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Clinton Spends Extra Time Campaigning in Nevada; Pope Francis Visits Poorest Parts of Mexico; How Supreme Court Fight Is Affecting Presidential Race; Deadly Air Strikes in Syria. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired February 15, 2016 - 13:30   ET

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


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[13:32:06] WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Senator Bernie Sanders is campaigning in Michigan today. The Democratic presidential candidate is expected to meet with families affected by the tainted water crisis. He has also scheduled a rally just an hour or so from now.

Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, is getting ready for a campaign rally in Nevada today. She was originally scheduled to move on to Florida for a rally there, fundraisers, but instead decided to spend another day in Nevada. She sent her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to headline the event in Florida.

Brianna Keilar is with us right now. She's following all of this stuff, the Democratic contest, which is getting intense right now.

Why spend an extra day in Nevada? I thought poll numbers were looking good. They have Democratic caucuses this Saturday?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. The campaign doesn't want to admit they are particularly worried about Nevada, and she has enjoyed this lead, but I don't think that they're confident enough in where Hillary Clinton is in the poll numbers. And maybe where the momentum is. I spoke with some Sanders campaign aids, and while they're managing expectations, they're certainly not saying that Bernie Sanders is going to win in Nevada. They also feel that they have some good momentum going into the caucuses on Saturday night.

And then the other thing is, you know, Wolf, is that when you're talking about caucuses, they get a little squirrely, compared to just voters going to the cast a ballot. It's a little different. It's a little harder to predict. So when you're looking at polls, you can't be as sure that the numbers are exactly where they are.

BLITZER: And she's meeting, tomorrow, I take it, in New York, with African-American leaders, right?

KEILAR: That's right. She'll be meeting with Marc Morial, of the National Urban League, also with Cornell Brooks, who heads up the NAACP. And Al Sharpton is going to be there. This is about a week after he met with Bernie Sanders. You'll remember that Bernie Sanders won the New Hampshire primary with a very big win, and the next day, he took a bit of a victory lap, and that included meeting with Al Sharpton in Harlem.

This is with an eye to South Carolina where the African-American vote is key to a Democratic victory. You've been seeing both of these candidates getting endorsements, Hillary Clinton from John Lewis, from the Congressional Black Caucus PAC, Bernie Sanders from civil rights icon, Harry Belafonte. This is part of that, where they're trying to show certainly that they are concerned. They both have made visits to Flint, Michigan, which is a largely black city, obviously, dealing with the lead in the water crisis. They are trying to tell African- American voters that they are the best candidates to represent them. We'll see, you know, who wins that.

BLITZER: South Carolina, the Democratic primary that's coming up, what, more than 50 percent of the likely Democratic primary voters are African-American, unlike in New Hampshire or Iowa. It's very, very tiny number.

KEILAR: Right now, Hillary Clinton definitely has the advantage in South Carolina. Nevada, more competitive as we look at these two races.

BLITZER: Probably one of the major reasons she's having the meeting tomorrow.

KEILAR: Right.

[13:35:00] BLITZER: All right, Brianna Keilar, thanks very much.

Pope Francis celebrating mass in southern Mexico today. We're going to tell you why it was a historic stop for the pope on his trip through Mexico.

We'll be right back.

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BLITZER: Pope Francis is in one of the poorest parts of Mexico today. After spending the week in Mexico City, he's in Chiapas State, in the southern part of the country today. This part of Mexico is heavily populated by indigenous people. Just a while ago, he celebrated mass in indigenous languages.

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POPE FRANCIS: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

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BLITZER: Rosa Flores is there in Chiapas for us.

Rosa, last year, the pope apologized to the peoples in South America for what he called crimes by the Catholic Church, and today, he addresses similar issues in North America. What was his bottom line message today?

[13:40:15] ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, he focused on the environment, Wolf. He focused on his encircle on the environment, mentioning that among the poorest of the poor, is Mother Earth. And then he said, he looked at all of the people in the crowd, and said, you know, you, the indigenous, have been used and abused by just so many for centuries, including many elites. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE FRANCIS (through translation): Some have considered your values, culture and traditions to be inferior. Others, intoxicated by power, money and market trends have stolen your lands or done things which contaminated them. How sad this is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: He also said that in modern day, we use and abuse the earth as well. And that we have a lot to learn from the indigenous people -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Rosa, the trip is certainly without -- isn't without controversy. On Wednesday, the pope scheduled to say mass in Juarez, near a fence separating the U.S./Mexico border. This was met with some criticism here in the United States, especially from some political types, like Donald Trump, for example. What kind of reaction though is it getting on the Mexican side of the border?

FLORES: You know, people in Mexico see it very differently, Wolf. They think about the 80,000 people who have died in the drug war since 2006. They think about those routes, those smuggling routes that smuggle not only drugs, but also people, and about the $19 to $29 billion that the American consumer pays for drugs. So it's very personal for people in Mexico. And many are offended by what Donald Trump has said from the beginning of his campaign, calling Mexicans rapists and criminals. It hits people here in the heart. So what they're hoping to hear from Pope Francis are words of hope and mercy.

BLITZER: Rosa Flores covering the pope's visit to Mexico. Rosa, thank you very much.

Up next, just when you thought the presidential race here in the United States couldn't get anymore intense, a U.S. Supreme Court vacancy is stirring things up out there on the campaign trail. Our panel is standing by to take a closer look at how the Supreme Court fight is affecting the race for the White House.

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[13:46:55] BLITZER: The race for president of the United States was already tumultuous, but now the fight over a U.S. Supreme Court vacancy is shaking up the race even more. Let's talk with our political panel. Joining us, Doug Hattaway, a

Democratic strategist, former Gore campaign national spokesman, former senior advisor to Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, and he's joining us here in Washington. Also, joining us from New York, our CNN political commentator, Tara Setmayer.

Tara, first of all, Republicans are betting, at least a lot of them, that this Supreme Court vacancy will galvanize the party, help them politically. Is that a risky bet?

TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Not necessarily. I think that, given the make up of the court, given what a larger-than-life conservative stalwart Scalia was, we have candidates, other than Donald Trump and a couple others, but most of our candidates can articulate the importance of the Supreme Court. And I think they can use that effectively as an issue this time. Normally, it's not. They don't think that Supreme Court justices are really a sexy issue during a campaign season, but this is not a conventional campaign season. Losing a Supreme Court justice at this point, it hasn't happened in a while. So I think that Republicans can effectively leverage this, highlighting the seriousness of electing the next president of the United States, and that doesn't bode well for, necessarily, like a Trump.

BLITZER: Doug, Democrats can leverage this debate as well, make this a big issue going into the presidential election.

DOUG HATTAWAY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think so, too. I agree it would drive up the importance of the Supreme Court in the election, particularly for the base, you know, people really pay a lot of attention. But I think there's a risk here for Republicans in the larger narrative. And it's this kind of obstructionism getting in the way of the president doing his job, of the Senate doing their job to confirm nominees. People want the government to work. And one of the problems that the Republicans have had is a narrative that through government shutdowns and other things like this, they're obstructionism puts partisan politics ahead of the greater good of the country. I think that's the risk for them here. And Democrats should be dragging that message.

BLITZER: Go ahead and respond to that, Tara.

SETMAYER: The problem for Republicans is if they don't message it correctly. Democrats have done this plenty of time before. Senator Barack Obama joined in a filibuster against Samuel Alito when he was up for the Supreme Court position, which he ultimately won. Chuck Schumer, he's another one. He's saying, oh, push it through, the president has a right to get his nominee. Yeah, but Chuck Schumer was the first person to say with 18 months to go in Bush's term that he doesn't deserve to have another Supreme Court justice. We can't allow a third person to be nominated by George Bush, god forbid.

So if the Republicans point out the hypocrisy on the other side. Then I think they can win the argument. Article II in the Constitution says, yes, the president has the right to nominate, but with the advice and consent of the Senate. It doesn't say the Senate has to approve anybody. So if they make the argument for the American people to understand the importance of waiting until the next term, I think they can then win that.

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SETMAYER: It should be about the Constitution.

[13:50:00] BLITZER: Doug, you've heard the argument several times that the Democrats in this particular case are being hypocritical, because if the shoe were on the other foot, they would be doing what a lot of the Republicans want to do right now. Your response to that?

HATTAWAY: Yeah, that's not a new story line in Washington, is it?

SETMAYER: But it's true.

HATTAWAY: But I think back to my point, the stepping into the larger narrative about obstructionist Republicans in Congress, in this case, short-changing the Supreme Court when there are a lot of important cases before it, important to the lives of the American people before it. I think they're in a risky position that they could have a Democratic president and a Democratic Senate during this next year. They also have the prospect of cases coming up -- it's a bit of a mixed bag, but there are cases coming from lower courts that would stand if there were a tie that conservatives, Republicans won't like. I think there are plenty of dynamics here. But if Democrats focusing on what has been a problem for Republicans consistently, the narrative and the reality that they don't want the government to work for the greater good, for the benefit of the American people. This is yet another example of blocking government from doing what it is supposed to do. And short changing the Supreme Court, holding it hostage for a year, that sort thing, that taps into the narrative that people find discomforting about the way Republicans have comported themselves in Washington.

SETMAYER: And, Doug, just telegraphed what the Democrats are going to do. We're going to hold the Supreme Court hostage and use that kind of hyperbolic language when that's not what we're necessarily doing. The court can actually run, it can function just fine, if there's only one -- you know, one justice short. The Supreme Court actually has a choice to hold over important cases if they want to. The Supreme Court runs pretty much its own ship if it wants to. The Constitution says it only needs to have one chief justice as the Congress decides the makeup of the court in every other instance. So they've done -- justices have recused themselves before, so there's only been eight justices in a case. So there are ways for the Supreme Court to continue to function just fine one Supreme Court justice short. But we can't allow the other side and people like Doug to use language like that and not hit back hard with our counterargument to show that that's not what we're doing. And this is why waiting in the best interest of the American people --

(CROSSTALK)

HATTAWAY: The American people voted twice for President Obama. He's doing his job. The Senate needs to do their job in the Democratic process.

SETMAYER: That's right. And the Senate's job is to advise and consent. If the president puts up a nominee that's not a consensus nominee, then it's the Senate's job to block it. That's why we have a balance in government.

BLITZER: All right, guys, we're going to continue this debate presumably for months and months and months.

Guy, thanks very much.

Coming up, CNN gets exclusive access to the front lines of Syria's battle against ISIS. We're going there. We'll take you there live.

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[13:57:00] BLITZER: Two hospitals and a school in northern Syria are attacked within hours of each other, bombed from the air in a series of devastating strikes. The most recent attack hit a hospital supported by the group Doctors Without Borders, killing at least seven people. Earlier, an air strike targeted a hospital and a school in a town not far from the Turkish border. 15 people are dead. The Turkish prime minister is blaming Russia. The U.S. State Department just released a statement condemning the air strike.

Our senior international correspondent, Fred Pleitgen, joins us from Damascus, Syria.

Fred, first, what are you learning about these deadly air strikes?

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They were absolutely devastating, Wolf. And they also came in two contested areas, in the north of Syria, one more towards the east, close to the Turkish border, and the other one in Idlib Province, which on a contested highway that the Syrian government has tried to take back from rebel forces. At this point in time, it's still unclear who conducted these air strikes.

The Turks are saying it was the Russians. They say at least that one air strike killed 15 people, it was apparently a cruise missile launched from the Caspian Sea. The Russians so far have not commented on these accusations. But it is clear at this point in time these air strikes were absolutely devastating. 15 people killed in one air strike alone. Also, a school that was sheltering internally displaced people hit as well. A devastating incident that has caused not just condemnation from the U.S., but from the United Nations as well -- Wolf?

BLITZER: You were also, Fred, given exclusive access to the front lines of the Syrian government's campaign against ISIS, against the rebels there, inside Syria. What did you see?

PLEITGEN: Well, it was on the fringe of Raqqa Province, so right on the edge of ISIS' self-declared capital. We went to the front line there and spoke to one of the commanding generals for a large swath of land. The war up there is a lot different than in cities like Aleppo. It's less urban combat. It looks like a conventional war. A lot of artillery working there almost constantly, a lot of tanks, armored personnel carriers. It's a desert landscape. You see Assad's forces there. They have the high ground in these places and are firing there into the desert.

I spoke to the commander there he said it is Russian air power that, at this point, is allowing the Syrian military to hold up against ISIS and make advances as well. One of the things he said is that he believes that if the Russians continue to do what they're doing right now, the Syrian military might be able to reach the town of Raqqa, so the capital of ISIS territory, by the end of the year. But of course, as we know, in a civil war, there always are a lot of ifs -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Fred Pleitgen has been doing excellent reporting for us on the front lines in Syria. Not every day that a news organization has this kind of access.

Fred, be careful over there. We're grateful for the access you have.

We're going to have more from Fred coming up tomorrow.

That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

For our international viewer, AMANPOUR is next.

For our viewers in North America, NEWSROOM with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.