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Final Iowa Push; Glenn Beck on Trump; Jane Sanders on Her Husband's Campaign. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired February 01, 2016 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:31:37] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JONI ERNST (R), IOWA: A great, very warm, heartfelt welcome to Senator Marco Rubio, my friend (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: That's Senator Joni Ernst. One of the reasons she's so wildly popular here in Iowa, we're talking about her Harley right now. Forget about these caucuses, we're talking about the hog. And we know her history talking about how they deal with (INAUDIBLE) here in Iowa that made her so popular.

Let's bring in Senator Joni Ernst right now.

SEN. JONI ERNST (R), IOWA: Hey, Chris. Thank you.

CUOMO: It's great to have you.

ERNST: Thanks for being here in Iowa.

CUOMO: Oh, man, beautiful place and it's nice that it's - it's so relevant, especially this year.

ERNST: Yes.

CUOMO: We know that's debatable. It's not debatable here on this show this morning.

ERNST: Right.

CUOMO: You were just there for Marco Rubio. And you say he's a friend. You're out there talking about him. Not an official endorsement. Don't play politics with me, senator. Are you all in for Rubio?

ERNST: I tell you - well, I am all in for our Republican candidates. I'll put it like that. I've got a lot of friends that are in this race and we have a great slate of candidates, some good policy behind those candidates. So I haven't endorsed.

CUOMO: Why?

ERNST: I - I won't be endorsing. Because I think Iowans really need to get out there and they need to take a look at the candidates. And we want someone that will be reflective of their values. So -

CUOMO: But you could have stayed out of it. You didn't.

ERNST: So, we'll see.

CUOMO: You're not someone who beats around the bush. That's why I'm - I'm talking to you about it.

ERNST: Right.

CUOMO: What's the calculation here?

ERNST: Well, the calculation is that a lot of people are very upset with Washington, D.C., right now and so you're seeing that frustration as it pertains to the votes and what we might see in caucus turnout tonight. We're expecting record numbers. And if the weather holds off, that's what we're going to get.

CUOMO: You deserve thanks for your service.

ERNST: Oh, thank you.

CUOMO: Not in politics. Nobody thanks you for that.

ERNST: Thank you.

CUOMO: But you are a retired Iowa National Guard. The military matters not just because you serve but you understand it.

ERNST: (INAUDIBLE).

CUOMO: When you look at your slate, who do you think is making the best case for keeping America safe?

ERNST: Well, we've got a number of folks. Of course, you know, I have friends that I serve with in the Senate, so they have been actively engaged in those discussions. So I think they're great candidates. But when I look at our Republican ticket and the Democratic ticket, you will hear Republicans talking about issues of foreign policy and keeping our nation safe. I'm not hearing that so much from Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders.

CUOMO: Well, we all talk about it. It's about who has the best ideas to do something.

ERNST: But who has those ideas?

CUOMO: Who is saying something on the GOP side that's different than what we're doing right now? As you've learned, it's easy to say, we don't have a strategy.

ERNST: Right. It's easy -

CUOMO: What's different?

ERNST: And - CUOMO: Who do you hear that's different?

ERNST: Well, again, I think fellows that I've worked with in the Senate, you know, there are some that will rise to the top because they have experience in those areas. We have - and that's another great thing too is that we have a wide swath of experience out there, whether it's folks that have served in the Senate, they've been governors, you name it, business men, we have it. And Iowans will have the choice tonight who they're going to support and what they think is important.

CUOMO: What do you think of Trump? Do you think he deserves the nomination?

ERNST: I think that we will see a lot of folks coming out to support Trump. I think he - he has been very provocative and he has spoken what I think a lot of people are thinking in the back of their minds but they don't want to verbally say out loud.

CUOMO: Is that a good thing, by the way?

ERNST: I don't know. I don't know that it is. It could be. It's gained him a lot of support. But, again, when we come down to policy, we want to make sure that our policies are right for America.

[08:35:05] CUOMO: Do you think he's as conservative as you are, as conservative as he needs to be?

ERNST: I - I don't think he's as conservative as I am necessarily. But again, Iowa voters are going to have to make that decision. Do they want someone that has really spoken very clearly about what their conservative policies are or do they want somebody that's a little more provocative and on the edge?

CUOMO: So the state of play right now is Trump seems to have a lead in most of the polls. It's very close.

ERNST: Yes, it is.

CUOMO: Turnout's going to be a big deal. The register is saying they think the projection is about normal turnout, but we never know.

ERNST: Right. Right.

CUOMO: Especially last cycle, we didn't get it right at all, right?

ERNST: Right. Right.

CUOMO: If it's Trump or Cruz coming out of Iowa, are you OK?

ERNST: I am OK, yes. I am OK, because, again, at the end of the day, whoever our nominee is on that Republican ticket, I will be supporting that person because I think the ideas that we have coming out of the right are far better reflective and good for our nation than - than what I see maybe coming from the left.

CUOMO: Do you think Trump has as good a chance of beating the eventual Democrat as Cruz or Rubio?

ERNST: That's a tough one. That is a tough one, because it is going to come down to, whoever that person is, can they unite the party? And if we can unite the party and get out the vote, then, yes, we can do that.

Thank you, Chris. Thank you.

CUOMO: Senator Joni Ernst, I look forward to taking a ride with you some day here in Iowa.

ERNST: Thanks so much. Absolutely. I look forward to it.

CUOMO: And, again, thank you for your service.

ERNST: Thank you. My pleasure. Thank you.

CUOMO: Senator Joni Ernst, big deal here in Iowa. That's why we have her on to talk about it. The names in play, you know them all, right? You have Donald Trump. You have Senator Ted Cruz. He's hoping for big turnout here to beat Donald Trump, invigorating the evangelical base, the conservative base. Can he do it and why? Supporter Glenn Beck joins us next to make the case.

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[08:40:46] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, the candidates duke it out for the top spot in Iowa. And the latest Republican polls show Donald Trump widening his lead over Senator Ted Cruz. Joining us now to talk about all of this is Glenn Beck. He's a Ted Cruz supporter and he's also, of course, the founder of TheBlaze and a nationally syndicated radio host.

Glenn, great to see you.

GLENN BECK, FOUNDER, THEBLAZE: Good to see you. How are you, Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: I'm doing well. Excuse my voice. I'm fighting a bit of a cold. But don't worry about that. I feel fine.

Let's talk about what happened over this weekend. And you were stumping for Ted Cruz. You have endorsed Ted Cruz. You support him. And on the stump in Iowa you told the voters there at an event, "for the sake of my children, don't vote for Trump." What's the risk to your kids, Glenn?

BECK: I think Donald Trump is a very dangerous man. If you see, NBC just purchased a documentary from the BBC that - that at some point in the future they - of a woman, one of the anchors on the BBC, that did a documentary and had a horrible experience with Donald Trump. A disturbing experience. And she's not the only woman. Megyn Kelly is going through a little bit of that herself.

He's a man who sets out to destroy anything that he can't have if he doesn't get his own way. He's - he has, I think, some - some very disturbing traits that America should pay attention to. He's a man who said, you know, I will - I've slept with people's wives, blah, blah, blah, and yet he has also said that he's never had to ask God for forgiveness for anything he's done. He's a narcissist to the highest level. And that's exactly the wrong person to put into the Oval Office.

And I - I - I understand the frustration of some of his voters, but the thing that we have to look for is, you know, no one man can make America great. It is - it is we, the people. It is the people. And having the government get out of the way of the people that makes America great. The dreamers at Google, the dreamers at Microsoft, they didn't need the government to do it. They needed the restraint of the government. They now say - Bill Gates says he couldn't have started Microsoft now in today's environment. That's what hurts America. And we need to return to our constitutional principles. And that's something that all Americans used to agree on. But now we're playing this - we're in this culture where celebrity wins. That - that - those aren't principles. That's a game show.

CAMEROTA: Well, I mean - but I want to ask you about that, Glenn, because what is it that you understand that some very high profile conservatives don't understand about Trump, such as Sarah Palin, who's endorsed him.

BECK: Oh, I could -

CAMEROTA: As you know, Jerry Falwell Jr., Ann Coulter, Ted Nugent, Sheriff Joe Arpaio. They believe that he's a genuine conservative and a good candidate. So what don't they get?

BECK: I don't know. I've - I've tried to think of - I've tried to think that one through and I can't come up with any answer that is satisfying, at least to me. I think there's a lot of games. I've talked to - I've talked to at least one very high profile evangelical who I tried to corner and say, what is it? Please help me, I want to understand, how can you listen to what he is saying? And the answer came back to me, Glenn, you know all of the work that we're trying to do all around the world. Yes. He's a very generous man. Well, that, to me, sounds like bribery.

But - and I don't know if that's what's happening with people. I don't know if they're captivated by his power and personality and his friendship. I don't know. But his principles are wrong. The - the - the key here, though, is, Ted Cruz's principles are right. If you were part of the Tea Party, if you were part of this movement that said we want to restore the constitutional powers of the president, this is the guy that you've been looking for. Ted Cruz is the guy who says, (INAUDIBLE) the power of the Oval Office. It's bad for Democrats. It's bad for Republicans. It's bad for all Americans to continue to expand the power of the Oval Office.

[08:45:01] We're - we're not -- the scriptures say that, you know, every time people will cry out for a king and then they'll get a king and then they're destroyed. We're crying out for a king. We should not be crying out for a king. We should be returning to the constitutional underpinnings that made America great in the first place. CAMEROTA: But Glenn, what do you say to people -- and, you know, there

is a chorus of voices that say that Ted Cruz is not likable enough to be president?

BECK: He is only unlikable by the establishment. He is only unlikable by the Democrats and the Republicans who want to make deals. He is only unlikable by many members of the media. This is a false narrative that is going on that he is unlikable. He is liked by an awful lot of people. Just not the people who want to make deals.

Last night I was in Iowa and I talked to a crowd there and I said look, there is a difference. When the Constitutional Convention happened it was New York that said I need pork. They want us to come back with the Articles of Confederation, not a new Constitution. We need some pork for the people. And they argued about it. Ben Franklin and George Washington sat up and said let's raise the standard that the wise and the honest can repair, meaning let's do this one thing right. Let's not compromise our principles. We can compromise and we can make deals on many things, but never our principles. And that's what's happening. And that's where the anger is coming from.

On the left, why are you looking for Bernie Sanders? You are looking at Bernie Sanders because you know Clinton is undercutting your basic principles. She is not doing what she says she is doing. She is working for some other set of principles. The same thing with the Republican Party. Go back to the principles that we all have in common, truth, justice and the American way rooted in the Constitution.

CAMEROTA: Glenn Beck, always great to get your take on things.

BECK: Great to talk to you.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.

BECK: Good to see you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Well Bernie Sanders -- You too, Glenn. Bernie Sanders building on momentum in Iowa in a dead heat today with Hillary Clinton. Does he have a shot at the general election? The senator's wife sits down with Chris exclusively for a live interview next.

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[08:51:20] CUOMO: All right. Senator Bernie Sanders making his final pitch to Iowa voters ahead of tonight's caucus. Starts at 7:00 p.m. central, by the way. Just hours away. The presidential candidate's wife Jane Sanders joins us now in a CNN exclusive. Her first live TV interview. How are you?

JANE SANDERS, BERNIE SANDERS' WIFE: Nice to be here.

CUOMO: So, let's answer that question. How are you? This is a big -- You have been in lots of campaigns with the senator. Not like this one. Do you think you have seen your husband change in this race? SANDERS: In some ways, he seems to be more relaxed and more funny

sometimes, right, I mean, when you talk to him. But no, not in terms of issues and in terms of his principles, he is very strongly the same person. He hasn't compromised them. It has been very exciting to watch him. I think we have been very surprised at not the resonance of his ideas, but of his -- of the fervor of the support.

CUOMO: So deal with the hard stuff. Yes, he has got huge crowds coming out. Yes, millions of contributors in small dollar amounts speaks to the populism of it. What's the knock? Not electable, he's too much on the fringe, gets people's hearts going, but eventually he will fall. Do you believe that?

SANDERS: Not at all. Not at all.

CUOMO: Of course you don't. Why not?

SANDERS: That has always been the wrap on Bernie. Everybody always says he can't win. He won the mayor's race by ten votes. Ten people had stayed home and bought the "he is not electable," we wouldn't be here today. So every vote and every caucus member counts. They said he couldn't be a Congressman. He lost the first election because the voters bought that, he lost by three percentage points. The next time -- when they woke up the next morning they said oh, he could have been elected had he not just voted -- because we thought he couldn't be. The next time he won by 17 percent.

CUOMO: What do you tell people who say his ideas are so out there in terms of what is being done in Washington right now, he won't be able to get it done?

SANDERS: That's not true. I mean, I think his ideas are the same as the ideas of the American people. We want -- Everybody wants to raise the minimum wage. Not everybody, but --

CUOMO: That's true. Not everybody necessarily.

SANDERS: But the ideas are mainstream, really. There is nothing totally -- There is nothing radical about him. He is -- everything thinks that he can't get things done, but you've watched him on the Veterans Bill. I mean, he got the only piece of significant legislation through the Congress last year by working with the Republicans, with Jeff Miller in the House and John McCain in the Senate. He fights for what he believes in and then gets it done however he can. And I think he is respected by his colleagues.

CUOMO: So those are the knocks. Now let's talk about the pluses. Something we were talking about before you came on. Everybody in the race can tell you why they should win and what they want to do for you. It is the rare candidate who would rather lose to hold on to something than win an election and move away from what is inside their head and their heart. Does Senator Sanders have those qualities that he would rather lose this race than get elected by going in a different direction?

SANDERS: Absolutely. He will not compromise his principles. We won't run negative campaigns. He wants to invigorate our democracy to get people interested in democracy to give them something to vote for, not something to vote against. He won't start to temper his ideas because the ideas are too big because some people say it can't be done. If there is no vision, if there is no plan to try to get it done, it definitely won't get done.

[08:55:10] CUOMO: So Jane and Bernie both from Brooklyn. You're like from the sophisticated part of Brooklyn. How come you don't sound like more like me and Bernie?

SANDERS: But we've been (inaudible) many years.

CUOMO: Didn't change his accent, that's for sure.

SANDERS: No. not at all.

CUOMO: So you are both from Brooklyn. You met during his mayoral. So the man is running for mayor and he still has the time to introduce himself to you and become a suitor? How did he balance those two things?

SANDERS: I was a community organizer and I organized the debate so he had to talk to me.

CUOMO: What was it about him? The hair? The gentile manner? The way he deals with disagreement? What was it that won you over?

SANDERS: What won me over, honestly, was I sat there and I listened to him in the debate. I had never really heard of him before. And I heard what he was talking about and I felt that he embodied everything I always believed in. And I think that is what the voters today are realizing. This is possible. Whatever he said he was going to do as mayor, he did. People said that is ridiculous. Pie in the sky, those things aren't going to happen. He did. He did everything that he set out to do.

Same with the Congress and the Senate. But he realizes that without the presidency, the Senate and the Congress are deadlocked. They are gridlocked. I think he would use the presidency to really bring people together and not in the way of we'll compromise and we'll get to the center. Bring people together around a vision for this country and the American people will help move the Congress along.

CUOMO: Something that people don't usually see even, on the stump, even on the campaign, even with all the exposure, Bernie Sanders, not the senator, the man. When he was talking about himself -- Do we have the sound of -- Oh good. I'm glad you're here -- The sound at the town hall of him talking about his parents?

CAMEROTA: I could just give you the sound.

CUOMO: Can you play Bernie? With that voice we're getting close.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK) CUOMO: If we have the sound, play it. Or just tell me if you don't have it. But I was -- All right, good. I was asking Bernie -- Senator Sanders about what his parents had said and the senator took a pause and he said it would have been unbelievable. And he got a wave of emotion over him that I had not seen before. What do people not know about your husband as a man that is a virtue?

SANDERS: He is -- Oh, that is a virtue right now?

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: (Inaudible) for a long time. I don't want you to take a shot at him on caucus day, come on.

SANDERS: That he is sincere and warm and wonderful. I could not imagine having a better man as my husband, as the father to my children, as the grandfather to my grandchildren. I love him more today than I ever did. I'm so proud of him. What they don't know is that he will be there. You can count on him. That is the way everybody who knows him in Vermont feels. We know that Bernie is somebody who if he says something, he keeps his word. If he is on your side, he is there 110 percent.

CUOMO: You believe 110 percent?

SANDERS: I really do.

CUOMO: But -- Mrs. Sanders, you have to give me a little bit of recognition.

SANDERS: (Inaudible) you know.

CUOMO: No, that's why I'm calling you Mrs. Sanders. Difference to the candidate and their family. The -- When we used to talk to the senator about coming on and running in the race if he cared so much, it was well I don't know if there is a national appetite for this conversation. How shocked are you by the hordes of people that come out, young people that come out for your husband?

SANDERS: We have been really surprised. We knew that his ideas would resonate. We didn't realize how much the feelings that would be out there. We feel such warmth and such support and such excitement. It's humbling is what it is.

CUOMO: I've never seen a politician --

SANDERS: Because you have a sense of responsibility to live up to that.

CUOMO: I have never seen a politician on the hustings shoo people away who are telling him that he loves them. He wants to talk about the politics. That's enough, that's enough. He's usually like this.

SANDERS: He is always stopping the applause.

CUOMO: He is like that. So how do you feel about today? Where are your nerves? Where are your expectations?

SANDERS: I think that what we want is to invigorate our democracy. We want people to vote, (inaudible) caucus. So that's -- I think that's the most important thing to have a high voter turnout. Now, that benefits us. We believe that a high voter turnout will mean that people who are not usually involved in the system are energized and enthused about changing the status quo, about reaching for a bold vision. And if that happens, I think we do well. If that doesn't happen, if it is a lower voter turnout, I think we will do -- I mean he started at 3 percent. He is up in the high 40s now. So we'll see what happens. But we'll be okay. And we are moving on to New Hampshire and we're staying on through the convention.

CUOMO: Jane Sanders, it's good to see you.

SANDERS: Nice to see you.