Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Carol Costello 20160304

And good morning. Im carol costello. Thank you so much for joining me. The venomous gop race for the white house now getting downright dirty. Donald trump defending the size of his manhood, onstage, at the gop debate, and now hes about to hold a rally in warren, michigan, not far from the site of last nights throwdown. Seriously, motor city meltdown, going for the knockout punch, the frontrunner, donald trump wears the bullseye and proves once again he is willing to hit below the belt. Quite literally. His jawdropping comment in a minute. First, a sampling of the more grated jabs. Does anyone whos ever deserve to be attacked that way its been donald trump. This little guy has lied so much. Here we go. About my record. Here we go. The personal attacks. He has lied so much. I have never tried to go and get into these kind of scrums were seeing here on the stage and people say everywhere i go, you seem to be the adult on the stage. Breathe. Breathe. You can do it. You can breathe. I know its hard. I know its hard, but just when theyre done with the yoga, can i answer a question . You cannot. Oh, my. From warren, michigan for the big trump rally, but begin with Phil Mattingly at the debate last night. Give us more. Reporter well, good morning, carol. Coming at the end of a day that really laid bare the fractures tearing at the Republican Party, the debate surfaced and exclamation point of sorts to say the least, ruckus juvenile affair. The three candidates not named donald trump the moment is now or the moment is never. Offcolor. He hit my hands. Nobody has ever hit my hands, ive never heard of this one. Look at those hands. Are they small hands . And he referred to me hands if theyre small, Something Else must be small. I guarantee you, theres no problem. I guarantee it. Reporter then off the rail. I have a policy question for you, sir. Yes. Lets see if he answers it. I will. Dont worry about it, marco. Dont worry about it, little marco. I will. Lets hear a big donald. Dont worry about it, little marco. Reporter in mere minutes, thursday nights Republican Debate turned into a teturned ia personal affair and stayed that way all night. Count to ten, donald. Reporter three candidates desperate to stop one. Donald trump. Florida senator marco rubio on full attack just trying to stay alive with a big march 15th win in his home state of florida. And asking us to make him the president of the United States of america. I know this is not a game. Reporter texas senator ted cruz joining the fight pushing for a oneonone matchup with trump. But if, in fact, you went to manhattan and said im lying to the American People then the voters have a right to know. Youre the liar. Youre the lying guy up here. Many times. Why dont you release the paper . Release the paper. Youre the one. Let me just excuse me. Ive given my answer. Reporter Ohio Governor john kasich continuing to believe his lower volume pitch will get him through his own mustwin march 15th contest in his home state. I have never tried to go and get into these kind of scrums were seeing on the stage. People say wherever i go, you seem to be the adult on the stage. Reporter time running out for all of trumps challengers. Attacking, in an effort to stop his momentum. Targeting political donations. Written to Hillary Clinton not once, twice, three times. Ten times. Donald trump in 2008 wrote for checks to elect Hillary Clinton as president. Reporter his business practices. Never heard of trump steaks . Trump vodka . Reporter and even his character. He has spent a career of convincing americans hes something hes not in exchange for their money and now trying to do the same in exchange for their country. Reporter everyone from candidates to moderators attempting to pin trump down citing two interviews, cnns new day where trump appeared to flipflop. What about afghanistan . Do you believe that american boots should stay on the ground in afghanistan to stabilize the situation . We made a terrible mistake getting involved in there the first place. That thing will collapse about two seconds after they leave, just as i said that iraq was going to collapse. About afghanistan you said we made a terrible mistake getting involved there in the first place wenkts made a mistake going into iraq. Ayn never said weve made a mistake. Our question was about afghanistan. Okay. I never said that. How is any of this telling it like it is . In afghanistan i did mean iraq. In that one, you notice, i corrected it the second day. Reporter the clock is now ticking fors kp trumps compet. I beat Hillary Clinton in many polls. The pew poll came out. I beat Hillary Clinton in a fox poll, i beat Hillary Clinton in a usa today poll. Im the only one that beats Hillary Clinton. I beat and i havent i have not started on hillary yet. Believe me, i will start soon. I havent even started. Reporter now, carol, after about two hours of that, a rather jarring moment, all four candidates onstage pledging to support the republican nominee. No matter who he is. Thats very interesting, given the Never Trump Movement that has sprung out online over the last week or so. Marco rubio and his team really promoting that movement, a movement that basically says you will never vote for donald trump no matter what his position is, as the nominee of the party. Marco rubio not subscribing to that last night, carol. All right. Phil mattingly reporting live in detroit. Thank you. Now we turn to donald trump on the morning after. You can bet this morning after will be a victory lap for those who gave the smash mouth politics they apparently crave. M. J. Lee in warren, michigan, where trump is about to holdy rally. Good morning. Reporter hi, carol. Just when we thought the 2016 president ial election could not get more bizarre, donald trump proving us all wrong last night. Even by trump standards, the debate incredibly colorful and personally charged and not a lack of namecalling on the debate stage last night. Trump calling marco rubio little marco. Calling ted cruz lying ted and really john kasich seemed to be the only candidate onstage who managed to stay above the fray. Now, as you mentioned, trump is expected to take the stage behind me in just a few minutes. And in his first postdebate campaign rally, and if the last 24 hours, carol, offer any indication, we are expecting donald trump to be extremely fired up and very much on the defense and all of this comes as phil just reported, the gop establishment is really starting to revolt against donald trump, because he has won ten states and is starting to wrack up those delegates. All of these attacks, carol, i can tell you are only emboldening donald trump and certainly his supporters as well and it is clear that he has his sights now set on the general election and taking on Hillary Clinton. Carol . All right. Reporting live from warren, michigan, m. J. Lee. Last night may go down as the most crass ever. Donald trump talked about the size of his manhood. The New York Post headline, there you see it. Size matters. Hard to believe. Imagine being the reporter asking trump if such remarks were appropriate . Cnns dana bash gave it a go. Do you realize that youre probably the first person in american history, maybe even World History to make a joke about your, you know what, on a debate stage . No. I only made a joke about my hands. I have very powerful hands. You went a little further than that. Look at these hands. Arent they beautiful . I have very powerful and relatively large hands and a politician was, said i didnt have large hands. The first time anyones ever said that one. So, no. I think it was a very i think it was a good moment. Mrs. Trump what did you think of that moment . Well, it was a great moment. Okay . No. It was fine. You know, he was attacked, and marco rubio attacked him, and he responded. Jamie johnson, the republican who advised governor rick perry actually tweeted this morning my party is committing suicide on National Television. Lets talk about this. I want to bring in cnn political commentator and political anchor of Time Warner Cable news errol louis and joined by republican strategist and marco rubio supporter brian morgenstern. Welcome to you both. Good morning. Errol, seriously . It is what it is. When you see i mean, an interesting piece in the washington post, carol, where a group of Trump Supporters were asked, why do you support this guy . And one of them said, something that i think ive heard many, many times. Probably 100 times, really. They said he says what im thinking. And if thats the basis on which people are going to cast votes for president , all of the logic in the world, all of the manners in the world, all of the horror, it will really do nothing. If what people are looking for is somebody to tell body jokes, and sort of slam what you perceive to be your enemies, then trump is your guy. You know . Theyre used to be a lot more in picking a president. This is a very unusual season. Very unusual. Brian, your candidate told us on new day, donald trump has been the most vulgar person to ever aspire to the presidency. But senator rubio is getting down in the dirt, too. Isnt he . Hes shown that this kind of thing can drive a press cycle and last night when donald, the shortfingered bulgarian, called in the past, was pressed on substance, he fails. So he tries to distract and deflect the cycle in a different direction with a joke like this. Hes done it in the past. Did it with the comment about menstruation in megyn kelly, denied it, comments an tapper with the klan, repeated the question back, said i didnt hear the question. Now pressed by moderators with his own quotes and his response, i didnt say that. With the joke, and then does an interview with dana bash, oh, i didnt make that joke. This is the pattern what he does. The other candidates will continue to focus on the issues. I think brians right, errol. Fox moderators did a good job. Great job. At pinning trump. Put his feet to the fire. The question is, were any of his supporters really listening and do they care . Thats an important question. At some point though, look, all the work we do it depends on a certain base level of frankly intelligence. I late to use that, people get offended, i get the negative tweets. If somebody says to your face i dont know what im talking about. If hes going to say im going to balance a 544 billion deficit by getting rid of the department of education, they put up the graphic. Saying the entire department of education is a mere fraction of that. If that doesnt if that doesnt get you, if the Trump Mortgage scam doesnt get you, if the Trump University fraud case doesnt get you, if watching people get violently assaulted at his rallies as the candidate shouts encouragement from the podium, if that doesnt get you, i mean, i would encourage everybody to look at the bill of particulars in mitt romney, put aside its mitt romney saying it, the bill of particulars he laid out yesterday is quite comprehensive about what is seriously wrong and troubling about this candidate and this candidacy. If all of that is fine with you, Trump Supporters, well see you at the polls. Good luck. Heres the thing, brian. What Trump Supporters really want, someone to fight for them. Yeah. And donald trump is demonstrating to them that hes a fighter. Hell take on anyone. Hell say anything for you. Right. How can senator marco rubio fight back against that . Well, fighting back that while people may appreciate the way donald says things, what he says is nonsense, and that is something that as errol just said with the bill of particulars governor romney laid out, an indisputable case that donald trump is a fraud. And that a lot of what he has to say is just, is not backed up by reality, and thats something that the candidates have only recently been pointing out because, i think, a lot of people didnt take hick seriously and thought everybody was going to view him as a joke and now that his personality has carried him this far the other candidates are saying, all right. Enough is enough. He has been full of it for his whole career and its time voters found out about that and i think we havent had enough primaries with that information baked into this cake, and now that it is, i think theyre going to look at senator rubio as a real alternative. A couple more debates to go. Thanks to you both. Appreciate it. All right. And in 15 minutes i will talk to a trump supporter, former Arizona Governor jan brewer, to get her take on all of this. It is march madness starting this weekend. Right here on cnn. The kind of march madness that involves politics. Well have a big democratic debate that takes place in flint, michigan, sunday. Followed by the premiere of race to the white house and next tuesday another super tuesday with four States Holding primaries. On wednesday another democratic debate in miami. And on thursday a Republican Debate in miami. A week of political events all right here on cnn. Were following breaking news on the economy right now. New numbers from the government show 242,000 jobs were added last month. While the jobless rate holds steady at 4. 9 that is an eightyear low. Christine romans is following the story. Christine . Tell us more. Carol, a strong job report. Nervous nellies in february concerned about whispers of a recession in the u. S. Were dead wrong. You had hiring across the spectrum here and a jobless rate that stayed there as you said, near the low of eight years. Look at the job growth over these past months. You can see its actually 242,000 net new jobs, that first number is wrong there. Move on to what it looks like over the past year. Look at that. Even the end of last year, very strong, carol. Companies have been hiring. Construction jobs in particular, about a quarter of a million new construction jobs over the past year. Thats because of strength in housing. The only place youll find weakness, energy jobs. Another 19,000 of those gone this year, or this month, rather, for obvious reasons. The crash in oil prices. Everything else, steady. Health care, good job gains. Wellpaying jobs in health care. Retail, restaurants and bars, and wages rising there in part because Companies Like costco and walmart and some states forcing companies to raise their starting wages. Carol, this is a number that really defies what youre hearing on the campaign trail about a rigged economy, about people who cant get by. About a job market thats not working for everyone. The labor market grew, more people came into the labor market last month and doing so over the past six months or so. More than 5 million jobs open right now in america. Theres really this two twospeed narrative here, what people are saying they feel about the economy, very different than some of these numbers are showing, carol. All right. Christine romans reporting live for us this morning. Thank you. Still to come in the newsroom, Hillary Clinton one of the Republican Debatess biggest winners . 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And Bernie Sanders stepping up attacks against Hillary Clinton slamming her over trade agreements and nafta and the transpacific partnership, the tpp which he e says have hurt american workers. Sanders tells jeff zeleny, there is no plan to hold back on the rhetoric despite calls from his own colleagues to tone down the attacks. Look, in many ways democrats can say what they want. Were in this race to win it. We just won four states, three of them with landslide votes. We lost massachusetts, taking on the entire political establishment but only by one point and end up with one delegate less than secretary clinton. Were in this race to win and doing the best we can do. I dont run negative campaign ads but i do think its appropriate that in a campaign you distinguish your differences with opponents. Otherwise, why run . Joe johns is following the sanders campaign. Hi, joe. Reporter good morning, carol. Hes also, by the way, really, really focusing on the notion that he would be a better general election candidate than Hillary Clinton. Though we have to say, the focus right now is on michigan. A whole slew of states will vote saturday and sunday, and over the next couple weeks or ten days, including mississippi, florida, illinois, ohio, north carolina, kansas and louisiana. But michigan is in the spotlight with its primary next week. Also front and center because of the democratic debate over the weekend in flint, michigan. That flint water crisis has caused both candidates to make the citys predicament part of their stump speeches and both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have visited the city. The former secretary, though, continues to keep her focus on the republicans last night chiming in on twitter about the Republican Debate tweeting, how many more of these do we have to sit through asking for a friend. That tweet include add gift of clinton rolling her eyes and rubbing her temples. Its quite clear that Hillary Clinton was having a very good time at this debate, as the republicans debated whether theyd be the best person to go up against her in november. Carol . All right. Theres the gift right there. Apparently its gone viral. The most shared gift of the night. Interesting. Reporter she tweeted another one, too, of her dancing in a rainbow when they started talking about marriage equality. A big one also. There it is. All right. Joe johns reporting live for us. Thank you. Meantime a delegation of 25 lawmakers from washington including nancy pelosi, theyre heading to flint, michigan today where theyll get a firsthand look at the water crisis that consumed that city. My next guest knows the situation all too well. Police hssh of melissa mays said lead may be the reason for problems in her liver. Among other ailments. Good morning. Good morning. Youve been speaking out about this crisis since the very beginning. Do you expect much from this delegation coming from washington . Theyve been pushing for us and theyve been pushing to make a change. Theyve been pushing for the proper funding. Its kind of kind of a relief to see all of them coming, well, so many people have avoided coming to flint. Its nice that theyre here basically at ground zero to speak out and do what they need to do to help us, because thats what were waiting on. Weve got the right plans. We know how to get these lead Service Lines out. We know what the children need. We just need the funding. Will you be meeting with any of them . Yes. Thats actually where im headed after were done today. Im going over there, because i feel like its important that everybody get their story out and i want to make sure people people comfortable speaking out. The people that talked to me i want them to get their stories out to everyone. Last night, during the Republican Debate, senator marco rubio had this to say about the situation in flint. Lets listen bp. The politicizing of it is unfair. I dont think someone woke up one morning and said lets figure out how to poison the water system to hurt someone. But accountability is important. I will say i give the governor credit. He took responsibility for what happened and talked about people being held accountable and the need to change this. Governor snyder. Melissa, has the flint water crisis become politicized . Well, unfortunately, it was caused by politicians. So theres going to be a political background and one politician right now that can actually fix this crisis, or at least get us help, our governor, and hes not. Hes drags his feet. Hes doing everything he can to say i apologized. Well, an apology doesnt make my water safe or take the lead and copper out of mire childrens systems and we want to see actions instead of words. The fact that his party, you know, friends are agreeing with him saying hes doing a good job. They need to come to flint. They need to talk to the citizens suffering through this, because, no. A good job is not being done. People are still suffering and were going to for a very long time and unfortunately have to wait on politicians to help us. Have any of the republican president ial candidates come to flint . No. Not at all. Why do you think that is . I think that everybody called the governor toxic at this point. I dont think they want his backing and i dont think they want to come put their toes in this because theres a huge, dark cloud thats following the Republican Party right now, and unfortunately theyre making it worse by not speaking out for us, and for making more excuses for the governor and his actions. So unfortunately, theyre taking the wrong path with this. All right. Melissa mays, thank you for joining me this morning. Still to come in the newsroom. Youre rk. 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Donald trump has begun his big rally, right there in the expo center at the Community College. Lets listen. Theyre going home. Thats bad. Does anybody want to give up their place to the people outside . Is there one person in this whole room . Raise your hand, please. No one. Okay. Thats good. That means we want to be here. Right . So we have had an amazing period of time. You know . I started this whole journey on june 16th, and from practically the time i began until now weve been in number one position. Can you believe that . Amazing. And a couple of days ago, cnn came out with the latest poll where were 49 for trump. Rubio 16, but after last night little marco. Little marco. Do you know that in florida they hate little marco rubio so much its true because of the fact that he never votes. He never shows up to vote. So wouldnt you think i mean, actually, ill use the phrase, a word that he uses, he has conned the people of florida into voting for him, and ill tell you what, they are angry, because he never shows. He hases worst voting record in all of florida. He has the worst voting record in the ensire senator and one of the worst voting histories of the United States senate. I dont think hell do too well. They are angry at him. He couldnt be elected dog catcher. So so last night he had a very, very bad night, according to the various polls. He lost the debate badly. And bs and but hes at 16. So hes going to go down. So its trump at 49 [ cheers ] little marco rubio at 16. Cruz, lyin ted cruz. Lying ted. You know, its amazing, no matter what you say with ted, hell change it do whatever he has to do. You call up. Oh, i didnt know i did that. So its ted. Remember what he did to dr. Carson, ben carson . He said, 0 e, no, no. Hes quit the race. Hes out the race. Vote for me. So carson was good guy. So cruz is at 15 and kasich is only at 6. I dont know. That sounds low. And we just signed on you know, Jeff Sessions just hes really one of the greats, one of the greats, in terms of law and order, in terms of border. In terms of judicial, but Jeff Sessions just came on, and actually hes a very good friend of cruz. And cruz could not believe that it happened, but senator Jeff Sessions highly respected, great guy, and another one in terms of the border, sheriff joe. Right . Sheriff joe. So were doing really well, and its been amazing, and were going to talk about today trade, were going to talk about borders. Were going to have a little of fun, even though its sort of interesting. Were going to talk about cars. Were going to talk about were going to talk about that. [ chanting ] dont worry, folks. Were going to be building the wall. Were going to build the wall. [ cheers ] are you ready . And who is going to pay for the wall . Who . You Better Believe it. You see where the former president of mexico vicente fox he said, we will not pay for that f wall now, could you imagine if i said it . And he said it. He threw out the f bomb. And im just saying to myself, if i said it, i probably wouldnt be here today. Right . This guy used the f bomb in a major interview with cnn, or somebody, and i want to tell you, that was shocking and a disgrace, and i think he should apologize to the people of mexico and to the people of the United States. We are calling on him to apologize. [ cheers and applause ] and he said he will not pay for the wall. So weve come a long way, because he actually said, i will not. Its interesting when he says, i will not. He doesnt say mexico will not. He says i will not. He thinks a lot of himself. He says i will not meaning mexico will not pay for the f wall and i thought it was a horrible thing and whats interesting is that at least now he knows the wall is going up. He didnt say, were not going to allow a wall. In other words, weve come a long way. He now said hes not going to pay for the wall. Before he used to say, we will not allow a wall. Now he says, we wont pay for the wall. He will pay for the wall, folks. Okay . He will pay for the wall. And you know what happened when the press called up and they told me about it, they said, well, do you have a response . I said, the wall just got ten feet higher. You know . Ten feet. We dont flay gaplay games. Were not playing games. We are not going to play games. Theres no, no, no games with us. You know, the thing that bothered me about ex president fox is the arrogance, the way you know it wasnt so much the wall. It wasnt that were not going to pay and theyre not going to pay for the wall, what he said, it was, he couldnt believe that the United States would actually be asking them for something. The arrogance. He couldnt believe, how dare you ask us, the hatred and arrogance of this guy. Because theyre used to getting their way 100 . Theyre not going to get their way anymore, folks. Were going to cut away from Donald Trumps big rally going on in warren, michigan at the expo center there. And governor jan brewer joins me. Thank you, governor, for being with me this morning, who has already endorsed donald trump. Thanks for having me on. Appreciate it. I appreciate you being here. You know, a lot of republicans out there watched last nights debate and said they were embarrassed. What did you think . But they didnt turn it off. It was an interesting night. It was somewhat of a political smackdown. Everybody throwing barbs at one another. But the american public, they want a fighter. Theyre tired of not being heard and i think that the example that we saw last night was different than weve ever seen, but thats the way that politics goes, i guess. You know, carol, the general public really believes that the federal government has really let them down. You know . In regards to so many issues, and that they dont listen to them, and so i think all of this scrapping is just encouraging to them, because they want somebody to fight for them, and thats whats drawing all of this out. You heard donald trump at that rally. He said that the former mexican president vicente fox should apologize for using the f word in regards to paying for that wall mr. Trump wants to build between them, the United States and mexico. Im sure you heard what donald trump said about his manhood last night. Isnt it a little hypocritical of donald trump to want vicente fox to apologize when he never apologizes for being crass . Well, you know, and exactly. I think that president fox ought to apologize. I think that the read rihetoric reached a new limit, a new height and the bottom line is that the people are aggravated and theyre frustrated, and the candidates are i totally understand that, governor. I do. Im just asking, do you wish, as a trump supporter, that donald trump would stop talking about his manhood on the National Stage . Well it appears that theyre attacking him constantly in regards to it. Its not just donald. Its coming from both sides. He was a major target last night. And, of course, theyre all tired, frustrated, and they all want the time, and so its its probably not going to stop. Do i like it . I dont particularly like it. I think that its not necessary. But the bottom line is, that obviously, the public is enjoying it. The ratings are high. People are turning out. Its not slowing down the numbers at anybodys rallies, and donalds leading. So there you go. A different strategy. One person who is not enjoying the show is, of course, the former governor mitt romney. He was on the today show and again repeated he feels donald trump is unfit for president. Lets listen. Oh, hes a successful guy. Hes made a lot of money, but he hasnt been uniformly successful and hes far from a business genius. A lot of people endorsed me i wouldnt endorse for president and a lot have happened in the last year, and frankly, had i heard him say the things ive heard him say now, i wouldnt have welcomed his endorsement. What do you think of what mitt romney is saying about donald trump . Well, you know, i supported mitt romney. I thought that he would have been an excellent candidate, but i think his comments are a little harsh and to see him come out doing what hes doing now, very orchestrated and coordinated with people that are opposing what i believe is the general publics frustration is the perfect example of republicans, once again, eating their own. Its just a circus. Its a circus out there. I think we agree on that. Governor jan brewer, thanks for stopping by. Thank you, carol. Youre welcome. Still to come in the newsroom, hundreds protest outside last nights debate, including union workers. So why is one union leader nervous that donald trump is resonating with her members . Talk about that, next. Ums . You may think its a result of brushing too hard. Its not. Its a sign of early gum disease. Listerine r can help reverse. Early gum disease in just two weeks. Listerine r . Power to your mouth™ dad, yoh no, ill take you up to me off rthe front of the school. Thats where your friends are. Seriously, its, its really fine. You dont want to be seen with your dad . No, its. No. This about a boy . Dad stop, please. Oh, theres tracy. What [ horn honking ] [ forward collision warning ] [ car braking ] bye dad it brakes when you dont. Forward collision warning and autonomous emergency braking. Available on the newly redesigned passat. From volkswagen. I drive to the hoop. I drive a racecar. I have a driver. His name is carl. But thats not what we all have in common. We talked to our doctors about treatment with xarelto®. Xarelto® is proven to treat and help reduce the risk of dvt and pe blood clots. Xarelto® is also proven to reduce the risk of stroke in people with afib, not caused by a heart valve problem. For people with afib currently well managed on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® and warfarin compare in reducing the risk of stroke. You know, taking warfarin, i had to deal with that blood testing routine. I couldnt have a healthy salad whenever i wanted. I found another way. Yeah, treatment with xarelto®. Hey, safety first. Like all blood thinners, dont stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase your risk of a blood clot or stroke. While taking, you may bruise more easily and it may take longer for bleeding to stop. Xarelto® may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. Xarelto® can cause serious and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. Get help right away for unexpected bleeding, unusual bruising, or tingling. If you have had spinal anesthesia while on xarelto®, watch for back pain or any nerve or muscle related signs or symptoms. Do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. Tell your doctor before all planned medical or dental procedures. Before starting xarelto®, tell your doctor about any kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. Xarelto® is the number one prescribed blood thinner in its class. Well that calls for a round of kevin nealons. Make mine an arnold palmer. Same here. With xarelto® there is no regular blood monitoring and no known dietary restrictions. Treatment with xarelto® was the right move for us. Ask your doctor about xarelto®. Forget the fireworks on the outside. Inside just as ruckuaucous, blog traffic outside the fox theater. Among these protestors, members of one of the Largest Labor groups in north america. The Service Employees international union, and while those Union Members protested, Donald Trumps economic policies, some of their Union Brothers and sisters seemed to be attracted to some of what trump is saying. Listen to how donald trump would respond to carriers decision to move its plant from indianapolis to mexico. I will call the head of carrier, and i will say, i hope you enjoy your new building. I hope you enjoy your stay in mexico, but youve just left the United States. Theres no more taxes that youre going to pay. Theres no more jobs that youre going to produce. 1,400 great people have been left out in the lurch. Every single air conditioning unit that you build and send across our border, youre going to pay a 35 tax on that unit. [ applause ] all right. With me now is the president of the Service Employees international union, mary kay henry. Thanks for stopping by. Glad to be here. So when you hear donald trump say that, had resonating with workers out there. I think fewer and fewer workers believe these kinds of things from him, because its the same candidate that said wages are too high and taxes are too high. So then they hear these one sound bite things and are beginning to unpack it. Id say the handful of our members that were responding to his fear are now looking at what hes saying and what Hillary Clinton is saying and are gravitating to her message of inclusion and opportunity and saying that we can have an economy that works for everyone. And i should mention your union endorsed Hillary Clinton, right . Yes, we have. I wanted viewers to know. So going back to Donald Trumps idea to tax, you know, these air conditioning units 35 if carrier wants to sell them from their mexican plant. Its not at simple as that . The president cant just wave a magic wanted or institute and executive order instituting that tax. No. This is the same candidate saying taxes are too high. You have to wonder which donald trump is going to show up and more and more working families understand the deep economic anxiety we feel having to work two and three jobs in order to make ends meet means that we need a candidate thats going to fight, work and deliver for working people. Not may onesentence pronouncements that have a little bit of excitement for a moment, and thats what i think more and more working people are going to reject donald trump. You know, people like to they dont like to hear shades of gray. Its complicated. They want answers now. I think Hillary Clinton has an amazing appeal. Hundreds of our members are getting off work at 2 00 in the morning, getting on a bus to nevada to knock on doors for her. I just walked in minnesota with a Home Care Provider who had cared for someone all night because she understands that Hillary Clinton wants her to have a living wage and wants every senior to be able to live at home in dignity. I want to go back to this donald trump rally for a moment. He was talking about the ford, they want to build a plant in mexico. So he posed that to the crowd, and then he said Something Else. I want you all to listen to it. And you know what . You have a representative union, i have to say this. You have a represent i union. Who here is in a union . You like your unions . You like them . Uhoh. Uhoh. I said you do you like your union . Oh, i dont know about that, huh . Anyway, but you do love your industry, right . The t industries. All right. So i dont want i dont know quite how to read that. I can tell you i was in minnesota with painters, laborers, nursing home workers, and others joining together to knock doors for Hillary Clinton. I think hes trying to make an appeal that isnt going to stick and that people are going to come together in record numbers and make sure shes the next president of the United States. I think when you look at some of the polling, especially the exit polling, one of the weaknesses in Hillary Clintons support comes from working white men who dont make much money. She is not resonating with that group of people. Why is that in. Well, our union represents men who earn under 15 an hour, and around 50,000 a year. Those men care deeply about the future for your kids, and are mad that their children are coming home from school and saying are my friends going to be taken away . And so i would argue that the politics of hate that is being driven by donald trump are being rejected by even those men, because they care deeply about the future of their families. Mary, thank you for stopping by. Coming up, moments ago Russell Simmons announced who hes backing in the 2016 race. Well tell you who it is, live. If you have allergy congestion. To get relief, anything is fair game. Introducing rhinocort® allergy spray from the makers of zyrtec®. 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During storm season we want our customers to be ready and stay safe. Learn how you can be prepared at pge. Com beprepared. Together, were building a better california. Checking top stories for you. The first family will not be leaving washington when the president s second term ends in january. President obama says his family plans to stay in the Nations Capital for the foreseeable future until both daughters finish high school. Beyond that the president said he wasnt sure if he and the first lady would go back to chicago which is where they lived before he was elected president. Autopsy results show drugs were a factor in the death of Whitney Houstons daughter. She was found face down in a bathtub in january of 2015 and died about six months later without ever regaining consciousness. Her autopsy was unsealed today by court order. Although it does not reveal the precise cause of death, it says she died of complications from drug complication and immersion in water. Tune in sunday night at 10 00 p. M. Eastern for race for the white house. It revisits the 1960 contest between jfk and Richard Nixon with civil rights at the volatile backdrop. Kennedy is fearful of alienating southern governors and democrats by being procivil rights. But that all changes. Kennedy called king to offer his support. That was a big decision. Kennedy decides to do what is morally right. A simple phone call was a very noble thing to do. Undoubtedly, he did this for political reasons, but he did it. Nixon did not. When kennedys call leaks to the press, his brother, bobby all but froths at the mouth. He was white with anger. He said Sergeant Shriver and i have probably lost the campaign. He was furious. My father was a little disturbed about that, because he was worried how well that would go over with some of the white governors. The deed is done. But bobby soon realizes he can turn the situation to his brothers advantage. He demands the release of king. All right. Historians credit that phone call with helping kennedy win the election to get the rest of the story tune in sunday night 10 00 p. M. Eastern for the premier of cnns race for the white house. The next hour of cnn newsroom starts right now. And good morning. Im carol costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Venomous, vulgar and dirty, donald trump defending the size of his manhood on stage at the gop debate, and just last hour celebrating his debate performance with supporters. This rally in warren, michigan, not far from the site of last nights face off had attacks and they were angry and personal last night. As the four surviving candidates go for the knockout punch, donald trump proves once again hell hit below the belt, quite literally. Look at those hands. Are they small hands . And he referred to my hands, if they are small, Something Else must be small. I guarantee you theres no problem. I have a policy question for you, sir. Lets see if he answers it. I will, dont worry about it, marco. Dont worry about it, little marco. I will. Lets hear it big donald. Dont worry about it, little marco. Gentleman, but if you want to manhattan and said im lying to the American People, then the voters have a right to know. Youre the liar up here. Why dont you release the tape, then. Youre the one. Let me say excuse me. Ive given my answer, lying ted. All right. And so it goes. Mj live at trumps rally. Good morning, m. J. Good morning, donald trump is fired up and essentially taking a victory lap here in warren, michigan. Hes telling supporters here that he has no doubt that he was the winner of the debate last night. And right off the bat he laid into marco rubio calling him by his new favorite nickname for the florida senator, calling him little marco and saying that the people of florida are not so fond of him. Heres what he had to say. Little marco, little marco. Do you know that in florida they hate little marco rub knio so m. Its true. Because of the fact that he never votes. He never shows up to vote. So when you think, i mean, actually, ill use a word that he uses, he has conned the people of florida into voting for him, and ill tell you what, theyre angry, because he never shows. He has the worst voting record in all of florida. He has the worst voting record in the United States senate. Reporter now, carol, interesting that he chose the specific word conned to describe marco rubio. Of course, you know that rubio over the last several weeks has been going after trump really hard, calling him a con artist, saying one thing to get elected and then will flip on all of his policy positions once he is elected president. Now, its also notable that it does seem as though all of the attacks that have been placed on donald trump over the last few months are starting to get to trump. He defended Trump University, something that came up at the debate last night. And also went after mitt romney who delivered a remarkable speech yesterday, basically telling the American People to stop trump from becoming president. Carol . All right. Mj lee reporting live. Lets go to detroit. Phil mattingly is there. At some point a nominee is going to be selected. Will the others support whoever that will be, phil . Reporter you know, carol, last night often drifting to juvenile. One of the most interesting moments of the night was one of good will. It came an hour and 55 minutes into the crazy debate, and this is what the candidates said. Tonight in thirtyseconds, can you definitively say you will support the republican nominee even if that nominee is donald trump . Senator rubio, yes or no . Ill support the republican nominee. Mr. Trump, yes or no . Ill support him if hes the republican nominee. Yes, because i gave my word that i would, and what i have endeavored to do every day in the senate is do what i said i would do. If he ends up as the nominee, sometimes he makes it a little bit hard, but ill support who is the republican nominee for president. Can you say tonight that you will definitely support the republican nominee for president even if its not you . The answer is, yes, i will. Reporter carol, all four candidates remaining true to the Republican National committee pledge that was made last year, and heres why thats important. It really undercuts the, quote, Never Trump Movement thats really been rising on social media and online. Top republican officials and top conservative minds saying they will not vote for trump. It appeared at one point rubio and his team were on board with that tweeting out the hash tag never trump. Making clear for the moment theyre not disappointing supporters who were hoping that the answer was anybody but trump, carol. All right. Phil reporting live in detroit this morning. Thank you. It is fair to say some republicans are despon dant the day after the debate, not for the poor showing by a particular candidate but instead for the damage done to their partys brand. Jamie johnson who worked on the president ial campaign of rick perry tweeted my party is committing suicide on National Television. Lets talk about that. Katrina pearson is here. And Amanda Carpenter is here also. Welcome to both of you. Hi, carol. Good morning. Good morning. Katrina, less than 10 minutes into the debate your boss, mr. Trump, referenced the size of his manhood. Doesnt that cheapen the debate in this country . Well, he was actually responding to marco rubio referencing the exact same thing, but you didnt show that clip to put it in context. Mr. Trump will respond when hes attacked. Thats what he did. Amanda, is that fair . I mean, i guess marco rubio, like brought it on when he talked about Donald Trumps small hands, and i cant believe im saying this on National Television, but amanda, your take . Its embarrassing. I woke up this morning kneeling nauseous, and granted, theres a flu going on. Its because of th donald trump debate performance. The trump effect is nausea. We can say rubio is to blame. No. Donald trump goes to the bottom of the barrel, gutter politics at every opportunity. If he becomes president , guess what . Youre going to get a lot of untact, and unfair attacks. Its the president s job to rise above it and challenge not only himself but the office and the country to be better. And trump is not getting better. Hes not acting like a front runner or leader. Thats what makes it sickening to watch. Republicans have an historic opportunity to retake the white house with solid majorities in the house and senate. Donald trump is blowing that. People are willing to walk away from the party at this point because he is so embarrassing. Hes not a unifier. Hes a divider. Hes alienating. This is making everyone so sick. This is whats interesting also. We have the same people who for the last two cycles have said simply we have to respect the process. The establishment running superpac ads against our candidates and tearing them down. The people need to decide. The people want what they want. And here we are this election cycle where trump isnt doing that and the people are voting for him. You did donald trump wasnt doing character assassinations . There are no superpac ads. But the candidate, himself is maligning his other candidates. Because hes defending himself. I mean, did we just not hear a speech given my mitt romney . Did we not see last week where republicans let me say this. I have spent the last six years on National Television depending the gop from racist charges, and we saw every single other candidate participate in the false narrative. Thats whats disgusting. Donald trump has had every opportunity. He has a massive platform. He has the cameras on him at all times to be a better candidate. He never makes that choice. Last night we saw him on stage say to marco rubio, little marco, lying ted cruz. I dont want a bully for president. He is belligerent and dangerous. He stokes hatred in the country. He gets people stirred up. This is not what true leaders do. This is why people are walking away. I am a hard core conservative republican. Weve worked together on tea party issues in the past, katrina. We both share those values. I cannot in good conscious vote for donald trump with this kind of behavior. Katrina, can i ask you a question . I just donald trump is really far ahead of these other candidates. Whats the strategy behind using this kind of language . Whats his strategy . Why does he do it . I know youre going to say because the others attack him, but its deeper than that, isnt it . Well, yeah, but theres no new flash here. Mr. Trump is not politically correct. In this case, he was simply responding to the exact insinuation that marco rubio talked about before. He would have never responded if marco rubio hadnt even mentioned it. Its not politically correct, and everyone is conditioned that you have to be some sort of milk toast and diplomatic. Thats not how he is. Theres politically correct, and then stuff like this. Do you want the president of the United States to inspire headlines like this . Do you think if it was any other republican that those organizations wouldnt be putting out some other type of headline . Republicans are going to get attacked relentlessly by the media and the left. Were seeing republicans joining in the game now. I think katrina is right on that front. Cruz was attacked in the media and he never went to that level. Rubio has had a lot of unfair attacks against him, primarily by donald trump. He doesnt go to that level. Sure, he told a couple of jokes, largely goaded by people to adopt trumps tactics. It backfired. Donald trump is not politically correct. He is not civil. This is who he is. Its who hes always been. Hes not going to change. And thats why hes not equipped to be a leader of this country. All right. I have to leave it there. Am amanda and katrina, thank you both. Its a kind of march madness. Starting this weekend, our own kind of march madness gib begins in flint, michigan followed by race to the white house. Next tuesday, another super tuesday. Another democratic debate in miami on wednesday and thursday at gop debate in miami. Still to come, Bernie Sanders lays into Hillary Clinton ahead of the cnn debate. Shes turned her attention to the republicans. 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Like all blood thinners, dont stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase your risk of a blood clot or stroke. While taking, you may bruise more easily and it may take longer for bleeding to stop. Xarelto® may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. Xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. Get help right away for unexpected bleeding, unusual bruising, or tingling. If you have had spinal anesthesia while on xarelto®, watch for back pain or any nerve or muscle related signs or symptoms. Do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. Tell your doctor before all planned medical or dental procedures. Before starting xarelto®, tell your doctor about any kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. You know xarelto® is the 1 prescribed blood thinner in its class. Thats a big win. It is for me. With xarelto® there is no regular blood monitoring and no known dietary restrictions. Treatment with xarelto®. Was the right move for us. Ask your doctor about xarelto®. Make you feel like an svp doeinstead of a vp . A new desk then you might be gearcentric. Right now, save up to 40 on desks and Filing Cabinets Office depot officemax. Gear up for great®. Bernie sanders launching into Hillary Clinton attacking her over trade agreements he said hurt american workers, and shrugging off calls by some of his colleagues to back off attacks on clintons record. Look, in many ways, democrats can say what they want. Were in this race to win it. We just won four states, three of them with landslide votes. We lost massachusetts taking on the entire political establishment, but only by one point, and we end up with one delegate less. Were doing the best we can do. I think i dont run negative campaign ads, but i think its appropriate that in a campaign you distinguish your differences with your opponents, otherwise why run . Joe johns covering the democrats this morning. Good morning. Reporter good morning, carol. Bernie sanders is just not letting up on his quest to pick up delegates to the democratic convention. Hes hoping the focus on trade deals will help him in michigan, because of the loss of manufacturing jobs there over the last decade and a half. In cities like flint, michigan, sanders is quoting statistics that say tens of thousands of jobs have been lost in the city since the late 1970s. And sanders is taking it all the way back to the north American Free trade agreement as well as permanent normal trade agreements with china. Fast forward to today, hes hitting Hillary Clinton on the transpacific trade deal that many opposed. Hes seen as vulnerable as that. As a leading member of the obama administration, he was obligated to support the deal. Now she says she opposes it. Sanders is in michigan with appearances in grand rapids, and hes going to be at a Community College while Hillary Clinton is going to do a speech in detroit. Joe johns reporting live for us this morning. Thank you. We know what Hillary Clinton was doing last night. She was watching the Republican Debate, and her camp, well, they were tweeting up a storm. How many more of these do we have to sit through, she asks in a tweet, asking for a friend friend, and then there was this one. Marriage equality is the new law of the land, and you sea clinton rocking it out there. But Onetime Republican president ial candidate bobby jindal says democrats should not be laughing. He wrote an op ed titled, quote, president obama created donald trump. In it jindal writes after the cool week and endlessly nuanced obama, no wonder voters are going for a strong, blunt leader. Lets talk about this. I want to bring in cnn politics executive editor, mark preston, and jason johnson. Welcome to both of you. Good morning, carol. Good morning. Jason, Bobby Jindals message is clear. He blames obama for trump. Is there something there . No. This is garbage. This is like bat man caused the joker. Crazy people dont need inspiration. Donald trump is the creation of the Republican Party. Hes the result of the Republican Congress not improving infrastructure, to say hes purely on the back of barack obama is to deny the entire Republican Party agency. And lets remember, donald trump doesnt have the nomination yet. It seems really early for jindal to be blaming this on obama when theres a lot of competition to be done, and trump isnt necessarily going to be representing them. Isnt it fair to say theres a good amount of anger directed at barack obama . There is, but let me just extrapolate this a little bit more. Donald trump has had his moment in time right now because of something that happened back in 2008, 2009, with the birth of the tea party. There was always an angry electorate out there and angry part of the Republican Party frustrated at the inaction in washington or the fact that they didnt like what was happening in washington. I think whats happened is you saw that rise and ebb and flow over the past couple of years. They never really had a person that they could follow. It was sarah palin for a while. Other than talk radio, they didnt have a big figure out. Step in donald trump who has a larger than life personality, who speaks to a lot of their concerns and anger. Thats why were at the situation right now with donald trump and the success that hes receiving with the very angry electorate out there. Okay. So just to delve a little deeper into Bobby Jindals op ed, is there any truth that theres a pendulum effect skirt chasing bill clinton breeds a plain spoken george w. Bush . Every president we get is a result of what people think of the last president. Thats not the same thing as justifying and excusing some of the behavior that weve seen from donald trump. Okay, president obama isnt very good at making deals and donald trump may be better. Are we supposed to believe that because obama was so progressive that we get a racist who pals around with terrorist organizations like the klan . That doesnt make any sense. It also denies, and to be candid, i think its an insult to the Republican Party. You still have a majority of Republican Voters who arent endorsing donald trump and his behavior. I think bobby jindal is grasping at straws here because he doesnt understand why his campaign and several other republicans werent more successful in an open year like this. Why do you think, mark, that bobby jindal wrote this in the wall street journal . Because hes prolific in writing op eds, and he tried to run his presidntial campaign through op eds in newspapers across the country, and he wants to be relevant. Hes a thinker in the Republican Party. Hes certainly one of the really smart policy types in the Republican Party, but right now hes out of the game. In order to become relevant in the game, to have a voice in the game, you have to write op eds like this. Hes not a governor or member of congress. The likes of Lindsey Graham who left the president ial race, but yet still has that soap box to be able to go on capitol hill and be heard, thats why folks like that are listened to. Bobby jindal has to turn to the op ed pages. I have to leave it there. Thanks to both of you. Still to come in the news room, donald trump defending torture again this morning. Could he actually carry out those policies as commander in chief . This just got interesting. Why pause to take a pill . Or stop to find a bathroom . Cialis for daily use is approved to treat both erectile dysfunction and the urinary symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently, day or night. 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When senator cruz takes the stage, well bring it back. Last nights Republican Debate was interesting to say the least. Between the mud slinging and personal attacks, the candidates actually did find some time to talk policy. For example, donald trump defended his stance on water boarding. He echoed it moments ago. Heres how he responded when he was asked about recent criticism from michael hayden. That the military could actually refuse to carry out certain orders from mr. Trump like killing the family members of terrorists. They wont refuse. Theyre not going to refuse me. Believe me. Can you imagine these people, these animals over in the middle east that chop off heads sitting around talking and seeing that were having a hard problem with water boarding . We should go for water boarding and we should go tougher than water boarding. And im a leader. Im a leader. Ive always been a leader. Ive never had any problem leading people. If i say do it, theyre going to do it. Thats what leadership is all about. The defense secretary under bill clinton says comments like that not only send the wrong message to the world. Theyd be war crimes. If something called numberberg that we have to be concerned about that you have an order given by the commander in chief which violates every sense of law and order International Law and order that would make any of those who carried out that to be a violation of the International Criminal code. Lets talk about this. Ben ferguson is here, and ron brownstein. Welcome, gentleman. Good morning. Should i just get your overall view of the Republican Debate last night, ben, before we delve into military matters . Sure. I think one, its definitely not over. I think last night you saw ted cruz and marco rubio do something they should have done a long time. That was go after donald trump on specifics instead of generalized ideas he has. You even heard him talk about last night he said barack obama was an empty suit and didnt have plans but theyre saying the same thing about donald trump. What are your plans . They should have done this months ago. These generalized statements that were going to make America Great again, they attack him on that and on things that are real issues for him. Trump university is one of them. They should have done this a lot sooner. Itll be interesting to see the impact on the next primary states coming up. Ron, lets talk about specific policy, namely the use of torture. You heard what donald trump said. He also said hes a leader, and he could convince our military leaders and, you know, the soldiers and the marines and the sailors out there to violate the geneva conventions because people listen to him. Hes a leader. He did not use the word convince. He used the word order. Thats what gets to what a lot of critics have questioned about drurp, whether he understands the difference between leadership in a public setting and a private sector where you tell people what to do. Theres also the matter of the law. 78 senators voted for and president obama signed legislation reinforcing the ban on torture. There is on many of these issues, if youre going to build a wall with mexico, how would you pay for it unless mexico pays for it up front . Youll need a law. If youre going to deport people, you need an appropriation. Could he build the consensus to do any of the things hes promising . Its a big question. To go to bens point, it isnt over, but i think the strategy is fundamentally changed. I dont think any of the candidates are envisioning theyre going to beat donald trump. The strategy is shifting toward preventing him from getting a majority and hoping the Convention Turns in another drerks and sorts it out. Do you think thats possible or is it even too late for that . No. I think its possible. And i think thats what you saw last night is a lot of lack of momentum, i think. The stopping of the momentum of trump. I think part of what youre seeing in the voters are are his ideas real . Donald trump started using the word called flexibility. Its a code word for basically flipflopping. Hes saying we need to be flexible on military. We need to be flexible on our immigration policies and flexible on how im going to pay for different projects, and thats one of the things he keeps saying. Lets look at what his comments are on terrorists. I think theres an appetite for people to say weve been too weak over the last seven years on terrorists, and release them from gitmo and go back and fight against america and killing innocent people, but when you say youre going to target entire family of a terrorist because they were a terrorist, that is against the law. It will never be accepted by the world. It will never be accepted by congress. And that is a point that has to be made very clearly by the other accounts in this field. Rubio and cruz say you might like the idea of being tough on terrorism, as we do. Literally, you cannot go and just destroy an entire family and blow their home up because they had a child connectinged to terrorism. They not have known with the child or husband was doing. Some of the family members know. Some of them even support them. But that is a policy decision that has to be declared by the others as insane and unrealistic. Thats why theyre looking at the brokered convention, and romney said we have to have wherever the three candidates can win, vote for them. I dont think it was the best messenger, but i think thats obvious. A lot of people are looking at is if no one gets out, pick the candidate where they can win to beat trump. Thats what they want. Heres the other thing. I want to go back to this military policy that donald trump has. He says hes going to order these soldiers in the field to violate the law, not thinking of how they feel. I mean, we already have a problem with ptsd with our men and women coming back from the field, and he really wants to put them in that position . Well, its part of the reason it didnt get enough attention, but two days ago 95 former Republican National security and domestic Security Officials and leading policy makers wrote a letter saying they would not support him if he was the republican nominee. That included the Senior Defense people in the Bush Administration and leaders. These were major pillars of conservative thinking on foreign policy. It gets to the broader issue. Republicans are at a difficult cross roads. Donald trump is stronger than any of the candidates and has a broader coalition. He did not grow to the extent we expected on super tuesday. He won a little more than onethird of the vote. Hes in a position to accumulate more delegates than any of the other rivals, but it does not appear that there is a majority of the party that is coalescing in a way thats saying yes, this is our guy. On the one hand, you deny the person with the most delegates or go ahead with a nominee that divides the party. Either way, its a recipe for civil war. I have to leave it there. Thanks to both of you. Quickly, ben. Thanks. Theres only two states all right. Im sorry. He is a vulnerable candidate. All right. I have to leave it there. Thanks to you both. I appreciate it. Still to come in the news room, Russell Simmons outspoken about the flint water crisis, and now hes ready to support a 2016 candidate. Ill ask him who it is, next. The future belongs to the fast. And to help you accelerate, weve created a new company. One totally focused on whats next for your business. The True Partnership where people,technology and ideas push everyone forward. Accelerating innovation. 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Get an insurance quote and see why 92 of our members plan to stay for life. You may have ibs. Bloating . Ask your doctor if nonprescription ibgard is right for you. Ibgard calms the angry gut. Available at cvs and walgreens. This weekend flint, michigan Takes Center Stage when it hosts a cnn democratic debate. Ashley banfield is in flint ahead of the debate with more. Hi, ashley. Reporter hi. Welcome to the very Quiet Library here at the university of michigan in flint. I say quiet, well, let me tell you why. Theres a sign saying quiet, but im sure things arent going to be quite as quiet on sunday night. The democrats will gather here for the debate. You can see behind me the royaling flint river, the source of so much suffering in this city, and the source of the reason why, i guess the democrats will be coming here for this debate. Theres a big congressional delegation coming before the sunday debate. Theyre coming today. Theyre holding something called a speakout where theyre listening to families and the trouble that these families have been going through. Look at the list on your screen. Its a pretty high level list including nancy pelosi, and then, of course, jim clyburn who is the assistant democratic leader. A host of others coming not only to hear from the people but also to hear from the housing didnt of health and Human Services about the federal response to this. Thats getting underway now. In about an hour, there should be information coming from that congressional delegation. But i think the photo op youre going to see is the construction project that is sure to attract a lot of cameras at the top of noon, because that is when the first of some of those horrifyingly damaged lead pipes in the citys system are set to be removed. I dont know if its the beginning of something thats going to make a difference for the people of flint, michigan. The people here use these not only to drink but to bathe their kids, to bathe themselves and to cook as well. It is a nightmare if you live in flint. All right. Ashley banfield, thank you for the update. One man active in flint is Russell Simmons. A Prepaid Debit Card he founded has donated 150,000 bottles of water to help the people in flint. Simmons then personally took a trip to hand out water himself. He joins me now. Welcome. Good morning. Good morning. Do you think that this democratic delegation heading to flint will make a difference . Well, i think bringing awareness to the problem is very important, and i think in my trip to flint i got to visit some of the inhabitants, and i was shocked to find mothers who had two children who were suffering from lead poisoning. One child hadnt spoken for he was three, and he hadnt spoken at all, and the other child was experiencing seizures, and other mothers had children with lead poisons. Other mothers hadnt tested their children but very likely their children were poisoned. Imagine if this happened in Beverly Hills and the governor for two years the people were being poisoned . That governor would be under arrest. He would have been investigated. He would have been out of office and under arrest, and here we are in a state where the attorney general has taken no action and where the governor is still in office. Im less interested in getting the governor than i am making a change for the people of flint. I would think that would be evacuated if it was anywhere where people were wealthy and had any kind of influence. This is a horrific incident. We need to act on it. Last night during the Republican Debate, the moderators asked the candidates about the situation in flint. In particular, the governor of the state of michigan and if he was at fault or if he displayed any criminal behavior. This is how senator marco rubio respobded. I dont think someone woke up and said lets figure out how to poison the water system to hurt someone, but accountability is important. I give the governor credit. He took responsibility and has talked about peopling with held accountable and the need to change it. Your thoughts, mr. Simmons . I think that that is grossly inaccurate. He was aware. He allowed it to happen. To save money, he was offered solutions over a year and a half ago. He didnt want to spend the money, and he would never have done it to any of the people who might have voted for him. Earlier i referred to this as environmental racism, but its really a class issue as much as it is a race issue. Some of the nonblack voters might have voted for him, but they were still poor, and didnt vote at the same rate as others. This had everything to do with politics. It had everything to do with underserved communities being underrepresented, and i cant believe that they would separate this governor and his actions from anything but criminal. Would you like to see its criminal what he did. Would you like to see some of the republican candidates running for president in flint . Well, you know, it was senator clinton to suggested they have that babysdebate ther. Her aids traveled there the day i did and came to the rally i helped promote. I think the democrats are more sensitive to the plight of underserved communities, and they have been, and what the republicans are saying is those people dont matter, and theyre saying it consistently by not even by blocking the aid that should go to the people that need it the most. They would never do that to an affluent community who had influence in their careers, and the governor is guilty, was aware, and it is political. And so it is not only political. Again, its criminal, what he did. Weve been its fact that anybody who investigates it knows its fact. I want to ask you before you have to go, weve been monitoring your twitter account. Are you endorsing someone for president . Yes, ive decided to endorse my long time friend, senator clinton. I think that Bernie Sanders is overpromising. Hes insensitive to the plight of back people, and what good is it if you dont take lobbyists money or acknowledge the number one threat to america and to the world is the factory farming lobby, because it is poisoning the planet quickly, and it is poisoning us inhabitants. So the shift has to be made away from the animal product and away from the beef industry, but all the animal products into a plantbased diet or there will be no planet, and in the next 50 years we wont have an ocean. And when the oceans die, we die. We cannot have a lobbyist take advantage of all our Natural Resources to poison the planet and the people. I asked him about it. He brushed it off even though he knows your earthquake and certainly all of these storms are a result of factory farming. We know have all the proof in the world that Climate Change is manmade and we have to do something to derail it. That to me, aside from his insensitivity to black voters, caused me to do you really think that Bernie Sanders isnt who i think can win. Do you think bashds is insensitive to the needs of the black community . The specific yes. Hes insensitive in a number of ways, and i would get into it if we had time, but i think senator clinton has been sensitive, supportive of a progressive agenda. Hes realistic in what she can get done. Shes able to beat the republican candidate, and i think that Bernie Sanders would not be able to. Or could lose. And i dont want to take that chance. All right. Russell simmons, thanks for stopping by. I appreciate it. Thank you. Still to come, rubio betting big on florida. He has one big problem, that would be donald trump. 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I dont plan on slowing down any time soon. Stay strong. Stay active with boost®. All right. Cpac is meeting right now. You see the rnc chairman on stage. He said the rnc would back whoever the nominee would be. Lets listen. I just want to calibrate everyone and remind you whats going on. We have candidates that are competing to be the nominee of the Republican Party who want to join the Republican Party at our convention in cleveland, and when they join the Republican Party, obviously, they take in what weve been able to build at the rnc. We dont take sides, regardless of what you may think or read. There is no sides that we take at the Republican Party. We build a lot of the things that you may think are kind of boring like ground game, data, engagement were going to jump away, but ryan preep iebus saying they wo stand behind whoever the nominee is. The florida primary around the corner. That means the candidates are setting their sights on the sun shine state. Thats winner take all. For rubio, the stakes are high. Florida is his home state. A win for donald trump would give trump a boost for momentum that would be hard to stop. Cnn has more. Were doing really well in florida. Reporter trumps target, florida. Less than two weeks until the winner take all primary, the antitrump movement is spending monstrous amounts of money, targeting the billionaire. Former students say Trump University was a scam. Reporter flooding florida this week a slew of coordinated attack ads from multiple Political Action committees, pouncing on his failed businesses like Trump University. To this 1 . 5 million ad by an alleged business tactics. Trump entrusted convicts to help him run his company. Reporter and theres more. This ad, part of 1 1. 75 million in ads paid for the american future fund. Theres no doubt were on a compressed time frame, and that its very urgent that we focus now, and to be in politics you have to be optimistic. And we are optimistic that its going to work. Reporter you think people in florida are going to buy that, the antitrump movement . I dont see the negative noise is falling onto deaf ears. People here who are trump fans, are really trump fans. Reporter thats why he believes the ad campaign will fail in florida. He developed the highrises that carry the billionaires name. This project is called the trump grand. Trump towers one, two, and three. Reporter towers that went up during the housing meltdown. Were you panicking during this time . There was a few sleepless nights. Reporter he credits the trump brand for bringing in International Investors and saving his properties. Not every Florida Investment led to a win fall but for decades, the skyline has grown. According to filings, trump made 15. 5 million at his maralago resort. 50 million at another. Rubio may be floridas senator with the endorsement of the states largest newspaper. We have states awaiting for me in the next few days. But then were coming to florida. [ applause ] reporter but trumps business parter say trumps is the business investor. They believe its more potent than any attack campaign and may pay off in two weeks. Reporter do people see trump as a person whos going to make a difference . Hes a florida guy as much as a new york guy. Thats it for me today. Im carol costello. At this hour with berman and bolduan after a break. Bleeding gums . You may think its a result of brushing too hard. Its not. Its a sign of early gum disease. Listerine r can help reverse. Early gum disease in just two weeks. Listerine r . Power to your mouth™ we need to be ready for my names Scott Strenfel and r im a meteorologist at pg e. We make sure that our crews as well as our customers are prepared to how weather may impact their energy. So every single day were monitoring the weather, and when storm events arise our forecast get crews out ahead of the storm to minimize any outages. During storm season we want our customers to be ready and stay safe. 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