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Hillary Clinton Holds Rally In Boston; Trump Crowd Chants All Lives Matter; Protesters Removed From Trump Rally; Rubio Speaks In Atlanta On Super Tuesday Eve; Rubio in Atlanta; Cruz in Texas; Texas Win on Super Tuesday. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired February 29, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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


HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (live): -- we were successful but it should never have happened in the first place. And then, I went to Alabama. I went undercover that time to try to gather information about communities that were setting up what can be called segregated academies to avoid integrating the public schools and were looking for tax-exempt status to be able to afford to do so.

Those are some of my earliest experiences understanding the barriers that stand in the way of our fellow men and women. And it just lit a spark in me, that because I had a good education. You know, I didn't have anything to do with picking my parents or deciding I was going to be born in the United States. But, boy, did I luck out on both counts, because I had not only a strong family but I had the backing of my country. At least that's the way it felt to me.

Despite all our problems, all the barriers, we always believed that it would get better, that we would keep opening the doors of opportunity, keep expanding the circle of rights. And that's what we have done. Not as fast as many of us would have wanted but we kept moving forward.

This election, as much as any in my memory, will test that proposition because there is, make no mistake about it, a very strong force that wants to turn us back.

So, I really hope that we will not only understand what's at stake but, as the mayor said, tell everybody you can reach because this touches everybody.

Think of those barriers. We have economic barrier, don't we? Barriers where we don't have enough good jobs with rising incomes. We need to get back to a win-win economy. Now, it wasn't so long ago that we had that. Back in the 1990s, when another Democrat was president of United States, we had 23 million new jobs created. The most in any peace time era of our nation.

But more than that, incomes went up for everybody. Not just people at the top. Middle-class families, working families, poor families. The median family income in America went up 17 percent. The median family income for African-American families went up 33 percent. And we lifted more people out of poverty that at any time. Why? Because nothing beats a good job with a rising income to lift people up, to give them a chance for a better future. And I want us to create more jobs, and there's a lot of ways we can do

that. We can do it in infrastructure, our roads, our bridges, our tunnels, our ports, our airports.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Hillary Clinton at a rally in Boston, Massachusetts, one of the Super Tuesday states tomorrow. A very important state in all of these contests, Democratic and Republican.

The pressure to perform well on Super Tuesday has led to sharper tongues on the campaign trail. Some of the most biting insults have some from -- actually, from Senator Marco Rubio aimed at the front runner, Donald Trump.

Jason Carroll is following the Rubio campaign for us in Atlanta today. Jim Acosta is with the Trump camp in Radford, Virginia. Jim, firs to you. We just saw a group of protesters escorted out at that Trump event. Tell us what happened.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENBT: That's right, Wolf. And I should mention right now, we can point them out. There's another small group of protesters being led out of this Trump rally on the campus of Radford University. They were initially resisting security efforts to leave the building. They are now leaving.

But earlier than this, Wolf, just a few moments ago, if we can roll that footage, there was about 20 or 30 protesters in the stands just off to my right who were saying a variety of things. One of those things was black lives matter. They were saying some other things that we couldn't make out. They were initially resisting efforts from security to leave the premises and then they eventually did.

There was a little bit of an altercation between some of those protesters and members of security before they eventually left the building. And then, it was at that point, Wolf, that Donald Trump up on the stage behind me said, all lives matter. And the crowd here was chanting, all lives matter.

But there have been several disruptions during this rally, Wolf. At one point, there was a lady, who appeared to be of Hispanic dissent, who was protesting. She was asked to leave.

[13:05:08] And then, Donald Trump asked the protester, at that point, in front of this entire crowd, are you from Mexico? So, it has been sort of a ruckus (ph), very sensitive moment here during this Donald Trump rally.

But he has been, sort of, going through the boilerplate speech we've heard over the last several days, very caustic, very negative comments aimed at Marco Rubio, the same aimed at Ted Cruz. And it's just an indication as to how on edge this election is getting heading into Super Tuesday -- Wolf.

BLITZER: It certainly is. I want to listen in to Donald Trump right now. Let's listen.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (live): Do you want to shout out? Who did it? Come on. Press, who did it? Come on. Very well known. One of the top in the world. OK. He got absolutely killed. So, I would never do that. But he said she was just -- you don't want to listen to it for four years, folks. And also, your country will be torn apart if that happens. It'll be torn apart.

Now, let me -- let me tell you something. Hillary complained and she said, I don't like Donald Trump's tone. She also said Donald Trump is sexist. And I talked about her husband. That was the last time I think I'll ever hear that. She had a miserable weekend four weeks ago. I tell you what, four weeks ago, her and Bill had a very bad weekend. Bill said to her, why did you say that to him? And I think we're not going the hear it too much anymore, to be honest. That was a tough, tough weekend they had.

But you have to hit them with the facts, right? We have to hit people with the facts. So, look, Hillary said she doesn't like my tone. The word, tone, was used. And I'm saying to myself, you know, we have people in the Middle East, if you're a Christian, you get your head chopped off, right? But we have people in the Middle East chopping off heads. Beyond the Christians, they're chopping off heads. They're drowning people, drowning people in steel cages.

Nobody's ever seen -- this is like -- we all studied medieval times. I read medieval times. They chopped off heads. We haven't had anything like this. The world is a mean and evil place. And we need a strong tone. We can't have that weak, weak pathetic tone. We can't have it anymore. We need -- we need --

BLITZER: All right, we're going to go to Virginia to monitor Donald Trump. He's speaking out on the campaign trail right now. I want to go back to Jim Acosta. He's over at the event. It has been getting nastier by the day, hasn't it, Jim?

ACOSTA: It really has. And Donald Trump has been trying to, you know, respond to Marco Rubio almost in real time as Marco Rubio has shifted in this very aggressive style, trying to out-trump Trump at these campaign rallies. You know, saying over the weekend, Donald Trump is trying to make America orange again, talking about the size of Donald Trump's hands.

You know, when he first walked out here, Wolf, Donald Trump started talking about our new CNN-ORC poll which shows the GOP frontrunner way out in front of the rest of the GOP pack on a national basis. He referred to Marco Rubio, at that point, as little Marco. So, it just shows you how nasty and how personal this campaign has become.

And he basically has been saying that Marco Rubio sweats so much during these debates that he can't even deal with the likes of Vladimir Putin, trying to make this sort of -- sort of make a tie to foreign policy in these cutdowns in this war of putdowns between himself and Marco Rubio. But as you just heard, as you were listening in just a few moments ago, he's really going after Hillary Clinton as well.

So, they're making a general election pivot in this campaign, when he's talking about Bernie Sanders losing badly in South Carolina over the weekend. He said Bernie Sanders is over unless Hillary Clinton is indicted.

So, the tone that you're hearing now in the GOP race, Wolf, will likely shift into the general election campaign mode once that stage of this campaign begins -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Jim Acosta, good point.

Speaking of Marco Rubio, he's speaking right now in Atlanta. His voice is going down a little bit. Nikki Haley, the Governor of South Carolina, is along his side. She has endorsed him. I want to listen in.

MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (live): -- judges in the world to hear all those cases. When you elect me president, you're going have a president that protects your second amendment right to defend yourself and your family again. When you elect me president, you're going have a president that understands that what makes America great is not our president and is not our government. It's our people. It's our families. It's our communities.

When I take the oath of office, unlike Barack Obama, I will actually mean it. And that means on -- that means, on my first day in office, I will immediately repeal every single one of Barack Obama's unconstitutional executive orders.

[13:10:18] You'll have a president that will fully embrace the free enterprise system. It works. I know it works because my parents would not have had a job, if free enterprise didn't work. My father was a bartender. My mother was a maid at hotel. They had jobs because free enterprise works, because someone built those hotels and hired them.

The American economy is not a real estate deal or a scam. The American economy is not run by the president or the government. It's run by our people, and we have to make it easier for them. And I have shown the voters what they -- I have given the voters what you deserve, real ideas, not talking points, not platitudes, not slogans. Real ideas.

So, I always chuckle, these reporters, oh, why are you now saying some of the things you're saying? And I said, because for months, I've been talking about real ideas and they don't cover them. I give speeches about education, and they ignore it. I give speeches about health care, and they ignore it. You get -- but you talk about -- forget it, I don't even want to say it again, guys. But you talk about anything else that has nothing to do with that, and they jump all over it. It leads the newscast. What a sad indictment on the state of the political debate in this country today.

So, from time to time, I'll still read the mean tweets but I will never stop talking about the ideas you deserve to have. They're on my Web site. You should go on it now -- well, not now, when we're done. MarcoRubio.com. And you'll see we have a real plan to fix our tax code. We have a real plan to roll back regulations. We have a real plan to save social security and Medicare. We have a real plan to balance our budget. One of the most embarrassing moments in the last debate is when Donald Trump was asked about the debt. And he said, we're going the get rid of all the fraud, waste and abuse. There is a lot of fraud, waste and abuse. And yet, our debt is so big, even if you got rid of all of it, it wouldn't even make a dent. And instead of pressing him on it, they moved on to the next question.

This has happened for far too long. The consequences are too high. You deserve a real plan to deal with the debt. I have a real plan to deal with the debt and you can see it on our Web site. We're going to fully utilize all of our energy resources when I'm president of the United States of America. And when I'm president, we're going to have a real plan on health care. And it's going to be a lot more than just getting rid of the lines around the states. That happened in the debate, yes. Well, I'm going to get rid of the lines around the states. The lines around the states. The lines around the states. When I did it, it was a catastrophe. When he did it, oh, he's on message.

Somebody said to me, well, maybe that means Donald Trump is a robot. Isn't that what they said you were? And I said, yes. But if he is a robot, he was made in China. I have a real plan on health care. And that's why I can tell you this, with certainty, when I am president of the United States, we will repeal and we will replace Obamacare.

BLITZER: All right. We're going to continue to watch Marco Rubio as well. You hear he's really going after Donald Trump. I want to bring in Jason Carroll, he's been covering Senator Rubio for us and the campaign. He is focusing most of his attention clearly on Donald Trump not necessarily Ted Cruz.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, and that's what he's been doing at a number of his rallies, not just here in Atlanta but, Wolf, also in Dallas and again in Virginia where we were yesterday. That has been his new strategy ever since that debate on Thursday, go after Donald Trump, go after him hard. Whenever there's a misstep take advantage of it, go after that.

We heard that yesterday in Virginia over the controversies from David Duke. We continue to hear it again today, some of the same criticism we've heard repeatedly, calling him a conman, saying that he's not a true conservative and not someone who can unite the party.

[13:15:03] A little earlier, we were a little unsure if Rubio would even be able to take the stage. He's been hitting so many states with so many rallies, his voice gave out. And South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley had to actually take the stage on his behalf.

As you know, she's immensely popular within the GOP, popular here in Atlanta as well. One of her best lines, Wolf, where she got the most applause is when she said, Donald Trump is everything I taught my children not to do and be in kindergarten. Don't lie. Don't make things up. She also said, when a bully hits you, what do you do? You hit him right back. That was met with immense applause here at this hotel here in Atlanta. So in terms of strategy, look for him to continue to go after Donald Trump, to continue to push him hard on some of these issues that we've seen.

A little earlier, Nikki Haley brought up, release your taxes, pushing him on that. Pushing him for not having a plan for -- a proper plan for illegal immigration. Not having one for health care as well. Again, Rubio taking the stage, continuing to push on Donald Trump as we're now heading into Super Tuesday.

Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Jason, thanks very much.

Coming up, Donald Trump still could be a big winner tomorrow night and one step closer to winning the Republican presidential nomination. But some members of his own party, they're vowing that they will never, never support him as their presidential candidate. Could this tear apart the GOP?

And later, Senator Cory Booker has hit the campaign trail for his candidate, Hillary Clinton. We're going to ask him what she needs to do tomorrow to pull away from Bernie Sanders.

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[13:20:33] BLITZER: Texas Senator Ted Cruz is focusing his attention on his home state today. He's got three events there as he tries to hold off Donald Trump on Super Tuesday, which is tomorrow. Our Sunlen Serfaty is following Senator Cruz in Texas for us today. She's joining us live from San Antonio.

So potentially this could be the ballgame for this senator. He's got to win Texas, a lot of the experts say, in order to continue.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. This state is critical for Ted Cruz to win, being his home state. Widely seen as do or die for him. Not only would it be an embarrassing blow given that this is his home state, a symbolic blow, if you will, but it also would be of a big blow in terms of delegate counts. One hundred and fifty-five delegates here on the table. Ted Cruz, so much of his strategy has been to amass the delegates here in Texas. He is spending the whole day here in Texas today. And earlier today he was in Dallas going right after Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Where was Donald in the Gang of Eight? Well, not only was he nowhere to be found, Donald Trump was funding the Gang of Eight. Of the eight members of the Gang of Eight, Donald Trump gave $50,000 to five of them.

Let me tell you right now, you don't get to spend four decades funding open border Democrats and then suddenly when you run for president discover that you want to secure the border. You know it's easy to talk about making America great again. You could even print that on a baseball cap.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SERFATY: So there you saw Ted Cruz going after Donald Trump today in Texas.

The Cruz campaign, Wolf, feels very good about their chances here in Texas. They continue to say that they are confident that he will win here tomorrow night. But, of course, they also add that they are not taking anything for granted, so thus why he is spending his last and final day before Super Tuesday exclusively in his hometown.

Wolf.

BLITZER: Sunlen, thank you very much.

I want to bring in Dan Patrick, he's the lieutenant governor of Texas. He heads the Cruz campaign in Texas. He's joining us now live from Houston.

Lieutenant Governor, thanks very much for joining us.

So how critically important is a win for Senator Cruz tomorrow? If he were to lose, would it be over?

DAN PATRICK (R), LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF TEXAS: Well, first of all, he will win Texas tomorrow, Wolf. I don't set expectations, but I can assure you he will win Texas. I've talked to probably 4,000 people over the last month or so in speeches around the state and everywhere there's solid support for Ted here.

And, Wolf, here's the key. If Donald Trump is to be defeated, it has to be a two-man race between Ted Cruz, not Marco Rubio or anyone else, but Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Our polling and other polling shows that if Ted were out of the race, 75 percent of Ted Cruz voters go to Donald Trump. So if Ted were to be out of the race and there's this big movement, Wolf, from the establishment, well, for Marco or John Kasich, what they don't understand or don't want to actually believe is that if that were to happen, they actually hand it to Donald Trump on a silver platter when you take 75 percent of the Cruz support.

The only person who can defeat Donald Trump is Ted Cruz. And the sooner that Marco and Kasich and Carson move out and make it a two-man race, where then Donald has to get 50 percent, which he's failed to do anywhere, he's hit a ceiling, then it's a different race. And Ted Cruz can win this nomination. And I believe if that happens, he will.

BLITZER: Because Rubio is -- presumably he's going to stay in at least until March 15th. That's when his home state of Florida has its primary. And Kasich is going to stay presumably until March 15th. That's when his home state of Ohio -- those are two big states -- a lot of delegates in Ohio and in Florida, they're going to stay in. So you've got a divided up competition. That's going to continue at least for the time being against Donald Trump, right?

PATRICK: I don't -- I don't think they'll stay until the 15th. Here's the reason, Wolf. Look, John Kasich is not going to win Ohio and Rubio is -- is far behind in Florida. Do they really want to end their careers on a crushing defeat in their home state? I mean John Kasich is still the governor. What does that portend for him in the future if he loses his home state? And does Marco really want to finish a distance second or third behind Ted in Florida and Donald Trump? Where does his career then go from there?

[13:25:01] I believe that on Wednesday morning we'll have fewer people than we have today in the race. I hope Marco makes the decision -- if he doesn't want to stay tomorrow or wins one small one somewhere along the way, he's going to be behind in delegates -- I hope Marco makes the right decision for the party, which is the right decision for the country, and that is, let's have a two-man mono-a-mono between Donald trump and Ted Cruz for the nomination because if you wait until the 15th, if you're Marco or John, Wolf, if they wait till the 15th, then Donald has a great chance of winning winner for all states with still under 40 percent of the vote. You have to put Donald in a position where he has to break 50. That's -- that's the position that our -- that our party needs to be in if we're going to take Donald out.

And Ted Cruz is the only one who's defeated him and he's the only one again who can beat him because, again, if Marco goes out, I believe most of those votes go to Ted. But if Ted goes out, 75 percent -- again, that's what the polls show -- go to Cruz. So if -- and Cruz has had solid support everywhere. One Iowa did beat Marco in New Hampshire. Dead heat basically in South Carolina/Nevada. So Ted has the support. He's the only conservative in the race.

BLITZER: All right.

PATRICK: And this whole idea in the establishment trying to find someone to take on Donald Trump, it's -- it's a failed philosophy by the party and the establishment. Ted Cruz is the only guy who can do it and I believe Ted will have a good day in Texas tomorrow.

BLITZER: One quick, final question, lieutenant governor --

PATRICK: Yes.

BLITZER: Because a lot of your Republican colleagues out there --

PATRICK: Yes.

BLITZER: Across the country are saying that if Donald Trump were to get the Republican nomination, they wouldn't be able to vote for him for president of the United States. If he were to get the Republican nomination, could you vote for Trump?

PATRICK: Let's -- let's -- let's be very clear, Wolf. Hillary Clinton is a disaster for America. More four -- or eight more years of Barack Obama's policies, which has divided this country today at so many levels along race, economics, are we going to take on our enemies or not? I mean he's been a disaster. We cannot have that.

I will support our nominee no matter who it is. No matter who it is. And I'm encouraging every Republican. Look, I want it to be Ted Cruz. There's no question in my mind he's the only conservative. He's qualified for the job. He will do everything he says and he has a record that Donald simply does not. But if Donald Trump or Marco or any of the candidates are our nominee, I'm going to be in, as we say in Texas, money, marble and chalk, to be sure that we defeat Hillary Clinton.

And you see this a lot, Wolf, in -- I've been in a lot of campaigns myself in a tough statewide campaign in a big state like Texas and people can get fiery at the last minute and -- and -- and -- but it all comes together afterwards. And -- and -- and let me say this. If and when I believe Ted Cruz gets the nomination, if we can get the other members out, I expect the Donald Trump people to support him just as well and the Marco Rubio people and the establishment. All the Republicans have to put all this gamesmanship aside and come together.

BLITZER: That was the pledge -- that was the pledge that -- yes, that was the pledge all the Republican candidates made months and months ago.

PATRICK: Absolutely.

BLITZER: All right, Dan Patrick, he's the lieutenant governor of Texas. Lieutenant governor, thanks very much for joining us.

PATRICK: Thank you, Wolf.

Thank you. It was good having you --

BLITZER: Super Tuesday only a few hours -- a few hours away. A dozen states getting ready to vote. We're going the have live coverage from all across the country right here on CNN. Please join us.

Just ahead, Hillary Clinton's Super Tuesday strategy, can she secure her southern foundation of support? We're going to talk with a Clinton campaign surrogate, the New Jersey senator, Cory Booker. He's standing by live.

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