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CNN NEWSROOM
Carly Fiorina Endorses Cruz for President; Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired March 9, 2016 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:31:14] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm at the University of Miami where a big Democratic debate is set to take place.
But I want to bring you right to Miami-Dade College. That's where Senator Ted Cruz is rallying his supporters. He won in Idaho, still insisting that he is the only man that can beat Ted Cruz. But I'll tell you what, Florida is coming up soon, right, March 15th. That's when the state of Florida votes. Cruz is trailing behind Trump and he's also trailing Rubio. That puts him in third place. But still, last night, he says he is the man to beat Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I understand if you're angry with Washington and Donald Trump can seem appealing because he has a loud, angry, often profane and cursing voice that can be seen as a vessel for that anger. You don't solve that problem by voting for someone who has been enmeshed in the Washington corruption for 40 years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: All right. I want to go back to Miami-Dade in the rally because I believe that Ted Cruz picked up a major endorsement and you see her right there. It is Carly Fiorina. Let's just watch for a moment to see what happens next.
CARLY FIORINA (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, thank you so much for that warm Miami-Dade welcome. It is indeed a great privilege and pleasure to stand on the stage today.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We love you.
FIORINA: Thank you. You know, I ran for the presidency because I think it's time to take our country back.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
FIORINA: Because I think we need real reform because we have too much economic and too much political power concentrated in the hands of too few people, and I ran because we need a real constitutional conservative running serving in the White House.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE) FIORINA: Now I have to tell you, last Tuesday my husband Frank and I live in Virginia where we met and married over 30 years ago, we lived near our daughter, son-in-law, and two granddaughters. And last Tuesday, we had a primary. And I walked into the ballot box and I looked at the ballot and I saw my own name on the ballot. It was kind of a thrill.
(LAUGHTER)
FIORINA: But then I checked the box for Ted Cruz and I'm here to tell you what --
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
FIORINA: You know, after we lost the 2012 election, the Republican establishment decided that it knew exactly what we had to do to win the next one. The Republican establishment decided we needed to pass comprehensive immigration reform. They decided that, you know, we needed not to rock the boat too much. Let's just go along to get along with the government that's more and more incompetent and corrupt, and for heaven's sakes, they told us, don't talk about the social issues.
But you know there's one thing that Republican establishment didn't count on. In the state of Texas, against all odds and against all the predictions of the pundits, the state of Texas elected a senator named Ted Cruz.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
FIORINA: And, you know, Ted Cruz has always been a constitutional conservative. He is a fearless fighter and reformer and he didn't much care whether he got invited to the cocktail parties in D.C.
(LAUGHTER)
[10:35:05] FIORINA: We know Ted Cruz is a fearless constitutional conservative because he has fought for our liberties over and over again.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
FIORINA: You know, my dad was a constitutional conservative appellate judge on the very liberal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and so I know, having watched my dad, what it takes to fight against the tide. And Ted Cruz has stood up and fought for our right to bear arms. He has fought --
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
FIORINA: He has fought for our religious liberty. He has fought for our sovereignty.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
FIORINA: And he has won. Over and over and over, he has won. (CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
FIORINA: We know Ted Cruz is a leader and a reformer. He's willing to take on the status quo in Washington, D.C., whether it's replacing the IRS or finally fixing the Veterans Administration so our veterans get the care that they deserve.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
FIORINA: Or finally fixing our immigration problems. You know, I can tell you from personal experience, in order to lead, you must challenge the status quo.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
FIORINA: And when you challenge the status quo, guess what, you do more than ruffle feathers. You make enemies. It is part of it. It is the price of leadership. You know, people say all the time, we are all known by the company we keep. I'll tell you what, Ted Cruz should be known, is proud to be known by the enemies he has made in the D.C. cartel.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
FIORINA: Now, you know there are some people in our party now who are saying, well, you know, Donald Trump wouldn't be so bad. I mean --
(CROWD BOOS)
FIORINA: OK, maybe he's a liberal, maybe he's a fraud but, you know, at least he's a deal maker. We can make deals with him.
Here's the thing. The truth is, that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are two sides of the same coin.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
FIORINA: They are not going to reform the system. They are the system.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
FIORINA: Hillary Clinton has made millions of dollars selling access and influence from the inside and Donald Trump has made billions of dollars buying people like Hillary Clinton. They are the system. They will not reform it.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
FIORINA: And so when the establishment says Ted Cruz is too conservative, he's too much of a fighter, he won't get along, I say, you go, Ted.
CROWD: USA, USA, USA, USA, USA.
FIORINA: Now, you know, there are other people in our party who actually are kind of horrified by Donald Trump. I'm one of them. But here's the thing, we're not going to beat Donald Trump by party tisk tisk over our voters, we are going to have to beat Donald Trump at the ballot box and the only guy who can beat Donald Trump is Ted Cruz.
You know, Tip O'Neil once said all politics are local. Actually, all politics are personal. People vote based on their own lives, their own despairs, their own disappointments, their own hopes and their own dreams. And so we need a real conservative who will provide real conservative solutions in people's lives. That is the only way we beat Donald Trump and that is the only way we are going to beat Hillary Clinton and Ted is the man to do it.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
FIORINA: Let me just close by saying this. There are big differences between progressives and conservatives. And we need to remember those differences as you head to the ballot box on Tuesday.
[10:40:03] You know, we as conservatives, we know that no one of us is any better than any other one of us. We know that each of us is gifted by God. We know that all of us want to live lives of dignity and purpose and meaning and we know that our values, our principles, our policies work better to lift people up regardless of their circumstances. It is progressives who believe that some are smarter than others, some are better than others. So it's OK if some decide for others and choose for others. That is not who we are.
So my fellow conservatives, my fellow Republicans, you have a very important job on Tuesday. And I say to you, it is time. It is time to take our party back.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
FIORINA: It is time to take our government back. It is time to take our country back. And so -- and so it is time now to unite behind the one man who can beat Donald Trump, who can beat Hillary Clinton, who can beat the cartel. It is time to unite behind Ted Cruz.
Ladies and gentlemen, the next president of the United States.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: Wow. Isn't Carly extraordinary?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: We just heard a whole bunch of Democratic activists and Hillary supporters going, holy cow, what was that?
I have to tell you, I am so humbled, I am so privileged to be standing here with Carly.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: And our message today is one of unity. It is a message that brings Republicans together. It's a message that brings Reagan Democrats together.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: We know our country is off track. But we also understand the principles. The values that we have to get back to, to bring our country back to track. I believe this next election will come down to three key issues. Jobs, freedom and security.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: Let's start with jobs. Let me talk for a minute to all the single moms who are working two and three part-time jobs, who have had your hours forcibly reduced to 28, 29 hours a week because Obamacare kicks in at 30 hours a week.
Let me talk to all the truck drivers and mechanics and electricians and plumbers, all of the men and women with calluses on your hands, who have seen your wages stagnating year after year after year. Cost of living keeps going up. But somehow your wages don't seem to keep pace.
Let me talk to all the young people coming out of school with student loans up to your eyeballs, scared, am I going to get a job? What kind of future will I have? You know, the media tells us, this is as good as it gets.
Let me tell you, that is an absolute lie.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: It's easy to talk about making America great again. He can even print that on a baseball cap.
(LAUGHTER)
CRUZ: But the real question is, do you understand the principles and values that made America great in the first place?
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: If I'm elected president --
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: If and when, we will repeal every word of Obamacare.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
[10:45:10] CRUZ: We'll pass commonsense health care reform that makes health insurance personal and portable and affordable and keeps government from getting in between us and our doctors.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: And we will pass a simple flat tax.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: Where every American can fill out his or her taxes on a post card. And when we do that we should abolish the IRS.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: We're going to rein in the EPA and the CFPB and alphabet soup of federal agencies that have descended on small businesses killing jobs all across this country.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: See, that's the thing. The heart of our economy, it isn't in Washington, D.C., it isn't in New York City. The heart of our economy is in small businesses all across this country.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: You want to kill jobs, do what we've been doing the last seven years, hammer the living daylights out of small businesses. You want to unleash jobs? Lift the boot of the federal government off the back of the necks of small businesses.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: And no issue captures the divide between Washington and the working people more than the issue of immigration.
Now immigration is a law enforcement issue. Immigration is a national security issue. But immigration is also profoundly an economic issue. That when 12 million people come illegally to this country, it takes jobs from millions of Americans and from millions of legal immigrants who waited in line and followed the rules.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: Now to the Republican primary. Every candidate will say they oppose illegal immigration. But there's a critical moment, a dividing line which was in 2013, the battle over the Gang of Eight amnesty plan. Far too many Republicans in Washington made the decision to stand with Barack Obama.
(CROWD BOOS)
CRUZ: And push for amnesty. I made a very different decision to honor the promises I made to the men and women who elected me and lead the fight against amnesty.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
COSTELLO: All right. We're going to pull away from a raucous Ted Cruz rally. As you could see Carly Fiorina throwing her support behind Senator Ted Cruz.
So let's talk about what this means with CNN political commentator Kayleigh McEnany, she's a Trump supporter. I'm also joined by Katie Packer who's a former deputy campaign manager for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. She also supports Marco Rubio and runs an anti-Trump Super PAC.
Welcome to both of you.
Kayleigh, I'll start with you. So Carly Fiorina coming out strongly in favor of Senator Ted Cruz. How might this affect Mr. Trump?
KAYLEIGH MCENANY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't know that it affects Mr. Trump at all really because it doesn't broaden Ted's base. And that's the problem with Cruz, is he's appealing Trump. He's not even winning southeastern states, by the way, which he should be winning. We saw him win Maine but that seems to be an outlier given last night's results.
Carly Fiorina is great. That was a fantastic speech but I'm not sure it pulls in anyone new.
COSTELLO: And, Katie, before I ask you the same question, I want our viewers to listen to Carly Fiorina because she gave quite the fiery speech. So here's Carly Fiorina comparing Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FIORINA: The truth is that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are two sides of the same coin. They are not going to reform the system. They are the system.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: All right. Katie, that was a great line. How effective is it?
KATIE PICKER, RUNS ANTI-TRUMP SUPER PAC: Well, I think it's all very important in terms of just continuing to expose Donald Trump for the fraud that he is. You know, he claims to be somebody that is going to rally against the establishment but he's somebody that has been buying politicians in Washington admittedly for him for the last, you know, several decades.
[10:50:07] You know, there's a long line of these things. He claims to be the guy who's going to make America great again but all of his products that he sold in his company are made overseas. So all of these things are just slowly going to chip away at this veneer which is, you know, that Donald Trump claims to be something that he's not.
COSTELLO: And Kayleigh, there is something to that, right? Because you could accuse Hillary Clinton of, you know, profiting from Wall Street or giving speeches and giving -- and getting exorbitant speaking fees but Donald Trump has benefited off our financial system, too, to enrich himself. So how does he distance himself from that in a general election?
MCENANY: Sure. When you are building a $10 billion brand, you have to play by the same rules everyone else plays by. Those are the current laws. The way they're on the books. You use the laws to your advantage. That's what you do when you go to business. Otherwise, your business will fail because everyone else has a competitive advantage. When you pivot and you're a politician, then you can advocate to change those rules but to suggest that Donald Trump shouldn't have played by the rules that were given to him and he should have taken some moral high ground, I mean I just think that that's a false argument. And I think he is --
(CROSSTALK)
PICKER: He's calling on -- he's calling on Apple to build --
MCENANY: -- the one person who's calling out the establishment his --
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Go ahead, Katie.
PICKER: He's calling on Apple to build all their products in the United States and the lion's share of his products are built overseas. We just found out today that Ivanka Trump's entire clothing line is manufactured in China and they've taken that off the Trump Web site because that's a very inconvenient truth for Donald Trump.
You know, he claims that he's not the establishment. The reality is, he's been very much part of the establishment for all these years. He's part of the problem. People in a general election recognize that. We just saw today a poll that came out, he's the only candidate that runs double digits behind Hillary Clinton in a general election. That's a problem for Republicans.
MCENANY: Katie, you're criticizing him for having his businesses overseas and you're missing the predicate to him wanting Apple to build their products here. And the predicate to that is he wants to make us at a competitive advantage again where businesses don't have to go overseas.
PICKER: Well, then why doesn't he take the lead?
(CROSSTALK)
MCENANY: OK. Katie, let me finish. I let you finish, Katie. Let me finish.
PICKER: He could do it right now.
MCENANY: He wants no corporation to pay more than 15 percent in taxes. That is a policy that would make Apple more amenable to building their products here.
PICKER: Why doesn't he do it today?
MCENANY: That's why he will make this -- why didn't he do it today? Because the rules have to be changed first. He has to be elected president and implement his policies in order for this could be a friendly climate for businesses to bring their headquarters here. PICKER: He's so rich, it shouldn't matter. He could do it today.
You know, do as I say, not as I do. I mean, I think that's part of the Trump history. And I think that people are going to start to recognize it.
COSTELLO: OK. Let's go back to Carly Fiorina for just a second because I'm not sure that endorsement will really help Senator Ted Cruz all that much because she appeals to that same conservative base that Ted Cruz is appealing to, right? He overperforms with evangelicals, right? But he's not attracting many other kinds of people to the tent. Right? Does Carly Fiorina in any way help him do that, Katie?
PICKER: Well, I think what Carly does -- I mean, I don't disagree that she does appeal to a conservative base that Cruz is already appealing to but one thing she does do is she remind people of the fact that Donald Trump has been very degrading and demeaning to women. He's got a history of that. It's why he has a significant gender gap even in the Republican primary. It's much, much larger in the general election and Carly is a reminder of the way that he treated her and was very humiliating and demeaning to her on a very public stage, and I do think that it's helpful to have women that are in leadership that are conservatives standing up and saying this cannot be our standard bearer or we will lose terribly in November.
COSTELLO: And I can hear Senator Cruz repeating that infamous line, right? You know, about Carly Fiorina's face?
MCENANY: Look, I wish Donald Trump hadn't said that line. That being said, it's important to notice that this is not a gender thing. He's critiqued Marco Rubio's appearance as well. It's not a gender specific thing. And Katie, you're wrong to say he's not winning women. Go look at exit polls last night in Michigan. He tied Cruz in winning women.
COSTELLO: He only has 31 percent among -- in Michigan among women.
MCENANY: But he's winning, in almost every one of these states he's winning, he's also winning women. And that's a significant thing. I think women realize that his critiques are not sexist. They're broad spread, it's regardless of gender. He will attack people who attack him. That's just the way it is.
COSTELLO: Katie, last word.
PICKER: It's an extraordinary thing to have a gender gap in a Republican primary. Republican women tend to vote more as Republicans than as women. And so to have a significant gender gap in the Republican primary is an unusual thing. Donald Trump has managed to do it.
COSTELLO: All right. So just to recap, in case you missed it, Carly Fiorina, the former presidential candidate, coming out and throwing her support behind Senator Ted Cruz. And as you know, Florida, the state of Florida where we are right now, Florida votes on March 15th. Everybody is vying for that vote, especially Ted Cruz. Also Marco Rubio who hopes to win here because if Marco Rubio doesn't
win here, his campaign is pretty much over.
[10:55:02] And actually, Katie, before we go, since you are a Marco Rubio supporter, there -- oh, she's gone. OK. But I was going to ask her, and maybe I can ask you this, Kayleigh, you know, some say Marco Rubio should just drop out and not chance losing in Florida because it might hurt his political career going forward.
MCENANY: I think it does hurt his political career if he loses the state. That being said, you know, dropping out of the race is a very personal decision and I really resent when I hear these calls that this person should drop out or this person should drop out. It's really a personal decision and may not play well for him in the future but it's his call.
COSTELLO: Kayleigh McEnany and Katie Packer, thanks to both of you.
And thank you for joining me today from Miami. I'm Carol Costello. "AT THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND BOLDUAN" after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
