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Judge Refuses To Send Benghazi Suspect Back To Libya; Report Finds Record Number Of Exonerations In 2015; GOP Rivals Take Aim At Cruz And Rubio In N.H.; Long Primary Fights Ahead?; Former District Attorney Testifies At Cosby Hearing; Cruz Accused Of "Dirty Tricks". Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired February 03, 2016 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:31:07] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: A federal judge refusing to go grant the request of a key suspect in connection with the deadly assault in Benghazi. Ahmed Abu Khattala remains held on murder and conspiracy charges for the 2012 attack on the U.S. embassy there which claimed the lives of four Americans, including U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens. Khattala was captured by U.S. special forces in 2014. He could face the death penalty if convicted. His attorneys are pushing for him to be sent back to Libya, a move they believe might spare his life.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: New information this morning about the helicopter crash that killed 12 U.S. marines off the coast of Hawaii. Officials say trace elements of DNA were found during search and rescue operations last month. A Navy diving unit is going to use under water robots for recovery and salvage which could take several months. The cause of this crash is still under investigation.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: The number of criminal exonerations hitting a record high in 2015. According to a new report, 149 people were exonerated in the U.S. last year after being wrongly convicted of crimes. That is more than any other year. A third were convicted of murder. Five people were rescued from death row before being cleared. They served an average of 14 years in prison.

PEREIRA: I'd say Lady Gaga is having a big month. Random fun fact. The pop store is kicking off Super Bowl Sunday. She'll sing the national anthem at the big game. Later this month, she's going to pay tribute to music legend David Bowie during a performance at the Grammy awards. Gaga will put on a multisensory tribute. It'll be directed by Nile Rodgers who worked with Bowie on the 1983 hit, "Let's Dance". The one and only David Bowie died of cancer last month at age 69. That's going to be really special.

CUOMO: Anything about David Bowie is special.

All right. All eyes are on New Hampshire as it becomes a three-man race on the Republican side. Does Marco Rubio's strong third place finish mean that he is the establishment candidate? Let us bring in purveyor of predictions, Michael Smerconish. CNN political commentator, host of CNN's "SMERCONISH", a little bit on

the schneid in this election in terms of what's going to happen and when. How do you see this -- let's stick with Rubio. Do you believe he is the man after just one tally?

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I'm not convinced. I have long said that this ultimately would be the Mavericks and the establishment and that someone would emerge from the establishment class. But I'm not ruling out John Kasich. Chris Christie is a longer shot. Jeb Bush still has game but I will say this, I think New Hampshire will resolve whomever among that group is going to be best poised to take on Cruz or Trump.

CAMEROTA: Do you think it's funny, Michael, in terms of the post vote analysis that somehow Marco Rubio's third place finish is eclipsing even Donald Trump's second place finish or Ted Cruz's first place finish?

SMERCONISH: I think that it's to Rubio's credit that he so masterfully managed the prediction. He set the bar. And I said on CNN the very night of the Iowa caucus that as he came out and he delivered that speech, I can't imagine the speech that Marco Rubio delivered would have been much different from a speech that he had delivered had he been the first place finish. And so, to Cruz's point and Trump's point, I think they're right in saying, wait a minute, what about us? I was number one and I was number two. But Marco Rubio recognizes that coming out of Iowa was most important for what it does pertaining to the momentum in New Hampshire. Because New Hampshire is a much more accurate barometer, I think, of where this is going generally.

CUOMO: Well, there is some truthiness to what he said, also. He was not expected. He was up six to eight points from where the polls had him. That matters. He got the same number of delegates as Trump did. That matters. He was within a tickle of Trump. That matters.

[07:35:01] CAMEROTA: Wow.

CUOMO: So the idea that he's making the case, he is the biggest shock out of Iowa. The question is, does he maintain in New Hampshire, with all guns pointed at him, this is a real test for him, arguably the first.

SMERCONISH: You know what's interesting, they're now fighting within their weight class. I mean take a look at the statements that were made in New Hampshire yesterday. Chris Christie, and you've made reference to this already with the bubble boy comment about Marco Rubio -- today in "The Manchester Union", you'll see a full page ad that Jeb's campaign has taken out against whom? Against Marco Rubio. So each of those so-called establishment candidates is recognizing that the lane's just not big enough for more than one. They want to be that individual.

CAMEROTA: But here's the thing about New Hampshire and what makes it so interesting in these next few days. 41 percent of the voters there say that they're undecided. So there's six days where they're still testing the waters, and they're still kicking the tires. Do you reject the idea that this is now a three man race?

SMERCONISH: Yes, I do. If the three person race that you referred to is Trump and Cruz and Rubio, I'm not prepared to concede the third seat. I still think it's up for grabs. And you know what's interesting, Alisyn, that 41 percent of independents in New Hampshire tracks very well with the 42 percent in the country that Gallop said, last month, are independents. And that's why I think that New Hampshire is a really interesting barometer of where the country is going. Look, 2/3 of those who came out in Iowa were evangelical Christian. That's not a reflection of where the country is at large. So I'm just trying to say that I think what you get from New Hampshire is a more accurate snapshot of the nation at large.

CUOMO: Yes, I mean, you can very easily make the argument that Rubio has to do well in New Hampshire. He didn't have to do well in Iowa. How about this, though. Are you right, and why, so you better say you're right -- that it is a three man race? It is either Trump, Cruz, or other, and that other is going to be the person who's seen as a unifying, more moderate person. Is that still the selection base for the GOP?

SMERCONISH: Well, maybe not, and I'll tell you why. I don't know that necessarily it's Donald Trump. Because the more you look at the data, the more that you realize that within the Republican party, Donald Trump is loved by a few. He is disliked by many. He has the highest negatives within the GOP. And the only reason that Trump has been able to do so well in the polling so far is because there are so many other individuals on that stage. And when the choices are fewer, I think that you're going to see his support level dissipate because someone else will have higher numbers. So temporarily it's Trump and it's Cruz and it's Mr. or Ms. X. But beyond New Hampshire, I don't know that he maintains, meaning Trump, that position.

CAMEROTA: And Michael, I know this is a big left turn, but I know that it's something that, a story that you have been covering and you want to talk about. There are developments in the Bill Cosby case.

SMERCONISH: Wow.

CAMEROTA: Pretty mind-blowing developments. The former D.A. in your area, there in Philadelphia, who chose not to move forward with the Andrea Constand case years ago is now speaking out. Tell us the headline of what's happening there.

SMERCONISH: The headline is that today, maybe as soon as today, a judge in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, will decide whether the only criminal prosecution of Bill Cosby that's pending, whether it will go forward. And yesterday for six hours in that courthouse, there was one witness. It was, Alisyn, as you maintain, the former D.A. who decided he could not meet his criminal burden back in 2005. He did not bring charges against Cosby. Yesterday on the stand he said to the defense lawyers, hey, I'm not on your team. And yet his team very much was exactly what Bill Cosby would hope that he would say and that is, I made a decision that I couldn't prosecute him. I conveyed that to Cosby's criminal defense attorney. That's why Cosby did not plead the fifth amendment. Instead, in his civil deposition, he gave full answers. I wanted to help that woman, the accuser, Andrea Constand, become a millionaire. That's what he said. I wanted to help her in her civil case. If he's to be believed, then the judge will conclude that this prosecution could not go on, cannot go on against Cosby. But at the end of the day, the judge himself questioned Castor and was most interested to know, why didn't you put it in writing? So the judge did not tip his hand yesterday as to which way this goes. But today is a big day in the Cosby case.

CAMEROTA: All right, Michael, thank you for updating us on that. So many people around the country are watching to see what will happen with him. Thank you.

[07:40:01] SMERCONISH: Thanks, guys.

CUOMO: All right. We'll take a break. When we come back, we're going to get back into the election because the stakes are higher for everybody who did well. It's one of the kind of backhanded parts of politics. You do well, there's more pressure on you. Ted Cruz won Iowa. But now accusations of dirty politics from Ben Carson's campaign, from Trump, from others, we get reaction from Ted Cruz's campaign next.

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CAMEROTA: The New Hampshire primary is less than a week away. The candidates are already on the attack. Ben Carson accusing the Iowa caucus winner, Ted Cruz's campaign, of dirty tricks for incorrectly saying that Ben Carson was dropping out of the race. The Cruz campaign has apologized, but it may not be enough.

Joining us now, national spokesperson for the Ted Cruz campaign Rick Tyler. Good morning, Rick.

RICK TYLER, NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON, CRUZ FOR PRESIDENT: Good morning. How are you?

CAMEROTA: I'm well. So Rick, let's just try to figure out what's going on here between the Cruz and Carson campaign. For people who don't know the history, there was this erroneous message that your camp put out that Ben Carson, after the Iowa caucuses, was going to be getting out of the race. It was a misunderstanding. And your camp -- in fact, Senator Ted Cruz apologized for it. Ben Carson says that he accepted that apology, but it doesn't sound as though it's exactly gone away.

[07:44:43] Let me read to you the statement that Ben Carson put out about all of this. He says, "These 'dirty tricks' political tactics are part of the reason Dr. Carson got into this race and reflects the Washington values of win at all costs -- regardless of the damage to the country -- which he is trying to change. This incident further demonstrates that we need an individual who is not a politician to lead and to heal our nation, not someone driven by ambition." What's your response to his apology that is somewhat barbed?

TYLER: First, let's go through what happened. CNN's Chris Moody reported out that Ben Carson was not immediately going to go to New Hampshire or South Carolina. In fact, he was going to go to Florida for a couple days of R&R, or rest and relaxation, and then he was going to attend a prayer breakfast in D.C. That is a significant campaign development. When people say they are not going to come to New Hampshire immediately and begin to campaign, as most of the campaigns have done, or go to South Carolina, that's an indication. That's a worthy news development. We share new developments with the campaign all the time. In fact, when Marco Rubio said that he supported criminal illegal aliens staying in the country, we reported that to all of our surrogates and campaign so people would communicate that.

Now, that was all happening right as the caucuses were going on. In fact, I learned about what Dr. Carson had said during the caucus. And it may be that some of the surrogates or some of our caucus precinct captains had heard what we had sent around to the entire campaign and went too far. Meaning interpreting that he was going to Florida for rest and relaxation instead of campaigning here in New Hampshire as somehow he was dropping out of the race. We never indicated that he was dropping out of the race as a campaign. And we never indicated that somehow he was stepping back or suspending his campaign. That's all misinformation. If someone from -- who had represented the Cruz campaign had indeed said that Carson was dropping out, that was factually in error, that was wrong and that's what we apologized for.

CAMEROTA: OK. But let's talk about his acceptance of your apology where he's basically saying not someone driven by ambition. That sounds like a direct reference to Ted Cruz. And he says these dirty tricks, political tactics. That sounds like a direct reference to your campaign. How are you responding?

TYLER: Well, it wasn't a dirty trick. And Ted Cruz called Dr. Carson and did apologize and Dr. Carson accepted his apology. We're not going to return (inaudible) the accusation was a dirty trick. There was no dirty trick. We simply reported an item that CNN itself had reported out and conveyed it exactly the way it was reported out as CNN does. We do that all the time. There are dozens of articles that come out every single day and we share them throughout the campaign so everybody understands what's going on in the campaign. This was just another one of those items.

CAMEROTA: Yeah, I mean -- And just to be clear, Chris Moody, CNN's Chris Moody, tweeted that out, but he simultaneously, I mean like a minute later, tweeted out "Ben Carson's campaign tells me he plans to stay in the race beyond Iowa no matter what the results are tonight." So somehow your campaign had missed that.

TYLER: Right. That's correct. No, no, no. We never communicated that he was stepping out of the race. We reported exactly what Chris Moody said, saying he was not coming to New Hampshire. In other words, he was -- instead of going to New Hampshire -- This is a little like the playoff games, right? We're in the playoff games. We want to go to the Super Bowl. But instead of going to the playoff games, you decide not to go to the playoff game -- it's a hard thing to expect to go to the Super Bowl if you're not going to play in the playoff games.

So all we did was report out that Dr. Carson was -- just as Chris Moody did -- was going to Florida and then going to D.C. and not to New Hampshire or South Carolina. That's significant. That's why Chris pointed it out. And so we shared that with the campaign. But in no case did we ever say he was not going to compete or he was going to suspend his campaign. If somebody took it too far, then that's what we apologize for. But the campaign certainly didn't do that.

CAMEROTA: Very quickly, Dr. Carson was also calling for whoever was responsible in your camp to lose their job for that misunderstanding. Will that happen?

TYLER: Well, there was no misunderstanding. What the campaigned reported out is exactly what Chris Moody pointed out about what Dr. Carson was doing. So I'm a little lost on what he is calling for.

CAMEROTA: OK. Got it. Let's talk about what happened in Iowa.

TYLER: Sure.

CAMEROTA: Are you -- Is there any frustration in your camp that somehow Marco Rubio's third place win seems by pundits to be eclipsing Ted Cruz's first place win?

TYLER: Look, I know there are a lot in the media who like Marco Rubio because they think that we nee a moderate to win. Marco is to the left of the party. Ted Cruz is in the center of the party. It seems to me if you want someone to mobilize the base in the general election, you want someone in the center of the party, not someone to the left of the party.

The fact of the matter is if Marco Rubio is the chief sponsor of the Gang of Eight and if we nominate a pro-amnesty candidate, we will just lose to the Democrats. So I understand the media is excited about Marco Rubio. The Des Moines Register endorsed him because they like his amnesty policy too. We'll get a lot of that. But the people like Ted Cruz, and we won decisively. In fact, we were behind in the Des Moines Register poll five points before the Iowa caucuses. We finished with 6,000 vote margin. So if you were measuring expectations, Ted Cruz is the one who exceeded expectations. And we hope to do that again here in New Hampshire.

[07:49:59] CAMEROTA: OK. Rick Tyler, thanks so much for talking to us on NEW DAY.

TYLER: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Talk to you soon. Over to Michaela --

PEREIRA: All right, Alisyn. As we saw in Iowa, the polls don't always get it right. So what can we learn from the numbers as we head into the New Hampshire Primary? We're bringing in our numbers expert.

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PEREIRA: Let's talk money. Time for CNN money now. Chief business correspondent, Christine Romans, conveniently in the money center. CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Ugly stock market losses yesterday, folks. The Dow tanked 295 points. Right now, stock futures are up just a little bit but markets in Europe and Asia are down. You don't usually feel sorry for big oil companies, right? But oil's crash is causing some staggering losses. Exxon Mobil's profit cut in half last year. It made $16 billion, that's the smallest annual profit since 2002. This time, what's bad for corporate America, though, is great for your wallet. The national average for a gallon of regular gas, now $1.78. Down more than, get this, 20 cents in the past month and a whole dollar below the peak last summer. Chris --

[07:54:57] CUOMO: So always a mix with this news from you, Romans. How come it can't just all be good?

All right. So presidential candidates are working their way through New Hampshire. This is the new "most important" place. That's how an election works. So, this is the first primary, though. So let's take a look at performance, now. The polls in Iowa, wrong. The vaunted "Des Moines Register" wrong for the first time since like 1988. What did they get wrong, how does it adjust, what's the reality?

A man with answers to all those tricky questions, there he is in the cold, Mark Preston, CNN politics executive editor. Mr. Preston, this attack of the polls in Iowa, they didn't get it right, polls are useless -- that's going too far. Tell us why.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Well, look, first of all, Chris, polls are a snapshot in time. And at that moment when that poll was taken, that appeared to be where the race was going. But let's look at a couple variables that none of us could have ever taken into account. One, Donald Trump. We've never seen anything like the Trump phenomenon. He was having 1,000, 2,000 people show up at rallies but we still didn't know if these people, these first time caucus-goers, many of them, would show up in support of him. In addition, a lot of those folks had come to see Donald Trump just because he was Donald Trump; he's a reality star.

But, probably most importantly, and this goes to the credit of the Ted Cruz campaign -- Ted Cruz had built a coalition for months and months. I was talking to his Iowa chairman who had been telling me back in June of last year, you have to watch us. The coalition we're building, the ground game we're putting into place is unbelievable. And guess what, we didn't listen. So that's where the media lost out right there. We should have listened to what was going on and take those lessons now, Chris, from what happened in Iowa and really try to apply them to what's going to happen here in New Hampshire on Tuesday.

CUOMO: Pollsters often say that their numbers are suggestive, not predictive. If you look at the other race that the register got wrong, Santorum winning in Iowa, and that was obviously a very belabored process because some of the votes weren't immediately available to be tabulated -- do you see similarities between the dynamics that made them both disruptive of the poll?

PRESTON: Well, listen, it's also a caucus which is a unique way to try to declare somebody a winner. We don't see it in many other states, only a handful of other states will actually do caucuses, although this being the first one makes it so important. But yes, listen, it's hard to try and poll somebody and say will you come out on a Monday evening for two hours and support somebody? It's not the same as showing up at your local school and going in, dragging the curtain behind you, and hitting whoever you want to support. What a poll will not catch, certainly going into the last days of a campaign, is momentum and drive. We heard it on the ground with Marco Rubio. You and I talked about it a lot last week. Marco Rubio came in with a strong finish of third place. But at the end when we looked at the entrance poll, these are surveys taken when people are walking in, Chris -- when we looked at those, more than 3 in 10 people decided on the day of. You're not going to capture that in a poll.

CUOMO: Big number to make. So in New Hampshire, Marco Rubio did not need to do well in Iowa but he did very well. Does he have do very well in New Hampshire and what does that mean?

PRESTON: Well Chris, listen, this is a long game contest. We look at Marco Rubio and say how long can you go? Well it comes down to fuel. What's the fuel? Money. And where does the money come from? Big donors. So Marco Rubio has to continue to convince people to continue to fuel his candidacy. He doesn't need to win in New Hampshire. He doesn't need that in order to continue on. Remember, he has a big primary on march 15 down in Florida. That could be a head to head with him and Jeb Bush. Unlike others, Jeb Bush, for instance, needs to do well here. John Kasich needs to do well here. Chris Christie needs to do well here. But that comes up to the big person we've all been talking about, and will continue to talk about as well, Donald Trump. Does he need to win here?

I don't think he needs to win here. Look, he came in second in Iowa, spent very little of his money. He could come in first, second place here and continue on. Long game for Donald Trump is, Chris he has the money.

CUOMO: Great analysis, Mark Preston. Thank you very much and thanks to your wife for lending you her gloves. We're following a lot of news this morning, very big developments in New Hampshire. Tonight's the big town hall. Let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What kind of people do we have running for office?

He was born in Canada.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will continue to sing Donald's praises personally.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our approach is better than what Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton is offering.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I feel really great being back in New Hampshire after winning in Iowa. SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The political revolution continues next Tuesday here in New Hampshire.

RUBIO: My candidacy gives us the best chance to nominate a real conservative who can unite the party.

CAMEROTA: Jeb Bush just called you a back bencher. Trump has called you the kid, as you know. What's your response?

FRANKLIN GRAHAM, PRESIDENT AND CEO, BILLY GRAHAM EVANGELISTIC ASSOCIATION: We have allowed the enemy to come into our churches.

They have invited these gay children to come into their home.

It begins to affect the others in the church.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, and Michaela Pereira.