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Republicans Hours From Last Face-Off in 2015; Los Angeles Schools Closed Over Threat; Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired December 15, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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


[10:00:01] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Consisting of 648,000 students has received a threat of some sort, I don't know any of the specifics. But out of abundant caution, the superintendent shut down schools for the entire day.

We are expecting a news conference to happen at any moment. Of course when that news conference happens, we'll monitor it and we'll get more information passed along to you.

All right. Let's talk about the CNN debate. Eight hours and counting. The CNN debate stage is set for what could be one of the biggest nights of the political season.

National security, front and center tonight and the backdrop to another big event we're watching right now. In Russia, Secretary of State John Kerry meeting now with President Vladimir Putin to talk about the crisis in Syria.

We are on top of all of those things this morning. But let's start in Vegas, where the Republican candidates are getting ready for their final presidential debate of the year. My fellow CNN anchor, John Berman, is there, to set the stage.

Good morning, John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Carol. Yes, behind me is the Venetian, Las Vegas. Inside that building, the Venetian Theater. The stage is set for all nine candidates for that primetime debate 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Donald Trump will once again be front and center. This time, though, he's got a different next-door neighbor. Ted Cruz will be right next to him. Cruz has been rising in the polls. By function of that he will be standing next to Donald Trump.

This is the final Republican debate of 2015. The stakes could not be higher. After this, things quiet down for a couple of weeks as they head into the holidays. So these candidates, they have to get their message out now because they won't have another chance to do it for some time.

The last debate of 2015, it's also the first debate, Carol, since the attacks in Paris and the attacks in San Bernardino. And the topic tonight, national security. Which candidate will make the case that he or she is the best to keep America safe from terrorism?

COSTELLO: All right. John Berman reporting live for us. Thanks much.

As John just said, Donald Trump will be center stage. His star billing the latest gift of his hefty poll numbers. And today Trump has even more to crow about.

CNN's Athena Jones is also in Las Vegas. She has more on that. Good morning.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. You're talking about a new poll from ABC News and "The Washington Post." This is just the latest national poll to show Trump with a big lead over his nearest rivals. I should mention this poll was conducted after he made that controversial proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S. but if we put those numbers up on the screen, you can see Trump in the lead there at 38 percent. 23 points over second place Ted Cruz. Ben Carson, Marco Rubio tied there at 12 percent.

And so these strong numbers nationally mean that Trump is going to be a target on this stage behind me tonight. He knows that. Take a listen to him talking last night about tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They are all coming after me. I heard today, I'm watching, I'm saying, man, this is like crazy. Who's going to attack Trump first? Will it be this one? You know, he's taken down seven so far. You know if you look, so far everyone who's attacked me has gone right down the tubes so that's OK. That's good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And, of course, Carol, Trump is right. The people who have tried to attack him so far haven't fared very well. But maybe that will change tonight.

One more thing I want to bring up. We know that he's doing well in national polls. That means he has the support of a lot of Republicans. But when it comes to independents, that's another group of voters that candidates in both parties have to do well with to perform well in the general election.

I want to show you one more set of numbers from NBC News and "The Wall Street Journal." They show Hillary Clinton leading Trump by 10 points with independents. So another interesting set of numbers to add context to tonight -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Athena Jones reporting live from Las Vegas.

So the stage is set. Everyone is anticipating fireworks between Donald Trump and the surging Senator Ted Cruz. And while that is a possibility, other candidates may take on Trump. And not just because they believe he's unqualified to be president.

With me now to talk about this, Tara Setmayer, a former communications director for Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, and Mike Shields, former chief of staff for the RNC and current president of the Congressional Leadership Fund which works to expand the Republican majority in the House.

Welcome to both of you. Thanks for being here.

So, Tara, if Trump wants to squash Cruz, should he just confront Cruz as a, quote, "maniac" who's unable to compromise?

TARA SETMAYER. FORMER GOP CAPITOL HILL COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: No. I think actually Donald Trump made a huge mistake by calling Ted Cruz that. If you listen to conservative talk radio, you know, that's very influential in the GOP primaries, Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin and others have said, whoa, hold on there, Trump, you're not going after one of our darlings here.

And Ted Cruz is a darling of the GOP primary voters, particularly of the conservative movement and the Tea Party. So by calling Ted Cruz a maniac, Trump has actually kind of ventured into what the establishment, what the media, all of the folks that the GOP electorates mad at, that's what they -- how they categorize Ted Cruz.

[10:05:14] So I think that he needs to be careful how he chooses to go after Ted Cruz. But calling him a maniac is not wise.

COSTELLO: OK. So here's the thing, Mike. Everybody says conservative media is so strong, but the last time around they didn't support the candidate who won the primary, right?

SETMAYER: Well, I mean --

COSTELLO: Right? Right?

SETMAYER: They supported the nominee. We weren't thrilled with Mitt Romney, but he was better than Barack Obama.

COSTELLO: He was -- right.

SETMAYER: And so --

COSTELLO: But it took them a while, right?

SETMAYER: Yes, that's true. That's true. But Donald Trump, you have to remember, doesn't have the majority of support. He has the majority right now --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: No. No, I get it.

SETMAYER: -- because you have a million candidates but there are a lot of Republicans who do not support Donald Trump.

COSTELLO: OK. So, Mike, I'll ask you that question, in light of what I just said, is it really that dangerous for Trump to take on Cruz?

MIKE SHIELDS, FORMER RNC CHIEF OF STAFF: Well, look, I know it seems crazy but to the campaigns this actually kind of feels like about halftime. So you're going to watch a debate tonight that is sort of the last thing the voters will see before they go to the Christmas holiday and New Year's holiday. But then you're going to come back in January, all these candidates are going to be camping out in these early states. They're not traveling around the country. They're going to be in the states.

And so it's -- believe it or not, this is sort of like halfway through and what's going to happen in January leading into these caucuses and primaries is like the other half of everything that's going to happen. There's going to be a lot of volatility. People have to talk to the local reporters more. And so, sure, you're going to have some fireworks tonight. You're going to have some people attacking others. But I think everyone is still sort of sticking to their game plan a little bit that they've been following all along. Because believe it or not there's still a long way to go.

We're still -- the whole month of January away. There's another debate in January. So I think -- look, you may see Ted Cruz sort of seize the moment a little bit because he's rising in the polls. But I think by and large you're going to see a lot of these candidates doing what they've been doing to get them to this point.

COSTELLO: Well, hopefully they'll be talking substance, too. But a few of them really need to stand out like Marco Rubio, right? So he can go through that doorway and be the candidate he wants to be.

SETMAYER: Yes, I mean, I think Marco Rubio has been positioning himself. He's been kind of the turtle in this race here. But Ted Cruz has lapped him a little bit because he has more money, he has a better organization, and getting the momentum in Iowa is very important.

Now Chris Christie has been creeping up a little bit. He had a major endorsement in New Hampshire. New Hampshire is kind of built for -- kind of Chris Christie candidate. But they're still in single digits. And poor Jeb Bush. I mean, we're not even talking about him in the top three or four even. I mean, and he spent tens of millions of dollars and he's just not getting any traction. I don't think anybody would have seen that coming, that Jeb Bush would not even be in the top --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Well, interestingly enough, Mike, and some people think that this will be the debate where those lower tier candidates drop out like we're not even talking about the candidates who will appear in the lesser debate, right? And we're not talking about Ben Carson or Carly Fiorina either. So might this be the debate afterwards that some of these candidates will sit down and say, you know, I've had enough?

SHIELDS: Well, Dick Gephardt has sort of my best -- my favorite description of presidential campaigns which is that presidential campaigns don't end, they run out of money. And as long as the candidates have money, their super PACs are funded, they have federal dollars coming in, they're going to stay around. And so yes, you might see some people, there may be some volatility. I think the volatility happens after January 1st. You get into the next debate. The candidates are in those early states. That's when you're really going to start to see the field willow.

So I really don't expect to see someone sort of dropping out before Christmas. I think that they're going to continue to execute their game plans as they've been doing. It's going to look like some of the other debates. And I think you're going to see that volatility more around February 1st.

COSTELLO: All right. I got to end it there, Mike Shields, Tara Setmayer, because we have breaking news out of Los Angeles. The L.A. Unified Schools are closed due to some kind of threat. This is a news conference about that. Let's listen.

RAMON CORTINES, SUPERINTENDENT, LOS ANGELES SCHOOLS: This morning at just after 5:00 I received a phone message from Chief Zipperman, the school police, and he shared with me the threat that had been made to not one school, but many schools in this school district. He shared with me that some of the details talked about backpacks, talked about other packages, and after talking with him, also with the board president, I made a decision to close all of the schools.

I have alerted all six superintendents. They have been alerted. I've asked them to have their operations people talk to the plant manager at each school. I've asked the plant managers to walk the school, and if they see anything that is out of order, to contact the police. Not to touch anything, not to do anything, but to -- if they see anything out of line, to contact the proper authorities.

[10:10:15] We made contact with our Early Education Centers because these are our young children. We made contact with our special education to make sure that those that are not as mobile as some of our special students are taken care of. We have made contact with our adult education schools. We have made contact with our charter schools because the Board of Education has the responsibility and the district for all charter schools. So I've asked that they be closed also.

I think it is important that I take the precaution based on what has happened recently and what has happened in the past. I have asked the chief to be working with the city police department and the sheriff before the day is over, I want every school searched to make sure that it is safe for children and safe for staff to be there on Wednesday. I will issue a statement late this afternoon after the chief -- Chief Zipperman has informed me that schools have been searched and it is OK. I will keep you informed ongoing during the day if there are any situations.

One of the issues I've been worried about is children who walk to school. We have a great many of those, and so I've asked the principal to make sure that those children are at a specific gate so they can be given instructions, kept together, and so that we can make contact with parents to pick up their children or to make sure that they get home safely. Not independently. Home safely, making sure that their parents are notified. We have sent a connected to all parents letting them know of the action I've taken.

I will answer some questions after the chief and the Board president speak with you. Chief?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Superintendent, before -- could you start just from the beginning. A couple of people arrived late.

STEVE ZIMMERMAN, LOS ANGELES SCHOOL POLICE CHIEF: Good morning. Steve Zipperman, chief, with the Los Angeles School Police Department. And I just want to reiterate what Superintendent Cortines already stated.

Earlier this morning we did receive an electronic threat that mentions the safety of our schools. As a result of that threat, not only the Los Angeles School Police Department, but --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you start again, sir?

ZIPPERMAN: Excuse me?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you start again?

CORTINES: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A couple of people --

ZIPPERMAN: I'm going to continue on. As a result of that threat, the Los Angeles School Police Department as well as Los Angeles Police Department and the FBI were notified, and right now the threat is still being analyzed. In an abundance of caution, as Superintendent Cortines has indicated, we have chosen to close our schools today until we can be absolutely sure that our campuses are safe. And until it is deemed safe by law enforcement and concurred with our district officials, which we believe will be able to occur by the end of this day, we will keep those schools closed.

The investigation is ongoing. I'm not going to get into the details. I do want to say this, this is important, that the threat that was received as far as the L.A. Unified School District is concerned, pertained to the L.A. Unified School District. I know there have been many calls. I can tell you that. We know of no other threats that we're aware of, unless other agencies have gotten in specifics outside of LAUSD, that pertains to the threats that we got to our schools only.

We do not know any information about any other threats within the county region at this time. As I indicated, law enforcement will continue to evaluate the threats.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chief, would you introduce the chief --

ZIPPERMAN: Yes. I would like to introduce Assistant Chief Jorge Villegas, and he is the assistant chief from LAPD in charge of operations. Chief Villegas?

[10:15:09] JORGE VILLEGAS, ASSISTANT CHIEF, LAPD: Thank you. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to hear the microphone.

VILLEGAS: Good morning. I'm Jorge Villegas, J-O-R-G-E, V-I-L-L-E-G- A-S. I'm an assistant chief of the LAPD and the chief of operations. As was mentioned earlier, the school received a safety threat that we're in the process now of validating or vetting to determine what if any validity it has. As you can imagine, we take all threats seriously. Nothing is more important to us than the safety of our kids, especially those that are coming to and from school that haven't been notified yet of this safety threat.

We're doing everything we can to ensure that we conduct a thorough investigation into that threat and we'll be working with the school district as well as with the FBI to ensure that the public is informed as much as we can provide, as soon as we can provide it.

ZIPPERMAN: This is Steve Zimmer, he's the president of the Los Angeles Board of Education. How about we stand up? That's was musical chairs. Sorry, guys.

STEVE ZIMMER, PRESIDENT, LOS ANGELES BOARD OF EDUCATION: Good morning. My name is Steve Zimmer. I'm president of the School Board of Los Angeles Unified School District.

I'd like to speak, if I could, directly to families and employees. We are taking this action in an abundance of caution to make sure that every child in L.A. Unified School District and every employee is absolutely safe. Right now we ask parents and families, if you have not yet sent your children to school, please do not send them to school. If they have already been dropped off, we will have families meet their children at the Reunion Gates of all schools.

I want to be very clear. We need the cooperation of the whole of Los Angeles today. We need families and neighbors to work together with our schools and with our employees to make sure our kids are safe throughout the day. We need employers to show the flexibility that a situation like this demands. And we ask you to show the maximum possible flexibility with your employees who are primarily mothers and fathers and guardians today in this situation.

At our school sites, we have asked administrators and plant managers to report. We are not -- we are asking for teachers and other support personnel to stay home today.

Once again, I want to reiterate on behalf of the entire Board of Education, our support for the superintendent, for the chief of police, the actions that we are taking today, are swift and they are appropriate, given the situation that we are in. And we ask for the patience and the cooperation and support of the city. The education of our kids is incredibly important. The only thing that's more important is their safety. And the superintendent has acted in regards to that safety this morning.

I'd now like to introduce our deputy superintendent for operations, Dr. Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana, who will make a statement in Spanish. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could we ask a couple questions before you --

(CROSSTALK)

CORTINES: I said I would.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. What -- can you give us a little bit more about the nature of the threat? Why you feel this is so serious that school has to be cancelled?

CORTINES: I think later in the day, after they continue the investigation and vetting, as you heard the chief say, with the FBI, we will make a statement but not at this time.

[10:20:08] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was it a broad threat affecting all the schools or --

CORTINES: It was a broad -- it was not to one school, two schools or three schools. It was many schools. Not specifically identified. But there were many schools. That's the reason I took the action that I did.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The chief called it an electronic threat. What does that mean?

CORTINES: It was a message.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Cortines, was there any threat made to buses? We know all the buses were returned to the yards this morning. What do you say to that?

CORTINES: There was not a threat made to buses. The reason they were returned is because we're not picking up students. It was to students at schools. Nothing more than that at this time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Threat at schools, you said?

CORTINES: At schools, students, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Cortines, you mentioned some details regarding backpacks and other packages. Can you elaborate on that?

CORTINES: No, I can't. The chief after the -- he's met with the city police and the FBI, he will be making further statements on why I made the decision I made.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have more than 900 campuses. Are you able to say whether these are even elementary schools, high schools?

CORTINES: Let me tell you, I can't take a chance and all schools, I've asked them to be searched today by the appropriate people. And appropriate people are not necessarily teachers or support people if there is a problem. I want to -- our chief of police working with the city police and working with the sheriff to develop a plan. We have six districts to work systematically through every one of those schools. Some of them are very large schools. Some of them are schools with three and four rooms to them. But I want every school, every early education center, every adult school, I want them searched and a reported made to me and to the Board of Education that it is safe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did any members arrive early, well before 7:00 a.m.? Are all campuses being evacuated for anyone that was on campus?

CORTINES: They have been told to go home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happens to kids who may already be at school? Are you telling their parents to come pick them up now or --

CORTINES: Yes. There has been a connected. The board president reviewed that with you, that they have been asked to meet at a certain gate. The principal to be there, the plant manager to be there, no child to be left alone. I know it is cold. We're making every effort to see that we get the notification to parents as soon as possible, but I am not taking the chance of bringing children any place into any part of the building until I know it's safe.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you clarify, then? This is all students, teachers, staff, all personnel, everyone involved in your campuses?

CORTINES: In -- at the campuses, yes. That is what I've done, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Incorporates everyone?

CORTINES: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you give us a little context? I know you can't go into the specific threat but a little context for our parents at home. How many threats does the school district -- how rare is that you get a threat like this?

CORTINES: This is a rare threat. We get threats all the time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, what I want to ask you then is why was this one --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let him finish, sir. Go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm just curious about this one in particular, why it gotten this kind of response?

CORTINES: I think the circumstances in the neighboring San Bernardino, I think what has happened in the nation, I think what happened internationally, I as superintendent am not going to take the chances with the life of a student. Remember, we do get individual threats. We do evacuate the schools. We do lock down schools, et cetera, and do not release students until we notify parents. So what we're doing today is no different than what we always do except we are doing this in a mass way. OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We know it's early, but at this point for people who are watching right now. I know there's an update, going to come later today but where do we stand for even tomorrow?

CORTINES: Yes, I have no comment on that. I've told you that I will release a statement before the end of the day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can we do Spanish language now?

CORTINES: I want to introduce you to Monica Garcia, board member. She will translate for us.

COSTELLO: All right. Now they're going to talk Spanish to the Spanish-speaking audience in that press conference room in Los Angeles.

[10:25:03] But again, all Los Angeles County schools have been closed for the day because of some unspecified threat. The FBI has been called in, Los Angeles Police are working on it, school police are working on it.

This is unusual. And you heard the superintendent say that he's acting out of an abundance of caution because of just -- because of what happened an hour and a half from Los Angeles in San Bernardino.

I want to bring in our security analyst, Tom Fuentes, Peter Bergen, our terror analyst is also with me.

But, Tom, I want to start with you. The superintendent said the threat was an electronic threat. And the FBI is now involved. What does that say to you?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, two things, Carol. First, the electronic part could be Twitter, Facebook, any social media posting, or a direct e-mail or it could be an e-mail from one person to another person saying this is what we're going to do, we're going to blow up a school, or shoot people coming in or leaving one of the school facilities or a school bus.

And that person may have gone ahead and relayed it to the authorities, eventually contacting the FBI because of, you know, the aspect that it could be terrorism, and not just a -- you know, it could be a prank similar to pulling a fire alarm in a school just to watch everybody scurry around, and have the day off and all of that, but you can't take that for granted, so they closed the whole school down and contacted the FBI to start looking at this.

One thing about it, the person from the school district talking about the search of every one of these schools, and you see the photo of every one of these buses. It could even be on a bus, you know, an explosive device. What a task. And all school district personnel can't be exempted. They're going to need janitors to go in with bomb techs to open locked doors or closets and other facilities where someone could have hidden a device. But the idea of searching schools, normally occupied by 640,000 students, what a task. That will be an enormous operation to do that.

COSTELLO: I can't even imagine -- I can't even imagine doing it. You heard what the superintendent said at the last, he goes, you know, we lock down schools all the time. But this is unusual. He's closing down an entire district. 640,000 students are involved. That's kind of odd, isn't it, Tom?

FUENTES: It's very odd. And -- but the problem is that threat wasn't specific. I mentioned pulling a fire alarm. When you do that it's one building and the fire department comes to that building. You evacuate that building. But in this situation, if you have an unspecified threat to the general school district, then they have to decide. They don't know, you know, that one building is more threatened than another or if it's a complete hoax, complete prank just to watch the authorities run around all day and expend these resources and give 600,000 students the day off.

COSTELLO: Which it absolutely could be. I want to put things into perspective. We don't know what this is. It's an unspecified threat. We don't know what it is yet. So we should -- I would say we should remain calm at this moment.

I want to bring in Peter Bergen now. I was in Los Angeles over the weekend and people are very nervous about what happened in San Bernardino because it was so close by. A lot of people in Los Angeles were wondering why it didn't happen in their city, so people are on edge there.

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, Carol. I mean, we've seen polling data indicating that Americans are more concerned about terrorism today than they've been at any time since October of 2001 directly after 9/11. Of course, this is also linked to the continuing rise of Donald Trump in the polls because for a lot of people he seems to provide the answer to this terrorist threat.

And the school superintendent did reference the San Bernardino attack and he also talked about overseas attacks. For instance, the ones we saw in Paris. So that's the context here. And both -- a number of the officials who spoke talked about an abundance of caution, yet they also said at the same time, that this is a very rare kind of threat, that, you know, they get individual schools that are threatened, they close them, but they -- that this is kind of an extraordinary measure.

So -- and based on what they were saying about the searches of all the schools, it's clear that the threat involves some kind of device, you know, some kind of bomb, otherwise why would you be searching all of these schools so thoroughly, which is the plan today, Carol.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. I know, Tom, after being in Los Angeles that many who run universities and school districts have gone over their security measures and they put in new security measures as needed. So -- but, you know, you can't really protect against something like this if someone just calls in some unspecified threat.

FUENTES: No, you really can't. And if you look at the various attacks, whether they were committed by an individual psychopath or whether it was related to a terrorist attack on a school, we've had every type of school attacked in the last 10 or 15 years from pre- schools all the way up through universities. And then when you look at large school districts or even large -- (END)