Transcripts For WABC This Week With George Stephanopoulos 20160110

Who got them all right in 2012. From abc news, this week with George Stephanopoulos begins now. Good morning. It has already been one of the most volatile and ever, and now the first votes in the race for president are coming fast. With just three weeks until iowa we start out with an exclusive look at how iowa voters are thinking about this race. Heres jon karl. Reporter with just 22 days until voting in iowa, this weekend frontrunners donald trump and ted cruz barnstormed the hawkeye state. While trump still holds his this years first poll of iowa republicans. And now cruz is questioning whether trump has what it takes to win in iowa. Its very time intensive. Its labor intensive. You dont do it sitting back in the easy chair. Tv studio in manhattan. Caucusgoers in iowa conducted by frank luntz and google. Abc news got an exclusive first look. How many of you say trump is going to win . Raise your hands. Ooh. He wont be happy with that. Only two. How many say ted cruz will win . If trump is the nominee is there anyone in this room that wow. I do not believe trump would put a good face on the so, youd be prepared to see house . Reporter but others find a the man knows how to negotiate. People. Reporter trumps First Television ad promoting his muslim ban generated the expected buzz. Hes spoton. The things he talked about in that ad is what is affecting america right now, illegal immigration and isis. But does he do it in a way thats constructive . All no. No. Absolutely not. Its more fear based. Reporter with this group trumps questions about whether cruz who was born in canada to appeared to backfire. It exposes trump as unserious. He said his strongest lawyers said its a settled issue and cruz is eligible. Reporter one candidate in the back of the pack is getting a second look. But over the last 60 to 90 days, whose opinion of Chris Christie has improved . Raise your hands. Christie is incredibly articulate and thinks fast on his feet. He has dialed back his sarcastic outbursts. Reporter but some are skeptical of senator marco rubio. For me its the whole obama thing, and i think we suffered from that the last eight years. I like rubio. My concern with him is the fact that he doesnt have years and years and years of experience. Was a focus group of republicans in iowa, which may be the only state in the union where donald trump doesnt lead in the polls. Trump still thinks he can pull off a win there, and over the weekend he was practically state saying, quote, iowa, you havent been good at picking winners, folks. Okay, jon, thanks very much. Weve also got this new analysis from fivethirtyeight, our partners from fivethirtyeight. They projected the race so correctly back in 2012 and have now got the first projections reporter thats right, george. Primary contests are notoriously hard to forecast but fivethirtyeight is breaking down the chances each candidate has to win in iowa and New Hampshire. Theyre doing it by combining all the latest polling numbers with data on how the various polls and endorsements have predicted or failed to predict results in the past. While senator ted cruz and donald trump are neck and neck in the poll, as of today chance of winning the iowa caucus. Trump comes in second with a 21 chance of winning, and heres a surprise, based on in the poll, fivethirtyeight gives marco rubio a 20 chance of winning in iowa. Jeb bush and ben carson trail far behind to round out now, over in New Hampshire, trump leads by a wide margin in every poll and fivethirtyeight puts him as the clear frontrunner with a 34 chance of winning and fivethirtyeight gives rubio a 26 chance of winning. They are trailed by cruz, john kasich and jeb bush, and despite some momentum fivethirtyeight is giving Chris Christie only a 7 chance of winning in New Hampshire. Okay, jon karl, thanks very much. Lets take this now to senator marco rubio, who joins us from miami this morning. You saw those projections right there, senator rubio. Thank you for joining us. What do you make of them, and what do you need to do to overtake donald trump and ted cruz . Well, were going to keep doing what were doing now. Look, theres a lot of voters in these early state, particularly in iowa, but also in New Hampshire that are going to make their digs very late. Theyre still shopping. You can see it and sense it in your conversations. Weve gotten some people that are starting to make Firm Commitments but others are still looking. Look, three weeks for an iowa caucusgo the Important Role they play and we feel very, very confident about where we stand and where well be when its over. You heard those iowa voters. Some concerns about your experience. One voter calling you obama 2 and that attack has been picked up by Chris Christie, governor christie who is also hitting on your experience. Hes made a point about you in a pretty graphic way this week. Lets listen. This guy has an spoonfed every victory he has ever had in his life. Is that the kind of person we want to put on the stage against Hillary Clinton . I dont think so. Shell pat him on the head and then cut his heart out. Cut your heart out. What do you make of that . Well, look, chris doesnt want to have a debate about his record. Its not personal but chris record for a republican is not what we need. Hes a supporter of common core. Hes personally given a donation to planned parenthood. Hes a supporter of gun rights gun control. Thats why he got into office to begin with was run for gun control. Someone who agrees with Hillary Clinton and president obama on many issues in this country. He doesnt want to have a debate on those issues. What do you make about that what do you make about that experience coming from the voters, worried you dont have the experience, worried you could be another obama . Well, first of all, obama is not a failure because he was a senator. He has seven years of president ial experience and still making enormous mistakes. Clearly it wasnt experience but it was his ideology was flawed. Its true there are people running for president who lived longer than i but no one shown better judgment or has better understanding of our National Security issues than i do. A president is to be the commander in chief. And none of these other people running have more experience on that issue or have shown better judgment, especially over the last five years than i have so continue to make that argument, the people who are troubled by that will move on and come to support us. Youre getting hit pretty immigration taking on your support of that bipartisan gang of eight compromise in the senate. This week a new issue cropped up in the daily beast. It says, marco rubio in 2004, cheap college for undocumented immigrants. Theyre talking about the florida statehouse you cosponsored legislation to provide instate tuition for undocumented immigrants. What was your thinking then and do you stand behind that position now . Well, first of all a lot of these attacks are exaggerated. I dont support amnesty. I think there has to be real consequences for violating our laws. I continue to support and have supported the largest border surge in american history, 20,000 new border agents, 700 miles of fencing and walls and mandatory everify system, entry exit tracking system to prevent visa overstays. On the bill you talked about it was a narrowly drafted bill and you had to have a certain gpa. You had to live in the u. S. A long time and it was very narrowly tailored to high hief highperforming students who found themselves in a situation where they were brought here by their parents when they were 5, didnt speak another language except english and couldnt attend college because they were being charged like they were out of state. Still had to pay for college but High School Graduates of florida. Of a narrowly tailored bill like that, absolutely. In fact, the Florida Legislature came back years after i left and passed it with vast majority of republicans voting for it and a republican governor signed it. Thats different, but we didnt legalize anybody. Thats the issue here and the truth is, when it comes to ted, he has changed his position on immigration all over the place. I mean he used to be against birth right citizen he used to be for birthright citizenship and now he says hes against it. Illegally. Now he is against it. He used to be for 200 increases in green cards, doubling them. Now he says he wants none, and he says he used to be for a and now he says he wants zero. So, this is not consistency, this is calculation as hes on these issues as we get closer youve engaged in the National Security debate with act that he supported is going to make it harder to protect the heres what you said this week. If isis had lobbyists in washington, they would have spent millions to support the antiintelligence law that was just passed with the help of some republicans now running for president. That language about lobbyists for isis is pretty tough but the bill was also supported by iowa senator charles grassley, New Hampshire senator kelly ayotte and almost two dozen members of congress who support you. Are they all in lead with lobbyists for isis . No, but the names you mentioned supported it not because they thought it was a good idea but because of nothing passed that would have expired and second theyre not running for president. Were running for commander in chief here and, no, we should not have a commander in chief that wants to weaken our quarrel with ted on these issues of National Security are not limited just to the intelligence but if it was just that, you can have an honest disagreement. We already are cutting military spending you stand behind that language, lobbyists for isis . Absolutely there is no doubt that groups like isis will benefit from us having a diminished intelligence capacity. We are now at a moment in this country where we dont just need to keep the authorities we already have, we need to add to these programs. Look at what happened in philadelphia on friday. That was a terrorist attack. The white house refuses to call the attacker said i did it for isis and ive been inspired by isis and we have a white house that refuses to acknowledge it as a terror attack. And this is the kind of threat we face in this country. We need additional tools for i want to make about this, i never believed Edward Snowden way ted cruz once said he did a Public Service for america. Edward snowden is a traitor. He took our intelligence chinese and gave it to the russians. We cannot afford to have a commander in chief who thinks doing a good Public Service. President obama made a bid that was brandnew for background checks on gun sales and one of your recent ads our guns. Argument this week. Take a look. The conversation has to be based on facts and truth and what were actually proposing. Fiction in which obamas trying to take away your guns. Fact checkers have called you out on that, as well. Where has the president called for proposals for taking away guns . He has not done that. His proposal for everyone is infringe on the Second Amendment. This was a terrorist attack in San Bernardino and he jumps and says we need gun control. But take away our guns . Well, if he could, he would. Obviously he knows hes constrained by the Second Amendment so what he tries to do is chip away at it every moment. Let me tell you what hes trying to do, hes trying to keep guns out of the hands of lawabiding citizens by continuing to put new restricts on gun rights. Let me give you an example. He says barack obama wants this debate to be about facts and truth. Good. Lets have it about facts and truth. Heres the fact and heres the truth. None of the attacks that he is talking about, none of these horrible, horrifying tragedies that have occurred that he cites as a rationale for new measures hes taking, not a single one would have been prevented by anything hes proposing and the reason why is because killers and criminals do not care what the gun laws are. They are not going to go to someone that conducts background checks. They will continue to get them from the black market, stolen guns, et cetera, so this is absurd. The only people that will follow the law are lawabiding people. This is nothing but an effort from the left to continue to chip away at the Second Amendment ryes. Finally, senator, we had this news that sean penn, the actor, interviewed the months back and had several followup interviews. The mexican authorities are now investigating. Do you have any problem with what he did . Yeah, im not look, i think sean penn is not someone i spend a lot of time thinking about. I didnt even know he was still around. I think he made movies a long time ago or something. He and el chapo, we used the interview he had in order to find him or the mexicans did. I hope they extradite el chapo to the United States. If one of these american actors who have benefitted from the greatness of this country and made money from our Free Enterprise want to go fawn over a criminal and a drug trafficker in their interview, they have a constitutional right to do it. I find it grotesque. Senator rubio, thanks for joining us this morning. Thank you. The democrats up next. Brandnew polls out this morning show clinton and sanders neck and neck in both iowa and New Hampshire, that as the Clinton Campaign launching new attacks and Bernie Sanders joins us live in two minutes. Announcer this week with George Stephanopoulos is connected by blackberry priv. Its time to set this bird free. Hot blooded, check it and see. His this week with George Stephanopoulos with connected by blackberry priv. Is this week with George Stephanopoulos with connected by blackberry priv. S this week with George Stephanopoulos with connected by blackberry priv. This week with George Stephanopoulos with connected by blackberry priv. This week with George Stephanopoulos with connected by blackberry priv. This week with George Stephanopoulos with connected by blackberry priv. Whether its 30years old or 30days old, carmax will appraise it in as little as 30 minutes. And then your only concern will be how to spend the cash. Rad. At ally bank no branches equals great rates. Its a fact. Kind of like ordering wine equals pretending to know wine. Pinot noir, which means peanut of the night. I took mucinex dm for my phlegmy cough. Yeah. But what about mike . Cough it works on his cough too. Mucinex dm relieves wet and dry coughs for 12 hours. Think about it. I would bomb the [ bleep ] out of them. One of these republicans carpet bomb them into oblivion. Could actually be president. Sit down and shut up. Theyre backward, even dangerous, so ask yourself who stop them . Hillary clinton. Clinton on the issue of electability as we have brandnew polls this morning in both iowa and New Hampshire. Here they are from nbc. The iowa caucuss show that Hillary Clinton holding just a threepoint lead over Bernie Sanders. 48 45 and in New Hampshire, Bernie Sanders ahead, 50 46 over Hillary Clinton. Senator sanders joins us from iowa this morning. Thank you for joining us this morning. Senator, neck and neck race. You know, george, consider how far we have come Puerto Vallarta are are are are over the last eight months, it really is incredible. We started at National Polls at about 3 . I think most of the recent polls have us ahead in New Hampshire. I think were gaining steam here in iowa. I think we have an excellent chance to win here and i think our message, the message that something profoundly wrong with the middle class continues to decline and almost all new wealth and income is going to the top 1 , that is a message that is resonating, people are tired of establishment politics, establishment economics, they want change and thats what were fighting for. It does appear that secretary clinton could hit a nerve though with this issue of electability. We conducted this focus group over the weekend. Frank luntz conducted it and some of the voters had concerns about you and the electability issue. Lets listen. My biggest thing is bernie seems old. And im sorry. Bernie is old, and i see how that office ages people. Bernie wont make it. Can he go the distance in my mind, no. One of the biggest flaws of Bernie Sanders was admit or people think its communism. So those issues of socialism, communism and age getting in the way of your electability. How do you reassure those voters . Well, for a start i would urge those voters, voters all over this country, take a look at recent polls in which Bernie Sanders is matched with republican candidates, trump on down, Hillary Clinton is matched with republican candidates, and you know what, in many of those polls including the major recent one, quinnipiac poll, we beat trump nationally by 13 points, secretary clinton beat him by seven points. Look at a recent New Hampshire poll. Just in New Hampshire, we did much, much better against republican candidates than did Hillary Clinton. So, if people are concerned about electability and democrats should be very concerned because we certainly do not want to see some right wing extremists in the white house, i think Bernie Sanders is the candidate. Were doing much better with independents. We even draw a little bit better quite honestly that with the enthusiasm that we are generating with the kind of voter turnout that i think we can bring out, look, republicans win when people are demoralized and the voter turnout is low. Democrats and progressives win when working people and lowincome people and young people get involved in the political process. George, i think any objective look at our campaigns would suggest we have the energy, we can drive a large voter turnout. So, the fact that youre a democratic socialist, the fact that youll be 75 on election day not an issue . I think the fact that we are bringing forth a message on issue after issue that are being supported by the American People, whether its job creation, raising the minimum wage, climate change, making public colleges, universities public colleges and universities tuitionfree, those are the issues that the American People are being galvanized around. They want us to take on the billionaire class and the greed thats what our campaign is about, and thats why i think we have the momentum. That issue does seem to be working for you. Secretary clinton making quite an issue of your background an gun control, particularly, the vote you had in the past, i think 2005 to shield, to give immunity to gun manufacturers. She actually called in to hardball just the other day. Heres what she said. When it really mattered, senator sanders voted with the gun lobby, and i voted against the gun lobby. So, this is a significant difference, and its important that, you know, maybe its time for senator sanders to stand up and say, i got this one wrong, but he hasnt. Did you get it wrong . Well, what you had was a complicated piece of legislation. There were aspects of it that were absolutely right. There were aspects of it that were wrong, but as the secretary knows, for many weeks now i said, of course, ill be happy to take a of legislation and deal with it and get rid of those can you say right now you would vote for it . That are wrong. I will vote to revise that bill. There are parts of it that made sense to me. Look, george, if you have a small gun shop owner in northern vermont who sells a gun legally to somebody, and then, you know, something happens to that guy, he goes nuts or something and he kills somebody, should the gun shop owner be held liable . I think not. On the other hand, if you have a manufacturer that is sending guns into an area and really knows that those guns are not being used by the people or bought by the people in that area but are being sold to criminals, should we hold that manufacturer liable . Absolutely. So i think, you know, i am absolutely willing, as ive said for many, many weeks, if not months, to take another look at that piece of legislation. But, by the way, you know, i would ask secretary clinton why she is not supporting legislation that ive introduced that would lift the cap on taxable income for Social Security so we can expand social why is she not supporting major pieces of legislation in the house and the senate for paid family and medical leave, so that moms who have a baby can get three months off with pay . I wait to hear for secretary clinton to tell us why she is not supporting that legislation that the American People want to hear. Its clear the debate is going to be joined on many issues, but just to be clear on this issue, you cant say today that you would vote for that 2005 legislation. Youd vote for some revisions on the manufacturers, but youre not prepared to say that the vote you made back in 2005 was wrong . Look, ive cast over 10,000 votes in my life, and many pieces of legislation are complicated. They have good stuff in it, they have bad stuff in it. I am absolutely willing to take another look at that legislation and get rid of the onerous provisions when gun manufacturers, for example, are selling guns into an area and know that those guns are going into the hands of criminals, manufacturers should be held accountable. Finally, do you have any problem with what sean penn did with el chapo, that interview in Rolling Stone . I havent thought about it much. Ive been kind of running around iowa. I saw just i read a little bit about it. So nothing much profound to say about it except im glad that this, you know, this Drug Cartel Leader has been caught. People like him have done incredible harm to people in our country and to his own country. Senator sanders, thanks very much for your time this morning. When we come back, the white house chief of staff and Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell and president obamas state of the Union Tuesday night and a rollicking week of campaign 2016. Announcer and later the powerhouse puzzler brought to you by voya financial. You by voya financial. Jane didnt like restrictions. Not in life. And not when it came to watching her calories. Why settle on taste . Jane thought. Bursting with rich creamy awesomeness and 12 grams of protein. All for 80 calories. No settling here. What else does jane love . That you could win a fitbit flex from light fit. Learn more on specially marked packs. Light fit. The birther issue is back. Donald trump and john mccain questioning whether ted cruz is eligible to be president. The roundtable weighs in on that and all the weeks politics when we come back. Ain why you recommend synthetic over cedar . Super food . Is that a real thing . Its a great school, but is it the right one for her . Is this really any better than the one you got last year . If we consolidate suppliers, whats the savings there . So should we go with the 467 horsepower . Or is a 423 enough . Good question. You ask a lot of good questions. I think we should move you into our new fund. Sure. Ok. But are you asking enough about how your wealth is managed . Wealth management at charles schwab. I have asthma. One of many pieces in my life. So when my asthma symptoms kept coming back on my longterm control medicine, i talked to my doctor and found a missing piece in my asthma treatment. Oncedaily breo prevents asthma symptoms. Breo is for adults with asthma not well controlled on a longterm asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. For sudden breathing problems. Breo opens up airways to help improve breathing for a full 24 hours. Breo contains a type of medicine that increases the risk of death from asthma problems and may increase the risk of hospitalization in children and adolescents. Breo is not for people whose asthma is well controlled on a longterm asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. Once your asthma is well controlled, your doctor will decide if you can stop breo and prescribe a different asthma control medicine, like an inhaled corticosteroid. Do not take breo more than prescribed. See your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. Ask your doctor if 24hour breo could be a missing piece for you. See if youre eligible for janet . Cough if you can hear me. Dont even think about it. I took mucinex dm for my phlegmy cough. Yeah. But what about mike . Cough it works on his cough too. Mucinex dm relieves wet and dry coughs for 12 hours. At ally bank no branches equals great rates. Its a fact. Kind of like reunions equal blatant lying. The company is actually doing really well on, on social media. Oh thats interesting. I i started social media. Oh it was my. Baby. I have no more campaigns to run. My only agenda i know because i won both of them. [ cheers and applause ] there is president obama from last years state of the union, and ahead of this years final state of the union, we talk to the white house chief of staff denis mcdonough. Denis, thanks for joining us this morning. You and your colleagues have theyd that the president s speech on tuesday will be nontraditional. What does that mean . How will it be different. Well, george, thanks for having me on the show. He gathered us together late last year and said, look, he traditional policy speech that outlines a series of proposals. Well have a lot of policy during the course of this year. Rather, he wanted to step back and take a look at the future of this country, the challenges were going through, making sure that were focused on economy that gives everybody a fair shot thats changing economy, making sure were using all the elements of our National Power to keep our country safe and most importantly, i think, in this election year, making sure that we have everybody able to take part in our democracy, not the select few because he knows and this is what hell talk about on tuesday night thematically, the United States succeeds when we draw on all 350 million americans that we have in this country, wherever they come from, whatever walk of life they are, whatever party they are, so hell be talking about the future. Hell be very optimist. Hell be very action oriented, but it wont be your traditional policy speech. Is he focusing on the longterm because he knows he cant get much out of congress this year . If you look back a year and ago and everybody was telling us we were done after the midterm, we obviously went out and got ourselves a climate deal, an historic one at that. We got out an iran deal. We got a very good budget deal that invests in middle class families, and we got a cuba deal, for example, during the course of the last year, so we have just as high hopes for this year, but what he wants to do on tuesday night is talk about the kind of country that he hopes will be president not just during the course of this year rather over the course of the next 20 years, and he feels very optimistic about this future and that, by the way, is something thats a little different than some of the doom and gloom we hear from the republican candidates out there every day. Theyve also promised to undo what the president has done on climate change, on immigration, on guns. How worried are you that the progress that you just cited is ephemeral . Well, look, my job is to worry, george, so i worry every day about a lot of different things, but i think what the next president will find when they come in here that climate deal united the world for the challenges we face, on the iran deal, iran now does not have a Nuclear Weapon and has no if we get all these steps now in the next several weeks ironed out that they have to carry out to get to what we call implementation day, all their paths to a nuclear bomb will be blocked, so we feel really good about these deals and we think the next president will come in and pick them up where we live them. The president pushing hard on the issue of guns and we just spoke to senator marco rubio. He said if the president could take away our guns, he would. Your response . Boy, you know, its hard for me to keep these guys apart. Ive been following all morning on these shows and doom and gloom that theyre pitching to the American People is both counterfactual and not consistent with what we see every day. This kind of stuff appears to work for their politics but is not based on any reality, and this assertion that he made to you that somehow the president is going to do that is just not right. To the United States and sean penn doing that extraordinary interview with him for Rolling Stone, senator rubio called that grotesque. Mexican authorities are investigating. Do you think the u. S. Should investigate as well . That el chapo is back behind bars. I was appalled by his bragging in particular, george, about an epidemic thats sweeping this country on heroin addiction. I was appalled by his bragging to the interviewers in Rolling Stone that he moves more heroin than anybody in the world. We are seeing an epidemic of heroin and opiod abuse in this country. The president is going to get that back in the box, and we hope that senator rubio if he is appalled about this will stop those in his party who would repeal the Affordable Care act, which has done more for Mental Health treatment and Addiction Treatment and Substance Abuse treatment than anything weve seen in decades. And thats the kind of real policy question im focused on well let somebody else sort out what sean penn did and didnt do. El chapo is where he should be. He should stay there and we got to get this heroin off american streets. Mr. Mcdonough, thanks for your time this morning. Thanks so much, george. Lets get a response now from the republican side. We are joined by the Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell. Thanks for joining us this morning. You heard mr. Mcdonough say its going to be a nontraditional state of the union. Nontraditional response . Well, look, the president is going soon to talk about the future and try to paint a rosy picture. Where one does not exist. What wed love to hear from the president is a real plan to defeat isil. Instead, he withdrew troops from very bad nuclear deal with iran, the whole middle east is in terrible shape. Let me just refer to what jimmy carter said at the beginning of the summer when he was asked about the president s foreign policy, he said he couldnt think of a single place in the now than we were when the president came to office. So id like to see the president step up here in his last year and lay out a plan for the defeat of isil. Its a good starting place. Will the senate give him new authority to fight that war . Speaker ryan is saying perhaps he wants to schedule a vote on that. Will the senate do that, as well . Well, the problem with what the president submitted for an authorization of use of military force restricted what he could do. I cant imagine that i would be voting for an authorization for the use of military force that barack obama would sign because the one he submitted for us to take a look at restricted his activities. What he could do based upon conditions on the ground, look, i dont want to tie the hands of the next president. The next president may want to actually defeat isil and i think an aumf, an authorization for the use of military force, ties the president s hands behind his back is not something i would want to do to a new president this mess created by all this passivity over the last eight year. Whats the most important piece of legislation you can put on the president s desk this year that he will sign . Well, look, i think it may be a little boring to the public but we havent passed every single bill that funds the government. The appropriation bill since 1994. Weve already agreed to what were going to spend next year in our continuing effort to end dysfunction in congress we on it in 2015. I think we ought to on a bipartisan basis step up to the challenge of getting every single bill that funds the government passed individually, not in a big clump of bills at the end, and get it on the president s desk. That would be noteworthy. It hasnt happened in two decades. Back in 2008 there was Bipartisan Legislation passed unanimously in the Senate Declaring that senator john mccain was a natural born citizen even though he was born in a territory. I know you dont like to get in but there have been questions raised about ted cruzs eligibility to be president. Will the senate pass legislation declaring he is also a natural born citizen . Ive made a point of staying out of the president ial race. These guys are all running their races as hard as they can. But this bears on your i dont think the senate ought to get in the middle of it. I just dont think the senate ought to get in the middle of this. These guys will all slug it out in iowa and New Hampshire and well have a nominee hopefully by time in the spring. Sometime in the spring. This has been kind of an extraordinary race as i know you know. You see donald trump and ted cruz at the top of the primary senator cruz has called you a trump has accused you and speaker ryan of gross incompetence. There seems they seem to be tapping into a real anger at the Republican Leadership out there in the country. Theyre the frontrunners for it says that we ought to do that the American People elected us to do it and let the president ial race play out. No worry donald trump would put your majority at risk . Well do the job the American People elected us to do and president ial candidates will all slug it out and at some point this year hopefully well have a good nominee. You are disciplined, senator mcconnell. Thank you very much for joining us this morning. Thank you. Roundtable is up next plus our powerhouse puzzler inspired by this weeks state of the union address. Which president gave the First Televisioned state of the union. The answer when we come back. Announcer the powerhouse voya financial. He was born in canada and i say to ted and as a republican i say, because i think its very important, you got to get it straightened out. I think there is a question. Im not a constitutional scholar on that, but i think its worth looking into. I dont think its illegitimate to look into it. Well, i tweeted out a response to Donald Trumps raising questions about my natural born citizenship. It was a link to fonzie jumping the shark and i think im going to let my response stick with that tweet. Who knew that happy days could come back in 2016. Those questions about ted cruzs eligibility on the trail this week. Lets talk about joined by our political analyst matthew dowd, Television Radio host tavis smiley, also the author of the covenant with black america ten years later, hugh hewitt, host of the hugh hewitt show dowd let me begin with you. Boy, the law does seem to be settled on what a natural born citizen is. Doesnt mean its not an issue in the president ial race. Like many that come up even if we think its settled and done, even if the candidate himself who raised the issue said it was settled, it doesnt seem to be settled. This is i think where were in a campaign in a time where a series of these events are going to keep happening over and over again. Over the course of the next year. Hugh hewitt, youre tapped into the republican base, the republican primary voters. Theyre listeners of yours, as well. How does an issue like this get traction . It doesnt. There is no debate. There isnt one single legal scholar in america who believes this is an open question. Ted cruz is qualified but i am reminded when i was a lad there was a series of three fights between joe frazier and muhammad ali, and they were epic battles and i think iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina between ted cruz and donald trump are going to be that kind of slugfest, and on the other side theres whos got the George Foreman lane . Someone will emerge on the other you brought back memories listening to those fights on my transistor radio on my pillow. Meanwhile, hugh heweitt talks about this epic battle right now. Donna brazile, you see donald especially in New Hampshire holding so strong. I mean, no one is a bigger birther than donald trump. I mean, he did it with president ted cruz and it put ted cruz in somebody who once pedaled that kind of hysteria, as well. I mean, hes running as a son of an immigrant, a proud one, an american Success Story and hes running as a fierce opponent of immigration reform. So here you have now ted cruz trying to prove that his mother eleanor has an american birth certificate from delaware. Its ironic. Im not going to get into im not going to mess with the republican primary. Let them fight it out, but i do think hes qualified. He would make a good president. Are you going to mess with the republican primary . Im happy to see donald trump go after cruz on this issue because to donnas point they did it so even though theres nothing nothing to it. Let me be clear, theres nothing to it but were so aggressive going after president obama on nothing to that either a few years ago, so im tickled by it. What troubles me though is that trump is still to my mind at least an unrepentant, irascible religious and racial arsonist, so when we talk about how trump is rising in the poll, you cant do that absent the kind of campaign hes running, the issues hes raising and for us to say donald trump is rising in the polls and not connect that to the base message that hes putting out there, i think this misses the point. That said let me ask you, matthew dowd. I was surprised to talk to a Top Republican strategist who said for the first time you have to accept the fact if all the candidates out there, donald trump is the most likely to be the nominee based on todays facts. Well, and i said, you know, you and i talked bit. I said this over the summer. When you look at the data over the course of the primaries that have been held by republicans, he is most in line with a candidate whos won the nomination, not somebody thats but i think its really important to understand. I think whats going on on both sides of this and donald trump is represented on one side and Bernie Sanders is represented on the other side of this for totally Different Reasons with totally different supporters. There is an unbelievable frustration with the duopoly of the two parties in the country and the establishment of the two parties in this country. People dont like whats happened. The middle class are pissed off and theyve been angry for 25 years and have seen no rise in their income and they think washington, d. C. Only serves a small group of people, whatever that may be and Bernie Sanders is gaining the benefit the establishment candidate and donald trump for everything you say about him, the crazy stuff he says he does represent a group of voters in this country who are angry at whats going on in washington, d. C. I get your point, matthew, and i am tickled by the fact that the establishment candidates are not running, george, this issue as strong as they have in past years and okay with seeing somebody from the outside do well, but i get tired of respectfully of us lumping trump and sanders in the same i take your point. Two different kinds of candidates appealing for condemned. Im talking, of course, about donald trump. That is not the message that Bernie Sanders is putting out. Of course, im not going to condemn him, tavis, because hes talking about issues no one else will talk about. Donald trump will win New Hampshire on the basis of candor and his capacity ifshgs and hate. And this morning on every National Show ill bet you no one brings up 1924, a statute that former secretary of state clinton almost certainly broke as was released on friday. I bet you its not discussed anywhere but donald trump will discuss it. And when he does that can you explain what the statute is . The statute permits the misuse of classified communication and directed sullivan to alter secure communications. Its clearly a felony and i think shell be indicted. Nevertheless, no one will talk about that and because trump will, he scores, not because of hatred but because of candor. Oh, my god. He has demonized just about every group of americans. Hes demonized immigrants. Hes demonized and banned muslims. Even in trying to defend his own record on sexism, hes went one step further with vulgarity. Look, donald trump might be a pillar into a vast majority of republicanbased voters but i still have a problem with the way in which he goes about his message. Ive been the only one in a dockdown ive got my trump tattoo. [ laughter ] lets just make it clear, if i say that donald trump could be or would be or will be the gop nominee and he represents at the angry people of the country, it doesnt mean i i support what he says. George wallace in 1972 and 1968 just like many other candidates of issues, he does represent a certain level of this country happen in the course of the presidency. But i think donald trump, you have to acknowledge the tectonic shifts going on in this country that allows somebody like donald trump to rise and somebody like Bernie Sanders to take on the dominant character in this race, beat her in iowa and new that represents a huge amount of donna. I mean, it looks like a real race right now, real race in New Hampshire. Ive been to both states, george, and let me just tell you, Bernie Sanders is running a textbook campaign. He has, you know, 28 offices across the state. Ive run iowa, so i know a little how to win there. He has 101 field staff. More importantly, he has advertisement and he has momentum. He is trying to do what president obama did in 2008 and enlarge the electorate. Try to get young voters and disaffected voters and nontraditional democratic voters to join him in his cause and it is a cause. Its not be bracing for losses in iowa and New Hampshire and they still you hear a lot of talk how this is a delicate fight and will take a long time. That. It is a delegate fight. It is and it will take a while. With respect to your interview with Bernie Sanders, it was a great conversation. I think he answered the question in a way not to take advice from me but he gets asked this question about his age, the answer is, if im 75, 85 or 95, im connecting to and im thats true. Thats the answer and he ought to start saying that. Well listen to him next week and see if he takes your advice. Good advice. Hugh hewitt, what happens over on the republican side . Ted cruz still ahead in iowa. Theres a big question in iowa, big open question whether Donald Trumps support measures actual caucus voters on caucus night. What happens if cruz wins iowa . What does that do to donald trump . Ted cruz will win iowa. Every Single Person i talked to on the ground says the organization is so massive and all you veterans know what it means but his lead is significant so go down to the south and south i had john kasich tell me this week on the show, he has a fire wall built in mississippi because of trent lot. I thought that sounded odd but nevertheless, theres massachusetts on that thing. Its a wild freeforall that could go on for a long time. Best race of my lifetime. Room for rubio in that . Room for rubio. Your conversation with marco rubio reminds everyone ill go back to my boxing analogy. When we were done with all those Sugar Ray Leonard showed up. A generational change occurred which shifted the dynamics of the sport and rubio and cruz are doing to a lesser extent New Hampshire primary night and iowa caucus night, who won and finished second. Is really important and who finishes second in New Hampshire is really important. So, marco rubio lets say according to the polls we just saw today, iowa and second in New Hampshire. Basically john kasich, Chris Christie and jeb bush and the rest have to drop out of the race and understand theres no room left for that and that provides marco rubio to go oneontwo with ted cruz and donald trump in the course of this race. Matt dowd knows everything. Hes right about most things. I really disagree with you but i dont think the other guys will get out that quickly. Is shifting the way it is those guys arent getting out. There is psychology. Until, you know, the end of march. Save face. Worked for that i always hope and pray. Of course, i have too. John kasich can win ohio on march 15th and take tell delegates to an open convention and wind. Who knows. Let me ask you all about this that threeway race that matt stays in and perhaps wins iowa long fight. Candidate has the delegates they need going in . It means the best convention in cleveland, the best city and the best state with the best Football Team and so we would love to have an open convention go for two weeks rather than one week. I thought it was 1,324 but okay. Okay, all right. But heres the point, george. Itll take a long time for the republicans to sort it out. Its a good thing. The establishment lane should be an accident scene because you have so many candidates vying for that third place. And when youre vying for third place, its a long way home to republicans have is theres likely to be a contested convention where nobody goes in with a majority. The problem is theres no more brokers in the country. Theres no more the establishment does not run the Republican Party anymore. They do not run the convention so at that point in time, who puts the who puts the majority together to make it work . Thats the problem i think the republicans have. The republicans have to figure out who and what they want to be when they grow up. And what they stand for. And what they stand for. I got to say theres also tidbit in the New York Times i guess you knew this had to be coming. Michael bloomberg, billionaire former mayor of new york, here thinking of the possibility that donald trump could be the republican nominee. Hillary clinton the democratic nominee, has done some polling and im told, hugh hewitt, that polling shows a legitimate threeway race. Do you think that could actually happen . Please god. Please god. Yes but mayor bloomberg will but put it in a supports metaphor. [ laughter ] you got me. You got me. I think that the opportunity if ted cruz or nominee and Hillary Clinton is the democratic nominee youll have the most unelectable candidates competing against each other. It creates a lane for a third party. I dont know that a billionaire from new york is the right to win delegates votes from our puzzling. Who gave the first televised state of the union . Lyndon johnson. The first televised though was actually harry truman. Thank you all very much. Up next two of americas top announcer catch this week on line all week at abcnews. Com thisweek, on facebook and twitter. Abcnews. Com thisweek, on facebook and twitter. Financial markets open the year deep in the red after a selloff in china on monday sparked the same all over the world. The dow ending the week down more than a thousand points for the worst open in years despite a blockbuster jobs report on friday that capped the best two years of job gains since the boom days of the 1990s. Whats behind it and whats it mean for your money . Here to discuss it, two of the nations top hubbard, dean of Columbia University Business School former chair of of economic advisers under and paul klugman from the City University of new york and the paul, let me begin with you. You took on this question of whether china will cause a Global Crisis in your column on friday. Soros say it was as bad as 2008. China is messed up. Im definitely buying into the hard landing for china story now. It looks like a bad mess and it looks like japan when it had its big bust but only worse without the social cohesion. China looks bad. The question is whether you can make that a story where the rest of the world gets dragged down and numbers make that a hard story to tell. Even now, even with all the globalization, the United States only sells about 1 in 7 of what we make to other countries and most of that is to canada, europe, not to china. So, its a little bit hard to tell that story. But, you know, like i said in the column, i dont have the even though the numbers dont work im worried. So the markets overreact. No, i am worried about china. Paul is right. Our direct exposure to china exports are only twothirds of our gdp. But thats a known known. The known un knownknown is the chinese debt problem is the unknown unknown. Of negative net present value investment. Basket case. We always thousand we could manage through it. Im not sure the short run and the long run are too different. Themself. The chinese debt is owed to themself. Theres not a whole lot of money at risk directly, but the trouble is, the world is complicated. We have seen enough crises come out of, you know, left field that were worried. I think still by and large not a global recession. The jobs issue, we saw that strong jobs report, 292,000 jobs in december. Weve had the recovery seems to be on track long and slow recovery but remarkable job creation record for the last several years. How much longer can it go on . Well, i think the jobs report was basically a very solid report, and were seeing the duration of longterm unemployment come down. But im worried about a couple of things, first of all, were not seeing as many people come back into the labor force who left as we would like. And im worried about longrange productivity growth so thats numbers and the rate will in 2016 but that doesnt mean the labor market is healed. I think the interesting since the bottom in 2010, weve added 14 million private sector jobs, and weve done that despite dodd frank, which was supposed to be a job killer tax hike on the top 1 which was supposed to be a job killer, obamacare which was supposed to be a job killer. Funny, none of these job killers actually have seemed to kill jobs. The u. S. Economy looks fundamentally pretty good. I mean, Household Debt is down relative to income. People just dont feel it. Is that because of the lack of wage growth . So inequality is rising. Slow so were not seeing incomes go up but employment growth and wrong with this expansion. The flip side of that number theres no inflation problem. So i think were looking only at some outside event like china possibly bringing into it. I think an inside event too. Uncertainty on the show you markets rattled. Maybe trump can say to the whole country, youre fired. So if youre the Federal Reserve and youre janet yellen looking at all this now, are you going to pay more attention to the strong jobs number or the anxiety over oh, if i were janet yellen, i would be holding my fire. I wouldnt have done the rate something does go wrong, we maneuver. Sees the whites of inflations eyes because if theyre wrong and hike too soon, there may be no coming back. So that means holding off for how long . Until you see inflation pick up which we havent seen at all. I think they did the right thing by hiking. I dont think they will hike again at this meeting probably march or later but i think there are real reasons to worry about misallocating credit and we will see in a years time inflation pick up so i think the fed is on the right path. Ive been saying that about the inflation pickup for years and years so we have no idea really. We dont know the full hubbard, thank you very much. Thanks for sharing part of your tune in tuesday for president obamas final state of the union you tomorrow on gma. Look, i know youre a cow and all. And you may not know what im talking about,