Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

Jason Rezaian Arrives in Germany; At Least 19 Killed in University Attack in Pakistan; Sarah Palin Endorses Donald Trump; GOP Hopefuls Woo Voters in Iowa and New Hampshire; Dow Plunges After Opening Bell; Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired January 20, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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


[10:00:02] PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: While he, on the other hand, well, he's got a long road ahead of him. He released a written statement at around the same time that he walked out. He talked about being very thankful for all the efforts, very pleased with the care that he's getting here. And he says to, quote, "I'm feeling fine."

Let me show you a little bit more now of what he says in this statement directly. And I think it gives an interesting insight into perhaps where he's at. He said this. He said, "I've spent a lot of my life writing about the United States and Iran, and I never imagined and never wanted to become a part of the story, particularly at such an extraordinary moment. I want to get back to writing the U.S./Iran story at some point in the future."

And he goes on to say, "But I won't be saying anything further for a while." So what we see here is a man who has just escaped an extraordinary and difficult ordeal. He is beginning the process of recovery here, as he says, and it is likely to take some time. But what he did say very softly during his brief appearance was that he can't wait to get home -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Phil Black reporting live from Landstuhl, Germany, this morning.

A deadly attack on a university in Pakistan. The key U.S. ally says all four terrorists were killed after they opened fire on a college campus near the border with Afghanistan. At least 19 civilians have been killed and officials expect that death toll to climb.

Witnesses described a horrific onslaught of grenades and gunfire with many of the students still asleep in their dorm rooms and one professor shot as he warned students to stay inside.

And there's a mixed message from the Pakistani Taliban over whether it's responsible for the attacks or not.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh joins us live from Beirut to tell us more. Hi, Nick.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, let's get back to that claim of responsibility first. A statement from the official spokespersons of the Tehrik-Taliban Pakistan, that's the Pakistani Taliban to you, are saying we're not behind this. And it is not, quote, "according to Sharia." That's Islamic law.

But separate to that, a militant leader from the Pakistani Taliban known as Umar Mansoor, who was behind the attack 13 months ago, only 25 miles away on a school run by the army in Peshawar which killed over 130, the same man behind that has released a statement and also spoken to one of our colleagues in Pakistan lengthily, saying yes, I am behind this attack today in Charsadda, naming the four gunmen who we now know are all dead and saying it is, quote, "retribution for Pakistani military activity in that area," a lot of which was intensified after the Peshawar attacks in late 2014.

Now what happened today? Well, we know that heavy fog reduced visibility around that university. It is in the middle of exposed -- right in the middle of empty farmland. The attackers, it seems, used grenades to get in. Much of the violence concentrated on two blocks inside there. Police eventually able to subdue those four attackers who are now dead.

The death toll currently 19 including an assistant librarian, students, policemen as well. It may rise, but I think there are some obviously grieving this loss but maybe feeling a slight sense of a potential of this could have been worse. There are 3,000 students there, 600 staff members. And we could have seen a much larger death toll potentially. But now the focus being on the Pakistani Taliban after this lengthy campaign to suppress them, are they going to continue this kind of attack on innocent civilians?

Many are seeing the uptick of violence across the border in Afghanistan as a result of the Pakistani military pressure pushing Taliban across the border, who are now attacking Afghan Security Forces in Afghanistan -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Nick Paton Walsh reporting live from Beirut, Lebanon, this morning.

To American politics now. And a headline-making endorsement just weeks before Republican voters cast the first votes of the 2016 campaign.

Sarah Palin hitting the campaign trail today with the Republican frontrunner in Iowa, declaring she is in it to win it for Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: When asked why I would jump in, into a primary, kind of stirring it up a little bit, maybe, and choose one over some friends who are running and I've endorsed a couple others in their races before they decided to run for president, I was told, you know, warned left and right, you are going to get so clobbered in the press. You are just going to get beat up and chewed up and spit out, you know. I'm thinking, and?

We are ready for a change. We are ready, and our troops deserve the best. A new commander-in-chief whose track record of success has proven he is the master at the art of the deal. He is one who would know to negotiate. Only one candidate's record of success proves he is the master of the art of the deal.

[10:05:04] He is beholden to no one but we the people. How refreshing. He is perfectly positioned to let you make America great again.

Are you ready for that, Iowa? No more pussy-footing around. Our troops deserve the best. You deserve the best.

He is from the private sector, not a politician. Can I get a hallelujah?

AUDIENCE: Hallelujah.

PALIN: Are you ready for a commander-in-chief who will let our warriors do their job and go kick ISIS ass? Are you ready to stump for Trump? I'm here to support the next president of the United States, Donald Trump.

Trump's candidacy, it has exposed not just that tragic, the ramifications of that betrayal of a transformation of our country, but, two, he has exposed the complicity on both sides of the aisle that has enabled it, OK? Well, Trump, what he's been able to do, which is really ticking people off, which I'm glad about, he's going rogue left and right, man. That's why he's doing so well.

We are mad, and we've been had. They need to get used to it. This election is more than just your basic ABCs, Anybody But Clinton.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. You get the drift there. The move is seen by some as a blow to Trump's nearest rival, Senator Ted Cruz, and it comes as another GOP hopeful, Marco Rubio, tries to shore up support in another key state, New Hampshire.

CNN is covering all angles of the Republican race there. Sara Murray is with the Trump campaign. Manu Raju is with Marco Rubio.

Sara, let's start with you. Is Sarah Palin on the trail with the Donald?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. I think one of the questions about the Sarah Palin endorsement was how hard was she going to work for Trump? Was she going to do a lot of interviews on his behalf? Would she going to be out there and campaign a lot with him and really rally the GOP base?

Now his campaign said yesterday that she would be traveling with him for both events today. But now a spokeswoman is telling me she actually will not take the stage with him here in Iowa this morning. Even though they also sent out an e-mail to supporters in Iowa, teasing this very special guest here in Norwalk.

She is expected to be with him later today, though, at a big event in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And that could be a place where we get a better sense of how much Palin momentum really means now. She was very strong in the south with John McCain in 2008. And her sort of populist grassroots GOP message plays really well in those southern states. So I think we'll get a better sense of how Republicans receive her now, nearly a decade after she was on the ticket with John McCain -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So why the change of heart, Sara, about Sarah Palin appearing with Donald Trump in Iowa?

MURRAY: This is a great question. I've asked his campaign staffers about that. They haven't given me a straight answer. They just said, well, we never guaranteed you that she was going to be on stage. That's certainly not what the impression they gave from the press release last night or the e-mail they sent to supporters was. So it will be interesting to see if any of the members of the crowd here are disappointed that they didn't get their two celebrities for the price of one. They saw Trump, but so far no Palin.

COSTELLO: All right. We'll check back, Sara Murray, thanks so you.

Let's head to Manu Raju, he's covering Marco Rubio. And how does Senator Rubio feel about this? Because it's sort of taken the air out of everyone's sails, this endorsement by Sarah Palin.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Carol. I mean, Marco Rubio is probably not going to address that here when he addresses state legislators, but you know, he is -- we'll see how much he deviates from his stump speech when he does address members of the state legislature here just shortly.

Now when he does go after his opponents, he focuses mainly on both Ted Cruz in Iowa and Chris Christie in New Hampshire. And his super PAC actually launched a pretty scathing attack ad against Ted Cruz as part of a multimillion-dollar ad buy, accusing Ted Cruz of politically pandering on key issues.

Now I had a chance to talk to Marco Rubio about Ted Cruz earlier this week. And I asked him about the fight over Obamacare. So it's -- he actually aligns himself with Ted Cruz in that 2013 fight that led to a government shutdown. Here's a little bit more about what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's never a mistake to fight against Obamacare. My point is I'm actually the only one running for president that's actually achieved a result, which is to inflict damage on this terrible law. We defunded the bailout. I led the effort to do that. And that's an important achievement. And I think it's one that could very well lead to Obamacare being reduced and ultimately easier to repeal.

RAJU: So it was a good fight for him to do that?

RUBIO: Every -- it's not just him. A lot of people joined him. He may -- you know, all of us were involved in the effort to stop Obamacare. (END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, Marco Rubio clearly is trying to pull away enough support from Ted Cruz to have a good showing in Iowa.

[10:10:07] His campaign really calculates that he needs to finish probably in a strong third place finish in Iowa and maybe even a second place finish in New Hampshire to emerge as that alternative to Cruz and Trump and hope that the primary contest extends into March and beyond, really trying to play the long game here, Carol, but still the questions over his role in that 2013 immigration fight continue to hover over Marco Rubio including the report that we had last week on CNN.com about whether one of his aides had a conflict of interest and write that immigration bill. These are all questions Marco Rubio is going to have to answer on the campaign trail, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Manu Raju reporting live from New Hampshire this morning.

One thing is for sure, Sarah Palin's endorsement of Donald Trump has sucked the air out of the room. Everybody's talking about it. And let's face it, it is a little surreal. After all, a political marriage between Palin and Trump lit up "Saturday Night Live" just last February.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PALIN: I'm just curious, Jerry, how much do you think Lorne Michaels would pay me if I were to run in 2016?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Run for president, Sarah? I don't think there's a number too big.

PALIN: OK. Just hypothetically, then, what if I were to choose Donald Trump as my running mate?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sarah, you're teasing us. That's not nice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK. So it's not quite what has transpired, but you get the drift. The question now, does it mean a bump for Trump, a loss for Cruz, a win for the Democrats?

With me now, Van Jones, CNN political commentator and former Obama administration adviser, and Ben Ferguson, conservative talk radio host and CNN political commentator.

Welcome to both of you.

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Morning, Carol.

VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So I think the New York tabloids sort of sums up the split between what conservatives think about Sarah Palin and what liberals do. Hence the "Daily News." See it right there? "I'm With Stupid." I would say that's a liberal thought process. And on the more conservative side, this is the "New York Post," "Lady and the Trump."

So, Van, I want to start with you to get a different perspective. So are Democrats sitting back and saying, this is fantastic?

JONES: Well, I mean, it's more of horrifying. I mean, it really did look like an "SNL" skit yesterday. I mean, Tina Fey couldn't have done a more incoherent, inarticulate sort of caricature of Sarah Palin than she did of herself. And to see somebody who wants to be the commander-in-chief standing next to her, acting like she was saying things that actually made good sense, that was kind of horrifying.

But there's something else going on here. Up until now, we've fallen into this thing of the insiders versus the outsiders. The reality is we should have from the very beginning said it was the extremists versus the more responsible Republicans, but we fell into that trap. Now it turns out there's a split among the so-called outsiders, the extremists, between the (INAUDIBLE), down-the-line principled conservatives like Ted Cruz who for better or for worse at least have a coherent ideology, versus this celebrity populist wing that is kind of a goulash of various ideas that don't go together, basically united by kind of a feeling, kind of an enthusiasm, and kind of anger.

And Sarah Palin picks sides. She is clearly a part of the celebrity circus wing of the Republican Party which may, in fact, be the biggest wing.

COSTELLO: OK. So the curious thing this morning, Ben, and you heard Sara Murray reporting it, we all expected Sarah Palin to appear with Donald Trump in Iowa, but suddenly she's not. Is there anything to that, you think, Ben?

(CROSSTALK)

JONES: I mean, Sarah Palin --

COSTELLO: Ben -- I want Ben. Van, wait, wait. Ben.

JONES: Oh, is it Ben? I thought you said Van, sorry.

FERGUSON: If you're Sarah Palin, and this was a very simple move, it was probably Donald Trump saying, I'm in trouble in Iowa. I've got to figure out a way to come back. I'm going to pick Sarah Palin. And then I'm going to let her come out on stage. And her people that love Sarah Palin are obsessed with Palin. The same way that people that love Trump are absolutely obsessed with Trump. That's probably his biggest asset for him right now.

To see her not be up there today, I don't know why. She may have wanted to go back, for all I know, to Alaska. Her son is in trouble with the law. She may want to go back and deal with part of that. They may have said hey, you've done what we wanted you to do. Don't worry, you'll be in our administration if we win. We'll bring you in other places. I don't know. And it's hard to read the Trump campaign because you really don't know

what their idea is here. I mean, I would have assumed that she would have been out for him at least for a couple of days straight, going around the country or at least in Iowa. That's why they picked her to do this. They needed her in Iowa. Will it pay off? I'm not so sure it will. I think this was a smart move if you're behind. I don't know how it's going to play with the rest of the country moving forward.

But I will say this. I don't think you're going to see Sarah Palin popping up at events over the next three or four or five weeks like some people expected. I think this is all about go all in with Iowa and let's see if we can win that one, and then we just keep on moving forward. Plus, it got 2 Corinthians out of the headlines which was offensive to a lot of evangelicals that are going to be voting in Iowa.

[10:15:06] And now we're talking about Sarah Palin. So if for no other reason, it was a brilliant move just to move past the oops with the bible while you're courting evangelical Christians in Iowa.

COSTELLO: OK, Van, take it away.

JONES: And I apologize to you, Ben. I thought she said Van.

FERGUSON: No worries.

JONES: I was just going to say, it's surprising that Sarah Palin is somewhat unpredictable, surprising that maybe she's kind of gone rogue. That's her whole shtick. So --

FERGUSON: Yes.

JONES: Yes, anybody's kind of expecting for Sarah Palin to do anything rational and predictable is going to be disappointed, but they just haven't been paying attention. Don't forget, she quit being governor in the middle of a term because she didn't like the way she was being treated in the press and because she wanted to make more money as a reality TV star. So there is a celebrity populist wing of the party.

You know, Ted Cruz does deserve some credit for at least being willing to stick with his ideas even in Iowa. I want to strip away your ability to have a livelihood here because I'm a conservative. At least he's consistent. Donald Trump is all over the place, and so is Sarah Palin. And this circus wing of the party, I think, is a very dangerous development in American politics because who knows what they would do in office?

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: OK. An interesting thing --

FERGUSON: And let me say this. Ted Cruz --

COSTELLO: Well, let me run this by you because I just find this last point interesting. So Donald Trump was on the "Today" show. And he made sure to tell viewers that Sarah Palin was not interested in a Cabinet position. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She's somebody I really like and I respect. And certainly she could play a position if she wanted to.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You wouldn't rule her out as VP?

TRUMP: Well, I don't think she'd want to do it. I mean, I don't think she'd want to do it. And, you know, I really don't get into it right now because I can -- that question is always asked of me, who do you have in mind? And I don't even think about VP right now. And I just want to win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: I apologize, it was VP, but he would consider Sarah Palin for another position, Ben.

FERGUSON: Yes.

COSTELLO: What would that be?

FERGUSON: I think she's mentioned multiple times because the fact that she understands oil, because of being in Alaska and the governor there, and they deal with an awful lot of oil issues, and also, you know, money that goes to citizens in Alaska as well, I think energy secretary is something that she has on her mind.

And, look. These deals, when they're done, when you have endorsements like this, and make no mistake about it on both sides of the aisle, there is something that was going to be promised there with them teaming up far beyond just being on stage yesterday. And I think Donald Trump is going to make -- is making that very clear. If I win, Sarah Palin will have some role in my administration, and I think a lot of Palin supporters and Trump supporters are going to love that idea. And it's probably going to help him with his base.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. Ben Ferguson, Van Jones, thanks to both of you.

We want to let you know about a big event that's coming next Monday night in Iowa, and it will be seen only on CNN. Exactly one week before Iowa chooses, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and Martin O'Malley will go face-to-face with the voters in Iowa.

In a CNN Democratic presidential town hall live from Des Moines, Chris Cuomo will moderate. The final pitch for all the candidates before the first votes are cast and a unique opportunity for Iowans to ask questions of the three Democrats.

That's next Monday night, 9:00 p.m. Eastern only on CNN.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, markets in turmoil. A sea of red across Wall Street. What's moving and how low could we go? Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:22:59] COSTELLO: We're following breaking news on Wall Street where stocks are living up to fears of a red Wednesday. The Dow plunging more than -- oh, you can see it there -- 338 points. Whew. It's -- of course, this is being pushed lower by the sinking price of oil.

Christine Romans is here to parse this out. Alison Kosik is on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Let's start with you, Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: We are seeing these losses, Carol, accelerate in lockstep with oil. As you see the Dow down 337 points, oil falling almost 4 percent at this point. You look at stocks. It's amazing. We're seeing levels for stocks that we haven't seen since October of 2014. That's 15 months ago. Oil, at lows we haven't seen since 2003.

And we know this. As we drive around, lower gas prices. They're great for consumers, but you know what, there's a tipping point where it's bad for the economy. You see the oil price fall this much. It winds up causing job losses, especially in that oil patch, it causes foreclosures for people who have jobs in the energy business and defaults on loans as well.

And then you pile on the other worries that are on Wall Street's head at this point. Japan's main stock index overnight now falling into a bear market. That's a -- fall of 20 percent from a recent high. And who can forget China? Continuing to show new signs of slowing down.

You roll it all together, Carol, and the outcome for these worries, we're only three weeks into the year. And the Dow and the S&P already down 8 percent each -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Alison Kosik, thanks. I turn my attention now to Christine Romans to calm us down.

(LAUGHTER)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, when you look at an oil chart, there's nothing to be calm about. That really is an ugly chart. And that's what is a big driving factor here. You're seeing stocks and oil travel in lockstep here. You've got oil prices that have tumbles, think of this, from $103 a barrel, $108 a barrel, to now below $30, below $28, below $29, below $28.

That's destabilizing. It goes so far so fast, it hurts emerging markets who have -- many of these countries, by the way, have taken on a lot of cheap debt over the past few years. So while at home the U.S. economy is pretty stable and sound here, you're looking overseas and they're wondering what's going to happen with the emerging market economies, what's going to happen with all of this debt that they've taken on, what's going to happen to the financial system. If you start to see a bunch of bankruptcies in the energy sector.

[10:25:13] So that's why the energy story becomes so profound here. When you look at stocks, we are talking about a 15-month low, as Alison said. But remember, stocks went up straight for six years. March would be the seventh birthday of this bull, and this bull has just charged higher. So now you've got -- you see that pullback in August? That was concerns about China, concerns about oil, and now this pullback here.

I will tell you, IBM, one of the big stocks getting hit today in the Dow. It hit 15 straight quarters of sales declines. It talked about the strong dollar being a problem. We'll look to see if other companies say the same thing. But Chevron and Exxon, two of the big losers in the Dow 30. They're energy companies, right?

COSTELLO: Who would have thought, right?

ROMANS: Right. So, you know, people -- look, people don't feel bad for bankers and oil companies, but boy, those have been hit hard, real hard, real fast and that starts to hurt your 401(k).

COSTELLO: All right. Christine Romans, thanks so much.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, two major emergencies for the Michigan governor, Rick Snyder. He's vowing to fix the Flint water crisis.

And teach out. Teacher sick-outs forcing more than 80 Detroit schools to close down. We're there next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)