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Change in Clinton Strategy?; Russian Spy Controversy; Trump vs. Cruz; Monster Snowstorm. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired January 21, 2016 - 15:00   ET

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


[15:00:01]

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, chances are a few of the films debuting here may soon be coming to a theater near you.

Stephanie Elam, CNN, Park City, Utah.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Stephanie, thank you.

And now, starting our next hour here on CNN, I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me.

It's threatening some 75 million people and could very likely ground thousands of flights. Get ready for what's shaping up to be the first massive blizzard of the year. But exactly how big are we talking?

Well, apparently, as much as two feet of snow from Kentucky all the way up northward to New Jersey. And for some of the Southern states, it could mean that dreaded I-word -- being from Atlanta, I get this -- ice.

(WEATHER UPDATE)

BALDWIN: But politics now.

Donald Trump, Donald Trump, arguably the most unconventional presidential front-runner of, let's say it, the 21st century, now getting a new label. And this one may be the surprising, most surprising thus far. He's being called the establishment candidate by his friendly foe Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Right now, the Washington establishment is abandoning Marco Rubio. They have made the assessment that Marco can't win this race. And the Washington establishment is rushing over to support Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Cruz made the statement after he took a series of hits from the party, the latest from Bob Dole, a former senator from Kansas and 1996 Republican presidential nominee. He told "The New York Times" this -- quote -- "I don't know how he,

Cruz, is going to deal with Congress. Nobody likes him." He goes, "If he's the nominee, we're going to have wholesale losses in Congress and state offices and governors and legislatures."

Let's begin here with CNN political reporter Sara Murray following Donald Trump's campaign. She's live in Las Vegas, where a Trump rally happening there this afternoon.

Establishment candidate, how is that going over?

SARA MURRAY, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, up is down. Black is white.

Today, Donald Trump, the guy who has said some of the most controversial things in this race, is casting himself as a unifier. And Ted Cruz is going after Trump, Ted Cruz, a sitting senator, saying that it's actually Trump who is the establishment candidate.

[15:05:05]

Now, a couple days ago, Trump addressed this to the media, saying a number of Republicans are calling his campaign. They want to get on board. And he's not exactly sure whether that's a good thing. One thing is for certain. You're definitely seeing establishment Republicans, influential Republicans, having this moment of reckoning, looking at Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, and saying, one of these guys could end up being the nominee and we better figure out which one we think is a lesser of two evils.

BALDWIN: What about Ted Cruz? Ted Cruz is campaigning with one big name in conservative circles, and Trump has specifically lashed out against that. Tell me about that.

MURRAY: That's absolutely right. Ted Cruz is going to be hitting the campaign trail with conservative commentator Glenn Beck.

Now, Glenn Beck says it's not an endorsement, but it certainly is a big name to have with you campaigning. And, of course, this comes in the wake of Donald Trump landing that Sarah Palin endorsement that you have to imagine Ted Cruz would have liked to have. Donald Trump, as he is wont to do, took to Twitter to express his feelings on this.

He said: "Wacko Glenn Beck is a sad answer to the Sarah Palin endorsement that Cruz so desperately wanted. Glenn is a failing, crying, lost soul."

So, you see Donald Trump mincing his words like he normally does, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Sara Murray, thank you.

Donald Trump may be winning more voters because of Sarah Palin's endorsement, but Palin lost some respect from veterans after she linked her son's recent arrest and post-traumatic disorder to President Barack Obama. Here's the backstory. Police in Wasilla, Alaska, arrested her son Track Palin Monday. He's

been charged with domestic violence, assault and possession of a weapon while intoxicated. Here is what Sarah Palin said about Track, who served in Iraq in 2008, when George W. Bush was president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: My son, like so many others, they come back a bit different. They come back hardened. They come back wondering if there's that respect for what it is that their fellow soldiers and airmen and every other member of the military so sacrificially have given to this country.

And that starts from that. The talk -- the question, though, it comes from our own president, where they have to look at him and wonder, do you know what we go through? Do you know what we're trying to do to secure America?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Today, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said domestic violence, gun violence, addiction are -- quote -- "not a joke."

Joining me now, Matthew Miller. He's a chief policy officer for the IAVA. That's the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

Matthew, great to see you.

MATTHEW MILLER, IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN VETERANS OF AMERICA: Good to be here with you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: First, out of the gate, you saw Sarah Palin there and her message. Your reaction?

MILLER: Well, Brooke, I'll tell you, veterans issues should not be left, right or center. They're America's issues.

I think that the governor missed an opportunity on about three levels by politicizing post-traumatic stress disorder. She missed an opportunity to use her platform, to use her fame to call attention to a very serious issue, post-traumatic stress.

She missed an opportunity to talk about Veterans Corps and expansion of those. Veterans Corps exist in 40 states. They provide alternative sentencing for veterans that may commit crimes due to mental health issues.

And, lastly, I think, as a parent, she missed an opportunity to talk to Track and encourage him to seek help in a very private way. We have 80 percent of our respondents to the latest IAVA survey, national survey that we do, said that it was a parent or a loved one encouragement that caused them to go seem help.

BALDWIN: PTSD is not to be politicized. You're echoing also of course what your colleague Paul Rieckhoff, the head of the IAVA, said very strongly last night in a message publicly.

What does it say to you, though, too, Matthew, that Trump agrees with what Sarah Palin said? In fact, from what I have read, he encouraged her to bring this up.

MILLER: Well, look, Trump and Sarah Palin, they may be entitled to their opinion, but they're not entitled to their own facts. And the facts of the matter are that spending is at an all-time high under President Obama when it comes to funding Veterans Administration.

Look, we would rather prefer them talk about what they are going to do to help veterans if they are elected president. We have got all the candidates running. In 10 debates, they have mentioned the word veteran about 31 times with no specifics attached to that.

That's what we would prefer them to do. Talk about the fact that we need to decriminalize suicide attempts under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. We need to expand the number of years that veterans can apply for benefits from five to 15 years.

[15:10:05]

We need to look at the VA and have them look at a best practices and talk about how they can best help veterans with mental health issues.

BALDWIN: Thank you for the specifics. You read my mind. I just wanted to hear what it is veterans, IAVA, want to hear from these candidates, who thus far, some, haven't provided those specifics.

Matthew Miller, thank you so much.

MILLER: Well, thank you, Brooke, and thank you for your support of veterans.

BALDWIN: You got it. Thank you.

MILLER: You're welcome.

BALDWIN: Coming up, less than two weeks out from the Iowa caucuses. Question, is Bill Clinton pushing for a strategy shift with regard to his wife's campaign? This as we learn the Clinton Presidential Library will soon release hundreds of pages of records detailing past ties to Donald Trump. We will talk to a Clinton senior adviser about this and the latest e-mail controversy next.

Also, did Russian President Vladimir Putin order the murder of a former Russian spy? A new bombshell report accuses the Russian president in a poisoning plot.

Also breaking news right now, word of a Paris-style attack, armed militants storming a popular beachfront hotel and restaurant. We have a report coming up for you.

You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [15:15:31]

BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Twelve days to go here until the big Iowa caucuses. But for Bernie Sanders, the focus is on the future, Super Tuesday, March 1. That is when voters in 11 states head to the polls. Sanders apparently already hiring staff and airing TV ads in some of those states. And according to at least one report, Bill Clinton is feeling pretty nervous, urging his wife's campaign to get prepared.

Meanwhile, in the thick of all this, Hillary Clinton says she has a different opponent who is trying to hurt her presidential chances, the intelligence community, Clinton brushing off reports from the inspector general this week that her private e-mail server contained above top secret information.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This seems to me to be another effort of to inject this into the campaign. It's another leak. I'm just going to leave it up to the professionals at the Justice Department, because nothing that this says changes the fact that I never sent or received material marked classified.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Her camp going farther, claiming the head of the intelligence community conspired with Republican senators.

I have senior adviser, senior spokeswoman for the Hillary Clinton campaign Karen Finney joining me now.

Karen Finney, nice to see you back here.

KAREN FINNEY, SPOKESWOMAN, HILLARY CLINTON CAMPAIGN: Great to be with you, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Got a lot to go through, but first just on politics and on the trail, this one report indicating that Bill Clinton may be a little nervous, calling -- in touch with his wife, in touch with the campaign, about really let's shift strategy and focus on March 1, on Super Tuesday.

Can you respond to that report?

FINNEY: Yes.

And I thought that was an odd story. There have been a couple of them, because I have actually spent some time in those March states starting back in the fall. In November, I spent most of the month on the road going everywhere from Colorado to Alabama to Minnesota.

John Podesta, our chairman, has been there. Hillary Clinton herself has been in Louisiana, Ohio, so we have been focused on the March states to some degree for awhile. BALDWIN: Months ago.

FINNEY: Yes. We started thinking about -- but, obviously, you don't want to be presumptuous. But you don't want to take anything for granted.

So, the strategy was, we're going to focus on those four early states, but slowly start to ramp up in those other March states, because one of the things that I think we know is that having a strong infrastructure and a grassroots organization is really critical to your operation.

So, part of what I did was to go out and rally the troops and get people excited. And it was great to see all the enthusiasm that people have out there.

BALDWIN: So, with regard to the former president, though, and his role here, is he reaching out to the campaign? Is his role growing? Is he more active with you all? Is he picking up the phone every day, Karen Finney, and calling the head of the campaign? You know things.

(CROSSTALK)

FINNEY: Look, he's her husband. He's the former president of the United States, so, sure, he's getting regular updates. And when he's out on the road, he will send back and say, here's what I'm seeing.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: But has that ticked up?

FINNEY: Not that I can tell.

Again, let's remember we're also moving farther into the calendar. So we're getting -- as you pointed out, we're getting closer to the point where we're going to start -- people are going to caucusing in Iowa and voting in New Hampshire. And then we will hopefully continue to move to South Carolina, Nevada, and on to the March states.

BALDWIN: OK.

Let me get your response, too, to this. Apparently, there was a FOIA request. Bill Clinton's Presidential Library will be releasing 500 pages of records related to Donald Trump, the Trump Organization. What will that show about their relationship?

FINNEY: I don't know that we're going to learn anything new, although I don't know. This is a library paper, so it will be just as much of a surprise as it will be to you.

BALDWIN: No idea?

FINNEY: No idea.

BALDWIN: No idea?

FINNEY: No idea.

But I think -- but can I say something?

BALDWIN: Yes. Yes. Yes.

FINNEY: Regardless of what those papers may or may not say, I think it's very clear what Donald Trump's campaign is about right now.

And that's bigotry and bluster. And it's trying to take this country in a completely different direction. And that's part of why Secretary Clinton has spent so much time talking about what is at stake in this election, because Trump may use language that's a little bit more, shall we say, colorful than some of his other opponents, some of his -- others, but it's still the same policies.

It's trickle-down. It's stripping away the progress we have made. It's going backwards on immigration reform, on women's health care. So, whatever was said back then, I think what matters the most is this election and who is going to be the person that is going to deliver results for the American people.

BALDWIN: On Trump, you know where I'm going with this, the big endorsement this week, Sarah Palin. Your and the campaign's reaction to that, to her?

FINNEY: Great for him. Great for him.

BALDWIN: What does that mean? What does that mean?

FINNEY: You know, look, Sarah Palin is someone who is obviously very popular in the base of the Republican Party. So, great for him.

BALDWIN: Is that good for Hillary Clinton?

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FINNEY: I don't know that we think of it in terms of whether it's good or not. We're very focused obviously on our side of things and on our race, so, yes.

BALDWIN: OK. OK.

On e-mails, let me just read this report. This is a quote from Bloomberg View's Josh Rogin, writing -- quote -- "Intelligence officials, even inspectors general, are not immune from politics, but internal and partisan, but Clinton's team simply cannot prove that McCullough is leaking against them. Her campaign can only muddy the waters and delay until the FBI finishes its work. If the Clinton campaign decides then to go after the FBI, it will be picking a fight with an even more formidable opponent."

This is about the latest, obviously, you know, the dump, the revelations, the above the super top secret classification and the thought from the campaign that this was a conspiracy.

Your response to that? FINNEY: So, I'm going to make two points on that.

Now, let's just point out that this I.G. last summer asked for the Justice Department to do a review. They started that last summer. That process is ongoing. So it's sort of questionable why that I.G. would then continue to selectively leak information to Republican members of Congress, who, frankly, have already said quite publicly that their goal in all of this is to take down Hillary Clinton.

BALDWIN: These were beyond top secret e-mails.

FINNEY: Well, no.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: This is the most revealing apparently than before.

FINNEY: Some say these e-mails were innocuous. And remember that these are e-mails that, as the secretary of state said...

BALDWIN: The inspector general said this.

FINNEY: Well, that's one inspector general. There are others that disagree.

And, in fact, NBC News reported yesterday, there are others in the intelligence community who not only disagree, but they themselves -- and this is not us saying this -- this is insiders from the intelligence community saying that this gentleman has unfairly targeted Hillary Clinton.

So I think there are these questions out there.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: What would the motivation be for this inspector general to do this?

FINNEY: They have made it very, very clear that they want to take down Hillary Clinton. They have said that.

They were very honest about it just before she went for 11 hours.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: ... for that?

FINNEY: Well, again, I'm asking the -- why would you -- if you have asked for a review of information, and that process is ongoing, why would you do anything to interfere with that or to distract from that?

BALDWIN: I understand your question, but, with all due respect, what is the proof? Where's the evidence?

FINNEY: Again, I think the evidence is in the fact that we have continued to see this pattern, and again the idea being they are trying to stir the pot.

And that's fine. They can continue to do that, which is exactly what the secretary was saying. We're going to keep focused on winning in Iowa, winning in New Hampshire. The race is tightening. So, we know that obviously Senator Sanders, his record is being more closely scrutinized.

We raised today some very serious questions about his ideas on Iran, the idea of normalizing relations with Iran, the idea that we should send -- ask Saudi Arabia and the Iranian troops to come together in a coalition when they are mortal enemies?

So, we're going to stay focused on our campaign and making sure that people know, as I have said to you before, why Hillary Clinton is the one who is going to deliver results.

BALDWIN: We will see her and the other candidates Monday night at our town hall.

Karen Finney, thank you very much.

FINNEY: Great to see you.

BALDWIN: Just a reminder, if you haven't heard about this yet, Monday night, please join us here on CNN, a CNN Democratic presidential town hall in Des Moines, live in Des Moines, Iowa, exactly one week before those caucuses. That's Monday night 9:00 Eastern only here on CNN.

Coming up next, breaking news in Somalia. Armed militants are battling special forces right now after an attack at a beachfront resort. CNN has confirmed that at least some of the gunmen arrived by boat. You're watching CNN. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:27:45]

BALDWIN: Breaking news. We are getting word of this Paris-style attack, this coordinated attack under way in the Somali capital of Mogadishu.

Armed militants have stormed a beachfront resort and hotel complex. And Somali special forces are exchanging gunfire. A source tells CNN that some of the attackers apparently arrived by boat and that a suicide car bomber rammed the front gate of this restaurant.

Let's go straight to Africa to Robyn Kriel, who is in the phone from Nairobi.

Robyn, start at the beginning. When did all this begin?

ROBYN KRIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, at around 7:30 p.m. local time is when people report the first explosion, very, very loud explosion heard throughout Mogadishu on this Thursday night.

What we can tell you is the attackers lured security guards from inside the complex by shooting at the gate. Once the security guards came out, that's apparently when a car bomb was rammed into the main security gate, breaching the perimeter.

We're then not exactly sure how attackers made it from the beach area into the hotel complex, which was, we understand, very, very full. It is both a hotel and a very popular restaurant on Lido beach, one of Somalia, one of Mogadishu's busiest beaches. It would have been filled with people swimming, playing soccer and eating and drinking as well.

So, we understand that these attackers either came by boat or somehow on the beach, but there's a number of security guards on the beach, so that's why security sources tell us that these attackers came by boat, and they started exchanging gunfire with security. That's when obviously intelligence, Somali intelligence was called, as well as special forces. They have been battling these attackers for hours.

BALDWIN: All right, Robyn, watching very closely what is happening in Mogadishu, as this is ongoing, thank you very much. We will stay in close contact with you.

Meantime, back here at home, Michigan, lawmakers there approving $28 million to fix the lead-laced water in Flint. But what about the lingering health effects for people who drank it for months and months and months? Let's go straight to our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who is there, live in Flint, Michigan.

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