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Ivanka Trump Speaks Out; Violence Escalating in Israel; Democratic Debate Winners and Losers. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired October 14, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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


[15:00:03]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And, as often happens in Las Vegas, the one with the shortest odds comes out on top. And many observers, including Donald Trump, are declaring front-runner Hillary Clinton the winner.

Still, many on social media claimed it was Bernie Sanders coming out the victor. And the man who many wanted to see up on that stage, Vice President Joe Biden, he said this today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I thought every one of those folks last night -- might be my own prejudice -- I thought they all did well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny now joining me from Las Vegas.

I know you have done all this reporting on Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton certainly riding the wave. But let's begin there. What is she doing the day after the big night?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, first and foremost, she's relaxing a little bit and finally sort of enjoying this moment of getting her campaign really back on track and kind of getting it back to where most Democrats thought it would be, sort of driving this race.

But she's also doing some campaigning of her own out here in Nevada. Nevada is one of those four early voting states. It goes Iowa, New Hampshire, then Nevada. She's not spent as much time out here. She will be addressing a couple union rallies a little bit later on today. She's also doing some television interviews later today with some swing states' voters who are not here -- with some swing state stations, I should say.

She's really trying to capitalize on that really good moment last night. Her campaign feels pretty good about it. But it's not her show alone. I mean, Bernie Sanders certainly held his own, did very good in fund-raising overnight. He's also signing up more supporters. And if you came into that rally a Bernie Sanders supporter, came into that debate, you certainly left it a Bernie Sanders supporter. It's far, far, far too early to say it's only Hillary Clinton's and Hillary Clinton's alone, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And did I just see, back on your point of maybe Hillary Clinton getting some relax time, her husband Bill Clinton already using her performance bringing in some money? Did I see a subject line wow, wow, wow there?

ZELENY: You did, wow, wow, wow. And Bill Clinton, of course, was watching this debate on CNN with more than 15 million other Americans. He didn't want to take away from her attention in the room.

I'm also told that he didn't want a camera on him. He wanted to be able to see this sort of in the privacy of his own home. But he sent out this e-mail. He said: "Last night, Hillary knocked it out of the park. She didn't just talk about big ideas. She laid out plans to get them done. That's what Hillary does when she sees a problem to fix. She gets people together, takes on the tough fights, and finds her way to a solution."

So, Brooke, this is one of the biggest signs yet that Bill Clinton is becoming more and more invested in this campaign. We're going to see him out there fund-raising more. We're going to see him out there campaigning more. For the Clinton campaign, this is a new phase for this, and she will be campaigning throughout the next several days and into the weekend -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Jeff Zeleny, thank you so much, my friend, in Las Vegas.

Let's also mention this name as part of our coverage, Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner, Donald Trump, holding his own rally tonight in Virginia. But he will be doing that without Secret Service protection. Trump says he's getting bigger crowds than the president, but they don't -- quote -- "give a bleep" about Trump because -- he says because he's a Republican.

This is coming in as new CNN poll numbers show Trump is once again way ahead of the pack. Look at the numbers for yourself there. In Nevada, he gets 38 percent of the vote among likely Republican caucus- goers, compared with 22 percent for the man chasing him, the closest, Ben Carson. Trump also holds a double-digit lead in South Carolina.

But let's focus in on the Secret Service complaints.

I have our justice correspondent, Evan Perez, with that.

Does he have a point? When do candidates get that kind of protection?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, nobody is ever going to accuse Donald Trump of not knowing how to get attention. He certainly has gotten it with these comments. Right?

But here's the deal. It's a little more complicated than this, simply because the way Secret Service protection is assigned it usually happens after the Department of Homeland Security has consulted with Senate and House leaders. There's a whole process that is involved here. Most candidates don't get protection by this time in the election cycle, not with 11 declared candidates or whatever that number is on the Republican side. It's certainly not usual to get it.

Barack Obama did get protection early simply because, again, he was a historic candidate. He was someone who was already getting a lot of threats. He was getting large crowds. And so the Secret Service worked with his campaign to authorize that much earlier. But, at this stage, usually, most candidates do not want this protection simply because it gets in the way of them campaigning and being able to touch voters.

So I will give you a couple of things that the Secret Service says is part of their criteria. You can see it on the screen. Candidates have to be announced already officially. They must be prominent in the polls, which obviously Trump is. They must be campaigning and entered in at least 10 state primaries and have received donations or contributions of at least $10 million.

[15:05:00]

Donald Trump says he's going to finance his own campaign, so perhaps that's not going to apply to him. We're still a little ways away from really where the Secret Service starts looking at this. Keep in mind, back in 2012, at this point, Herman Cain and Rick Perry were topping the polls. As late as Thanksgiving, Newt Gingrich was topping the polls on the Republican side.

So we still have some time to go before the Secret Service gets to doing this.

BALDWIN: OK. Despite that, though, he wants it, Donald Trump, that is. Evan Perez, thank you so much.

PEREZ: Thanks.

BALDWIN: And not only did Donald Trump say Hillary Clinton won the debate last night, but he added that Bernie Sanders lost an opportunity to attack her about her e-mail scandal.

What is more, when you talk to some of these politicos in the know, they say Sanders put pressure on the other candidates not to mention it. Check out these highlights.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm a progressive. But I'm a progressive who likes to get things done. And I know...

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: ... how to find common ground, and I know how to stand my ground.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn e-mails.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: Thank you. Me, too. Me, too.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: This committee is basically an arm of the Republican National Committee.

LINCOLN CHAFEE (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think we need someone that has the best in ethical standards as our next president. That's how I feel.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Secretary Clinton, do you want to respond?

CLINTON: No.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

COOPER: Secretary Clinton, is Bernie Sanders tough enough on guns?

CLINTON: No, not at all.

COOPER: Which enemy are you most proud of?

CLINTON: Well, in addition to the NRA, the health insurance companies, the drug companies, the Iranians.

(LAUGHTER)

CLINTON: Probably the Republicans.

(LAUGHTER)

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: With me now, the author of "A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton," our CNN political commentator Carl Bernstein.

You were chuckling along watching that mash-up. There was some funny moments there last night. But overall assessment of Hillary Clinton? You wrote the book on her. How did she do?

CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: The conventional wisdom is right. She did great. It was a great night for Democrats, and it's clear sailing if there are no other shoes dropping for Hillary.

BALDWIN: AKA?

BERNSTEIN: Well, it could be anything. But right now, she as got breathing room. It's very difficult for Joe Biden to get into the race after what we saw last night. BALDWIN: Because he won't be swayed by what he saw last night?

(CROSSTALK)

BERNSTEIN: Again, I don't know what that means. But it's difficult for him compared to what it was like a year ago -- a year ago -- a week ago. There's no question about that.

BALDWIN: What about -- it was standing ovation -- the whole Bernie Sanders enough with the damn e-mails and the handshake with Hillary Clinton, what did you make of that?

BERNSTEIN: Well, he gave her absolution in terms of the party. There had been a lot of anger in the party at Hillary Clinton because her lack of being forthcoming about the server.

At the same time, as you heard me say here, look, the Benghazi investigation is a witch-hunt. The server question has some real legitimacy in terms of her truth-telling. But now it will have a different context, certainly in terms of the Democratic Party and it's going to make it much more difficult for Republican attacks to stick, particularly after Kevin McCarthy also giving her a kind of backhanded absolution by saying, yes, this is a witch-hunt, as it were.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: And you have been strong on that. I'm wondering based upon what Hillary Clinton said, she just said a moment ago in the mash-up that the Benghazi committee is an arm of the RNC. Do you think that we saw...

(CROSSTALK)

BERNSTEIN: That's virtually true, but the real question about the server is, what will the news media do? What are the legitimate stories? What is the FBI investigation going to produce, if anything?

But she has disarmed for the present, along with her gift from Bernie Sanders...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: But do you think we got a sneak peek of what she will say when she testifies?

BERNSTEIN: Probably. I think she will have a lot more to say.

I think what we saw last night that's particularly good about Hillary Clinton is, when she's on the offense, has some wind at her back, she's terrific on the issues. She's very smart on her feet. And she did it last night. You heard me say here earlier she's going to make a monkey out of that committee. That's my guess.

But we have got a long way to go. We're still three months before the first primary, and at the same time what we saw last night was a difference between two parties that shows you the great advantage, if Hillary Clinton can stay untarnished, the great advantage the Democrats have in this election, because of their articulation of the issues, because of where they stand, and again remember this appeal for middle-class voters who are hurting. There are Republicans saying the same thing.

BALDWIN: Right.

BERNSTEIN: Their issues are somewhat disarmed, part of the right wing, by this brand of -- quote -- "progressivism."

BALDWIN: What about, Carl, you know living in Washington for forever...

[15:10:02]

BERNSTEIN: I live here, but I'm there a lot.

BALDWIN: But I look at you and we know of your historic reporting there.

My question is, we just actually learned -- Jeff Zeleny was talking about Bill Clinton capitalizing on his wife's performance last night, putting out e-mails trying to raise some money. I just heard from my producer that the Bernie Sanders campaign manager just said that they have raised $2 million just since last night.

BERNSTEIN: Bernie Sanders has done an amazing thing in this campaign. He has defined where it is going in terms of the issues. He has moved Hillary Clinton toward these progressive positions that she might not have otherwise taken quite so unequivocally.

And he's got a real chance of beating her in Iowa, in New Hampshire. So it's a big, big deal. At the same time, she has got the money. She has got the apparatus. She has the history. If her supporters do not abandon her, if these issues of trust don't come to haunt her, she should have a pretty good road to the nomination. But we're still a long ways off.

BALDWIN: Carl Bernstein, come back.

BERNSTEIN: Will do.

BALDWIN: We will talk again. Thank you so much.

I want to read you a quote now from a review of Hillary Clinton's debate performance -- quote -- "She was, in short, a man among boys."

Really? Let's talk to some powerful ladies about that line.

Plus, the interview so many of us have been waiting for, Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump's daughter, sitting down with colleague Poppy Harlow today to discuss her father's campaign.

And breaking news out of Jerusalem, violence escalating, another woman stabbed. This is the second attack today. We will take you there live. You're watching CNN. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:16:03]

BALDWIN: This is the Trump interview that so many people have been waiting for, not the Trump you're thinking. The other one, Ivanka Trump.

You have heard Donald Trump talk so much about his daughter. But rarely does she speak out and rarely does she really speak so openly about her father.

And she sat down exclusively with my friend Poppy Harlow, who raced back from Washington, D.C., to sit next to me.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just landed just to be with you.

BALDWIN: I will take it. What did she tell you?

HARLOW: You know, it was fascinating.

I had met her once before about five years ago and remembered how impressive she was as a business leader. Now she's in the spotlight, of course, because her father is running. And so much focus has been on his campaign. She is an extraordinary businesswoman in her own right.

So, we talked a lot about that. We talked about the empowerment this Women Who Work campaign that she launched to encourage women from everywhere to follow their dreams at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit. But we also talked about what it would be like for women in this country under her father. So let's roll that.

BALDWIN: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: What would a President Trump do for women in this country?

IVANKA TRUMP, DAUGHTER OF DONALD TRUMP: He would be amazing for women in this country. He would be incredible for women in this country.

And he's starting to articulate his positions. It's not my place to articulate those for him. I'm not part of the campaign. I'm very busy, and he's kept me very busy working alongside my brothers and running the organization now that he's taking this step in terms of his efforts to try and make this country great again, as he says.

So I will leave policy to him, but I can speak from my vantage point as a child and also from my vantage point as a colleague and somebody who works for him.

HARLOW: Yes.

TRUMP: He's been an amazing parent. He's given me every opportunity to succeed. He's been loving and supportive. He's pushed me. He's corrected me. He's disciplined me. And I think as a parent now myself, I appreciate how hard that is more than ever before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: It's so great to hear from her. And it is interesting that she's not involved in the campaign, because being at the Republican debate, she was like second row going up to talk to her dad...

HARLOW: Right.

BALDWIN: ... on commercial breaks. You can tell they're close.

HARLOW: They're very close. That did surprise me that she really made it clear that she's not involved in the campaign. Clearly, she talks to her father.

He, I think, appreciates and looks to her advice a lot. But she's not very involved in this campaign. We will see if that changes. What stood out to me a lot as well, Brooke, is we talked about -- she told "The New York Times" two years ago that she understands when people say that perhaps she's gotten this far in part because of her name. She says, I don't blame them.

But I said to her, actually, a lot of people that are children of successful and wealthy and famous people do not succeed as much. She said, there are two paths you can take. You can either take the one where you let it impair you and you're so scared to fail or you can go for it. And she went for it. So that was fascinating as well.

We also sat down at this summit with a whole lot of very powerful women, CEOs.

BALDWIN: Watching the debate.

HARLOW: Watching the debate last night. They erupted at that Bernie Sanders moment about e-mails.

BALDWIN: Yes.

HARLOW: We asked them what they thought about the debate last night, and that full piece is on "A.C. 360" tonight. But I want to play you part of this.

This is Anne-Marie Slaughter, who used to work with Hillary Clinton at the State Department.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNE-MARIE SLAUGHTER, PRESIDENT, NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION: The moment I just loved was when Hillary Clinton said to Bernie Sanders, I appreciate your passionate intensity, but -- and then went on to deliver a nice factual, data-driven, concrete, pragmatic and low-key proposal.

And just, as a woman who is definitely passionate from time to time, I have been so often -- sort of it's the way you dismiss a woman. You say, I appreciate your passionate defense of this. Passion equals not serious. Passion equals you're a girl. You're not really serious.

[15:20:05]

And so to hear Hillary Clinton say to a man, I appreciate your passionate intensity, but here's the answer, I just love it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: And wait until you hear, Brooke, what one of the women who is a big Hillary Clinton supporter told me she'd like to see. And we Will give you a hint. It is a Republican on a Hillary Clinton ticket if she gets into the general.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Poppy Harlow, great get.

HARLOW: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Thank you so much. Make sure you watch her full interview tonight with Ivanka Trump tonight with Erin Burnett 7:00 p.m. Eastern here on CNN.

Thank you so, so much.

Coming up, it is a question the candidates have been confronting with before, certainly whether black lives matter or is it all lives matter? We will look at how they answered that question from Facebook and the reaction they are getting today.

Also ahead, the Middle East, is it reaching a tipping point? Jerusalem on high alert after another stabbing hours after the police thwarted a similar attack. How the Israeli government now is responding, we will have a live report. You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:25:11]

BALDWIN: Just in to CNN, the U.S. and Russia right now finalizing an agreement on air safety as bombs fly over Syria. A U.S. official tells CNN the agreement would happen soon and it comes just a couple of weeks after Russia began its military campaign against ISIS and rebel forces in that war zone.

Also this today, a deadly wave of violence in Jerusalem, it is escalating. The Israeli government now has deployed hundreds of troops to stop these attacks. There were two new assaults today. Authorities shot and killed a man they say tried to stab several officers at the Damascus Gate.

And hours later, a 72-year-old woman was stabbed near a Jerusalem Central Bus Station. She is in serious condition. Israeli police killed her attacker.

And CNN spoke to witnesses who were there who described the scene. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was sitting inside. Then I hear screams. Girls were screaming, "Terrorist, terrorist. They tried to kill me."

I'm telling you now, the suspect was in here. He was killing two, three girls in one minute. (INAUDIBLE) No, shoot him, shoot him. It was very security -- a very panicked situation. We always think in this time, we think that everything is very hard and tough. And all the time, we wait for these things.

You know, it's happening. I was feeling that something wouldn't come to the Central Bus Station. You see it. Maybe it's something else. You see all the authorities of the police here (INAUDIBLE) the SWAT, everybody here, and they're still doing things.

Maybe they take five, six people, and they -- they separate them straight through here, through here. You can't live normal. You can't live normal in this life. People run around in the streets. It's unbelievable, man.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: CNN senior international Ben Wedeman -- international correspondent Ben Wedeman is in Jerusalem.

And, so, Ben, tell me what more you know as far as how this could happen. How is the Israeli government responding?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we understood that what happened was this woman, 72 years old, was walking on the street right next to the Central Bus Station of Jerusalem, normally a very crowded and busy place, when this attacker, who is a resident of East Jerusalem in his late 20s, stabbed the woman in the upper body.

A bus driver nearby saw this happen, brought her into the bus, and then closed the door to stop the attacker from going again at this woman. When that happened, the attacker ran up the street pursued by people in the crowd, as well as police who, in the words of the police here, neutralized him. We understand he is dead.

Now, the Israeli security cabinet met with the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, well into the early hours of this morning to try to come up with measures to put an end to this spate of attacks in Jerusalem and elsewhere in Israel. They have given the police the authority to close Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem.

We understand that several are in the process of being put under closure as we speak. In addition to that, hundreds of additional troops and policemen have been deployed in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the country. There's talk of revoking residency rights of attackers and confiscating their property.

But it was after these new measures went into effect that these two incidents happened. So, there's question as to how effective they will really be, and from reading the Israeli media, it certainly seems to be the case that most people aren't feel -- simply feel that these measures are insufficient given the level of violence at the moment -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: We will be watching to see how those measures do play out, if they are sufficient or not. Ben Wedeman, we will follow your reporting very closely there in Jerusalem. Thank you so much, Ben Wedeman, for us tonight there.

Next, a mysterious murder investigation. You have six members of this secretive church arrested in a teenager's apparently -- apparent beating death. You will hear what police say was the motive there.

Also, Hillary Clinton playing the gender card last night at the Democratic debate, to huge applause. We will break down how women's issues played out on stage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)