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Republicans Prepare to Debate. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired March 10, 2016 - 15:00   ET

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


[15:00:15]

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, and we continue on, top of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

We're in Miami, as the stage is set for tonight's CNN Republican debate. This is the last chance for the final four to shake up the race before voters in both Florida and Ohio hit the polls in a couple of days, and possibly here this could be the last debate for all four of these men, period. Make no mistake. This is most definitely do or die.

Both of those states, Ohio and Florida, they're pivotal because they're winner-take-all contests. And Donald Trump says -- quote, unquote -- "It's over" if he wins both of them. As it stands right now, John Kasich, the governor of Ohio, is actually leading in Ohio. This is according to this new FOX poll.

You see the numbers here, top of your screen, Kasich with 34 percent to Donald Trump's 29, Ted Cruz at 19 and Marco Rubio with 7. Now, things are not so bad for Rubio in Florida, but for a U.S. senator in his home state, they should be better. Let's just be real. So far, it sees Floridians are not rallying behind their senator, who is trailing Donald Trump by double digits in most polls.

So, let's begin this hour with Jason Carroll, who is inside the debate hall here at the University of Miami, four podiums. Some of these candidates are starting to roll through, get the lay of the land.

Show us the bells and whistles, Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And they have. They have already done some of the walk-throughs. You can take a look. You can see here are the podiums here starting with Kasich here. Then you have got Cruz, Trump, followed by Rubio.

Over here, that is where Jake Tapper's going to be sitting at that desk. Right now, you have Kate Lunger sitting there. She is with our special events team. She said quite accurately it takes a village to put on a show and a set like this, really takes a city. Take a look at how many people are going to be seated out here, some 2,000 people, now just hours away, will be sitting out there, getting ready for this debate.

So, let's talk about what we're expecting to happen tonight. Probably not likely to hear Senator Rubio go after Trump in the way we have heard him in the past in terms of personal attacks, going after, talking about his hair, or talking about the makeup that he wears, the size of his hands.

He already admitted, he says, look, that wasn't me as a candidate, that wasn't me as a person. Probably not likely to see folks like Rubio go after Trump in that way. We're likely to see him go after Trump in terms of specifics, trying to get him to get specifics, in terms of his positions, where he stands on particular issues.

So look for that. Rubio also saying that he believe he's going to be able to stop Trump here in Florida, despite what those polls say, just as Kasich will try to stop him in Ohio -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK, Jason Carroll, thank you so much inside the arena hours away.

Meantime, Donald Trump not mincing words during an interview with us here at CNN, spelling out his problem with Islam.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Do you think Islam is at war with the West?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think Islam hates us. There's something -- there's something there that's -- there's a tremendous hatred there. There's a tremendous hatred. We have to get to the bottom of it. There's an unbelievable hatred of us.

COOPER: In Islam itself?

TRUMP: You're going to have to figure that out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Those words drawing little distinction between the religion and radical Islamic terrorism obviously angering a lot of Muslims.

Let me bring in our panel here, Trump supporter Andy Dean, Tim Miller, former communications director for the Jeb Bush campaign and communications adviser for the Our Principles PAC, and S.E. Cupp, CNN political commentator, and Gloria Borger, CNN chief political analyst.

Hello, hello. Welcome to Miami.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Let's begin, though, Andy, with what we just heard Mr. Trump talking to Anderson about Islam, Islam hates us. We know CAIR is holding a news conference. They're demanding an apology.

What say you?

ANDY DEAN, DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTER: I'm proud of what Donald Trump is doing. I really want to get into this, so no yelling until -- I know people are going to freak out. But what Donald Trump mostly is talking about is the culture of Islam.

Culture means a value system. And if you look at the culture of Islam in the United States, these are wonderful people. They're three million Americans, just as American as me or you. They're engineers, they're doctors. They love America and they love American culture.

And what does that mean for Muslims in America? It means that if you're in the Muslim religion in America, you can get a divorce as a woman without being killed. You can be gay without being thrown off a building. You can leave the religion without being executed.

However, the culture of Islam in the Middle East and South Asia, if you're gay, you do get thrown off a building. If you're a woman who tries to get a divorce, you do get murdered. We want Muslims in the United States. What we won't allow, what we won't tolerate is the hatred of culture in the Middle East to come into the United States and preach their hatred here. Trump will not allow that.

[15:05:00]

BALDWIN: Tim, is that fair?

TIM MILLER, OUR PRINCIPLES PAC: I think Andy actually sounds kind of coherent, whereas Donald Trump has no idea what he's talking about.

Donald Trump is just basically trying to mirror the emotions of what he thinks people want to hear. There's this sense of Donald Trump that he tells it like it is or says what people really think. No, he says what he thinks people want him to say. He says what the room wants him to say.

When it comes to this issue in particular, what people should be really worried about is that Donald Trump has no respect for the Constitution, no respect for freedom of religion. And when you are opening up the door to banning citizens of this country from reentering the country because they're of one religion, that is a very dangerous and slippery slope.

That does not share the values that this country was founded on. And I think he's had a really tough time answering for that, which is why you see kind of the verbal nonsense that he gave to Anderson last night.

BALDWIN: I want to come to you all, but I'm staring at you, because I want you to respond to that, no respect for the Constitution.

DEAN: You have got to remember where Tim is coming from. I understand where Tim is coming from.

He has millions of dollars from the Ricketts family that is supporting his super PAC. So, Tim is financially incentivized. And I give him credit. He's probably doing well financially. There are these very wealthy families like the Ricketts families who hate Donald Trump. And they spend millions, tens of millions of dollars, of which these guys take a commission. To his credit, I want to negotiation your commission. MILLER: Well, that has nothing to do with what I was talking about.

That is complete nonsense.

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: This super PAC talk and this is dangerous.

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I have no super PAC. And I think the argument that you lay out, Andy, is the corrupt argument and those distinctions matter.

And, unfortunately, Donald Trump doesn't make those distinctions.

DEAN: But that's not accurate and that's not fair, OK?

(CROSSTALK)

CUPP: Just let me finish.

DEAN: OK. You got it.

CUPP: I think when Tim says that Donald Trump basically doesn't know what he's talking about, I actually think that's wrong. I think he knows exactly what he's doing.

And I think rather than make those distinctions, which a leader should make, he's intentionally being vague, because he thinks it's not a dog whistle, but a scream to this corner of the country who thinks that everyone that doesn't look like them is responsible for their problems.

And we have seen him do this before. I think it's absolutely on purpose. And I think it's really cowardly. Have the courage, Donald Trump, to make those distinctions.

DEAN: He does actually.

CUPP: Make an argument that makes sense.

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: That's not fair.

CUPP: And that doesn't intentionally offend a huge portion of the segment, not just engineers, Andy, but Muslims who fight for this country, who put on our uniform and go overseas and fight and die for this country. That would be courageous.

(CROSSTALK)

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think it's strange when a presidential candidate makes a blanket statement that says Islam hates us.

Presidential candidates, particularly at this point in the campaign, you're getting kind of towards the end of the primary. He's the front-runner. There needs to be more nuance and explanation. When Anderson tried to follow up, he said, you figure it out.

That's not what a presidential candidate at this point needs to be doing. If you ask me, and I'm not saying any of his supporters will be upset by this -- they won't. But we are at a certain stage in the campaign where you need to put some meat on the bones and you can't say to a journalist, OK, you figure it out.

(CROSSTALK)

MILLER: You know who will be upset, though, is Republicans who care about religious freedom.

And the reality is, a lot our supporters, we just had Ken Blackwell come out today, a strong conservative from Ohio who really cares about the Constitution and really cares about religious freedom. And these conservative are going to say never to Donald Trump. And that's why you see his support.

DEAN: He's winning.

(CROSSTALK)

MILLER: No, his support is waning right now among the very conservatives, among people who go to church every week. Now, this is the thing. The Donald Trump guys, they try to seem tough. They try to seem strong.

DEAN: No, we are tough. We're winning.

(CROSSTALK)

MILLER: That's why you're sitting in a booster chair right now, because you want to seem tall and strong.

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: I have big hands.

(CROSSTALK)

MILLER: But it is not strong to insult people of a certain religion. It is really weak and it is really insecure.

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: OK. You want to talk about Islam and you say, is Donald Trump politically nuanced to make pundits happy? He may not be politically nuanced, but what he's saying -- he is absolutely correct

(CROSSTALK)

CUPP: It's about having the strength and courage to say the right things.

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: I gave you your chance. I just want the same respect.

OK, if you look at the facts, a Pew Research poll surveyed 39 Muslim countries in the Middle East and South Asia.

And I ask you to look at that poll and see how they feel about women, see how they feel about Israel, when the majority -- I'm not saying about 5 or 10 percent -- the majority want to see the destruction of Israel. The majority believe that America is evil. So when Donald Trump says that Islam hates us, that is correct.

(CROSSTALK)

CUPP: He's given the opportunity to make that distinction.

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: We heard one clip from one interview. I talk to Donald Trump all the time. We feel very similarly about this. He wants to stop the hate of the Islamic culture from the Middle East. We love American Islamic people.

CUPP: He should say that.

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: We will. We will say it more.

BALDWIN: OK, OK, OK.

The president of the United States, let's talk about him. He weighed in today on this current race to be the next president. And here is what he said -- actually, Senator Mike Lee, we're going to go live to Senator Mike Lee.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

[15:10:05]

SEN. MIKE LEE (R), UTAH: He promised that he would stand up for them. He promised that he would stand up to a growing, overbearing federal

that taxes us too much and regulates us too oppressively, that knows no bounds. He promised that he would fight against Obamacare. He promised he would resist efforts to undermine our Second Amendment right as Americans.

He promised that he would oppose any efforts to undermine religious liberty. Ted has kept those promises and every other promise he made to the state of Texas. And it's with that trust that he's earned that he is going to move forward and unite our party.

You see, too many people throughout this country have been told over and over again by the political establishment in Washington, D.C., that our best days are behind us, that we simply have to settle for the status quo, that we have to settle for sluggish economic growth, we have to settle for more of the same, business as usual in Washington. Ted doesn't believe you have to settle. Ted doesn't believe you

should settle. You see, there is a big difference between confusion and confidence and Ted is that difference. There is a big difference between platitudes and a plan. Ted is that difference.

There is a big difference between slogans and substance. And Ted is that difference. It's time for us to recognize that we don't have to settle anymore. Don't settle. Don't settle for slogans that can fit on a bumper sticker. Expect substance.

Don't settle for a federal government that is overbearing at home and projects weakness abroad. Expect a federal government that will protect you and respect your rights. It's time, my fellow Americans, to expect more. It's time to expect freedom.

It's time to elect Ted Cruz as the next president of the United States. You know, when we look at this presidential election cycle, one of the many things that comes to mind is the fact that with the recent death of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, a lot of people wonder who is going to fill that vacancy on the Supreme Court, who is going to fill that role, and who is going to name the person who will fill that role?

That's one of the great things about Ted Cruz is that Americans can proceed with great confidence that Ted Cruz will pick an absolutely outstanding person to fill Antonin Scalia's position on the Supreme Court of the United States.

They can also state with great confidence that this is a man who believes in his own family, has stood with his own family. I have enjoyed getting to know Ted and his wife, Heidi, and their daughters, Catherine and Caroline. I have seen Ted stand with them and for them. I have seen him stand with and for his father and for and with his mother.

And he will stand for you. He will stand for every mother and father and son and daughter in America. He will do what he said. He will speak the truth, just as he has in the United States Senate.

And so today I call on all within the sound of my voice to join me in this cause, to look forward to the first 100 days of a Ted Cruz presidency, 100 days that will be marked by reform, a reform that will restore the greatness of our economic mobility society.

We have seen in recent years our economic mobility society's been in danger. We see the poor and the middle class being held back. We see economic opportunity in America fading, as there are more and more backroom deals that serve only to enrich and further empower those incumbents who are already enriched and already empowered.

Ted Cruz will work to undo that and to restore the greatness of the American people, to put the power back where it belongs, which is with the people. It's time, my fellow Americans, and, in particular today, my fellow Republicans, to unite behind one candidate. That candidate is Ted Cruz. BALDWIN: OK, so here you go. This is the first time we have had a

current senator endorsing Ted Cruz to be the next president of the United States.

S.E. Cupp is sitting next to me. As we were watching him, noting -- you had talked to him a couple of months ago, as he was sort of vacillating between, would it be a Rubio, would it be a Cruz?

(CROSSTALK)

CUPP: I talked to him at the beginning of this campaign for CNN.

[15:15:00]

And he told me at the time when it was Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, all three of his friends, right? And he said, this is going to be tough for me. Then after Rand got out, I talked to him again. And he said, it's still tough. I'm not ready. I like both of these guys. These are both my friends.

So I know this was a tough decision. I'm sure he's 100 percent in for Ted Cruz. But I know this was a tough decision, because he has a genuine friendship with all three of those senators. And for him to make this decision while Marco Rubio is still in I think probably suggests that he just doesn't think the fate of the Rubio campaign is strong enough, and he can do more good by helping Ted Cruz right now.

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: Well, here's the question, though? Why do it -- if you're so close to Marco Rubio...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Why do it here on his own turf?

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: In Florida right before the primary?

It's kind of tough. And I understand the political reasoning for it internally, which would be, if I did it after Rubio left, it would look like I'm just jumping on the Cruz bandwagon, so I might as well do it early. No good choice, but still doesn't look great either way.

MILLER: Look, I would toss in there, if you're looking at Donald Trump as such a weak front-runner right now, historically, the front- runner in our party, whether it was W. Bush -- that's what I'm getting at.

(CROSSTALK)

MILLER: Whether it was W. Bush or McCain or Romney, at this point in the east, past Super Tuesday, they're coalescing support. They're getting greater and greater percentage of support. They're getting above 50 percent. That's not true. Ted Cruz right now is beating Donald Trump in a head

to head. Marco is beating Donald Trump in a head to head. And the endorsers like Mike Lee who's like a Bat signal for the conservatives. If you haven't decided who to vote for and you're a conservative, Mike Lee is telling you go vote for Ted Cruz. Those are blows to Donald Trump. He should be getting those endorsements right now and he's not. And it's a sign of just how fragile his status is.

BORGER: Endorsements really honestly this cycle have mattered about this much, right?

MILLER: Well, that's true.

It goes to the also -- if you look at the electorate, he got about 34 percent of support in the first four states. He got about 30 percent of the support over the weekend in the last four states. So Trump's going the wrong direction. Eventually, he's going to have to get over 50.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: But Cruz has been ripping establishment Republicans.

DEAN: Well, that's not even accurate. He got above 34 percent in Michigan and Mississippi.

MILLER: But not an average.

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: Counting Hawaii, OK. And he won Hawaii.

OK, your theory, the problem with it is that this coalescing around John McCain in '08 and Mitt Romney in 2012 ended up with, what, both losers that the establishment picked. Donald Trump is doing something very different. And the fact he can carry two states that are as different as Michigan and Mississippi shows his strength.

The fact that you spent tens of millions of dollars against him. And I guarantee you this. On March 15, 16, when we wake up and Trump has won Florida and Ohio, there will be a coming together because your people have a choice between Donald Trump, which is reality, which the voters have chosen, and Hillary Clinton. I hope you're with us.

MILLER: Well, we spent no money against him in Michigan and Mississippi, just on the facts.

Number two, he is doing something totally different, and that is, he's historically unpopular for a front-runner at this point in the race. There have been no front-runner -- there's nobody on either side who's ever been a front-runner at this point who over half the party say I would not be happy if he is the nominee. And, by the way, if you go ahead to the general election, 67 percent of general election voters say they don't like Donald Trump.

(CROSSTALK) DEAN: I just feel like I'm going insane because I look at the vote count. I don't know what he is looking at.

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: One of the reasons, look, the field is still large, so he hasn't gotten over 50 percent because the field's...

DEAN: Close.

BORGER: But the field is so large. He's winning. And I was just looking at these numbers. Donald Trump is winning among Republican women. And that's kind of stunning.

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: ... also wrote a great pie about how he's winning also -- they that say Trump doesn't do well with educated voters.

She wrote a great piece that, in Michigan, in Oakland County, which is a very highly educated place, Trump is -- affluent -- Trump is dominating. So he's winning with all sorts of voters. This media myth that it's like NASCAR people that are only voting for Trump is just not true.

(CROSSTALK)

CUPP: No, that's not the myth. We have all admitted we're surprised, but we have all admitted he shouldn't be winning with evangelicals, he is, shouldn't be winning with women, he is, not in a general, he shouldn't be winning with affluent, well-educated people in Oakland County, Michigan, and he is.

There's no myth. We're admitting this. It's baffling, though.

BALDWIN: OK.

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: Take a commercial break.

BALDWIN: Thank you very much. Andy, we're going to hit pause. We're not finished.

I have more. I want you to hear specifically from the president of the United States, who today, as he was meeting with the Canadian P.M., weighed in on the current state of the race, was talking about some of these Republican candidates for president -- what Obama thinks coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:23:36]

BALDWIN: And we're back here live at the beautiful University of Miami. Look at the set. So thrilling to be here. We're just around the corner from the arena where in hours from now we

will be holding what could be the last with these four men who are all seeking to have that Republican nomination for president here at the university tonight, debate, 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

We have a pretty incredible panel, in case you have forgotten. Let me remind you who's sitting next to me here in Miami, Andy Dean, S.E. Cupp, Gloria Borger, and Tim Miller.

What I just teed up before the break, President Obama, right, just recently we have been seeing bits and pieces of him weighing in on the current race to be the next president. Here is what he thinks about Trump and these other candidates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Republican base for the last seven years, a notion that everything I do is to be opposed, what you're seeing within the Republican Party is to some degree all those efforts over a course of time creating an environment where somebody like a Donald Trump can thrive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Where they can thrive.

Gloria Borger, I defer to you on this. The fact he is saying, you know, the Republican Party essentially created Trump and that all of these Republican candidates are the same, is that...

BORGER: Well, he reacting to a question about whether he had created the Donald Trump phenomenon.

[15:25:04]

And I think the president -- you have had eight years of a Democratic president. You have a very frustrated base that not only it feels betrayed by the Republican Party, as well as people who feel they like haven't gotten a raise in 15 years, who are still worried about their health care.

You have Republicans who naturally want to win back the White House and are mining those frustrations. It's not just Donald Trump. It's every Republican candidate.

What you have in the Democratic field is Hillary Clinton hugging Barack Obama as tight as she can and you have Republicans saying, you know, he caused all the problems you are now facing. Republican voters are saying, you know what, it's not just Obama actually. It is our own Republican establishment that didn't take on this president when they could have.

BALDWIN: OK. Let me move off this. I want to get to Ted Cruz, because he spoke out specifically on Trump supporters. Here is Senator Cruz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald gave a press conference where he said, to quote him, I love the poorly educated. Listen, part of it is I think Donald is taking advantage of his voters, because I understand what they're angry about.

But Donald -- if you're angry at the corruption of Washington, you don't solve it by supporting someone who has been enmeshed in the Washington corruption for 40 years. Donald does well for voters who have relatively low information, who are not that engaged and who are angry and they see him as an angry voice.

Where we are beating him is when voters get more engaged and they get more informed. When they inform themselves, they realize his record. He's what they're angry at.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Andy, what do you think?

DEAN: I think what Cruz is doing is very, very dangerous.

He's saying that the voters are dumb and that these cave-dwelling types are the ones going for Donald, when if you look at the actual vote count, once again, Trump is winning amongst people who aren't educated and then people who are educated and people who are very educated.

This idea that Cruz is going there -- I find it very, very arrogant that, oh, people aren't voting for me because they're not smart enough to understand me. It's a weird thing to do and I don't think it works.

MILLER: If anybody knows arrogance, it would be the Donald Trump supporters, I guess.

BALDWIN: Ouch.

(CROSSTALK)

MILLER: ... expertise on that.

But, look, here's where Cruz can be successful. That is that voters do need to be educated about Donald's record and voters need to know the Trump ties and the Trump shoes and the Trump shirts, they're all made in Bangladesh, the fact that when Trump tried to hire people at Mar-a-Lago, which is a fancy club here in Florida, he didn't hire American workers. He went and found foreign workers for cheaper.

If voters are looking for somebody who's going to help the American worker get jobs, which is what Donald Trump claims, Donald Trump is not the answer. I think if Ted Cruz makes those arguments tonight, he's going to be successful.

CUPP: Those are better arguments for Ted Cruz to make. A few years ago, a guy, Thomas Frank, a liberal, wrote a book called "What's The Matter With Kansas?" And it basically was this argument that, like, oh, if only these rubes in the square states knew more, they'd start voting their interests and they would stop voting Republican and start voting Democrat.

That's the kind of attitude that I think comes out of the Ted Cruz scrutiny of Trump voters. I don't think that's ever a smart idea.

DEAN: It's the Jimmy Carter malaise speech, right? It's Jimmy Carter blaming dumb people.

(CROSSTALK)

CUPP: It's not just smart.

But he should -- in addition to what Tim says, he should also point out that all the things they like about Trump are, for many reasons, constitutionally, congressionally, internationally, things that he cannot deliver on.

And if they like those things, no judgment, if they like those things, they should invest in a president who can get them done. And he can't. So I would go along those lines, rather than saying they don't know any better.

BORGER: Yes. It's just never a good idea to insult the voters, particularly when you believe and hope you're going to be in a one on one against Donald Trump and you would like to win.

CUPP: Or a general, eventually, right?

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: Or a general, right. But you just -- you want to encourage them to come out in a general. You want to win them over.

(CROSSTALK)

MILLER: It's not a good idea to insult voters, you mean like calling Mexicans rapists.

CUPP: That, too.

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: That, too. They're not mutually exclusive.

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: He goes out and says that. He is talking about illegal immigrants. He said some of them are rapists and some of them are good people.

(CROSSTALK)

CUPP: He just released a statement that he wants to freeze immigration, legal immigration. He wants to freeze immigration.

MILLER: Except for his hotels and...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Let me share this a piece of video. This is something we weren't planning on, but now that we have an assault charge.

What I'm talking about was this North Carolina rally. This is a Trump rally from last night.

(CROSSTALK)

CUPP: Wake me up, Brooke. Wake me up when it's over.

BALDWIN: When we talk about the behavior at some of these rallies, S.E., you know, this 78-year-old apparently sucker-punched a protester who was being brought out of a Trump rally, and he's now charged with assault. There's video.

CUPP: Oh.

MILLER: Ooh, man.

BALDWIN: I mean, you know, one argument is, Mr. Trump has offered to pay legal fees for some of these folks. He said, bring in the stretchers.