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Lawsuits File over Flint, Michigan, Water Crisis; Presidential Candidates On the Trail, On the Attack; Supreme Court to Take up Obama Immigration; ISIS Intervention Saves Paris Girl. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired January 19, 2016 - 13:30   ET

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


[13:30:00] JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, these are brand- new suits that are just filed now, and class actions, but they are on the state level versus the federal level, because that was a class- action suit that is filed recently. And of course, the primary defendant is the governor of the state. But also, they are really focusing in on two state agencies for the defendants in the case, and Michigan Department of Health and Human Service and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

One of the new things that we are hearing in this lawsuit is that they are talking about Legionnairella bacteria, because there has been a spike in Legionnaires Disease within Michigan. And they are saying that the Department of Health and Human Services knew that there was a spike in disease and a spike of the lead level in the drinking water of this community, and there was a correlation, but they lied to the community, and never let them know the truth. They are also asking for an injunction so that the water department does not require people to pay their bills for water that was affected. And if their water has been turned off because they have not paid, to turn it back on.

They are also saying that there is a taking of the property rights, that because the pipes of these people with that untreated water allowed the lead from the lead pipes to go into the water, because that is the allegation of the contamination right there, and then it went into their homes, and they drank it. So the property rights have decreased.

And they say that if these governmental officials were only honest, they could have prevented the health issues of everybody in the community, primarily the children and the elderly, and those affected by all of this, and they are asking there to be some accountability.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL GOODMAN, ATTORNEY: We are going to get the e-mail, and we will demand them as part of the discovery, and there are going to be -- they will be coming forward. And the other thing with the discovery is sworn testimony by the public official, and it's not going to be easy questions. They're not going to be softballs or dodgeable. These are going to be questions in which they are hard questions in which they are going to be posed to the public officials that they have to answer them, and they won't get away from answering the questions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And that accountability, they say, are going to be coming from the e-mails and government officials, they are trying to get. They have not gotten yet, but under the Freedom of Information Act, they believe they are due the e-mails to have the information.

Now, of course, the government, the state of Michigan, they will have to respond to the lawsuits. And the lawsuits are mounting, class- action suits, they want to be certified as, Wolf, because the members of the community are going to be harmed forever and in many respects.

BLITZER: What a horrible, horrible situation in Flint, Michigan, right now.

All right. Thank you very much for that report, Jean Casarez.

Just ahead, on the trail and on the attack, Hillary Clinton versus Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump versus Ted Cruz, and candidates are slugging it out right now. We're live from the campaigns trail. We will talk about how this presidential race is shaping up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:37:17] BLITZER: Presidential candidates are fanning out across Iowa and New Hampshire today and they are stepping up the attacks on one another with the Iowa caucuses only 13 days away. On the Republican side, the battle between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz is intensifying. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are locked in a fierce battle in New Hampshire right now. A new Monmouth University poll shows Sanders is cutting into Hillary Clinton's lead nationally. Nationally, she is at 52 percent, down from 59 percent in December, and he is at 37 percent up from 26 percent. But Clinton is seen as the stronger nominee when she is pitted against the Republican field.

Our senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny, is joining us from Carol, Iowa; and our chief political correspondent, Dana Bash, is joining us from Concord, New Hampshire.

Jeff, these national numbers are so important, but much more important than the numbers where you are in Iowa and very close between Trump and Cruz. And today, Trump seemed to get a little assistance with a popular governor of Iowa, Terry Branstad, said that Ted Cruz must be defeated and must lose. This is extraordinary for a governor to intervene in a caucus like this. Give us the background.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it is certainly is. And we have seen Governor Branstad waiting on the sidelines here. He is known to be very politically correct, and very careful in the assessments of the Republican candidates. I never have heard Terry Branstad in the three decades of governor say that somebody needs to be defeated.

And this reason he's doing it is this. He said that Ted Cruz does not support ethanol, which is the lifeblood of the ethanol economy, and Terry Branstad, who is the heart of the Iowa Republican establishment, coming out to say that Ted Cruz needs to be defeated is significant. The question here is that Ted Cruz can use it to his benefit as well by saying, look, people like the governor here, the establishment is trying to defeat me, but it is a significant thing for the governor today to say that he is should be defeated. We will have to watch how it plays out, because Ted Cruz has the best ground game it looks like in Iowa here -- Wolf?

BLITZER: What about how it looks in New Hampshire, Dana, on the Republican side, because it looks very, very close in Iowa?

[13:39:39] DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Here in New Hampshire, most of the polls show Donald Trump has a healthy lead, and the race at this point seems to be for who is going to be coming in a strong second. You can see that I am here at John Kasich event. It will start soon. He is governor of Ohio. He has been kind of going up and down here, but he has been putting all of the eggs at least in the short term in the basket of New Hampshire. And he has had almost 50 town halls. And this is another one here shortly. And he is in a race with the Jeb Bush, with Marco Rubio and Chris Christie to get the so-called establishment vote, the more mainstream vote.

And Ted Cruz is doing well here. He is actually been here on the bus tour, also, but that is where it stands here.

And Donald Trump had a huge crowd yesterday. I was with him here in New Hampshire.

And this is a more typical New Hampshire event, as you can see behind me, and it is low key. And John Kasich is going to be answering the questions from the voters.

And I will tell you that just talking about the voters here, there are a lot of people undecided. I talked to one man who said that he has no clue who he is going to be voting for.

So even though Donald Trump is doing well, you don't know what is going to be happening especially after the voters in New Hampshire see what happens in Iowa.

BLITZER: And back to Jeff.

Jeff, even though Terry Branstad is saying that Ted Cruz must be defeated and he must lose the Iowa caucuses, he is not endorsing anyone else, Donald Trump, for example?

ZELENY: No, he not. He is not endorsing Donald Trump, Wolf. I would not expect him to do so. He has long talked about how a governor is the better type of candidate.

So, look, all eyes here in Iowa are on Donald Trump. He has been talking about the endorsement that he is going to be getting tonight. So, he is trumping it up, if you will. So I think that similar case here in Iowa, Wolf, to what Dana is hearing. The Republicans are undecided. As you talk to them, they are trying to sort it out. That's why campaigns are campaigns, and we will see how it plays out over the next 13 days. BLITZER: We will see how it plays out during the 6:00 p.m. eastern

time when Donald Trump has a rally, and brings the high-profile mystery guest, as he is calling it. We will have that in "The Situation Room" in our 6:00 p.m. eastern hour.

Guys, thank you very, very much.

Just ahead, high stakes at the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court will decide if President Obama's immigrant orders are illegal. Our political panel is standing by to discuss that and a lot more. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:46:21] BLITZER: New details emerging right now with the federal response to disaster in Flint, Michigan, and we spoke about the disaster a few moments ago. And now President Obama is set to meet with the mayor of Flint, Michigan, Mayor Karen Weaver. She is here in Washington for a mayor's conference. The White House announced the meeting. The president will be in nearby Detroit later this week, and has no plans to visit Flint, at least not yet. Mayor Weaver is expected to push the president to make that visit. And we will update you more when we get that information.

And we're also following breaking news on a hot-button political issue. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case challenging the president's executive orders on immigration. The orders would allow millions of undocumented workers to avoid deportation and apply for employment permits here in the United States. Opponents, including Republican candidates, call the action unconstitutional.

Doug Hattaway is a democratic strategist, former senior advisory to Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign; and Kristen Soltis Anderson is a columnist for the "Washington Examiner" as well as a Republican political strategist and pollster.

This could be an issue going forward in the election, Kristen. We don't know what the Supreme Court is going to do, but they rule in the president's favor, and lot of the Hispanics are thrilled by the decision. Republicans as you know, they have been trying to make some inroads and potentially the Republican candidates say, on day one, we will reject the executive order, and turn it around. It could have a political impact?

KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, COLUMNIST, "WASHINGTON EXAMINER" & POLITICAL STRATEGIST: Yes, the politics of immigration will change whether you're looking at short term or the long term. Long term, demographic changes reshape the country, and make sort of the political trajectory of the immigration issue clear. But on the other hand, in the short term, a lot of the Republicans are looking at what the president has done and say it is unconstitutional. It's not just about the politics of immigration, but what Article I and II of the Constitution say you can and cannot do. So some Republicans are excited to see the Supreme Court take this up, to bring this issue and bring it to the fore.

BLITZER: The lower court ruled that the president was not constitutionally authorized to sign these executive orders. That's why the whole issue is on hold right now. We have no idea what the Supreme Court is going to do. They could rule in the president's favor, not in his favor. How does this play out in the election?

DOUG HATTAWAY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST & FORMER SENOR ADVISOR TO 2008 HILLARY CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Well, it is going to be a big factor, no matter which way the court rules. Republicans have made immigration a huge factor, and it goes beyond the parameter of the case. For Democrats, it goes beyond the demographics, too. Is it are we going to have inclusive politics in this country or divisive ones? The Republicans have done themselves harm when it comes to the racially tinged comments, and the young people are turned off by that. Depending on the ruling, it could energize more people. But it's not just about the Democrats.

BLITZER: It could be a huge issue in the election.

I was pretty stunned today to hear the governor of Iowa, Terry Branstad, has come out to say to the Iowa Republican caucus goers Ted Cruz must lose, don't vote for Ted Cruz. He is not endorsing anybody else, but don't vote for him. Were you surprised for that?

SOLTIS ANDERSON: Well, I was a little surprised, but Ted Cruz has always the ability to take the negative to turn it into his advantage. He has made his name being the enemy of a lot of people who are establishment Republican names, particularly, if this advice not vote for Ted Cruz is on the grounds of support for ethanol, that has divided the conservativism, and you have is limited government folks who say, I like Ted Cruz's position on that issue.

BLITZER: Iowa is a huge agricultural state, and it is a huge issue in Iowa. I don't know about the rest of the country, but in Iowa, the accusation against him, and Donald Trump is saying that Ted Cruz is in the hands of big oil and he won't support ethanol subsidies, which is an economic factor in Iowa.

[13:50:05] HATTAWAY: Yes, that is the thing in Iowa and it is a pocketbook issue, and not a special interest. But for most of the country, it is absolutely fine not to support the ethanol subsidies. I was surprised that Governor Branstad did this, because his style is so low key and governors don't usually do that. As soon as I heard it was about ethanol, I wasn't surprised.

BLITZER: Donald Trump at his 6:00 p.m. eastern rally tonight says he's bringing a mystery guest who is going to bring a lot of excitement. A lot of speculation. You have heard all the speculation that's out there. Sarah Palin, for example, may be his mystery guest. Let's say it's Sarah Palin. What kind of impact would that have?

SOLTIS ANDERSON: Sarah Palin has not been in the headlines as much. It was eight years ago that she was first brought into the national attention, and since then, her name hasn't appeared in a national poll to test her favorables or unfavorables in quite awhile. In a way, I don't know if she helps Donald Trump so much Donald Trump would elevate her and make her more relevant again.

BLITZER: What do you think?

HATTAWAY: I think the crowd would go wild.

(LAUGHTER)

She fires up the Tea Party, right wing base, like nobody's business. I think they get a lot of energy for a few days anyway.

BLITZER: We'll see what happens. We'll have coverage of that at 6:00 p.m. eastern hour in "The Situation Room," we'll see who the mystery guest is.

Guys, thanks very, very much.

Coming up, a very different story we're following, an exclusive look inside an ISIS intervention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For those who are already radicalized, please open your eyes to reality. Don't go to Syria. It's suicide. It's death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: A 15-year-old girl tells CNN in chilling detail how ISIS terrorists almost won her over. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:56:02] BLITZER: CNN has had an exclusive look inside an ISIS intervention. A teenage girl in Paris explains how she almost fell victim to the terrorist group's recruiting efforts on social media. She gives us a look at what militants did to try to entice her into their poisonous ideology and what her family can did to save her.

Here's CNN's Atika Shubert.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SHOUTING)

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Amidst of the terror attacks in 2015 in Paris, a 15-year-old girl found herself in contact with one of the women directly involved in the attack.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): This woman spoke to me on social media. She wanted to go to Syria with someone. She didn't want to go alone. She was also trying to control everything I was doing.

SHUBERT: Joanna, not her real name, is one of the youngest in France's de-radicalization program. Along with mandatory counseling, she must now report to police every day.

She and her mother allowed CNN to observe her counseling session. Both wanted to remain anonymous. She tries to explain to her counselor the grip ISIS recruiters had.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

SHUBERT: Joanna was recruited entirely online, groomed by propaganda that painted ISIS as a defender of Muslims. As a fervent convert seeking more understanding of Islam, Joanna was an easy target.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

SHUBERT: At first, Joanna's mother chalked it up to teenage rebellion. But when her daughter called her an "infidel," she called the national hotline to alert authorities.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): I was feeling guilty. Our first reaction is to feel guilty as a mom. We try to find out the reasons why our child suddenly changed.

SHUBERT: Joanna said the program has allowed a way for her to reconnect with her family and still maintain her faith, far from the toxic ideology of ISIS.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): I made the decision not to get a new phone. It's better this way. I need to learn how to think by myself. Without a phone and Internet, there's no one to tell me what to do anymore. For now, I don't feel like going back on social media.

SHUBERT (on camera): What advice do you have for other girls like you, and how not to fall into those same traps?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): You should always be careful on the Internet. Don't even go there. Don't speak to them. Don't take any risk. For those who are already radicalized, please open your eyes to reality. Don't go to Syria. It's suicide. It's death.

SHUBERT (voice-over): There are some days when Joanna is confident. But she still fears a relapse. She refuses to have a Smartphone and won't touch a computer with Internet access. But it's a daily struggle, especially for a girl so young.

Atika Shubert, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Excellent story. Thank you, Atika, for that.

That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room," an exclusive interview with the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia coming up.

The news continues next on CNN.