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Rubio & Cruz Spar with Trump in Raucous CNN Debate; Democrats Make Final Push Before S.C. Primary. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired February 26, 2016 - 07:00   ET

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

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When you say crazy zealot, are you talking about you?

[07:00:09] SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's going to look to cut a deal rather than fight.

TRUMP: You're a lousy...

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I don't know anything about bankrupting poor people.

TRUMP: Robin Hood. This is Robin hood over here.

CRUZ: Donald believes that he is the onewho discovered the issue of illegal immigration.

RUBIO: Politics are not a real estate deal, Donald.

TRUMP: I'm the only one on the stage that's hired people. You haven't hired people.

RUBIO: You lied about the Polish worker.

TRUMP: Yes, yes, yes, 38 years ago. Thirty-eight years ago. I guess there's a statute of limitations on lies.

TRUMP: I watched him repeat himself five times four weeks ago. It was a meltdown.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

CUOMO: There it is. The University of Houston, the walls still reverberating with the energy of what went on inside those walls last night.

Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. We are in Houston. Alisyn's in New York. Republicans want a dog fight, and, boy, did they get one. We have seen nothing like what went down on last night's final GOP debate stage right before Super Tuesday.

Marco Rubio, the senator from Florida, aggressively going after Donald Trump on health care, his hiring practices, immigration, and then he seemed to get the assistance of Ted Cruz. To be clear, the stakes have never been higher. I was in there, and I'm telling you, Alisyn, the smell of desperation was in the air.

CAMEROTA: That could haven't been pleasant. All right, Chris. Because Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio were unleashing on Donald Trump in hopes of taking down the front-runner. They're banking on it not being too late, about Trump's momentum going into Super Tuesday. You're going hear from Donald Trump shortly about how he felt about all of this, but we begin our coverage of the raucous debate impact with Sunlen Serfaty. She's live in Houston.

Good morning, Sunlen.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Alisyn.

Yes, at times it really felt like a cage match up there, pushed forward by a newly aggressive Marco Rubio going for broke against Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY (voice-over): An all-out war of insults and putdowns breaking out in the final GOP debate before Super Tuesday.

RUBIO: But you're the only person on the stage that's ever been fined for hiring people to work on your projects illegally. You hired some workers from Poland...

TRUMP: I'm the only one on this stage that's hired people. You haven't hired people.

SERFATY: Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz worried about Donald Trump's trifecta of wins in the last three Republican contests, unleashing an onslaught of attacks against the front-runner, from illegal immigration...

CRUZ: When I was leading the fight against the Gang of Eight amnesty bill, where was Donald? He was firing Dennis Rodman on "Celebrity Apprentice."

RUBIO: If he builds the wall the way he built Trump Towers, he'll be using illegal immigrant labor to do it.

SERFATY: ... to U.S. trade relations with China and Mexico...

RUBIO: The second thing about the trade war, I don't understand, because your ties and the clothes you make is made in Mexico and in China. So you're going to be starting a trade war against your own ties and clothing.

TRUMP: They devalue their currency to such an extent that our businesses cannot compete with them. Our workers lose their jobs. You don't know anything about it, because you're...

RUBIO: Well, I don't know anything about bankrupting poor people.

You lied about the Polish workers.

TRUMP: Yes, yes, yes. Thirty-eight years ago. Thirty-eight years ago.

RUBIO: Oh, OK. He lied 38 years ago. All right. I guess there's a statute of limitations on lies.

SERFATY: ... to Obamacare...

TRUMP: You'll have different plans. You'll have competition. I have so many different plans.

RUBIO: Now he's repeating himself.

TRUMP: No, no, no. I watched him repeat himself five times four weeks ago. And I'm going to tell you...

RUBIO: I heard you repeat yourself five minutes ago.

TRUMP: It was a meltdown. I watched it. I watched him melt down on the stage like I've never seen anybody. I thought he came out of the swimming pool.

RUBIO: I said...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's talk about your plan.

RUBIO: Every night he says five things: everyone's dumb. He's going to make America great again. We're going to win, win, win. He's winning in the polls, and the line's around the street.

SERFATY: ... and Hillary Clinton...

TRUMP: First of all, talking about the polls, I'm beating him awfully badly in the polls.

CRUZ: You're not beating Hillary.

TRUMP: Now, if I can't -- hey, if I can't beat her, you're really going to get killed.

So let me ask you this, because you're really getting beaten badly. I know you're embarrassed; I know you're embarrassed. But keep fighting, keep swinging. Swing for the fences.

SERFATY: Trump eventually lashing out at both of the freshmen senators at the same time.

TRUMP: You are all talk and no action. What I see up here -- I mean, first of all, this guy's a joke artist and this guy's a liar. You have a combination of factors. He can't do it for the obvious reason, and he can't do it, because he doesn't know how to tell the truth. I know politicians, believe it or not, better than you do, and it's not good.

CRUZ: I believe it. I believe you know politicians much better than I do because for 40 years you've been funding liberal Democratic politicians. And by the way...

[07:05:08] TRUMP: I funded you, too. Gave you a check.

CRUZ: Donald, relax.

TRUMP: I'm relaxed. You're the basket case. Go ahead, go ahead. Don't get nervous.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY: Now, after all that, of course, the dust still settling here this morning, but the big question going forward is how will all of this change the dynamic of the race going forward. Of course, Chris, this is only four days before Super Tuesday.

CUOMO: I'll tell you what. It was real high political theater going on, on that debate stage last night. At times I felt like I didn't know if I was watching a debate or "Saturday Night Live." But I'll tell you, it certainly had an impact.

Let's discuss how. We have with David Gregory, noted journalist of "Meet the Press" fame; and Michael Smerconish, CNN familia and host of "SMERCONISH," as well as a CNN political commentator.

So what did you see there last night? I'll tell you one thing. Do you agree with me that I've never seen it like that before? That robust, that constant. That quick.

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I can't say it on CNN. It was a total "S" show. Wasn't it?

CUOMO: Vicente Fox?

SMERCONISH: I wonder if there was damage, though, to the brand long- term. Remember, they limited. They tried to reign in these debates in that Reince Priebus autopsy, because there were some incidents in the last debate that they thought harmed the brand, long-term, of the party. Regardless of who wins the nomination, do some of those perceptions linger and come back to harm whomever wins the nomination?

CUOMO: And yet, what was that a crucible of last night, David Gregory, something you've talked about a lot. This crisis of confidence about who this party is, what that party is. You had that on fulsome, on full display last night. How do you think it mixed out?

DAVID GREGORY, FORMER MODERATOR, NBC'S "MEET THE PRESS": You know, we can talk about the kinetics. We can talk about how robust it was. I agree with you. And from a debate performance point of view, you say, "Yes, Rubio finally discovered Google and finally discovered a way to attack Donald Trump, and so did Ted Cruz, and they got into it a little bit more."

I'm not a prude about this. Neither is Michael. But I mean, this was a pitiful display of political discourse. It really was a new low for 2016 and I think the brand, I think the party has to deal with that because of the larger question, which is does it actually change anything?

When you get beyond insults, the ultimate question is did they land some serious blows onto Trump about his authenticity, whether he's a real conservative, whether you really know whenever he comes down on important issues and whether you can trust him. Because does he tell the truth? Will he follow through on certain positions? These are questions we simply don't know answers to with regard to his supporters.

CUOMO: David, I love you, brother, but your big intellect is getting in the way on this one. These are three guys who are battling it out for identity politics of what this party is and who they are and how they represented, and that's the way it gets settled.

And I thought Wolf did the right thing last night, letting them go at it.

SMERCONISH: I agree with it. I agree with David.

CUOMO: But you're another big brain.

SMERCONISH: Not at all. But there's going to be a general election, right? I'm looking beyond what happened here in Houston last night. I mean, Marco Rubio brought the heat last night. I don't think he's the beneficiary of anything that he did to bring Trump down a couple of pegs.

CUOMO: They're second-guessing him. They're holding this meeting about a brokered convention. Last night he went out there, and he answered the question to people.

But if you're a Trump supporter who now has second thoughts. Is he the guy you're going to, or is it Ted Cruz?

CUOMO: Trump supporters -- I mean, isn't he over -- I'm not being facetious. Isn't he over 75 percent full resolved with his support base? It's not about taking his people. It's about creating a base for himself.

SMERCONISH: I think he was doing Ted Cruz's dirty work, is what I'm saying last night. I really think that it's probably too little too late for Rubio.

CUOMO: David Gregory, as a writer of things religious, did you feel any kind of connection with Donald Trump in the after-action interview when he said that he is getting audited by the IRS because of his faith?

GREGORY: No. I thought that was hyperbole in that interview that he did with you. I mean, I think, you know, that was kind of a short- handed way to say that, in his view, the IRS has targeted conservatives. There has been, obviously, a lot of talk about Tea Party activists and others being targeted. No, I thought that was off-base.

And by the way, I just want to go back to your point, because I'm really not that smart. And you know that? I understand identity politics, and I understand the kinetics on stage the stage last night. And that, by the way, is important, because the ability to show your supporters, to show donors, to show other people who might be wavering in this Republican primary that you've about got some fight and you can take this guy on.

That's fine. But if you're a Trump supporter and you want to get into the insult game, I still think that Trump comes out on top on that, even if you look rattled at some point.

The point that Smerconish made here, which I think is the right one here, which is if you're going to attack Trump, you're already too late on this then. Why did you wait until the tenth debate?

And No. 2, you've got to have this as a sustained attack day after day after day in order to reach those persuadables, so I have no -- I have no complaint other than the candidates' behavior themselves and the way they talked to each other about the debate. I thought it was good that they were able to go after each other, because this is their debate, their chance to take each other on in the way that they see fit. Whether the country thinks it's very palatable or not. The question is how do we gauge what impact it has? Especially when it was this kind of two-on-one. And for me it's hard to gauge whether Cruz benefits more than Rubio.

CUOMO: Well, look. Of course, you're both making the right point, which is negative is supposed to be partnered with positive and you wind up showing the base that you have certain mettle but that you also have ideas to offer. And the proof is in John Kasich last night, the governor of Ohio, of course.

During the melee that was going on, he would interject every once in a while with really strong fundamental points about executive leadership and potential solutions to what the other guys were fighting about. What's the net-net on that, Michael?

SMERCONISH: Well, I don't know that he's able to break out. I don't know that there really is a path. I think that he distinguishes himself by being on that stage and not participating in what was going on at the center of the stage.

Chris, I kept looking at Bush 41 in the audience and thinking to myself, my God, what a contrast between the class and dignity, frankly, that he showed during his career.

CUOMO: And God bless him for being there.

SMERCONISH: Absolutely. And what was going on center stage.

CUOMO: And only Kasich brought him up, showing a workable model of government. Go ahead, David?

GREGORY: Can I just say on Kasich, a positive and a negative? The positive answer on Apple where he challenged President Obama and said you've got a lead on this. Bring the government and Apple together and force a solution that balances these two concerns. A big negative for him: someone who wants to have more moderate

support, wants to even be able to reach out to Democrats, talking about the issue of same-sex marriage saying, listen, if you -- you have to be able to serve gays and lesbians if you make cupcakes and if -- you know, even if you're opposed to them, you can say a prayer for them and hoping they can change their behavior, talking about gays and lesbians being gay and lesbian because it's a choice, because of their behavior, I think that's going to be offend a lot of people.

CUOMO: Well, nuance to people on questions of spirituality is not always a great way to go, certainly the primary. But I think it's worth -- do we have time to play the Kasich argument against Obama or should I just summarize it? All right. Let's listen to it, because it was a really intelligent one. Go ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KASICH: The president of the United States should be convening a meeting, should have convened a meeting with Apple and our security forces, and then you know what you do when you're the president? You lock the door, and you say, "You're not coming out until you reach an agreement that both gives the security people what they need and protects the rights of Americans." This is a failure of his leadership to get this done as an executive should be doing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Now, maybe too little too late, but I'll tell you something. I was raised by a governor, and I got one now as my best friend in my brother. That is what governors do. They do have the ability to get people in a room and lock the door and say, "We're going to figure this out right now before the press gets to it." That was an interesting insight that no one else on that stage would make.

SMERCONISH: I think the president, the current president, did bring them in and locked the door. But he wasn't able to get the deal done. I think that's what the tick tock shows. I was thinking as I watched Kasich of what Jeb Bush initially said. You've got to be prepared to lose primaries to win a general.

I still look at him and I'd say to myself that's the guy who's the strongest in a general election, whether he can survive, you know, this cattle call remains to be seen.

David Gregory, Michael Smerconish, thanks you very much for helping us understand what we all watched in awe -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. What a night.

All right. Well, one last full day now of campaigning before South Carolina Democrats head to the polls for Saturday's primary. All polls point to a big win for Hillary Clinton and a boost heading into the Super Tuesday contest.

But Bernie Sanders insists he can make a big mark on Super Tuesday. CNN's Joe Johns is live in Columbia, South Carolina, for us. Good morning, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

Hillary Clinton's campaign spent the last 24 hours fighting on dual tracks for communications, firing out message against the Republicans on everything from tax cuts to the State of the Union.

Now, meanwhile the one thing I think we can say that's going on here is they're trying to position her as a general election candidate. But on the ground in South Carolina, it was all about the primary over the last 24 hours. The former secretary of state moving around South Carolina with her husband, the former president. They're also going to be joined here by their daughter, Chelsea Clinton, later today.

This campaign is really trying to run up the vote to move into some more momentum as we get to Super Tuesday. One thing that has been dogging Hillary Clinton here in South Carolina and elsewhere is Bernie Sanders' call for her to release transcripts of her Wall Street speeches. "The New York Times" asking for her to do that.

Bernie Sanders for his part has been moving across the Midwest: Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan, but will be back here in South Carolina today.

Back to you.

CAMEROTA: OK, Joe, thanks so much for the update on the Democratic side.

Stay with CNN all day for the complete coverage of the South Carolina Democratic primary.

Well, back to the debate, Donald Trump was the bull's-eye in CNN's GOP debate last night. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz hitting the Republican front-runner hard. So how does Donald Trump think he did? Trump's self-assessment next on NEW DAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Welcome back. This was the scene of the big GOP debate. Donald Trump under attack from jump by both sides of him last night, senators Rubio and Cruz. They were seemingly united at points in their ambush of the Republican front-runner. The sparring grew loud and proud.

[07:20:02] So we grabbed Donald Trump right after the debate. That's a really important time frame before they get polished up by their advisers about what he thought took place on that stage, how he fared, and what was the real deal on his taxes. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They're politicians. They want to get elected, but they are doing badly. And I think CNN did a very good job, but I think they had a lot of focus on the three in the middle. And maybe that's the way it should have been. I don't know.

CUOMO: What did you think about that dynamic?

TRUMP: I thought it was great. I thought it was exciting, and I thought it was a great.

CUOMO: What did you think of that dynamic of having to take both of them on?

TRUMP: I felt it was fine. I've dealt with the toughest people over my lifetime and I've dealt with much tougher. I think that it was fine. I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the debating process.

CUOMO: During that debate as it was going on, Marco Rubio started on his website selling watches, as a pretend gimmick to say that they were watches that, you know, would have been yours if you would have been selling, but they're just donations for him. It was a quick response during the actual debate. What do you make of the move?

TRUMP: The problem with Marco is he's a choke artist. He chokes. And he did it in front of Chris Christie. I've never seen anything like that. I was standing right next to him. I looked over and said, "Are you OK?" I mean, he was -- it looked like he came out of a swimming pool. He was soaking wet. And he kept repeating himself, repeating himself.

CUOMO: He tried to use that on you tonight.

TRUMP: No, no, but I didn't do it. Repeating. I just say, "Hey." I just say what's needed. I didn't do that.

But he -- he really -- we can't have a choke artist. You know, one thing I've learned from sports, I was actually a very good athlete. When you're a choker, you're always a choker. We can't have that. We can't take any chances in this country.

CUOMO: How long, now that you're starting to get the votes in, and you're at the top, do you think that people should start thinking about leaving this race?

TRUMP: I think so. But, you know, it's not for me to say. I would say that a few of them maybe should. And you know, Marco, I'm 20 points up on him in Florida. And with Cruz, I'm even. It seems the last polls I'm even in Texas and winning every other state.

Yes, I think so. I think it's going to be over fairly quickly, and I don't think there's going to be a convention.

CUOMO: It seemed like Senator Rubio was more intent on going after you directly tonight than even Senator Cruz. Why do you think that was?

TRUMP: I was a little surprised by it, but I liked it. I thought it was fine.

CUOMO: Did he show you a toughness that you didn't see against Christie?

TRUMP: No, I think it was the same basic person. But he -- he's a meltdown guy. I mean, I'm looking at him, he's pouring sweat. I've never seen anything like it. I don't know what the problem is. But he's just pouring down sweat. We have to have somebody that doesn't sweat. I mean, we need somebody that, when they walk into Putin's office or Putin walks into our office or the Chinese come to deal with us, that we know what they're doing. We want somebody that doesn't have whatever that is that he's got.

CUOMO: Now online, there was an interesting observation. Let me see if you share it, which is that sometimes you like to use tough language about people, certainly in tweets, as we know. Tonight, they say you weren't doing it, that you were doubling down on your positions and trying to argue on a policy level more than a personal level. Was that intentional?

TRUMP: I think it was intentional, because I'm leading by so much. Honestly it got me here. That attitude got me here. But now it's time, and I'm very focused on policy.

Look, I'm somebody that went to the best college, and I got very good marks. Policy is very easy. But when I started off with -- we had a total of 17 people. We're now down to five. That got me there. Now I think I have a little bit of a different attitude.

CUOMO: Do you think that the race is over for the nomination?

TRUMP: No, I'd never say it's over. It's never over till it's over as our friend would say, right, yogi? But I think we're doing really well. I love that Bloomberg poll. It did many of the southern states. And we're just leading by tremendous numbers.

CUOMO: They came at you tonight about something that's in the news right now that really is at your control, which is the tax returns. Mitt Romney during the debate was bringing it up again. You can show him in a second if you want to. Why is Trump delaying releasing?

TRUMP: Let me explain about Mitt. Mitt is a guy who was a horrible candidate. He lost a race that should have been won, and it should have been won easily. And I don't know what happened. He, like, disappeared the last two months.

But when Mitt gave his tax returns, just so you understand, it was about six months from now in 2012. It was exactly September 21. And that's when he gave his tax return. We're in a different world.

So, you know, Mitt is just trying to remain relevant. Nobody's talking to him much anymore. He got some publicity today. But the one problem I have is that I'm always audited by the IRS, which I think is very unfair. I don't know, maybe because of religion, maybe because of something else, maybe because I'm doing this, although this is just recently.

CUOMO: What do you mean religion?

TRUMP: Well, because of the fact that I'm a strong Christian, and I feel strongly about it. And maybe there's a bias.

CUOMO: Do you think you're being audited for being a strong Christian?

TRUMP: You see what's happened. I mean, you have many religious groups that are complaining about that. They've been complaining about it for a long time.

CUOMO: What about the ones that aren't audited. This seems like an easy answer for you.

TRUMP: No, I can't do that. I can't do that. We have to put it out there in a very unified way. They all relate to each other. I don't know if you saw the picture where I have almost a thousand.

CUOMO: Big stacks of paper.

TRUMP: The ones from previous relate to the ones later, and it doesn't make sense, unless they're already...

CUOMO: You know what you would do with this issue if somebody else had it. You'd say, "What are you talking about? Tax returns, just put them out. Doesn't want to put them out."

TRUMP: Nobody that's under a regular audit -- I mean, it's just a regular audit. Almost every year, I think for 12 years, 10 years, 12 years, I get audited. Nobody would ever put out their returns that's under an audit.

[07:25:11] It's very unfair that I'm audited all the time. By the way, I always pass the audit. I've always passed the audit.

CUOMO: Excuse me. Why wouldn't you put it out if you're being audited just so people would understand?

Of course, you wouldn't. Your lawyers would never allow you to do that. It's a very simple audit. I think it perhaps will go fast and perhaps it won't. And when it's complete, you've got them. I love it. But I think until that audit is done, certainly you wouldn't do that.

CUOMO: Have you heard anything from former Mexican President Vicente Fox?

TRUMP: Well, I think he should apologize for his foul mouth. I think it's a disgusting thing to be saying, and I can tell you, I would not use that word. But if I did use that word, I probably wouldn't have even been allowed on the stage tonight.

CUOMO: You do understand there's a touch of irony in that, though? You're saying that someone...

TRUMP: I don't know what the problem is, but I think he should apologize to a lot of people that heard that word. That was a very -- I heard t this afternoon. I couldn't believe it.

CUOMO: How do you feel after tonight?

TRUMP: I feel a great. I mean, I think we're doing so well. I think the debate was really one of my best debates, considering the fact that I was being hit from all sides.

CUOMO: It's best to be tested, though.

TRUMP: It was a good test. It was a really good test. I really liked it. I enjoyed it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Chris, fascinating interview there post-debate with Donald Trump. He said things that he didn't even say on the debate stage. Now, the punditry that I'm reading this morning in the papers here, say that they believe that Marco Rubio won and not only was it his strongest. They say that it's, like, the strongest debate of any candidate in any debate thus far.

How -- what was the feeling in the room last night?

CUOMO: I'll tell you what. That crowd had a lot of energy going on, because it wasn't that big a crowd.

Now, look. People who are going to spin it, you know, the pundits are in the business of having an opinion. They're in the business of keeping the race going. You know, you have to read all reviews through that light. This isn't like a car race where you can say objectively who won and who didn't.

Did Rubio discover a side of himself last night? It seemed that way. He was certainly different than he was when, you know, Christie put him on his back. But what does that mean in terms of the net positive on it? Does he wind up taking Trump voters? I don't know. Does he wind up strengthening a resolve of his own with all the skepticism around him? Probably so.

Did he wind up doing Cruz's handiwork by going at Trump, and therefore not being the positive force that he usually tries to be in these? So you have to look at it through the lens of what matters, and that gets very objective.

CAMEROTA: This morning Marco Rubio is continuing that line of attack on Donald Trump. He was calling him a con artist on another morning show. Let me play that for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBIO: A con artist is about to take over the Republican Party and the conservative movement. And we have to put a stop to it.

Donald Trump has portrayed himself now consistently as fighting for the working people. And he has a record of sticking it to working people for 35 years.

If any other candidate in this race had his record, there would be non-stop reporting on it. But unfortunately, he's being pumped up because many in the media with a bias know that he'll be easy to beat in the general election. So we're going to put a stop to it now.

There's no way we're going to allow a con artist to take over the conservative movement, and Donald Trump is a con artist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: It seems like Marco Rubio has found his voice and certainly found a phrase that he thinks resonates in con artist. And then, of course, Trump calling Rubio a choke artist. And the names are flying back and forth.

Chris, what did you think was an effective line of attack?

CUOMO: Look, you always have to believe that people lose when the campaign is inherently negative and personal. My question to you is does it smack a little familiar for Marco Rubio to be discussing somebody as being pushed by the media as some type of alternative or something new? Isn't that what he was benefiting from just a couple of weeks ago?

CAMEROTA: I don't know. To me, it sounds like a new -- it sounds to me like he's found his voice in being more aggressive against Trump.

Now I talked to his top adviser yesterday who said that he would be going against Trump, and Marco Rubio fulfilled that promise, I would say, last night.

But Chris, much more from you there in Houston about the raucous night. So stick around if you would. We do want to get do some breaking news right now, because overnight there's been a terrible workplace shooting in rural Kansas leaving three people dead, 14 others wounded.

CNN's Rosa Flores is live at the scene in Kansas. What have you learned?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, good morning.

I just spoke to the sheriff moments ago, and he tells me that they are still processing the scene. If you look closely behind me, you'll see some crime scene tape is still up. Again, they're still processing. They have to interview between 150 and 200 people to try to figure out what the motive is.

Now, the sheriff also tells me that they obtained a warrant for this subject's home and that they are working on exercising that warrant, trying to figure out if there are any clues inside his home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES (voice-over): Breaking overnight, the gunman who stormed a lawn care manufacturing company in a small Kansas town killing three people and wounding 14 others. SHERIFF T. WALTON, HARVEY COUNTY, KANSAS: Law enforcement confronted

the shooter. Gunfire was exchanged. Law enforcement shot and killed the shooter.

FLORES: Identified by a co-worker as --