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Republican Rivals Unleash on Rubio; Growing Calls to Cancel Rio Olympics Due to Zika; Jeb Bush Attempts to Kick-start Presidential Campaign. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired February 4, 2016 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:30:00] RICK SANTORUM, (R), FORMER SENATOR: You know, here's what I would say about that. My feeling on Marco is someone who has tremendous potential, tremendous gift.

The Republicans have been a majority for one year and one month, of which, as you know, he was running for president primarily. The first four years, he was in the minority and nothing got done.

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BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: I mean, listen, Dana, they were trying to get, you know, some response. Maybe he didn't have enough coffee this morning. I don't know. Do you think people are more attracted to the idea?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Rick Santorum has enough energy for all of us, he doesn't need coffee. The real answer is what he's most known for is something that Rick Santorum couldn't say, which is helping to push forward a bipartisan immigration bill, a comprehensive immigration bill. One that he says, and I've been with him at a couple of town halls here now in the past few days in New Hampshire, that, you know, he insists he's proud of, he, Rubio, but that it just can't get done for various reasons. So that's the hard thing I think for Rick Santorum. Back to the whole idea of Chris Christie, you know, pounding away at Rubio.

I do think that A.B. is right, that it might not help to go full- jersey on Rubio. But this is a guy who is clearly very frustrated. He has been doing what you're supposed to do, following the John McCain model to come up from the political dead and he sees Marco Rubio coming in here and he's clearly just annoyed about it. That I think is part of it.

The other part of it is at this point people know who Chris Christie is and I just know that anecdotally from talking to a lot of people who go to Rubio events and they say they've seen Chris Christie and they like him. What he's trying to stop is people who do like Chris Christie from going to Rubio because they think, these voters think, that Rubio is the winner. That I think is what the strategy is behind the Christie comments.

BALDWIN: Dana Bash, A.B. Stoddard, ladies, thank you very much. New Hampshire is the place to watch over the next couple of days.

Make sure you watch tonight. Donald Trump will join Anderson Cooper, "A.C. 360," this evening, 8:00 eastern, here on CNN.

Coming up next, Florida and Georgia are now officially on notice as this mosquito-borne Zika Virus continues to spread. All of this happening among growing calls to cancel the Summer Olympics in Brazil where more than one million people are believed infected. We'll talk to Sanjay Gupta, next.

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[14:37:01] BALDWIN: We're get you back to politics in a second.

But the Zika outbreak is spreading around the world. Both Florida and Georgia are the latest states to confirm Zika cases. In fact, Florida's governor declaring a public health emergency. That state has nine cases, all from infected travelers coming back to the USA. This is on the heels of the first confirmed case of the virus being transmitted through sex in the U.S. That happened in Dallas. Now the governor of Texas has beefed up his response teams.

Two major airlines, both Delta and United, are allowing some employees to opt out of traveling to Zika-infected areas.

Let's bring in the man with the answers here, our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

First question, as we keep reporting on these additional states, these additional cases, was the spread of Zika something they anticipated or is this sort of, you know, alarm bells ringing?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think they anticipated this. Keep in mind that all the people who have come back to the United States, those people who are infected, have come back from one of these countries where Zika is spreading. Besides that situation in Texas you mentioned, where a man brought back Zika and then through sex was -- infected somebody else, everyone else in the United States got this somewhere else and brought it back. That was expected.

What they think will likely happen, although in very, very small amounts, is some local spread, probably in south Florida, south Texas. Those are the areas where this type of virus has spread before.

BALDWIN: We were talking during the commercial break, so the originating country you said was Uganda, spread to South America. One of the countries where it spread, Brazil, and now these growing calls to possibly cancel the Summer Olympics in Rio. Is that a little premature?

GUPTA: Yeah, I think it is premature. I'll tell you why, Brooke. Keep in mind, and this is sort of the good news part of this, and that is the vast majority of people who get a Zika infection will have little or no symptoms. They may likely not even know they had the infection. So there's obviously a significant concern among women who are pregnant. I think the guidance has been that women who are pregnant probably shouldn't be going to one of these countries where Zika is circulating.

Also keep in mind, in terms of the way it did come from Africa and then eventually making its way to South America, it was via travel. It wasn't mosquitoes traveling that far. It was a person who carried the virus in their bloodstream, landed in a place where mosquitoes were around that person, and they started to spread it among the population. That's how this virus moves around the world.

[14:39:42] BALDWIN: Got it. Got it.

Sanjay, thank you.

GUPTA: You've got it. Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, a former colleague of both Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, a former house speaker in Florida, is teaming up with Bush against Rubio. He tells me why and whether he could change his mind. That's next.

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BALDWIN: Right now, Jeb Bush is scrambling to kick-start his presidential bid after finishing a distance sixth place in Iowa. The former Florida governor is vowing to wow supporters in upcoming New Hampshire. For the Bush camp, the pressure is on, big time.

Will Weatherford is joining me, one of seven former and current Florida House speakers who signed this full-page ad slamming Rubio, praising Bush in the "New Hampshire Union Leader."

So, Will Weatherford, welcome. Nice to see you.

WILL WEATHERFORD, (R), FORMER FLORIDA HOUSE SPEAKER: Thank you. Happy to be on.

BALDWIN: Let me just ask you, why is Marco Rubio, you know, not as qualified as Jeb Bush for the presidency in your opinion?

WEATHERFORD: Well, I think the letter we wrote spoke for itself to the citizens of New Hampshire. We all have respect for Senator Rubio. We all served with Senator Rubio when he was a House member and a speaker of the House. The fact of the matter is, when you compare and you contrast the records of the two men and the accomplishments of the two men, Marco Rubio's record pails in comparison to Jeb Bush's. Jeb Bush was a transformational governor in the state of Florida. He transformed our schools. He transformed our economy. Marco Rubio was a speaker of the House and he certainly did a fine job but his record doesn't compare to Governor Bush's. We want people to know that in New Hampshire.

[14:45:36] BALDWIN: OK, so, in New Hampshire, we've heard this from Senator Lindsay Graham, who endorsed Jeb Bush, by the way, saying, "If Rubio beats him badly in New Hampshire, Jeb is toast."

Toast. Would you agree with that?

WEATHERFORD: I think it would be a bad night for us. I think --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: What does that mean, "bad night"?

WEATHERFORD: We didn't -- we didn't play a lot in Iowa, but New Hampshire is a place where Governor Bush needs to perform well. There's no question. Nobody is denying that Governor Bush needs to perform well. And right now he is performing well. He's polling second in the polls. I've been on the ground there with him. There is momentum moving his way. People are starting to look for a leader. They're moving out of the entertainment phase of this campaign --

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BALDWIN: OK, hang on. Let me just jump in.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: I know there are a lot of polls out there. Bottom line, if he does not have a strong night, would you jump ship?

WEATHERFORD: I would never jump ship. Not just because it's Governor Bush but I don't do that. I don't think you jump ship from your friends or people you're supporting. I think Governor Bush is going to have a good night on Tuesday night. And I think if the citizens of New Hampshire are looking for a leader with a proven record who can unite our party and conservatives, they will find that person in Governor Jeb Bush.

BALDWIN: Let me play some sound. This is Jeb Bush campaigning in New Hampshire.

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JEB BUSH, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: I think the next president needs to be a lot quieter but send a signal that we're prepared to act in the national security interests of this country, to get back in the business of creating a more peaceful world. Please clap.

(APPLAUSE)

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BALDWIN: "Please clap." I mean, listen, this is somebody -- I feel like he's so totally likable. I talk to other people who are close to him and they say maybe he's too nice. He had to verbally cue the audience, Will, to applaud for him in New Hampshire. What do you think is behind his troubles in this race?

WEATHERFORD: I think that video's a little out of context. I think he was doing that to be funny, which it was funny if you were there. The truth of the matter is he is connecting in New Hampshire. He's

polling in second place. He's right there bunched up with everybody else. Donald Trump, which still baffled my mind, and everybody else's, is leading the pack in New Hampshire. But Governor Bush is right there with Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. He has an opportunity to beat them there. If he does, I think it will be a transformational moment for his campaign.

BALDWIN: All right, Will Weatherford, thank you so much.

WEATHERFORD: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, we have some breaking news. An exPLOsion on a plane that left this gaping hole while the plane was midair. Now confirmation that, indeed, explosives were involved. We have more on that.

Also, Donald Trump taking on a new tone in New Hampshire today. Might this be a sign of a shift in strategy? He's talking to Anderson Cooper this evening. Details on that ahead.

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[14:52:16] BALDWIN: We are three days away from the Super Bowl. And with Silicon Valley so close to the game, we're looking at how high- tech companies are changing sports.

CNN's Coy Wire is live in San Francisco.

Coy, what do you have today?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORT CORRESPONDENT: I have some good stuff for you, Brooke. It's a beautiful day here in the bay in the heart of Super Bowl city in downtown San Francisco. And all week, we've been talking about what happens when sports and technology collide.

Today we're introducing you to a maker, Dr. Jose Cortez, who is using electrical currents to measure body composition and our muscle's potential.

Check this out in our "Bleacher Report" by Intel.

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DR. JOSE CORTEZ, CO-FOUNDER & CEO, SKULPT: Understanding our body composition and how our muscles are doing is something that impacts the general population, anybody trying to improve their health and fitness as much as athletes.

I'm Jose Cortez, co-founder and CEO. My co-founder is a neurology professor at Harvard Medical School. I met him while I was a graduate student at MIT in engineering. We put our powers together, the medical side on developing a product with the engineering side, and that's how we came up with Skulpt.

Skulpt is a company that's focused on helping people improve their health and fitness using real science and technology.

To make a measurement, I press this button. The way it works, it's got 12 sensors. Those sensors apply a very small amount of electrical current you can't feel at all. If I apply this to the muscle, it applies that current and analyzes how the current flows through the muscle tissue. From that, it can determine the amount of fat you're storing in that part of your body, so your fat percentage, and also the muscle quality, which is a measure of how strong that muscle is. That relates directly to an athlete. One of the most important elements people measure for strength and conditioning and nutritionists on a team is the body composition of a player. And the current methods available are very expensive.

Because this product is so convenient, what coaches and trainers are telling us is now I can have my players do this more regularly and help them optimize their body composition so they can perform better.

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WIRE: The current methods for measuring muscle health and potential typically include invasive needles or biopsies, so the Skulpt team is hoping the new device will become the quick and painless alternative. Their latest device, the Chisel, is available on the company's website, Skulpt.me. That's Skulpt with a "K," by the way -- Brooke?

(CROSSTALK)

COY: I know you live an active lifestyle, so now you can see how those muscles measure up.

BALDWIN: I try. I try.

Coy Wire, enjoy San Francisco. Thank you so much. We'll see you back here tomorrow.

WIRE: You know it.

[14:54:45] BALDWIN: Meantime, next, Donald Trump or Ted Cruz, former president Jimmy Carter weighing in on this heated Republican feud, which Republican front runner he actually favors, and he'll tell us why.

Also, a back-channel allegiance. Are two establishment candidates working behind the scenes to take down Marco Rubio? We'll talk to a CNN contributor who is breaking that story up next.

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[14:59:44] BALDWIN: This just in to us here. Sources tell us that midair exPLOsion on board that passenger plane definitely was caused by military grade TNT. An initial analysis of residue from the plane tested positive for that particular substance.

(VIDEO)

BALDWIN: This was a commercial jet. It had just taken off, was 12,000 feet above Somalia when the blast ripped open this hole in the cabin. A passenger was believed to have been sucked out of the plane --