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Las Vegas Press Conference After Car Rams Vegas Strip; Lindsey Graham Drops out of Presidential Race; Voters Looking for Outsider for President; Republican Rhetoric Heats Up Between Candidates; Clinton Criticized for Untrue Trump/ISIS Comment. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired December 21, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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


[13:30:00] JOSEPH LOMBARDO, SHERIFF, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: But we believe her to be here for approximately a week, residing in her vehicle and her lack of money. And we don't know whether she was soliciting homes, associated with the stay here, or she had money associated with the stay, but we are doing our best to track that down.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How did the public cooperate or not cooperate?

LOMBARDO: Well, we didn't have any incidents of the not cooperating. The video is telling, and many people were trying to get her to custody, and trying to access the vehicle by banging on the window, and opening the doors in order to take her into custody, citizen- arrest type action. And then subsequently, we received numerous calls in support of direction of travel, and the suspect description, and obviously, the medical professionals received the greatest assistance from the public at the Las Vegas Boulevard and the incident.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

LOMBARDO: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And was that booking yesterday or today?

LOMBARDO: It would be last night.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Last night?

LOMBARDO: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And can you recount for us --

(CROSSTALK)

LOMBARDO: When we encountered her earlier, the only difference is that her hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you recount going up on the sidewalk once or twice?

LOMBARDO: Well, that is a great question. It was presented that the car entered the sidewalk, and exited the sidewalk, entered the sidewalk, so we are trying to bring it down the best we can. At this point, we believe she entered the sidewalk on the north end of Planet Hollywood at the escalator area, and traversed into the entrance of the Paris, and that leads one to believe she exited to go to the sidewalk at that point, and then continues to travel down the east sidewalk of Las Vegas Boulevard, and to this point, we believe she exited near Bali's, and re-entered the sidewalk. We are doing our best to reconstruct that time line, and whether or not we have victims associated with that speed?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

LOMBARDO: We don't know yet.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: There are posts, news racks and other things on the sidewalks. Did she hit those as well?

LOMBARDO: Yes, she did.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: She had all four tires of the vehicle on the sidewalk?

LOMBARDO: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE QUESTION)

LOMBARDO: Well, it is an ongoing conversation, and obviously, we are based on the hospitality in Las Vegas, and I appreciate it, but sometimes the security does not welcome in hospitality, and it is on going conversation with the county to make sure we have preventive actions in place to protect the citizens. And the county has been going through two and a half years of public works changes on Las Vegas Boulevard and widening the sidewalk areas, and moving the newspaper racks, and things that are helpful, because that is ongoing, and we will continue to contribute.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And can you tell us how many people --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I don't have the exact number.

Dan, do you have an approximate number?

UNIDENTIFIED DEPUTY CHIEF, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: Well, we have interviewed at least 30 written statements. We're still going through all that.

LOMBARDO: And I'm sure that we will receive more to day, Joe, so.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is it possible to say how many people were on the sidewalk or those sidewalks at the time this happened?

LOMBARDO: Well, a video reconstruction, we can tell that number but my view of the sidewalk in excess of 100. Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. District Attorney, when is the first court appearance, and where is that? STEVEN WOLFSON, CLARK COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: She is scheduled for

what is a 48-hour hearing tomorrow morning, but that is not a courtroom hearing, but it is a paper review, where the judge reviews to see whether there is probable cause to continue the to hold e her, and a 72-hour hearing on Wednesday. However, I will tell you that in coordination where the police department, my office is working quickly. Those dates could be moved up and she could be in court as early as tomorrow morning. We anticipate filing charges if not today, but tomorrow. And she is going to be in court facing those charges either tomorrow or Wednesday morning.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Is she currently held without bail?

WOLFSON: Yes, attempted murder with a deadly weapon is a length that is set by the court.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And do you anticipate this going to the grand jury?

LARSON: Well, it is early. We take some to the grand jury for some case, and others to the preliminary hearing, and that will decided in the next week?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And now, Sheriff, in your experience of 30 years, does this remind you of any of the cases that you have ever experienced?

[13:35:16] LOMBARDO: Well, I mean, if you review the incidents that took place on Las Vegas Boulevard, we had a similar circumstance outside of the Paris, and that is where an individual entered the sidewalk, and pretty close proximity to the incident last night, and we had individuals struck by a vehicle at this point. And by the luck of god, we had an off duty police officer dining in close proximity, and able to take that individual into custody. As far as the number of individuals involved, I can't recall any one of them with this high level of victimization.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: I would like to ask deputy chief how many firefighters responded. Any detail.

UNIDENTIFIED DEPUTY CHIEF: Yes, over 70 personnel on scene, and we had over 70 personnel respond on scene, and they established unified command, and I would be remiss if we didn't thank the law enforcement for the unified command to have the operation go smoothly. But over 70 personnel on scene, and we did use the rescues from AMR, and fire and rescue, and everybody in part.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And how many were taken to the hospital?

UNIDENTIFIED DEPUTY CHIEF: Well, the level-three MVCI requires a couple of teams, and ton the scene, ten ambulances arrived.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Was there a transport of more than one person per ambulance?

UNIDENTIFIED DEPUTY CHIEF: Yes. UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Any injuries to the first responders?

LOMBARDO: No, no reported injuries.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So, there is some reports that she --

(CROSSTALK)

LOMBARDO: I'm sorry?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Some reports she was --

(CROSSTALK)

LOMBARDO: Who is she?

UNIDENTIFIED DEPUTY CHIEF, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: The suspect.

LOMBARDO: The suspect? That she was tired?

UNIDENTIFIED DEPUTY CHIEF, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: Yes.

LOMBARDO: I can't give clarification on that comment. I can't imagine that if somebody is stressed for an extended period of time, they may exhibit those traits, but I am not sure if comments were held in effect of that.

OK, before we conclude, I want to again repeat my condolences to the families, and the victims themselves. This is a tragic event, and we hope it will never happen again in our community. But we will do our best to bring the victims satisfaction with this event.

Everybody, do the best you can, enjoy the holidays, and we look forward to New Year's Eve.

Thank you.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: That is the Sheriff Joseph Lombardo and the Clark County District Attorney Steven Wolfson, now updating us that this individual now being charged with murder with a deadly weapon is Lakeisha Holloway, 24 years old, who was driving the vehicle. And the 3-year-old was in the car as well, and that toddler is now in the custody of child services in Las Vegas.

Stephanie Elam is there.

Stephanie, very, very scary coming at this time. Give us a sense of the reaction there on the strip in Las Vegas where you are.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, a lot of people are just shocked by this, Wolf. When you go into the stores, the people are talking about, and the fact that it happened here on the strip, and that it was a deliberate act, and one thing is whether or not this is terrorism-related and they said that addressed in the presser, because they do not believe it is terrorism or any type of terrorism, but at the same time, they cannot rule it out 100 percent, and that is interesting here, because they are not basing it on the statement that they did not give, because they don't want to taint the jury pool, but they don't believe it is about the terrorism, but they can't rule it out, because they know so little about her, and they had trouble track down the identification, and knowing who she is. For that reason alone, they can't rule it out 100 percent, and they don't believe that it is the terrorism endeavor here on the strip.

Still, there is no clear reason why anybody would do this so deliberately, weaving in and out of the sidewalks half a dozen times at about 6:30 in the evening on a Sunday in Las Vegas when you know that the strip is always busy, Wolf.

[13:39:47] BLITZER: And one dead and 35 people with injuries, and is several of them little kids.

Stephanie, we'll get back to you. Horrific story in Las Vegas.

And we will take a quick break. When we come back, we will switch off to politics. The race for the Republican presidential nomination has just lost another candidate, a Senator. You will hear what he tells Kate Bolduan, and whether he would take a position in a cabinet for potential president Donald Trump.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. It is the political news that you heard first here on CNN, Lindsey Graham is dropping out of the race for the Republican presidential race. Graham's campaign struggled to gain some traction. He won praise for the performances in the so-called undercard debates, including the one that we hosted right here last week on CNN, but he said that he was frustrated by being relegated to the "kiddie table."

In his interview with CNN's Kate Bolduan, Graham said his campaign hit a wall, but he still wants to have a voice in the presidential race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Well, my campaign, I will suspend it, but I won't suspend my desire to help the country. I will probably go back to Iraq and Afghanistan, and get another update, 36 trips has informed me. But with one thing I feel good about is that I did it with a smile on my face, and I talked about things that are important to me, and somebody better fix one day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And Kate Bolduan is joining us from New York.

Kate, what surprised you most about your interview with Senator Graham?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, one of the things that surprised me most, Wolf, is probably what really seems like a change in tone that Lindsey Graham has towards Donald Trump. I mean, it is no surprise there is no love loss between the two men. He showed it clearly in the last CNN debate in Las Vegas, and you asked him Lindsey Graham about it. And he has told Donald Trump to go to hell and a few other things. So that is why I asked Senator Graham for his parting words for Donald Trump. Listen to what he says.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[13:45:20] GRAHAM: We are at war. A lot of men and women are at risk over seas. Watch what you say over here. You're doing really well. I'm impressed with the campaign. The only way that we can win as Republicans is to put together a coalition. You have to start thinking about policies that will work. You may wind up being the nominee of the party, and the Republican Party future may be in your hands. But the future of the country going to be in your hands if you are future of the president of the United States. This is not a game show or a reality show. The reason I know that is that I have been over there enough to know what it costs to defend this nation.

BOLDUAN: And would you consider, would you accept a cabinet position in a Trump administration?

GRAHAM: The only thing that I am thinking about right now is to get the Republican Party in a better spot on foreign policy, and mission accomplished, trying to find a way forward for the country as a whole, to keep us from becoming Greece, and not close yet. And getting the Republican Party in a growth mode and not a declining mode. This is an election for the heart and soul of the Republican Party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Very interesting.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely, Wolf. I asked him if it came down to it, without the strength of the campaign, Donald Trump versus Hillary Clinton, who would he support, and he said that he would support the Republican nominee, and he can't have it both ways. But I thought it was very interesting.

BLITZER: Certainly was. Reflective, and as you point out, he was really angry at Donald Trump in the course of the campaign, but now he is moving on like several of the other Republican candidates who have dropped out. I guess that he will go back to the full-time day job being the Senator from South Carolina.

BOLDUAN: I asked him, and he said that is his plans right now. We will see what happens with Senator Lindsey Graham. One thing is certain throughout that entire interview is that he made it very clear that he he's very proud that he thinks he moved the conversation on national security among the Republican field, and he wants to continue to push that, saying he will work with whoever is the Republican nominee, and he predicts whoever the Republican nominee is, they will adopt his plan against ISIS. And he said, even though he does not want Hillary Clinton to be the president, if she does, he is happy to work with her to take on the fight.

BLITZER: Yes, he was very passionate in the last debate last week on the national security issues, as he has been throughout all of these months in the campaign.

Kate, thanks very much. Excellent work as usual.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Kate Bolduan in New York.

Just ahead, we have heard before that the voters are fed up with Washington, and looking for the outsider as the next president of the United States. Did that doom Senator Graham's campaign? Could it be trouble for other politicians running for president? We will assess that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:51:31] BLITZER: Let's get to the race to the White House, the impact immediately of Senator Lindsey Graham's decision to drop out of the race. Much more of the Republican race as well as the Democratic race.

Joining us now, CNN political commentators, Donna Brazile and S.E. Cupp, here in Washington. Joining us from Los Angeles is CNN senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein.

Ron, let's talk about Graham's failure to gain much traction. Is it another sign that voters are fed up with Washington insiders?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah, I think that's part of it but a larger part is ideologically he was an odd position in the moderate Republican policy. Foreign policy he was at the confrontational view. On the domestic side, he was on the conciliatory end. Supporting a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants and supporting a Cap and Trade system on climate change and carbon emissions. He was kind of a candidate really without a clear home in the party pitch think the question going forward will be not only what Lindsey Graham does next, but does it free John McCain, which could be more consequential, especially in New Hampshire where the candidates are really desperately struggling for traction and to see who emerges first out of that group.

BLITZER: S.E., what's the impact?

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Lindsey Graham had three things running against him. One was named Donald Trump and the other candidates share that. Two, what Ron was talking about that he was largely viewed an as an establishment candidate. They are not doing very well. And the base of the party is looking for something different. The third is Lindsey Graham was facing head winds a at home in South Carolina. That doesn't get discussed enough because no one was really imaging Lindsey Graham getting far enough into the primaries. But the governor is one of the most popular in the country. The junior Senator from South Carolina polls better than Lindsey Graham. A majority did not want him to run for president. So South Carolina doesn't have a problem with Republicans. They just weren't into Lindsey Graham. Hard to find where the map was.

In terms of the impact, there's still some people in the field that losing one who wasn't even polling above 1 percent isn't going to shake it up much, but just as he was a powerful surrogate for John McCain, he might be powerful for other Republicans as well.

BLITZER: I'm curious, Donna, you're a Democrat. The governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley, is popular. Her name has been floated as a vice presidential running mate. She could be formidable.

DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I will say one thing about her is she stood up to a bunch of people and said let's take the Confederate flag down. That's leadership.

But I have to also say I'm going to miss his humor. I have to go back to watching C-Span and the Senate Appropriation and Armed Services Committee to get some of those jokes from Lindsey Graham. Great sense of humor and pragmatic.

BLITZER: Ron, the battle between the Republican candidates heating up over the weekend. Jeb Bush and Rand Paul joined criticism of Ted Cruz on immigration. Jeb Bush called Donald Trump a jerk. Trump called Bush an embarrassment to his family. Are we going to see this rhetoric escalate heading into the Iowa caucuses?

[13:55:09] BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, but what do you really think? I think you are. This Republican race has already transcended all the boundaries in many ways, including personal name calling of the candidates. For Trump, it's worked in a way to kind of underscore his identity as a politician outside of the normal boundaries that will say and do anything, which endears him to a portion of the Republican base that feels that they are in this apocalyptic moment and want a poll tugs that will go beyond the normal rules. People are looking for a president. There is a question of presidential temperament. In fact, if you look at polling, that's the biggest weak link in Trump's situation, is how many Republicans doubt he has the right temperament to be president. Overall, we're going to see more of this personal invective that has been common in other races.

BLITZER: There was a big Democratic presidential debate over the weekend in New Hampshire. S.E. and Donna, listen carefully to what Hillary Clinton said during that debate because it's causing all sorts of ramifications.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: He is becoming ISIS's best recruiter. They are going to people showing videos of Donald Trump --

(APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: --insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Like her Democratic rivals, she went after Donald Trump. But in this particular case, she said they are showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam, referring to ISIS right now. So far, we haven't found any of those videos and she's been criticized for going too far.

CUPP: "The Washington Post," FOX News have all checked this, there's no evidence of these videos. I think it's really ironic and hypocritical for two reasons. One, Donald Trump was forced to defend a non-existent video when there was Muslims dancing in it the street. And she and President Obama have been accusing Donald Trump rightly accusing Donald Trump of fear mongering and playing on the fears of American voters. She's doing the same thing here by trying to incite some kind of fear that probably already exists. She doesn't have to invent videos and invent new reasons to be afraid just to get people to vote for her. So I don't blame Donald Trump in this instance for being upset.

BRAZILE: Please. Donald Trump has insulted just about everybody running for president and those who are probably sitting on the sidelines. So the notion he needs an apology, he should get in front of his own apology tour. She misspoke. She should have said they are using social media. There's lots of evidence there. But the fact is that Donald Trump has been a flamethrower. This is how he captures his base and his audience and he loves to blow the air. So I do agree she misspoke, but there's no reason to start an apology tour. If anyone, she has undergone a lot. She's spent most of her time defending this and that and the other.

(CROSSTALK)

BRAZILE: No, we won't. If anyone, she has -- she has undergone a lot of that. We all know that. She has spent a bunch of -- most of her time defending this, that and the other.

CUPP: Through no fault of her own.

(CROSSTALK)

BRAZILE: Donald Trump has gotten more air time than --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Ron, did Hillary Clinton go too far?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, she did. And sort of undercut her. In this area, one of the most striking things about that debate, which you would recognize, is Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley ended up in the same place as Donald Trump and Ted Cruz on this critical question of whether we should be trying to move out Assad as we attack ISIS or whether we should separate those two issues. And you have Hillary Clinton ending in the same place as Marco Rubio, saying you can't do one without the other. If you focus on ISIS and leave Assad in place, you are creating new radicals even as you eliminate some. There's a striking fissure in both parties created by the disillusionment over the Bush approach of regime change, but without a great deal of certainty about where to go next. Striking that you have the left of the Democratic Party and the right of the Republican Party ending up in the same place in these debates this week.

BLITZER: You certainly did hear from Bernie Sanders, basically heard the same thing you heard from Donald Trump, for that matter, and Ted Cruz as well, that the region would have been more stable even if Gadhafi were still in power in Libya, if Saddam Hussein were in power in Iraq. Bashar al Assad, he may be a horrible dictator, a butcher, but if ISIS were to take over, the situation would still be a whole lot worse. You heard that from Bernie Sanders. You heard it from Donald Trump. You heard it from Ted Cruz. There's a lot to dissect there.

All right, guys, thanks.

BROWNSTEIN: But not from Hillary Clinton.

BLITZER: Hillary Clinton takes a different stance.

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 next.

For our viewers in North America, NEWSROOM, today with Don Lemon, starts right now.