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Republican Presidential Candidates Campaign in Nevada; Interview with Ted Cruz Supporter Bob Barr; Democratic Battle for Nomination Heats Up. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired February 23, 2016 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] GOV. JOHN KASICH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: -- many women who left their kitchens --

SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Every single day something from the Cruz campaign that is deceptive and untrue.

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Both Donald Trump and Marco Rubio's campaign have also relied on fabrications.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There's something wrong with this guy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The silent majority has spoken, baby.

HILLARY CLINTON, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're in this together.

BERNIE SANDERS, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Secretary Clinton seems to be adopting the positions we have advocated.

CLINTON: No bank could be too big to fail, no executive too powerful to fail.

SANDERS: We are actually listening to the American people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said "You're not the shooter, are you?"

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: New details also emerging.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The motive remains unclear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was running red lights, squealing the tires. I was yelling at "Please stop, please stop."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, February 23rd, now 8:00 in the east. We are live in South Carolina, ahead of tonight's Democratic presidential town hall. Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders fielding questions from real voters living with real problems just four days before the first southern primary for Democrats, Alisyn. ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: That should be very interesting, Chris.

We can't wait to watch you and all the action down there tonight.

It is also caucus day in Nevada for Republicans. Donald Trump heavily favored to win. Marco Rubio vying to be Donald Trump's top rival, locking in a bunch of establishment support, all while Cruz's campaign is in turmoil. The Texas senator forced to fire his campaign communications chief. CNN's Sara Murray has it all for us. She's live in Las Vegas with the latest. Good morning, Sara.

SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. Nevada is like the wild west of political contests. It is notoriously difficult to pull here and the caucuses tend to draw a pretty low turnout. But all of that said Donald Trump starts the day with momentum at his back while some of his GOP rivals are in rougher shape.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MURRAY: Donald Trump is hoping to lock in another win in Nevada.

TRUMP: Forget the word "caucus." Just go out and vote, OK.

MURRAY: While Marco Rubio appears set on amassing endorsement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm supporting Rubio.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's conservative and he's electable.

MURRAY: And arguing it is time for Republicans to rally behind him as the alternative to Trump before it is too late.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If we nominate someone that half of the Republican Party hates we're going to be fighting against each other all the way to November. We will never win that way.

MURRAY: Though right now Trump's blows are trained firmly on Ted Cruz.

TRUMP: This guy is sick. There's something wrong with this guy.

MURRAY: Just hours before voters cast their ballots in the unpredictable caucus state of Nevada.

TRUMP: It is Las Vegas. It is tricky, a little tricky.

MURRAY: Cruz was still trying to nix the narrative that his campaign plays dirty.

TRUMP: This guy Cruz lies more than any human being I've ever dealt with. Unbelievable.

(BOOS)

RUBIO: Every single day something comes out of the Cruz campaign that is deceptive and untrue. MURRAY: Yesterday Cruz fired his communications director.

CRUZ: This morning I asked for Rick Tyler's resignation.

MURRAY: That's after the staffer distributed a video that appeared, inaccurately, to show Marco Rubio dismissing the bible.

RUBIO: Perhaps that was the most offensive one because they basically made it up.

MURRAY: As Cruz struggled to regroup, John Kasich had his own awkward campaign moment, saying women left their kitchens to support his 1970s state house bid.

KASICH: We just got an army of people who -- and many women who left their kitchens to go out and go door to do and put yard signs up for me.

MURRAY: His offhand comment quickly called out by a voter.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll come to support you but I won't be coming out of kitchen.

KASICH: I got you. I got you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MURRAY: Now John Kasich has apologized in case that comment offended anyone. But the deal with him is now that the race is getting smaller, the field is getting smaller, he's getting a little bit more scrutiny, for better or for worse, and that may mean some tough calls coming from big GOP donors who want to see John Kasich get out of the race and let the establishment rally behind Marco Rubio. But Alisyn, as you know, John Kasich has an independent streak so it will be interesting to see how he responds if he does start getting those phone calls.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. And he's told us that he certainly wants to stay in through his home state of Ohio. So we'll see what happens with all of that pressure. Sara, thank you for that.

Let's bring in now Bob Barr. He's a former Republican congressman from Georgia. He's a Ted Cruz supporter and national chair of the Liberty Leaders for Cruz Coalition. Good morning, Congressman.

BOB BARR, (R) NATIONAL CHAIR, "LIBERTY LEADERS FOR CRUZ" COALITION: Good morning. Good to be with you.

CAMEROTA: Good to have you. Let's talk about all the news coming out of the Cruz campaign. There's many things to get to. So yesterday Ted Cruz got rid of one of his top people, Rick Tyler after Tyler had tweeted out this doctored video of Marco Rubio that was false. Cruz called it in getting rid of Rick Tyler a, quote, "grave error of judgment."

[08:05:01] But congressman, there are some analysts who say things like that really trickle down from the top and that when a campaign is putting out doctored videos and messages like that, the guy at the top must condone that sort of stuff. Whether do you think?

BARR: This isn't a question of whether or not Senator Cruz condones any of the goings on that we've seen. The fact of the matter is that Senator Cruz immediately took ownership of this problem and took very decisive action to remedy the situation. That should be the end of the story and we ought to now get back to what the voters by every measure really do care about as opposed to the other candidates and much of the media, and that is immigration, the economy, national defense. Those are the real issues.

CAMEROTA: But Congressman, isn't it relevant if the candidate engages in dirty tricks, and there is a pattern of that? Here is what would have been his rivals, Marco Rubio, is saying about that pattern.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBIO: For them to take a video and to transcribe words on it that are the complete opposite of what I said, it is incredibly disturbing. You guys have to be seeing this, but it is every single day something comes out of the Cruz campaign that is deceptive and untrue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Basically he's saying that it is untrue. And if there is a pattern doesn't that suggest that it is intentional? And doesn't that say something about the candidate?

BARR: The pattern that I see here is the pattern of whining and trying to shift the focus by Mr. Trump and Mr. Rubio away from the real issues. What Senator Cruz has been saying over the past several months has been trying to make the voters aware of the discrepancies and the changes in Rubio's positions and Trump's positions. And when that happens, these candidates rather than address the issues, they go around saying oh liar, liar, pants on fire, that is not true, rather than address the issues. That to me is what we really would like to be seeing here.

CAMEROTA: But Congressman, Ted Cruz himself had a change of position, or a seeming significant change of position last night. He went on FOX and he talked about illegal immigration. He before last night had been saying he did not believe in what Donald Trump was calling for, which was deporting all 12 million illegal immigrants here. Last night he seemed to say something quite different. So let me play for you what Ted Cruz originally said about deporting 12 million people and what he said last night. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRUZ: I don't intend to say send jack boots to knock on your door and every door in America. That is not how we enforce the law for any crime.

Of course you would. That's what ICE exists for. We have law enforcement that looks for people who are violating the laws, that apprehends them and deports them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, so he went on to say yes he would deport and look for all 12 million people. Is that not a flip-flop?

BARR: Well, at least we're talking about a real issue rather than somebody whining about a campaign ad or something. These are the issues that we ought to be talking about. I think what the senator is saying here is that the federal government does have a responsibility to deport those who are here unlawfully. The senator has never said that he would send out a phalanx of law enforcement people looking into the houses and so forth. But if in fact we do find and law enforcement does find individuals who are here unlawfully, absolutely they should be deported and I think the senator is right in that regard.

CAMEROTA: Last night he seemed to be suggesting that he would allow ICE officers, federal agents to go door to door if necessary and round up some of the 12 million people. He did seem to be changing, because Bill O'Reilly asked specifically. He said, how would you do it, Senator? Would you go door to door? And Ted Cruz said yes. And that struck many as him taking a page from Donald Trump's playbook and something quite different from what he originally said. Do you see it as the flip-flop?

BARR: No, it is not a flip-flop. What we're talking about here It is a very complex process of identifying and deporting those who are in this country unlawfully. And in certain circumstances where we know people or highly suspect people who are in communities in businesses such as those that the Obama administration has let into this country in violation of the law, then certainly we ought to identify them and remove them. I think the senator is absolutely correct on this.

CAMEROTA: He's going a little further than what you are saying. He says we would have law enforcement look for people who are violating the law. Then we would apprehend them and deport them. I mean, he's going further than he has before.

BARR: I tell you, it is very easy to listen to one remark that somebody makes and pull out a little word here and there. But if you look at I think very fairly the whole range of what Senator Cruz is saying, it's a very comprehensive, very rational policy for identifying when you can and removing people who are here in this country unlawfully unlikely the current administration. That is the debate we ought to be having, not whining over some campaign ad.

[08:10:11] CAMEROTA: And, you know, you keep calling it a campaign ad. People are calling it dirty tricks. There is a host, a litany of things that the Cruz campaign has done which are not ads. Let me put it up for you. The misleading Iowa voter mailer that people thought was way out of bounds. There was the misinformation about Ben Carson dropping out of race. That was not true. Voters say they are getting aggressive robo calls. There was a Photoshopped Rubio image making him look much shorter than he is, and now this inaccurate video. Aren't these dirty tricks? BARR: No this is the campaign, for heaven's sake. If you look at the

campaign ads that Rubio, that Bush, the others have used in these campaigns this is the last several months, these things happen in a campaign. And any candidate who wants to focus their campaign on these sorts of minor issues ought to, one, grow up and realize this is the real world out there, and, secondary, that these issues, while they may consume a great deal of the media's time and while they may consume a great deal of the time of your opponents, which is what they want, the people of this country, the voters, don't care about this. What they care about are the issues such as we were talking about a moment ago, and that is immigration, the economy, and national definition.

CAMEROTA: Congressman Bob Barr, Ted Cruz supporter, thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.

BARR: My pleasure.

CAMEROTA: Stay with CNN all day for coverage of the Nevada Republican caucuses and also join us Thursday as the remaining five Republicans square off in the final debate before Super Tuesday. Our own Wolf Blitzer moderates live from Houston. That is Thursday night, 8:30 p.m. eastern only here on CNN. Michaela?

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, President Obama is ready to make a last ditch effort to keep one of his first campaign promises, closing the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The president is set to make a statement in about two hours time. CNN's Athena Jones is live at the White House for us. Hi, Athena.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela. You are right, this is a last ditch effort. This is one of the first promises the president made upon taking office, and he's still trying to keep it in the face of opposition. The plan we expect him to lay out in the next couple of hours or so involves two parts -- transferring some of the 91 or so remaining detainees at Guantanamo Bay to other countries, and transferring the rest to U.S. soil.

Now, it's those transfers to U.S. soil that are going to face big opposition from Congress. The White House has said it is open to taking unilateral action on this, that's executive action towards -- people don't like to hear, certainly Republicans in Congress. The military told Congress in January it is legally preventing from helping with any transfers of detainees to U.S. soil. That's because of two defense bills the president signed recently that included provisions that banned any such transfers.

We expect the White House to argue those transfer bands are unconstitutional because they impede the president's ability to make military decisions as commander in chief. But as I said, they are prepared to take potentially unilateral action, and so Republicans in Congress are already weighing their options should that take place, options for pushing back. This could include lawsuits from the states where these detainees may end up going. We do not expect the plan today to lay out an exact destination for the detainees that will arrive in the U.S., but we do know that attorneys general from several states that have been under discussion, Kansas, Colorado, and South Carolina, have written to the White House in opposition to any plan to move detainees. So have a big, big fight ahead. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: That sure sounds like it. OK, Athena, thanks so much for that.

Listen up coffee lovers. Starbuck's shaking up its rewards program, and customers are as steamed as the hot cappuccino. Starting I April the coffee chain is changing to a dollar based system instead of the current number of transaction system. So customers will have to spend more, about $63, to qualify for various rewards. That is a lot of dough to get a free coffee. They are already catching some heat, like a latte, but Starbucks claims the changes are what customers want.

PEREIRA: A lot of these reward programs are changing and it's frustrating users. All right, are you ready for some laughs?

CAMEROTA: Please.

PEREIRA: It's both sides of the political aisle fair game in comedy. And do not think that dropping out with keep a former presidential candidate from being a punch line. Here are the best late night laughs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": The lights went out while Trump was talking but people were still able too still keep watching him. Take a look at this.

TRUMP: They were probably sent here so we put them in our jails, because to put them in our jail -- they didn't pay the electric bill.

(LAUGHTER)

TRUMP: Oh, I like that.

FALLON: That's so cool.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jeb Bush is now at of the presidential race. So now he's replaced his old campaign logo with this new one.

(LAUGHTER)

[08:15:00] STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": Tributes assemble. Oh, my. They're dwindling. Now they're just Hillary Clinton and the seven dwarves.

(LAUGHTER)

COLBERT: And Ben Carson is both Sleepy and Doc.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: Was that a rip on the "Hunger Games"? Was that a rip on my shirt?

(CROSTALK)

CAMEROTA: What was that?

CAMEROTA: That was fantastic.

CUOMO: Either it was "Hunger Games" or he was doing a bad Cesar Romero, also known as the Joker in the early Batman days. I wonder if he's going to get a call from Trump. Trump's going to say, "I watched your skit. It makes me want to punch you in the face."

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: Carry on.

CUOMO: Anyway, enough talking about punching in the face, at least literally. We'll just do it figuratively because Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are certainly exchanging jabs now as the race tightens. One of the things that we have to take into consideration here. Remember it is votes. But votes in the aim of getting delegates.

And then what about the super delegates? This is a big reason that Hillary Clinton is seen as having the easier path. Is this the doom of Sanders? We'll tell you why and why not, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Only three states down, but why are the number of delegates decided so big? Super delegates, that's why. This is a very tight race in terms of the votes and the delegates that get apportions for each state.

[08:20:03] But super delegates, party officials, elected officials, who have a role in going to the convention, and they get to vote for whoever they want, they have been worked by Clintons for a while and well. And that is how the numbers on your screen appear to be in play right now.

What do they mean?

We have a great debate for you about the resonance and the relevance. We have South Carolina Representative Cezar McKnight, Sanders supporter, and former South Carolina State Representative and CNN commentator, Bakari Sellers, supporting Clinton.

Beautiful. Great to have you both, Cezar and Bakari, as always.

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN COMMENTATOR: Welcome to South Carolina.

CUOMO: So, here we are in South Carolina. There is a tradition of supporting Clintons here. That is what the African American community strength is supposed to be all about. You see it a different way this time, why?

REP. CEZAR MCKNIGHT (D), SOUTH CAROLINA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: I see it differently this time because I think that a lot of South Carolinians particularly African Americans are beginning to hear the message Senator Sanders is resonating within. The fact that we are suffering from the great recession and in large part, the Great Recession is brought on by the deregulation during the Clinton eras, I think a lot of black people realize that and it hits home, because they know in their pocket books that their household wealth, their average household wealth for African-Americans has fallen to $9,000 per household.

So, when you hear Bernie Sanders saying someone did you wrong, be it big banks, and I'm the person that's going to take them on, I think that resonates with them, and also the thing that strikes me is the mass incarceration of young black and brown people which has disproportionately affected the African-American community in ways you cannot imagine. If you look at the Clinton era, when they tout, when they tout their unemployment numbers, those numbers don't include the people that were mass incarcerated.

So, when you factor that in, you have an effective African-American unemployment rate for black males from being 52 percent. And black people realize that. So, when the warm and fuzzy feeling of the -- oh these are the good old days wears off, they do realize that our community wasn't necessarily as well off --

CUOMO: But it better wear off fast, because the numbers right now show yawning gap between Sellers -- Sellers. Not yet. Between Sanders and Clinton.

But, you know, McKnight has a big stick on you. Clinton, Bill, is the one who was in office and signed off on deregulating banks and allowed them to trade in derivatives in a way that allowed things to go haywire on one level. This sheet in front of me, of all the money the Clintons have made giving speeches, so much of it from banks, you are too close to 'em, Sellers, to change them.

SELLERS: Well, I think and one of the things that Hillary Clinton did very well was push back on Bernie Sanders to show where exactly that influenced her in any particular vote and Bernie Sanders had no answer for that.

My good friend Cezar and I, we go back and forth in social media and just in casual conversation about mass incarceration. And Cezar and others like to forget that the only person running for president right now who had a vote on that issue on that crime bill, the crime bill, was actually Senator Sanders who voted for that bill who as recently as 2006 was out the touting he was really tough on crime. So, he is complicit as well in this mass incarceration issue that we all want to unravel.

The question have now is who is best prepared to move forward and in hearing Cezar's talking points regarding Bernie Sanders and the trouble that we're in, it amazes me that we forget that Barack Obama has reduced the unemployment rate. Barack Obama has tripled the stock market. Barack Obama has our economy going in the right direction.

It is as far as we want to go? The answer is no. But this race in South Carolina is about building on and protecting the legacy of Barack Obama, helping people establish that future, that middle class American dream they all want and perpetuating and moving to the future and Hillary Clinton is the person that wants to do that.

CUOMO: That is the big stick on you, right, is that Clinton says --

MCKNIGHT: But Hillary Clinton is not Barack Obama.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: Right. They are both not Barack Obama in many different ways you can measure, not measure. However, it is who's closer to it. Senator Sanders was connected to some books that bashed Barack Obama.

SELLERS: Right, it just recently come out.

CUOMO: So, how do you deal with that aspect of it?

MCKNIGHT: If you are going to talk about what Senator Sanders said in criticism of Barack Obama, let's not forget the vitriol that espoused by Secretary Clinton when she ran for president, when she bashed then Senator Barack Obama, in his efforts to be president.

CUOMO: Fair comparison?

MCKNIGHT: I think it's a very -- it's even more telling because after they lost, you had the whole spot between former President Clinton and our sitting congressman, Congressman Clyburn.

The issues are simply this, Hillary Clinton is a wonderful person. And if she wins the nomination, I'll support her because she's a far better choice than we have on the other side. But --

CUOMO: Who will punch in the face.

SELLERS: This is the tag of morning.

MCKNIGHT: I sincerely believe that she has enough class not to hit anybody in the face, unlike some other people that have indicated they do that. But what I see is a clear difference between her and Senator Sanders. And I think he's the better suited to be president in that I do not believe that Senator Clinton can take millions of dollars from Goldman Sachs to the point where they refer to her as having Goldman handcuffs and be the person to police the banks when they get out of line.

[08:25:09] CUOMO: You think you can turn the super delegates?

MCKNIGHT: I think the super delegates can be turned and I'll tell you why. If there is a strong enough popular turnout for Senator Sanders, they are not going to risk alienating a whole, an entire mass of the party by doing the will contrary to what the people want them to believe.

Our party is in a good place. This is a good spirited debate but I think at the end of the day, you see myself and Bakari Sellers be friends and we'll go out and be good Democrats.

CUOMO: Very important.

MCKNIGHT: And I think that will happen. But this is necessary for the party. It's necessary for growth. And this is just -- I see it as families having a spirited discussion. And at the end, we're going to be one family that is going to be the Democratic family.

CUOMO: We'll see how it goes tonight right behind us.

Cezar McKnight, thank you very much.

MCKNIGHT: Thank you.

CUOMO: Bakari Sellers, as always.

SELLERS: Thank you, Chris.

CUOMO: Gentlemen, appreciate the debate.

All right. And again tonight, right behind us. That is why we're here. It's a beautiful place as it is, it is empty, because tonight is the town hall is.

And they are going the make their case not just to the big brains, not to reporters, they're going to make them to voters. People who are living.

What fuels their questions tonight? How will they do? What will you see? It always changes minds and I'll have the best seat in the house at the CNN town hall, 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

Let's take a quick break. When we come back, the Republican field narrowing. Marco Rubio, the beneficiary of that, getting big endorsements, getting money.

But is it fruit of the poisonous tree? Does it help or does it hurt? Does it really help against Donald Trump?

We have a long time supporter, a congressman who wants to make the case for Rubio ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)