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CNN NEWSROOM

Trump Wins Third Straight State; Interview with Marco Rubio's Senior Adviser Jason Roe; Bernie Sanders Claims Momentum Despite Nevada Loss; Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired February 24, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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


[10:00:00] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Nick Valencia, reporting live from Kalamazoo, Michigan. Thank you.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)m+

COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, Donald Trump leaves Las Vegas a winner.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now we're going to get greedy for the United States. We're going to grab and grab and grab.

COSTELLO: The billionaire dominating by double digits in Nevada.

TRUMP: We won the evangelicals. We won with highly educated. We won with poorly educated. Number one with Hispanics.

COSTELLO: Three straight wins. A lot of momentum heading into tomorrow's CNN debate.

Plus Bernie Sanders cozies up to President Obama?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: On the day that Obama was inaugurated Republicans came together and said what are we going to do? And what they concluded is we're going to obstruct, obstruct, obstruct.

COSTELLO: And Clinton shows her compassion.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have serious challenges. And I think it's important for people and particularly for white people to be honest about those.

COSTELLO: Next, South Carolina, then Super Tuesday. Can Sanders stay in the hunt?

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. This morning, Donald Trump is one step closer toward the GOP

nomination. After a sweeping victory in Nevada. Here are the final results from last night's caucuses. Trump winning and winning big. Picking up his third straight state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: A couple of months ago we weren't expected to win this one. You know that, right? We weren't. Of course if you listen to the pundits we weren't expected to win too much. And now we're winning, winning, winning the country.

(CHEERS)

TRUMP: And soon the country is going to start winning, winning, winning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Senator Ted Cruz now trying to bounce back after a disappointing third place finish by setting his sights on Super Tuesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: One week from today will be the most important night of this campaign. One week from today is Super Tuesday. One week from today, the most delegates that are awarded on a single day will be awarded next Tuesday. The role of the first four states is to narrow the field and give Super Tuesday a clear choice. And now the voters can decide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: On Super Tuesday. Missing from last night's action, second place finisher, Senator Marco Rubio, who left Nevada early. He's brushing off Trump's big win.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is a very unusual year and a very unusual process. And the Nevada caucuses by the way are atypical. I respect Nevada very much but last night that process was just different than the rest of the country.

Here's the bottom line fact, the vast and overwhelming majority of Republicans do not want Donald Trump to be our nominee.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Question now, can anything stop Trump? And let's head to Vegas and Sara Murray. Good morning.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. That's a great question. Look, it was a blowout for Donald Trump last night. But you also have to look at what this string of victories tells us. If you look at New Hampshire, Donald Trump proved he could win with centrists. If you look at his win in South Carolina, he proved he can win with more conservative southern Republicans. And if you look at last night he proved he can win in a western state and not just that, but in a tricky situation where it's a caucus.

So now it's up to his Republican rivals to prove that there still is a rationale for an alternative to Donald Trump. Obviously we know Ted Cruz is going all in on March 1st. He needs to win Texas but the path is a little trickier for Marco Rubio. Take a listen to what he said this morning about how he thinks he can reach victory.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBIO: We'll win in Florida. Now that Governor Bush is no longer in the race, him and I split up a lot of the support in Florida so that will help us and again as far as going into next week, we feel great about almost every state that's on the map.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MURRAY: So you heard him there saying that he will win Florida. The problem is that's not a state that votes until March 15th. When you're talking momentum, when you're talking a daily news cycle, that is a long time from now. So if Marco Rubio wants to pose a serious challenge to Donald Trump, he's going to need to start picking up delegates as soon as we get to these March 1 contests. We'll have to see if anyone, anyone, is actually able to stop Donald Trump's momentum -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Sara Murray reporting live from Las Vegas. Thank you.

Despite a wave of support from the GOP establishment, Senator Marco Rubio got beat by Trump by more than 20 points. During an interview with the "Today" show Rubio pushed back against criticism that he's not going after Trump hard enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBIO: I didn't run for office to tear up other Republicans. I'm going to tell people who I am and why I'm running and I'm going to give them a choice. If they elect me, they're going to have someone that unifies this party, grows this party, governs this country responsibly, deals with our challenges, and I will be a president for all Americans, even the people that don't agree with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: With me now, Jason Roe, he's a senior advisor to Senator Marco Rubio. Welcome, sir.

[10:05:04] JASON ROE, SENIOR ADVISER TO SENATOR MARCO RUBIO: Good morning.

COSTELLO: You know, I think a lot of voters admire -- admire Marco Rubio for staying positive but still many wonder why he's not to going after Mr. Trump more aggressively? Because nothing seemingly stops Trump. So why not try that?

ROE: You know, I'd started from the position of anybody that's watched Senator Rubio in the U.S. Senate and as a candidate, it would be completely out of character for him to all of a sudden one day decided to start attacking another candidate to help propel himself.

Secondly, from a strategic standpoint, how's that worked for the other candidates? You know, Jeb Bush really was the first and largely the only one to directly go after Donald Trump and he's no longer in the race. And so, you know, I appreciate all the advice that I've been watching in the news media the last two days about why we should get in a fight with Donald Trump but that's not who Marco is. Marco is campaigning on his vision for America, not the deficiencies in other candidates in the race.

COSTELLO: Well, you know, what Mr. Trump said. He said, you know, if Mr. Rubio goes after me, then I'm going to go after him hard and of course in the eyes of Trump supporters, that means Marco Rubio is afraid to attack Donald Trump.

(LAUGHTER)

ROE: You know, I -- sure there's all kinds of baiting and goading going on, I mean, just watching the morning shows. I'm watching media actually trying to goad us into this fight. There's no reason to get in a fight. Donald Trump is offering his vision for America, Marco Rubio is offering his vision for America and last night was a great night for Marco Rubio. This is the second race in a row in just a week in which he's demonstrated that he is the alternative to Donald Trump.

You've got in John Kasich and Ben Carson, two candidates that are at best also ranks at this point. And frankly Ted Cruz is now his third straight third place finish so he's getting bronze medals in every race so far. He's trending down. Marco is trending up. And I think as we start to consolidate the Republican base the non-Donald Trump voters, you will start to see a very competitive two-person race, and I think ultimately Marco Rubio is going to be the nominee this fall.

COSTELLO: Well, let us talk about John Kasich for just a second because a lot of people say he should just get out of the race to support -- consolidate behind Senator Rubio. Kasich's people last night sent out a biting press release. And I'm going to read a part of it to you and then you can offer your thoughts.

Quote, "Republicans are now left to wonder whether investing in Marco Rubio was throwing good money after bad. Rubio appears likely to pick up no more than seven more delegates than Governor Kasich in Nevada, despite the fact that the Kasich campaign spent virtually no resources in the state."

Your thoughts.

ROE: Well, he spent no resources and he got 5 percent of the vote. So I say that he got exactly what he paid for. Next Tuesday there will be 12 primaries going on and John Kasich appears to not be competing in any of them. He has now staked his claim on winning in Michigan on March 8th so there will be another 12. Sixteen states that will have already held elections that John Kasich has done, you know, moderately good in one of these.

So I don't even know why he stays in the race other than to make a point but talk about spending good money after bad. I think anybody that invested in John Kasich right now, you know, is investing in Enron after its collapse. There's just no -- nothing there for him to compete with. And when you look at some of the endorsements that have come out this week, there are former members of Congress, governors, who have served with John Kasich, whether as a governor or as a congressman, that are supporting Marco Rubio. So I just don't see where there's any support out there for John Kasich to remain in the race.

COSTELLO: And just a last question for you. In the days leading up to the Nevada caucuses, Senator Rubio received a wave of endorsements from establishment Republicans. He's got endorsements from 50 plus governors and lawmakers. You know, that powerful image of him with Nikki Haley, right, and Senator Tim Scott. But Trump is still managing to beat him and Donald Trump has zero endorsements from any establishment candidate. So do those endorsements really matter?

ROE: Well, you know, no one votes based on endorsements. You know, this is an unusual election as I think we all well know. Donald Trump is an unorthodox, different kind of candidate and he is channeling a lot of frustration amongst the Republican base with the lack of progress in Washington and addressing the debt, with dealing with the immigration crisis. We've got a lot of things that Donald Trump -- is speaking to but he's channeling anger and he's not really offering solutions whereas Marco is actually offering solutions and vision of how we bring this party together.

Marco has run a positive campaign. Donald Trump has not necessarily run what we would call a traditionally positive campaign. But he definitely reflects that frustration and it's a frustration that Marco Rubio feels. I mean, folks have to remember he was kind of part of the original wave of frustrated conservatives around the country when he ran against the establishment in Florida for U.S. Senate in 2010.

[10:10:04] He was one of the original Tea Party leaders and he's got a 98 percent conservative voting record in the U.S. Senate. So he is the tip of the spear of the fight to actually get change in Washington, rather than on the stump just offering one liners.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. Jason Roe, thanks for stopping by.

ROE: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: You're welcome.

Tomorrow night in Houston, the five remaining Republican presidential candidates will meet for the final GOP debate before Super Tuesday. Wolf Blitzer will be the moderator that starts at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Facing a sizeable gap with Hillary Clinton just days ahead of the South Carolina primary, Bernie Sanders says his campaign is actually gaining steam and moments ago he urged pundits not to just focus on this weekend's contest but to look ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[10:15:01] SANDERS: And what I would ask of the media is not to look at it state by state. You know, we're going to win some states. We're going to lose some states. There are -- it is necessary to get 2400 delegates. We are going to have good days. We're going to have bad days. Secretary Clinton will have good days and bad days. But let's kind of look at the long-term thing. We have momentum.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: This the day after Sanders and Clinton faced off in a CNN town hall last night. Here are the highlights in 90 seconds.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Your chair good?

SANDERS: It's pretty good.

CUOMO: All right.

SANDERS: It's pretty good. What Secretary Clinton said I will do it if other people do it. Well, I am very happy to release all of my paid speeches to Wall Street. Here it is, Chris, there ain't none.

CLINTON: Why is there one standard for me and not for everybody else, Chris? I mean --

CUOMO: Well, do you agree to release these transcripts?

CLINTON: Sure, if everybody does it, and that includes the Republicans.

SANDERS: This birther issue, which we heard from Donald Trump and others a racist effort to try to delegitimize the president of the United States. I was -- my dad, as I mentioned, came from Poland. I'm running for president. Guess what? Nobody has asked for my birth certificate. Maybe it's the color of my skin. I don't know.

CLINTON: These five women have lost children to police actions and to random senseless gun violence. There's no doubt that in each case there's a racial component to it.

SANDERS: Kids come up to me and say you've given me hope and you've rekindled my interest in democracy and politics. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you think has been causing this common

generational gap between your supporters and Senator Sanders' supporters?

CLINTON: I don't know. But I want you to know that whether you end up supporting me or not I will support you, and I will support the young people of this country because that has been -- that has been my life's work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. One thing Sanders keeps hammering away at, Clinton's Wall Street speeches. He wants Mrs. Clinton to release the transcripts of her speeches so that voters could read exactly what she has told to, well, let's say Goldman Sachs. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Clinton says she will do that when other candidates release their transcripts' paid speeches. I know that you're saying I don't talk to the banks, I don't have any, but you've done speeches that were paid before. Why don't you go first, say here are my transcripts?

SANDERS: Well, I could --

CUOMO: If Secretary Clinton --

SANDERS: That's not a problem. Look, I have not had a paid speech -- it's against the law to give paid speeches. I have given some speeches, the money was donated to charity way, way back. I got a few dollars. If I can find the transcripts I'm very, very happy to do it. But what Secretary Clinton said I will do it if other people do it. Well, I am very happy to release all of my paid speeches to Wall Street. Here it is, Chris, there ain't none.

I don't do that. I don't get speaker's fees from Goldman Sachs. It is not there. So I'm happy to do my best to releasing any of the speeches. Won't be very shocking to anybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Clinton says she is being held to a different standard and that she will release those transcripts but only under one condition.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Will you agree to release these transcripts? They have become an issue.

CLINTON: Sure, if everybody does it and that includes the Republicans because we know they have made a lot of speeches but look, what is this about? This is about whether I have the best plan to go after Wall Street, whether I have a record that already demonstrates my willingness to take on Wall Street and financial interest. And there's no question about that. I did it before the '08 crash. I have done it since in this campaign. I have been absolutely clear and a lot of people have said, I have the most comprehensive -- effective, comprehensive plan to make sure that Wall Street never wrecks main street again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK. So let's talk about this. Larry Sabato is the director at the University of Virginia Center of Politics and Chris Kofinis is a Democratic strategist.

Welcome to both of you.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being here.

So, Larry, why doesn't Clinton just released the transcripts and call it a day?

SABATO: Because no doubt that she made some very favorable comments about key people on Wall Street or key firms on Wall Street. It can be taken out of context or maybe even in context. It wouldn't be helpful as she's running against a candidate, Bernie Sanders whose platform is basically income inequality. That's why she doesn't want to do it.

COSTELLO: OK. So her new argument, Chris, is she says, I'll release the transcripts if everybody does it, including Republicans. Really?

CHRIS KOFINIS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I mean, in fairness, I think, to Secretary Clinton, she does get kind of hit with a double standard. I think that is a fair criticism.

[10:20:04] But the problem is, you know, this has been -- this is going to become one of those story lines where the media and others just keep going back and back and back to. Now is this going to going to influence, you know, the Democratic primary voter? Not likely. You know, those who are going to be influenced by it, my guess is they're already going to head in one direction. But it does become a needless issue and distraction. Probably less so in the primary but more so in the general, and I think that's, I think, going to be the challenge.

My guess is the Republicans, whoever the nominee is going to end up being, they're going to end up banging on this drum again. So that's why it's kind of a needless distraction.

COSTELLO: Interesting. So, Larry, something Bernie Sanders said that I hadn't really realized until he brought it up. He said it's against the law. It's illegal for him to give paid speeches. So the fact that he has no transcripts to hand over, that doesn't really mean very much, does it?

SABATO: Bernie Sanders is running as a purist on these issues and as far as I can determine he probably is pretty pure, and that's what many of his supporters love about him. Now in the real world let's understand what happens. Presidents get out of office and sometimes first ladies and they cash in one way or the other and President Clinton certainly did so. I think he earned over a number of years about $100 million in speaker fees.

Well, there were opportunities for Hillary Clinton, too. The Clintons never made very much money. They were never very wealthy, even prior -- just prior to getting into the presidency, so they wanted to make up for lost time. Well, the chickens are coming home to roost.

COSTELLO: But, Chris, like you said, maybe it won't matter so much in the primary but in the general. But still, that's Bernie Sanders's whole thing. Right? He can't exactly just drop it and move on to something else. He's got South Carolina coming up where he's expected to lose badly. And then he's not really -- I don't know how he's fairing in the rest of the states because you heard him in that presser earlier this morning, saying, you know what, don't write us off yet, there's many more states to go and I could do well. Is he right?

KOFINIS: Well, I mean, listen. Let's be honest. If you as a candidate running for president comes out -- come out and say that you're going to win some, lose some, it usually is a measure that your campaign is not on a successful path. That's just being brutally honest. I mean, the problem that Senator Sanders faces is (INAUDIBLE) one. He's going to lose -- sorry, he's going to lose South Carolina pretty badly. Then you got Super Tuesday literally days after and if you look at most of those states including states like, you know, Texas, Virginia, you know, he is down by double digits.

And at some point you've got to win in order to be viable and you can't just win Vermont. You got to surprise somewhere. So, I mean, he can stay in because it is a proportional system in the sense of yes, you know, you may get 30 percent or 40 percent, you'll get a number of delegates but people are going to start asking the question but you're not winning key states. Why are you still in here? And at some point my guess is going to be by mid-March that question is going to become pretty difficult to answer.

COSTELLO: We'll see. I got to leave it there. Chris Kofinis, Larry Sabato, thanks to both of you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, he's now clearly the Republican frontrunner, so why are so many newspapers across the country slamming the possibility of a President Donald Trump? We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:28:09] COSTELLO: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Donald Trump is basking in this big Nevada win. He may go all the way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: We won the evangelicals. We won with young, we won with old, we won with highly educated. We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated. We're the smartest people, we're the most loyal people. And you know what I really am happy about because I've been saying it for a long time? 46 percent with the Hispanics. 46 percent. Number one. With Hispanics.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Oh, but newspapers across the country, well, editorial boards are sounding the alarm on a Donald Trump presidency and warning their readers about it. The "New York Daily News" writes that Trump is, quote, "successfully exploited a dark vision of America," while the "Washington Post" argues that party leaders who support and celebrate Trump's victory will be accomplices to an attack on the fundamental values of American democracy. And the "Boston Globe" has issued a call to action, urging unenrolled voters to, quote, "pull a Republican ballot and vote for John Kasich because it's a vote against Donald Trump."

Those papers are not alone. Editorials from the "Des Moines Register," the "Arkansas Democrat Gazette," the "New York Times," the "Wall Street Journal," have all described the possibility of a Trump presidency as, well, doom.

Well, let's talk about that, I'm joined by CNN media analyst Bill Carter and "Los Angeles Times'" deputy editorial page editor Jon Healey.

Welcome to both of you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good to be with you.

COSTELLO: Nice to have you. So, Jon, the "L.A. Times" did not write a flattering editorial about a Donald Trump presidency either. So a question, why are so many newspapers across the country writing such scathing editorials on Trump?

JON HEALEY, DEPUTY EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR, LOS ANGELES TIMES: Well, he has been hitting several of the hot button issues that editorial boards care about. I mean, we're into policy. He has been talking about immigration and refugees in ways that --