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GOP Presidential Debate Assessed; Some Students Protesting Racism on College Campuses; Do U.S. Colleges Have a Race Problem?. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired November 12, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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


[08:00:00] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we'll be watching that for you. Thanks for the update on the developments, Nic.

Back here at home, the Republican candidates off the debate stage on the trail, but hitting each other with the same attacks at a distance this time. Immigration now emerging as the issue in the GOP race. Donald Trump pushing his plan for deportation for us and saying he can do it humanely. The rest of the field though not quite convinced. Athena Jones following developments for us from Iowa. Athena?

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela. It's Donald Trump's hard line stance on illegal immigration that has helped rocket him to the top at polls even as Republicans and Democrats on and off the campaign trail have warned that his approach could the party's chances in 2016. Still, it's clear the divide in the party over immigration isn't going away.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONES: GOP 2016 hopefuls back on the campaign trail spanning across the country.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We started off with 17. And one by one they are disappearing.

JONES: Trump in New Hampshire. Chief rival Ben Carson heading down the coast of Virginia, highlighting his religious bona fides with evangelicals.

BEN CARSON, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In Romans Chapter 8, it says if God be for you who can be against you? You don't have to worry.

(APPLAUSE)

JONES: Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Chris Christie hitting Iowa amidst a deep divide over illegal immigration.

TRUMP: We would do it in a very humane way.

JONES: Trump not backing down from his "build a wall and deport 11 million people" immigration strategy.

JEB BUSH, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't care what Donald Trump says. JONES: Jeb Bush continuing to attack his plan as unworkable.

BUSH: A half a million people basically I think would double the number of people processed through our judicial system. It is not possible.

JONES: And instead proposing a path to citizenship and a guest worker program.

BUSH: Having the ability for people to legally come back and forth to allow them to work.

JONES: Rubio open to the idea.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: After ten years on the work permit I personally am open.

JONES: Carson also weighing in.

CARSON: I propose we give them a six month period in which the register.

SEN. TED CRUZ, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There is nothing compassionate about a bunch of politicians saying I'm so compassionate I'm going to give away your job.

JONES: Cuban-American Ted Cruz quick to charge that his GOP rivals are supporting what he believes will be amnesty.

CRUZ: If we just agree with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on amnesty, Republicans will lose.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES: I asked Bush last night if he believes most Republican primary voters agreed with him on immigration. He said yes, pointing to the applause he got on debate night when he challenged Trump's deportation plan. Alisyn?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Athena, thanks so much for laying that out for us because here to talk the politics of immigration and more this morning, host of the Hugh Hewitt show, Hugh Hewitt. Good morning, Hugh.

HUGH HEWITT, HOST, "THE HUGH HEWITT SHOW": Hi, Alisyn, how are you.

CAMEROTA: I'm well. So we see some real points of distinction in terms of how the candidates feel about immigration, everything from deport them all to things that sound like a path to citizenship. So who do you think is getting it right in terms of winning the GOP primary? Who do you think has the hearts and minds of where voters are?

HEWITT: Well, I think this will come up as a major issue on our December 15th debate when we are in Las Vegas. The last debate really before Christmas and New Year's and the bull season takes over. So I expect that there will be some conversation about it between now and then.

But I have to disagree with the premise of the question, Alisyn. I don't think it is that deep of a divide. Almost every one of the candidates agree on building a very strong, long wall, as does Mrs. Clinton. Most candidates agree on some form of regularization whether it requires people to leave and come back or stay in place.

I think actually the more interesting question to emerge from two nights ago is the debate between Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz on one side and Rand Paul on another over national security and America's role in the world. And on this all of the Republicans are united that Mrs. Clinton had a catastrophic tenure at the Department of State, that America is in retreat around the world, that the nuclear triad has been decimated by President Obama's neglect. And I think you will see them come together on that issue and talk about priorities there.

So I tend to resist and push back on the Manhattan beltway narrative that this is going to tear the Republicans apart. It's interesting. It certainly matters to maybe 10 percent of the base more than any other issue. But 90 percent of the Republican primary electorate wants to know who can beat Hillary Clinton. And that will be the defining issue coming forward.

CAMEROTA: I'll take your cue, Hugh, and we can pivot away for a second to talk about that moment, because it was a really interesting moment between Marco Rubio and Rand Paul in terms of military spending and who is the most conservative. So let's play that and you can tell me who you think won.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And yes I do want to rebuild the American military. I know that Rand is a committed isolationist. I am not.

[08:05:00] I believe the world is a stronger and a better place when the United States is the strongest military power in the world.

RAND PAUL, (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Marco, Marco, how is it conservative, how is conservative to add $1 trillion expenditure for the federal that you are not paying for? How is it conservative to add $1 trillion in military expenditures? You cannot be a conservative if you are going to keep promoting new programs that you are not going to pay for?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Hugh, how is it conservative to add $1 trillion expenditure?

HEWITT: You see, that is what I want to focus in on December 15th. I'm not going tell you who won, Alisyn. I'm going to tell you I hope to have in any question set a bunch of questions a about the nuclear triad. How many carriers do we need? We just found a new contract for Northrop Grumman for the B3 Boeing. The B3 is a strategic bomber. We definitely need a strategic bomber. We have to replace the Ohio class submarine. It costs a boatload of dough, more than the entire shipbuilding budget has in it now. This is what I want to get into --

CAMEROTA: Sure. What you are saying sounds like you agree with Marco Rubio. You think that Marco Rubio won that point.

HEWITT: It shouldn't. As a debate panelist I do not have a preferred answer. I think that the Republican primary voter wants to know exactly which each of these candidates think about American greatness, and they want to know how they are going to a contrast that with Hillary Clinton presiding over America's retreat in the world.

You know who won that debate actually the most was the guy in the first debate was Chris Christie on two nights ago when he said about China that he would fly Air Force One over the artificial islands, something he first said on my radio show on September the 2nd.

And Hillary's name came up 40 times, Alisyn. Yesterday she said in New Hampshire that she tried to join the marines when she was first lady of Arkansas -- when she moved to Arkansas, an extraordinary claim. It is simply not -- I hope you investigate it as much as you investigate Ben Carson. But I'll tell you what people are going to jump on is they are going to distinguish how the Republican field wants to support the military versus how president Obama and Secretary Clinton. That is where I think the December debate will go.

CAMEROTA: A couple things we are looking into the Hillary Clinton's story. She said it more than just yesterday. She said it several times over the course of her career. And much like the Ben Carson story, it is hard to pin down these things that are decades old. It is hard to find the person who can definitively say yes that moment happened. So while Jeff Zeleny did report on this and they are looking into it, we're going back to her campaign to say can you help us figure out how this happened and when this happened and exactly what happened. But I want to get back to what you said about immigration, because there is --

HEWITT: Alisyn, can I?

CAMEROTA: Yes.

HEWITT: I think you need to confront the former first lady and the former secretary of state with the same degree of passion and doggedness that you did Dr. Carson. I think everybody in the media has to ask Mrs. Clinton with the same degree of intensity they asked the Republican candidates. She tweeted about Donald Trump it would be inhumane to deport 11 million. Agree or disagree, people have to ask Mrs. Clinton, OK, what are you going to do? Are you going to build a wall? What are you going to do about the cartels and about the terrorists who attempt to come in from Hezbollah from the southern border to bomb the Saudi Arabian ambassador in Washington D.C.? She gets to tweet out because media doesn't push back against her the way they push back against Republicans, and I'm hoping that changes over the course of the next year.

CAMEROTA: Hugh, I look forward to doing what you are suggesting. I look forward to asking Mrs. Clinton questions and pursuing her with the same dogged line of questions that we did with Ben Carson. She has not come on NEW DAY. We are asking her to and I look forward to that moment when she agrees to.

But one more thing, Hugh, about immigration, because there is a rift. I think you are glossing over this a little bit. Ted Cruz, who is sort of opening this salvo against Marco Rubio and because of the gang of eight, because Marco Rubio was involved with this bipartisan plan with the gang of eight with the liberal New York senator Chuck Schumer. Ted Cruz is basically saying that disqualifies his plan on immigration. It sounds like a rift developing between the GOP candidates.

HEWITT: Oh, there are disagreements. Absolutely there are disagreements, and they will talk at great length about them in the December 15th debate and I will be happy to ask about them. But every sing one of the Republicans has a plan. Mrs. Clinton has a tweet.

And so what I think the Republican primary voter wants to know who is best going to exemplify what a Republican policy is going forward on smart immigration, strong border security, national security issue. Mrs. Clinton did nothing as secretary of state, nothing to stop the visa overstay problem which accounts for 60 percent of our immigration problem. She did nothing when she was secretary of state to advocate for border security. She managed to blow the Arab spring completely. Libya is a mess. Syria is a nightmare.

[08:10:00] Russia reset button she tries to blame on Medvedev which underscores the fact that she is clueless about Putin. These are the issues I think Republicans agree on and that is where I want to spend our time on 12/15.

Right now the media is trying to divide the Republican field over immigration. I think it is my job as the conservative media person to point to the fact that the biggest divide is between the Republican field and Mrs. Clinton, and that she's out of step with America. That's my job.

CAMEROTA: You have done that this morning. Thanks so much for being on. We are looking forward to that debate in December. Immigration of course is sure to come also with Donald Trump tonight on "ERIN BURNETT OUT FRONT," that's tonight, 7:00 p.m. eastern only on CNN.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Alisyn, there is some disturbing video emerging of a situation that prosecutors said showed no wrong doing by police. You are about to see a Virginia man being Tased by cops repeatedly right outside of a hospital where they had initially brought him. His name is Linwood Lambert and he later died in police shackles in police care. CNN's justice correspondent Pamela Brown live with the latest. What do we know?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Chris, we received this video through the attorney involved with the lawsuit. And it shows the handcuffed man being Tased by police multiple times, though it is unclear exactly how many times he was actually hit with the Taser. And the video shows him dying while in police custody despite the fact the incident happened at the doors of the emergency room.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BROWN: This police video shows three officers in south Boston, Virginia, Tasing a man right outside a hospital emergency room. Shortly after that man, 46-year-old Linwood Lambert died in police custody. The video begins with officers picking lambert up at a motel early one morning in May of 2013 after several 911 calls were made about noise. And officer say because of the way Lambert was acting they decided to take him to the hospital for a mental health evaluation. They say he made comments about murdering two people and hiding their bodies in the ceiling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to take you to the emergency room and we're going to get you looked at make sure you good to go.

BROWN: Inside the patrol car, police say he kicked out the window. Then the video shows Lambert running straight into the hospital doors while handcuffed. He falls to the ground and the officers repeatedly ask him to roll over on to his stomach while threatening to Tase him. Lambert then admits he was on drugs.

But instead of taking him inside the emergency room, the officers take him to the police station. The officers Tase Lambert multiple times. He's bleeding apparently from breaking the squad car window. By the time they reach the police station, Lambert appears unconscious in the backseat. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital after going into cardiac arrest according to the medical examiner's report. The report ruled the cause of death as acute cocaine intoxication, but the family blames police and they filed a $25 million wrongful death suit alleging, quote, "The officer's callous disregard for Linwood Lambert in Tasering him multiple times and depriving him of the desperate medical care he needed violated his constitutional rights to be free from cruel and unusual punishment." Police have denied the allegations, saying Lambert's erratic actions required the use of force.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And the south Boston police department released a statement saying "We are vigorously defending this case. Our position is affirmed by the reports of two independent, well-qualified experts in the field. CNN attempted to reach both south Boston police as well as Virginia state police which picked up the investigation of Lambert's death. We have not heard back. And there have been no charges against these police officers since this happened two years ago. Michaela?

PEREIRA: All right, Pamela, we'll be watching the story. It is certainly upsetting to see that video.

Protests erupting over alleged racial discrimination on college campuses across the country. Students at Ithaca college, Yale among those joining the call to defeat racism on campus following a successful campaign to oust officials at the University of Missouri. In the meantime more fallout there, a second arrest for threats being issued to students on social media. Correspondent Paul Vercammen live now with the latest for us. Paul? PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Michaela, let's begin at Ithaca College in New York State where hundreds of students staged a walkout yesterday. They were demanding resignation of the president of the college. They chanted "No Confidence," and new president now. And the students cited what they called his lackluster response to racial insensitivity on campus.

And then at Yale, what some students describe as long simmering racial tensions. In one incident, a fraternity reportedly denied a black student entry to a Halloween party, saying it was for white girls only.

[08:15:00] The fraternity denied the allegations, but a Yale senior blogged this is not about Halloween costumes or a frat party but a mismatch between what -- the Yale that we find in brochures and the Yale that we experience every day.

Now, the actions at Yale and Ithaca College, you know, come after earlier this week the chancellor University of Missouri resigning. And as you pointed out, a second student was arrested for making threats on social media to, quote, "harm others". He was a student at northwest Missouri State University.

Back you do now, Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Paul. Thanks so much for all of that.

Well, there's dramatic new video to show you of this plane crash right into an apartment complex in Akron, Ohio, on Tuesday. You can see the twin engine plane. It slams into the building, bursting into flames. Seven passengers, all from one company, and two crew members were killed in this crash.

The NTSB is investigating. And witnesses report hearing the plane's engine cut out and then restart before dying again in the moments before impact.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We have breaking news for you. The FAA is investigating multiple laser attacks in go major cities over night. Three separate jets hit by lasers while landing in Dallas. No arrests yet and a trio of TV news choppers targeted in New York City. Two men though are in custody in connection with those attacks. Charges are pending. We'll stay on the story.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: You have likely heard all of the fuss about the Starbuck's red paper cup this holiday season. Well, Dunkin' Donuts may have stolen the holiday cheer. Yes, behold this, the word "joy" splashed across all of its coffee cups, along with wreaths and other holiday symbols. Starbucks has been taking heat for this cup. the plain red holiday design of its cups. The coffee chain has even been accused of a war on cameras. Outrage on social media spreading.

Perhaps the most appropriate rebuttal, perhaps. Somebody who did a cup and wrote "if coffee cups define your Christmas, honey, it is you that needs Jesus." CAMEROTA: Amen.

PEREIRA: Right?

CUOMO: Strong retort.

PEREIRA: A good retort.

CAMEROTA: Great. You also said joy like you say "Jeb" simultaneous.

PEREIRA: Joy.

CAMEROTA: Jeb!

Meanwhile, let's talk about one of our top stories today, and that's how spread -- wide spread is the racial tension on U.S. college campuses. Unrest at University of Missouri. There's a walk out at Ithaca College. There are protests at Yale.

We'll ask a university professor what's behind the unrest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:21:11] CUOMO: All right. Here is the situation. Do U.S. colleges have a race problem? Or has this become a movement out of control? Or both?

Institutions claim to be more diverse than ever. But protests are rising on claims of racism, poor race relations now spurred on by the ouster and of the president and chancellor at the University of Missouri. Calls for more by other universities.

Why is this issue coming to a head now? Are things really getting worse? Well, that be a process of things getting better. Big questions.

Jelani Cobb, director of the African Studies Institute at the University of Connecticut and staff writer for New Yorker, whose most recent article is titled, "Race and the Free Speech Diversion".

Thank you for joining us, Jelani.

Let me ask you. What do you think about this situation? Are we seeing a reflection of the real? Or is this a little bit hysterical?

JELANI COBB, UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT: No, I don't think it's hysterical. One thing that I have to say is that, you know, if you work on a campus, on a college campus, if you deal with young people, particularly young people of color, you've heard these stories for a really long time. It is not isolated to simply Ithaca or Yale or Missouri. This is something that, you know, you keep up with the chronicle of higher education we've had these issues some time.

CUOMO: I'm putting stats up so you know, that show 2009, 2014, 2015, cases of racial harassment. 2009, 96, 2014, 177, which was an obvious spike, 2015, they are down. The question to you is what are the stories behind these numbers? Are they reflective of the reality?

COBB: Well, you know, here is one thing. There is a great deal of this. As in other instances of crimes that are underreported or situations underreported, it is very difficult to know the student that is simply ashamed or embarrassed or frustrated and doesn't actually come forward.

So, it is hard to discern that about -- but what we can say is there is a constant low grade fever that there are young people who are consistently experiencing these kinds of, you know, racial sleights and conflicts and, you know, every Halloween there is an instance of black face. And cumulatively they have an effect. And it is a chilling effect for students who feel that perhaps these campuses are not places where they are welcomed, not places where they belong.

CUOMO: So there is a rational basis for this. Then the question of, is the reaction too severe? All of these different campuses now calling for the ouster of leadership. Is that the right way do it?

COBB: Well, I'm not here to critique. I think people have a right to decide who leads their institution. And certainly, in the case of University of Missouri, there was pretty significant things happening. If a young person had been repeatedly called by, you know, the infamous ethnic slur, racial slur. And there was kind of an arthritic bureaucratic response from the institution. Then, yes. It does go to the heart of people not having faith in their leadership.

And as I understand it, there had been other concerns about President Wolfe, even preceding this and not exclusively among students of color. And so, I don't think that we should gown the road of questioning people's sanity because I think that only further indicates exactly what people are talking about, that you are in a situation where you feel that you are isolated the people have made you feel unwelcome, yet when you respond people tell you that perhaps you are not perceiving this correctly.

People who were not in that situation nonetheless, tell you that you are not perceiving this correctly or perhaps you are hysterical or overreacting.

CUOMO: So, how much weight do you put in the nature of response, if the rationale is justified? But then how do you deal with the reaction to it and how it's handled in terms of instigating change?

[08:25:04] COBB: I think the one thing that is important is this is a college campus and people would not be admitted if we didn't have some sort of faith in the intellectual abilities. So, it kind of goes counter to the very purpose of institution of higher education to say well you have this perception but you really don't know what you're talking about.

So I think for me in my classroom, the one thing that I presume is that a I have roomful of rational, intelligent individuals and we're trying to come to some further understanding of the world around us because I think that's how we proceed. We proceed in the same way that we would in any other kind of circumstance where people have a question about leadership.

CUOMO: But it becomes a sensitivity issue on each side about how far do you go, what do you do, the appropriateness of the response.

We have the situation at Ithaca where supposedly a person of color on the panel while describing what was her motivation for ambition, she said something about having like a savage drive. The moderator then echoed when, you know, categorizing what each person had looked to for the source of their enthusiasm and called her a savage, and then was called for other protest you have to get out.

Is there a point where you start seeing everything through the lens of bias?

COBB: Well, I mean, I can't speak specifically to the Ithaca situation. What I think is kind of interesting here is that, you know, at what point do we say perhaps there is a "there" there. You know, at what point do we grant credibility? What we tend to do is talk about one isolated instance.

So this is one particular thing that happens at Ithaca. And I'm much more concerned with context. I'm a historian. I say, well, there is one isolated incidence and this is contrary to the general climate of this campus, then I think the incident won't go anywhere. But if that incident winds up speaking to a broader reality that taps into something people relate to, then sometimes it is just one small situation that sparks a much greater response because things have been building up long before that.

So, I don't know about that about Ithaca. But I do know in other circumstances this is the narrative that we've heard from students again and again. I've been teaching for almost 20 years at this point. And this has ban consistent theme when I talk with students of color. This is not simply African-Americans. When I talked with Asian-American students, when I talked with Muslims after 911, they have had these sort of experiences on predominantly white campuses.

CUOMO: Well, I think that is a really helpful lens of perspective on this. Is it an isolated event? Or is it a single event that reflects a general feeling that goes to many different events and experiences?

Jelani, thank you very much. Appreciate the perspective on this.

COBB: Thank you.

CUOMO: We'll continue the story as the events unfold before.

So, what you do think? You heard what the professor has to say about it. We hear what's going on. There's certainly a controversy building. Tweet using #NewDay, or post your comment on Facebook.com/NewDay.

Mick?

PEREIRA: All right, Chris. Europe's refugee crisis is growing. Hundreds of thousands still trying to flee and try to get into countries that are now taking greater measures to keep them out. We're live from the shores of Greece, next.

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