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Clinton, Sanders to Face off in Debate Tonight; Atlanta Mayor Expresses Support for Clinton; GOP Candidates Descend on South Carolina; Calls for Investigation into Storm-Battered Cruise Ship. Aired 7-7:30a ET
Aired February 11, 2016 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
GANGEL: -- are dancing to "shut up and dance with me." On the other hand, he knows how to handle himself in a fight. Let's put it that way.
PEREIRA: Yes. Yes, he sure does. All right. Jamie, great get. Great conversation. Thanks so much.
GANGEL: Thank you.
[07:00:14] Following a lot of news. Let's get right to it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's on to Nevada, South Carolina, and beyond!
CUOMO: The debate tonight, critical for Hillary Clinton if she plans to take back the momentum from Bernie Sanders.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe that Secretary Clinton is the better poised to win South Carolina.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She's got to get through this wacky socialist guy, Bernie.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What we're seeing is conservatives uniting behind our campaign.
GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm not going to be a pin cushion or a marshmallow.
JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Trump can talk a good game, but I think we need someone who's actually disrupted the old order for the benefit of the people that they serve.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were on the third deck, so we kept on going under water.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We held hands, because we thought it was over.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my gosh. This is all bad. All bad.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is like on a roller coaster you can't get off of, and you weren't strapped in.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY, with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.
PEREIRA: Beautiful morning in Manhattan. Good morning and welcome to your NEW DAY. Alisyn off -- is off. That means I get two of my TV husbands today, a little awkward there.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders set to face off tonight. Their latest debate coming at a crucial time in the nominating process. Sanders riding momentum from his big win in New Hampshire. Clinton trying to right her ship and stall the Sanders surge.
CUOMO: On the GOP side, it will not be pretty in South Carolina. Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina are out, but new rivalries are emerging.
Let's begin our coverage with senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns, with a look at the high-stakes Democratic race -- Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Chris, tonight's debate in Wisconsin is a big moment for these two Democratic candidates, the first face-off since the New Hampshire primary. Hillary Clinton's challenge will be to try to get back on track after the drubbing she took in the Granite State.
And Bernie Sanders will be trying to show he has the right stuff to attract a broader base of support than he's needed to do well in the first two states that got to vote.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS (voice-over): Bernie Sanders raising over $6 million in the 24 hours after polls closed in New Hampshire, gaining momentum before tonight's crucial PBS Democratic presidential debate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!
JOHNS: Descending on New York City in a victory lap, celebrating his sweeping win in Tuesday's primary; bringing his 24 hours after polls closed in New Hampshire. Gaining momentum before tonight's crucial PBS Democratic presidential debate. Descending on New York City in a victory lap celebrating his sweeping win in Tuesday's primary bringing his anti-establishment message to "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."
SANDERS: Our campaign finance system, our election system, and our economy is essentially owned and controlled by a relatively small number of people whose greed, in my view, is really wreaking havoc with the middle class of this country. JOHNS: And to daytime talker, "The View."
SANDERS: This country is supposed to be a nation of fairness. And we're not seeing that fairness.
JOHNS: Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton laying comparatively low after her crushing defeat. No longer the undisputed Democratic front-runner, tonight's critical debate could help get her campaign back on track.
The former secretary of state already making changes, promising a more aggressive edge.
The challenge for Sanders going forward will be capturing the African- American vote, a key piece of the Democratic electorate and the pivotal South Carolina primary later this month.
Courting the African-American vote, Sanders took his campaign to Harlem Tuesday, meeting with civil rights leader Al Sharpton.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: Tonight's debate should also give us some clues about how Hillary Clinton is retooling her message to attract younger voters, and it should tell us a little more about the policy promises Bernie Sanders has been making on the campaign trail and how he thinks he can deliver on them. So a lot riding on this showdown in Milwaukee tonight -- Chris.
CUOMO: Well said, Joe. Thank you very much.
Let's discuss the stakes, specifically what Secretary Clinton must do to get back in the game. We have Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed. He has endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination.
Mr. Mayor, good to have you on NEW DAY this morning.
MAYOR KASIM REED (D), ATLANTA: Good to be here.
CUOMO: You have suggested that the secretary will eviscerate Sanders in South Carolina. From where does this confidence come?
REED: From talking to people in Atlanta and being in South Carolina last week.
We've been excited about the campaign coming south for some time. We think the more diverse the universe of voters is, the better Secretary Clinton does. And I just know it from moving around Atlanta and moving around in South Carolina a good bit. The energy feels terrific, so we look forward to the campaign.
CUOMO: "Eviscerate" is a colorful word. It does have a little bit of a negative connation to iotation to it. Do you believe that Hillary Clinton has to get tougher and harder on Senator Senators?
REED: You know, I think it's really about being calm and strong and focusing on winning. You know, "eviscerate" was my word, because we're going to deliver the state of Georgia for Secretary Clinton, and we're going to deal with it in a serious way. We're also going to win in South Carolina.
[07:05:16] And, you know, the fact of the matter is, the presidency is a very precious thing. So I expect a very competitive process.
But what I've been telling folks is I know how the movie is going to end. The movie is going to end with Secretary Clinton being the nominee of the Democratic Party. And all we have to do is to remain calm and do our work to deliver that result as the campaign comes south.
CUOMO: What is wrong with Senator Sanders' message, specifically as we move into the socioeconomic brackets that include a lot of African- American and Latino voters?
REED: Well, you know, one of the things that's been very troubling to me and people in the city of Atlanta and folks I talk to in Columbia, South Carolina, is how dismissive Senator Sanders' message is of the work that President Barack Obama has done.
He talks about college affordability, but he never referenced how much President Obama and Democrats put on the line to remove $50 billion from the cost of college.
He talks about universal health care, but he doesn't give enough credit to Barack Obama, supported by Secretary Clinton, providing health care at the highest levels that we have in the history of our country to more than 90 percent of the people and adding 18 million newly insured.
So when you hear his rhetoric, Chris, you wonder what in the world has President Obama and the Democrats been doing and sacrificing so much for?
So we welcome him to the Democratic Party. You know, the senator talks an awful lot about authenticity. If he was authentic, in my judgment, Chris, he would have run as an independent, as opposed to joining the Democratic Party in the last year.
CUOMO: So these are two...
REED: Those are the things that we're going to be talking about in the South, and we look forward to the race.
CUOMO: These are two themes that we heard would be introduced as the race moves out of New Hampshire. One, that Senator Sanders isn't a real Democrat. And, two, he is not a big enough supporter of President Obama.
Do you think that that's a compelling enough case? The senator will respond that he's always caucused with the Democrats and that he has been supportive of President Obama, but he doesn't want to be a rubber stamp. We can and should do better. The president would agree.
REED: Well, do that as an independent, then. The fact of the matter is, go talk to members of the Congress who are Democrats who voted for the expansion of health care. Talk to members of Congress who are Democrats who voted to save the automobile industry.
Democrats got beat and put their careers on the line. And to listen to Senator Sanders, you'd wonder where in the world Senator Harry Reid was in the middle of all of this.
So true authenticity, in my mind, would be to be who you have been for more than 25 years. And the fact of the matter is, his message is definitely dismissive of the contributions of President Barack Obama, who has delivered 70 months of job growth, 14 million new jobs, and has unemployment below 5 percent.
Now Chris, we've got a lot to do with regarding wage growth and income inequality, but the way that Senator Sanders talks about the current economy and the current environment is dismissive of the contributions that President Obama has made.
CUOMO: But...
REED: It is really more than about that. It's also about where Secretary Clinton has been her entire career, starting with the Children's Defense Fund.
It's about where Secretary Clinton has been as it relates to providing SCHIP and insurance for children.
It's about where Hillary Clinton has been when she was the first person to try to get a universal health care deal done.
And we're not going to continue to stand on the sidelines while Senator Sanders, who's been in the Senate for more than 25 years and has gotten very little done, in comparison to Secretary Clinton and the president of the United States.
CUOMO: But the challenge...
REED: We're not going to continue to let him talk about all of this.
CUOMO: The challenge for Secretary Clinton is that, you know, everything you're talking about is definitively in the past tense, and this race is about right now. Bernie Sanders has energized the youth base. He got 74 percent of young voters in New Hampshire. Are you concerned about that going forward?
REED: Well, you know what? We appreciate a robust and energized electorate.
The fact of the matter is, we're now coming South. I was in Columbia on Tuesday of last week. The energy for Secretary Clinton there is amazing. We then come to Georgia, and we have the SEC primary. So what I'm going to do is, I'm going to let our work speak for us.
But I am going to point out that Senator Sanders had his entire life to join the Democratic Party. We appreciate him caucusing with us. But there are Democrats that have put it on the line to turn around the country and to bring this country from the brink of the Great Depression.
And moving forward and talking about all of these programs that, when vetted, simply do not bear out is something that we're not going to tolerate, certainly as it comes into South Carolina. And I know we're not going to tolerate it in Georgia.
CUOMO: Mayor Reed, thank you very much for joining us on NEW DAY. Appreciate it.
REED: Thank you.
CUOMO: All right. So two quick notes for you. First of all, do you follow us on Twitter and Facebook? You should. Because we get after it. There are a lot of big questions, including what's going to happen at the debate tonight.
Look at the clock on your screen. We'll be putting it up there every once in a while to let you know about the countdown before Secretary Clinton and Senator Sanders face off in a "PBS News Hour" Democratic presidential debate. You can watch the simulcast right here on CNN or on your local PBS station. Remember, starts tonight at 9 Eastern -- John.
BERMAN: Amazing power Chris Cuomo has. He calls for a clock, and it appears magically on the screen.
All right. Let's shift to the Republican field right now. Winnowing down to seven candidates. Carly Fiorina, Chris Christie, they dropped out of the race. Donald Trump's remaining rivals, they're digging in, hoping to survive the South. They want to stick around until March 1, the SEC primary.
Senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta live in Greenville, South Carolina, where a lot's going on -- Jim.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. That's right. You know, this state is well known for its cut-throat politics, so this campaign is almost certain to get down and dirty down here in South Carolina. And Donald Trump, he's now firmly in place as the GOP front-runner, but the rest of the field is as determined as ever to take him out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: When you have victory, you don't need sleep. Right?
ACOSTA (voice-over): Only one candidate is clearly leading a shrinking field of GOP contenders.
KASICH: I'm your guy.
ACOSTA: Marching on to South Carolina.
CRUZ: Now it's up to South Carolina to pick a president.
ACOSTA: Donald Trump, riding high after his huge New Hampshire win, seemed to switch his campaign tactics Wednesday night, choosing not to go after most of his GOP rivals.
TRUMP: This wacky socialist guy, Bernie.
ACOSTA: This time hitting his Democratic opponents hard, Trump sounding more like a general election candidate.
TRUMP: This guy Sanders is up ranting and raving like a lunatic. Do you think Hillary Clinton -- who's terrible. Do you think Hillary -- look at what she did. Look at the damage she did.
ACOSTA: But the front-runner couldn't resist taking a jab at his most vocal GOP attacker, Jeb Bush.
TRUMP: He's a low-energy person. I said -- no, I said he's a stiff, and I said that if he was in the private sector, he wouldn't be able to get a job.
ACOSTA: What's left of the GOP field now has a target squarely on the brash billionaire's back.
BUSH: Can you imagine Donald Trump as president of the United States? We will be worse off than we are now.
RUBIO: Hard thing about Donald in the short term is he doesn't have any policy positions.
CRUZ: The only way to beat Donald Trump is to highlight the simple truth of his record. It is not conservative.
ACOSTA: Senator Marco Rubio is taking the high road, addressing Chris Christie's decision to drop out of the race less than a week after their debate spat.
RUBIO: I think Chris was someone who somehow concluded that attacking me would help him in his campaign. Obviously, it didn't work. I think he's very talented, very likable. And I think he has a future in public service beyond what he's doing now in New Jersey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: And Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski says they are not changing their strategy one bit. They will continue to jump ahead to states looming ahead on the campaign calendar. He was here in South Carolina last night, but he's going to be in Louisiana today and Florida tomorrow.
And Chris, you know, it's a figure of speech to say a candidate took a victory lap. But we saw it last night. Donald Trump on the stage here in South Carolina literally did a victory lap on the stage in front of his supporters last night -- Chris.
CUOMO: Hammering the message home, obvious and often. Jim Acosta, thank you very much.
All right. Breaking overnight, we have news for you, a standoff at the remote Oregon wildlife refuge may soon be over. The four remaining occupiers saying they are prepared to surrender to the FBI this morning. Agents already have them surrounded. This happening after the arrest of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, taken into custody at Portland International Airport. He reportedly planned to meet the remaining occupiers. Bundy's sons, Ammon and Ryan, accused of leading the Oregon occupation, they were arrested last month.
PEREIRA: There are calls for an investigation this morning into why a Royal Caribbean cruise ship headed into a monster storm in the Atlantic Ocean. The ship finally returning to port last night in New Jersey with passengers recalling their harrowing experience at sea.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God.
PEREIRA (voice-over): A 12-hour nightmare finally coming to an end for rattled passengers aboard Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas cruise ship.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Free at last, free at last!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I, at one point, thought I wasn't going to see my family again. That boat never should have gone out.
PEREIRA: The massive vessel arriving back in New Jersey overnight after encountering a ferocious Atlantic storm off the coast of the Carolinas just three days into its trip to the Bahamas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thirty-foot waves. It's like the whole ship was on a 45-degree angle for like, we're talking, like, four, five hours. Windows smashed and chairs toppled over.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God. Look at this wave.
PEREIRA: Terrified, motion-sick passengers hunkered down in their rooms as the captain battled the monstrous waves and 125-mile-per-hour winds.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All that.
[07:15:09] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was crazy, man. You know, I mean everything fell out of the bathroom, broke. Crash, crash, crash.
PEREIRA: Many criticizing the captain and cruise liner's decision to set sail, despite the storm warnings, days before leaving port.
Royal Caribbean said the storm was worse than predicted and apologized to passengers, admitting, quote, "We have to do better. Our ship and our crew performed very well to keep everyone safe during severe weather. The event, exceptional as it was, identified gaps in our planning system that we are addressing."
Travel-weary passengers just happy to be alive.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To survive a hurricane is incredible. But to survive it at sea? It was amazing. (END VIDEOTAPE)
PEREIRA: Oh, my goodness. I can barely -- I know, right? I can barely look at those waves.
BERMAN: No, it's crazy. It's crazy. It lasted ten hours?
CUOMO: Ten hours!
PEREIRA: Yes.
BERMAN: You got nowhere to go.
CUOMO: You've got nowhere to go. And I've got to tell you, there is an illusion of safety on a big ship. I love the ocean; I'm in it all the time.
PEREIRA: Yes.
CUOMO: Water wins.
PEREIRA: Always.
CUOMO: That thing is like a toy compared to the sea.
PEREIRA: It is.
CUOMO: Unfortunately, those people had to learn that the hard way.
PEREIRA: Two of the people on board that boat will bring their firsthand account of it a little later today on NEW DAY.
BERMAN: All right. The march to the White House now heading to the Deep South, specifically South Carolina. So will it be a new bruising battle for both parties? Just how ugly is this whole thing about to get?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[07:20:28] RUBIO: This is an unusual election. I don't think anyone's going to wrap this thing up in South Carolina or Nevada, for that matter, or even March 1.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: That was Senator Marco Rubio saying that what he hopes to be true, that no one wraps this up very quickly, because he's got a lot of work to do. The next stop in this race, of course, is South Carolina. We should mention, Carly Fiorina, Chris Christie, they have dropped out of the race so a much smaller field.
Look at all that. Ten folks, ten candidates have dropped out. More candidates have dropped out now than are currently still running. There are seven candidates still running, if you count Jim Gilmore. Let's break it down for you right now, the situation. Joining us,
Sara Murray, a CNN political reporter who has not been home for 18 months. David Gregory, the former moderator of "Meet the Press" and a man who knows a lot about campaigns.
Andy, I want to start with you. Let's put up the calendar right now. Let's show people why we're talking so much about South Carolina right now. It's the next game up. South Carolina for the Republicans votes February 20, nine days from now. Nevada for the Democrat -- for the Republicans, three days after that.
Really, I would say, 90 percent of the focus for the Republican candidates on South Carolina because it is the next up. Your state has a reputation of being a place where mean things happen in presidential politics. Is it deserved? Is this reputation deserved, or is it just because the stakes get higher as you get later?
ANDY SHAIN, POLITICAL REPORTER, "THE STATE": I think it is really as the stakes get higher as you get later in the race. I mean, obviously some nasty things happened in Iowa. Some things happened in New Hampshire, and they're going to happen here in South Carolina. As you mentioned, the field is shrinking. We're getting a little bit more in focus of sort of the races within the race that are going on. I think you'll see a lot of action happen here in South Carolina as we try to help narrow the field even more from the seven candidates we have now in the Republicans.
BERMAN: A lot of action in South Carolina where you are, Sara Murray. You've covered Trump, you've seen John Kasich, all these guys out there on the trail. What is the dynamic you're seeing? How is this breaking down? Where are the fights?
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I have to say, first when you come here to South Carolina, and you go to Trump events, they are enormous. They're boisterous. And people will drive hours to see him.
So I do think he has real support in this state. That's going to be a problem for anyone else that's going to try to knock him off the top spot there.
But I already think we're seeing this fight emerge between Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio. And even Jeb Bush and John Kasich. Look, John Kasich came in here with a little bit of momentum. And if he wants to keep that going, he's going to have to fend off attacks from Jeb Bush, saying he has no organization here, from Jeb saying that he could weaken the military. That's a big deal here in South Carolina.
That's also a place where people could go after Trump. Remember? People have -- he made those comments about how John McCain's not really a war hero. And in South Carolina, there's a huge veterans population. There's a big active duty military population. Naval bases around here. So I think that that could be an area where fault lines emerge.
But I do think this is a state where politics gets nasty. And I don't know if it's just because it's later on the calendar, but the attacks -- the attacks as get tougher as they get more personal. And that could be right in Donald Trump's wheelhouse.
BERMAN: I feel like it should concern all of us, that you put your biggest smile on when you said it's a place where politics get nasty. We'll get back to that in a second.
David Gregory, we're going to see something in South Carolina that we have not seen in American politics since 2004. That's George W. Bush on the campaign trail. He's going to get out there for his brother. You and I both covered Bush a lot back in the day. He has political skills. He's popular in South Carolina. What kind of a difference does he make?
DAVID GREGORY, FORMER HOST, NBC'S "MEET THE PRESS": Well, I'm not sure, because I'm not sure what he's prepared to do. I mean, he's a former president now.
He ran, as you recall, a very ideological campaign in 2000 after getting a drubbing in New Hampshire. He took down McCain effectively in South Carolina.
This is a that a national security primary. That's the bottom line about South Carolina. Sixty-thousand veterans. Eight military installations there. I think that's where he could do some good. He could make a statement about the threats in the world, the importance of boosting military spending, which Trump has come out against.
But the conventional rules of even South Carolina may not apply. They didn't apply in 2012 when Newt Gingrich won. So they're not necessarily going to sort out, you know, the establishment candidate.
BERMAN: You said a big question is what does George W. Bush want to do? How much does he want to talk? If you just say, "My brother is a great guy, you'll love him? Or does he want to go after the other candidates? And one other point I'll make. George W. Bush ran on national security in 2000, but he also ran as an evangelical. He went to Bob Jones University. It may have been the most significant he did leading up to that race.
GREGORY: And you've got Frank Graham, Franklin Graham talking about getting God more into the race.
And there was an aspect of that that is really broad for everybody which is to engage, to vote, but to engage God more in the process really speaks to a lot of evangelical voters, who are not monolithic in their thinking in South Carolina, which has to do with kind of first principles about God's providence in people's lives. Ted Cruz is going to speak to that. Donald Trump not so much.
But conservatism and even ideology, I think, is out the window. I think conservatism in South Carolina and beyond in this primary fight is about a feeling about what it means to be conservative. That's different.
BERMAN: Andy Shain, the evangelical vote in South Carolina is big, but almost so big that you can't define it. And it breaks down sometimes on fault lines where it doesn't break down in other states. It's a huge blue-collar evangelical population, a huge population that didn't go to college, which actually is a big Donald Trump group. So where do you see this group dividing?
SHAIN: I mean, just as you were saying, I mean, Donald Trump has been doing well with folks who are -- who have less education, who are making less money. He's, you know, he's very much of a populist candidate. He has appealed to a lot of very emotional -- a lot of the emotions of South Carolina voters, who are upset at what's been happening in the past eight years under a Democratic administration, who feel like that they may have jobs but they're not -- their wages aren't increasing, who feel like, to a certain degree, that America isn't as respected anymore.
He's really tapped into that, and I think, really, a lot of the conventional playbook has been thrown out, because of the way Donald Trump has come across, how he's campaigned and how he's succeeded here in South Carolina from everyone from moderates to evangelicals.
GREGORY: And can I just bring in, the point about bringing God more into the conversation for evangelicals in the South, who I think Ted Cruz speaks to it, and even Donald Trump speaks to this idea of making America great again, whether you go to the gospels and talk about the greatness of -- the greatness of the country and a kind of moral rising, there is a view among conservative Christians about the moral force of the country losing its way.
That is what Ted Cruz is going to speak to. And in some way, Donald Trump speaks to evangelicals in the same way about, you know, the idea of his ad that everything you believe in is under assault is a way to say that -- let's return to a certain value structure, whether it's same-sex marriage or abortion, that a lot of Christian conservatives felt has been lost. I think that argument has resonance not just in South Carolina but as we get closer to March 1.
BERMAN: Interesting to see how they use that, how they make that argument. David Gregory, Andy Shain, Sara Murray, great to have you. Thanks so much, guys -- Chris.
CUOMO: All right, J.B.
The Democratic nomination could hinge on the black vote. And we now know a new line of attack from Clinton against Sanders to cement her polling advantage with this group. But Sanders is trying to change that. We're going to get perspective from a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, next.
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