republicans view him unfavorably. So 72 percent of Republican or whatever it was that find Donald Trump favorably, they sort of swapped positions since this campaign started. It is very, very difficult when a majority of the party that you're seeking the nomination for has an unfavorable opinion of you to make much headway.

And I think that that debate performance, although it may make Jeb Bush feel better sort of taking down Donald Trump and may breathe new life into his supporters that he's finally taking the fight, I don't think we're seeing much traction yet for that. We'll see what happens in New Hampshire when they go focus their attention, but nationally we're not seeing much traction for that yet.

CAMEROTA: There you go. Matt, David, great to talk to you guys. Thanks for the insight.

CUOMO: So that's the GOP side. We're also going to have numbers on the Democrat side. And to that, tomorrow we have the man on your screen on the show, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. We will do a deep testing on what matters with the senator.

CAMEROTA: OK, we have some breaking news to get to now out of Jerusalem. Three people wounded in a stabbing attack at the Jaffa Gate. This is the latest in a series of attacks on Israelis stretching back to October. CNN's Oren Liebermann is live in Jerusalem with the latest for us. Oren?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, moments of panic outside the Jaffa Gate of the old city, a very notable place because the Jaffa Gate it leads straight in to the Christian quarter of the old city, which means even if tourism here is struggling, it still is a very busy area.

[08:10:02] Here's what police say happened. Police say two Palestinian attackers approached Israelis and stabbed them. They had knifes. Police say they stabbed Israelis. Two were seriously injured. One was moderately injured in this attack. Police say Israeli security forces at the scene opened fire. One of attacker was killed at the scene. The other was shot and taken to the hospital where he later died.

Now, it is important to note that police say one Israelis was injured by gunfire and police are examining the possibility that that gunfire came from Israeli security forces at the he scene responding to attackers. So this attack adding to the tension, adding to the long list of violence we've seen here, not only attacks on Israelis but also clashes between protesters and Israeli security forces in and around Jerusalem. Chris?

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

We also have news that a small contingent of U.S. special ops forces are back in northern Syria to help in the war against ISIS. This as Iraqi forces battle in Iraq to retake the key city of Ramadi from the terror group. We have CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr. She's got all the latest. What do we know?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris. A small number of U.S. special operations forces back in northern Syria as expected, but very quietly. They are there to help anti-ISIS forces, advise them on how to proceed with their efforts to root ISIS out of northern Syria. The Pentagon not saying exactly where they are or how many are there because of security concerns.

All of this of course as the battle for Ramadi across the border in Iraq rages on. For a second day now, Iraqi forces trained and advised by the U.S. are moving through Ramadi. They are encountering road blocks, barricades, booby traps, IEDs, improvised bombs. We're told whole houses are wired to blow in that city. So it is very slow, painstaking work.

But the stakes could not be higher. Of course first for humanitarian reasons, for the people of Ramadi, but the Iraqis very much needing to prove that their forces seven months after they ran from the fight in Ramadi are back and can win. And a strategic victory very much needed for the Obama administration trying to prove that months of training and advising, that its strategy to help the Iraqis can really work. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: OK, Barbara, thanks for that update.

The woman police say slammed into dozens of people with her car on the Vegas strip Sunday night is due in court today. She's facing multiple charges, including murder. CNN's Stephanie Elam is live in Las Vegas with more for us. Stephanie?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. Yes, you're talking about three felony counts that Lakeisha Holloway is facing, the 24-year-old woman who police say drove her car intentionally and multiple times onto the crowded Las Vegas strip sidewalk on Sunday evening.

Now, what we know is that the three counts that she's facing, they include one count of murder with a deadly weapon, one count of child abuse, neglect, or endangerment. That's because when this incident happened, her three-year-old daughter was in the back seat of her car police say. And one count of leaving the scene of an accident, which now is something that you can't even get probation for in the state of Nevada. So those are the three counts she's facing.

She could get more charges depending on what else comes out as police investigate this case. She is expected to be in court today making her first court appearance at 8:00 a.m. local time. And one other thing that we are learning about her is that she legally changed her name in October from Lakeisha Nicole Holloway to Paris Paradise Morton. What is not clear at this point, Chris, is whether or not she changed her name -- why the police aren't using her new legal name but using her former name that she was born with, Chris.

CUOMO: All right, appreciate that update. Obviously, you'll stay on the story and let us know when you hear anything new.

So as the holiday travel rush gets ready to be in full swing, police are investigating a major security breach at JFK airport in New York. A man jumped the perimeter fence last week, ending up on the taxiway walking around, wound upping confronted by a cargo worker, and he then told the cargo worker to be quiet about the incident. The man did not. But then this guy who jumped over the fence escaped. The Port Authority it is reviewing surveillance video and security procedures.

CAMEROTA: Black Lives Matter protestors vowing to forge ahead with the demonstration at the mall of America today, this after a judge's order prohibiting three organizers from protesting but not granting a full restraining order as the mall requested. Today is one of the busiest shopping days of the year. The mall says a similar protest last year drove away you thousands of customers.

CUOMO: Investigators say they busted a celebrity hacker after he offered to sell some very personal stolen items to undercover agents. And 23-year-old Alonzo Knowles of the Bahamas was arrested in Manhattan Monday.

[08:15:00] Among the items he tried to sell, stars' personal information, sex tapes, nude pictures, stolen scripts. The feds were tipped off by an unnamed radio host who Knowles allegedly approached as a potential buyer.

CAMEROTA: Terrible but intriguing.

All right. Meanwhile, back in the battle for Ramadi, Iraqi forces trying to retake the city. How much should the U.S. help? We examine that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: U.S.-led airstrikes helping Iraqi forces in their battle to retake the key city of Ramadi from ISIS. This is just one of the terror fronts the U.S. is helping. How should the U.S. navigate handling fights on multiple fronts at once?

Let's bring in Bobby Ghosh. He's our CNN global affairs analyst and managing editor of "Quartz".

Bobby, great to see you.

Ramadi fell in May of 2014.

BOBBY GHOSH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes. CAMEROTA: So what makes the Iraqi forces think that they can now take it back, what has changed since then?

GHOSH: Well, the most important thing is greater resolve on the part of the Iraqis. On previous occasions when they've had -- a couple of years ago, when they first encountered ISIS, they basically dropped their weapons and ran. And now, in part, because of greater political willingness on the Iraqi part but also because of more training from America, from Western countries, there is more steel in the spine if you like. And so, that's a big, big factor.

They have gone about this slowly and carefully. The work to try and work with the tribes around Ramadi so that this is not another of those situations where they take the city for a few days and lose it again. That's going to be the real challenge if they take the city, how are they going to make sure ISIS never comes back.

CAMEROTA: So what is the U.S. role here, just air strikes or more?

GHOSH: No, no, it's much more than air strikes. It's training, it's help on the ground. There's always -- you can never confirm this -- there's always some talk of special forces that are doing sort of raids into the city and taking out specific targets. A lot of political support, a lot of military and intelligence support.

[08:20:00] The U.S. fingerprints are all over this.

CAMEROTA: And what's at stake? If the Iraqi troops get Ramadi back, does that change the landscape of Iraq that much?

GHOSH: It does, because this would be the second major city that ISIS held after Tikrit, which they lost earlier this year, but a second major city that the Iraqi forces take back, with the American support, of course, but they will have taken it back. And that is an important psychological moment for Iraqi security.

You know, we've been saying for, we, and American politicians, everybody had been saying for a long time now, when are the Iraqis going to take responsibility of their own security? Well, here we are. They are beginning to take more responsibility. That's not the end of it.

There are questions to be asked about what do they do after they've taken the city. Are they working to incorporate civilians back into the -- in Tikrit, after the city was taken, there were reports that the Iraqi forces have basically taken revenge on civilians who had previously cooperated with ISIS. We can't afford to see that happen too much in Ramadi because that would antagonize civilians.

So, there are challenges. But the fact is Iraqi military is showing that they are capable of taking back a major city. That's something to be noted, celebrated and helped -- you know, supported for more such actions.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about the new stunning findings from this report from Tony Blair's organization called the Center on Religion and Politics.

And it finds -- it finds a lot of things. Number one, that there are more extremists in the Syrian rebels than previously thought. It also finds their objectives so they questioned them. Ninety percent of them wanted to feed Assad. Here's where it gets complicated, 68 percent of them want Islamic law, 38 percent want to defeat ISIS, 38 percent want democracy.

It's more complicated than the U.S. likes to think. It's not democracy or Sharia or Islamic law, it's both.

GHOSH: Yes. But the Islamic law is too simplistic. I mean, we have to remember where that study comes from. It's from Tony Blair's group. It's not exactly neutral party there.

But Islamic law is a very vast, very large tent. Not all Islamic law is extreme. Not all Islamic law is automatically something to be feared. Most Muslims want to live under Islamic law, even Muslims in countries like Indonesia and India.

But Islamic law doesn't actually mean the cutting off of hands and stoning of adulterers.

CAMEROTA: You're right. You're right.

GHOSH: A lot of it is just law. It's about justice, it's about fairness and right. It's not something to be automatically frightened.

CAMEROTA: You're absolutely right. That isn't the stunning findings as much as this next banner if we have it, which talks about their sort of demographics and how they're broken up by ideology. So 33 percent Salafi jihadi. Here's the part, 27 percent, almost 30 percent Islamist.

Well, Islamist is what -- another name for extremists.

GHOSH: Not really. Again, we take that to be -- we take that to be true. But in the world of Islam, to be an Islamist does not automatically mean you're an extremist. There are a lot of shades of that. And vast majority of people who regard themselves as Islamist would never pick up a gun, would not throw a rock in anger of anybody. They regard themselves as Islamists, but they regard themselves as people of peace.

We in the West have tended to simplify this thing as -- we tend to paint them all of the same brush. That's not how they see each other. And so, you know, these kinds of studies need to be parsed a little bit more closely and the terminology needs to be more specific.

If they are saying they are in favor of violence, that's one thing. If they're simply identifying themselves as Islamists, I don't think that means that they are bad guys or that they are anti-western or they're anti-modern. They're Islamists. They believe in Islamic law. That is. No more and no less.

CAMEROTA: That's really helpful, Bobby. Thanks so much for walking us through all of that. Merry Christmas to you.

GHOSH: And to you.

CAMEROTA: Thanks for being here.

Let's get over to Chris.

CUOMO: A question. After what Donald Trump said about Hillary Clinton, do we believe that he respects women? Do you believe? Many people are questioning it. Do we see anything in polls?

Well, this situation with Hillary Clinton certainly raised it. She's certainly making hay out of it in her campaign. What does it mean, who was right, who was wrong, does it matter? When we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:28:18] CUOMO: Time for the five things that you must know for your NEW DAY.

Number one, Donald Trump running away from the Republican field in the final CNN poll before the holidays, Trump commands support of 39 percent of the party. The next three in the field total 38 percent.

A small contingent of U.S. Special Operations Forces back in northern Syria to help in the war against ISIS. This as Iraqi forces battle to retake the key city of Ramadi from the terror group. They're about half a mile from the center of the city.

Three people wounded in a stabbing attack at the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem, one attacker was killed, the other apprehended. This the latest in a series of Palestinian attacks on Israelis stretching back to October.

Another blow to the Secret Service -- an agent's gun, badge and flash drive stolen from his car which was just blocks from the White House. Leaving a weapon and badge unattended in a car, a violation of security rules.

The woman police say slammed into dozens of people with her car on the Vegas Strip killing one is due in court today. That is Lakeisha Holloway. She faces charges of murder, child abuse and leaving the scene of an accident.

For more on all five things to know, go to NewDayCNN.com for the latest.

Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Chris, now to an extraordinary story of a boy who keeps beating the odds. He was born after his mom was declared brain dead. Now, he's making a difference with the help of his devoted grandmother. CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains in this edition of "Turning Points".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Emanuel Hawkins (ph) doesn't give up.

His mom Tara was 12 weeks pregnant when she was attacked by a teenager she was trying to help. She was in a coma and brain dead. Doctors kept her on life support for 16 weeks until Emanuel was born two months early.