Rules for GOP Debate Updated
KEILAR: We have some breaking news about the upcoming Republican debate here on CNN, and you really want to listen up, because the debate rules have just been updated. And I want to bring in CNN politics executive editor Mark Preston to explain this. So how have -- what are the changes?</s>MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Well, Brianna, you know, we've done a lot of thinking about the current state of the race right now and the data that we're using to decide on inclusion for the top- tier debate that's going to take place on September 16 at the Reagan Presidential Library. After much thought and looking at the data that is currently presented to us, we decided to amend the criteria a little bit. So let me just lay this out there. There are a lot of numbers. But to put it very simply right now, we are only looking at three national polls currently, compared to nine polls that have been added into the criteria from the beginning. So somebody who could be doing well in August or certainly into September would not, you know, be able to benefit from that. So what we've done is we've decided that if you are in the top ten of polls recognized by CNN, from August 7 until September 10, but yet you were not captured in the original eligibility window from July 16 to September 10, then you would be included in the debate.</s>KEILAR: So this is an amendment, and basically, it seems like the idea is that the data -- normally, you would have a lot more polls in this period of time around Labor Day. And there just haven't been those polls, so it seems like the data in this post-debate period isn't really capturing the real picture of the current race, right? And it seems like right now, looking at this amendment it might be Carly Fiorina who would see the impact here.</s>PRESTON: Let's get a little historical perspective. If you go back to this time in 2011, which would be the year right before the presidential race, we had 15 polls that were released between the first of August and mid-September, which is basically our eligibility window. If you look -- go back to 2007, the year before the presidential race, with 16 polls, right now, we're only looking at three, and certainly, when we created the criteria back in May, that's what we were doing on a historical perspective. Now, if the eligibility window were to close tonight, Carly Fiorina would be included. But I do have to emphasize, at this point, we don't know the final podium positions, because this window is going to stay open until September 10. And we could see people rise; we could see people fall. But really, you could see, potentially, more than 10 people on stage.</s>KEILAR: A key point, though: if you're looking at someone who may be on sort of the bubble right now, under the unamended criteria, they would be in that top ten. But maybe they wouldn't under the new criteria. They don't get subjected, right? If there's a Chris Christie or, say, a Rand Paul right now, that's what it would look like, they'd be on the bubble. It's not like they would not be on the stage, right?</s>PRESTON: Again, if they get the window...</s>KEILAR: If it were closed today.</s>PRESTON: If the window were closed today, you're absolutely correct. However, there certainly are going to be more polls that are going to be released into September 10. Now, I do have to note part of our thinking in all this, though, is that from our talking to other news organizations and to other polling outfits, is we didn't think that they were going to be enough polls that would give us a clear data point to really make a sound editorial decision. So that's why we did so. So yes, I mean, really emphasize, we don't know who's going to be onstage. We won't know that until the 10th. But the candidates are still going to have to campaign very hard up to then.</s>KEILAR: The idea being that it should reflect the current picture of the race.</s>PRESTON: And not be punitive to those who have performed well through the summer up through to this debate.</s>KEILAR: All right, Mark Preston, thank you so much for explaining that. We really appreciate it. We are following several new developments now as the 2016 presidential campaign grows nastier and more personal. Jeb Bush just launched his sharpest attack so far on Donald Trump. It's a new video that features Trump's own words. And CNN political reporter Sara Murray has been following all of this and is here to give us a look -- Sara.</s>SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the battle between Donald Trump and Jeb Bush is growing even more heated today, with the candidates taking to social media to do some good old-fashioned mudslinging.</s>JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Waiting.</s>MURRAY (voice-over): Floundering in the polls, Jeb Bush firing off his harshest attack so far, using Donald Trump's own words against him in this YouTube video.</s>DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My views are a little bit different than if I lived in Iowa.</s>TIM RUSSERT, FORMER HOST, "MEET THE PRESS": Partial birth abortion.</s>TRUMP: I'm very pro-choice.</s>MURRAY: And targeting Trump on the campaign trail.</s>BUSH: You look at his record of what he believes, he supports Democrats. This is not a guy who's a conservative, and using his own words is not a mischaracterization. They came out of his own mouth.</s>MURRAY: So much for the low energy candidate.</s>TRUMP: Jeb Bush is a low-energy person. For him to get things done is hard. He's very low-energy.</s>MURRAY: Bush trying to show he has a sharp edge, retaliating against Trump for an onslaught of attacks via Instagram, the latest showing Bush complimenting Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.</s>BUSH: We recognize the commitment of someone who has devoted her life to public service. I want to say thank you to both Secretary Clinton and to President Clinton.</s>MURRAY: Trump also hitting his opponent on Twitter today, calling the latest shot from Bush yet another weak hit by a candidate with a failing campaign: "Will Jeb sink as low in the polls as others who have gone after me?" The escalating public battle between Trump and Bush all as Dr. Ben Carson quietly surges. The retired neurosurgeon suddenly tied with Trump in Iowa, rallying the state's evangelical voters.</s>DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have to stop listening to these people who tell us that we cannot talk about God, we cannot talk about our faith.</s>MURRAY: Carson's rise costing Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, whose support is collapsing in Iowa, a key state for his path to victory. Walker spending his day clarifying whether the U.S. should build a wall along the border with Canada after facing ridicule for saying it was a legitimate idea.</s>GOV. SCOTT WALKER (R-WI), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've never talked about a wall to the north. I'm certainly not now.</s>MURRAY: Now amid all of this Republican infighting today, we're seeing something else. Signs of outreach to Hispanic voters. Some of Bush's toughest attacks against Trump today were in Spanish. And for Trump, he may be looking to repair his standing with Hispanics, too. Today he met privately with the CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.</s>KEILAR: All right. Sara Murray, thanks for that report. We are awaiting a new CNN interview with Donald Trump, I should tell you. Right now, I want to bring in Eric Fehrnstrom. He was a senior adviser to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. And first, Eric, I think you heard the announcement there about amending the debate rules here. So that really what happens is, the pre-debate polls don't outweigh the post-debate polls that we've seen so few of at this point. This could possibly open the door up to Carly Fiorina being on the next debate stage. What do you think about that?</s>ERIC FEHRNSTROM, FORMER SENIOR ADVISOR TO MITT ROMNEY'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Well, I think it's a good decision by CNN to be flexible in those rules, because the way they had constructed them weeks or months ago would have excluded, potentially, Carly Fiorina from the debate stage. And I think everybody agrees that she turned in a pretty good performance in that first debate last month and that she deserves to be on the stage with top-tier candidates.</s>KEILAR: I do want to get your reaction to this fight that we're seeing going on right now, this back and forth between Jeb Bush and Donald Trump. Do you think that this kind of counterattack from Jeb Bush is going to resonate with voters?</s>FEHRNSTROM: Well, this Trump/Bush feud started as a war of words. Now it's escalated to online video, and I think we all know where this is going to end up. And that's on TV and living rooms in Iowa and New Hampshire. Look, I think it's a positive development for Jeb Bush. Right now in the national polling, Trump is getting around 30 percent of the vote, which means that 70 percent of the Republican electorate is looking for someone else. There's going to be an anti-Trump candidate that emerges from the field, and I think Bush wants to be that person, obviously. And for the story to be framed as Trump versus Bush, as opposed to Trump versus the rest of the field, is good for Jeb Bush. Ultimately, this race is going to come down to voters deciding whether they want an experienced candidate like Jeb Bush who has a record as a governor of a big state, or if they want an outsider like Donald Trump, who takes pride in his shoot-from-the-hip style.</s>KEILAR: Well, if they do want an experienced candidate, on that note, I'm sure that you've seen this "National Review" report. It says some major Republican donors are underwhelmed by the field so far, including Jeb Bush, and that they're holding out for your former boss, Mitt Romney. Do you think those donors could change his mind, get him into the race?</s>FEHRNSTROM: No. Mitt Romney has made his decision. He is not reconsidering it. He is friendly with many of the Republican candidates who are running. He feels there's a good sizable crowd of candidates for Republican voters to choose from. And you know, Brianna, last week, he tweeted out a photo of himself on the beach with one of his grandchildren. And he said something to the effect that these are the important things in life that need to be treasured. So he's very content watching from the sidelines in the company of his family.</s>KEILAR: OK. But before he last -- I just have to press you on this a little bit, because he last said that he wasn't going to run in 2016 after some consideration. But between his last run and that moment of consideration, I remember he was asked, "Are you thinking of running again?" He said something like, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no." And then he went ahead and considered it. Are you sure we can take it to the bank that he will not consider getting in again?</s>FEHRNSTROM: Yes, of course, there was a period of time at the beginning of this year where he was being encouraged by his supporters to take another look at the race. And he went through that exercise, and ultimately, he decided that it was time to pass the torch to another generation of Republican leaders, and that's exactly what he did. And he has no plans to revisit that decision.</s>KEILAR: All right. You can't blame him. A little beach time with family sure is nice. Eric Fehrnstrom, thanks so much for joining us in</s>THE SITUATION ROOM. FEHRNSTROM: Thank you.</s>KEILAR: Coming up, CNN's Don Lemon just spoke with Donald Trump. He got more reaction to Jeb Bush's latest attack, and we'll have that in just a little bit. We're also following some new revelations about what the Chinese and Russians may be doing with stolen information from computer break-ins. Are they unmasking U.S. spies?