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Sanders and Young Voters; Trump Supporters Not Sweating Loss; Dallas Patient Infected with Zika Virus Through Sexual Contact. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired February 3, 2016 - 09:30   ET

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


[09:30:00] MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Carol, certainly now over the next few days, paced specifically to the messaging that we are hearing from Bernie Sanders and from Hillary Clinton, it is all about getting these constituency groups. It's getting out women. It is getting out blue collar voters. And for Bernie Sanders, it is getting out the young vote.

Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Mark Preston reporting live for us from New Hampshire. Thank you.

It will be difficult for Hillary Clinton to win over young voters. I've been talking with student body presidents from universities across the country. They see Clinton as a pragmatist and Sanders as the revolutionary. Listen to what Joe Luther, Georgetown student body president, told me about Bernie Sanders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Are you open to a socialist becoming president of the United States?

JOE LUTHER, STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: You know, personally I think what he's proposing is not all that radical. What he is proposing is in a sense what's mainstream on other continents. Things like single payer healthcare. Things like tuition free colleges. Even things as basic as family leave. That's all the norm.

COSTELLO: What is his appeal to young people?

LUTHER: I think what his appeal is -- is -- it's about revolution in a way. A revolution of changing the way politics works. I think what's so appealing about him to young people is that we've grown up now in eight or so years of complete and total political gridlock. It's dominated by a couple of big donors, bank rolling super PACs. And what he's calling for is a very grassroots way to government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Interesting, right? With me now, Andy Smith, a director at the University of New Hampshire's Survey Center. He's also a political science professor. And Bernard Whitman, a Democratic strategist and former Bill Clinton pollster. Welcome to both of you.

BERNARD WHITMAN, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Thanks for having us.

ANDY SMITH, DIR., UNIV. OF NEW HAMPSHIRE SURVEY CENTER: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

So, Andy, you're around young people. Is it any surprise a revolutionary candidate would intrigue young people?

SMITH: Not really. I think that -- the students in America, the students that we see in our political science departments are not happy, like most Americans are, with the way things are going and they see the candidates often as the people who have led America to the kind of gridlock that it currently has. And new faces on the political scene are always ones that offer hope that that might change, as Barack Obama did in 2008, and Bernie Sanders, really being new on the national political scene this year. You've got to remember, for a young person who's in college right now, Hillary Clinton was already first lady of the United States when they were born, or before they were born. So to most of them, she's been around in politics for their entire life.

COSTELLO: So has Bernie Sanders, except he didn't -- he --

SMITH: But Bernie Sanders --

COSTELLO: Yes, go ahead.

SMITH: Yes, but Bernie Sanders was not known.

COSTELLO: Right. You're right about that.

So, Bernard, a question for you. Hillary Clinton is running as a pragmatist, a person who can get things done. She's dissing Bernie Sanders as a pie in the sky kind of candidate. And that's exactly what old people say about young people. So should Clinton change her tone?

WHITMAN: I think the challenge and the opportunity for Secretary Clinton is to connect emotionally with voters, especially young voters, to show her passion, to show her vision, to make it clear that this campaign is not about her. Yes, she is the most experienced, she's the most qualified, I think she has the best plans, policies and programs. But, ultimately, campaigns are about the future. She needs to demonstrate to young people and to all voters that she has the vision that can bring about real, fundamental change for this country and make it clear that her campaign is about them. And I think that's where she's fallen short. And I think we're going to see particularly tonight on the CNN town hall a way of showing her experience that really connects in a passionate, emotional way with young voters.

COSTELLO: Andy, even when Hillary Clinton like tries to talk directly to young people, she -- she uses cutesy stuff. In fact, remember when she rolled out that cutesy stuff. She was tweeting supporters, asking them to describe how their student loan debt makes them feel in three emojis or less. I mean, take a look. Students don't really relate to that kind of talk. They want to be talked to like adults, don't they?

SMITH: Exactly. These are adults. And in New Hampshire, where I think the young vote is going to be critical, it's not even so much the younger of the young vote. Most of the people under 35 lean more towards the 35 end of the scale than towards the 18 or 19 end of the scale. And talking to college kids or young adults in a way like that, it is condescending and it is somewhat demeaning. And certainly Sanders is much, I think -- is much more direct with them and telling them that they are the future and laying it out that it's their responsibility to make changes.

COSTELLO: And just a final question to you, Bernard, because I talked to five student body university presidents so far from different parts of the country. All of them said that the issue of college tuition and free college will drive them to the polls. They are as passionate about that issue as they -- they were when President Obama was running for president.

[09:35:04] WHITMAN: And I think they should be. We have a $1.2 trillion debt. The student debt clock, you remember the old national debt clock, the student debt clock is going up $3,000 a minute, I believe. And the fact is, Hillary Clinton, I think she's going talk about a lot tonight, has an extraordinary plan to make community college free, to reduce the interest rate on student loans, to ensure that states that get $175 billion over 10 years are going to keep college costs down. So I think she actually has a real plan to make college more affordable. And the real issue here is, it's fine to sort of start a revolution, but if you can't actually put that revolution into practice to work with the other side to actually get things done, you're going to leave a lot of people feeling pretty upset with empty promises littered all over the ground.

COSTELLO: All right, I have to leave it there. Andy Smith, Bernard Whitman, thanks to both of you.

WHITMAN: Thank you.

COSTELLO: You're welcome.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, contracted on U.S. soil? Reports the Zika virus isn't just spreading in South America anymore.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:16] COSTELLO: All right, not so long ago Alisyn Camerota sat down and talked with Marco Rubio, who, as you know, had a great finish in Iowa. He came in third, just a point behind Donald Trump. He sat down with Alisyn. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What people are going to start realizing is, I give us the best chance. My -- my candidacy gives us the best chance to nominate a real conservative who can unite the party, grow the party, take our message to people that haven't voted for us in the past and ultimately defeat Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. The Democrats know this. They admit that I am the one they don't want to run against. And that's why I think, ultimately, I'll be our nominee.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, ANCHOR, CNN'S "NEW DAY": Your rivals have been talking about you. Jeb Bush just called you a "back bencher." Trump has called you "the kid," as you know. Chris Christie just called you "the boy in the bubble." You and Cruz have exchanged some words. What's your response?

RUBIO: Well, I think when people attack you, usually they don't -- they don't attack someone who isn't doing well. You usually only get attacked in politics if you present a threat to someone. Jeb's comment is interesting. He endorsed me. He wanted me to be the vice president. He openly told people I should be the vice president in 2012 when Romney was going through that process. The only thing that's changed between then and now is we happen to both be running for president.

I think Chris has had a -- both Jeb and Chris have had a tough couple days and -- and, obviously, sometimes people don't react well to adversity and so they're saying some things they'll probably later on regret. But that's not going to change my campaign. I'm not running to beat up on other Republicans. If there are policy differences, we'll discuss those. But, ultimately, I'm running to unify this party and ensure that our next president is nothing like the one we have now.

CAMEROTA: As you know, immigration has become a big issue in this election. All -- you and all of your rivals want to secure the border. If you become president, what do you do next?

RUBIO: Well, after securing the border? Well, first here, not just secure the border, you -- people have to have confidence that you're doing -- that you've done it. In essence, I do not believe, having worked on this issue now for a long time, including just personally having come from the background I come from, that the American people are going to support anything on immigration until first they believe that illegal immigration is truly under control. That means finishing the wall and fencing, the new border patrol agents, an entry/exit tracking system and everify (ph). Only after that's in place and that's working can we go to the American people and see what they are willing to support.

I think they'll be willing to support something very reasonable. I don't think the American people expect us to round up and deport 12 million people. If you're a criminal, you won't be able to say no matter what. They should be deported now, criminals. If you're not, we've outlined an idea. You know, maybe the -- I --I don't know if the American people will support it, but the idea of allowing people that have been here for a long time to pass a background check, pay a fine, start paying taxes, they get a work permit. And that's still -- that's all they'll have for at least a decade.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Marco Rubio is holding his second town hall of the morning at the top of the next hour. Of course, we'll keep an eye on it and pass along any comments to you. Donald Trump unleashing this morning on Twitter over the Iowa caucus

results, even calling for a revote. All of this after Trump said he wasn't sweating his second place finish and neither were his supporters. Here's more from CNN's Gary Tuchman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On an unseasonably warm evening in New Hampshire, this crowd doesn't have any warmth towards those who say Donald Trump is now politically vulnerable after losing in Iowa to Ted Cruz.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, because I think he's going to come here and he's going to rock New Hampshire.

TUCHMAN: Trump may have come in second place in the caucuses, but we asked many people lined up to see him in New Hampshire this question.

TUCHMAN (on camera): Were you disappointed with the results in Iowa?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely not. No.

TUCHMAN: How come?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that second place is a great finish.

TUCHMAN: Can you actually see me right now?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can. Of course I can.

TUCHMAN: Those are unusual glasses.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm here to support Donald Trump.

TUCHMAN: Oh, no kidding.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, all decked out.

TUCHMAN: Were you disappointed that he didn't win in Iowa?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, I wasn't. I think that was going to be tough for him. And I just put some perspective on it that it's only one less delegate than Ted Cruz.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): There were some Trump supporters who said a second place finish was a letdown, but they were in the minority.

TUCHMAN (on camera): How many of you were disappointed that he didn't win the caucuses last night?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He did win.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was.

TUCHMAN: He did win?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He won just by coming in second and doing nothing for it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody wins because he's in the -- he's in the race.

TUCHMAN: What does that mean?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They all -- they all owed him -- owe him a thank you note because there's been more interesting, excitement and entertainment with him in it than there ever would have been.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): One reason many Trump supporters here don't feel badly about his loss to Ted Cruz is that they don't think much of the Iowa caucuses.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just don't like it. I think that you can talk people out of things. You may have -- like you might go in really wanting to vote for Trump and then someone can change your mind at the last minute.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think a caucus is just a caucus, it's not really a vote. I think it was so informal that I'm not exactly sure how the process works.

[09:45:01] TUCHMAN (on camera): Many of the people who have come here had hoped this would be a post-Iowa caucuses victory party of sorts. But now they're part of an effort to make sure that Donald Trump doesn't go 0-2.

Tell me why you like Donald Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He speaks his mind. There's no bull (CENSORED). He speaks his mind.

TUCHMAN: You just cussed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He says exactly - he says exactly what a lot of people are thinking.

TUCHMAN (voice-over): That clearly wasn't enough for Trump in Iowa, but his supporters here are determined to give their candidate a win next Tuesday in New Hampshire.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Milford, New Hampshire.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, new fears about the Zika virus. Could it be spreading right here in the United States?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [09:50:15] COSTELLO: There is an alarming development this morning

with a disease that has no treatment and has been linked to brain damage in babies. We're learning a patient in Dallas has been infected with the Zika virus through sexual contact. This is the first reported case of the virus being transmitted in the United States during the outbreak. Now the Red Cross is asking donors who have been to Mexico and other countries hit by the virus to delay giving blood.

CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, joins us now with more on this. So, what more can you tell us about the spread of this virus through sexual contact?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a confirmed case. You know, there was some suspicion of this before that could this be spread via sex, but yesterday the story was that a man who had traveled to Venezuela, he came back, he had some symptoms of Zika infection. Subsequently, he tested positive as did his sexual partner.

The sexual partner was someone who hadn't left the United States since 2008, so clearly hadn't been in one of these countries effected by Zika. So, they - they, again, they suspected that possibly this could be spread via sex but they weren't sure. Keep in mind, you know, you think about infections like malaria, Carol, malaria's transmitted via mosquitoes but not sex. HIV, via sex but not mosquitoes. This appears to be mainly mosquitoes but also via sex.

COSTELLO: So - so, what will this woman have to do?

GUPTA: Well - now keep in mind, so if this is someone who is not pregnant, the vast majority of people won't even have any symptoms or they'll have very mild symptoms. I keep making that point. Obviously there's a lot of concern around women who are pregnant and women who may be in the early parts of their pregnancy. But for other people, it doesn't seem to be that big of a concern. She - she's tested positive for the Zika virus. They - they, you know, that - that's what she's going to know. She's probably immunized to that for now, so if she doesn't -- she's not pregnant, there's probably nothing that she has to do.

COSTELLO: So there's no lingering effects in other words, because people are very freaked out, especially women are very freaked out about this.

GUPTA: No, that's a - you know, that's an important point, Carol, so let me just -- because people say, well, once you have the infection, what will it do to future pregnancies? And there's no evidence that if you've had an infection sometime in the past that it will affect a future pregnancy, months or years down the line. I get that question all the time, just want to set the record straight. The virus probably clears from your body in a few days, unlike other types of viruses which can stay in your body, this one seems to clear, you know, rather quickly.

COSTELLO: All right. And just a final question about the blood donations, the Red Cross is asking people who have been to Mexico and other countries to hold off donating blood. That sounds ominous.

GUPTA: Well, the concern is that the virus can stay in the blood for a few days. You know, I talked to Dr. Frieden who's the head of the CDC yesterday, he said, you know, seven days he thinks the virus could stay in the blood. The Red Cross is now saying we shouldn't donate blood up to 28 days after you return from a country that has Zika. They're obviously trying to play it safe here, but this is - this is the new guidance have came out over the last couple of days.

COSTELLO: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks for your insight.

GUPTA: You got it, Carol. Thank you.

COSTELLO: You're welcome.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, one of the officials at the center of the Flint water scandal subpoenaed to appear on Capitol Hill and now federal charges are looming.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[09:57:40] COSTELLO (voice-over): Checking some top stories at 57 minutes past. Right now, Flint, Michigan, city leaders are on Capitol Hill testifying about the contaminated water scandal. The city's emergency manager during the crisis, Darnell Earley, was subpoenaed last night to testify. It's unclear if he'll actually show up. He was served just hours after he resigned from his position as emergency manager of Detroit public schools.

On Monday, the committee initially invited him to testify, but he declined. The FBI now joining a criminal investigation exploring whether any federal laws were broken.

The Southern California Gas Company is now facing criminal charges over a massive methane gas leak. Los Angeles county filing charges yesterday with the company, did not immediately alert state authorities to the leak. Noxious fumes in the air around Porter Ranch forced thousands of people from their homes. Environmental activist Erin Brockovich calls the leak the BP spill on land. A total of 11 local, state and federal agencies are now either in - are now either under investigation or suing the gas company over the leak which began last October.

The anti-abortion activist and defendant in that Planned Parenthood video case is set to turn herself in. Sandra Merritt's attorney tells CNN she's planning to surrender sometime this morning in Houston. Marritt faces a charge of tampering with governmental record. Last month, a Texas grand jury found no wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood and instead decided to indict the activist who made the video.

Severe weather hammers the South, spawning at least two tornadoes in Mississippi, one of the tornadoes destroying a church, several homes, and damaging a federal prison. The storm also hit Alabama. And forecasters are warning more severe weather could hit Northwestern Georgia today.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (on camera): And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Donald Trump unleashed. In his latest tweet just a few minutes ago, he's calling for a revote in Iowa after coming in second to Ted Cruz. And he's accusing Senator Cruz of fraud just five days before the New Hampshire primary.

And while Trump is busy tweeting, other Republicans are blitzing the granite state. Happening right now, you have a Rubio town hall in Pittsfield, a Kasich town hall in Durham, and a Cruz town hall in Henniker. I wonder if the Iowa winner has seen Trump's tweets yet.