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AT THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA

Madeleine Albright: Women Must Support Clinton; Bill Clinton Accuses Sanders Supporters of Launching "Sexist" Attacks; Christie Continues Rubio Attacks; 60 ISIS Fighters Deployed to Europe Before Paris Attacks; . Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired February 8, 2016 - 11:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:31:10] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New charges flying back and forth in the Democratic race for president right now in the state of New Hampshire. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright raised eyebrows saying it is the duty of young women to support Hillary Clinton or else. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: A lot of you younger women don't think you have to -- it's been done. It's not done. And you have to help. Hillary Clinton will always be there for you. And just remember there's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Something many of us have heard Madeleine Albright say many times before. It had a very different tone. It seems it was taken when she was on the stage with Hillary Clinton.

Also former President Bill Clinton now accusing Bernie Sanders' supporters of launching sexist attacks against his wife. All this as Clinton is trailing Sanders among women voters in New Hampshire.

Let's talk more about this with Kristina Schake, the deputy communications director for the Clinton campaign.

Kristina, thanks for coming in.

KRISTINA SCHAKE, DEPUTY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, HILLARY CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Thank you for having me.

(CROSSTALK)

SCHAKE: Very, very busy.

BOLDUAN: Let's talk about Bill Clinton taking on Bernie Sanders, accusing his supporters of sexist attacks against Hillary. Also accusing Bernie of padding his resume in terms of endorsements. Was this a planned moment for Bill Clinton? SCHAKE: No, no. He's a passionate advocate for his wife. Bill

Clinton was an extraordinary president. He knows what it takes to do the job, and he knows his wife is the best person in the race to build on the progress of Obama. He's very passionate. He's been out there making the case for her.

I think what we've seen here is we -- both campaigns said from the beginning that they really wanted this to be about issues. The last few weeks we've seen the Sanders campaign make some kind of personal attacks on Hillary, both her character and integrity. Some of the facts are being pointed out about some of the things he's been doing that he himself has also participated in.

BERMAN: But you said Bill Clinton was off script?

SCHAKE: You know what? He's just as hesitant --

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: He went there with a list of endorsements and with clear things in his head to say. This was all on his own? The campaign had no knowledge?

SCHAKE: I will say he's out there making the case for her. What he was pointing out was true. Senator Sanders has been attacking Hillary for having the support of super PACs and the donations of Wall Street. We saw "The New York Times" reported that Senator Sanders has gotten more support from super PACs than Hillary has. And we saw in the reporting this weekend that he's actually a prolific fundraising from Wall Street and lobbyists. I think those are fair to point out the facts in this case.

BOLDUAN: Will Bill Clinton be continuing this? A lot of folks, when they see this side of Bill Clinton, when he can effectively take on attacks, a lot of people point to 2008 where a lot of people saw he went over the line, he went too far in some of his comparisons, some of his attacks on Barack Obama. Is Bill Clinton going to continue with his message?

SCHAKE: He's out there making the case for Hillary. He was point pointing out the facts. That's fair to do. It is Sanders campaign that made the attacks on Hillary Clinton, and he was responding and letting people know and setting the record straight.

BERMAN: It wasn't the Sanders campaign who said the sexist things that Bill Clinton was talking about. It's supporters of Bernie Sanders.

SCHAKE: That's true. And I have to say we were happy to see Senator Sanders come and asked his supporters to stop doing that. It's something that's real we see when women are voicing their opinions. They're getting trolled and attacked online. And we're sorry to see that. We're very happy that he asked his supporters to stop doing that.

BERMAN: Let's talk about Madeleine Albright. Because there's a special place in hell for women who don't help other women. She said this before. She said it at a Hillary Clinton campaign event.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: It was a little bit different to a different audience.

Generationally, there are young women who say, yeah, you know, this is not how we are making our decisions right now. And if you look at the polls, Bernie Sanders is leading among women in New Hampshire.

[11:35:10] SCHAKE: I have to say that Hillary has been a close friend of Madeleine Albright for years. Loves and respects her. As you know, she's been an incredible leader for women, breaking down barriers for women for years. It's a well known quote of hers. She has said it for a long time.

(CROSSTALK)

SCHAKE: You've seen it?

But Hillary has never asked anyone to support her because she's a woman. Of course, she believes in women helping women. She's asking women to support her because she has the best plans to make the difference of life in women in this race. She understands that she has room to grow with young women. And she's out there making the case. I mean, this weekend --

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: When you talk about room to grow, we're less than 24 hours out.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: What is a win in New Hampshire other than the obvious?

SCHAKE: I can just say she's working her heart out. We're doing the best we can. We know it's an uphill climb. It says a lot about Hillary's character. Some told her to skip the state because Sanders is from the neighboring state.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: But she wanted to do --

(CROSSTALK)

SCHAKE: But she wasn't running against somebody from a neighboring state. She loves New Hampshire. She was never going to give up the race.

BOLDUAN: If she loses, is it because he's from Vermont?

SCHAKE: Traditionally, it's been somebody from the neighboring state that won. I'd say she won Iowa. Really proud of Iowa win. We'll go on from New Hampshire. She's doing the best she can here. She was never going to give up on this state. And we'll go on from here and to the next states.

BERMAN: John McCain did beat Mitt Romney here. You can beat a neighboring politician.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: It can be done.

BERMAN: It can be done.

SCHAKE: We understand that he's doing really well here. But she was just never going to give up on this state. She's out there campaigning her heart out.

BERMAN: Flint, Michigan, she went yesterday.

SCHAKE: Yes.

BERMAN: There's a CNN debate there March 6th before the Michigan primary, which will be very interesting. Any plans to go back before the debate?

SCHAKE: We'll see. She said she's going to keep the attention on Flint, Michigan. I think it shows a lot about Hillary that she chose to go there. She's not a person who believes in rhetoric. She doesn't believe in only talking about problems only, or calling on someone else to do something. For her, the answer is, what can I do. When she learned about Flint, Michigan, she immediately called the mayor and said, what can I do. And she said bring attention to this, help us get federal funding, help us solve the problem for the children of Flint. So that's what she did. She's a change maker. She's a problem solver.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: -- go back?

SCHAKE: We're working on her schedule. You have to see, we're spending a lot of time in the next states. I'm sure you'll see her continue to focus on Flint and continue to spend time there.

BERMAN: Kristina Schake, great to have you with us.

SCHAKE: Thank you.

BERMAN: Thank you for coming in.

SCHAKE: Thank you so much.

BOLDUAN: Thank you.

BERMAN: We have one programming note. This Thursday, February 11th, CNN will be simulcasting the PBS News Hour Democratic debate, live, from Milwaukee. It's 9:00 eastern time. See it on CNN and your local PBS station. Back here to New Hampshire, Chris Christie, he is going across this

state ahead of tomorrow's primary. He had a big night at the debate Saturday night. He had a lot of fun. We saw him practically skipping through this bureau over the weekend. And he keeps on hitting Marco Rubio and hitting him hard. He's got an event today. Will he hit him again? And most importantly for Chris Christie, is it going to make any difference for him? We'll take you live to the Christie town hall when it happens.

BOLDUAN: Also ahead, Ohio Governor John Kasich riding momentum after a big debate and after 100 or more town halls in New Hampshire. He said he spent more time here than any other Republican candidate. Does that mean he can pull off a big surprise?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:43:11] BOLDUAN: Chris Christie is doubling down on his attacks on Marco Rubio after a brutal exchange during Saturday's Republican debate in New Hampshire. Today, Christie is making the rounds and is holding a town hall, coming up soon.

BERMAN: CNN correspondent, Phil Mattingly, in New Hampshire with the latest.

Phil, Chris Christie thinks he's the rainmaker. He thinks he's the guy who has turned the race upside down. What is he saying on the trail?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: For the second day in a row, John, Chris Christie saying the race is completely turn on its head, it's now wide open. Taking a bit of a victory lap after the Saturday night debate performance where Team Christie thinks they found their moment, at a crucial moment, with Christie sinking down in the polls over the last couple of weeks, getting hammered by negative advertising. It will not come as a surprise to you that this, today, his first of four town halls, took him about four minutes to continue his attacks on Rubio, which have grown increasingly sharp in the wake of that debate performance, even quoting, I'm sure, John, your favorite political philosopher. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That great political philosopher, Mike Tyson --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah?

(LAUGHTER)

CHRISTIE: -- he had a great saying. He said everybody has a plan until you get punched in the face. It wasn't like I came out of that hard, or it wasn't a sucker punch. I was --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He knew it was coming. CHRISTIE: I was telling them all week he's scripted and he's not

spontaneous and he doesn't -- he's not a leader.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: And I think, John, one of the most interesting things as I've been with Christie, he telegraphed every moment of that fight, the attack on Marco Rubio, and still feels like he got the better of it.

The big question with the Christie campaign is, what does this mean going forward? Does this hurt Rubio to the benefit of perhaps John Kasich, the Ohio governor, or Jeb Bush, the two top competitors for Christie, or will Chris Christie be able to pivot and take something from the attack? Christie says clearly he believes he's benefitting from it. In the town hall earlier today, he converted two or three voters. As we all know, 30 to 32 percent of republican voters in this state are still undecided. With just a few hours to go for the final pitch, Chris Christie thinks there's some place to move here and try to close the deal today -- Guys?

[11:45:26] BOLDUAN: Chris Christie clearly riding this. It couldn't come at a better time to have a moment like this, see this type of momentum especially in a state like New Hampshire. Are they telegraphing what a win is in the next 24 hours? You said, is it helping Kasich or Bush? Who is sending roses to whom here?

MATTINGLY: Kate, the metric has moved the last three weeks. Coming out of here the first among governors, beating Kasich and Bush. One of the most interesting things, and it's a question I've asked, why are you talking Rubio if you think you need to beat Kasich and Bush? I think what Team Christie is thinking right now is they need to come out in a good place. It's not necessarily at what place you come into. Christie says he thinks four or five people may come out of here. Usually there's only about three. One thing that's true, they came into 2016 low on cash, just over $1 million. They've had an OK month of fundraising but he needs a big performance to clinch donors to move forward in South Carolina. Christie saying yesterday they've made reservations in South Carolina. He and his super PAC have ads purchased for South Carolina. They're ready to go that way. But they need a big performance here, clearly, top four or five -- Kate?

BERMAN: Phil, Mattingly, just for the record, Mike Tyson, not my favorite philosopher. I'm more of a (INAUDIBLE) guy. He and Mike Tyson, neck and neck.

BOLDUAN: Close second. Close second.

BERMAN: Thanks so much, Phil.

BOLDUAN: Thanks so much, Phil.

Moments from now, Donald Trump getting ready to hold an event here -- shockingly -- in New Hampshire as the feud between Donald Trump and Jeb Bush erupts even further, if that is possible. Bush just called Donald Trump a whiner, a loser and a liar. What else could you add to the list? We'll take you there live.

BERMAN: Plus, Jeb Bush supporter, Peyton Manning, he was not on the campaign trail last night because he was busy doing something else. We will reveal what that is right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:51:39] BOLDUAN: We have breaking news, not about politics, but on the terror front. A source tells CNN that intelligence obtained before the Paris attacks in November indicated as many as 60 ISIS fighters had been deployed to Europe to launch attacks in five cities. Those cities included Paris, London, Berlin, and a major hub in Belgium.

BOLDUAN: CNN's terrorism analyst, Paul Cruickshank, has the details.

Paul, what more are you picking up? 60 ISIS fighters? That's amazing.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST (voice-over): Yes, we're told by senior European intelligence sources that the intelligence received before the Paris attacks indicated as many as 60 ISIS fighters had been deployed to Europe, and they were back on European soil, tasked to launch attacks against these five cities. There was no indication in intelligence that they were to be simultaneous attacks.

The intelligence suggested that the driving force behind these plans was the head of ISIS' external operations operation, a very senior operative in the group, described to me as the most dangerous terrorist in the world today.

But the intelligence which was received before the Paris attacks was fragmentary. It was difficult and vague to act on. They're clearly taking another look at the intelligence given what played out in Paris in November. And of course, if, say, 20 operatives were part of that Paris, and, of course, the worry, as expressed to me, is there could be up to 40 ISIS operatives still out there in Europe planning attacks -- Kate?

BERMAN: That's the problem, Paul, isn't it? Bad math here. You have people on the ground potentially still plotting terror. What is being done to identify them, and root them out?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, European security agencies are working overtime to try to prevent the next attack. They're under a lot of strain at the moment. The threat is higher than it's ever been. There are more than 6,000 European extremists that have traveled to Syria and Iraq, and almost 2,000 have come back to Europe. So these are worrying times, indeed, as we move forward. It appears that ISIS is pivoting increasingly toward international terrorism. That it's trying to focus on the European countries that are part of that anti-ISIS coalition to strike them in retaliation for the strikes that they are launching on ISIS in Syria and Iraq. There's a worry that as pressure ramps up on ISIS in Syria and Iraq and it suffers reverses, that ISIS could move even more towards international terrorism -- Guys? BERMAN: All right, Paul Cruickshank for us with the breaking news,

word that as many as 60 ISIS fighters deployed to Europe before the Paris attacks. And there could be 40 still at large.

Our thanks to you, Paul.

[11:55:49] BOLDUAN: Thank you so much, Paul.

Turning back to politics, moments from now, Donald Trump is getting ready to hold an event in New Hampshire as the feud between Trump and Jeb Bush gets even more personal now. Bush just calling Donald Trump a whiner, a loser and a liar. Donald Trump just responded himself. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: I'm Coy Wire, in Santa Clara, California, where the legendary Peyton Manning, for the second time in his career, raised the Lombardi Trophy as a Super Bowl champion. At 39 years old, Peyton became the oldest starting quarterback in Super Bowl history. Many think this was his last game.

He was asked about that moments after the game. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEYTON MANNING, DENVER BRONCOS QUARTERBACK: I don't know the answer to that. It's been an emotional week. I think I'll make a good decision, and I think I'll be at peace with it, whichever way it goes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Peyton Manning, having won one Super Bowl title with the Colts and now one with the Broncos, becomes the first quarterback in NFL history to win the big game with two different teams.