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Clinton and Sanders Neck and Neck in Iowa; Clinton Counting on Ground Game in Iowa; Trump and Cruz Dominating Field in Iowa; Trump Widens Lead in New Hampshire; Trump Keeps Birther Attacks on Cruz; Deadly El Chapo Raid Video; Philadelphia Gunman May Be Part of Larger Group; El Chapo Raid Video; Philadelphia Officers on Alert. Aired 1- 1:30p ET

Aired January 11, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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


WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 11:00 a.m. in Juarez, Mexico, 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 6:00 p.m. in London. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We begin with presidential politics. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, they're running neck and neck in Iowa right now. This exactly three weeks before the caucuses.

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, they're campaigning this hour in Iowa. We're keeping an eye on both of these events. Hillary Clinton is in Waterloo where she's picking up an endorsement from the transportation secretary, Anthony Fox. Bernie Sanders, he's holding a town hall meeting in Perry (ph), as we speak right now. We're monitoring both of these candidates. We're going to let you know about any news that's made.

It's getting increasingly, a little bit more bitter between these two candidates. Maybe that's because of the latest poll numbers. A new NBC News-"Wall Street Journal" poll, a Marist poll shows Hillary Clinton leading Bernie Sanders by just three percentage points in Iowa. She's at 48 percent. He's at 45 percent. The same poll shows Bernie Sanders leading in New Hampshire 50 percent to 46 percent. Those are both very, very close numbers with -- certainly within the poll's margins of error.

The Clinton campaign, meanwhile, is stepping up its attacks against Bernie Sanders, especially on such issues as gun control and electability. A Bernie Sanders' spokesman says Hillary Clinton and her team, they are getting increasingly nervous and nasty. This is an important development right now only three weeks, only three weeks before the Iowa caucuses and just a little bit more than four weeks before the New Hampshire primary.

Let's bring in our panel. Bakari Sellers is joining us. He's a CNN Contributor, former Democratic South Carolina state representative. Katie Packer is a former deputy campaign manager for Romney for president. Jeff Zeleny is with us. He's our Senior Washington Correspondent.

Let's talk a little bit, Jeff, about this article you wrote on CNN.com, you co-wrote it, in which you say there's a sense of anxiety cascading through the Clinton campaign right now. Describe how nervous they are.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, there sure is because they are three weeks out, as you said. And they always knew this race was going to be competitive but they thought that they would be able to persuade those Democratic activists as voters, in Iowa and new Hampshire particularly, that she is the most electable. Well, that argument is not sort of resonating as much because the voters react to an argument like that in strange ways.

When I was out with her last week in Iowa for a few days, it sounded, to me, just like the argument she was making in 2007 and 2008. I'm more electable than Barack Obama is. And some voters are saying, not so fast. They like what Bernie Sanders is saying. You know, they like his Wall Street reform, his populist views.

So, the question here is the Clinton campaign has the ability to go the long distance, no doubt about it. But if they would happen to lose Iowa and New Hampshire, which is an open possibility that is being discussed in their -- both their headquarters, how can they, sort of, sustain things going forward here? So, they're trying to make a win in Iowa. New Hampshire is not totally gone but they think it's very, very difficult to win New Hampshire, at this point.

BLITZER: And he's from neighboring Vermont and that's one of the advantages he may have in New Hampshire.

Bakari, on CNN's "NEW DAY" earlier today, Karen Finney, a spokeswoman for the Clinton campaign, said these polls don't necessarily show the whole picture. Listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAREN FINNEY, SENIOR SPOKESWOMAN, HILLARY FOR AMERICA: But those polls don't tell you about turnout. What tells you about turnout is the infrastructure you built on the ground, the hard work of the people at the grass the roots and whether or not you're going to be able to get your people out between -- on caucus day or primary day.

FEMALE: So, that's your plan. You think you have a better ground game than Bernie Sanders?

I sure hope we do. I mean, I think -- I think -- I believe in our ground game. And, look, it's something that we have focused on very heavily from the beginning of this race. We always said we were not going to take anything for granted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: You remember, Bakari, eight years ago, then Senator Barack Obama had a better ground game, better resources in Iowa than Hillary Clinton did. She came in third. John Edwards came in second.

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: And that's why I chuckled a bit because what you heard Karen Finney state there is that we have learned our lesson. Barack Obama won that race, that primary in Iowa, because Hillary Clinton simply didn't guess the numbers correctly. Their model was built on outdated numbers. They didn't believe that Barack Obama could have the turnout surge the way he did.

And one of the most amazing things about this race though is, yes, Hillary Clinton is going to have a tough row to hoe in New Hampshire and Iowa. But when she gets to South Carolina where these primaries begin to look more like the Democratic Party, where there are more minority voters, and then Super Tuesday. I think she's done enough work, enough ground gain to build a fire wall that will propel her to the nomination.

[13:05:02] And I'm really glad that Bernie Sanders is running a race better than most people thought he would because he's sharpening Hillary Clinton for this general election that we know is going to be nasty.

BLITZER: Jeff Weaver is the campaign manager for the Bernie Sanders campaign, Katie. We know that Hillary Clinton is really going after him Bernie Sanders, increasingly when it comes to his record on gun control. He comes from the rural state, Vermont. But Weaver is now going after Hillary Clinton saying her record is not necessarily consistent. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF WEAVER, CAMPAIGN MANAGER, BERNIE SANDERS: People will remember the attacks she leveled against then Senator Barack Obama, now President Barack Obama, back in 2008 on guns she was attacking to the right on this. So, I think her argument would be much more compelling if she had a consistent record on this issue. What is happening is you're seeing the polls and I think that the Clinton campaign is getting very, very nervous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Where does this gun issue play in this battle between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders?

KATIE PACKER, FORMER DEPUTY CAMPAIGN MANAGER, ROMNEY FOR PRESIDENT: Well, I think it's a huge problem for Hillary Clinton. And for any Clinton supporter to suggest that they're happy that Bernie Sanders is doing what he's doing I think is a little silly, frankly. They don't like this. This is driving Hillary to the left on an issue that she doesn't want to be driven to the left on. She doesn't want to be driven to the left on any issue and this is happening over and over with Sanders.

BLITZER: Because she's supposedly looking ahead to a general election.

PACKER: Absolutely. And she's supposed to be practically the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party. And Bernie Sanders is giving her a run for her money. It would be a real blemish on her if he were to win in both of these states and I think she's got a real problem. BLITZER: Both of these candidates we're showing live pictures from Iowa getting ready to address their supporters there at these various events. I these -- this new NBC-"Wall Street Journal" Marist poll, Jeff, it shows that Bernie Sanders -- Bernie Sanders actually performs in these hypothetical head-to-head matchups against Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump in these early states actually better than Hillary Clinton does. Take a look at that.

ZELENY: Right, no question about it. And this is one of the reasons that the electability argument that Hillary Clinton is making. You know, it may not be as, you know, resonating as much with voters here, because, like, Sanders -- Senator Sanders can point to these polls and say, look, he's doing much better.

Now, I think that Senator Sanders is basically like a generic Democrat in that he has not been defined yet, in the views of the electorate. Hillary Clinton is pretty much defined in every way, shape and form.

PACKER: He's not Hillary.

ZELENY: If you look at her -- but he's not with her. So, there -- or he's not Hillary. So, there is some upside to that. But I think that -- you know, we like to look at these, of course. But what this is a reminder of, if she's the Democratic nominee, regardless of who she is running against, this is going to be a tight general election, no question about it.

BLITZER: We all knew Hillary is going to be a very formidable Democratic presidential candidate. Bernie Sanders has surprised a lot of people. He's doing remarkably well. Why is he doing so well and Martin O'Malley, the former governor of Maryland, is not doing well?

SELLERS: Well, I think that if anyone would have told you that they bet that Bernie Sanders was going to do this well outside of Bernie Sanders' immediate family, they were probably lying to you. I actually thought that the antithesis or the opposite candidate was going to be Martin O'Malley.

But Bernie Sanders has a message and he has a temperament and he has a tone which is conducive to, you know, mainstream Democratic voters. And he's exciting people. You can see by the amount of money he's raising. But Hillary Clinton still is in a very, very strong position.

And these polls, they not only show that we have strong candidates, Democrats have strong candidates or two strong candidates, but it also goes to the weakness of the frontrunners on the Republican side. When you have Trump and when you have Cruz versus Clinton and Sanders, I think the American public is simply shaking their head and saying, well, you know, I'm going to vote Democratic this go around.

BLITZER: All right. Bakari Sellers, thanks very much. Katie, thanks to you. Jeff, thanks to you as well.

There is breaking news in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. A new poll just released shows Donald Trump and Ted Cruz way out in front, the two of them, in Iowa in the Quinnipiac University poll. Trump is at 31 percent just ahead of Cruz at 29 percent. They are followed by Marco Rubio at 15 percent, Dr. Ben Carson at seven percent, Chris Christie at only four percent.

And look at this, in a new Monmouth University poll, Trump is at 32 percent, upwards 26 percent in November. This is in New Hampshire. That puts him far ahead of Senator Ted Cruz. And Governor John Kasich at 14 percent apiece. Senator Marco Rubio is at 12 percent. Everybody else is in single digits.

Our Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash is joining us from new Hampshire right now where Trump has just wrapped up another campaign rally. Dana, is Trump keeping up his so-called birther attacks on Ted Cruz?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: He absolutely is. You know, the numbers that you just showed, both here where I am and where Donald Trump just spoke in Iowa, shows exactly why Donald Trump is keeping these hits on Ted Cruz going because in both of these early states, it's between the two of them and everybody else is pretty far behind. It's within a margin of error in a couple of polls in Iowa. And here in New Hampshire, Cruz is Donald Trump's biggest challenger. But Donald Trump is pretty far out ahead in those polls.

[13:10:10] So, the answer to your question is Donald Trump is obviously taking nothing for granted. And he talked again , as he's done for several days, about the fact that because Ted Cruz was born in Canada, he says he's concerned that if Cruz ends up the Republican nominee that there could be court cases. He actually brought up the idea of John McCain and the fact that he was not born in the United States. But when he was born in Panama, he was born on a U.S. military base. And he said that's different. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He was born outside of the United States, but he was born on a military base to two people that were in the military. That's different. I would never question that. But in the case of Ted, he has to figure it out. Now, I think he can go in for some kind of a judiciary proceeding. And he has -- look, it doesn't matter what he does. You can't have a nominee who's going to be subject to being thrown out as a nominee. You just can't do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So, as much as Ted Cruz want this to go away, as much as he tried to make a joke about it. And then, several times and several different ways, including an interview with me last week on his bus in Iowa, said that he believes, as a legal matter that this is a nonissue. Donald Trump has a way of making things an issue, especially by repeating them over and over again in venues like this and getting media coverage and on his Twitter feed. So, it's going to be hard for Ted Cruz to get away from this. The question is whether or not the voters in the Republican electorate are going to care so much. Just unscientific discussion that I had with voters here who were fill -- who did fill up this ballroom a little while ago, they didn't seem to care. Even though who are staunch, staunch Trump supporters.

BLITZER: We'll see if this issue stays or goes away. Has Trump at all mentioning Professor Lawrence Tribes comments over the past few days, the Harvard legal scholar, suggesting that there is potentially a legal issue that Ted Cruz would have to face as far as if he is, according to the constitution, a natural-born citizen?

BASH: He is. He brought it up today. He brought up the fact that this -- that the scholar who is not only somebody who -- it' a well- respected person when it comes to constitutional issues. He also is at Harvard Law School, the place where Ted Cruz went to school. So, a little bit of a -- maybe an inside jab at Ted Cruz. Perhaps when Cruz said to Trump or at least actually said to those of us asking Cruz questions last week about it.

BLITZER: I think we just had a technical glitch with Dana but you got the gist.

Rand Paul, the Republican presidential candidate, he said, Cruz -- he was half joking. He said, Cruz is a natural born Canadian. He was naturally born there. The question is, can you be a natural born Canadian and a natural born American at the same time? Senator Rand Paul clearly having a little fun with that as well. But this potentially could be a serious issue.

For all the latest, by the way, in politics and all the presidential contenders, head over to CNNpolitics.com.

Coming up, new video has just surfaced of the deadly raid that led to the capture of the Mexican drug lord known as El Chapo. We're going to show it to you.

Plus this, the FBI exploring an unsettling new theory with the suspected ISIS sympathizer who is accused of trying to execute a Philadelphia police officer tied to a larger group with radical beliefs. And is there another threat in the pipeline? We'll have a live report from Philadelphia just ahead.

[13:13:43]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:17:46] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We have breaking news on the El Chapo story. There's stunning new video today of the raid that eventually led to the recapture of the Mexican drug lord, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman. The video comes from the Mexican television network Televisa. It shows soldiers from the Mexican navy storming the apartment complex where El Chapo was staying and getting into a firefight with his men.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: The operation code name "Black Swan" took place in the middle of the night on Friday in Guzman's home state of Sinaloa. In the firefight that broke out during the raid. Five people were killed in the operation. One Mexican marine was injured. The aftermath shows how vicious the firefight was in debris-filled rooms after El Chapo's men had either fled or been killed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: El Chapo was not captured in the raid itself. He apparently escaped into the sewer system and was caught a short time later on a highway by Mexican federal police.

Let's get some more on the capture, or the recapture, I should say, of the Mexican drug kingpin. I'm joined by our correspondent, Nick Valencia. He's just outside the prison where El Chapo was - is now being held. Also joining us, our CNN military analyst, Cedric Leighton, he's with me. He's a former deputy director of the NSA.

Nick, let's start with you. What's - what's the reaction over there to the release of this very dramatic video?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is a very dramatic portion of - of the raid that we see a 14-minute clip, as you mention, first aired on the Mexico network, Televisa. The operation called (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE), or "Operation Black Swan." It is very dramatic video and that's just the reaction that we're hearing here and seeing here from local Mexicans that are learning about this raid that captured the world's most notorious drug trafficker.

[13:20:12] Interestingly enough, just about - a little context about the area where we're at here. This is (INAUDIBLE), about an hour and a half outside of Mexico City. A very rural area, Wolf. And an area that a lot of favoritism for El Chapo. And over the weekend, while we were here, I was actually talking to some locals. I talked to a young man. I asked him what he thought about the capture of El Chapo. And this area is so disconnected from the rest of the world, the rest of Mexico, that actually broke the news to this young boy a day and a half after the capture of El Chapo. So this information slowly trickling throughout Mexico. Of course, in the bigger cities, they're well aware of this. But in the more rural areas, this news of the capture of El Chapo, believe it or not, is just now getting to them.

This information, this video I should say, all coming to us on a day when we're learning more about the extradition of El Chapo. I spoke earlier to a senior Mexican law enforcement source who says we could see El Chapo in a U.S. courtroom as early as this summer. However, he says, it's more likely, the source says, that we see El Chapo at least a year from now in the United States. All of this depending on the legal proceedings and just how many injunctions the attorney - the defense attorney for El Chapo files. This source telling me that they expect the attorney to fight this to the last minute. So it could take at least a year before we see El Chapo in the United States.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Well, we'll see if they - if they can hold this guy for a year inside that so-called maximum security prison from which he's already escaped once. We saw him go into that shower and disappear underground.

Cedric, you've been involved in the hunt for other drug lords, Pablo Escobar, for example. The raid we just saw, the dramatic video, what does that - what does it take to put together an operation like that?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yards and yards of intelligence. It's one of the most intelligence-intensive operations that any law enforcement or military force could put together, Wolf. And what you saw the Mexicans do here was somewhat similar to what the Colombians did when they captured Pablo Escobar, but they had a lot shorter time to prepare and they mounted an operation that clearly was not only intense from an intelligence perspective, but operationally they seem to have been prepared for almost any contingency. And the fact that he was captured, El Chapo was captured, not at the actual location of the raid, but shortly outside of that, indicate that the Mexicans were prepared for that and that they did a pretty good job from an operational perspective.

BLITZER: What does it say to you, Cedric, that he was confident enough to give an interview to Sean Penn for "Rolling Stone" magazine several months ago in the midst of all of this?

LEIGHTON: Well, it's very similar to some of the behaviors that Pablo Escobar exhibited back in Colombia, back in the early '90s and late '80s. And what you saw here was a bit of an arrogance of power. These people believe that they can control so much because they are so wealthy. Pablo Escobar was one of the top 20 richest people in the world, probably number seven at the time of his death. And El Chapo Guzman probably approached at least a lower tier of the billionaires' list on Forbes. So when you look at the type of wealth that these people have, they are very confident that they cannot only give interviews like he did to Sean Penn, but that they can also evade the law for a long, long time. And El Chapo did evade the law for a long time.

BLITZER: You heard Nick Valencia say it could be a year before he's extradited to the United States. Can they keep him in that prison, because he's escaped from it before?

LEIGHTON: Well, I would - if were advising the Mexican government, I would tell them to move him to an even more secure prison. You know, as Nick mentioned, it's in a rural area that is very pro El Chapo. That also indicates that there are going to be some problems there. And I think if we're going to take a year before he's extradited, the U.S. government should ask the Mexican government to move him to a very secure facility before anything is contemplated.

BLITZER: Well, they call that one maximum security prison. Obviously wasn't that maximum - LEIGHTON: Right.

BLITZER: And wasn't that secure either. All right, thanks very much, Cedric Leighton, Nick Valencia. Guys, thanks very much.

Still ahead, days after a Philadelphia police officer is ambushed by a gunman, there is now new concern, another threat to law enforcement may be looming. We'll update you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:28:18] BLITZER: A possible new threat against Philadelphia police officers has just emerged. It comes just days after the attempted assassination of a police officer by a man who allegedly pledged his allegiance to ISIS. Our national correspondent, Jason Carroll, has an update on what's going on. Also joining us, Michael Matsa (ph). He's a staff writer for "The Philadelphia Inquirer," talk about the suspects in this case.

Michael, stand by for a moment.

Jason, the Philadelphia police issued a statement that they received a tip related to the ambush shooting of the police officer in question, Jesse Hartnett. What were they - what were they told?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, let me tell you where that tip came in. It came in actually Saturday. It came from a woman who apparently approached an officer out there in the street in the area saying that Edward Archer had an affiliation to a group with radical beliefs. Also saying that this was well known among some people there in the neighborhood.

What police will have to determine is, is this just street talk, is this just rumor or is this credible. Police did release a statement about this saying, "the Philadelphia Police Department and federal partners take this type of information very seriously, particularly after the recent attack on Officer Hartnett. Therefore, the department, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is actively investigating these allegations in an effort to verify the credibility of the information given."

Also, Philadelphia's police union weighing in about the urgency of trying to determine whether or not this tip is credible.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MCNESBY, PHILADELPHIA FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE LODGE: Whether it was ISIS, whether it was just he's in this group, whatever the hell it is, this guy needs to be - these other three need to be looking at. If - if it is credible, taken off the street.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:30:00] CARROLL: Wolf, we can tell you that the FBI has confirmed that Edward Archer did travel to both Saudi Arabia, as well as Egypt, traveling to Saudi Arabia in 2001, in Egypt in 2012. So definitely some points of concern. But, once again, at this point --