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Interview with Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii; Peyton Manning Jokes About Retirement; Trump Puts on His Own Show Miles Away from Debate. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired January 29, 2016 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:32:48] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The FBI releasing aerial video of their confrontation with wildlife refuge occupiers in Oregon. The video shows Robert LaVoy Finicum exiting his truck after a chase. Police say Finicum reached twice for a gun in his pocket, leaving them to open fire, killing him. Officials believe four holdouts still may be inside that National Wildlife Refuge.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Those three escaped inmates did have help inside that California jail. Police say it was a teacher. She is scheduled to appear in court today. She is Nooshafarian Ravaghi. And she was arrested Thursday. She taught English as a second language at the jail. And according to authorities, she had some kind of connection to one of the escapees who, of course, remains at large.

Nine others connected to the inmates have also been arrested. Meantime, investigators think the inmates stole a white utility van and may be living in it.

CAMEROTA: Ethan Couch, the so-called affluenza teen is set to appear in a Texas court this morning. This detention hearing marks his first time before a U.S. judge since fleeing for Mexico with his mother last month. Couch returned to the U.S. Thursday where the sheriff described his demeanor as being compliant and docile. Couch was spared jail time for a deadly drunken driving conviction in 2013 in which he killed four people.

CUOMO: So, he says he raised $6 million for American veterans. That's a good thing, isn't it? That's the headline from Trump- apalooza event last night. So, why are some veterans unhappy? An Iraq war vet, now a member of Congress, talks to us about what really matters in this situation right now.

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[06:38:20] CUOMO: This morning, Donald Trump back on the campaign trail after his late night event for veterans. Trump says he raised $6 million. But was he exploiting the troops for political gain? That charge is being leveled.

Let's get perspective from someone who knows the election and veterans issues very well, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, Democrat representing Hawaii, obviously veteran, two tours of duty in the Middle East. Always good to see you, Congresswoman. Thank you for being with us.

REP. TULSI GABBARD (D), HAWAII: Thank you. Good to be here.

CUOMO: So, $6 million. Maybe, maybe not. We'll see. Let's leave that part to the side. That's fair.

Veterans groups, high -- big name ones, came out early here saying we don't like this. So we'll put up one of the statements from IAVA, you know, a big organization, Iraq and Afghanistan vets group there saying, Paul Rieckhoff saying this, "We're not taking the money. We don't want to be used for political stunts."

The frustration is, as we were talking about before, where are you on the issues that matter to us, not just Trump but all of them. Fair pushback from veterans or should they be happy with the money?

TULSI: No, look, I'm friends with Paul and work very closely with Iraq and Afghanistan veterans of America organization and other veterans organizations who does substantive work. And that's the frustration we hear from veterans across the country is with our Democratic and Republican candidates for president. Where are your detailed plans on how you are going to reform the V.A., so it is actually taking care of our veterans, giving them the timely care and benefits they deserved?

CUOMO: The how, not just the V.A. stinks?

GABBARD: We hear a lot of people saying "thank you, veterans, for your service, and we need to do more for veterans". But if you're asking to be our commander in chief, we want to know details from you on how you're going to fix the system that's been broken for far too long.

[06:40:08] We want to know how you will fix the waste and abuse and fraud that existed in the Department of Defense, so that we can better use those resources to strengthen our military and to take care of our troops who are still actively serving.

And last but not least, we want to know how U.S. commander in chief are going to stop sending our men and women in uniform into unnecessary counterproductive wars of choice, as we've seen in the past, as we are seeing play out now in Libya. We saw in 2011, the U.S. went over through Gadhafi, and now today, the administration is looking at how they can take U.S. military action to go against ISIS, al Qaeda, other Islamic extremist groups who are stronger because of our U.S. policy. And the same thing -- the very same thing is playing out in Syria today.

CUOMO: There are certainly plenty on the table. Trump didn't go to the debate last night. He says he didn't go because he had to stand up for his rights to be treated fairly. Do you buy that as a good rationale for not going to the debate?

GABBARD: The political punditry will talk about whether Trump is right or wrong, or whatever. If we want to talk about standing for rights, again, I would point back to let's talk about in detail veterans rights, what they have earned through their service and sacrifice, and not get on to any of these political high horses.

Let's get down to the substance here. We're several months away from November, and the American people deserve to know exactly what each of these candidates plans to do if they take the oval office in January of next year.

CUOMO: And the groups have been clear. They're not just coming at Trump. He was the guy raising money last night. But all of these candidates. There is a lot to be done past the lip service of "we all love the troops", easy to say. How do you prove it?

So, what are you doing in New York? This is not Hawaii the last time I checked. What brings you here?

GABBARD: It is a little colder than what I left a few days ago.

CUOMO: Warm hearts, though.

GABBARD: Absolutely warm hearts.

I'm here this morning to participate in an American Justice Summit to bring light and have in-depth conversations about the issue of criminal justice reform. You know, this is something President Obama mentioned within the first few minutes of his State of the Union speech. It's something that we've heard our Republican Speaker Paul Ryan talk about.

So, this is one of those rare issues that's long overdue for reform, but where issues we are seeing strong bipartisan support from some of the most liberal, political leaders to some of the most conservative political leaders, saying we've got to talk action on this and we've got to take action on it now.

CUOMO: What is the "this"? Give me two or three things you think has to change yesterday.

GABBARD: Well, I tell you about someone who I brought as my guest to the State of the Union because her story really illustrates one of the things that needs to change with these mandatory minimums.

Her name is Kemba Smith (ph). She was sent to prison, giving 24 1/2 year long sentence for being a first time nonviolent drug offender. She was dating a guy who was a drug defender. No possibility of parole. No possibility of early release.

She was eventually given clemency by President Clinton at the time and spent her life since trying to advocate for mentoring youth, keeping them from baking bad decisions, but also looking at criminal justice reform where you've got these very, very overly harsh penalties.

CUOMO: Sounds good on the stump but doesn't always get thought out. Let us now how that goes. We also know that Congresswoman Gabbard is one of those leading the fight to take a second look at what the U.S. is doing in Syria. Is that a military legal incursion there? Was it a right thing to do? We're tracking both of those.

GABBARD: Thanks, Chris.

CUOMO: Pleasure. Good to have you here.

Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: OK, Donald Trump, as you know, skipped his debate to do his own thing. He says his event raised millions of dollars for veterans. Is that true? And was it a winning move? Our media experts discuss, next.

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[06:48:25] CUOMO: Now, while Camerota is obsessed with a lot of the X's and O's of the Super Bowl, to see how she will cover some of the myriad of bets she has, after all the wagers on this upcoming game, one troubling note is what this means for Peyton Manning?

Let's bring in Andy Scholes with this morning's bleacher report.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

CUOMO: Could this be the big one, the last one for one of the greatest?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, that certainly is the speculation, Chris, this will be Peyton Manning's last hoorah. You know, after being the Patriot, NFL Films picked up Peyton telling Bill Belichick on the 50-yard line that this might in fact be his last rodeo. So, of course, the media in Denver, well, they tried their best idea to confirm that he is in fact, retiring. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEYTON MANNING, BRONCOS QUARTERBACK: What happened to conversations on the 50 yard line. I guess they don't exist anymore. So, no confirmation on that whatsoever. You know, as -- we are on to Carolina. We're on Carolina.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: So, Peyton was in the joking mood yesterday, also told the media he tried proposing a 9:00 curfew for the Broncos during the Super Bowl week, but that was not received very well by his teammates. Super Bowl 50 is, of course, nine days away.

All right. You've got to check this out. Arizona State taking on Oregon State last night. The Sun Devils students actually had a secret weapon to distract the shooter. It's Michael Phelps. He dances around, rocking his gold medals.

He causes the player to miss the first free throw. So then they close the curtain back up. And Phelps steps his game up and strips down to the Speedo. What happens?

[06:50:00] Of course, the player would go on to miss the second free throw. The crowd goes absolutely nuts.

Chris, what did you think? Could you make a free throw with Michael Phelps dancing behind you in a Speedo?

CAMEROTA: Yes, of course I could. I wouldn't be at all distracted by that.

SCHOLES: Wouldn't be distracted at all?

CAMEROTA: No, they took a page from Chris Farley's playbook.

CUOMO: The guys on the side.

CAMEROTA: Yes, that was the best "SNL" there skit.

CUOMO: Equally distracting, some say.

CAMEROTA: Indeed.

SCHOLES: I was looking right at the medals.

CAMEROTA: Wow. That's great.

All right, Andy. Thanks so much. Great to see you.

SCHOLES: All right.

CAMEROTA: Well, Donald Trump versus the Republican debate. The candidates battling it out for viewers last night and, of course, votes. So which was more successful and where does Trump's feud with FOX News stand now? We'll be right back.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I didn't want to be here I have to be honest I wanted to be about five minutes away. And I've enjoyed that. But you have to stick up for your rights. When you're treated badly, you have to stick up for your rights.

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CAMEROTA: All right. How effective was his decision to skip the debate last night? If you were flipping channels between the debate and Trump's event, this is some of what you would have seen. It was just an interesting split screen moment in American history there.

So, let's bring it down with our CNN senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES", Brian Stelter, and Bill Carter, CNN contributor and author of "The War for Late Night".

Guys, great to have you here.

Brian, I know the overnight numbers are in yet. [06:55:02] So we don't know who won the ratings war. But is this any

indication, the most searched for terms on Google search last night were Donald and Trump. And so, in terms of the interest and the internet, that's who got all the buzz.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: There was a lot more chatter on Twitter about Trump than there was about Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, more than double actually. There were more Google searches though for how to watch the debate than how to watch Trump. So, there is one indication to me that the debate will come out ahead in the ratings.

CAMEROTA: So, that's interesting. So, his name was searched but people were looking for the debate.

STELTER: As always, the chatter is still around him, even if you're watching the debate, you're Googling about Donald Trump, which might be revealing in and of it self. He dominated last night. I think he was the show. And in some ways, the debate was the side show.

BILL CARTER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: A lot of the debate was still about him even though he wasn't there. And his presence seems to overwhelm. The fact that his plane was landing was new. They were concentrating on all the side story.

STELTER: The debate itself was just a draw. There was no stand-out moment. I'm not sure there was a clip from last night that's going to be broadcasted a year from now.

CARTER: You can argue there wasn't a star on the stage except for Megyn Kelly, which is sort of ironic.

STELTER: She is getting high marks this morning.

CAMEROTA: That is interesting, and that leads us to Donald Trump's feud -- ongoing feud with FOX News. Last night, he went to great pains to say they buried the hatchet. He said top FOX executives had called him repeatedly and pleaded with him to show up at the debate. He also said they apologized to them.

FOX has a different characterization. They put out a statement. Let me read them to you. "Roger Ailes had three brief conversations with Donald Trump today about possibly appearing at the debate. There were not multiple calls placed by Ailes to Trump." But three is, actually.

CARTER: Three sounds multiple.

CAMEROTA: So that's confusing.

Trump offered to appear at the debate upon the condition that FOX News contribute $5 million to his charities. We explained this was not possible and we could not engage in a quid pro quo, nor could any money change hands for any reason."

Where does this stand now?

STELTER: Clearly, there is still a lot of animosity.

CARTER: There is, but it is interesting to me that Ailes made that approach. He was still, you know, supposedly, this is, you know, at war, his statement in flamed it. He did something to soften it. You saw Trump say, oh, they were very nice to me. They were very accommodating to me.

CAMEROTA: He said they apologized. He didn't say who. But he said FOX apologized.

(CROSSTALK)

STELTER: And notice that FOX is not saying they apologized. They're saying they acknowledged his concerns.

CARTER: Right.

STELTER: Ever had that in a relationship, Alisyn, where someone thinks you apologized and you didn't actually apologize? That might have happened here. And the source at FOX told me overnight, this continues to be very ugly between the network and Trump. I noticed in their coverage since the debate, they are downplaying Trump. They are talking a lot about the other candidates and trying to take the spotlight off Trump as much as they can.

CARTER: If he wins Iowa and he wins New Hampshire, they have to deal with him as the likely winner.

STELTER: That's the big question.

CARTER: They can't run away from the guy. They can't keep the friction going.

CAMEROTA: I mean, there you have. It's also fascinating to watch these two titans, Roger Ailes and Donald Trump, these two showmen, who know it better than possibly anybody else in the country of how to put on a production. They are supposed to be on the same side. I mean, they're both supposed to be --

STELTER: They are natural allies. Successful, conservative businessmen who know how to put on a show. Ailes had a podium sitting on the side of the stage, just in case Trump showed up. I thought in some ways Trump's event was anticlimactic, you know, because he didn't make a surprise appearance, because he didn't much --

(CROSSTALK)

CARTER: There wasn't any conflict in his show. Really that's what you need in television is a little bit of conflict.

STELTER: That's why it had to be a split screen debate or a kind of remote control moment where you were flipping back and forth between the debate and Trump because that was the conflict.

CAMEROTA: Donald Trump continues to call Megyn Kelly names. He continues to tweet out. This is what he does to journalists who he is not happy with.

STELTER: Which is troubling.

CAMEROTA: It is troubling. It does have is a chilling effect. You do watch your words more. You don't want all of his Twitter followers to come after you with all of that Twitter hate.

But she took the high road last night. I mean, she sort of -- the very first question she asked about Donald Trump and then tried to move on.

CARTER: That's true. Afterwards, it was a little bit more -- her commentary was more like --

CAMEROTA: Such as?

CARTER: She was talking to Cruz and to people how it went. There was a little more about that. She is handling it as well as she can, because I think she's in his bullseye. It is not a pleasant place to be in his bullseye.

STELTER: The view from Kelly's side is Trump is determined to drum her out of the election coverage altogether. If that's the goal, Trump has not succeeded.

CARTER: No, that's not going to happen.

CAMEROTA: There you go. Bill, Brian, thank you. Great to talk to you, guys.

STELTER: You too.

CAMEROTA: We're following a lot of news this morning, including last night's debate and the impact on Monday's caucus. So let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: We had about 24 hours to put this together. I didn't want to be here, I have to be honest.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Gosh, if you say one more mean question, I may have to leave the stage.

TRUMP: When you're treated badly, you have to stick up for your rights.