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Debate Highlights Rifts Between Clinton & Sanders; Trump Ramps Up Attacks Despite New 'Positive' Tone; South Carolina Lt. Gov. Explains Trump Endorsement. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired February 12, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect.

[07:00:07] SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Nothing that Secretary Clinton said do I disagree with.

CLINTON: I completely agree with Senator Sanders.

SANDERS: I would hope that we can all agree.

CLINTON: I think I'm the most qualified, experienced and ready person.

SANDERS: Judgment matters, as well.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Don't listen to Donald Trump.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Bush says, "I do not believe he's a true conservative."

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is ridiculous.

CRUZ: Really. Don't listen to Donald Trump.

TRUMP: These people are stupid.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

CAMEROTA: A chilly cityscape you're seeing there. There's going to be a cold snap along the East Coast, or the northeast, at least, this weekend, down to like 17 degrees.

BERMAN: But the news is white hot this morning.

CAMEROTA: God, you're good.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to your NEW DAY. Chris and Michaela are off. As you can see, John Berman is here with a twist (ph). The latest debate between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders highlighting differences between the candidates. Clinton embracing President Obama and clashing with Sanders for criticizing the president. Sanders sparring with Clinton over foreign policy and who can best lead a divided country.

BERMAN: While that's going on, the other side, after promising to play nice, Donald Trump doing anything but. The Republican candidates, they are preparing to square off in their own debate tomorrow night.

Let's start our coverage with CNN senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny in Milwaukee with the highlights, the big moments of the debate.

Good morning, Jeff.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, John.

I mean, this debate opened the next phase of this Democratic primary fight, with Hillary Clinton trying to be a big reality check to Bernie Sanders's aspirations.

Now, it was just the two of them on stage last night, but President Obama was invoked again and again by Hillary Clinton, who's trying to hug him tighter than ever as she's trying to present to Democrats that she is his rightful heir.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANDERS: Secretary Clinton, you're not in the White House yet.

ZELENY (voice-over): A civil but contentious night for Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Side by side is on stage since Sanders' commanding New Hampshire victory upended the Democratic primary fight. Again and again, Clinton tried making one thing clear: She is the rightful heir to President Obama.

CLINTON: Today Senator Sanders said that President Obama failed the presidential leadership test. And this is not the first time that he has criticized President Obama. In the past, he's called him weak. He's called him a disappointment.

ZELENY: It was a message for Democratic voters of South Carolina, more than half of whom are African-American and widely adore the president.

CLINTON: The kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president I expect from Republicans. I do not expect from someone running for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Obama.

SANDERS: That is -- Madam Secretary, that is a low blow. The last time I heard a United States senator had the right to disagree with the president, including a president who's done such an extraordinary job. One of us ran against Barack Obama. I was not that candidate. ZELENY: Sanders had the final word. But it opened a new chapter in

the Democratic duel that may be just beginning. The PBS debate exposed deeper lines in their policy and political differences. On health care, immigration and Wall Street reform Clinton presented herself as the keeper of the Obama legacy.

CLINTON: Before it was called Obamacare, it was called Hillarycare.

ZELENY: If elected, Sanders said race relations would be better in his administration.

SANDERS: Absolutely. Because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners.

ZELENY: Another flash point: money in politics. Clinton again tied herself to Obama and rejected the suggestion she would be swayed by campaign donations.

CLINTON: So let's not in any way imply here that either President Obama or myself would, in any way, not take on any vested interest, whether it's Wall Street, or drug companies, or insurance companies or, frankly, the gun lobby.

SANDERS: Let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why, in God's name, does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it. They want to throw money around.

ZELENY: Sanders ran strong among women in New Hampshire. Clinton was asked why.

CLINTON: I'm not asking people to support me because I'm a woman. I'm asking people to support me because I think I'm the most qualified, experienced and ready person to be the president and the commander in chief.

ZELENY: On foreign policy, Sanders took a new approach in questioning Clinton's judgment, calling out her admiration for Henry Kissinger.

SANDERS: I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger.

[07:05:00] CLINTON: Well, I know journalists have asked who you do listen to on foreign policy, and we have yet to know who that is.

SANDERS: Well, it ain't Henry Kissinger. That's for sure.

CLINTON: That's fine. That's fine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: So the debate was here in Wisconsin. If you're wondering why, the Democratic National Committee picked the state some six months or so ago, thinking that, by this point, she would be on her way to the general election fight, at least, and the primary would be nothing more than a formality. Of course, that is not the situation at all.

The audience for last night's debate were the South Carolina voters, first and foremost. Barack Obama is going to play a major role in this campaign, again, as this goes forward to Nevada first and then South Carolina in just about two weeks' time -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Jeff, thanks so much for all that background.

Joining us now is Clinton supporter and Democratic Congressman from New York, Congressman Hakim Jeffries.

Congressman, thanks so much for being here.

REP. HAKIM JEFFRIES (D), NEW YORK: Good morning, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. So you explained to reporters this week why you were supporting Hillary Clinton and not Bernie Sanders. And on this conference call, you said that Sanders has been missing in action. What does that mean?

JEFFRIES: Well, with respect to issues of importance to the African- American community, in particular criminal justice reform and dealing with the gun violence epidemic that we have in America, when you assess the record of Bernie Sanders, certainly, over the last 40 days, he has a lot to say about issues that are important to black Americans and other communities of color throughout the nation. But during the previous 40 years, there was not much to be found.

And it was a compare and contrast as it relates to Hillary Clinton, who from the very beginning, during her younger days as a lawyer, the Children's Defense Fund, working to deal with the prison industrial complex and make sure that teenagers weren't being incarcerated with adults. Or her time in Arkansas, when she created a civil legal services program that provided representation to poor individuals, many of whom were African-Americans. When she was here in Washington, D.C., in the 1990s, her work in helping to create the Children's Health Insurance Program, which was very important: 8 million children provided health coverage. Many of them were African-Americans. And of course, her time in the United States Senate, representing the great state of New York, where she championed a whole host of issues.

Her record is clear. She's been there from the very beginning. And Bernie Sanders, as I've said, had largely been missing in action.

CAMEROTA: Well, let's talk about that, because Bernie Sanders says that he has a record of progressive legislation that will help the African-American community. He says that he is interested and has worked for raising the minimum wage. As you know, he wants free college tuition. He has been strong on the issue of income inequality. Aren't these African-American issues?

JEFFRIES: Well, Bernie Sanders has done a very good job of articulating a whole host of issues that are important to America, and he's made a meaningful contribution to the debate. This is good for the democratic process. I've got great respect for Senator Sanders. But the question that we all must confront is who is best able, not

simply to articulate issues of importance, but then step into the job on day one of the presidency and help to translate these ideas into action?

And the notion of revolutionary change is very attractive, particularly to young people. And I understand that, and I respect it. But when you look back at Senator Sanders's time in office, he was a mayor for 8 years, 16 years in the House of Representatives. He's in his 10th year in the United States Senate. That's 34 years in total of public service, and there really is no evidence of revolutionary change.

And so I've simply decided, and many of my colleagues have concluded, that Hillary Clinton has the capacity to translate these big ideas into action based on track record. And that is what the American people need and deserve.

CAMEROTA: Last night there was a moment that got a lot of attention during the debate. And that is when Bernie Sanders said he would be a better president for race relations. So listen to this moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: Sadly, in America today, in our economy, a whole lot of those poor people are African-American.

JUDY WOODRUFF, MODERATOR: So race relation would be better under a Sanders presidency than they've been?

SANDERS: Absolutely. Because what we will do is say, instead of giving tax breaks to billionaires, we are going to create millions of jobs for low-income kids so they're not hanging out on street corners. We're going to make sure that those kids stay in school or are able to get a college education.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: What did you think of that moment and that argument?

JEFFRIES: I thought it was a pretty simplistic answer to a very complicated problem.

I mean, under the Obama administration, we've had 71 consecutive months of private-sector job creation. More than 14 million jobs have been created. He's done a tremendous job, meaning President Barack Obama. But we still have some issues as it relates to race relations that have to be tackled. We've come a long way in America. We still have a long way to go.

I think it seemed a bit presumptuous to me to conclude that Bernie Sanders, in the twilight of his career, was going to be able to be the great healer as it relates to race relations. I think he said it authentically, but it struck me as a little bit oversimplified.

[07:10:05] CAMEROTA: There was another moment in which he talked about something that he has been hitting on the campaign trail, and that is the incarceration rate, which also, obviously, applies to African-Americans in greater numbers. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: Let's not insult the intelligence of the American people. People aren't dumb. Why, in God's name, does Wall Street make huge campaign contributions? I guess just for the fun of it. They want to throw money around.

Wall Street and major banks have paid $200 billion in fines since the great crash. No Wall Street executive has been prosecuted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: All right. That was not the moment that I was hoping for. So I will quote to you what he said last night. He said, "We have more people in jail, disproportionately African-American and Latino, than China does." Basically, he was saying that, if he were president, he would invest in education and prison reform and change that.

JEFFRIES: Certainly. And so will Hillary Clinton. I mean, we clearly have a mass incarceration problem in America. When the war on drugs was started in the early 1970s, there were less than 350,000 people incarcerated in America. Today we've got about 2.3 million. We incarcerate, of course, more people in the United States than any other country in the world.

I've actually been pleased and pleasantly surprised during my time here in Congress that there's a bipartisan recognition -- conservatives, progressives, Republicans, Democrats -- that we've got to do something about over-criminalization in America. That's an issue that I think we can all find common ground on. And certainly, Hillary Clinton from the very beginning of her career, has fought to deal with the so-called prison industrial complex.

CAMEROTA: Congressman Hakim Jeffries, you are a Clinton supporter. You've made the case this morning. Thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.

JEFFRIES: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Let's get over to John.

BERMAN: Thanks, Alisyn.

On the Republican side, Donald Trump's new positive campaign strategy, it seems to be a thing of the past. All of a day old, and it's already done. The Republican front-runner taking jabs at his rivals Jeb Bush and Ted Cruz at a packed Louisiana rally last night. Trump even put out a bunch of tweets slamming and mocking the duo.

CNN's political reporter, Sara Murray, is live in New Orleans with more.

Good morning, Sara.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

Well, Donald Trump is trying positivity on for size. His campaign pulled an attack ad against Ted Cruz that was running in South Carolina and instead, they put up a more positive spot that they felt like gave them a boost in New Hampshire. Let's take a quick look at that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... hear Donald Trump's business plan for America.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really cool to hear him speak the truth.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tells it like it is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Making America great.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As a (UNINTELLIGIBLE) international student, Trump is speaking about the truth.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He wants to make America great, and that's what I want, too.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MURRAY: Now, despite this gauzy ad, it is clear Donald Trump is not done taking shots at his rivals. He went after a number of them in his event in Louisiana last night. And he also took to Twitter to express some of his concerns about Ted Cruz. He tweeted, "Lying Cruz put out a statement. Trump and Rubio are with Obama on gay marriage. Cruz is the worst liar, crazy or very dishonest, perhaps all three."

So it's clear that Donald Trump is still at least punching back, if not the one who's starting it.

Now, one candidate who is trying to keep up this message of positivity is Ohio Governor John Kasich. He's up with two new ads in South Carolina today, and he is doubling down on this sunny message, especially with a pitch to evangelicals.

Let's take a look at one of those ads.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first 100 days John Kasich will make them count. Cut taxes to create jobs, freeze regulations, enforce a balanced budget plan, and secure the border. No excuses, no surrender. America, buckle up. John Kasich.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: OK. So that's one of his two ads. That one looks at his first 100 days in office.

The other one looks at his faith, trying to keep that positive message that gave him a second-place finish in New Hampshire.

And in case you did not already think this week was jam-packed full of politics, there's going to be even more action on the trail next week. George W. Bush will be joining Jeb Bush on the campaign trail. Donald Trump has already made some snarky comments about that. So we'll see how that all plays out on Monday.

Alisyn, back to you.

CAMEROTA: OK, Sara, thanks so much for all of that.

Well, in international news, the U.S., Russia and other world powers reaching a peace deal for Syria. They're calling it a, quote, "cessation of hostilities agreement." It calls for an end to the fighting one week from today with provisions to get humanitarian aid to the thousands of desperate refugees. The Russians agreeing to halt some airstrikes in Syria by next Friday but not willing to suspend attacks on what it considers terrorist targets.

BERMAN: Pope Francis is on his way to Cuba this morning to hold an historic meeting with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. This is seen as a step toward a warmer phase in relations since the churches split back in the 11th "Century. Afterward, the pope will head to Mexico City for her -- his first trip to Mexico. At least 2 million people expected to turn out.

CAMEROTA: We do have some new developments to tell you about in the comedian Bill Cosby's legal saga. As he keeps fighting those sexual assault accusations, his wife, Camille, will be compelled to sit for a deposition in the civil defamation suit brought by seven of his accusers. But a federal judge rules that she does not have to answer questions protected by the marital disqualification rule.

[07:15:17] Cosby has filed a counter suit. His lawyers have repeatedly denied the women's accusations.

BERMAN: So she has to sit for it but doesn't have to answer questions? I feel like there's a lot more legal wrangling to go on here.

CAMEROTA: Indeed.

BERMAN: All right. Republican front-runner Donald Trump, he went after all of his rivals ahead of the South Carolina primary. Will they start to go after him? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: The next Republican primary in South Carolina in South Carolina may be more than a week away, but the candidates are already sharpening their attacks. And Republican front-runner Donald Trump has found himself squarely in the cross-hairs. So could these attacks chip away at Trump support in that state?

Joining us now is South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Henry McMaster. He endorsed Donald Trump last week. Lieutenant Governor, thanks so much for being with us. I have to tell

you, you endorsed Donald Trump when I was in Iowa. We were together, me and my political junkie friends. We were sitting there and agreed that the biggest political event might not be happening in Iowa that day but in South Carolina, because you are a player in that state. And you're also kind of an establishment player. You're a U.S. attorney. You're an attorney general, then lieutenant governor. So briefly, why did you decide to endorse Donald Trump?

[07:20:24] LT. GOV. HENRY MCMASTER, SOUTH CAROLINA: Well, he's a powerful man. He's a man of action. He's a man of accomplishment. He means what he says. He says what he means. Everybody -- everybody can understand what he's saying. And people believe him.

And I watched him and watched all the candidates during the debates and in all the interviews. And it dawned on me that Donald Trump was a man that could get the thing done.

I think we're in a very different sort of a period right now. Around the world, the foreign leaders don't -- they're not scared of us. They don't respect us. We've got all sorts of terrorism, things breaking out, things that we've never seen before and that's actually coming home.

And Donald Trump speaks directly to those things. And he's the one I think that communicates the best with the people.

BERMAN: When you...

MCMASTER: And they have confidence in him. I have confidence in him. I'll tell you this. If you go and hear him speak, and you spend any time around him at all, it is hard not to have deep confidence in that man.

BERMAN: I have.

MCMASTER: He is a powerful action figure.

BERMAN: I have gone and heard him speak. I've been to his events. Was just with him in New Hampshire.

And just to be clear, when you are endorsing Donald Trump, are you endorsing his call to ban Muslims from entering the country? Are you endorsing his call to build a wall along the southern border?

MCMASTER: I am endorsing Donald Trump. I believe he is the man that can get the things done. I think...

BERMAN: Those things? Do you want to ban Muslims?

MCMASTER: He can reignite our economic prosperity. He's the one that -- he's the one that can build that wall. He's the one that can make America great again. He's the one that's speaking to the big picture about the economic situation in the country. A lot of -- a lot of our problems are caused by the foreign competition or the unfair competition. He is really the only one that's addressed that. Of course, he started addressing the immigration issue, and everybody

has finally realized that that's a very important issue for the people.

But the big difference between Donald Trump and the other candidates -- and they're were fine candidates. I've got nothing wrong with them. A lot of them are friends of mine. But Donald Trump, I think, uniquely fits our times. I think the people are looking for someone who speaks a language they can understand, who's a man of accomplishment, who's gotten things done, gotten things done with his own money, by the way. And they believe him. They have confidence in him and believe that he can do what he says.

BERMAN: Your...

MCMASTER: And I believe that he can do what he says.

BERMAN: Your governor...

MCMASTER: And that is to make this country great again.

BERMAN: Your governor, Nikki Haley, someone you've worked with a long time, a colleague of yours, I think a friend of yours, as well. She gave the Republican response to the president's State of the Union address. And she gave comments largely seen as directed at Donald Trump. Let's listen to what she had.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. NIKKI HALEY (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: During anxious times, it can be tempting to follow the siren call of the angriest voices. We must resist that temptation. No one who is willing to work hard, abide by our laws and love our traditions should ever feel unwelcome in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So do you disagree with Governor Nikki Haley?

MCMASTER: Well, Governor Haley, of course, is a good friend of mine. We work together on a lot of things. And that was a good speech, I thought.

But I think that there is anger in the country. But I describe it more as concern, from what I've seen. And that is that people are concerned about the direction in which the country is going. They see us not having the strength and prosperity that -- that we ought to be having. And they are concerned about the terrorism, and it's getting stronger.

And by the way, it's going to get worse. We're just at the beginning of this thing, in my opinion. If my reading of history and the facts and what's going on around the world is true. Europe is already experiencing enormous, enormous problems.

So it's something we have to be very careful about. But again, I see it more as a concern. People in this country love the country. They knew it was hard to build. But you can't just -- you can't just turn things around overnight.

And it is going to take a strong, powerful leader that the people can trust and that people understand, that our friends around the world can depend on, that our enemies around the world will fear, someone who can reignite the prosperity that ought to be ours under this great free enterprise system. And Donald Trump is the man that can do it. And I believe it, and so do the people in South Carolina.

BERMAN: Lieutenant Governor...

MCMASTER: That's why I believe that he's going to win the primary in South Carolina.

BERMAN: You've praised Donald Trump for speaking, as you say, clearly. He is speaking clearly and bluntly about many of the men also running for president against him right now. He just put out a tweet about Ted Cruz that says this: "How can Ted Cruz be an evangelical Christian when he lies so much and is so dishonest?"

[07:25:04] So, A, do you agree with Donald Trump that Ted Cruz lies so much and is dishonest? And B, again, you've endorsed not just Donald Trump but the way he speaks. Do you endorse that kind of tone in the political discourse?

MCMASTER: I endorse telling the truth. And one thing about Donald Trump is he says the same thing to different groups. He says the same...

BERMAN: Is he telling the truth about Ted Cruz? Is he telling the truth about Ted Cruz right now when he calls him a liar?

MCMASTER: I think when Donald Trump speaks, he tells the truth as he sees it. And that is very important, and it is something that you don't see in some other candidates. You see subtle messages in an attempt to be delivered. You see people trying to have it both ways. You see people saying things that you know are not true.

And I'll tell you, a deceitful candidate of half-truth is a dangerous, dangerous thing. And you never see that from Donald Trump. And that is one thing that the people like about him.

In fact, at the rallies, when he's signing autographs and shaking every hand in the place, people want to hug him. They love him, and they say so. And it's -- it is a wonderful thing. I have seen nothing like it in politics. I've never seen crowds like this. We have crowds of 10,000 people, 8,000 people, 12,000 people. No other candidate is doing that. And it's because people sense something in Donald Trump that they're looking for and they know this country needs.

And that is a strong, powerful man of action. A man of accomplishment who can get things done. And it's a wonderful thing to behold. And that's why I'm following him. And that's why I believe that he will win the South Carolina primary. And I think he will be our best candidate against anyone that the Democrats put up.

BERMAN: Lieutenant Governor Henry McMaster, I think this country, the whole country is going to see how much influence you have in your state in the coming eight days. They're going to get an eyeful. Thanks so much for being with us. We really appreciate it.

MCMASTER: It's not my influence. It's Donald Trump's influence.

BERMAN: Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, John.

Some pretty heated exchanges in last night's Democratic debate. Who won those? We break that down next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)