Trump-less Debate Second to Lowest in TV Ratings; Donald Trump Leaves Iowa for New Hampshire; Republicans Attack Clinton at Debate
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A big night in Iowa, enjoying the spotlight. All to himself. And today learning that the Trump- less debate scored the second lowest ratings of the season. Here's what Trump said last night at his fundraiser for military veterans.</s>DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you. There's a vet. There's a vet. We love our vets. I didn't want to be here, I have to be honest. I wanted to be about five minutes away. And I've enjoyed that. I've enjoyed that. All the online polls said I've done very well with that, with the debates, and I've had a kick with it, but you have to stick up for your rights. When you're treated badly, you have to stick up for your rights. FOX has been extremely nice, and the last number of hours actually.</s>TRUMP: And they've wanted me there and they said how about now? They called a few minutes ago. How about now? Look at all the cameras. Like the Academy Awards. Listen. I don't feel good about turning down money because my whole life I've been greedy, greedy, greedy. I've grabbed all the money I could get, I'm so greedy, but now I want to be greedy for the United States. I want to grab all that money. I'm going to be greedy for the United States.</s>COSTELLO: CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta is live in Nashua, New Hampshire, where Mr. Trump's town hall is just about to get underway. And John Berman is in Des Moines this morning after the debate. We'll check with John in just a few minutes, but I want to -- I want to start with Jim in New Hampshire. Good morning.</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. That's right. Even in his absence at last night's GOP debate, his presence was felt. Nearly all of the candidates on that stage talked about Donald Trump, and he's going to be out here in a few moments in New Hampshire. It gives you a sense of the confidence inside the Trump campaign right now, just about 72 hours before the Iowa caucuses. He's in New Hampshire, not in Iowa right now. But as it was put at last night's debate, he was sort of the elephant not in the room. There were probably a lot of Republicans out there using the flashback or previous channels button on their remote control sort of switching back and forth between the debate and Donald Trump's event across town there in Des Moines. And while Donald Trump said that this event was dedicated to raising money for veterans and he said that about $6 million was raised over all, about $500,000 on a new Web site that was created for veteran's causes, this was really about teaching FOX News a lesson. Corey Lewandowski, the campaign manager for Donald Trump, told me that they feel like that that press release from FOX News, which really started a lot of this, was, quote, "egregious," and Donald Trump talked about that in an interview with my colleague Brianna Keilar in which he said FOX News finally apologized just before last night's debate. Here's what he had to say.</s>TRUMP: I just didn't think this was a fair process, and by the time they apologized, I said look, the problem is we now have a big event scheduled for the vet.</s>BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: On the phone they apologized? That was the phone was about? Did you get --</s>TRUMP: Yes. FOX could not have been nicer.</s>KEILAR: You got an apology?</s>TRUMP: Yes. And they could not have been nicer.</s>KEILAR: Who apologized?</s>TRUMP: I don't want to say.</s>ACOSTA: Now he didn't want to say who apologized, but he maintains that somebody apologized over at FOX News. And I can tell you from talking to Corey Lewandowski over at the Trump campaign that Donald Trump does plan to participate in future GOP debates. They say this was really a one-time only thing and to sort of bolster the fact that he was having a good night last night not being on that debate stage, the two previous Iowa caucus winners, Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum, were at his side. They participated in the undercard debate and then went over to Donald Trump's event last night. And the Trump campaign insists they are now moving forward and looking toward the Iowa caucuses on Monday night. They say that they have their ground operation out in the field ready to go. Carol, they know that a lot of people have sort of written off that ground campaign in Iowa, but according to Corey Lewandowski, quote, "We have a plan," as what he said to me, and that they have not imported people from Texas, sort of a jab at Ted Cruz there, that all of their forces are in Iowa. So they're feeling very confident just shortly before these Iowa caucuses. Who would have thought, Carol, that skipping a debate might actually work on your behalf? That may be the lesson to take away from last night's debate. It may be working for Donald Trump, Carol.</s>COSTELLO: Perhaps so. Jim Acosta, many thanks. OK. Let's head back to Des Moines and check in with John Berman. So Donald Trump has moved on to New Hampshire. Are the rest of the candidates still in Iowa?</s>JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All of the other candidates are in Iowa working the voters here. And this is an interesting dynamic, Carol, because I think the one risk for Donald Trump last night in skipping that debate was sending a message to Iowa voters that he doesn't care as much about them. Voters in the state call it the Iowa debate. So it's interesting that this morning the night after doing that, he's in New Hampshire. So that was the risk. The up side, of course, was the absence of flak going his way on that debate stage. A lot of those candidates, they got beat up last night on that stage. Donald Trump did not. By not being there, he avoided some tough questions and perhaps some answers that would have put him in hot water.</s>COSTELLO: All right. John Berman reporting live from Des Moines. Many thanks. My next guest says he was contacted by the Trump campaign and will be receiving some of those funds that were raised last night. Joining me now by phone, Keith Howard. He's the executive director of Liberty House, which provides food and housing for veterans who are transitioning out of homelessness. He's also an army veteran. Keith, good morning.</s>KEITH HOWARD, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LIBERTY HOUSE: Good morning. Thank you very much for having me.</s>COSTELLO: Thanks for being with me. So when did the Trump people contact you?</s>HOWARD: I was contacted by a Colonel Jolly yesterday afternoon around 4:30, and to be honest, I was afraid I was being punked. When I got -- he said that he was representing the Trump Foundation, and would like to make a donation to Liberty House, I called him back from a different number thinking this might be a college newspaper prank, but everything checked out, and then this morning I went online and saw that Liberty House is one of the 22 organizations that the foundation has identified.</s>COSTELLO: So do you know how much money you're going to get?</s>HOWARD: I don't have a clue. I know that a figure of $6 million has been mentioned is what was raised, but I don't know how that money will be dispersed. We will be thankful for anything that we can get.</s>COSTELLO: You say your organization is very small. Why do you think Liberty House was chosen by the Trump people?</s>HOWARD: I wouldn't dame to suggest to understand the Trump Foundation's thinking, but I do know that Liberty House has within the past month given up all federal funding because of housing and urban developments policy of requiring drug and alcohol abuse to be allowed in transitional facilities. So we've been public about that. I wrote an op-ed for the statewide newspaper, "The Union Leader," a couple of weeks ago. I suspect that may have had something to do with it but I don't know.</s>COSTELLO: Do you think the fact that you're located in New Hampshire has anything to do with it?</s>HOWARD: You mean because of that thing that's coming up? Yes, I suspect that the New Hampshire primary didn't hurt our chances, but when I looked over the list, it seems to be a lot of other small grassroots organizations from a lot of different states, not just early primary states.</s>COSTELLO: So are most of the veteran's organizations on that list small organizations? It's not the big ones who normally get national attention.</s>HOWARD: I'm assuming from their titles and from the one or two sentence descriptions of them that they are like Liberty House, small organizations who are here trying to meet needs instead of raise money or be an advocacy group. Right now Liberty House provides food for about 100 folks a week who come to us off the street, clothing for people who come to us needing winter clothes, and housing for 10 formerly homeless veterans. We are not a big player. We are meeting real human needs immediately.</s>COSTELLO: Some people had charged that Trump was using wounded veterans as political props. What do you say?</s>HOWARD: Well, I say that I've been very careful to refer to the Trump Foundation, which is the organization that raised this money, the money that individual folks gave to help veterans, whatever portion of that comes to Liberty House, will be used to meet immediate human needs, veterans who live here at Liberty House and for anybody in the greater Manchester area who needs food or clothing. So I can't speak to what nefarious thoughts may have been behind anybody else, but the Trump Foundation's money will be used to meet real human needs.</s>COSTELLO: Keith Howard, executive director of Liberty House. Thank you so much for joining me.</s>HOWARD: Well, thank you for having me.</s>COSTELLO: You're welcome. Here with me now, Katrina Pierson, national spokesperson for the Trump campaign, and Mindy Finn, Republican political consultant. Welcome to both of you.</s>MINDY FINN, REPUBLICAN POLITICAL CONSULTANT: Good morning.</s>COSTELLO: Good morning. So Katrina --</s>KATRINA PIERSON, NATIONAL SPOKESWOMAN, TRUMP CAMPAIGN: Good morning.</s>COSTELLO: Good morning. Katrina, I'll start with you. Who do you think won the debate, and don't say Mr. Trump because he wasn't there.</s>PIERSON: You know, I'm going to have to say that the people of Iowa won the debate. We have seen for a very long time that Republicans tend to believe that the media have the right to dictate who the nominee is going to be, and Mr. Trump stood up to that, not only defending himself but defending the 40 percent of Republican primary voters that support him and the 35 percent that support him in Iowa.</s>COSTELLO: Mindy, do you agree?</s>FINN: I don't agree. I think that while Donald Trump has received a lot of publicity for this sham veterans event that he held instead of the debate, that the reason that he was running from the debate is because he didn't want to answer for his record. As we saw for the first time, there were video clips being played that showed past statements of some of the leading candidates, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and that would be the worst thing for Donald Trump to have some of his past statements played via video because he's flip-flopped. He was a Democrat, he was liberal on every single issue. He's been an elitist, even on veterans. And this was on video. But while it's great, I'm glad that more support is going to our veterans now, but he was trying to chase them off Fifth Avenue because they were a sight -- a sore sight that would take off the shine off his Trump Tower. And so I'm not surprised that Donald Trump ran and didn't want to answer for his past statements. That would be a disaster for him.</s>COSTELLO: So did Mr. Trump know in advance that these video clips were going to be played at the debate, Katrina?</s>PIERSON: Not to my knowledge. But that would be questionable if the candidates know what's coming before it comes, right, Carol? But what I will say is the event last night to detract from that I think is really sad because we do have a lot of issues in this country with regards to veterans. This has been a topic for him since the beginning of his entrance in June. And I'll also say that many of these veterans that have come up to him along the trail has really created a desire in Mr. Trump to do something for them, and which is why he challenged CNN to do the exact same thing by donating some of the proceeds of the debate to veterans and to Wounded Warriors. So when he had the opportunity to do it, it took him 24 hours and he pulled it off. I don't know if you got to see any of the event last night. It was absolutely amazing. Coming from a military family myself, I will not say that that event was a sham. There were a lot of people impacted. There were 22 charities that will be receiving some of those funds. And we're really happy for that.</s>COSTELLO: There are people who say it's political opportunism because a CNN analysis of the Trump Foundation's charitable contributions between 2010 and 2014 show only $77,000 out of $5 million in donations was given to veteran's organizations? So, Mindy, when you look at that, and then when you look at last night's event, and then what happened on Fifth Avenue, what does that say to you?</s>FINN: Well, I'm always happy for more support to go to our wounded and struggling veterans, but there's no way that this isn't self- interested opportunism, another sort of publicity stunt by Donald Trump that he thinks he's going to get away with. And you outlined his record. This is the first time that he's ever shown support for veterans. In fact he was actively fighting them in New York, trying to chase struggling veterans who are just trying to make a living to support their family off the street because it was a nuisance to him and his wealthy friends.</s>COSTELLO: So does Donald Trump going forward, Katrina, have a plan to help wounded veterans besides holding fundraisers? How will he help them in the long run?</s>PIERSON: Well, I think that's been the topic of one of Mr. Trump's points on Veterans Administration. And it's not the first time that he's contributed to veteran's organization.</s>COSTELLO: But what does he say? What's his plan?</s>PIERSON: Just exactly what you pointed out a second ago, Carol. He's been talking about reforming Veterans Administration, firing people, putting the right people in place, getting people treatment, putting in these transitional programs, getting them proper medical care, letting them choose their own physician. I mean, these issues have been talked about extensively on the campaign trail. And it has become more of a priority to him over the last few months because he's been interacting with them directly. And the reason why he didn't spend as much time talking about it last night is because there were veterans there who wanted to talk about the impact of the suicide rate in this country among veterans and the impact of all of the sorrows that their families have received that most politicians have been all talk and no action on. And he has committed to supporting veterans as commander-in-chief.</s>COSTELLO: And all of that is very important, Mindy, but couldn't it have been said on the debate stage as well?</s>FINN: Yes. I mean, absolutely. I mean, Katrina outlined this plan. I'd like to ask how's that any different than other Republican candidates who have a similar plan? I think the issues with veterans affairs are well documented and most folks know how to combat it. It's Donald Trump running away from his record. And, again, I don't blame him for running away. Because if the voters of Iowa who might think that, you know, he's a committed Christian or that he's pro-life or that he's so strong on immigration as he says now, if they see the videos and they hear his record, they will know that's absolutely not the case, and this is only for -- this is the first time since he started running that he's speaking about these issues in a way because it's pandering. And it's appealing to Iowa voters. And I hope that when they go to the caucuses next week that they see it for what it is and they don't support him.</s>COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. Katrina Pierson, Mindy Finn --</s>PIERSON: Well, I'll just -- I'll just note this, Carol, real quickly?</s>COSTELLO: I have to leave it there. Thanks to both of you. While Republicans made their case for why they should be the next occupant of the White House, the man who currently lived there slammed the 2016 hopefuls for their foreign policy rhetoric and its impact on the war on terror.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're not going to build progress with a budge of phony tough talk, and bluster and over-the-top claims that just play into ISIL's hands. We're not going to strengthen our leadership around the world by allowing politicians to insult the Muslims or pit groups of Americans against each other. That's not who we are. That's not keeping America safe.</s>COSTELLO: President Obama who made those remarks at the Annual House Democratic Retreat, went on to predict that Democrats will keep the White House following this year's election. Still to come in the NEWSROOM, three California inmates on the loose. One of them compared to Hannibal Lecter. And now a jail employee is under arrest.