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CNN NEWSROOM

Trump Blames Earpiece in KKK Flap; Former Top DNC Official Backs Bernie Sanders; Chris Rock Takes On Diversity At The Oscars. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired February 29, 2016 - 09:00   ET

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


[09:00:01] BERMAN: Time for NEWSROOM now with Carol Costello.

Good morning, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. You guys have a great day. NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, Donald Trump on the KKK.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I know nothing about white supremacists. I also disavow David Duke. When we looked at it, I looked at the question, I disavowed David Duke. So I disavowed David Duke all weekend long on Facebook, on Twitter, and obviously it is never enough.

COSTELLO: This hour, I ask Donald Trump Jr. about race in America with one day to go until Super Tuesday.

Also, Hillary Clinton turns her focus to November targeting Trump.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We don't need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great.

COSTELLO: But Bernie Sanders is saying don't count him out.

Plus, Chris Rocking the Oscars.

CHRIS ROCK, HOST, THE 88TH ACADEMY AWARD: Otherwise known as the white people's choice awards.

COSTELLO: Taking on the Oscars' so-white controversy head on. But will anything change?

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. This may be the single most important week of this crazy political season and maybe one of the bloodiest at least among Republicans. This time tomorrow voting will begin in primaries and caucuses across

12 states and Super Tuesday with its hundreds of delegates could push the frontrunners closer to locking up the nomination.

Here's how the races stack up. According to a new CNN-ORC poll, Hillary Clinton appears to be pulling away from Bernie Sanders, 55 percent to 38 percent. And in the Republican race it's now looking even more lopsided. Donald Trump absolutely dominates with 49 percent or roughly more than all of these challengers combined.

Alabama's Jeff Sessions becomes first sitting senator to officially back Trump. But his rivals are on the attack with a new zeal over Trump's endorsement by white supremacist David Duke and specifically a CNN interview in which Trump appeared -- reluctant, rather, to disavow the former clansman.

Here's how Trump responded to critics this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The question was asked about David Duke and various groups. And I don't know who the groups are. I said, would you do me a favor and tell me the groups. He was unable to tell me them.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: He says, I'm just talking about David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan here, and you said, honestly, I don't know David Duke.

TRUMP: Well, let me tell you. OK. So let me tell you. I'm sitting in a house in Florida with a very bad earpiece that they gave me and you could hardly hear what he was saying. But what I heard was various groups. And I don't mind disavowing anybody and I disavow David Duke and I disavowed him the day before in a major news conference which is surprising because he was at the major news conference. CNN was at the major news conference. And they heard me very easily disavow David Duke.

Now I go and I sit down again. I have a lousy earpiece set, it's provided by them, and frankly he talked about groups. He also talked about groups. And I have no problem with disavowing groups but I'd least like to know who they are. It would be very unfair to disavow a group, Matt, if the group shouldn't be disavowed. I have to know who the groups are. But I disavowed David Duke.

Now if you look on Facebook right after that I also disavowed David Duke. When we looked at it, I looked at the question, I disavowed David Duke. So I disavowed David Duke all weekend long on Facebook, on Twitter, and obviously it's never enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. We have a lot to cover so let's begin with CNN's Chris Frates. He's in Birmingham, Alabama, this morning.

Good morning, Chris. CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Carol. So the

race for the GOP campaign sounding a lot more like a middle school spat than a race for the highest office in the land with Marco Rubio and Donald Trump trading personal insults over their looks. And with voting starting tomorrow in Super Tuesday states, Marco Rubio saying Donald Trump is a con artist and Donald Trump saying Marco Rubio is a choker.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He doesn't sweat because his pores are clogged from the spray tan that he uses.

FRATES (voice-over): Marco Rubio unleashing an onslaught of insults and putdowns Sunday night in his latest string of personal attacks on Donald Trump.

RUBIO: Donald is going to not make America great, he's going to make America orange.

FRATES: Only hours after Trump took jabs at the freshman senator at a rally in Alabama.

TRUMP: Little Marco Rubio, a total, total featherweight.

RUBIO: He is always calling me Little Marco. And I'll admit, the guy -- he's taller than me, he's like 6'2", which is why I don't understand why his hands are the size of someone who is 5'2". Have you seen his hands? They're like these. And you know what they say about men with small hands. You can't trust them.

FRATES: This as Trump stirs up controversy for what he didn't say.

RUBIO: Donald Trump refused -- refused -- to criticize the Ku Klux Klan.

[09:05:06] FRATES: The billionaire refusing to disavow support from former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke.

TRUMP: I don't know anything about David Duke. OK.

FRATES: Trump deflecting questions by CNN's Jake Tapper.

TRUMP: I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacist. So I don't know. I mean, I don't know -- did he endorse me? Or what's going on because, you know, I know nothing about David Duke.

FRATES: But on Friday.

TRUMP: Did David Duke endorse me? OK. All right. I disavow. OK?

FRATES: And Trump does know of the clansman. Back in 2000, the billionaire ended his brief flirtation with a presidential bid with the Reform Party who had ties to the former KKK leader, saying in a statement reported by the "New York Times," "This is not company I wish to keep."

And Trump took to Twitter Sunday to once again disavow Duke's support but only after he was attacked by some rivals.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRATES: Now Donald Trump got another boost from the establishment on Sunday when Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions endorsed his candidacy at a big rally here in the state. The immigration hard liner, the first sitting senator to get behind Donald Trump's run as the billionaire continues to call less establishment support behind his candidacy -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Chris Frates, reporting live from Birmingham, Alabama, this morning. Thank you.

Donald Trump's awkward tap dance on David Duke's endorsement has given his challengers something in short supply these days -- hope. They gleefully seized on the apparent stumble with Marco Rubio even saying the controversy now makes Trump, quote, "unelectable."

Joining me now to talk about this Katrina Pearson, the national spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, and Tara Setmayer, former Republican communications on Capitol Hill.

Welcome to both of you.

TARA SETMAYER, FORMER REPUBLICAN COMMUNICATIONS ON CAPITOL HILL: Thank you.

KATRINA PEARSON, NATIONAL SPOKESWOMAN, TRUMP CAMPAIGN: Hi, Carol.

COSTELLO: Hi, Katrina. Hi, Tara. Katrina, I'm going to start with you. Trump disavowed Duke on Friday but did not do that on Sunday and then he tweeted he did disavow Duke. This is how Ronald Reagan disavowed the Ku Klux Klan when it endorsed him in 1984.

This is a quote from the "New York Times." Ronald Reagan said in 1984, quote, "Those of us in public life can only resent the use of our names by those who seek political recognition for the repugnant doctrines of hate their espouse." Reagan went on to say he repudiated the clan's endorsement.

Katrina, why doesn't Mr. Trump follow Reagan's lead and use really strong language like that?

PEARSON: Well, you know, I think what's important and what's also being left out of the media reporting is that David Duke did not endorse Donald Trump and David Duke himself came out against CNN just last night to say that that was not true. But I'll say this. Mr. Trump without hesitation unequivocally disavowed the endorsement when it was first brought up. CNN was there. And so that's why he was confused when Jake Tapper was asking the same question and other groups, in quotes, I might add.

And Mr. Trump just said, look, I don't even know what you're talking about. So I think that this has really been blown out of proportion and it really does highlight more media bias when no one has asked Barack Obama to disavow Senator Robert Burt who was not just a clans member but a leader in the clan when he endorsed him in 2008.

COSTELLO: So, Tara, is Katrina right? Was Mr. Trump just confused? You heard what he told Matt Lauer, on the "Today" show, he said he had ear piece problems, he couldn't hear well enough.

SETMAYER: I mean, there is no level that this guy will not stoop to, to not take responsibility for the things that he says and does. He obviously thinks that the American people are stupid. You know, he brags about how he manipulates folks. He talks about it in his book "Art of the Deal," about how he plays to people's fantasies. He talks about how he can -- you know, you can con people for a while but eventually they catch on.

We sit and we watch this play out over the weekend where Donald Trump took five different positions because he got pressured into having to actually admit to what was going on. David Duke absolutely came out and said that it's against your heritage if you don't vote for Donald Trump. OK. That's an endorsement. Give me a break.

And then to come in here and say, well, I couldn't hear what was knowing on, they gave me an earpiece that wasn't good and I couldn't hear. Anyone who watched that saw the interview with Jake Tapper. Donald Trump clearly heard everything that Jake Tapper said. He responded to it. He didn't say, I can't hear you. This isn't a good earpiece. But, you know, I mean, for Katrina to sit here and make excuses and then try to deflect which is what Donald Trump does all the time, to deflect away from what we saw in his own words and his own actions is insulting.

But apparently, and all these folks seem to believe, they are buying into it. But we need to start to expose this kind of stuff because Donald Trump never takes responsibility for anything he says. Anything.

COSTELLO: So, Katrina, should Mr. Trump perhaps give a speech once and for all strongly disavowing David Duke?

PEARSON: No, because he's already done that and David Duke again did not endorse, and you can go look at David Duke's own words. However, I know that the establishment is really grasping for straws right now because they see that their guys aren't going to make it. So I completely understand the frustration. But here are the facts.

[09:10:01] The facts are that he was not endorsed by the KKK or David Duke and when he was first asked about it without hesitation, he unequivocally denounced David Duke, period. That becomes the story.

(CROSSTALK)

SETMAYER: So why did he hedge on Sunday? Then why did he hedge on Sunday when he was asked to clarify.

PEARSON: I just -- I just explained the whole thing to you. SETMAYER: Because he didn't hear the question?

PEARSON: Because CNN was there. CNN was there. They asked him another question and said other groups. What exactly is that? I mean, come on, let's admit this, the media and the Democrats have called the Tea Party racist and extremist and Nazi. Should we have him disavow the Tea Party, too? Absolutely not.

SETMAYER: That's not the case.

PEARSON: Donald Trump asked for an explanation.

SETMAYER: Jake Tapper was very clear. Jake Tapper was very clear. Donald Trump went to Wharton. He brags about how smart he is. You're telling me that he couldn't answer unequivocally? I'm sorry, but if that is the case I absolutely disavow any --

PEARSON: He did answer unequivocally.

SETMAYER: Any white supremacy. No, he did not.

PEARSON: Shall we roll the tape again?

SETMAYER: Out on Sunday morning, he did not.

COSTELLO: He said -- well, he did -- wait a minute. We did roll the tape. And when Mr. Trump was responding to Jake Tapper, he said he didn't know who David Duke was. He clearly said that. I don't know why he said that but he did indeed say that.

SETMAYER: And then try to blame it on the earpiece.

PEARSON: Because there were reports that came out -- Carol, there were reports that came out that it was not true, that there was no endorsement. So he was -- he didn't know what Jake was talking about after he already disavowed.

COSTELLO: No, no. No. He said he didn't know who David Duke was.

SETMAYER: But listen. Let me say something right here.

PEARSON: Because it has already come out that it didn't happen.

SETMAYER: All of that doesn't matter. It's clear that Donald Trump is a manipulator, he does it all the time because he thinks people are stupid and that everyone (INAUDIBLE). But what are facts also is that we aren't even talking about Donald Trump's questionable history with race back to when the DOJ sued the Trump Organization for racial discrimination in the 1970s or when Donald Trump came out and said how much he loves, quote, "the blacks." Or, you know, I mean, we can go down the list of very questionable things that Donald Trump has said. But I don't know, maybe Katrina Pearson is one of the blacks he likes since he pays her to clean up his mess every day on television.

PEARSON: Snopes is a really good Web site to check out some of those statements. SETMAYER: That's not Snopes. The Department of Justice, Katrina.

(CROSSTALK)

PEARSON: Now we're just going to throw anything out, aren't we?

SETMAYER: Wait a minute, how about when he wrote --

PEARSON: No. So we're just going to throw anything out there, aren't we?

SETMAYER: How about the (INAUDIBLE) where he said that he hates blacks that wants you, that count his money, but he wants short guys who wear Yamakas to count his money, and he hates black bankers. How about that?

(CROSSTALK)

PEARSON: Carol, this is the thing.

SETMAYER: You can laugh all you want but that these are --

PEARSON: Democrats -- Republicans are very, very desperate right now to where they're turning into actual Democrats, they're trying to use race baiting.

SETMAYER: Are we? No, that is Donald Trump with the Democrats.

PEARSON: Tactics like that to try to take down a candidate.

COSTELLO: All right.

SETMAYER: That was Donald Trump turning Democratic.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: All right. I got to end this.

SETMAYER: He's the imposter, not me.

COSTELLO: I got --

PEARSON: He's winning. That's all that matters.

COSTELLO: I got to end this now.

SETMAYER: Unfortunately to you, apparently that's all that matters. Not integrity.

COSTELLO: I got to end it there. Thanks to you both, Katrina Pearson, Tara Setmayer.

Stay with us. In just about a half hour we'll talk to Donald Trump Jr. about his dad's campaign. The latest controversy and Trump's momentum heading into Super Tuesday. And the Democrats are hitting multiple states today looking to score

big in tomorrow's Super Tuesday showdown. Hillary Clinton stumping through Massachusetts and Virginia. Her husband, Bill, will also visit Massachusetts following a swing through Texas.

You're about to look live at the stage in Houston where the ex- president is expected any minutes now.

Her rival Bernie Sanders today begins in Minnesota before a rally tonight near Boston. He then heads to Vermont where he's expected to spend Super Tuesday.

Senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns is traveling with Sanders who just got a major endorsement from a former DNC official.

Good morning, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. I think one of the things that shows is that the Republicans are not the only ones who have cracks in the armor as we go through this presidential nominating process. That endorsement for Bernie Sanders coming from Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii resigning from the DNC, her position as a vice chair, and throwing her support behind Bernie Sanders.

Now she has been an outspoken critic of the DNC's handling of the debate process but she says her reasons for doing this have more to do with the war and the position of president as commander-in-chief. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TULSI GABBARD (D), HAWAII: We need a commander-in-chief who has foresight, who exercises good judgment, and who will not waste precious lives and money on interventionist wars of regime change.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: So we are in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where, by the way, Bernie Sanders is expected to appear just a couple of hours from now. Once again Tulsi Gabbard throwing her support behind him -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Joe Johns, reporting live from Minneapolis this morning. Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, he didn't take home an Oscar last night but Chris Rock is taking over Oscar headlines this morning. Talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:15:05] COSTELLO: Chris rocked it. The comedian bringing the Oscars so white controversy center stage at the academy awards.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHRIS ROCK, COMEDIAN: Well, I'm here at the Academy awards otherwise known as the white people's choice awards. You realize if they nominated hosts I wouldn't get this job. Y'all would be watching Neil Patrick Harris right now.

This is the wildest, craziest Oscars to host because we have this controversy, no black nominees. People are like Chris, you should boycott, you should quit.

There is only unemployed people tell you to quit something? Why this Oscars? Why this Oscars? It's the 88th academy awards which means this whole no black nominees thing has happened at least 71 other times.

I'm sure there were no black nominees some of those years and black people did not protest. Why? Because we have real things to protest at the time.

[09:20:09]We had real things to protest, too busy being raped and lynched to care about who won best cinematographer. When your grandmother is swinging from a tree it is hard to care about best documentary foreign short.

Everybody wants to know in the world is Hollywood racist? You know, that's -- you have to go at that the right way. Is it burning cross racist? No. Is it fetch me some lemonade racist? No. It's a different type of racist.

We want opportunity. The same opportunities and that's it. Just not just once. Leo gets a great part every year. Great parts all the time. What about the black actors?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: All right, so let's talk about this with CNN senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES," Brian Stelter, and political commentator, Marc Lamont Hill. Welcome. So Brian, you know, Chris Rock, he could have come out on stage and made a couple of jokes and just went on. He just went for it.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: And kept going and going and going to the point where in the 9:00 and 10 p.m. hours. Some people felt like it was too much. He was continuing to hammer home the point maybe too much.

But I would say better to have too much than too little on a topic like this. Keep in mind, this is the second biggest stage on all of TV in the United States. After the Super Bowl, the Oscars is most watched show on television here.

So he had a huge and one of a kind opportunity to talk about this issue. I think the way he addressed it saying this is about opportunity was spot on.

COSTELLO: Mark, did he rock it? MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Absolutely. Chris Rock is one of the great observational comedians, one of the great intellectual comedians in the country. I knew that when he was hosting these Oscars after the controversy he was the perfect person for it.

He hit Hollywood repeatedly. He went the entire show basically with race jokes. I think that was important. It was inversely proportionate to the number of nominees there were. Maybe next year hopefully they'll be more nominees and more award winners and then he won't have to make these types of jokes.

COSTELLO: Maybe not. I thought it was interesting when Chris Rock was poking fun at Jada Pinkett Smith for boycotting the Oscars. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROCK: Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihanna's panties. I wasn't invited. It's not fair that Will was this good and didn't get nominated. You are right. It is also not fair that will was paid $20 million for "Wild, Wild West."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So Marc, what does he mean by that? What is the underlining meaning of that?

HILL: He was trying to offer criticism saying not everybody was nominated but not everybody deserves to be nominated. Maybe Leo deserved the award last night. At the same time, it's not just about who wins the award, it's who gets nominated and access to the academy and who gets to do deciding. Chris Rock was having fun with the Smith family.

STELTER: I do think anyone like Leo who climbs inside a deceased horse carcass and lives inside it for warmth is an acting performance that does win an Oscar.

COSTELLO: Yes, that's why I didn't see that movie.

STELTER: You should see it. It was really good. But I was happy "Spotlight" did win big picture. Even though "The Revenant" was expected to win. It was wonderful to see such a serious issue like priest abuse highlighted on stage like that. Lady Gaga singing a song for sex abuse survivors, same thing, really impressive, serious tone to the whole night.

COSTELLO: Going to back to Chris Rock, as he was speaking and giving his monologue, Marc, they were showing reaction shots in the audience. For me I felt kind of sorry for some of them. So uncomfortable. I'm just throwing the other side at you.

HILL: Watching a bunch of uncomfortable white people in a crowd made me so happy. That is part of the conversation. You have a conversation about race you will be uncomfortable sometimes. Chris Rock was pointing out some very profound truths about the Oscars and racism in America.

Yes, that's going to make some people uncomfortable. There were some people didn't know whether to clap or laugh. I thought that was awesome. I thought that was amazing. I think that can be the kind of discomfort that moves us into a new place as nation, discomfort combined with action.

[09:25:03]COSTELLO: Maybe so but didn't you feel sorry for those who did win the Oscar because now they think, well --

STELTER: Some of the people accepting awards weird they weren't acknowledging the controversy. I always love watching Chris Rock poke fun at the millionaires in the audience, talking about the $30 million salaries and hitting them up for money for Girl Scout cookies. It's also fun to watch them wiggle in their seats a little bit when talking about how rich they all are too.

COSTELLO: Hopefully, it's opened up a wider conversation in our nation and I think that's valuable. Thanks to both of you, Brian Stelter and Marc Lamont Hill.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Marco Rubio taking a page out of Donald Trump's playbook calling Trump orange and making fun of the size of his hands. What is this about?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Hillary Clinton hoping to run up the score against Bernie Sanders.