Trump Holds Double-Digit Lead Among GOP; Investigators Focus on Marriage of Terrorists
PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Shows Trump with a more than 2-1 margin over his nearest competitors. Trump coming in at 35 percent while Ted Cruz is in second place with 16 percent. Ben Carson tumbling to third with Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush each in single digits. Trump solidifying his lead among the GOP as outrage about his call to temporarily ban Muslims in the U.S. grows. But as he told my colleague, Don Lemon, that ban is not rooted in bigotry.</s>DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR, CNN TONIGHT: Here's my question. I asked you last time, I said, and -- some people were shocked, if you were racist. You knew why I was asking you that. Are you racist?</s>DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am the least racist person that you have ever met. I am the least racist person.</s>LEMON: Are you bigoted in any way?</s>TRUMP: I don't think so. No. I don't think so.</s>LEMON: Islamophobic?</s>TRUMP: I'm the person -- no, not at all. I'm a person who happens to be very smart. And I happen to have a certain street sense and I know where things are going. I said, take out Osama bin Laden in a book written in the year 2000 called "The America We Deserve." I said you better be careful because I saw this guy Osama bin Laden probably on television. I said, take him out. He knocked down the World Trade Center.</s>LEMON: So as I sit here with you, you've been very kind to me, right? Introduced me to your family. You've been very kind to me. It has to -- when people say that you're racist or homophobic or Islamophobic or whatever it is, that has to bother you. Or compare you to Hitler. There are newspaper covers --</s>TRUMP: Do you know --</s>LEMON: Does that bother you?</s>TRUMP: No. If things are true, if that were true, it would bother me tremendously. OK? But of course, if you're a racist you probably wouldn't care. But if things were true, it would bother me. But if -- it's so false, and honestly, I don't hear it often.</s>BROWN: All right. And Don Lemon joins me now. Don, good morning. Very interesting interview there.</s>LEMON: Good morning.</s>BROWN: So he's saying that he is the least racist person that you know and also said in the interview that he's good to Muslims. Tell us more about that, what he said about that part of things.</s>LEMON: Well, he said that his Muslim friends and he hears people on the streets, people he talks to, his constituents, his supporters say, you know what, you're actually doing Muslims a service by discussing these issues and bringing them to light, much as they believe he did when it comes to the situation with Mexican immigrants and on and on and on. So he believes that he is on the right side of history with this. Not backing down. Again, he's saying he is not racist and he thinks that this is good for Muslim people.</s>LEMON: What do you mean when you say, if they break this pledge, that you'll break the pledge? What do you mean by that?</s>TRUMP: Well, if they don't treat me with a certain amount of decorum and respect, if they don't treat me as the frontrunner, by far the frontrunner, if the playing field is not level, then certainly all options are open. But that's nothing I want to do.</s>LEMON: That was in reference, Pam, he's talking about his possible third-party run, which you know the folks are in Washington have been reporting on a lot. He signed this pledge, saying, you know, I'm not going to run as an independent or third-party candidate, but he says now, if the party doesn't treat him with what he says is respect and decorum, and the frontrunner that he is, that he's going to have to do what he has to do, and that means break the pledge. But he's not the only one saying that. There are other candidates who are saying that they would do it, as well.</s>BROWN: Well, does he feel right now that the party is being fair to him?</s>LEMON: No, he doesn't. And during the interview he -- you know, he kept mentioning the party and saying, you know, I have an issue with the party. I said, what is your issue with the party? It's almost -- you know, I said it this morning on "NEW DAY." It's almost like Rodney Dangerfield, you remember, I don't get -- I get no respect. He is leading in the polls, double-digits in front of all of the candidates. You could put two candidates together and still would not get the polling numbers that Donald Trump has. Yet and still the party establishment, they don't want him. They speak out against him. They look for ways to get him out of the race. They look towards other candidates to talk about in a positive light and to bring to the fore. So he does not believe that he gets the respect that he deserves. And if he's not treated that way, as a frontrunner, especially going in now to, you know, the first races and to Super Tuesday and all of that, he says he's going to have to do what he -- you know, what he must, and that may mean breaking the pledge and running as an independent. He'd like to run as a Republicans, he knows running as an independent would be tough, but if he has to do it, he's going to do it.</s>BROWN: All right. Don Lemon, thank you for that. Let's talk about those poll numbers that Don just mentioned. CNN senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny joins me now to discuss. So important to note this poll was taken before Trump's call for a Muslim ban. But, Jeff, it does show a double-digit surge in support from October. Look at the numbers here. And in those two months, there have been controversies regarding Trump, and a Black Lives Matter protester, as well as his mocking a disabled "New York Times" reporter that he disputed, as we near the Iowa caucuses. Is this an accurate picture of how Republican voters are thinking -- what their thinking?</s>JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, this is an accurate picture. That's a national poll, a snapshot of what the country -- at least Republican voters are thinking. But it is pretty similar in early state polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, although Ted Cruz is a little bit stronger in Iowa. Marco Rubio is a little stronger, as is Chris Christie. But this is a sense of where the party is right now. And one of the reasons that it is, when you talk to voters out there, and we do this all the time at rallies and campaign events, people like Donald Trump's strength. They like the fact that he is -- calling it like he sees it. That he is not that bought and paid for, as he says, by anyone. So those are the things driving him. But you also hear concerns from voters saying, you know, I don't like everything he says, but, you know, on the whole, we think he would do OK. But, Pamela, when you look into these numbers and this new CBS News- "New York Times" poll, one other thing really jumped out at me, it's a similarity between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Take a look at this. 24 percent of voters said that they are concerned about a Trump presidency. And 40 percent say they fear a Trump presidency. It's about the same for Hillary Clinton. 23 percent of voters say they are concerned about a Clinton presidency and 34 percent say they are scared of a Clinton presidency. So that shows you the polarization here on both sides. But going into this, Don is absolutely right, the Republican establishment is concerned and worried about him. The thing that I'm not as sure about is how committed Donald Trump would be to running as a third-party candidate. It's very expensive. It's very, very difficult. And most everyone believes that it would most certainly hand the presidency over to the Democrats because a third-party candidacy just doesn't generally work. Look at 1992, Ross Perot. That's one of the reasons Donald Trump wants to keep running as a Republican.</s>BROWN: Yes. And -- correct me if I'm wrong, but a third-party candidate has never won the presidency, right?</s>ZELENY: You're absolutely right. And it's so difficult to do it given the party structure. So I think it's still very difficult to believe that Donald Trump would actually leave this party system and run as a third-party candidate.</s>BROWN: Interesting. Jeff Zeleny, thank you for that.</s>ZELENY: Thanks, Pam.</s>BROWN: A reminder, you don't want to miss the last Republican debate of 2015 right here on CNN. Wolf Blitzer moderates the debate Tuesday night at 6:00 and 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Was their marriage a sham? That's one of the questions officials are asking in the investigation into the San Bernardino shooters. Sources now telling CNN that Tashfeen Malik was not asked about jihadist leanings during her U.S. visa screening. Meanwhile, officials are taking a closer look at the marriage between the two terrorists. They believe the marriage may have been set up to help them pull off an attack. The FBI now thinks both were radicalized before they even met. CNN's Ana Cabrera joins us now. Ana, tell us more about this. Why wasn't anything about jihad brought up during Tashfeen's interview?</s>ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we understand she had already made it through some security checks, background checks, multi- agencies, multi-checks and yet no red flags. But by the time it landed -- her application landed at the U.S. Consulate and she was doing this interview last summer, there were no questions that they felt they needed to ask about jihad. Now, of course, it would have been on her to be honest and to tell them her beliefs, but they really just focused the questioning on whether she had a legitimate relationship with Farook for her to come here on an fiancee visa and even after that interview we're told she went through two more security checks, her information was put through and again no flags. So unfortunately, this is one of those scenarios where hindsight is 20/20. And now that officials have been able to access some of the electronic communication between her, Farook and, perhaps, others, they're learning more about the jihadi beliefs, about the radicalization that they now say dates back years prior to the two ever even talking to each other online -- Pam.</s>BROWN: Part of what is helping investigators piece together this timeline is that the former friend and neighbor of Farook, Enrique Marquez. What do we know about him?</s>CABRERA: Well, again, he is the friend, the neighbor who provided two AR-15s that were used in this deadly killing. Now he knows Farook because they were next-door neighbors. He has been cooperating with investigators, we're told, in the questioning. He's waived his Miranda rights and he's been really giving them some chilling information, saying that both he and Farook have been radicalized as early as 2011, and that the two of them were plotting an earlier attack in 2012. Now he says that they had a target in mind, but they never went through with their attack because they got spooked. They got cold feet after learning about some other unrelated terror arrest in the vicinity, in the area, back in 2012. Now again authorities are still trying to verify his account. He did check himself into a mental facility following the shooting attack. And they believe that it's still possible he is telling them this story, trying to deflect any kind of responsibility for the current situation he may be in, having supplied the weapons to Tashfeen and to Farook -- Pam.</s>BROWN: It's certainly tough to verify those details from three years ago. Ana Cabrera, thank you very much for that report. And right now in Geneva, Switzerland, it is on high alert. Police there now searching for individuals who may be linked to the Paris terror attack. An official telling CNN authorities have gone from a vague threat to a precise threat. It's still unclear how many people authorities are searching for. An international manhunt has already been under way for these two men right here who officials believe are linked to the Paris attacks. And still to come right here in the NEWSROOM, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel apologizes. Citizens respond with angry protests. Today the city braces for more demonstrations.</s>UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: How many shots?</s>UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Sixteen shots.</s>UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: How many shots?</s>UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: Sixteen shots.