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CNN NEWSROOM

Florida a Must-Win for Marco Rubio; Trade Message Boosts Trump, Sanders; Dog Reluctantly Takes Trump Pledge; Hulk Hogan $100 Million Trial Underway. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired March 10, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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


[10:30: 02] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: 29-year-old Lionel Claw on the left is wanted for a felony assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer. 32-year-old Joseph Cruz on the right is wanted for first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder. New Mexico police say both men escaped near the town of Artesia.

A massive dam in the Iraqi city of Mosul is at risk of failing according to U.S. and Iraqi officials. They say the dam which was once controlled by ISIS could fail with little warning and the impact would be catastrophic. Mosul is home to 600,000 people and could flood in just four hours.

A U.S. Air Force veteran has been convicted in Brooklyn -- in a Brooklyn federal court for trying to join ISIS in Syria. The jury found the then 47-year-old -- you see him there -- guilty of providing material support to foreign terrorists. Officials say it's the first time the jury has returned a guilty verdict out of dozens of cases involving American citizens accused of attempting to join ISIS.

Ten families in Flint, Michigan, trying to file individual lawsuits today on behalf of more than two dozen children they say were poisoned by led contaminated water. On Wednesday Flint's mayor announced the city will stop sending utility bills to some 85,000 people until credits can be applied. The state last week approved $30 million to help Flint residents with their water bills.

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks for joining me. I'm live at the University of Miami. The site of tonight's big GOP debate. Marco Rubio putting it all on the line in Florida, making the winner-take-all a must-win for his presidential candidacy. And tonight's debate is one of his last chances to convince voters that he is the man who can beat Donald Trump. But with a reception like the one last night with a stadium full of empty seats, finding that path to victory might be difficult.

A new FOX News poll finds Rubio trailing Donald Trump in his home state by more than double digits. 43 percent to 20 percent.

So let's talk about that. I'm joined by Representative and Marco Rubio supporter Carlos Curbelo and State Representative and Republican Party chair of Florida, Blaise Ingoglia.

Welcome to both of you. Welcome.

REP. CARLOS CURBELO (R), MARCO RUBIO SUPPORTER: Carol, thank you, and welcome to my alma mater.

COSTELLO: It's a beautiful campus.

CURBELO: It is.

COSTELLO: We're having a good time here. And we're working hard, too.

CURBELO: That's right.

COSTELLO: Carlos, you were at the rally yesterday that Marco Rubio -- as I was. There weren't many people there. It was -- some people thought it was kind of embarrassing.

CURBELO: Well, what people have to understand is Hialeah is a working class town. It's actually where I grew up. It was 5:00 p.m. The goal of the rally was to get people to the early voting site right next door. And that's where Rubio has been very effective. We've seen in polls that among people who have already voted he's up two to one on Donald Trump. So I think Rubio is doing a lot better than people think in this state.

COSTELLO: So, Blaise, you have some data on that being the GOP chair. Share.

BLAISE INGOGLIA (R), MEMBER, FLORIDA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: Yes. What we're seeing is very enthusiastic voters here. At the end of today, we'll probably see more than one million voters voted in this primary already, and we're probably going to see north of two million voters by the time March 15th comes around. So we are much more enthusiastic than the Democrats are at this point.

COSTELLO: So when people were doing their early voting in Florida, Rubio was doing much better. So who knows how many votes Marco Rubio actually has gotten.

INGOGLIA: Yes, we don't know. But we do know, as to the congressman's point, what we have seen is that the people have already voted. Polling is suggesting that Marco Rubio is doing much better on those votes that have already been cast.

COSTELLO: So going back to this rally, I did talk to a number of Marco Rubio supporters who said they were going to throw their support to Ted Cruz if Marco Rubio decided to drop out. It was interesting. Marco Rubio supporters do not like Donald Trump. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: When Donald Trump calls him names like Little Marco, what goes through your mind?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump, forgive my language, he's a blow hard.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not very nice. I mean, that's a fact. I think Trump -- he is a TV guy. He does it for the publicity. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that he has dirty politics in the sense

that if he has to go down to that level and disrespecting people and calling them names, it doesn't say much about his person and who he truly is. And he's just a bad person.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the way that he talk, Trump, I don't like because we can disagree but without insulting you and you without insulting me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. So you hear those voters there. You know, they hate the kind of language and insults that Trump is employing in his run for the president. I asked them whether they thought Marco Rubio should have gotten down in the dirt, too. And they stood up for him because they've very, very passionate supporters of Marco Rubio, but you could tell it kind of made them uncomfortable. Marco Rubio himself said that he regrets doing that. Was that a mistake?

[10:35:04] CURBELO: Look, I think Marco Rubio was trying to destabilize Donald Trump, and to be honest and fair, I think it's thanks to Rubio's attacks that we've seen Trump really stumble. He had a tough Super Saturday, and even though he recovered this week things aren't going as well for Trump as they had.

Now what these voters understand, Carol, is that a lot of people have been saying a vote for anyone other than Marco Rubio in Florida is a vote for Trump. But it's actually really a vote for Hillary Clinton because I think what most Florida Republicans and most Republicans around the country understand is that if Donald Trump is the nominee, God forbid, Hillary Clinton will very likely be the next president of the United States.

COSTELLO: But still, every attack lobbed against Donald Trump has not worked. His numbers have only improved. So, you know, you look toward tonight's debate, and you say, is anybody going to attack him at all? What do you think, Blaise?

INGOGLIA: Well, I think we're going to still see a continuance of what we've seen in other debates. But what's going to be important here with us to Republicans debating to see who's going to be our presidential nominee is we are having substantive debates about policy. And that's what's setting us different than the Democrats. I mean, if you look at the debate last night, the Democrat debate, Hillary Clinton refused or did not choose to use the words veteran, ISIS, or the words national debt.

And those are the things that people are really caring about during this election. So I think we -- what you're going to hear tonight at the debate is a lot more policy. Hopefully we stick to a lot more policy and we get away from some of these attacks because people in this country want solutions. They want answers to the -- to the problems that are plaguing this nation.

CURBELO: And that's really where Donald Trump has struggled. When Marco Rubio got him in that corner and was trying to force him to explain his health care plan, that's really where Trump was unmasked. I mean, this man has no idea what he's talking about. He has no concrete ideas for the future of the country, and when voters see that, they start running away from him. So I hope that the wonderful moderators at CNN will really force all the candidates, but especially Mr. Trump, to be explicit and honest about what his vision is for the future of this country.

COSTELLO: I'm sure Jake Tapper will. He's a smart guy. So we'll see what happens tonight. I'm excited to watch as I'm sure both of you are.

CURBELO: At the very least, it's been entertaining.

(LAUGHTER)

CURBELO: Which is not always good.

COSTELLO: Not always good. You're right about that. Thanks to both of you.

INGOGLIA: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump say bad trade deals are killing the middle class. Is that true?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:42:14] COSTELLO: Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are winning over voters with their message on trade and what they say is a -- its devastating impact on the middle class. Just listen to the ad Sanders ran ahead of his upset victory in Michigan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Millions of good jobs lost. Communities devastated. The jobs, moved overseas. Only one candidate for president has consistently fought trade deals that ship Michigan jobs overseas, Bernie Sanders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: But are the claims by the candidates accurate?

Our chief business correspondent Christine Romans has some answers this morning.

Hi, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Well, certainly if you look at these very important states, voters are telling us they believe that America's trade deals kills American jobs and guts the middle class. They've been arguing about whether it's the trade deals that do it since the minute that President Bill Clinton in 1993 signs NAFTA, and there've been lots of trade deals since then. Carol, let's look at the manufacturing jobs numbers. You can see that

in the 1960s about 28 percent of America's jobs were manufacturing workers. Today that's more like 8.7 percent, and people like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are directly tying that with these trade deals.

The discontent is really resonating here, but is it true? On the one hand, yes, you have seen some jobs, manufacturing jobs go overseas. There are lots of different studies that show at least a million, maybe a million and a half jobs have gone to China, in particular. Others to Mexico. But what you'll hear from the free traders is that America's standard of living has been rising during these free trade deals because of the products that Americans can buy.

The other part of this economy, though, these other things driving the discontent, American income right, a family income the same as 1995. If you don't have a college degree, you're more likely to be one of those people whose job has gone overseas. So for workers without college degrees, there's a lot of unease here.

Also interesting, Carol. A lot of those jobs in the '60s, the '70s, the '80s, those are factory jobs. You didn't require a college degree. Now we're seeing white men dropping out of the job market. There's competition from women who've come to work in the last generation. Also Hispanics in the marketplace. So for white men who used to have a solid place in the labor market, the labor market participation of white men has been declining.

And we've seen income inequality rising, right? So much of the recovery more recently has gone just to the very rich. All of those things really, really resonating with folks on the campaign trail who believe that trade is killing jobs.

Now, Carol, one thing that the Clinton campaign has said and many other economists have said quite frankly is that even without trade deals, you would still have globalization. The technology is the bigger driver here. That as you can connect the world and markets and people to cheaper labor markets, it was inevitable that jobs would leave. So a big debate. They've been debating it since 1993 and before, and now it's front and center in this campaign, Carol.

[10:45:05] COSTELLO: So who has the better solution? Do their policies work? I'm talking about Sanders and Trump here.

ROMANS: It's so interesting you asked that. A lot of the economists who talk about the Donald Trump solutions, he just says get me in a room and I will make a deal and I will fix them, I will fix these trade deals. A lot of folks say you're talking about a trade war. If Donald Trump starts putting 35 percent tariffs on individual products or individual companies, other countries are going to turn around and put tariffs on American products. That's going to hurt American exports. And then you have cost rising for everyone.

In terms of Bernie Sanders, you know, he's talking about an overall revolution. He wants to raise the minimum wage, he wants to give free college to everyone so that those people who don't have a college degree can find a place in the economy that isn't a factory job that's been gutted. On the whole, though, you're talking about band-aids. You haven't heard really how someone is going to fix undue trade deals that are legal and binding and we've spent 30 years and both parties have pursued.

COSTELLO: All right. Christine, thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Hulk Hogan gets into the ring with Gawker. The latest from their $100 million sex tape battle. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:50:11] COSTELLO: Court is back in session this morning for Hulk Hogan in his $100 million sex tape lawsuit against Gawker Media. Gawker argues that posting an X-rated clip of Hogan taken in 2012 didn't break any laws. They cited the First Amendment. As you see a journalism professor there, and a member of the Society of Professional Journalist, just taking the stand.

Alina Machado is following this. Good morning, Alina.

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. The jury has started day four of testimony. As you mentioned listening to journalism professor Mike Foley respond to intense questioning from a Gawker attorney. Foley is an expert witness for Hulk Hogan's team, and his testimony began yesterday afternoon after the jury was shown separate videotaped depositions from both the founder of Gawker, Nick Denton, and A.J. Delario, the former Gawker editor who made the decision to post a portion of the sex tape back in 2012.

Now Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea claims publishing the sex tape was an invasion of his privacy and in the videotaped deposition, Hogan's attorneys repeatedly pressed Delario about the newsworthiness of the sex tape. Delario defended the decision to publish the video saying he found it, quote, "amusing."

Here's part of the exchange between Delario and Hogan's legal team on when Delario would draw the line when it comes to publishing a celebrity sex tape. And I want to note the exchange turned sarcastic. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A situation where celebrities would not be published?

A.J. DELARIO, FORMER GAWKER EDITOR: I'd say if they were a child.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Under what age?

DELARIO: Four.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACHADO: And that was the end of Delario's taped deposition. Hogan, by the way, has been in court every day. He showed little emotion while those depositions were being placed -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Alina Machado, reporting live for us this morning, thank you.

Checking some other top stories for you at 52 minutes past. Police believe two gunmen are on the loose after a backyard party turns deadly in Pennsylvania. The gunmen killing five people outside of a home about 15 miles east of Pittsburgh last night. Four others were shot. Three of them -- three of those victims are in critical condition this morning. Investigators say it's likely both gunmen fled on foot.

A state of emergency now in effect for northern Louisiana. Deadly storms triggering historic flood and forcing thousands to evacuate. More than a foot and a half of rain has fallen on starts of the state with another 10 to 12 inches expected. Officials worry hundreds of home are now at risk because of the possibility of levy failures.

Another top executive at Volkswagen is out. Volkswagen Group -- Volkswagen Group of America CEO Michael Horn is leaving his post effective immediately marking the latest fallout from the carmaker's emission scandal. Last year the EPA accused Volkswagen of using software in some of its diesel powered cars that altered the engine's performance appearing to make them cleaner on the road.

Some might say Donald Trump's infamous pledge has gone to the dogs. Jeanne Moos has a look at the pooch who did not want to take the pledge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Repeat after him. I pledge allegiance to the Donald.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Should we do the pledge? Let's do a pledge. Raise your right hand. I swear I'm going to vote for Donald Trump next week. Raise that hand. I love you.

MOOS: But not everyone loves the pledge. All of those upraised hands remind some of a Nazi salute which Trumped called ridiculous, though he promised to look into it because he didn't want to offend anybody.

TRUMP: But when I say raise your hand, everybody raises their hand. They're screaming to me to do it. We want to do it.

MOOS: But they didn't all want to do it.

TRUMP: I do solemnly swear.

MOOS: Look at the furry four-legged audience member who seemed to be an unwilling pledge participant.

TRUMP: Will vote for Donald J. Trump.

MOOS: Video of the doggy pledge resister went viral.

TRUMP: I do solemnly swear --

MOOS: Inspiring tweets like, "Friends don't let man's best friend vote Trump." Though Donald also has his K-9 supporters and the dog reluctant to raise his right paw went nowhere near as viral as Hillary's famous bark.

(On camera): The Donald himself seems to have a thing for dogs, at least when it comes to delivering insults.

TRUMP: He was choking like a dog. He couldn't be a dogcatcher. I'm watching Marco sweating like a dog on my right.

MOOS: Trump seems to have a way with pups. Remember the time he yelled at a reporter?

TRUMP: Sit down. Sit down. Sit down.

[10:55:01] MOOS: Jimmy Kimmel tested the command on actual dogs.

TRUMP: Sit down. Sit down. Sit down.

MOOS: Three out of four sat. Sit down and pledge.

TRUMP: I do solemnly swear.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN.

TRUMP: Raise your right hand.

MOOS: New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: It's such a strange election season, isn't it?

Thanks so much for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello. "AT THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND BOLDUAN" after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDERS: Let me be very clear.

CLINTON: Because after -- because after all --

SANDERS: I have introduced --

CLINTON: Excuse me. Excuse me.

SANDERS: Did you ask me to speak?

CLINTON: After all --

JORGE RAMOS, UNIVISION: If you get indicted would you drop out?

CLINTON: For goodness, that is not going to happen. I'm not even answering that question.

TRUMP: I think Islam hates us. First of all, I'll win Florida.

RUBIO: As it usually does, it comes down to Florida. I need you to come out and vote.