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Awaiting Arrival of Nancy Reagan's Casket at Reagan Library; Carly Fiorina Endorses Ted Cruz Prior to Florida Debate; Is Contested Republican Convention Likely; RNC Lawsuit over Clinton E-mails; U.S. Plans to Take Out ISIS Chemical Weapons. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired March 9, 2016 - 13:30   ET

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


[13:30:00] WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Motorcade carrying the former first lady of the United States, Nancy Reagan, to her final resting place, the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. A moment ago, we saw firefighter and fire truck on the side of the road, lined up, paying respects to Nancy Reagan. Mrs. Reagan will lie in repose until her funeral and burial on Friday.

Once again, we are here at the University of Miami campus. The Republican presidential candidates will be here tomorrow night for the Republican debate before the Florida primary next Tuesday. That debate will air tomorrow night here on CNN. It comes as a brand new CNN/ORC poll shows Marco Rubio trailing Donald Trump by 16 points.

Joining us, CNN senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta.

Jim, Carly Fiorina endorsed Ted Cruz today and surprised lot of people. Will it make much of a difference?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Ted Cruz won Idaho. That is small potatoes, compared to the three Donald Trump won. How to you change the narrative? You roll out an endorsement. That's what he did with Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard. She tangled with Donald Trump there is one point where Donald Trump appeared to insult her. She fired back.

Earlier, she relished the fact she was siding against Donald Trump.

Here's what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLY FIORINA, FORMER CEO, HEWLETT-PACKARD & FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Last Tuesday we had a primary. I walked into the ballot box and looked at the ballot and saw my own name on the ballot. It was kind of a thrill.

(LAUGHTER)

But then I checked the box for Ted Cruz, and I'm here to tell you why.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP) ACOSTA: Now, why does any of this make a difference? I think a lot of this boils down to what is happening here in Florida. This will generate excitement for Ted Cruz. And I asked a senior Cruz adviser, what's happening in Florida? Why are you making a serious, hard play for the state? Why not concentrate on other states? And this adviser said they have 50-state strategy. At this point they don't see -- this is the words of the adviser -- they do not see Rubio has having a viable path to the nomination. So they figure may as well play for every state.

BLITZER: Their assumption is if Rubio is to carry his home state he is out and that would be good for the Cruz campaign, do whatever you can to weaken Rubio.

ACOSTA: That's right. If you look at the latest CNN/ORC poll, that is almost identical to the Quinnipiac poll this morning, it shows a spread of Donald Trump way out in front of Rubio. I talked to a Rubio adviser this morning and said any of this talk that we may drop out before the Florida primary is nonsense, won't happen, no way, whatsoever. At the same time, they acknowledge this is do-or-die, situation. This is what they staked their campaign on. If they don't win Florida, all the indications are he is out of the race.

BLITZER: Jim Acosta, thank you very much.

Donald Trump wins three states, despite a movement to try to keep him from securing the Republican presidential nomination. But will his victories mean that a contested convention is less likely?

Reince Priebus is the chairman of the Republican National Committee. He is joining us live from Washington.

Reince, thank you very much for joining us.

Let's talk about the debate tomorrow night. What do you anticipate? The last couple were intense, some would say it was brutal. What do you looking forward to tomorrow night?

REINCE PRIEBUS, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Obviously, I spoke to you last week and over the weekend, about finding ways to reduce the temperature on this debate stage. Obviously, I have tried in a way to call for a little bit of a more cooler debate. I think the folks at CNN are doing a great job at taking some steps, I think, that will kind of cool the mood, you might say, in the debate hall.

BLITZER: It will be up to the candidates themselves, the four men on the stage. Have you spoken with them and urged them to calm things down, if you will?

PRIEBUS: Yeah. We have spoken to campaigns and, just obviously, I think there are some things that can be done as well that CNN will do, like not micing the audience, talking to the audience and participation a little bit, keeping things more cool in the debate hall.

But you are right. It comes on to the candidates. Obviously, it is helpful if we get a look at the big picture as opposed to the petty fighting that goes on. We want that to be a debate that's more of a G-rated debate this time as opposed to some of the things that have been said in the past.

BLITZER: What do you think of Donald Trump's latest comments, including here on CNN this morning, on CNN's "New Day," that he wants to move to a new stage and become more of a uniter, especially now that he is the front runner, and he thinks he will do well next Tuesday, as well. What do you think of what he is saying about bringing the party unified behind him?

[13:35:18] PRIEBUS: Well, it is yet to be seen who the party will get behind. It is a message that needs to be talked about as far as our party going through an intense primary and then coming together at the end behind our nominee. That's my pledge to the candidates and our voters and delegates across the country, which is, you know, the commitment we've made, is whoever is going to gets the majority of delegates will get 100 percent support of our party. There's no way around that. There's not going to be games played. It is going to be straight up and it has to be that way. People will speak and delegates will vote and eventually we will get a nominee and this party will get behind that nominee.

BLITZER: The Republican National Committee filed a lawsuit seeking the release of Hillary Clinton's e-mails, all of her records basically during her tenure, four years as secretary of state. What are you looking for?

PRIEBUS: Well, look, we are looking for more specifically the communication of key employees, Cheryl Mills, here's the issue, we have requested this ago. You have to wait a certain period of time before you can file a lawsuit on an open records request. These are things that we have been seeking for months and months and months. And the State Department has blown us off. They have blown off the A.P. and other groups that have sought other types of information, as well. We have to bring the case forward and ask the court for relief. Communication about what obviously has been going on in regard to these secret servers. What's going on in regard to Benghazi? What's been going on in regard to the Clinton Foundation? Nobody knows. There is obviously a lot of apparent wrongdoing going on. But if you have a State Department, a government entity as big as that that is blowing everybody off and all of their requests, that they are under the law they have to comply, well, unfortunately, there's no other thing we can do besides go to federal court. That's what we did today.

BLITZER: You just heard, I don't know if you were listening, but both the Clinton campaign and Bernie Sanders campaign, they don't agree on a lot nowadays, but they do agree, this is politics, a political witch hunt on the part of the RNC, and they say it is totally inappropriate. Your reaction to that?

PRIEBUS: Well, look, we seek open records all the time, Wolf. It is common to seek information and do research. The truth is they didn't say it about the Associated Press, "Gawker," "Vice." This is -- "Daily Caller." This is something that is epidemic at the State Department. It's not just the RNC. It is everywhere. They are not complying with anything. Nobody's getting any information whatsoever. So, obviously, the only other thing we can do, we have a right to this information, is to go to court can. But again, there's other entities out there, too, going to court, and they, too, have a right to the information. So it's all of the above. Everybody isn't getting what they have been asking for.

BLITZER: Reince Priebus, we will see you in Miami tomorrow. Thank you very much for joining us.

PRIEBUS: You bet.

BLITZER: Tomorrow night, Trump, Cruz, Rubio and Kasich, will face off in the final presidential, Republican presidential debate before the Florida and Ohio primaries next Tuesday. Jake Tapper moderates the CNN Republican presidential debate, tomorrow night, 8:30 p.m. eastern, only here on CNN.

Coming up, remembering Nancy Reagan. The former first lady's casket set to arrive at the Reagan Presidential Library any moment now. We saw law enforcement and firefighters saluting the first lady as the hearse drove by. Also, many on the highway overpasses flying American flags.

More live coverage after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:43:53] BLITZER: Welcome back. We are following the motorcade in California right now where the hearse carrying the casket of former First Lady Nancy Reagan is making its way to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

Waiting for the arrival at the Reagan Library is Sara Sidner who is joining us now.

Sara, the former first lady will lie in repose there. Who's expected to pay their respects today?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are expecting the speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, to show up.

But, Wolf, this is about the public's chance today to pay their respects, final respects to former First Lady Nancy Reagan. We expect her hearse to come in about 10 minutes. It will be at the bottom of the hill and it will come up the hill to a majestic view here and in to a very, very powerful scene at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

We have been inside to take a look and they are expecting quite a few people. They will be bussing the public up here.

We know there are quite a few people expected to be here. She had a lot of friends in a lot of police, including political heavyweight, including George W. Bush. We are expecting First Lady Michelle Obama to come on Friday. We're also expecting Hillary Clinton, Newt Gingrich. But there are some Hollywood celebrities who had close ties with her, including Mr. T. I bet you remember, remember when he was dressed in Santa Claus outfit and she sat on his lap. It was her having a good time.

There are a lot of people around the community who feel a strong tie to Nancy Reagan and what she brought to the table as the wife of the president. And as you know, Wolf, she was so close to her husband. So much love there and she will be buried next to him.

[13:45:41] BLITZER: Such a wonderful love story, indeed.

Sara, thank you very much.

Coming up, an ISIS operative spills his secrets to the United States. The crucial information he's provided about chemical weapons and how it is impacting U.S. air strikes underway right now in Iraq.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:49:53] BLITZER: We expect the hearse carrying the casket of the former First Lady Nancy Reagan -- there you see it -- to arrive at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, at any moment now. Live pictures. Mrs. Reagan will lie in repose at the library for the next two days before she is laid to rest next to her husband, former President Ronald Reagan, on Friday. We'll continue to watch the motorcade.

Let's get to a major development in the fight against ISIS. U.S. officials tell CNN a detailed ISIS operative has been providing crucial information on the militant group's chemical weapons program. The U.S. military is now acting on that information, launching air strikes mainly around the city of Mosul in Iraq.

Let's get more on this. Joining us, Republican Senator Ron Johnson, of Wisconsin, joining us from Capitol Hill. He is the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, the Governmental Affairs Committee.

Senator, let's talk about this operation to take out ISIS chemical weapons. What can you tell us about this? Obviously, it's very disturbing.

SEN. RON JOHNSON, (R), WISCONSIN: Wolf, actually, CNN has done a good job reporting on it. This is good news we are taking out chemical weapons. But it also indicates two things. First of all, we have to defeat is. Because when they are not defeated they are left to actually produce chemical weapons and use them in you know, violation of war standards as well as it also shows how important it is to actually capture terrorists. I'm all for killing terrorists but it's better if we can capture them and then question them because we get information that's required, human intelligence to defeat them. Unfortunately, President Obama wanting to close Guantanamo Bay, we haven't been capturing, detaining, haven't been questioning to gain that kind of intelligence. It indicates a few things, good news that we were able to obtain the intelligence and destroy the chemical weapons but it indicates the pressures we are facing by not defeating is.

BLITZER: Yesterday, we learned that a top ISIS leader, known as Omar the Chechnyan, was killed. The day before, 150 terrorists were killed in air strikes. It looks like it's full speed ahead in the air war against is. I assume you are on board with the president.

JOHNSON: I support that. We should be killing the terrorists wherever they reside. And of course the special operation forces doing the capturing and killing. God bless them for doing. That bottom line, we have to accomplish the goal that President Obama laid out 17 or 18 months ago, which is actually defeat is. Because as long as they are not overtly losing they are going to be perceived as winning. They will inspire, continue to spread, deepen their roots, produce chemical weapons, use chemical weapons. We have got to defeat them and we have to be more committed to accomplishing that actual goal.

BLITZER: Senator, for the second day in a row, Iran has test fired two ballistic missiles. Some are saying this is a violation of the Iran nuclear agreement. I know you voted go tense deal, but is it a violation?

JOHNSON: It's certainly a violation of U.N. resolutions to prevent them from doing this. President Obama was hoping that the Iranian nuclear agreement would modify Iran's behavior. He was right. It modified it. But it modified it to the worse. The ayatollahs have become emboldened by our weakness. They are poking a stick in our eye. They are threatening obviously Israel. They are threatening the region. They have become more dangerous because they have actually now received about $100 billion of funds into their economy, into their military. I think it was a very unwise agreement and I think it has proven to be exactly that.

BLITZER: Has that $100 billion already been provided to the Iranians as part of the nuclear agreement, or is that money that is, let's say, in the pipeline.

JOHNSON: That's what they are claiming. The administration was not exactly forthright in how much -- how many funds would flow into Iran how soon. But we knew it was going to be tens, a hundred, a hundred plus, hundreds of billions eventually. Iran was saying -- and they are crowing about it, the already basically recovered or had access to about $100 billion. Foolish. Why would you want to inject that amount of capitol into the economy and military of a self-proclaimed enemy that acknowledged largest state sponsor of terror in the world? It's very foolish.

BLITZER: Senator thank you for joining us. Obviously, a lot of critical issues. We didn't even get a chance to get to North Korea, what's going on. But we will on a later occasion.

I appreciate it very much, Senator Ron Johnson, of Wisconsin.

JOHNSON: Have a good day.

BLITZER: Thank you. You, too.

That's it for me. I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room."

For our international viewers, "Amanpour" is coming up next.

For our viewers in North America, a special NEWSROOM with Brooke Baldwin is next. She will have much more on the tributes planned for former First Lady Nancy Reagan. The motor transporting her body right now to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, ahead of a funeral that's planned for Friday at the Reagan Presidential Library.

[13:55:16] Much more of our coverage with Brooke when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:59:43] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And you are watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me here.

We are in beautiful Miami. But the story where we want to begin at the top of the hour here is Simi Valley, California, that there is the hearse that has been carrying former first lady, passed away at 94 years of age Sunday, morning, Nancy Reagan. Her body has just arrived at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library there, just in the Simi Valley area of southern California.