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New Day Saturday

Super Saturday Preview; Flint, MI, Water Problems; LAPD Testing Knife Found in Former OJ Simpson Residence; Five States Hold Contests On Super Saturday; One Hundred Nine Delegates At Stake For Democrats Today. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired March 05, 2016 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KASICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm going to win Ohio. When I win Ohio it's going to be a whole new ball game.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They're voting Republican. I hate to say it. It's not because of lying Ted and it's not because of little Marco.

SENATOR MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: A campaign filled with vulgarity and profanity and some of the ugliest things that have ever been said about other people on the stage.

SENATOR TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There is no doubt. If we remain divided, Donald Trump wins.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There were so many insults flying back and forth, it was hard to keep track.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. So great to have you along with us on this Saturday morning. I'm Pamela Brown in for Christi Paul and Victor Blackwell is live in Flint, Michigan, the site of CNN's Democratic debate Sunday night.

And Michigan votes Tuesday, but Victor, today is Super Saturday, the biggest Saturday of the year and the race for the White House so a lot going on today.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Good morning to you, Pamela. Good morning to you at home. This is Super Saturday. There is a lot going on. We are going to cover all of the voters across five states. We'll head to the polls or caucuses.

For the Republicans, the stakes have never been higher. Take a look at the map here. We've got voters headed out to Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, and Nebraska. A lot of headlines.

First up, Ben Carson officially now out of the race. Telling the audience he'll take a position with the Christian voter group.

Meanwhile Donald Trump who was scheduled to speak at about 8:30 this morning is skipping the conservative conference, instead holding a rally in Kansas at nearly the same time as his canceled speech.

Trump is also backing away from his position on torture. Some would call it a flat out reversal. Yesterday, the frontrunner clarified remarks that a push for torture of detainees and killing family members of terrorist. Now Trump now says that he would not ask the military to commit illegal acts.

Florida, they start early voting today. That is as you probably know a must-win state for Senator Marco Rubio. It's his home state. But Senator Ted Cruz, his campaign is launching an aggressive plan to block a Rubio win there.

Perceptionally that could be a fatal blow for Marco Rubio. Mathematically it would be a win for Donald Trump. He would bag the Florida's 99 delegates. That's a winner take all primary.

Cruz's plan to block Rubio would also help to put him on a path to stopping Donald Trump whose nomination continues to create panic within the GOP establishment.

CNN politics senior reporter, Stephen Collinson is following that angle of this multifaceted story. Stephen, good morning to you. I want to start with this.

The Republican establishment seems not quite certain that it won't come down to the very end that contested convention. Listen, first, to Mitt Romney speaking with our colleague, Gloria Borger, and then Reince Priebus, the head of the RNC, at CPAC talking about the possibility of this all going down to the convention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: This contested convention, is this a scenario that you're actively looking at?

MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think it's a realistic scenario. A lot of people have thought that.

REINCE PRIEBUS, CHAIRMAN, RNC: If that were to happen, obviously we're sort of in territory that our party hasn't seen. Once again, highly, highly unlikely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right, Stephen, there you have the head of the RNC, the last nominee from the party, the establishment saying that maybe this is a possibility. It's unlikely. Beyond the leadership, how pervasive is this expectation that this will be a contested convention?

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Victor, I think a lot of it depends on how Donald Trump performs in the coming primaries. If he get to the 1,237 delegates, he needs to win the nomination contesting the convention become a very difficult process indeed. But you know, if we step back and think about this it's

absolutely extraordinary that the last nominee of the Republican Party and the previous nominee of the Republican Party, John McCain, are actually raising the idea that they could go into the general election with those two figures repudiating the current nominee who would be Donald Trump.

It's an extraordinary political situation and it's one that is very risky for the Republican Party because historically divided parties have not prospered in general elections.

And a Republican Party that's having a civil war with itself could very well hand the White House for the Democrats in November.

BLACKWELL: Ben Carson as we said at the top of the show has officially suspended his campaign. His 5 percent, 6 percent, 7 percent support in states moving forward could be pivotal. Who will likely get his supporters?

[06:05:08]COLLINSON: I think the most likely beneficiary would be Ted Cruz. He appeals to many of the same Evangelical Christian voters that Ben Carson does. You've seen Marco Rubio's campaign has made a pitch for those Carson voters.

You know, in Florida, for example, which is a make-or-break state for Marco Rubio on March 15th, if he could swell his support by those Carson voters even though it may be just 4 percent, 5 percent, 6 percent as you say, that could perhaps be decisive in a close race with Donald Trump.

And there is, you know, the other issue is that Ben Carson supporters are very faithful. They're very attached to their candidate. I don't think it's a given that necessarily they would go to one other candidate and transfer their support.

It's possible that some of them don't vote at all. Although he is at 6 percent in some of these polls, it's possible that the final tally of Ben Carson voters going to Rubio or Cruz could be less than that.

BLACKWELL: All right. Stephen Collinson watching the GOP infighting that is on display hour to hour on television now. Stephen Collinson, thank you so much. We'll get back to you a little later this morning.

All right. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I did the math. I looked at the delegate counts, I look at the states, I looked at the requirements, and I realize that it simply wasn't going to happen, and if that's the case, then I didn't want to interfere with the process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: All right. So you've got Ben Carson there. That is his official announcement vowing out of the presidential race on Friday making the announcement at CPAC, but so far he has not backed a former rival.

Marco Rubio, he'll be speaking at the conservative conference later today. As conservative commentator and editor of "The Weekly Standard," Bill Kristol urges him to back away from his pledge of support to the frontrunner, the potential nominee, Donald Trump.

Kristol tweeted this. "What Rubio could say at CPAC, I took a pledge to endorse the GOP nominee, but since then there's been a campaign and I've heard things. I never imagined I'd hear from a major Republican candidate. I can no longer in good conscience commit to support Donald Trump."

Let's bring in CNN political commentator and host of "The Ben Ferguson Show," Ben Ferguson. Ben --

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

BLACKWELL: Play this out for me, good morning to you, the pluses and minuses of an announcement, a decision like that for Marco Rubio.

FERGUSON: Well, two different things. If he does it, I think it will look like an opportunist and it will just fracture this election even more so. It will also look desperate for a guy that is trying to convince voters that somehow third place finishes end up somehow giving you first place.

I disagree with Bill on this one. I don't think this would be a good idea to do that. I think you have to run your campaign, say that you're going to continue do it the way you're going to do it, and you're not going to try to pull some rabbit out of your hat at the last hour and say, hey, look what I did, I changed my narrative and it's going to fix it.

It will not fix it. You may get applause and a big clap at CPAC especially since Donald Trump has basically said you're not worth my time, I'm not showing up.

The room would love to hear anything that would be critical of Donald Trump since he has decided not to show up at CPAC, but outside of that, I don't think it plays well with the voters.

BLACKWELL: OK, so let's move down the road a little bit. If Donald Trump gets the magic number to become the nominee, Marco Rubio has called Donald Trump a frog, a con man, has mocked him at rallies in recent weeks. Won't that endorsement if it comes, if he supports the nominee, won't that seem a little disingenuous?

FERGUSON: No, I don't think so. Because if you said early on stage, the very first debate, will you support the eventual nominee, everyone but Donald Trump raised their hands. So it's consistent with that.

I also think bygones are bygones when you drop out. If you don't believe me, look at Chris Christie. Chris Christie is a guy that was very critical of Donald Trump saying that we do not need him as president.

And also said some very intense and derogatory fighting back and forth with Donald Trump. He had no problem after he is out walking on stage.

It's a key part in New Jersey with all the newspapers saying that he should, you know, resign from office. It obviously did not play well at home for him, but nationally I don't think it hurt him with primary voters if he ever decided to run again.

I doubt he will, but I'm saying, I just don't see people looking at it. At least every presidential campaign, we see people that lose endorsement someone.

You'll see it come up with Huckabee. Huckabee was not a fan, for example, Donald Trump. He also said Donald Trump is the best guy ever now.

His own daughter is working for Donald Trump when she was working against him just a month ago. This is the nature of politics. We see it on the Republican and Democratic side. I just don't think it will be a story.

[06:10:02]BLACKWELL: All right, Ben Ferguson, always good to have your insight. We'll continue the conversation throughout the morning.

Next hour, we're going to speak with Trump supporter, Jeffrey Lord about Trump's reversal of torture and killing family members of terrorist, and immigration, those visas that we also saw that reversal from Trump on Thursday night.

Next, though, we'll take a look at the contest on the Democratic side, 109 delegates at stake as voters head to the polls and caucuses in Kansas, Louisiana, and Nebraska on this Super Saturday.

And as we mentioned, a total of five states heading to the polls and caucuses. We'll examine what's at stake for the Republicans and Democrats, of course, and what to look for.

Later in the show, this new twist in the O.J. Simpson case, have you heard about this? Everybody's talking about it this morning. A knife allegedly found at the site of his former estate. Why it's just now turning up and being tested, and what this could mean for the potential future of the case?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALAN DERSHOWITZ, O.J. SIMPSON'S FORMER DEFENSE ATTORNEY: The police incompetence in this case was just boundless, and if this is a relevant piece of evidence, obviously it should have been found by the police. They tore his whole house apart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Have you chosen a candidate you're going to support?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have. I'm looking toward Hillary to be honest. I think she's going to be a great candidate for our community, especially, because she came and represented us with the water crisis that we're having and I thought she showed up and represented us well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I like realistic goals and I respect the Clintons, you know, nobody is perfect, but I'm saying there is total alternative. I have a lot of respect for her, and I have a lot of -- I feel that she can accomplish some of those things.

[06:15:08]UNIDENTIFIED MALE: None of the above.

BLACKWELL: Why?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because I don't feel that they are putting candidates out there and neither party are addressing the people's needs, not their wants, their needs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Normally I vote Republican, and just for my own standards, and what I believe in and so typically that's what it is, but as for a certain person, I haven't really seen one that I actually love yet. So it will probably be a last-minute decision.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whoever makes the most sense.

BLACKWELL: And have you chosen who that is yet?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My choices are Hillary, Sanders or Kasich.

BLACKWELL: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm still deciding.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Still deciding. A lot of voters here in Michigan are still deciding. Those are a few of the people I spoke with here in Flint this weekend. There are, though, contests today. This is Super Saturday for both the Democrats and the Republicans.

But let's focus on the Democrats here, 109 delegates at stakes as voters head to the polls in Louisiana, to caucuses in Nebraska and Kansas. The focus then turns here in Flint, Michigan on Sunday where Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will face off on that debate stage.

I want to bring in CNN political commentator, Van Jones, and let's talk about, first, the contest today before we get to the debate. We even got these three states, Louisiana, Kansas, Nebraska, potential strength for either.

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean, what I think you're seeing now is we have a Democratic Party that really has three wings. There's the establishment wing that Hillary Clinton represents very, very well.

There's this new populist wing that Bernie represents, but before him it was Elizabeth Warren. Before that it was Occupy Wall Street. But this third wing is this racial justice wing, the African- Americans, Latinos, Black Lives Matter, and the Dreamers.

Whoever gets that third block is going to win and it looks like Hillary Clinton has that block wrapped up. And so you see obviously Bernie does very, very well with young people but especially with white young people.

He does less well with African-American young people. And so Hillary Clinton has to achieve something really extraordinary. If you remember in 2008, there was a lot of anger in the black community because of her and now President Obama.

It's very hard to lose trust and regain it. But she's done it with the black community and a local lot of people say she has all these trust issues. She may be able to over the course of next year do that with more and more people in the country as she reintroduces herself as a new, I think, stronger version of who she's always been.

BLACKWELL: I saw that in South Carolina in that contentious 2008 primary. When I went and spoke with people who saw the numbers out of the exit polls, what we heard from many of the people, the black voters there, was she had Obama's back so now I have hers.

JONES: Exactly.

BLACKWELL: Yes, loyalty. So let's talk about looking into the debate tomorrow night. Bernie Sanders over the last couple of days has really been hitting Hillary Clinton on her support for NAFTA and TTP. Is that effective especially in Michigan as you travel across this region of the country.

JONES: That is a very effective line against her and frankly not just in the primary, but in a general election. Bernie Sanders has really, I think, channeled a lot of the frustration in the Democratic Party with some of the things that Clintons did in the '90s that this party is really a reaction against.

It's so ironic. The new party that Hillary Clinton may well lead is, in fact, a reaction to the party her husband led. Very skeptical of NAFTA, very skeptical of this new trade deal, so-called TPP.

So she has to deal with that. But there are other issues as well, that the 1990s version of the Clintons were on the opposite this party and Bernie is more aligned with it.

You get the criminal justice issues. Bill Clinton, very, very tough on crime. I think the prison population doubled on him. Bernie has not done the best possible job of prosecuting that, but it's an important issue.

There are other issues as well. Let's not forget the Clintons got into bed with Newt Gingrich on welfare repeal. They called it welfare reform. Many African-Americans called it welfare repeal.

Hillary Clinton often talks about marrying the right element. People forget her mentor when she was young. People forget. She was so critical of what Clinton did to welfare that her husband quit his administration.

Peter Ellman quit his administration. So there are a number of things like that that I think if Bernie begins to race those issues, he can being to peel off some votes. I think here the African- American community in the north is different than in the south.

Those African-American moms and grandmas and church folks, who went out to vote for her in South Carolina are not the same as these African-American trade unionists here in the northeast who even if their labor leadership likes the Clintons may be concerned about their jobs.

[06:20:11]BLACKWELL: OK, Van, we'll continue this conversation next hour. Because I want to know -- you know, after the Republican debate and all that we saw on stage on Thursday, the Democratic debates are not as entertaining or do they move the needle as much. We'll have that conversation. Van, thanks so much.

All right, a programming note for you, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will be on stage together, the CNN Democratic debate Sunday live from Flint, Michigan. Anderson cooper moderates. That's tomorrow night at 8 p.m. Eastern only on CNN.

All right, Pamela Brown back in Atlanta. I know you're covering a lot more going on. Pamela, what have you got?

BROWN: And there is a lot going. Thanks so much, Victor,

Up next, new information that the notorious drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman snuck into the U.S. while on the run. What he was doing and why we are just finding this out?

Also ahead could this plane debris be part of missing airliner, MH370. Details on what was recovered recently.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Welcome back. I'm Pamela Brown. We're going to get back to Victor Blackwell in Flint, Michigan, in just a moment. But first here is a look at some of the other stories we are following on this Saturday morning.

Notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman reportedly snuck into the United States twice and visited his daughter when he was a fugitive. Guzman's daughter said he came to visit her in California after he escaped from prison in Mexico.

This all came to light in an interview published in "Time" magazine. Guzman's daughter said she had no idea how slipped across the border when both U.S. and Mexican authorities were looking for him. [06:25:08]Malaysian experts hope to determine soon if a piece of a debris found in Mozambique is from the missing airline, MH370. The triangular piece is believed to be from the tail section of an airliner like a Boeing 777. The scrap was found earlier this week by an American tourist.

Police in Maine have arrested a 55-year-old man and charged him with the murder that took place 35 years ago. The death of Joyce McClain in August 1980 has been a cold case ever since her body was found. Police say the suspect made a number of incriminating remarks over the years that may have suggested he was involved in the girl's death.

The author of the bestsellers "The Great Santeeny" and "The Prince of Tides" has died. Pat Conroy's publisher says he had pancreatic cancer and died in his home in South Carolina. Conroy wrote 11 books during his career. He was 70 years old.

Just ahead on NEW DAY, voters in five states cast votes for their presidential choice this Super Saturday. We'll hear from some of them and examine what's at stake in those states.

Plus with all the political tension in Flint, Michigan, we're going update the status on residents affected by lead in their drinking water. We'll be right back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Good morning to you. I'm Victor Blackwell live in Flint, Michigan, the site of tomorrow night's Democratic debates. Michigan voters will head to the polls on Tuesday to --

[06:30:00] to cast ballots for their choice in the primary. Now today, thought, this is Super Saturday, voters in five states will head to the polls or the caucuses. For Republicans, 155 delegates are on the line in Maine, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana. For the Democrats, 109 delegates in Kansas, Louisiana, and Nebraska.

Let's talk about Super Saturday with CNN political commentator Errol Louis. Errol, let's start with the Republicans this weekend, and good morning to you. So do you see a state here in which Kasich, Cruz, Rubio, one of them, that they can snatch a state or is this a Trump sweep this Saturday?

ERROL LOUIS, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, CNN: Well, yeh, I don't see any prospects of that. I mean there's some possibilities up in Maine, I suppose, for Kasich or Rubio. But the reality is they've got to stay in the delegate hunt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

This is really all about delegates at this point, Victor. If they're going to follow what Mitt Romney outlined, the last nominee, as a possible strategy to stop Trump, I think it is starting to sink in that no one of them can do this on their own, at least not yet. Until there's only one candidate. But that, if they do want to block him, one possible way to do that is to pick up as many delegates as they can in as many states as they can before we hit the winner-take-all phase of, of the delegate allegation - allocations, and see if they can keep him below the, the threshold, the 12, the 1,200-odd delegates that he needs to become the nominee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So you mentioned the Romney plan of allow Rubio to win in Florida, John Kasich to win in Ohio, the other - Cruz to win somewhere else in addition to his home state of Texas and the four contests he's won. Cruz is not going for that. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ, 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In my view a brokered convention ain't going to happen. And if the Washington deal makers try to steal the nomination from the people, I think it would be a disaster. It would cause a revolt. Instead, the answer is real simple. We've got to win this nomination, 1,237 delegates is what it takes to be the Republican nominee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: How pervasive widespread is that sentiment, that it would, it'd be stealing the, the choice from the voters?

LOUIS: Well, it's not a pleasant pros - prospect, frankly, but you know, if it falls within the rules... So again the Romney scenario, Victor, is that the delegates are pledged for a first vote, a first round of voting. So they go to the convention and they all vote. And the reality is there are people like Jeb Bush who have dropped out who had many half a dozen delegates, Ben Carson had a handful of delegates that are all going to be at the convention. And the reality is they do have to cast a vote. And, after that first ballot, they are basically free to vote for whomever they want. So, if on the first ballot, nobody has 1,237, then you know, there is a brokered - for the lack of a better word - but there's a convention. There's a reason for the convention. It's not just to drop a bunch of balloons and have a party, right?

So you know, anything can happen at the point. I think what you heard Ted Cruz saying there though, Victor, is that he wants everybody to unite behind him, that he's the only one who has consistent - well, not consistently - but repeatedly beaten Donald Trump in a handful of states, and that that entitled him to be the consensus candidate against Trump.

BLACKWELL: All right, let's look to the Democrats now. Three states that they're up in this morning, Kansas, Louisiana, and Nebraska. Is there a place here that, that you expect Bernie Sanders will, will win?

LOUIS: Well, you know, when you're looking at some of these, these states that have an overwhelmingly white population, Victor, and they have a caucus that's happening, that's, that's good news for Bernie Sanders. That's kind of his sweet spot. So everybody should keep an eye on Kansas, everybody should keep an eye on Nebraska, and see how well he does there today. I mean he's, he's playing a similarly kind of a game because what we just outlined for the Republicans is actually the playbook for the Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Democrats are going to have a proportional sort of an allocation of delegates in state after state, all the way up to the convention. Bernie Sanders has signaled that he's going to stay in this all the way to the end, even if he doesn't have a clear path to a majority of delegates. Hillary Clinton is in no position to try and get him to, to drop out. Because we remember from 2008, she stayed in all the way to the bitter end, so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Yeh.

LOUIS: So, we'll see how this plays out. I, I'd be looking for Sanders to do quite well in Nebraska and Kansas today perhaps.

BLACKWELL: All right, Errol Louis. Polls open in Louisiana at 8:00 Eastern and caucuses in the other states later in the day. Errol, thank you so much.

Programming notes here. Political "March Madness." Of course it begins right here on CNN starting Sunday at 8:00 pm Eastern with the next Democratic debate here in Flint, Michigan, followed by the premiere of the new CNN series, "Race for the White House."

Next Tuesday, another Super Tuesday with four states holding primaries. On Wednesday it's another Democratic debate in Miami and, on Thursday, a Republican debate in Miami there. A week of political events all here on CNN. Next, we are here in Flint, Michigan, and we want to course highlight and discuss the plight of the people who live here and the problems with the drinking water here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

How are they coping and what do they want to hear from the candidates on Sunday night? An in-depth report next.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Welcome back, I'm Victor Blackwell, here in Flint, Michigan, the site of Sunday night's debate. And of all the issues that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders will address during that Democratic debate, nothing hits home more than the water crisis right here in Flint.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

It's a complicated situation with really no easy answers. And fixing the problem will takes lots of time and money. Sara Ganim explains what it's like for, for the people who live here, who don't have safe tap water to use.

(FORTINA HARRIS): He broke out into a rash all along his face.

SARA GANIM, CORRESPONDENT, CNN, NEW YORK CITY: (Fortina Harris) takes care of his two young grandsons during the day in his home, which still has dangerously-high levels of lead.

Do you know about (Papap's) water? Yeh? Dirty, yeh. Do you drink the water?

Anything over 15 parts per billion is considered dangerous. (Harris') water tested at 600 parts per billion in January, and more than 400 parts per billion a month later.

So here's your lead test results.

(HARRIS): Yep.

GANIM: This is from January 10th. What did you think when you saw that number?

(HARRIS): Well, you know, it freaked me out, you know. That's high.

GANIM: That's very high.

(HARRIS): It's too high.

GANIM: And that's not even the worst case. More than 600 homes in Flint still have high levels of lead, according to the County Health Department. Rosemary Vernon's water was tested February 6th at more than 10,000 parts per billion.

What did you think when you saw that?

ROSEMARY VERNON: I just, I had just gotten it two hours before them came, and I'm going, oh, my God! You know, I said I, I, I just, I was stunned, I couldn't believe, you know.

GANIM: As a result, almost every drop of water these residents use comes from a bottle. Karen Weaver is the Mayor of Flint. People are bathing with bottled water, they're cooking with bottled water, they're using bottled water for everything.

KAREN WEAVER, MAYOR OF FLINT, MICHIGAN: For everything.

GANIM: And this has been going on for months.

WEAVER: Right. It will be two years in April.

GANIM: How long will this continue?

WEAVER: Well, hopefully, not much longer. We're ready to go ahead and get started with removing some of those lead lines.

GANIM: Here's the problem. When the State switched the City's water supply to the Flint River, they improperly treated the water and it corroded the pipes, which leached lead and heavy metal. The water supply has been switched back, but the lead pipes are still damaged, and lead-tainted water is still coming out of their taps. Documents show the State didn't properly treat the water, and then lied about it for months, telling the public it was safe to drink, when it was not.

WEAVER: Even if things tested OK under that, there's that psychological association that we can't get around. And in order for us to build trust back in the government and trust back in the water, we've got to have new pipes.

GANIM: But five months later, they are just now breaking ground on replacing lead service lines.

You asked for $55 million to start for the pipes.

WEAVER: Yes.

GANIM: Who's going to pay for that?

WEAVER: I'm hoping to get some money from the State.

GANIM: The State of Michigan, which cause the problem by failing to properly treat the Flint River water, has pledged $58 million to Flint, but none of that for replacement of lead service lines. The Governor asked the legislature for $25 million for pipes but, even if it's approved, that money wouldn't be available until October. Why the delay, the State says it wants to study the issue first.

WEAVER: We don't have time to continue to study because every single day we're testing the water. And we're getting results back.

GANIM: Mayor Weaver says she's taking the little money she does have and turning to a neighboring city for help. Lansing has been steadily replacing its pipes for the past 10 years, and is considered a model. The challenge in Flint, because City records are so bad, officials don't know which homes actually have lead service lines.

WEAVER: So far I know 8,000 have been identified.

GANIM: Meanwhile, the people of Flint say they are tired of waiting.

VERNON: People at the State level say that they care about the City, they're working on fixing it.

GANIM: Do you trust them? Do you believe them when they say they care?

VERNON: If enough light is, is - as soon as I see 'em digging out in my front yard, and putting - and laying pipe, and I'll go out there watch and see what they do, then I will believe them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Hhm. All right, Sara Ganim is joining us now. She's been doing obviously phenomenal work here in Flint. And of course you're going to help us understand the problem with the pipes, and you have one for us.

GANIM: This is what we're talking about here. So this is a lead pipe from Lansing, Michigan. See this orange coating inside, Victor?

BLACKWELL: Yeh.

GANIM: This is what we're talking about. That's the phosphate coating that's supposed to protect the water so when it flows through a lead pipe you don't get lead poisoning. That's what's missing here in Flint, that corrosive water wiped away that protective coating, and so people were getting lead leaching into their water from these lead pipes. Now, we're talking to residents. This is what they say that they need to trust in their water, to trust in their government again, is brand new pipes that aren't going to have this problem. Where you're not going to have to rely on this coating. Yesterday we were at the site of the very first lead pipe replacement in Flint but, as you can see from our piece, the problem is the City, as much as they want to fix this problem, has no money.

BLACKWELL: No money to do it, yeh.

GANIM: Has to rely on the State or the Federal government to give them that money, and right now they just don't have it.

BLACKWELL: Well, the secondary crises, as you know, is the crisis of trust. So that they don't trust their elected leaders. We'll talk a little later this morning about what they hope to hear from these candidates, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, tomorrow night at the debate. Sara Ganim, thank you so much.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

All right, ahead on "New Day," we'll go back to the conservative conference outside of Washington, CPAC. We'll talk with the Chairman of that event about Donald Trump's cancellation and the message to grass roots organizers.

Plus, a new twist in one of really the most sensational trials of modern times. Police are testing a knife allegedly found at the former O.J. Simpson estate. Our legal expert will weigh in.

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT, CNN, WASHINGTON, D.C.: Welcome back. I'm Pamela Brown. The infamous O.J. Simpson murder trial is capturing the attention of the American public once again. Los Angeles police say they have acquired a knife that was reportedly found at Simpson's former estate. CNN's Paul Vercammen take a look at this mysterious new development.

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CAPT. ANDRE NEIMAN, LAPD: I was really surprised. PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN: A shocking discovery in the murder case involving O.J. Simpson, a knife reportedly found more than a decade ago on the football star's former estate, just surfacing after being obtained by police in the last month from a retired LAPD officer.

NEIMAN: He claimed that an individual, who claimed to be a construction worker, provided him with this knife, claiming that it was found on the property.

VERCAMMEN: The retired officer says the construction worker supposedly worked on the property. This could have been around the time of its demolition in 1998, three years after Simpson was acquitted of murdering ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ron Goldman.

REPORTER: Please describe the knife, the condition it was in, how long the knife is, if you found anything on it? Possibly dried blood?

NEIMAN: Yeh, I, I don't have that information and the investigators have asked that we not be very descriptive about the knife.

VERCAMMEN: Detectives will say forensic testing is underway for blood, DNA, even fingerprints, but police are holding back details as they vet whether or not this is all a hoax. Investigators want to know why the officer, who says he was given the knife while working security on a movie set, waited so long to turn in the knife.

NEIMAN: I would think that an LAPD officer, if this story is accurate as we're being told, would know that anytime you are - you come into contact with evidence, that you should and shall submit that to investigators.

VERCAMMEN: The surprising revelation comes as there's a renewed fascination with all things O.J., brought on by the FX series, "The People versus O.J. Simpson."

ACTRESS: He got away with beating her; he is not going to get away with killing her.

VERCAMMEN: Even President Obama commented on the news today.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Well, I thought it might be useful to take a small break from the spectacle of the political season, and now I gather O.J., to focus on something that really matters to the American people.

VERCAMMEN: For the Goldman family, the development isn't something they want to address, saying it only creates more unnecessary hype and encourages the media circus. O.J. Simpson remains in a Nevada prison after being convicted of kidnapping and armed robbery in Las Vegas. Most legal experts say Simpson can never be retried for the two murders.

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BROWN: The weapon used in the double murders is a mystery to this day. Other knives have surfaced over the years, but none were found to have links to this crime. I want to bring in CNN legal analyst, Joey Jackson. Joey, what a strange story. Really everyone is talking about this. You know, since Simpson can't be retried for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, how significant is this discovery?

JOEY JACKSON, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY AND LEGAL ANALYST, CNN: Good morning, Pamela. You know, it depends who you ask, but let's start here, and let's start with your open, which was "mysteriously." And so, you know, I hasten to add that, you know, it may very well be that this story is credible, but is it coincidental that you have this FX series that's capturing the nation about O.J. And on the heels of this FX series, we have a revelation about a knife. And so, you know, in terms of the veracity of the story, you have to question. And then you get to the issues you mentioned.

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Look, double jeopardy, we know the Fifth Amendment. We usually talk about it, Pamela, in terms of self-incrimination, but it also has that double jeopardy provision. If you're tried for an offense, you can't be retried.

BROWN: Mm-hmm.

JACKSON: And then you look at the evidentiary value of the knife itself. And if you look and establish that timeline, any attorney, no matter what this knife reveals based on the testing, will attack, attack, attach because of chain of custody. What do you do with evidence? You preserve it, you safeguard it. And if this evidence has been laying around everywhere for all these years, really, how much value would any evidence that's unearthed from this knife really have?

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BROWN: And I want to get to that in just a second, just the fact that it's been so long for this to be turned over. But just say, hypothetically -- we know it's a long shot - hypothetically it turns out that this is the murder weapon and, and there's some link to O.J. Simpson, would there be any way around double jeopardy?

JACKSON: There's no way at all around double jeopardy. The interesting thing about the laws, Pamela, is that they inure to the benefit of any defendant that's tried. And what do I mean? To the extent that he's been tried and acquitted, that is a jury has said not guilty, he's done. There's nothing else that you can do in terms of going after him.

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Now if a defendant is convicted and new evidence is uncovered, that defendant then may be entitled to a new trial. And so it really is a one-way street. If you're, if you're convicted, then you get a new trial potentially, if there's newly discovered evidence. If you're acquitted, found not guilty, and there's new evidence that could potentially incriminate you, you know what, you don't have to worry because of that Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.

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BROWN: OK, so right now forensic testing is reportedly underway. I mean I think everyone's really just anxious to know what the results are, even though there's a lot of skeptics. How long will it take, you think?

JACKSON: You know, I'm surprised, if there was a rush on it, that they really haven't or don't have the information they need now. Remember that the knife was apparently turned over by this former L.A.P.D. detective on February 8th. And so now, potentially, if you put a rush on it and you test it, you should have the information that you need. But, again, it's very skeptical. Remember O.J., the incident happened June of 1994. He was acquitted in October of 1995. This L.A.P.D. detective apparently retired in '98. He gets the knife in 2003.

BROWN: Uh-huh.

JACKSON: He puts it in a tool box, and then all of a sudden it appears multiple years later.

BROWN: OK, I got to ask you quickly on that note. Very quickly. Could he be charged with withholding evidence, considering it has been all these years?

JACKSON: You know, that certainly is a concern because, as an officer, you - or even a former officer - you're a custodian of that information. Somebody comes to you, Pamela, and they give you something, your job is to protect and to preserve that, and to safeguard that and to turn it in. And so, now that he has it, and he didn't turn it in for so many year, he certainly could face some type of tampering or evidentiary charge in the future.

BROWN: Very bizarre. Joey Jackson, thanks for breaking it down for us. We appreciate it.

JACKSON: A pleasure. Have a great day.

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BROWN: Thanks, you too. And just ahead on "New Day," Marco Rubio taking the stage at CPAC in just a few hours from now, as his rival for the presidency, Donald Trump, decides to back out of his appearance at the last minute. We'll talk about the impact to voters.

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BROWN: More charges for the father accused of killing his young son in an overheated car.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) Justin Harris now faces eight charges of sexting with minors. Police say the Georgia man exchanged nude pictures with girls under the age of 18. His lawyer says the charges were filed to influence potential jurors before his murder trial starts next month.

Space X has sent a massive satellite into orbit after having to delay the rocket launch five times. The satellite is designed to bring broadband internet to remote areas of the world. It'll orbit the earth at a distance 100 times farther than the International Space Station. The company also tried a long shot attempt to land the huge rocket on a floating platform, but it didn't work.

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And NASA's New Horizons probe has found snow on Pluto. But this snow is made of methane gas. Take a look at these pictures coming in from four billion miles away. A mountain range covered in methane snow. The pictures show the range stretches for 260 miles. Guess we don't have those pictures.

There's still a lot of news to tell you about this morning. The next hour of "New Day" begins now.