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Republican and Democratic Presidential Candidates Campaign in Iowa; Interview with Senator Rand Paul; Clinton Discusses Email Controversy; Democratic Race Too Close To Call In Iowa; Clinton, Sanders Make Final Pitch To Voters. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired February 01, 2016 - 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: That means it will come to turnout on the ground. Every campaign is saying we believe the enthusiasm is going to translate into more caucus-goers, 99 counties, 600 precincts all going to coming to life tonight.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And if the polls are right every vote will matter. On the Republican side Donald Trump widening his lead over Ted Cruz while Hillary Clinton tries to fend off Bernie Sanders and reverse the momentum loss that she suffered here eight years ago.

We have the Iowa caucuses covered the way only CNN can. So let's start with the Democrats and bring in CNN senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny. Good morning, Jeff.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. As Hillary Clinton told you a few moments ago, she's the better candidate. The question is, is she running better campaign? By all accounts she is. But Bernie Sanders believes he can shake up the dynamic of this caucus campaign and inspire hundreds and hundreds and thousands of new young supporters. If they come out tonight it can change the course of this Democratic race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: A furious fight to the finish.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will fight for you in the White House.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It sounds like you want to make a political revolution.

ZELENY: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders circling Iowa one last time. The closing stretch is all about campaign mechanics.

CLINTON: Let's start a storm of movement towards the future that we want to make together.

ZELENY: It's the Super Bowl of politics, but the season isn't over, it's just beginning. The Test of Campaign organization will set the tone for the rest of the 2016 race. Sanders announced a Sunday bombshell, he raised $20 million in January, an average donation of $27. Big crowds throwing their support behind their candidate.

SANDERS: Never in a million years would I have thought this possible.

ZELENY: Soaring crowds for Clinton, too, even as the State Department e-mail investigation hangs over the campaign.

CLINTON: This is very much like Benghazi. Republicans are going to continue to use it, beat up on me. I understand that.

ZELENY: The race could be decided by one key demographic, women voters. Sanders holds a large lead among women under 45. Clinton has the same edge among women over 45. Amy Guiter supported Clinton eight years ago in Iowa. Now she's leaning Sanders.

Do you think she will be disappointed to hear that, that someone who caucused for her eight years ago is unsure if they will caucus for her this time?

AMY GUITER, IOWA VOTER: Yes, she would probably be disappointed. I would be.

ZELENY: But Marcella says it is past time to shatter that class ceiling.

MARCELA NEKOLA, IOWA VOTER: I think it is history in the making and I hope we are part of it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: OK, on the Republican side, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz hoping to get their supporters out in force and come away with a win. With such a deep Republican field, could a surprise be waiting in the wings? CNN Sunlen Serfaty has more on that. Good morning, Sunlen.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. This is really a race for first between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. The polls have them so close. But equally important is that battle for the third spot. If Marco Rubio is able to close the gap and have a strong showing tonight that could change the dynamics of this race going forward.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You haven't had a winner in Iowa in 16 years. We are going to have a winner, you better believe it.

SERFATY: Republicans in Iowa are waking up to the final pitches from 12 GOP hopefuls.

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R-TX) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to ask everyone here to vote for me 10 times.

SERFATY: The presidential candidates in red spreading across the Hawkeye state, arming themselves with pointed criticism and humor.

CRUZ: Next cycle I think Lady Gaga is running. SERFATY: Donald Trump is only five points ahead of Senator Ted Cruz

in the most recent "Des Moines Register" poll. The frontrunner is feeling the heat.

TRUMP: He wants to pretend he is Robin Hood, he's going to protect everybody from Wall Street.

SERFATY: Continuing to suggest Cruz has it in with big banks.

TRUMP: He forgot to mention that he's borrowed a lot of money at almost no interest from Goldman Sachs and from Citibank.

SERFATY: And may not be eligible for the presidency.

TRUMP: If he becomes the candidate it is possible he can't even run according to a lot of people.

SERFATY: Cruz rolling out conservative celebrities to strike back.

PHIL ROBERTSON, "DUCK DYNASTY" STAR: For all you ladies, there will be a duck call.

SERFATY: From "Duck Dynasty" star Phil Robertson --

ROBERTSON: Let's try one more time to get Trump. Let's call Donald duck to come meet with Cruz and debate.

SERFATY: To radio host Glenn Beck begging Iowans not to vote for Trump.

GLENN BECK, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: For my children's sake, please, dear God, if you are thinking about it, go to the bar tomorrow instead.

(LAUGHTER)

SERFATY: With so many other candidates polling in the single digits, there is still a large percentage of Iowa voters who, if swayed, could turn the tide for one of the frontrunners.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R-FL) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We cannot win if we are divided.

SERFATY: Still, no candidate is giving up hope.

[08:05:03] JEB BUSH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I believe I'm going to win the nomination.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: All right, joining us now is Republican senator and presidential candidate Rand Paul. Doctor, it's good to have you with us. What are you hearing from your ground forces in terms of what they think about participation tonight?

SEN. RAND PAUL, (R-KY) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have a great deal of enthusiasm. We were at the University of Iowa last night. We had 1,500 students show up, a raucous rally. They are ready to caucus today. The young people that are in our headquarters that made a million phone calls, a million, a million phone calls. And I don't know if they reach them all but that's how many they dialed out. It's still an extraordinary amount of number of calls.

We also have about 1,100 precinct chairs. These are people who show up tonight and speak for me at the caucus. We think we are going to surprise a lot of people. We think our main portion is younger voters, and younger voters, if you look at the polls, many times there is nobody under 30. Often there's very few people under 40. So pollsters are having trouble getting anybody much less any young people to answer.

CAMEROTA: One interesting thing about Iowa is that candidates are allowed to go to the caucus night and cajole people. Where are you going to be spending the night?

PAUL: I will be in Lynn County up near Cedar Rapids tonight, and I will give a seven minute speech I think maybe twice to two different groups. There will be about 4,000 people. It will be the biggest grouping of people in Iowa in one place. Some precincts are 100 people, some are 50, some are 10. My wife will also speak in Des Moines, all my brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews.

CUOMO: So you have 13 family members out there?

PAUL: I think the youngest one that will speak is 16.

CUOMO: So obviously they are not caucus-goers. Specifically when you get to have your own surrogates go in, a big difference between democrat and GOP running of this. It is interesting that the parties run this and not state government, so there is always a little bit of intrigue there, is that you will get proportionate vote counts on the GOP side. The Democrats just deal with delegates. That is why you are trying to concentrate where you go to get the most available. So what is proposition of voters from your perspective? If there is Trump and Cruz as their options, where do you fit in? Why do they need you on that slate?

PAUL: I think my message is a distinct one in the Republican Party. I'm the saying making the sand glow in the Middle East, carpet bombing the Middle East, may actually create more terrorists than you kill. That our foreign policy needs to be more reasoned and balanced. You have people on the stage like Christie saying he is eager to shoot down Russian planes. We had 70 years in the cold war, Republican and Democrat, trying to avoid an altercation with a superpower, with a nuclear superpower.

I think the main thing that you need if you want to try to find a solution is a ceasefire. And actually I think Russia can be part of finding the ceasefire. They have been in Syria for 50 years and have a base. They're not leaving. And so we can wish and wish and wish and say we wish they weren't there. They are there. They can be part of the solution. They were part of removing the chemical weapons. I think they can also be part of ultimately Assad going into asylum in Russia. If you had a ceasefire there I think all of a sudden then ISIS is completely surrounded and has no place to go and I think in short order it can be finished off.

CAMEROTA: If you don't come in in the top three in Iowa tonight then what?

PAUL: We'll see. We want to wait and count the votes. We are sort of tired of everything being predetermined by polling. Everything has been circled around polling more than any other season I have ever seen in residential politics because there are so many people making a decision if you look at the polls. The polls have been notoriously wrong. So we will wait and see what the vote looks like. We think we are going to surprise a lot of people.

CUOMO: Notoriously wrong. Every year presents a new set of variables. But instead, except for 2012, "The Register" has nailed it since 2008 in terms of what they think is going to happen. Of course you should be optimistic. The caucus hasn't even started yet. It's 7:00 p.m. central. But you do have -- the life line now is shorter than it was three months ago. You are going to have to make hard decisions after what point? This, New Hampshire, South Carolina, can you go further than that if you not in the top five?

PAUL: We are on the ballot in all 50 states. That is no small achievement. We did a lot of work to get on the ballot. Many of the candidates haven't done that. We're on in all 50 states.

CUOMO: The party will come to you and say, are you here for us or are you're here just for you?

PAUL: The party hasn't always been here for me either.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: We will see. We won't make any decisions until we count the votes. I grew up as an athlete. I swam in college. You go into the race trying to win. You don't go into the race saying, I'll place third. If I go fourth I'm going home. We go into the race planning on winning and we will see what happens. The kids that are working for us have worked so hard they deserve to have an open slate until the election occurs.

CAMEROTA: Some pundits this morning have said some of Donald Trump's rivals, maybe you among them, regret not going after him more forcefully earlier and that it is a runaway Trump train.

[08:10:05] PAUL: I started from the very first question in the very first debate going after him.

CAMEROTA: But do you think that people have treated him with kid gloves too much?

PAUL: Some maybe, and some maybe have a strategy to lay off. I have always felt like there is nothing about Donald Trump that is consistent with the limited government philosophy. I think what his pitch to voters is he has been a successful businessman, which is actually debatable sometime. But he is a successful, rich guy, so give him power and he will fix things.

Many of us from the limited government tradition, we believe power is a corrupting influence and we want to limit power, Republican or Democrat. We think the presidency has grown in power for 100 years, not just President Obama but really from Woodrow Wilson on, power and power have gravitated to the executive branch and Congress has become weaker and weaker. We think the checks and balances have gotten out of balance. We don't see somebody like Donald Trump fixing that. We see somebody like Donald Trump being an unknown factor who actually might make government bigger.

CUOMO: Do you think Trump is the worst choice on the GOP slate?

PAUL: Yes, because I think there is a narcissism about him that believes that he can fix things and he just needs power. But I have no idea if that is consistent with balancing budgets, making government smaller. I think it is more about power with him, and that worries me because I don't know exactly what his philosophy is other than him first is his philosophy.

CAMEROTA: Senator Rand Paul, we'll be watching. Thanks for stopping by on NEW DAY.

After Iowa the race moves to New Hampshire. CNN will have a very special event in the granite state. All three Democratic presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O'Malley, will take part in a live presidential town hall on Wednesday night moderated by Anderson Cooper at 8:00 p.m. eastern right here on CNN. Yours went so well they are doing it again.

CUOMO: The voters like the format. They like to see the candidates not taking shots at each other because they are not on stage at the same time. It is a little bit easier, and they have to deal with questions from voters.

CAMEROTA: Cut out the middle man. Just go directly between voter and politician.

CUOMO: When asked a question a politician has leeway. But it's different. If you are a voter and you were asking and I ignore it, it doesn't play the same way to voters.

CAMEROTA: Yes, absolutely. So tonight, will Hillary Clinton "feel the Bern" and settle for second behind Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, or will the polls be true? Can she slay the ghost of 2008 and win Iowa? We will talk about all of that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:32:30] CUOMO: Hillary Clinton says she is feeling great on this Iowa caucus day, but she still hasn't been able to fully shake her e- mail controversy. Alisyn asked Clinton about that in the last hour. Here is what the Democratic candidate had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There is nothing new. And I think the facts are quite helpful here. It's a little bit like what the Republicans and others have tried to do with respect to Benghazi. Just a lot of innuendo, a lot of attacks.

I just know that after I testified for 11 hours, answered every question, nothing new came up. Most voters have made up their minds. And I'm grateful for that. The same here. And I think most of the voters who have followed this know exactly what's going on here.

I never made any different explanation than the one that I have made over and over again. I take classified information seriously. I did not send or receive any material marked classified and I want all of these released. This is a dispute about retroactive classification, quite a mouthful.

So what people talk to me about is how I'm going to get incomes up, how I'm going to make sure the Affordable Care Act works, and get prescription drug costs down, and make college affordable, and relieve student debt.

That's what's on voters' minds and that's what I'm talking about. And that seems to be what is exciting and energizing people as they move toward the caucus tonight.

CAMEROTA: But Secretary Clinton, something does seem to be happening with this investigation, or at least the FBI seems to be talking about it more, because in the past week several media outlets have said that their sources in the FBI say, quote, "something's going to happen." What does that mean to you?

CLINTON: It means that people are selectively leaking and making comments that have no basis in anything I'm aware of. And, you know, I regret that that seems to be part of the atmosphere because we need to let this inquiry run its course, get it resolved.

But I can tell you, Alisyn, that is not on the minds of the literally thousands of people that I have seen in the last few weeks and I'm glad it isn't because the facts are the facts.

CAMEROTA: Yesterday "The New York Times" endorsed you. They wrote that you are the right choice in terms of experience and vision. I'm sure that was music to your ears. Do you think "The New York Times" endorsement plays in Iowa?

CLINTON: Well, I don't know. But I know "The Des Moines Register" does and they endorsed me. I know "The Boston Globe" matters and a lot of the newspapers in New Hampshire that have endorsed me.

And this is very gratifying because, yes, there is a lot of static that goes on and the Republicans and their allies are determined to do everything they can to try to bring me down.

They don't know me very well because I don't quit when I'm fighting for what I believe in. And I believe that I can be the president who makes progress with people. And I'm just going to stick with it. (END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: All right. Joining us now, David Gregory, former moderator of "Meet The Press" and former White House correspondent for NBC News as well as our CNN political commentators, Ana Navarro, a Jeb Bush supporter and friend of Marco Rubio, and Ryan Lizza, Washington correspondent for the "New Yorker."

Great to have all of you here at the Mars Cafe. They are treating us so well. Ana, let me start with you about what you just heard Secretary Clinton say.

Is it true that Democrats will overlook whatever is going on with the e-mails and Republicans it drives them crazy and they want to dig in and that is where they want to be?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, I thought it was no coincidence that she brought up the Benghazi hearing.

[08:20:07]That might have been the best day she has had in this campaign for the last ten months. She is trying to remind Democrats of that. I think Democrats should be worried.

There is a big question mark hanging over her head. We don't know where this is going to lead. This is an investigation. This is not chopped liver.

Pay attention. I think Republicans should be talking about it less because it does make her look like a victim and it does work in her favor. But you know, when you look at that interview, it is such a contrast with Bernie Sanders.

I mean, she is so scripted, so tense, so wary, so careful, so guarded that I think that is the problem she is having. Her problem is not the e-mails. Her problem is not Benghazi. Her problem is Hillary Clinton and that she is boring the Democrats.

CUOMO: Ryan, isn't it a fair rejoinder to Ana's very well put argument? That people are asking her if she is going to go to jail. These are always in the context of potential criminality rightly or wrongly. She is not named in any FBI investigation. Is that true?

Yes. Is it is distinction with a difference? I would suggest yes because the DOJ winds up naming who is a target and who is not. And everyone thinks that it relates to her and is a perception of reality on that issue?

RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right. I mean, look the first thing to say is Hillary Clinton has been around for a long time in politics and it seems that we are back to the 1990s in some way.

She is not even the nominee of her party and she is sitting asking questions about an ongoing investigation. I mean, it just seems that for some Democratic voters that's go to weigh on them.

Now the great thing for her is they don't really have a choice. They don't really have -- Bernie Sanders has excited a lot of people. He has done a great job organizing, but I don't think a lot of Democrats believe that he is --

CUOMO: You don't think he's Barack Obama in --

LIZZA: He is obviously not Barack Obama. He is what was left when all the other candidates decided not to run against her because they thought she was so strong. I don't think -- this is probably one of the reasons the Sanders campaign has been hitting her hard on this.

I don't think a lot of partisan progressive Democrats are worked up about this scandal or any of the Clinton scandals. It sort of baked into their decision making, right.

So I don't think that Sanders is going to go a lot harder on this if the Justice Department takes this more seriously and starts looking at this more aggressively. She'll have problems on her own. Sanders doesn't need to talk about it.

DAVID GREGORY, FORMER MODERATOR, "MEET THE PRESS": This is an investigation. She is making a political argument right now with Republicans, which is all fine and there can be the political argument. If it becomes an investigation on the order where it becomes a question of breaking the law that is a different proposition.

Then it gets beyond the politics of it because you have the government looking into this. This isn't just staff on Capitol Hill who are Republicans leaking this.

I think Ana is right on. This is not Iowa 2008. I don't think voters are looking for a hero this time around. They are anxious and angry. She is making an argument that I can get the job done.

Bernie Sanders is taking on the system, but this isn't about hope and change. I don't know if it is hopeful but let's change everything.

And I think that is a much bigger earthquake right now. I don't think people are swooning for Hillary in that regard. I think she is making a different argument.

NAVARRO: That to me is the remarkable part. This is not Barack Obama 2008. This is a rather cranky 74-year-old self-described socialist from Vermont who has got Hillary Clinton who we all thought was the anointed one a few months ago on the --

CAMEROTA: You dismiss the poll numbers.

NAVARRO: He is not a progressive Democrat.

LIZZA: Sanders could win in Iowa and New Hampshire. I think he looks a lot like the traditional candidates that always give the establishment frontrunner in the Democratic Party a tough time and then fail to expand their coalition after the states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

CUOMO: Nationally Sanders is getting huge pour out of crowds and contributors across the country.

LIZZA: It happened with Mondale in '84 and Bradley Gore in 2000. It happened with Obama/Hillary in 2008. The difference is Obama unlike those other candidates put together a much broader coalition.

GREGORY: Hillary is not a new phenomenon. There is not this idea that -- it is novel to have a woman as president and that is what she is banking on in terms of what draws people out to her.

[08:25:01]But she doesn't represent this fresh air in the political system. She is not that. She is saying I'm not that. I can get this stuff done. That is the argument.

NAVARRO: Why the rallies are so huge? Because he is authentic. Whether you like it or not he is giving voice to the angst and the anger and the frustration. He is cutting through the packaging that all politicians feed us. He is not poll tested and doesn't test every word he says.

CUOMO: Apply that standard to Jeb Bush.

NAVARRO: Apply that standard --

CUOMO: Standard, Ana, apply that standard about authenticity.

NAVARRO: He is being the Jeb Bush that he is. Maybe that is a problem. People want an angry person. People want somebody giving voice to the angst and that frustration. Jeb Bush is the guy who wants to give solutions, pragmatic, who is not about the world --

GREGORY: Jeb Bush said early that performance is not part of running for the presidency. I don't know where he has been.

NAVARRO: I think he has changed his mind.

GREGORY: That is a huge piece of it this year more than ever. The conservative movement is about a feeling. It is not about issues. It's about how you are making people feel.

NAVARRO: I had this argument with Jeb so many times. Jeb, you have to perform. He thought it was not dignified that when you are running for president it -- I will tell you he has a media coach.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Thank you very much. We appreciate it.

CUOMO: Don't make mama raise her voice. Tomorrow the morning after the Iowa caucuses we are live from the next big place to be, Manchester, New Hampshire.

At that point, you will be miming tomorrow morning but Alyson will be there with me. The granite state is the next big place. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. New Hampshire only matters because of what happened in Iowa. Tonight it all begins. The first real poll that matters when voters actually caucus here in Iowa. The big question in the GOP side is do you pick Cruz or do you pick Trump? Who has to come in third and in what way? Glen Beck is big for Cruz. Why? He tells us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)