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LEGAL VIEW WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

Zika Virus Concerns; Sheriff Joe Arpaio Endorses Donald Trump; Democrats Campaigns Evaluated. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired January 28, 2016 - 12:30   ET

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


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[12:31:32] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: It is a virus with an explosive pandemic potential. That is according to scientists. Those are their words. And they're words you may never have heard of until recently. The Zika virus. It's, "spreading explosively around the Americas", according to the head of the World Health Organization, and the level of alarm is, "extremely high". The CDC, Centers for Disease Control, says that there has been now 31 documented travel associated cases in 11 states and the District of Columbia.

So what makes it move so quickly? The mosquitoes that spread it. They can be found almost everywhere in the Americas, and the World Health Organization is now estimating there could be three to four million cases in the next 12 months across the Americas.

Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, joins me live now on this subject.

So, Sanjay, what is the concern here? Apart from pregnant women who, if infected, can have deformed children, what is the concern for someone like me or someone like you or say, the mosquito population? Where do we stand with this issue in the United States?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, overall, if you just take this virus in general, most of the people, Ashleigh, who get an infection, a Zika infection, will have little or no symptoms. So that's a little bit of the good news here. They say 80 percent, 75 percent to 80 percent of people will have few or no symptoms whatsoever.

The big concern, as you point out, as people have been talking about, is for women who are pregnant. And maybe even more specifically, women in the earlier stages of pregnancy. So that's the big concern. This association, it's still an association. They haven't determined a cause and effect yet here. But association between Zika, pregnant women and, these babies born with microcephaly, which is heads and brains that are too small, is the real concern. That's where a lot of the attention is focused right now.

BANFIELD: So Sanjay, I'm getting breaking news as we're speaking about this, and it's coming from the National Institutes of Health. They're saying that a clinical trial for a vaccine could begin this year, and while that sounds terrific on the surface, they're cautioning that this is a long development. This could take, you know, well over a year or even a few years to really develop. And a vaccine is one thing. Treatment is another. Where do we stand with treatment?

GUPTA: Yeah. Well, we don't -- you know, there is no vaccine, no specific treatment for this. Keep in mind, that this particular virus, Zika, was pretty much confined to the Zika forest in Uganda up until just a few years ago. No one was really paying attention to this.

The world in which we live now, Ashleigh, a world where it's full of globalization, people moving from country to country, weather patterns changing, all those things in part are fueling how quickly this is spreading. Not to mention, when you have a virus that comes to a new part of the world, a part of the world that has never seen this virus before, nobody has any immunity to it. So as a result, it can spread more easily, as well. So these are all the things that are sort of driving it. The vaccine, hopefully, will, when that trial will happen and have some success. But it's not going to be, as you point out, any time soon.

BANFIELD: And Sanjay, one other question. This struck me as fascinating that there are British scientists trying to develop -- and I'm just going to use this word. Something called a "Robo-Frankenstein mosquito". It's actually OX513A, I believe. But it's a mutant mosquito, a male mosquito, that when it mates with this dangerous female mosquito, has offspring that die.

GUPTA: That's right.

BANFIELD: That sounds scary, but it also sounds like it's a really good defense. Is there something to this?

[12:23:07] GUPTA: Yeah, I think there is something to this. And they're looking at all sorts of different strategies. This is to basically try and decrease the mosquito population overall. It hasn't been done before. Hard to know how well it will work. You're talking about mosquitoes which have a short life span, so there's lots of mosquitoes that come out all of the time. And you have to -- there'd have to be a lot of these sorts of "Robo-mosquitoes" as well to be able to contain that.

One thing I do want to point out quickly, Ashleigh though, one of the closest sort of things to compare this to is dengue fever, also spread by the same sort of mosquito, also a viral infection and something that has come to the United States as well. But it never was widespread -- never been widespread. Living conditions so different in the United States, simple things like screens on windows, air conditioned buildings, do a lot. They may sound simple, but those things do a lot to mitigate, and decrease the spread of something like this.

BANFIELD: Yeah. Scary, though, that you know, at least one country in South America is telling its women not to get pregnant for years, for a couple of years.

GUPTA: I can't imagine that.

BANFIELD: I know. GUPTA: And look, I, you know, I just don't think that that sort of

advice is probably going to be very helpful. It probably just frightens people. We're going to get updated guidance, I'm sure. This is happening right now. I mean, this is an unfolding situation. So, a lot of times you get these sorts of reactions early on.

BANFIELD: Dr. Gupta, I always love having you on. Thank you so much for your excellent analysis of this. Appreciate it.

GUPTA: Thank you.

BANFIELD: I have breaking news out of Disneyland Paris. At the top of the show we broke that news about a man with two handguns and a lot of ammunition being caught, trying to enter into a hotel at Disneyland Paris, and there was a female accomplice who got away.

And now we are being told by French police they caught her. She is no longer on the run. This is a criminal investigation, folks, at this point. It's not a terror investigation yet. The Paris prosecutor not involved. But at least we can tell you that that female accomplice has been caught.

Coming up next, you know him as America's toughest sheriff. Sheriff Joe Arpaio, standing by, because he's now backing the Donald. He's thrown his support behind Donald Trump, and yet these two don't necessarily see eye-to-eye on everything immigration-related. We'll find out how they differ, next.

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[12:41:09] BANFIELD: Back now to politics and news that was just broken by our Jim Acosta, you're hearing first on CNN. GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee now plans to take part in Donald Trump's Veterans Benefit in Iowa tonight.

Unlike Trump, Huckabee is not going to boycott the Fox News debate, which also on tonight. Instead he's a part of the so-called undercard debate so he'll have time to be able to drive a few blocks down the street where the Trump event is taking place.

But before that, he will be live here on CNN, next hour, with Wolf Blitzer, so there will be lots to talk about with Governor Huckabee coming up in just 20 minutes' time. But I want to take you back to Trump now. Because it may not be surprising that a presidential hopeful who wants to build a wall between the United States and Mexico and who claims that Mexico will pay for it would see eye-to-eye with the law man known as the toughest sheriff in America, and vice versa.

Sure enough Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Maricopa County Arizona this week formally endorsed Donald Trump for president saying that he is "ready to get tough in order to protect American jobs and families". Trump in turn says Arpio, whose passion for rounding up illegal immigrants actually ended up getting him in some trouble for racial profiling, is tough and strong and smart. And that guy, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, joins me live from Phoenix, Arizona.

Sheriff, nice to have on. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us.

SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO, MARICOPA COUNTY ARIZONA: Thank you.

BANFIELD: So, I want to ask about this discrepancy I'm seeing in how you and Donald Trump view illegal immigration. He wants to round up 11 million people. Knock on doors, separate them out, and ship them out of the country. And you don't feel that that's the right thing to do. You have actually even said it. You have said, you know, if they don't get caught or do anything wrong, they're not going to get deported. You're not going to go into their house for no reason other than you think they're here illegally. I'm not for that.

How are you and Donald Trump coming to grips with those differences in opinion?

ARPAIO: Well I'm talking as a law enforcement guy, not as a federal agent, which I was for 30 years, including regional director of Mexico City with the DEA. But no, I was talking about -- I don't think he believes in knocking doors and then grabbing people on the street corner without probable cause. So that's what i was saying. If you have probable cause, you come across someone here illegally and some other type of crime, you deport them. I have 8,000 people that were turned over at my jails to the Homeland Security. And guess what? 3,000 have come back, many, many times. So you know they're kicking them out on the streets. They don't even deport them.

So I know he's going to crack down on illegal immigration. He's the only one that has the courage to talk about doing something in the interior. Every politician the y go to the border, it's always secure the border first, and then we'll look at it. No, he should be doing the border and also the interior and do something about illegal immigration. And that's what he was talking about.

BANFIELD: Yeah. I totally understand that. You jive with your opinions in that perspective. But to be clear, Donald Trump is very, very clear. He says, they all have to go, all 11 million, whether they have committed a crime or not. And he has talked about this doing this humanely. But he has definitely talked about knocking on doors and bringing people out and sending them out. And he's actually even talked about a controversial historic 'Operation Wetback' which even the term is uncomfortable to some, as very good example of that. So do you support that?

ARPAIO: Well, he's -- they are violating the law, and if he wants to build up the federal system, and have them enforce the illegal immigration laws. OK, what's wrong with that?

[12:50:08] If they have violated a law, you enforce the law, no matter where they're at. And you still have to have probable cause.

BANFIELD: Yeah. I'm just seeing your quote here. "If the illegals don't get caught," these are in your words, "or do anything wrong, they're not going to get deported." So this is where you and Trump seem to differ. He wants them out, regardless of whether they have gone through stop sign or anything. He wants to go and get them just for the very sake they're here illegally but you said you don't agree. If they do something else illegal, then they go. Is that where I'm seeing this?

ARPAIO: No, I'm talking about a law enforced in my authority. I'm not a federal guy, although, we were enforcing the federal laws. No, he has the authority with his federal system, the enforcement, to enforce that law. And if he feels that they have violated the law, and you have to go in a house to arrest them like any other violation, what's wrong with that?

BANFIELD: Just for the simple fact they're here illegally, not any other kind of law broken.

ARPAIO: But if they violated a law here illegally, they should be held accountable.

BANFIELD: OK. Let me change course here to the birther issue because I know you were very outspoken about President Obama, and Donald Trump was very supportive of your birther movement. You know, you've got about 95 percent of those out there now putting that one to bed and believe that that is just a nonissue now. I'm not sure that you agree. I think you still feel that there is some question about President Obama's natural born citizenship. But I want to ask you about Ted Cruz, because your guy, Donald Trump is now saying that Ted Cruz was born in Canada. He doesn't have the right to be president. Do you agree with him on that?

ARPAIO: Well, what's that got to do with Obama? I'm not going after Obama.

BANFIELD: It's the birther issue all over again.

ARPAIO: OK. No, no, I'm not going after Obama for where he came from, nor am I talking about Cruz and had issue of. We are investigating a fraudulent document, a government document from day one. And if Cruz has the problem with fraudulent documents, somebody ought to look into it. I am not talking about where they come from. And by the way, I have not put the nail in the coffin on this issue. I want to let you know that.

BANFIELD: OK. What about the Cruz issue so that we cannot talk about because Donald Trump has been very vociferous, and he's going after Ted Cruz about being born in Canada, saying that doesn't qualify under the natural born citizenship. He says, sure, Cruz might be a citizen, but not a natural-born citizen, as he says in the constitution.

ARPAIO: OK

BANFIELD: What's your thought on that?

ARPAIO: Well, maybe the legal system ought to look at it. And I just sued Obama on his executive orders. It went up to the Supreme Court. They kicked it out. But they did accept the governor issues and the Obama issues on the executive order releasing 5 million people. So let's bring that issue up to the court. Let the courts decide on the Canadian-U.S. issue regarding Cruz. I'm not going to talk about it.

BANFIELD: All right. Sheriff Joe Arpaio, nice to have you with us. Thank you for taking the time. Appreciate it.

ARPAIO: Thank you.

BANFIELD: All right coming up next, fresh off his meeting with President Obama, and just days away from the Iowa caucuses, candidate Bernie Sanders sits down for a new interview with CNN. Check it out, coming up next.

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[12:52:51] BANFIELD: Senator Bernie Sanders promised to make his medical records public before the Iowa caucuses, and guess what? Today the Sanders campaign did exactly that. We've not seen the actual medical records yet. But the campaign did put out this one-page letter from the U.S. senate physician who has treated Bernie Sanders for many years, and it includes the senator's height and weight and recent blood work, his surgical history, the fact that he does not smoke, and the summation that the 74-year-old from New Hampshire is in, "overall very good health."

Senator Bernie Sanders is the oldest candidate in the field of either party.

CNN's Senior Washington Correspondent, Jeff Zeleny joins me live now from Iowa where he had a chance to speak to Senator Sanders.

Hey, listen, there's this whole thing about an additional debate before New Hampshire that Hillary Rodham Clinton really wants to get on the books but she is being trounced by Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire and I can only imagine he really doesn't need a debate nor he want to debate. Did he answer that?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN'S SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Ashleigh he did. I mean of all this talk of a Republican debate tonight, there are still some questions lingering over the Democratic debates.

Bernie Sanders says he is willing to do the debate next week, but not on Clinton's terms alone. Let's take a listen.

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SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS, (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I thought we - the DNC have established rules, which I had nothing to do with. Rules which among other things had debates taking place on nights with very few people would watch them. So I had nothing to do with that. But we obeyed the rules. And now I just can't understand why Secretary Clinton wants to change the rules and have a debate in New Hampshire next week. Now, my feeling is, as somebody who from day one has said, as you have heard me say, I want more debates. I love debates. I think it's good for the process. So what we have said to Secretary Clinton, you want more debates, that's great. We propose to do at least three more debates after New Hampshire.

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ZELENY: So bottom line, if Hillary Rodham Clinton agrees to a debate in March, April and May, he will do one next week. He said if not, he will not be there, Ashleigh.

[12:55:03] BANFIELD: All right. Sorry, Jeff -- sorry I wanted to ask you real quickly about a different issue with regard to the senator. He's softened or changed his position on the whole gun control issue. Walk me through it.

ZELENY: He has indeed. He, in fact, signed on to a bill that was introduced in the Senate yesterday that would have changed the immunity protections for gun manufacturers. He actually announced his decision a couple weeks ago, if you remember, the day before the last Democratic debate in South Carolina that he intended to reverse his position on this. So now he is officially doing that and he's signed on to that bill yesterday. Of course, it has limited chance of being passed in the Senate. But he is certainly signaling his support on this. Because guns are a big issue out here and it's one of the things that's holding a lot of Democrats back from supporting him, because they believe his record is not as strong as Hillary Clinton's.

BANFIELD: All right Jeff Zeleny live for us in Iowa, thank you for that. Appreciate it and good job scoring a quick interview with the senator. Nice work. Thanks for watching, everybody. Nice to have you with us. Wolf starts straight after this quick break.

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[13:00:06] WOLF BLITZER, CNN'S WOLF ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's noon in Des Moines, Iowa. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, D.C. 4:00 p.m. in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much.